As President of Grappa Fine Wines & Spirits, Jonathan Staufer has proudly celebrated 40 years of hard work and tasteful inebriation with his family-owned and operated business in the heart of the Vail Village in Colorado.
They are a full-service liquor store, offering an extensive selection of beers and spirits along with Vail’s only true wine cellar featuring fine wines from around the world.
The Challenge
In addition to owning Grappa Fine Wines & Spirits in Vail, Colorado, Jonathan also serves on a nonprofit board, owns various real estate, and is the president of his HOA.
But, to hear him explain it, after 19 years of running the liquor store, he began to feel like it was running him.
“Outsourcing for some help was a necessary thing,” Jonathan says. “I have used virtual assistants in the past, but did some research and the companies I was using before changed their models. So I did some research and [BELAY] came up – and I’ve been exceedingly impressed.”
The Solution
But it isn’t just BELAY that impressed him. It’s his BELAY VA, Veronica Addae, too – and everything he’s been able to hand off to her.
“You name it – she does a lot of stuff online for us,” he says. “Updating products on the website – she’ll get the pictures, she’ll get the description. She does blog entries for us. She does Facebook entries.
“And that’s just the store. She also organizes the database, keeping that up-to-date, checking my emails so I don’t have to – she’s definitely cut down on that load a lot. She’s now managing the calendar, too.”
And the key to their successful partnership? Communication, and lots of it.
“We talked a couple of times a week when we started, and now we speak once a week,” he says. “We email back and forth, and we WhatsApp message back and forth a lot just to keep on top of projects.
“She’s much better at keeping on top of things than I am. Give her something to do and it’s done.”
Her reliability then lent itself to Jonathan being able to diversify her responsibilities.
“I had her rewrite a lease for me,” Jonathan shares. “We also have a nonprofit that we run and she’s put together a mailing so we can get some more donations.
“We also have a lot of clients [that] very much value their privacy. So I needed to make sure she understood that – and she does. She’s very discreet.”
The Results
“My wife has noticed that I’ve got more time to think, so that’s good,” Jonathan concludes. “And my mother did [notice] too, and she was very happy. It’s helpful to have good help.
“My integration with Veronica has been great. My interactions with [BELAY] have been fantastic. And I feel like I’m starting to get on top of things again and start being able to think about something other than my store all the time, or at least start thinking about how to run it strategically. I can’t say enough good things.”