BELAY Blog: How To's & Tips on Leadership & Remote Working

Steve Anderson

Written by Client Success Stories | Jul 11, 2023 4:46:42 PM

Steve Anderson is the co-founder and CEO at Catalyit, an IT services and consulting firm simplifying technology for insurance agents.

Catalyit’s simplified technology resource opens independent agents to a community where they can inspire, grow and succeed. 

Catalyit meets its customers where they are and creates a stronger, more innovative independent agency system.

 

The  Challenge

Steve’s career has been spent in the insurance industry — focusing on writing, consulting and speaking on how independent insurance agencies can use technology in their organization.

He co-founded Catalyit to improve and scale what he had been doing, simplify technology resources and provide open independent agents a community where they can inspire, grow and succeed.

“I've known about BELAY actually for quite a while,” Steve says. ”When we started the company, I was doing all kinds of things that were taking me away from what I do best, which is content creation, ideas and looking into the future.”

Enter BELAY Virtual Assistant Alexandra Dellerson.

 

The Solution

“We have a great working relationship,” Steve says. “Two big areas that she's really helped me individually are email and calendar management. Her role has [also] expanded into helping others within the company.

“We started at 65 hours a month, and that [has] expanded into more hours. 

 

“She's taken more responsibility for not just me but other functions within the company that she can do well [and] that relieve other people from, and more importantly, let them do what they're best at.”

 

Steve and Alexandra often communicated back and forth, in the beginning, to build trust with each other.

“I couldn’t imagine how anybody could take over my email, and now I can because she has,” Steve says.

“As she and I started working together, we made a pact that said, ‘If this isn't working, I'll tell you, and if it's not working for you, you tell me.’  And we've changed some stuff because of that willingness to be open with each other and [to be] kindly honest.”

Along with email and calendar management, Alexandria has also taken over building proposals for the companies Catalyit does consulting work, tracking payment, deploying invoices, managing projects and taking meeting notes.

 

The Result

 

“I'm able to spend more of my time doing what I do best,” Steve says. “I was getting pretty stressed out being required to do things that aren't in my skillset. 
Alexandra is, in a lot of ways, a calming influence.”

 

“Being able to hand some of that stuff over — even if it seems small like email management or meeting and calendar — relieves me from some of that anxiety of having so much to do and not having enough time to think, plan and strategize.

 

“Freeing [myself] up and not feeling like I'm always buried under details has helped me be a better leader for the company. I’m better able to use the skills I've developed over the years to move forward toward our goals of helping insurance agents with their technology.”