""When something is done, it's done right and that's been a huge win for me. When I have had other help, I still had to oversee it. Now, I have such a high level of confidence that when it's delegated, there's very little supervision because it's done well.""
— Larry Supon, Owner and President
The Challenge
Larry Supon, owner and president of Automated Lifestyles LLC, had been growing his northeast Pennsylvania smart home technology company since 2000 when the weight of day-to-day operations began crowding out his ability to lead. He needed help with an expanding list of tasks — consolidating credit card expenses, creating electronic manuals for customers, ordering holiday gifts, and managing email — but building a reliable support system felt out of reach.
His deepest fear was the time cost of onboarding. As a technically minded business owner, Larry worried that training someone new would consume more bandwidth than it saved. He was stretched thin, unable to be present for his team or focus on the bigger picture.
"I was just so inundated, but now I could have one-on-one conversations, focus on being a better employer and be more accessible by having more sidebar conversations versus running out the door."
What Larry needed wasn't just an extra set of hands — he needed skilled professionals he could genuinely trust to take work off his plate and run with it.
The Solution
When Larry first reached out to BELAY seven years ago, the response put him at ease immediately.
"Once I explained my problems, I almost felt like instantly it was an, 'OK, we got it. We know what you're looking for,'"he recalls. The candidates were consistently high-caliber, onboarding went smoothly, and BELAY provided step-by-step guidance to set the engagement up for success.
Over time, Larry built what he calls a dream team: Virtual Assistants Abby Crangle and Kristin Hannah, and Bookkeeper (and Virtual CFO) Travis Wallace. A fourth team member, Rachel Socha, began as a BELAY VA and impressed Larry so much she transitioned into a full-time employee at Automated Lifestyles LLC.
"I'm in the technical world, and I'm very impressed with the technical expertise of all the assistants that I've had. They know tons more than I'll ever know about social media — things like Jotform, Google forms."
Travis Wallace has been especially impactful beyond core bookkeeping duties. He delivers detailed monthly reports, participates in inventory tracking meetings, and serves as a trusted sounding board on key business decisions — bringing the kind of strategic partnership Larry hadn't anticipated.
""When you surround yourself with great people, you get a great team.""
— Larry Supon, Owner and PresidentThe Impact
With a reliable team in place, Larry has been able to step back from working in the business and focus on working on it. He now has time for real conversations with his staff, has become more accessible as an employer, and leads with greater intentionality.
The most transformative shift has been his confidence in delegation.
"When something is done, it's done right and that's been a huge win for me. When I have had other help, I still had to oversee it. Now, I have such a high level of confidence that when it's delegated, there's very little supervision because it's done well."
Larry attributes this to a leadership philosophy he's embraced fully through the experience: empower people and trust them.
"There are so many things they know better than you if you just listen to them and don't get in their way. They're set up with their own background and what they bring to the table, which makes them a better resource."
Every BELAY contractor has fit seamlessly into the culture of Automated Lifestyles LLC — professional, kind, and genuinely part of the team. For Larry, the partnership has been nothing short of transformational:
"[BELAY] has been really one of the best decisions I've ever made in the business."