As the President and Client Wealth Manager at GW Financial, Inc., Julie Bray has been offering comprehensive financial planning for nearly three decades. GW Financial, Inc. is a wealth management and financial planning firm for individuals, families, and organizations to address their broad financial needs through integrated advice and asset management.
The Challenge
For Julie, the major pain point that brought her to BELAY was her email and calendar – scheduling, specifically.
And with 120 clients, tasks can add up – and quickly. Julie always wanted to respond quickly but as her firm grew, such tasks – ‘low-value’ tasks as Julie explains – demanded more time than she could budget.
Further compounding the challenge was the fact that her Client Services assistant didn’t have the bandwidth to take on more responsibilities…. and even if she could, Julie wouldn’t have been able to give her the promotion she deserved and had earned.
Enter: BELAY VA extraordinaire Jherika Martin!
The Solution
With Jherika on board, Julie was able to let go of her email a bit more.
Now, Julie explains, she has only one email folder to review after Jherika triages everything else. She’s also enabled Julie’s Client Services Assistant to improve her production by taking at least 25 percent or more off her plate as well.
As Julie explains, Jherika has been able to “… give both of us a little bit of margin that also enabled us to focus on what we do best. I’ve really liked that.”
However, Julie admits that initially, she struggled with how to keep such sensitive financial and personal information secure for her clients with a contractor.
“I had to figure out how to work with a virtual person when I have so much information around people and their personal finances – so much nonpublic information,” Julie explains. “So we worked with our compliance officer and technology expert here. Jherika has a lot of information – but she doesn’t have access to all of it; she has access to what she needs. We were able to have IT limit Jherika’s visibility in our CRM. That’s been key for us.”
And in no time, Jherika has gotten into their workflow. She completes processes; she understands how to keep things moving along – and has a level of attention to detail that Julie appreciates.
“[She] elevates me to the next level of being able to scale,” Julie says. “And to be more efficient and more effective as well.”
The Results
For Julie, however, the biggest win is knowing she’s got the right people – and company in her corner.
“What I really like about BELAY is [that] I’ve hired a company who’s hired the right person,” she shares. “So I can think and plan for my business over the next five, 10, 15, 20 years, [and] I don’t have to worry.”
Peace of mind? Now that’s priceless.