Scale Your Video Business with Den Lennie

Hosted by Den Lennie

Business Marketing Entrepreneurship

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Episodes

407

Latest episode

Jun 2026

Language

EN-AU

About the show

A podcast for production company owners who want a business that runs without them. Den Lennie has spent 14 years coaching 178 video production companies through the same five stages: Operator, Juggler, Stabiliser, Strategist, Scaler. Each episode covers one move that helps owners climb from where they are to where they want to be. No hustle theatre. No recycled frameworks. Just the work.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

June 9, 202610 min

Why Video Production Owners Shouldn't Decide Alone EP #408

Three video production company owners brought a half-formed idea to one coaching call this week. By the end of it, each had a new offer to battle-test, and one had a website live the same day.That only happens in a room of peers. Most video business owners try to grow alone, second-guessing every move with no one to pressure-test it against. Episode 408 is what changes when you stop deciding in isolation, told through the three very different conversations that came out of one VBA Elite boardroom call.What you'll take from it:How a peer group turns a vague idea into an offer you can test in days, not monthsWhy smart video production businesses are building a second, fixed-price brand (the Qantas and Jetstar move)The Richard Branson question that tells you what a client's pain is actually worthWhy chasing a shiny new offer is the wrong move while legacy clients and a 180-day-late invoice are still leaking your marginHow AI workflows are becoming the real competitive advantage on the back end of a production business, not just in the footageDen Lennie has coached 178+ video production company owners over eight years, with more than $52M in added revenue across the room.If you run a video production company past $250K and you are tired of making every call on your own, the VBA Elite Boardroom is the room. Details at the link.Mentoring options : www.denlennie.comConnect with Den on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_lennie

June 3, 2026Episode 4079 min

The Most Expensive Sentence in Your Video Business EP #407

Too busy to work on your video business is the most expensive position you can hold, and it has nothing to do with price.In this solo episode, Den Lennie breaks down the loop that keeps video production owners stuck. The quiet promise to fix things once the workload calms down. It never calms down, because the fix is the thing you keep deferring.Den shares a message from a filmmaker who wrote the same sentence five years apart.The real cost of running your video business the way you run it now, and why two or three tools set up properly can hand back ten hours a week.If you have ever told yourself you will sort the systems out when things settle, this episode is for you.Listen to Scale Your Video Business with Den Lennie.Mentoring options : www.denlennie.comConnect with Den on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_lennie

May 28, 2026Episode 40610 min

The thing filmmakers tell themselves in June EP#406

Most video business owners don't lose money in the quiet months. They lose it in the busy ones, and they just don't know it yet.This episode is for the filmmaker who's busy right now and feels fine about it. Calendar's full, invoices are going out, the phone rings. Nothing feels wrong.That's the problem.In 14 years of coaching 178 video businesses, Den has watched the same pattern repeat every year. Summer feels fine. September gets weird. October goes quiet. By January, the calls come in. And the founders who get hit hardest aren't the ones already struggling. They're the ones who were comfortable through the busy months and stopped sharpening.Inside this episode:Why busy is not the same as buildingThe 90-day lag and what it's already telling you about your autumnThe four sentences filmmakers say to themselves that all mean the same thingWhy comfort is the most expensive position in the market right nowWhat sharpening actually looks like when the work is already thereDen also shares why the London workshop on June 23 and 24 is directly connected to this conversation, who's already in the room, and why the tools being shared are staying private on purpose.If you've been meaning to look at this and haven't, that's data. If you've watched the page three times and not booked, that's also data. Both are telling you something about the position you're in.Listen now.🎟 London workshop, June 23-24: https://denlennie.com/london-ai-workshopMentoring options : www.denlennie.comConnect with Den on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_lennie

May 26, 2026Episode 4057 min

The job you couldn't miss until something better came along EP#405

If you run a video production business and find yourself saying "I have to be there" about almost every job, this episode is for you. Den Lennie tells the story of a video production client who was exhibiting at a major trade show and was adamant he had to leave for a couple of hours on the first day to babysit an important client. When Den checked in later, it turned out the client work had been covered by someone else, because a bigger opportunity had come along. The episode unpacks why so many videographers, freelancers, and video business owners confuse indispensability with importance, and offers a simple coaching framework for testing whether you're actually as essential as you think. Useful listening for any videographer making the shift from operator to business owner.Mentoring options : www.denlennie.comConnect with Den on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_lennie

May 19, 2026Episode 40412 min

Videographers-In Marketing, you're either winning or you're learning. EP#404

Most video business owners I work with are scared of marketing. Because when it doesn't work, they take it personally.But you're either winning or you're learning. Marketing is just a series of tests to figure out what doesn't work until you find what does.What makes it harder is the market keeps moving. What worked last year might not work now.In this episode I'm sharing my current approach, confessing where we got it wrong recently, what we learned from it, and how we're moving forward.Mentoring options : www.denlennie.comConnect with Den on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_lennie

May 6, 2026Episode 40314 min

Videographers have the loneliest job, and AI is making it worse EP#403

I'm going to say it: filmmakers have the loneliest job. You already spend hours editing on your own. When you're not stressing about the current project, you're stressing about the next project, and A.I. is making it worse. You're already overwhelmed by how much you have to do and how behind you are on the edit. Now every time you look at YouTube, you feel like you're getting behind on AI, and that just adds to your stress. Today I'm going to share the most important thing you could hear all year.Mentoring options : www.denlennie.comConnect with Den on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_lennie

April 30, 2026Episode 4026 min

Why Video Business Owners Hate Selling and What It’s Really Costing You. EP #402

In this episode, Den discusses the psychological barriers that keep video production owners from scaling. By shifting from a "cameraman" identity to a "CEO" mindset, you can turn awkward sales calls into predictable revenue.Here’s what you’ll learn:Why selling feels fake or pushyCameraman vs CEO thinkingHow to approach sales as problem-solvingWhy long-term relationships matterIf you want consistent growth without relying on referrals, this is for you.Learn about the VBA Elite Boardroom here: https://denlennie.com/mentoringMentoring options : www.denlennie.comConnect with Den on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_lennie

April 28, 2026Episode 40111 min

The $100k Editing Trap EP#401

If you are still opening Premiere Pro every day, you have a $100,000 identity problem. You’re performing $30/hr laboor in a business that needs $500/hr leadership. Today, I’m breaking down the 'Technician’s Ceiling' and the exact moment you must put down the mouse to save your profit margins.First of the "shorties" back on the feed. Straight out of last week's Elite call, where two or three members were wrestling with the same stuck point: they're still in the edit, and it's capping the business.The belief underneath it is the one I want to kill in this episode. The idea that your client hires you because of what you do on the tools. They don't. That's an identity you've attached to yourself, and it's the exact thing keeping you stuck as the operator. Richard Branson doesn't fly the plane. Nobody thinks Virgin is a worse airline for it.I talk through one client with a $160K/year account that nearly walked because the founder over-promised, hit a capacity wall, and the edit became the bottleneck. And another Elite client who just won a $67K government project in a technical area he knew almost nothing about, with four more in the pipeline. Potentially $335K of work, because he built the environment and the team instead of trying to be the one pressing the buttons.Then I walk through the S.C.A.L.E. Staircase from the book: Operator, Juggler, Stabilizer, Strategist, Scaler. Most people think they're further up than they are. Most are still in Operator or Juggler. The move out of Operator isn't more AI agents, more tools, or a more complex stack. It's simplification. Delete first, delegate second, defer third, in that order.Pat grew from $160K to over $2M once he accepted that the creativity was in building the team, building the machine, and buying back his time, not in touching the last 10% of the edit.If you want to know where you actually sit on the staircase, the quiz is at scalemethodbook.com.The question I'll leave you with: are you still the bottleneck in your own business?Learn about the VBA Elite Boardroom here: https://denlennie.com/mentoringMentoring options : www.denlennie.comConnect with Den on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_lennie

April 23, 2026Episode 4007 min

Episode 400: The ROI of 150,000 Downloads EP#400

Episode 400. Eight years. 150,000 downloads. Clients doing over $60 million in revenue across that time.This one's off the cuff. I was packing the car for a week's camping with Sam when I realised we'd hit 400 episodes, and I wasn't going to let it slide past without saying something.No guest, no script, just me on the mic. The $60 million number sounds big until you work out it averages around $280K a year in revenue growth per client, which is the figure that actually matters. And the thing I'm most proud of isn't the revenue. It's watching Caleb have three kids, Grant getting married this year, Andres going from $300K to over a million. That's what this work is really about.I also get into why I recorded the audio version of The S.C.A.L.E. Method myself instead of using a voice clone, and why I think the video businesses thriving in an AI world are the ones leaning harder into their humanity, not further from it. AI tools are tools. A great human who can interpret a concept and move someone emotionally is not a tool, and that's where the real opportunity sits.Fourteen weeks straight this year. Time to go camping. Thank you for being here.Learn about the VBA Elite Boardroom here: https://denlennie.com/mentoringMentoring options : www.denlennie.comConnect with Den on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_lennie

April 21, 2026Episode 39910 min

The $10k/Month AI Distraction! EP#399

In this episode, Den dives into a trap that many filmmakers and creative entrepreneurs are falling into: the "productivity" of building things you don't actually need. With the rise of AI tools and "vibe coding," it has never been easier to spend hours automating processes or building custom calculators. But Den challenges you to ask: Is this moving the needle, or is it just "Creative Arrogance" the belief that being busy is the same as being productive?Key highlights include:The Decision Avoidance Trap: Why we choose the comfort of building tools over the discomfort of reaching out to clients.The Effective Hourly Rate: A simple calculation to determine if your time spent "tinkering" is actually costing your business thousands.Humanism vs. Automation: Why humans can sense "fake" content and why your unique human perspective remains your most valuable product.The Difference Between $100k and $1M Businesses: Insights from the Ascend and Elite groups on why high-revenue filmmakers prioritise outreach over perfect workflows.Real-World AI Use Cases: A look at how to build tools that actually capture leads—like a non-profit quoting calculator—versus tools that just create more formatting work.Stop using AI as a convenient distraction. Tune in to learn how to filter your daily tasks through one simple lens: Is this actively getting me in front of a customer?Upcoming WorkshopDen is hosting a 2-day deep-dive workshop in Central London on June 23rd & 24th. We’ll be building the assets that actually move the needle for your business. Spaces are moving fast and will likely sell out before going public.Interested? Email Den directly at den@denlennie.com for the details.Learn about the VBA Elite Boardroom here: https://denlennie.com/mentoringMentoring options : www.denlennie.comConnect with Den on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_lennie