Turn Long Videos into Shorts

Take a client's podcast, webinar, or long video and hand back 5–7 captioned vertical clips ready to post. AI finds the moments and writes the captions; you do the polish that makes it worth paying for.

The idea

Short-form is how people get discovered now, and the people sitting on the most raw material — small YouTubers, podcasters, real estate agents, coaches — are exactly the people with no time to cut it. You sell a finished weekly pack of Shorts/Reels/TikToks cut from content they already made.

Who pays

Creators and businesses with a back catalog of long video and zero short-form presence. They pay because the footage is already paid for — you're selling the part they never get around to.

The honest numbers

• Startup cost: $0. Opus Clip's free plan (60 processing minutes/month) + CapCut Desktop (free) + your PC.
• What to charge (estimates): $40–$75 per pack of 5–7 shorts. The real money is a weekly retainer: $200–$400/month per client.
• Realistic beginner math: 3–4 packs a week once demand exists = roughly $150–$300/week. Modest first month: one retainer client plus a couple of one-offs — a few hundred dollars, not rent.
• Time to first dollar: 1–3 weeks. Each pack takes 1–2 hours once you've done a few; finding client #1 is the slow part.

How to start

1. Make one sample pack tonight: run a 20–30 minute spoken video through Opus Clip free (1 credit = 1 minute of source). Export the best 5 clips immediately — free exports carry a watermark and expire after 3 days.
2. Polish in CapCut: fix every caption typo (AI butchers names and numbers), tighten awkward trims, add a simple frame. This polish is the difference between a $40 gig and a free tool.
3. Put up a one-page offer: Carrd free tier or a Google Doc with 2–3 sample clips, the price, and how to reach you.
4. Find clients where they hang out: small creators (1k–50k subs) posting long videos but no Shorts. Pitch one line plus one free sample clip cut from THEIR last episode. The free sample is the entire sales strategy.
5. Price the ladder: $40 intro pack → $75 after a few reviews → weekly retainer. Deliver in 48 hours, one revision included, MP4s in a shared folder with suggested captions.

Watch-outs

Only upgrade to a paid Opus plan ($15/mo Starter) after a paying client covers it. And if a client reposts your clips, platforms care about originality — every clip needs your edit on it (captions, framing, a hook), not a raw cut.

First move tonight: run a 20-minute video through Opus Clip and export your first 2–3 sample clips. Half a portfolio, done.

Tool details checked Oct 22, 2026: Opus Clip free = 60 credits, watermarked, 3-day storage; Starter $15/mo.

One AI money idea a day, tested against real numbers — this series is the daily BogusAPY AI brief, in blog form. Estimates are labeled as estimates; earnings depend on effort, market, and follow-through. This is not a promise of income, and it's not financial advice.