How Pat Henderson went from solo operator to a five-person team running 40 projects a month

Where Pat started

He was a freelancer, outsourcing a little but doing most of the work himself. Like most skilled operators, he was reluctant to give up the edit: the client hired him, he knew the project best, so surely he should be the one cutting it.

The problem, as he puts it, is that it is only so scalable. He was the bottleneck at the end of every project.

“I was a freelancer. I was outsourcing some of the work, but doing a lot of it myself. And now I have a production company. I have full time employees. I don't touch the tools as I used to.”

Pat Henderson, Path Eight Productions

The move

Two hard shifts, both of which he resisted at first and Den kept pushing on. First, getting off the tools into a producer role. The more he stepped away from editing, the more the company could grow, take on more projects and deliver on time, because he was no longer the choke point.

Second, niching. Healthcare was already where his bigger-budget clients were, so that is where Den told him to focus. He pushed back, he liked the variety, but niching is about speaking directly to one audience, and once he followed through it worked.

“The reason I stayed so long is definitely the group. It's a really vetted group of people that you can trust, for not just opinions, but also for help on production, post production, everything.”

Pat Henderson, Path Eight Productions

Why he stayed

He joined to learn from Den, but he stayed more than four years for the group: a vetted room of owners around the world facing the same things. He now hands off London productions to a former member he trusts completely. That network is the part he calls invaluable.