Leverage, Not Escape: A Better Way to Build Your Video Business

There’s an idea that gets repeated a lot in business circles: if your business doesn’t run without you, it’s not a real business. It sounds decisive and intelligent, and when you hear it often enough it starts to feel like a benchmark you’re meant to reach.

I accepted it years ago without really questioning it. It seemed like the natural evolution of a “serious” company. But the longer I’ve run my production company, and the more businesses I’ve worked inside, the more I’ve questioned whether this belief actually helps small and mid-sized operators.

You Already Have a Business

If you are winning clients, delivering projects, sending invoices, and getting paid, you have a business. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a solo shooter-editor or managing a small team. Revenue coming in for work delivered is the definition most people would recognise.

Could your company operate better? Almost certainly. You might need cleaner systems, stronger pricing, tighter proposals, or help with post-production. Those are operational improvements. They do not invalidate what you have already built.

In a small or growing video production company, the owner being heavily involved is often necessary. You are still refining positioning, strengthening client relationships, improving delivery standards, and driving sales. At that stage, there is rarely enough margin or bench strength to step back completely without consequences.

The Appeal of “It Runs Itself”

There is something attractive about the idea of building a machine that keeps producing income while you step away. Social media reinforces that image constantly. You see posts about systems, automation, and freedom, usually accompanied by photos taken far away from a desk.

Books like The 4-Hour Workweek introduced useful concepts around leverage and focus. I read it when it first came out and found parts of it helpful. The trouble begins when people try to apply the idea too early or too literally.

Over the years, I’ve produced videos for well-known coaches and entrepreneurs. That meant spending extended time around them and observing how they operate when the cameras are off. The successful ones are deeply involved in their businesses.

If they are not managing day-to-day tasks, they are shaping strategy. They are reviewing numbers, refining offers, studying new tools, creating content, and steering direction. They are not detached passengers in a vehicle that drives itself.

What I’ve Seen in Larger Businesses

I have worked with business owners who employ thousands of people. They have senior leaders, systems, reporting structures, and deep resources. Even so, they remain engaged.

They walk the floors, ask questions, attend meetings, and challenge decisions. They delegate effectively and take time off when needed, but stay on top of performance. Involvement is not about micromanagement. It is about standards and long-term direction.

In twenty-five years of working with businesses, I have not seen someone build something significant and then completely remove themselves while it continues to perform at a high level. The owners who build durable companies stay informed and stay interested.

What Happens When You Step Back Too Early

The issue with the “runs without you” philosophy is not leverage itself. Leverage is essential if you want to grow. The problem is timing and expectation.

If you reduce your sales activity for six weeks, the drop in new work often shows up three months later. If you stop reviewing proposals closely, conversion rates can slide without you immediately noticing. If you are away and a client issue is handled poorly, that client may quietly choose not to return.

On the surface, the business continued operating. Underneath, standards softened and momentum slowed. Those effects rarely appear in the same week you step back. They surface later.

My Own Experience With Time Away

I have taken extended breaks over the years, including a year where I travelled for three months in total. I’ve taken long family holidays and even rode my bike across Tasmania while camping at night. During those periods, I still allocated time each day to tend to the business.

On one overseas trip I woke at 4:30am, worked for two hours, checked in with my team, gave feedback on edits, wrote proposals, and ran calls. By 7am I was finished and could enjoy the day. That arrangement worked reasonably well, but I could feel the difference compared to being fully present.

Sales closed more slowly and decisions took longer. When I returned, there were small things that needed tightening. The lesson was not that time off is impossible. The lesson was that leadership attention has a measurable impact.

A More Useful Aim

Rather than trying to remove yourself entirely, a more practical goal is to strengthen the business while staying focused on the highest-value activities. That means identifying where you are a bottleneck and where you are simply misallocated.

You might be spending fifteen hours a week editing when you should be investing that time in sales conversations. You might be writing proposals from scratch each time instead of building a structured template that cuts turnaround in half. You might be handling admin tasks that someone else could manage competently for a fraction of your hourly rate.

Leverage looks like hiring an editor so you can concentrate on revenue. It looks like standardising onboarding so every client receives a consistent experience. It looks like using AI to speed up research or draft outlines, while still applying your own judgment. Those changes improve performance without pretending you should disappear.

If You Want Out, That’s Worth Examining

If you often fantasise about the business running without you, that feeling deserves attention. It may signal exhaustion, pricing pressure, poor boundaries, or dissatisfaction with the type of work you are attracting.

In most cases, the answer is redesign rather than retreat. Adjust the offer, raise the rates, narrow the niche, or bring in targeted support where you feel stretched. Stop accepting jobs that drain you and focus on the ones that align with your strengths.

The strongest video production owners I know enjoy both the craft and the commercial challenge. They want smoother operations and better margins, but they still want to be involved in building something worthwhile.

Where I Stand

If your primary objective is to remove yourself entirely from your video production company, I am not the right coach for that path. That is not what I optimise for in my own business or in the businesses I support.

If you have built something solid and you want more consistent lead flow, stronger sales conversations, better proposal structure, and cleaner operations, that is work I care about deeply. In my own company, I focus on driving organic traffic, running structured sales calls, refining proposals, and tightening systems year on year. I also use AI carefully, as a tool to improve output rather than replace thinking.

When I work with coaching clients, I share the frameworks and processes I use myself. I bring full commitment and transparency about what works for me. The execution still sits with you, because the results in your business will always reflect your effort and decisions.

The goal is not to vanish from your company. The goal is to build something that performs well and remains worth your attention.

If this resonates, and you want help tightening your positioning, sharpening your sales process, and building a video production company that runs well without you becoming the bottleneck, have a look at my coaching page at ryanspanger.com/coaching. Everything is laid out clearly, including how I work and what’s involved. If it feels like a fit, you can join and we’ll get to work.