Tim Schurrer built a leadership development organization with big ambitions. The challenge wasn't talent or strategy.
It was bandwidth.
As CEO of David Novak Leadership, Tim is in the business of helping people become better leaders. He knows, perhaps better than most, that the way a leader spends their time is the single greatest lever they have.
And for a while, he wasn't spending his time the right way.
Tim had spent a decade leading StoryBrand alongside Donald Miller, running a team of 30 full-time employees. When he stepped into his new role at David Novak Leadership, he took a different approach with a small team of four full-time employees. The goals, however, didn't shrink.
They were, in his words, "big and ambitious."
That gap between a lean team and an expansive vision created a real problem. And Tim knew exactly what to do about it.
The Challenge: Big Goals, Small Team, & No Room for the Wrong Hires
For any CEO, the to-do list never gets shorter. But for Tim, the stakes were especially high. Adding full-time headcount felt like the wrong move for an organization whose needs were constantly evolving.
"To take the risk of bringing on a bunch of full-time employees is actually a risk that I don't really want to take," Tim explains, "because our business needs are constantly changing."
Beyond the risk, there was the reality of ramp time.
Even a great hire can take three to six months before they're fully productive, time a lean team simply can't afford to lose. Meanwhile, Tim was getting pulled into the small, time-consuming tasks that pile up without warning: the 15-minute to-dos that, collectively, swallow entire days.
"There is more work on your plate than you are able to get done," Tim says, "and that's not going away. That is just how it is going to be. What do you do about that? You can either reduce the potential impact that you might be able to make, or you can get some help."
Tim chose to get help. And he didn't stop at one.
Finding the Solution
Tim turned to BELAY and leaned in fully.
Today, he relies on three BELAY Virtual Assistants to support the work of David Novak Leadership every week.
What drew him to the model wasn't just the quality of the talent. It was the flexibility. BELAY's contract structure meant Tim could scale support up or down as the business evolved, without the overhead, risk, or long ramp times of traditional hiring.
"I love the adaptability of my BELAY contracts," he says. "I'm able to say, 'OK, here's a space that we're going to be stepping into in the next several months [where] I could use your support.' And then I have the ability to increase the hours if the opportunity needs more hours."
Just as importantly, BELAY handled the hard part of getting a new team member up to speed, dramatically faster than the typical onboarding curve.
"What I love about what's happened at BELAY is they're actually able to make that happen even faster," Tim says. "The amount of time that I am now spending trying to staff has dramatically decreased. I love that so much."
What the Partnership Made Possible
With BELAY handling the work that had been pulling Tim away from his highest-value responsibilities, the shift was immediate.
The 15-minute tasks, the ones that seem small but accumulate into hours, were off his plate. His Virtual Assistants took ownership of them consistently and enthusiastically.
"There are so many of these 15-minute tasks that I just cannot possibly keep up with," Tim explains. "They do all of that, and it allows me to focus on certain things that only I can do, where my greatest strength and opportunity are. I get to focus on that while all these other things are also being done."
For a CEO, that's the whole game. Strategy. Vision. Relationships. Opportunities. The work that no one else can do and that only happens when everything else isn't crowding it out.
"These people love saying yes," Tim says. "They are enthusiastically there to support whatever it is that you need them to do.
“And what I'm able to do is spend more time on the business: the opportunities, the strategy, the vision. As a CEO, that's exactly what I need to be spending my time doing."
The Results: A CEO Freed to Lead
What BELAY provides isn't just task support; it's organizational leverage. The ability to expand capacity without expanding fixed costs. The ability to move into new opportunities quickly, with the right people already in place. The ability to keep great talent without the overhead of managing a larger full-time team.
"I still get really great talent, really great people," Tim says, "and yet I don't have to focus all of my time and attention in that space. I leave it to the experts."
For Tim, BELAY isn't a workaround. It's a core part of how David Novak Leadership operates and grows.
"As I think about my team and the kind of impact that we're trying to make, I really do lean on BELAY to help us do all of that."
The Bottom Line
Tim Schurrer understands leadership at a deep level; in fact, it’s what his organization teaches. And his message to other leaders considering BELAY is grounded in that same clarity.
The work isn't going to slow down. The list isn't going to shrink. The question is whether you spend your time on the things only you can do, or whether you let the small stuff crowd out the meaningful stuff.
"My Virtual Assistant gives me momentum," Tim says simply.
For a CEO with a big vision and a lean team, that momentum makes all the difference.
Ready to reclaim your time and lead at the level your organization needs?