"I don't know what the secret formula is that BELAY has when they do those initial interviews with the client and then the matching of the client to the contractor. It's just been a success. Julia, Zach's VA, is nothing like Ashley, my VA. But [Zach and I] work differently, and it's just amazing that on the first try for both of us, the consultant match was a great fit for the work that we were doing and the way that we work."
— Kari Way, Owner and Executive Vice President
The Challenge
Kari Way, Owner and Executive Vice President at Wasco—a fast-growing precision pressure switch and sensor manufacturer with 74 employees—was a self-described reluctant adopter when it came to virtual assistants. With the company on track to close $21 million in revenue in 2022, explosive growth had made day-to-day operations increasingly chaotic.
"I was a more reluctant adapter. My work world at the time was actually very chaotic because of the explosive growth. It was hard enough just for me to wrap my arms around what I needed to accomplish for the day let alone let somebody else know what to do."
The volume of communications alone made Kari's inbox virtually unmanageable. She was receiving between 300 and 400 emails every single day—far more than any one person could reasonably handle on top of running a rapidly scaling manufacturing operation.
"The biggest pain point is there are not enough hours in the day to get the work done that you need to do. I am getting 300-400 emails a day. There's no way one person can get through all that."
It ultimately took persistent encouragement from her son Zach—who had already been working with a BELAY Virtual Assistant for several months—to convince Kari to give the model a try. He shared how he had structured his own working relationship, and Kari finally agreed to move forward.
The Solution
After being matched with BELAY Virtual Assistant Ashley Tucker, Kari and Ashley got to work immediately on the most pressing challenge: taming an out-of-control inbox. Ashley quickly extended her support to general file management, folder organization, scheduling meetings and appointments, and blocking off focused work time on Kari's calendar.
Their working cadence evolved naturally over time—starting with daily phone and video calls, then settling into three times a week, and eventually transitioning to a biweekly video check-in as Ashley grew more fluent in Wasco's operations and culture.
"Now that she understands the business, she can run faster. Ashley threw herself into all of our training and learned really quickly."
As Ashley's knowledge deepened, so did the scope of her responsibilities. She took over all travel coordination for team members—hotels and rental cars for staff flying between Wasco's two locations—and became a key partner in planning strategic department retreats.
"She did everything for the HR retreat we had a couple of months ago – from designing swag to reserving the Airbnb, and I even sent her the agenda and a bunch of info and she put the booklets together."
"The key to building trust is being honest and forthright at the beginning and being self-aware enough to know what you need."
— Kari Way, Owner and Executive Vice PresidentThe Impact
The partnership between Kari and Ashley has delivered results that go well beyond inbox management. Ashley fully immersed herself in Wasco's culture and core values, becoming a trusted extension of the team rather than simply a task-taker.
"Ashley learned the culture and our core values. She took those and learned from them and she speaks and lives them. She's very easy to talk to."
Kari was also delighted by capabilities she hadn't anticipated—particularly Ashley's creativity and instinct for event planning, which brought an extra dimension to her retreats and company events.
"She has an extra benefit that I wasn't expecting [in that] she's a great event planner and she's creative. Those creative elements of making a retreat or an event go off without a hitch and that extra-special pizzazz that she brings have been really good."
The success has been so compelling that Kari has since brought three BELAY contractors onto Wasco's team—and continues to be impressed by BELAY's ability to match the right people to the right clients on the very first try.
"I don't know how BELAY does it, but it's a good formula and it's working."