Todd Dockerty is the Chief Operating Officer at Dockerty Healthcare Services, overseeing operations across eight assisted living facilities in Michigan. With responsibilities spanning everything from team management to daily logistics, Todd’s days were packed and demanding.
The operational pressure left him buried in emails and administrative details, often crowding out time for strategic focus and family. Todd reached a point where he knew something had to change if he wanted to give both his work and personal life the attention they deserved.
Making the Leap to BELAY
At first, Todd had his doubts about remote assistants:
"My brother kept saying, ‘I think that you should consider a virtual assistant.’ And I was a little hesitant because I didn't know about someone in my email, in my calendar."
Everything changed after a key meeting:
"I went into a meeting one week and the director asked me if I had gotten the email that I had requested the previous week and I said, I did. And it's still sitting in my inbox and I've done nothing with it. And I left that meeting and I'm like, I have got to figure out something different because I can't ask for people to be more consistent, and not be consistent myself."
That was the turning point: "Within four days — I reached out to BELAY."
The match process was fast and thorough.
"I feel like BELAY did a really good job of really asking the right questions... it was pretty short, less than a week," Todd recalls.
Immediate Impact: Beth’s Transformations
BELAY matched Todd with Beth Stefanech, and she immediately saw the strain:
"Either Todd was a superhero or he just never slept before we worked together because I just don't know how he got it all done."
Beth jumped in from day one.
"We showed up to our kickoff call ready to go," Beth shared. "I was in Todd's email moving things around right away."
What Beth Did for Todd:
- Organized emails into actionable folders like 'Todd To Do Urgent,' 'Todd To Do Not Urgent,' and 'Beth To Do'
- Created custom filters so urgent tasks were always easy to find
- Separated work and personal emails to reduce overwhelm
- Attached meeting prep to calendar invites so Todd always had what he needed before meetings
- Became the go-to contact for the team, reducing Todd’s daily communication burden
- Handled project management tasks to keep priorities moving forward
- Managed vendor relationships to streamline communication and processes.
Todd noticed the difference instantly.
"That in itself changed my life,” said Todd. “I wasn't just opening up my Gmail app on my phone every hour to make sure I'm not missing something.”
Building Trust and Transforming Routine
A daily 8:30 a.m. check-in became their rhythm.
"We started meeting every morning... and we've continued doing that to this day," said Todd.
For Beth, this consistent communication was key to delivering exceptional support: "Any little thing that I wondered about, I wouldn't have to wait until our meeting next week. I could get answers right away and adjust."
Letting an Executive Assistant into his workflow was an adjustment, but Todd adapted quickly.
"You know, it's really weird letting someone enter your email and your calendar. I felt so comfortable with Beth immediately. Literally within 48 hours, I was like, I don't care what Beth sees," said Todd. "She has way more knowledge than I did. I just need to let go of all of this and completely trust."
More Time, Bigger Impact
With Beth managing day-to-day details and clearing away the clutter, Todd experienced a real transformation — both at work and at home.
"A lot of the time, I would spend my evenings in my email. That's when I would be cleaning up my inbox and responding to emails,” said Todd. “And I mean, those first few weeks, it was kind of like, what am I supposed to do at six o'clock at night?
“It took me a few weeks to adjust to having that extra time, which allowed me to focus more time on my home life, on my spouse, on what we were doing. I wasn't being interrupted by work. I wasn't choosing for work to interrupt my life anymore in the evenings."
Beth’s support didn’t just change Todd’s sense of freedom. She also unlocked new energy for strategic initiatives at work.
"It freed up brain space for me to be able to think about the bigger picture... Prior to Beth, I would look out and say, 'I don't have the commitment in the next two months to see this project through. So, therefore, I'm just not starting it.' So it's allowing us to look at stuff like that and actually start the project, get the project done, get it rolled out — which is all part of getting more organized as a company."
"It’s allowing the focus to be on the right stuff. Our business has become significantly more successful in the last year for a lot of reasons, but one of those reasons is Beth."
The Impact on the Team
“As other people in the business started to get to know me,” Beth shared, “They knew that they could just reach out to me instead of having to go through Todd. So it wasn’t another email in his inbox.
“So I not only started to see what I felt like Todd's needs were, but needs that were broader than just him, you know, that would also apply to the business and the team. And I know the entire team is important to Todd.”
The entire team felt the impact of Beth’s support and attention.
"We were talking about things we were thankful for,” Todd mentioned. “Beth's name came up and everyone's like, 'Oh my god, Beth's amazing.' It's all the people that she's communicating with that are making me look like I'm really consistent in following through on things, but it's not me, it's Beth."
Advice for Leaders Ready for Change
Todd encourages others to open their minds to the transformative support he has received through Beth:
"Be really open-minded to the ways that a virtual assistant could change your life that you're probably not even aware of. Someone's gonna come to the table with ideas that you're not thinking of and just go with it."