Jake Hammel is the founder and principal of Just Jake & Co., a company that offers digital marketing consulting, talent relations and booking services.
But it’s more than an influencer agency.
It's a dynamic team of seasoned professionals with a wealth of knowledge and expertise spanning a multitude of industries, platforms, networks and specialized disciplines.
It harnesses the power of our authentic connections to sculpt compelling digital narratives and tailor-made strategies that deliver intimacy at scale.
Jake’s expertise has been the driving force behind some of the most engaging content and storytelling online that’s driving awareness of brands, products, events and services globally.
His events, activations and programs have been seen around the world at CES, Sundance Film Festival, New York Fashion Week, SXSW Conference and Festivals, Coachella, The GRAMMYs and more.
The Challenge
Jake specializes in strategy development and implementation, innovative campaign storytelling and engagement marketing tactics for travel and hospitality, fashion and beauty and technology clients.
“I was realizing that I just couldn't do it all,” Jake remembers. “As I'm starting to scale and grow, I needed additional support. I'm a millennial in the sense [that] I overwork myself. I work too hard.
“My biggest issue was delegating tasks. I tend to do things on my own and [I was] realizing the best way that I'm going to grow and develop as a boss and as an individual is to learn how to delegate more. And last year was the busiest year of my business ever.
“And the year before that, I was doing my business and also going to school. I finished my MBA as [my business] was continuing to grow. I was growing and developing my business, [and] I knew I had to scale and grow.
“I was looking for someone who could be an assistant for me from an hourly standpoint. I asked around and somebody told me about BELAY. I reached out immediately and was like, I love the idea of this using a service to help provide a Virtual Assistant.
“And now I'm bragging about it all the time. Everyone needs an assistant.
It's so nice to have an assistant who gets to know your business. It's helped vastly improve my day-to-day functionality in the sense of a work-life balance and happiness level. But beyond that, it frees up my time where I can focus more on new business and growing things.”
“That then can go into focusing on if it's not just to live a more peaceful life, it can go into focusing on turning that into profit-driving initiatives. I'm trying to do the work smarter, not harder.”
Enter BELAY Virtual Assistant, Jessica Kimbrell.
The Solution
“Doing the upfront work and making sure you [your VA] all the things that they need to know takes some time,” Jake says. “It takes time for them to read your habits and see how you react and get to know you [before they] start putting that into play with how you mark your emails, how you help respond to things, how you like calendars to be run, all of those little details.
“[Jessica and I] have an open dialogue and open communication and work through it all.
Jessica assists Jake with not only his calendar and emails but with travel logistics for his travel and hospitality clients, managing payments, responding to clients promptly — and improving their overall company image.
“She's matching the energy [I needed],” Jake adds. “She's understanding, she's there and she's just very sweet. She [communicates] with influencers, clients and everybody else via email, but I can send you a list of emails of people who've been like, ‘By the way, I love Jessica.’
“I'm sure it's responsiveness and her personality [that] shines through an email. It's just been a great match. As a duo together, it's been a great fit because she responds to everything in the manner that I feel I would respond. She handles everything appropriately.”
The Result
“As we work more and more together, get to know each other more, she is predictive for me,” Jake says. “The way that she goes, ‘Do you want me to start doing this? I've noticed that you've been doing this or saying this’ or ‘I noticed you've been doing this a lot. Would you like for me to help step in and do this and help but change things in this way?
“The win is that she's watching and learning. [My BELAY partnership is] bringing me a confidence level that I could easily find the clients and triple [or] quadruple very easily and effectively, increase and scale the business accordingly and still be very profitable.
“It's hard for me to let go. So it also can be hard to trust people, especially if you're like, ‘They don't know me, they're not inside my head,’ whereas [Jessica has] gotten to know me and my business and how I like things handled.
“[Jessica] has been a really valuable member of the team. She is taking on tasks and we've built a relationship and rapport, and I just trust her.
“I was able to go on vacation and tune out and just let her jump in and handle things and send me a data email. There's so much more that I can do comfortably now that I never would've been able to do before.”
Meet the Specialist
JESSICA KIMBRELL
Virtual Assistant