Clever way Joe cut his work time in half making $2,500 a month

Photographer and video editor Joe Guilar can now do three to four jobs in the time it previously took him to do one. And it’s all thanks to artificial intelligence (AI).

The Gold-Coast-based freelancer started using AI tools for his editing work late last year and said it had helped him massively boost his efficiency.

“There’s a lot of stuff in video post-production that is time-consuming, busy work like organising project files and setting everything up before you can really do the important work,” Joe told Yahoo Finance.

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One of his main freelance jobs is converting articles to videos for small and medium businesses, for which he charges US$30 per job on Fiverr.

“When I was doing that manually, it took about three to five hours. Now it takes 30 to 90 minutes. So the AI breaks the script down into individual scenes, it will recommend stock footage to add, and music.”

Joes does this using InVideo, an AI video creator. He has also cloned his voice - using ElevenLabs - and uses his AI-generated voice as a temp track for timing, which he later records manually.

“Finding the stock footage, finding the music and doing the temp track was what was taking three to five hours, so getting the AI to do it in 15 seconds means I can spend time doing the stuff where I’m actually adding value,” he said.

“It does maybe 70 per cent of the work and then I go through and take the rough output from the AI and make something that I am comfortable handing over to the client.”

Joe’s Fiverr work makes up between 25 and 40 per cent of his yearly income, with the full-time freelancer earning up to $2,500 a month through the platform.

‘Bizarre’ quirks

Despite the time benefits, Joe said there were some “bizarre” quirks he had run into using AI for work.

“I had a video for a medical marijuana dispensary in Canada and a lot of the stock footage was a seal on the beach. I have no idea why the AI thought that was appropriate,” Joe said.

“AI is a little ways off being able to do the whole job, there is still a bit of manual work.”

It’s this additional manual work that Joe thinks helps him stand out, with the freelancer working with clients from around the world, including the US, Canada, Australia and Europe.

“Most people are charging US$5 to $15, but what they are doing is just entering the article into the AI and then whatever comes out the other side is what they are submitting,” he said.

“By spending that little bit of extra time, I produce a polished video that the clients are really happy with, that stands out from the others.”

In-demand skills

Video editing and AI skills have skyrocketed in demand in Australia this year, according to Fiverr’s latest Business Trends Index.

Searches for YouTube video editors increased by 277 per cent on the platform since the last index was released six months earlier, with an average earning range of between $250 and $950 per job.

Meanwhile, AI services grew 1,243 per cent, with an average earning range of $700 to $1,800 per job.

AI risk

As to the future of work, Joe thinks the risk of AI overtaking people’s jobs is a “bit overstated”.

“The AI program isn’t going to overtake your job, somebody who knows how to use it is going to take your job. That’s why I’m trying to make sure I am staying on top of it,” he said.

“If I know how to use the AI tool, and also the old-fashioned way, if the AI tool doesn’t work properly, I know how to fix it.”

For other Aussies hoping to embrace AI in their work, Joe recommends testing out the available tools.

“Start with the older ones that are tried and tested. Find the ones that make your process easier, don’t try and do your entire job through the AI,” he said.

“Find the AI that can take enough of the time-consuming, busy work away so you can jump into the project at the point where you are adding value.”

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