The First Hire: Growing Beyond Yourself in Your Production Company

Why Systems Matter Before You Hire

A growing business needs clear systems. In video production, systems help you:

  • Deliver quality and consistency

  • Free up your time

  • Make it possible for others to step in and perform tasks to your standard

If you’re running solo, you may feel like you’re juggling everything at once: shooting, editing, writing proposals, handling clients. Writing down how you work helps you repeat it and teach someone else to do it.

Stay Solo or Bring in Help

At some point, every video business owner hits a ceiling. You’ve maxed out your time and mental energy. Then you face a choice:

  • Stay solo. Work smarter, raise your rates, take on bigger projects, and operate as a highly skilled freelancer. For some people, that offers the control and income they want.

  • Hire help. If you want to serve more clients, increase your influence, and grow your revenue, the way forward is to bring in others. Contractors, freelancers, interns, or full-time staff — each can play a role.

Common Fears About Hiring

Through my coaching, I’ve noticed the same concerns come up again and again:

  • “I work from home, there’s no space for someone else.”

  • “I can’t afford it.”

  • “What if I hire someone and the work dries up?”

These fears are real. But they become easier to handle when you stop thinking of hiring as a single leap, and start seeing it as a gradual process.

Step 1: Start With Outsourcing

When I first brought in help, it wasn’t with full-time staff. It was by outsourcing small, specific tasks:

  • Paying an animator to design my first website

  • Bringing in freelancers for sound design or motion graphics

  • Using platforms like oDesk (now Upwork) to hire editors

Outsourcing gave me two things:

  1. Better work than I could do alone

  2. Experience as a manager: writing briefs, giving feedback, learning to communicate clearly

It wasn’t always smooth. Some mornings I’d wake up to finished edits waiting for me. Other times, I’d open files and realise my instructions hadn’t been clear. Both outcomes taught me lessons I still use today.

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Step 2: Experiment With Interns

The next step was bringing interns into my business. Film schools needed placements, and I had an office where students could come in. This gave me the experience of managing people in person: teaching them, mentoring them, and learning how to balance being supportive with being firm.

Interns weren’t at the same skill level as professionals, but they brought energy, fresh ideas, and enthusiasm. And they forced me to get better at leadership, because managing someone day-to-day is very different from handing off a freelance job online.

Step 3: Make the Shift to Employees

At some point, temporary help isn’t enough. Contractors and interns come and go. If you want to build a real business, one with an identity, culture, and style, you need people who stay, learn, and grow with you.

This was the scariest step in my journey. But with the support of a mentor, I prepared by:

  • Saving a financial buffer

  • Writing a clear role description

  • Getting honest about the skills I needed most

And then I was challenged with a piece of advice I’ll never forget: “Don’t hire one person. Hire two.”
That way, if one left or didn’t work out, I’d still have coverage.

It sounded crazy at the time, but I did it, one part-time, one full-time. Within months, both were full-time, and suddenly I had a team that could edit and shoot without me.

The First Time I Let Go

The real test came when I sent my video production team to a shoot without me. It was a big job for Xero. I was nervous, but I went skiing with my family instead. When I called after the shoot and heard how well it went, I realised something: I finally had a business that didn’t depend entirely on me.

Step 4: Become a Leader

When you hire staff, you also take responsibility for leading them. That means:

  • Sharing a vision people want to join

  • Creating systems so they can succeed

  • Balancing empathy with accountability

  • Learning through trial and error

As Yuval Noah Harari points out in Sapiens, our greatest human strength is collaboration. Business is one of the best examples of this. A team working toward a common goal can achieve far more than any solo freelancer.

Step 5: Use Mentorship and Support

The hardest step is often the first hire. That’s why having support matters. A mentor can help you avoid mistakes, write better job ads, and build confidence in your ability to lead.

Right now, one of my coaching clients is going through his first hire. I enjoy seeing him learn to lead someone else. It’s a risk, but it can give him more time and the ability to take on larger jobs.

Key Takeaways

  1. Systems first. Without systems, hiring creates chaos.

  2. Start small. Outsource tasks before you commit to employees.

  3. Internships teach management. Low-stakes practice in leadership.

  4. Hiring staff builds an asset. A real business, not just a job.

  5. Leadership is growth. You’ll develop as much as your team does.

Closing Thought

Hiring staff is scary. For me, it meant being able to take time away and trust the team to do good work. Getting there took preparation and plenty of practice.

If you’re ready to take the next step in hiring for your video business, I’d love to support you. You can find details about my coaching here.