So I'm not sure where you want to dive in on that story, but I'm going to flip it to you and let you take over.

Yeah, thank you.

I'm so excited you found your Brooke and you were able to take her and now she's helping you run your business.

I started my career at Belay because the founders saw an opportunity for an organization to... help leaders find great executive assistants that were fractional and remote and maybe didn't live in the same town.

Actually, our very first client was somebody who was from Cheyenne, Wyoming, who could not find a local talent person, did not need a full-time hire.

I actually don't even know what to do now.

I've tapped all my local resources and we're like, hey, you know what? Could you have an assistant in Atlanta? Sure, I think so.

Okay.

So

Gay wanted to start an organization, but also knew there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes.

You don't just lift a company and go sell some things and all of a sudden there's clients and you're delivering services.

There's so much behind the scenes that has to go on for all that to be true.

And so they brought me on as their first employee to do all the back end operations.

And so I was setting up CRMs and I was sending out proposals and I was launching all of our new technology so that they could focus on this new business that they were creating.

And so I had the opportunity to sit in the seat where I watched two founders work.

So can we talk about the AI and how that part has influenced the work that you do now and compared to just a few years ago?

How does having the right executive partner, um, enable executives to be a better leader, not just a better producer or, you know, drive the bottom line? We need that, but how does it help them become a better leader?

Yeah, I think, you know, I, I certainly know that I, I would not be in the seat I'm in today if I didn't have an amazing executive assistant.

So much has gone into that relationship.

You know, kind of to your point, I just believe as part of being a great leader is, um, you hand over trust, um, and you don't wait for it to be earned.

And so I think that's where I see people stumble is, like, they tiptoe into what it looks like to have an executive assistant.

They're kind of unsure.

Um, and so maybe they do it 50% of the way.

A- a- are there other things that, uh, really high-performing executives do better than others when it comes to this, uh, to really fully utilizing this amazing tool that you're offering through assistant?

[laughs]

Uh, I think, you know, we moved to the right hire right now, which helped us really cast net over the hire could be more than just an assistant, so that messaging helped us.

Um, we are very, um, clear on having the brand messaging be very specific on a leader's value add, and it's beyond ...

What used to be, "You're overwhelmed, we can help you," has become, "You lack expertise.

You lack, um, time." We've shifted the pain to make sure we cover what the pain would be for somebody who needed financial expertise.

Yeah.

And so when we talk about assistant solutions, we talk about, um, a customized match.

When we talk about financial solutions, we talk about it being a holistic solution.

[laughs]

Uh, I think, you know, we moved to the right hire right now, which helped us really cast net over the hire could be more than just an assistant.

So that messaging helped us.

Um, we are very, um, clear on having the brand messaging be very specific on a leader's value add, and it's beyond.

What used to be you're overwhelmed, we can help you, has become you lack expertise.

You lack, um, time.

We've shifted the pain to make sure we cover what the pain would be for somebody who needed financial expertise.

Yeah.