Jon LoDuca is the founder and CEO of PlaybookBuilder, a revolutionary knowledge management tool that helps drive higher results in organizations by supporting a continuous learning culture.
The people behind PlaybookBuilder love to solve problems for business owners and teams. They have invested thousands of hours listening, learning and helping hundreds of companies before ever writing a single line of code for the software.
PlaybookBuilder harvests wisdom from subject matter experts in organizations so that their genius, best practices and SOPs can scale inside of a company.
The Challenge
“I [shared] my ideas of what I was looking for, and I was told [BELAY] would be able to [find] a person for me. And the first person was such a tremendously good fit, both culturally and capabilities-wise.
“I was truly impressed [by BELAY] interpreting and sourcing the right person. All the things that went into determining what I needed, even maybe beyond what I knew, meant that [BELAY] was going to hit a bullseye on the first pass.
“I was very impressed. So when we went to the second round, I thought, ‘Well, we'll see if they can do it again.’ And [BELAY] did it again.”
Enter BELAY Virtual Assistants Shelby Dinkel and Janine Yanez.
The Solution
“BELAY was direct and clear about some best practices to make sure the engagement worked well — and ensure success,” Jon says. “What worked well, in the beginning, was super clear definitions and a lot of disclosure and self-awareness about my limitations.
“I'm handicapped with my skillset, and I know it and I'm not shy about saying, ‘You're here because I'm not good at these things.’ And so I wasn't hiding the fact that I would struggle to put things on the calendar.”
With Jon admitting he wasn’t a ‘detail guy,’ he empowered Shelby and Janine to hold him accountable.
Janine and Jon worked together in Jon’s inbox learning what can be delegated and how Janine should be communicating with clients on his behalf. Shelby worked on the marketing and project management side of Jon’s business.
“These [VAs] want to be successful,” Jon says. “I could fail them by letting them fail. So I looked at it from the lens of really being a partner with them, and they didn't want to get it wrong.
“They welcomed the attention and evaluation together. Now we're in a place where we had a death in the family, and I was out for two weeks and didn't come up for air and check email. And I so trust the way emails are handled. I trust the way social media is being done and the way the marketing is progressing.”
“This has been several months of trust building. Now, these gals are running against a strategy. We do check-ins to just coordinate. But in my absence, because of an unfortunate situation, they ran meticulously.”
The Result
Jon has been able to leverage both of his VAs in different ways to help grow his business.
“We were able to leverage Janine's operational capabilities to start integrating those communications not only passively into our CRM, but she provides oversight and makes sure that that information is in the right spot and the right people on the team hear about it,” Jon explains.
“And then, because of her capabilities being so rich in that environment, she not only dumped data based on our requirement, she pushed back and offered suggestions and recommendations and upgrades to how we're using that platform.
“So it wasn't just doing what she was told, she went beyond that to what we wanted to accomplish and provide leadership.”
And as Janine was settled — and thriving — in her role, Shelby was able to also come alongside Jon and help in a different aspect of his business.
“Shelby's a bit of a unicorn,” Jon adds. “She can run operationally, be very tasky and detailed, and then write like somebody whose job it is to write for voice. Those are not typically the things you'd find in the same person.
“Shelby's now project managing creative projects and leading conversations about event planning because of [her project management skill set] which actually transcends the creative [realm].”
As far as what Jon has gained as a leader with getting the support of his two BELAY Virtual Assistants, Jon has been able to focus more strategically on his business.
“It's an indispensable value to have people you trust that you can delegate to,” Jon says. “I'm able to focus more strategically because there's fewer fires to fight.
I sleep better, we're getting more done, and I enjoy seeing them flourish. They're working in their unique abilities, and they're having a good time.”
Meet the Specialists
SHELBY DINKEL
Virtual Assistant
JANINE YANEZ
Virtual Assistant