It's hard.
Everyone thinks they can be an editor. Everyone thinks they can bill fifty bucks for a mograph and put together a buddy's music video for free.
Everyone else gets pissed you use a mouse and don't give a shit about Avid. Breaking into high profile content has more to do with your social network than skills.
Every day is filled with excuses on late work and delays from clients on assets. Every single person that holds the purse strings think they have better creative taste than you.
Photographers think they can do your job, but go glassy eyes and bored with the realities of codecs, organization, and export rules.
In order to become financially stable I had to learn Final Cut Pro 7, Soundtrack Pro, Apple Color, Compressor, ProTools, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, After Effects, Premiere, Audition, Davinci Resolve, Cinema 4D and yes...even Final Cut X; just to name a few.
Kids think editing gaming footage with a fake company mograph for their YouTube channel are legitimate competitors in quality.
On the other side, I have won awards, my work is on television and notable websites, I make as much fresh and original content as I do corporate work. My role is more important than the director and cinematographer. I decide what makes it and what doesn't. I control what can be saved and what cannot. The past five years have been incredible.
I'm now building a studio where I will employ my friends and in a sea of mediocrity and a struggling market, I make amazing things and my business is growing.
I take vacations when I want. I travel on someone else's expense and I have plenty of time for my family and friends. My garden is pretty amazing as well. Lots of tomatoes at the moment.
And I never ever have to live in the egocentric asshole of America known as Los Angeles. Fuck that town, fuck it's cost of living, and fuck it's lack of water.
This work isn't easy. It demands a lot of knowledge and more finesse in client conversations than actual edits. I have great respect for the hard working individuals that looked at their life and became resourceful with their options and carved a living out of this niche. I have nothing for distain for the twitch tv kids who act like they know something because they could pirate Sony Vegas.
I wouldn't have my career any other way, but you have to deal with A LOT of bullshit before you get to the other side, and you have to be incredibly and deeply honest with yourself when someone calls out your own.
In the end it's worth it, but it will take you a decade before you see something meaningful come from your training.