"One of the biggest things that BELAY VAs do is free up the mental space. I think one of the things we talk about with delegation is it just means I don't have to spend the time to do the thing. And that's true, but I also don't have to spend the time to think about the thing."
— Wes Gay, StoryBrand Certified Copywriter
The Challenge
Wes Gay launched his StoryBrand copywriting consultancy in 2016, and the business took off almost immediately. By mid-2017, rapid growth had become its own obstacle — Wes was overwhelmed with administrative and operational work that pulled him away from the strategic, client-facing work only he could do.
"I was probably six or seven months into my business, and it had taken off like a rocket. I was slammed."
Having been familiar with BELAY since 2012 — and with his wife having worked as a BELAY contractor in 2014 — Wes knew where to turn. But his needs went beyond basic admin support. He wanted someone with a marketing background who could manage projects, edit copy professionally, and interact with clients and contractors without requiring extensive onboarding.
Just as pressing was the problem of recruitment itself. Wes had no desire to take on the time-consuming task of sourcing and vetting candidates on his own.
"Finding [a Virtual Assistant] is such a hassle and hiring and recruiting almost becomes a part-time job that I did not have time for, and also it wasn't important enough for me to want to make the time for it either."He wanted to offload that entire responsibility and trust BELAY to find the right fit.
The Solution
Wes began his BELAY partnership in 2017 with a Virtual Assistant, expanding his support team to include a Web Specialist in 2019 and a Bookkeeper in 2020. BELAY matched him with Jodi Reiter, a VA whose background in a fast-paced creative agency made her uniquely suited to his world.
"BELAY stepped in [to] help me clarify exactly what I was looking for along with the VA needs. And then, because of their extensive database of people, they said, 'Oh, we have somebody who we think is the right fit.'"
Jodi's day-to-day responsibilities grew to encompass calendar management, email prioritization and responses, project management, client folder organization, proofreading, lead and proposal tracking, and broader client-specific support — all without needing to be trained on the fundamentals of marketing workflows. Her agency experience meant she was already comfortable managing creatives, juggling competing priorities, and keeping projects on track.
BELAY also paired Wes with Web Specialist Joshua Rystedt and Bookkeeper Rebecca Griffin, giving him a three-person support team that covered the operational and financial backbone of his growing business — each matched with the same precision BELAY applied to finding Jodi.
"The big plus for me was knowing that BELAY was far more than just administrative support on calendar and email. It wasn't just an administrative assistant, it was somebody who could assist me in the ways that would fit my business best."
— Wes Gay, StoryBrand Certified CopywriterThe Impact
With his BELAY team in place, Wes gained something more valuable than reclaimed hours: he reclaimed mental space. Beyond the practical relief of not having to execute administrative tasks, he no longer had to carry the cognitive weight of remembering, worrying about, or planning around them.
"Freeing up that mental bandwidth, knowing that I don't have to deal with certain things and somebody else is just owning that stuff gives me the capacity to focus more on what I need to do, and focus on the things that I know only I can do to bring value to the business and clients."
Wes and Jodi also developed increasingly sophisticated systems over time — including automated Calendly and Zapier workflows that triggered CRM updates and notified Jodi the moment a new sales call was booked, so she could immediately account for it in her scheduling work. This kind of proactive automation reduced dropped details and kept everything moving seamlessly.
Wes credits Jodi as central to his sustained success.
"She has been a key part of my ability to have been successful up to this point. The biggest thing I think she's helped me accomplish is having somebody that helps me stay focused on what I'm good at and then also stay out of the things more and more that I know I'm not good at."