"I wasn't coming from a place of desperation, and that's really important because that meant I could make a proactive decision and create my business future the way I wanted to versus, Oh my gosh, I'm drowning. I didn't want to get to that point. I could tell after conversations and research with BELAY that they had a similar standard of excellence that I do — operationally and relationally."
— Julie C. Henry, Author, Speaker, and Coach
The Challenge
Julie C. Henry has been building her own business since 2008, navigating the unique pressures of solo entrepreneurship while carrying extraordinary personal weight. As she was growing her brand as an author, speaker, and coach, she was simultaneously caring for a husband battling cancer and raising two children who were only three and five years old at the time.
When her husband passed away in 2018, life shifted. Then COVID-19 arrived, dealing another blow to her business. Julie used the slower period to finish her book, Wisdom from the Wild: The Nine Unbreakable Laws of Leadership from the Animal Kingdom, but as the world reopened, she faced a pivotal question about what to invest in next.
"I knew if I was ever going to scale to have the impact that I wanted to have and knew I could have, I needed somebody to come in and do the operational things and handle the details."
With her book published, her kids older, and her energy renewed, Julie stood at an inflection point. She wasn't drowning — she was ready. And that made all the difference in how she chose to move forward.
The Solution
Julie approached her search for support the same way she approached leadership: deliberately and relationally. After researching her options, she chose BELAY — and was matched with Virtual Assistant Sarah Rivera. The connection was immediate.
"I'm very blessed that this was the right fit from the beginning. I'm a relational person, and she's relational, too. There's nothing transactional in my business; it's all people. Had my relationship with Sarah become transactional, I would not have continued because that's not what I need."
Julie calls Sarah her "keynote concierge" — a role that extends well beyond scheduling. When Julie is on the road speaking, Sarah manages real-time client requests, shares resources, and maintains direct relationships with Julie's audience. She also handles the unexpected: money in a teenager's lunch account, an Advil request mid-travel, whatever the moment demands.
Sarah brought creative vision to the partnership as well. She independently designed branded stickers in Canva based on key concepts from Julie's book — items Julie now distributes at speaking engagements. "She had a great time. She designed them in Canva, and people love them. They love them. I would have never done that. Never. I wouldn't have even thought about it, and I couldn't have even done it if I had, but she just churned them out."
"I call her my keynote concierge. Because the reality is, if I'm in Pittsburgh — which I was last week — I can't always answer requests, but when someone needs something like a headshot or access to Google Drive, or X, Y, Z, she can help them. So, that's really important to me to have her have a direct relationship with the clients, too."
— Julie C. Henry, Author, Speaker, and CoachThe Impact
With Sarah managing the operational and logistical details of both her business and personal life, Julie experienced a meaningful shift — not just in efficiency, but in creativity, presence, and peace of mind.
"She's helped me unleash my creativity in a new way because I don't have to think about the details anymore. She gets just as excited as I am. She'll share things on LinkedIn that I've posted, and I'm excited that she's excited about connecting with people, too."
For a solo entrepreneur who once led teams of 45 in corporate America, Julie's decision to trust BELAY's matching process was confident and strategic. She valued the vetting BELAY had already done, the alignment in standards of excellence, and the safety net of the BELAY Guarantee — knowing a rematch was available at no additional cost if the fit wasn't right.
Most importantly, Julie gained something deeply personal: the assurance that someone else is invested alongside her. "I'm responsible in my life all the time, and now it's nice to have somebody who also feels responsible." For a widowed mother of two who has carried enormous responsibility on her own, that sense of shared ownership is the most valuable outcome of all.