""I really don't like doing all the behind the scenes stuff and just prefer to focus on the relationships I have with my clients.""
— Lauren Carroll, Real Estate Agent
The Challenge
Lauren Carroll has built a formidable reputation as a real estate agent in the Brookline, Newton, and surrounding Massachusetts markets, working with the innovative residential firm Compass. After more than a decade in the industry, she had helped her clients secure $250 million in sales — a testament to her deep market knowledge and unwavering commitment to relationships.
But behind every closed deal was a mountain of administrative work that Lauren neither enjoyed nor had time for. As a mother of two young boys and wife of a Brookline Firefighter, she was already deeply embedded in her community. The operational demands of her business were pulling her away from what mattered most: her clients.
"I really don't like doing all the behind the scenes stuff and just prefer to focus on the relationships I have with my clients,"
Lauren was bogged down with minutia — lacking a consistent marketing presence, a functioning website, or the bandwidth to manage contracts, scheduling, and vendor communications. She needed more than help. She needed someone who could take ownership.
The Solution
BELAY matched Lauren with Virtual Assistant Kristin Varnadore, whose contributions quickly became, in a word, exhaustive. Kristin took over Lauren's entire digital marketing footprint — managing LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook, running paid digital ads, executing email campaigns, coordinating postcard mailings for new listings, and even managing print placements in outlets like Boston Magazine.
Kristin also built Lauren's online presence from the ground up.
"I manage her Google My Business account — she didn't have any of this before — including the new website and a consistent marketing campaign to establish her brand,"Kristin explains. She worked alongside Lauren's website vendor and an SEO firm to ensure Lauren's visibility in Google searches improved steadily.
On the administrative side, Kristin handled all listing contracts, attorney communications, and document uploads into Compass's SkySlope platform. She scheduled fire inspections required by Boston for closings, mapped out efficient showing routes for client days, and maintained Lauren's calendar with deal-specific deadlines and reminders. She even set up automated property search collections for buyers — keeping clients engaged and informed without requiring Lauren's direct involvement.
""Essentially, I have taken over everything that Lauren doesn't have to personally do herself. I learn all the new software and tools so she doesn't have to, and I just try to free her up to be the face of her brand with boots on the ground.""
— Lauren Carroll, Real Estate AgentThe Impact
The results of the partnership were transformational. Lauren was freed entirely from the operational weight of her business, allowing her to show up fully as the face of her brand — building relationships, closing deals, and staying present in her community.
"Essentially, I have taken over everything that Lauren doesn't have to personally do herself. I learn all the new software and tools so she doesn't have to, and I just try to free her up to be the face of her brand with boots on the ground,"Kristin shares.
The relationship grew beyond a professional one. Kristin visited Lauren in Massachusetts, where Compass welcomed her with open arms — a signal of how fully integrated the partnership had become.
"Compass has really welcomed me with open arms and supported Lauren in her engagement with me and BELAY,"Kristin notes.
From a business with no consistent marketing presence or website to one with a fully managed brand across multiple channels, Lauren Carroll now operates with the infrastructure of a much larger team — while remaining the deeply personal, client-focused agent her Massachusetts community has come to trust.