""The main thing was, 'Does this make sense at the end of the day? Does it actually buy me the time back – a half an hour in a day that I can read in the office or get to my kid's game?' And for me, [the biggest win] is creativity – being able to work on the creative side of things, even if I'm not billing for it.""
— Joshua McNary, Founder & CEO
The Challenge
Joshua McNary has spent more than a decade accumulating hands-on expertise in marketing, design, and web development — first in the nonprofit world, then in corporate environments — before channeling that knowledge into McNary Marketing and Design. For six years, he has helped small and medium-sized businesses, nonprofits, and startups build brands, marketing workflows, and business solutions. In short, he's busy.
Joshua wasn't new to the concept of virtual assistants. He had worked with VAs from other firms before, but as he candidly admits, he
"wasn't ready for it."He also found that previous experiences didn't provide a structured system to help him identify how to deploy a VA in a way that actually generated the ROI he needed.
A year before connecting with BELAY, Joshua recognized that the time had finally come for additional support — but hiring a full-time employee wasn't the right fit. He needed a tactical extra arm to help him get more done and reclaim hours in his week without the overhead and commitment of a traditional hire.
The Solution
From the start, BELAY's onboarding process stood out to Joshua.
"One of the main things I think BELAY does really well is help you figure out what you need for where you are,"he explains. "I came into this with some ideas, but BELAY really helped me prioritize what needed to be done." That discovery process led him to Virtual Assistant Terri Melvin — a match Joshua describes as "super successful."
Terri was a strong cultural and personality fit from the beginning, and she quickly proved capable of helping Joshua lift what he called "heavy boulders." He started by having Terri manage his email and calendar. She was so effective at introducing organizational tools that Joshua eventually transitioned her away from inbox management entirely, redirecting her focus toward client billing and business growth support.
Even when the pandemic caused a temporary pause in services, Joshua approached the restart with clarity and purpose. Together, he and Terri evaluated existing processes and asked,
"Can we subtract or what can we automate?"They eliminated tasks that no longer made sense and built a smarter, more economical workflow — one designed to demonstrate ROI not just for one quarter, but every quarter going forward.
""Last summer, I went totally offline. I went up to Northern Minnesota. You're totally off the grid outside of a satellite device – so [Terri] basically shifted what she did and became a little mini-me, kind of just doing any mitigation for me during that week. When I came back, everything was totally fine.""
— Joshua McNary, Founder & CEOThe Impact
The results of Joshua's partnership with Terri have been both practical and deeply personal. On the business side, they have continuously evolved what Terri handles — adapting to new priorities and finding ways to run McNary Marketing and Design more efficiently.
"[We've] continued to evolve and we've shifted what Terri does for me and the business,"Joshua says. "And I imagine that we'll continue to evolve because of various things that we're learning on the way."
Perhaps the most significant impact, though, has been creative. With Terri's support, Joshua has been able to pursue automation projects he never would have otherwise reached.
"If [Terri] hadn't been here, I probably would've never gotten to many of the automation projects we've gotten to and completed."
The partnership also gave Joshua something rare for a solo founder: the ability to truly step away. Last summer, he spent a week completely off the grid in Northern Minnesota with no connectivity beyond a satellite device. Terri stepped in as a "little mini-me," handling mitigation and keeping the business running smoothly. When he returned, everything was fine. For Joshua, that kind of trust — knowing he can lean on someone — is the ultimate measure of success.