Episode Summary: In this episode of the L3 Leadership Podcast, Tricia Sciortino talks about Belay, a virtual assistant company, and how she went from being a founding employee to CEO.
6 Key Takeaways:
About Tricia: Born and raised in Long Island, she attended the University of Hartford and earned a degree in Business Administration and Management. For ten years, she served as District Manager for the retail chain Pacific Sunwear, however, when her first child was born, she – like many other parents – found herself struggling to balance her high-profile career with her new role as a mother. Enter: BELAY. Joining a startup during the recession was risky, but she took a leap of faith. As BELAY’s first employee and virtual assistant – and then onto serve as Director, Vice President, President, COO, and now CEO – Tricia’s spent the last 10 years ‘walking the walk’ of what BELAY calls the Third Option: the ability to cultivate a balanced life with a successful career while making family and personal relationships a priority. As a leader, she’s passionate about everyone owning and forging their own paths, careers, and professional development, putting each of BELAY’s valued employees and contractors in the driver’s seat to cultivate the balance of work and life that best suits them.
She’s so committed to helping people realize this that, in 2020, she launched a podcast, One Next Step, to show leaders that they can not only grow their business but also help them create more margin so that they can enjoy their life.
Tricia lives in Charlotte, NC with her husband, two daughters, stepson, and fur baby, Lola, and is seriously grateful – for the opportunity to live out her third option every day as a hands-on mom while supporting those she leads to live out theirs.
Quotes From the Episode:
“My goal was always to be the next ‘thing’.”
“Imagine what you could do with two extra hours a day.”
“We view ourselves as the people giving you your time back.”
“Nobody intends to miss the mark.”
“Yes you can.”
Resources Mentioned:
Dare by Becky Blalock
Episode Summary: In this episode of the L3 Leadership Podcast, Tricia Sciortino talks about Belay, a virtual assistant company, and how she went from being a founding employee to CEO.
6 Key Takeaways:
About Tricia: Born and raised in Long Island, she attended the University of Hartford and earned a degree in Business Administration and Management. For ten years, she served as District Manager for the retail chain Pacific Sunwear, however, when her first child was born, she – like many other parents – found herself struggling to balance her high-profile career with her new role as a mother. Enter: BELAY. Joining a startup during the recession was risky, but she took a leap of faith. As BELAY’s first employee and virtual assistant – and then onto serve as Director, Vice President, President, COO, and now CEO – Tricia’s spent the last 10 years ‘walking the walk’ of what BELAY calls the Third Option: the ability to cultivate a balanced life with a successful career while making family and personal relationships a priority. As a leader, she’s passionate about everyone owning and forging their own paths, careers, and professional development, putting each of BELAY’s valued employees and contractors in the driver’s seat to cultivate the balance of work and life that best suits them.
She’s so committed to helping people realize this that, in 2020, she launched a podcast, One Next Step, to show leaders that they can not only grow their business but also help them create more margin so that they can enjoy their life.
Tricia lives in Charlotte, NC with her husband, two daughters, stepson, and fur baby, Lola, and is seriously grateful – for the opportunity to live out her third option every day as a hands-on mom while supporting those she leads to live out theirs.
Quotes From the Episode:
“My goal was always to be the next ‘thing’.”
“Imagine what you could do with two extra hours a day.”
“We view ourselves as the people giving you your time back.”
“Nobody intends to miss the mark.”
“Yes you can.”
Resources Mentioned:
Dare by Becky Blalock
Hey leader, and welcome to episode number 318 of the L three leadership podcast, where we are obsessed with helping you grow to your maximum potential and to maximize the impact of your leadership. My name is Doug Smith and I am your host. And today's episode is brought to you by my friends at Barretts young advisors. If you're new to the podcast, welcome, I'm so glad that you're here. And I hope that you'll enjoy our content and become a subscriber, know that you can also watch all of our episodes on our YouTube channel. So make sure you're subscribed there as well. And if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, thank you so much. And if it's made an impact on your life and leadership journey, it would mean the world. To me. If you would leave us a rating and review on apple podcast or Spotify or whatever app you listen to podcast through, that really does help us to grow our audience and reach more leaders. So thank you in advance for that. In fact, every week I wanna highlight one of your reviews and this week I'll highlight will host review will said this. He said, every episode is packed full of great content that I can practically apply to my leadership. Doug is the best interviewer and his questions dry out incredible answers from the nation's top leaders. I truly love this podcast. Well, thank you so much. Will I love and appreciate you too well leader in today's episode, you'll hear my conversation with Trisha Shortino. Trisha is the CEO and a board member of belay, which is one of the nation's leading virtual assistant companies, where she is privileged to help thousands of business leaders achieve new levels of success. By leveraging the support of an assistant under her leadership, belay has landed on the in 5,000 list, the fastest growing companies and best places to work list. Multiple times, she joined belays its first employee and thrives on process creation, productivity, and developing a growing team to live it out. She's also co-host of the one next step podcast and authored the book rise up and lead. Well, how leveraging an assistant will change your life and maximize your time in which she seeks to help leaders work more effectively with their assistants through 12 key principles. And in our conversation, you'll hear Trisha cover a lot of ground. We talk about why every leader needs an assistant and some of the ways that an assistant can help make a leader more productive. We also talk about ways to maximize the, the leader assistant relationship and how that can be as effective as possible as well. And we also talk through Trisha's leadership journey. Uh, it was mentioned in her bio that she was Blaise's first employee, but now she runs the company and there's a whole story there. That is is amazing. And you're gonna love gaining insights from that as well. And then we also had some fun. She was actually her first, uh, client was actually Michael Hyat. So she was Michael hyat's assistant for two years. And we talk about the lessons that you learned from Michael, which was great. So you're gonna love this conversation, but before we get into that, just a few announcements. This episode of the L three leadership podcast is sponsored by bar tongue advisors, the financial advisors at bar tongue advisors, help educate and empower clients to make informed financial decisions. You can find out how barong advisors can help you develop a customized financial plan for your financial future by visiting their website@bartongueadvisors.com. That's B E R a T U N G advisors.com, securities and investment products and services offered through LPL financial member, FINRA, and S I P C bear tongue advisors, LPL financial, and L three leadership are separate entities. I also wanna thank our sponsor. He jewelers their jeweler own by my friend and mentor John Heney and my wife, Laura, and I got our engagement and wedding rings through he jewelers and had a wonderful experience. And not only do they have incredible jewelry, but they also love and invest in people. In fact, for every couple that comes in engaged to their store, they give them a book to help them prepare for their marriage. And we just love that. So if you're in need of a good jeweler, check out, he jewelers.com. And with all that being said, let's dive right in. Here's my conversation with Trisha Shortino know. Well, Hey, Trisha, uh, this interview has been a long time coming. I know we had to reschedule a few times. I'm so excited to have a conversation with you and you lead a company called belay solutions. Why don't you just tell us a little bit about bay and what they do?
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely. Thanks for your patience. It's been such a, um, anticipation to, to be here talking with you today, Doug. So thank you. Um, yeah. So belay belay is a modernized staffing organization. Um, what does that mean? It sounds so fancy. Um, it means that we provide staffing specifically for virtual assistance, bookkeeping and social media management and website support in a remote capacity, virtual capacity. And back when we started 10 years ago, that was very modernized. You know, today's a different story where we've all learned that that, um, that actually is contemporary, not really modern anymore, but, um, that's what we do.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I wanted, I want to go through your story a little bit, cause you started as a VA and in fact, we were just talking for the break. You actually, you know, I'm sure a lot of listeners here know Michael Hyat I'm, I'm holding my full focus planner right now. A big fan. You start off as Michael hyats EA. Correct. Can you walk us through your journey? And then, then you came on staff of belay and now you're running the company sounds like there's a
Speaker 2:<inaudible> there<laugh> yes, yes, yes. So I knew the original founders of the organization. We had worked prior to the formation of, um, belay and they had come up with this idea that there, there were people out there who needed fractional part-time support and of a VA virtual assistant and, um, that they could be remote, that it could be in different offices that there people really doing this well. And so belay was founded and I joined the organization as a founding employee back at that time. And that was late 2010. Um, so we get into our journey and the organization is, is, is starting. And it's very part-time we're in startup mode. We're just, you know, we're ramping on our first, first few clients and Mike Hyat, this was probably four months in, um, Mike Hyat tweets, you know, Hey, I just left Thomas Nelson publishing. I'm going out on my own. I'm looking for a virtual assistant. And one of our clients, um, saw the tweet cuz he followed him and said, Hey check outlay. And so literally within hours we were on the phone with him and he was signing up for a virtual assistant. Um, and then we said, gosh, we've gotta give him the best virtual assistant. And so, uh, it was me<laugh> so they said, Hey, you know who better? Um, I had been an assistant for the, the owners and founders for years before ballet, who better than you. And I said, absolutely, I would love to be my Kayt virtual assistant. So, you know, there it began. And Mike, Mike and I started, uh, our relationship while I was still working as a founding employee for belays. I was doing both at the same time. Wow. Um, so supported Mike for about two and a half years while going through this journey as belay was growing. Um, and then eventually had to step outta that role and uh, find him my replacement VA, who then was another belay virtual assistant. And, and actually still to this day we support the Myki organization. Wow. Now full focus company. Um, yeah, with virtual assistant support, you know, you know, 11, 12 years later. Um, but I've learned a lot, it's been a great experience to actually sit on both sides of the table to be a VA. And now, you know, 12 years later be the CEO of an organization that, that provides VAs and I also have one, so yeah. It's come full circle.
Speaker 1:So that seems like, or yeah, I guess from the outside, that seems like a pretty big jump from VA to CEO. Um, I think if you looked at most organizations and you, you know, looked at a lot of VAs, you would say, Hey, they're probably not gonna be the next CEO. What, what was that journey like for you as a leader? Is that something that naturally progressed because you just kept taking on more and more leadership? Um, I'm just curious how, how did you get become the obvious choice for that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I don't know if it was the obvious choice, but thank you.<laugh><laugh> my plan was to make it obvious. Yeah. Uh, yeah, no, I, I had, um, I had a leadership career prior to that time. So when I was in my late twenties up to my early thirties, um, I was in retail management and so I had led a team of over 150 people prior to joining belay. I had taken a step back. I had my first daughter. Um, and when I had her, I realized that I was burning and churning and losing too much time. So I stepped away from my career to be a mom, but I wanted to do something because work to me is very fulfilling. I wanted to do something I really enjoyed and loved and do it in a part-time basis and I wanted to be home and have that flexibility. And so that's when I became a virtual assistant to the former founder pre belay. And so I worked as a virtual assistant. I had this background in management, but I didn't, the idea was not to utilize it. I just wanted to focus on being a mom and do something that was fulfilling to me. So then, you know, fast forward into bet, you know, my children start getting a little older they're in school now. So I have a better portion of, of my day and time home, where I can contribute more. Um, and that's kind of where my leadership journey started inside belay is that I had, I was ready to get back into it. And so to your point, I just kept volunteering for more. Um, I, I was looking for gaps, you know, we're still a very young company. I was looking for gaps that can be filled. I was looking for how we can improve processes. I was looking for how we can improve client experience. I was looking for how we can improve our recruiting efforts. And so I always was looking for areas that I could touch and add value. And I think by naturally being that curious, um, and, and having that nons status quo mindset, if you will helped elevate me throughout the years. And so the owners, you were like, wow, okay, this is great. Do you want more responsibility? And I would say yes, over and over again. And so, and I would seek those opportunities and there was even a time, you know, throughout my career there that I asked to leave a certain department, cuz I felt like I could add value. And I, I went to the owner and I said, Hey, I feel like I could lead the sales team. In addition to the current teams I lead. I, and here's why, uh, here's the things I could bring to the team. And I really kind of sold the idea of being that team's leader and the origin. It was like, eh, I'll think about it. Cuz he led that team. I'll think about it. I love doing that part of the business. And I said, yeah, but you're the, you're the owner and you don't need to be leading a team. And um, he did come back that Monday morning and say, you're right. I shouldn't be leading the sales team. It, you know, it'll be you. And so sometimes it's just putting ourselves out there and asking for opportunity when I think people don't realize they can. Um, and then it, it puts a, you know, it puts a bug or a plant inside your bosses or owners' minds that, oh, this person is really driven to do more. Let's see where things pop up to that, that we can leverage that. And, and that's kind of what my journey looked like.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That that's such good advice. And you know, we have a lot of people listening to this, they aspire to leadership. I'm sure a lot of them aspire to be the CEO. You got that title. And I'm just curious, you know, is that something you asked for or something that was offered to you, but you know, once you sat in that seat, what has it been like how long have you been in the role and, and what have you learned about leadership that you didn't know prior to being in that role?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Uh, all good questions. Um, I, um, I did wanna be CEO. I, uh, my goal was always to be the next thing. So when I was a manager, I wanted to be a director when I was a director. I wanted to be a VP when I was a VP. I wanted to be an officer when I was an officer. I wanted to see<laugh> I always was just looking for the next thing. Not at pace just when I was ready. And I, I always made sure that my, um, boss knew that. And I think that's a lot where a lot of people miss out is they don't actually say that. And if you ask people, Hey, does your boss know you want to advance your career? And you wanna be a manager or you wanna be, most people are like, well, I mean, I think they know probably it's like, no, just be like so clear, like, Hey, my goals are, I would like to do X, Y, and Z. What can I be working on? So that when that role, even, even if the role doesn't exist, when the role is available, I'm so ready. It's not even a decision for you. What are the things I can prepare myself to do? And then really take that professional development into your own hands. The same happened for C being a CEO when I was COO for years. Um, and they were the, the owner and the CEO. And so he would ask me every year, you know, Hey, what are your goals? And I said, well, my number one goal is to be the best CEO I can be. However, of course I would love to one day be the CEO and his response at that time was well, I'm the CEO and the owner and the founder, and I'm always going to be the CEO. So you might have to let that dream go. Wow. Um, yeah. And I said, okay, well, you know, you know, it's out there. If you ever decide to kind of, you know, step away from the, the, the business in that fashion, or maybe just be the owner and, and you want somebody else to run things, um, you know, I'm, I'm interested. And so he said, it's never gonna happen. So I kinda let it go. And I focused on being a great COO and I focused on still relieving him and taking on more and more responsibilities as COO, you know, oh, let me go to that event. And I will be on the stage and let me speak to delegation, oh, let me be the voice. I tried to get myself, um, P position myself to take on more responsibility. Then even knowing that the opportunity of being CEO may never be a thing, but, you know, life is awesome. And then they came to me, you know, couple years later and said, okay, you were right. We wanna step out of being forward facing, and we want to promote you to CEO. And it was like, oh, you know, all the hard work had paid off and it was great. And I was so excited. Um, and, and since then it's been, um, it's been, you know, the joy of my life, truly. I, um, I was promoted in January 1st, 2020. So, you know, I was young, fresh phrase, ready to be a CEO. And then, you know, COVID happened in the world just so now I'm like, okay, I'm gonna spend my first year as CEO trying to help this organ organization thrive and survive through something. Gosh, we have never seen in our lifetime, um, this pandemic where businesses were, were, were being taken out left and right. And we didn't know if we would survive. And we, there were a lot of scared people. So, you know, those first three months from March, 2020 to, you know, June 20, 20 were hard. They really challenged, I think all of us as leaders, you know, how we show up for our teams. Um, but it was, it was great. Um, luckily because we offer remote support and we are a virtual organization, we happen to be one of the organization that benefited and thrived through the pandemic and still are today. So I would say, you know, it's been an amazing ride the last two years and a quarter<laugh> at this point being CEO.
Speaker 1:Wow. Well, I'm thrilled to hear that story. And I think you're the, I mean, watching you lead from a distance, you seem like the perfect fit for that role. So congrats. Thank you. And I would love to talk now more about what your organization does, um, specifically around virtual assistance and, you know, talk to leaders just about this whole concept of even having an assistant. I think, you know, it's interesting that Michael Hy, the first thing he does when he leaves is, looks for an assistant and then there's leaders who don't know what they would do with an assistant talk to leaders about why they need one and, and why that's important.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, Mike's, Mike's mindset is the mindset that we have, uh, is the mindset of all of us here at belay is that, um, the first thing you need, even when you're starting or at startup, and this is what might, you know, really, you know, uh, was an example of, is I need to get somebody on my side, in my corner to handle the administration because I'm trying to, to grow this business. And I can't be bogged down by getting stuck in the email and trying to schedule things on a calendar or booking all my travel. I need somebody to do that now, so I can focus on selling and growing my company. So it was very precursor for him. He needed the assistant to create and grow the company. And that's really what the owners of blazed when they brought me on, they knew like, um, we need you now at startups so that we can go out and sell and we can go out and strategize and we can go network and make partners. And we can focus on how we're gonna grow and create this business. We don't wanna spend time on the administrative part. And so that's really, you know, what we're practicing and what we're preaching. So, but, but I also know to your point, there are so many people who feel the opposite. Um, they feel like it'll be the last thing they do, and they're gonna burden all of those things. And it's their job as the leader or the entrepreneur or the owner to do everything, spin all the plates. Um, and I think, you know, that mentality is starting to become old school. And so I, you know, I challenge those thinkers to say, how much further or faster could you go if you relieved yourself of even it's just 10 hours a week of administrative work, you are doing two hours a day. Imagine what you could do with two extra hours a day, because you were not replying to emails or scheduling or booking things or prepping for meetings. Two hours of focusing on, you know, what you should be focusing on as a leader or the owner of a company is how do I grow? How do I, how do I focus on operational excellence? How do I hire and, um, create great culture for my teams? Like the things leaders should be focused on. And so, um, I think the more that can be talked about the more that, what we do makes perfect sense because we view ourselves as the, the people giving you your, your time back at, at, at work. So you can focus on your business and we'll handle the, the back end of things.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And talk to us about some of the things that, that you're able to take off of leaders' plates. You mentioned, you know, booking things, email, uh, I think people will be surprised. And I, I am curious, you know, how often do you also manage leaders personal lives as, as VAs, you know, is it all just business or do you also start to get involved with their family calendar, et cetera? What, what are some things you take off?
Speaker 2:Yeah, both. I mean, a lot of it depends on someone's comfortability. I mean, for me, my, my virtual assistant does both. She helps me with my personal life and my work life. It's all one calendar, in my opinion, you know, you're not two different people. You're not, I'm not work Trisha and personal Trisha. I'm just me. And so I have one calendar that overlays my personal, my work life together. And so I need her to see in all of it. So she knows how to coordinate my time and how to set my priorities. She knows when she can book things. And when she can't, so calendaring is a big one for me, for me, it's like the number one thing your assistant should be doing for you, all the communicating and the meeting planning and the invitations and the zoom links and, and all the things that go into to meeting, planning off the plate email, of course, like we mentioned is a huge one. It's the hardest one, um, to get right? Cuz there's so many variations of how you can share inboxes. Um, but to me it's also a huge one to let go of. It was actually the first thing Mike H delegated to me when he brought me on at his VA, he said, okay, the first thing I want you to do is take this inbox. And Mike is getting, you know, thousands of emails a day. Um, he's like, I want to handle 5% of the email and I want you to handle 95% of the email. That was the goal. And so we worked towards that end by using a lot of template that he created here. You know, he spent a lot of time preparing me by saying here's 30 email templates. And if you follow Mike, he has them now on blogs and different things. Here's a bunch of email templates you have access to. So you can reply on my behalf cuz you know exactly what I would say, cuz I don't want you to keep asking me, what should I say? What should I say? And so the prep was huge. So email definitely travel and meeting prep, also huge, um, meeting prep can be a lot of things. It can just be the creation of an agenda or you know, um, soliciting agenda items from a team or it could be creating of a PowerPoint cuz you need a presentation for the meeting or there's a whole bunch of things that can go into meeting prep. If you're a leader you're in meetings.<laugh> if you're not, I please tell me how are you doing that? Right. So yeah. Yeah. Meeting prep is meetings and meeting prep is a lot of time. And also I, I have my assistant on a lot of my key meetings with me because she's taking note, taking action items and then follow up of all those action items. I found the busier I get the follow up part of things becomes hard. You lose track of a lot of actionable things we said we were going to do. So I used my assistant to be like my living task list, action item coordinator.<laugh> so she's tracking those things down those things down on my behalf and say, Hey, in last week's meeting, miss, you know, VP of HR, you, we said we were going to X, Y, Z, can you share an update? Like she will help facilitate getting me updates on things, which is so she's facilitating communication on my behalf. So those are some great ones. Yeah. And then travel, you know, travel
Speaker 1:And if someone's intrigued or interested, but, but they've never taken cuz it seems like an overwhelming process. This is what I think's beautiful about belay. How can people actually go about finding an EA? Do you know, do you post on indeed? Do you use a service like uh, belay? Do you do virtual? Do you do in person, what would you recommend for finding a great VA? And I think you all have a great process.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Thank you. Well, if you're not gonna use belay for your VA and if you decide to check out our website, um, but otherwise what I would say is the first place I would go to would be indeed, indeed is an awesome platform with great talent. We leverage it as belay. Um, and I've leveraged it personally. Um, and then, you know, you might be able to connect with some opportunities through your network. People who know people I would, and this is just more personal preference. I would stay away from the referral of friends and neighbors. I mean, sometimes you find yourself in awkward positions where you just wanna have a good, healthy divide between what is work and what it's, what is too close to home. Yeah. So, um, those are great platforms that I would, um, check out, you know, from a belay standpoint, to your point, if, if all of that seems very overwhelming. Cause if you're gonna post on, on deed, you have to, you have to have create a job description. You know, there's a lot, you need to create the there's a lot you need to do. They have to interview all these people. You gotta sift through resumes. Um, there's a lot to do if you're gonna do it on your own. Part of what we we do is we take that burden off of you, right? Like you don't have to worry about a job description or multiple interviews or reference checking. Um, we take care of all of that for you as an organization. So all you have to do is say, I need an EA and here's what I need help with. And we take care of the rest.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful. And then tell us some best practices. So once you get an EA, I mean, that seems overwhelming of itself unless you're Michael Hyatt and have 30 templates lined up to hand off. Yes. I'm, I'm guessing that's not the average leader. Um, you know, what are some best practices of onboarding and then actually working with your, your virtual assistant or assistant.
Speaker 2:Yes. You would agree. I, I mean, I would agree with what you're saying is that most leaders are not prepared with, um, the right documentation. I mean, that would be ideal scenario. You wanna be the Le the best leader out there and totally equip your virtual assistant to hit the ground running. Then I would say, yes, be prepared with everything. I mean, Mike, actually, he's gonna listen to this and love it. He sent me a document on my first day that was like 28 pages long.<laugh> everything I need, the manual that is Mike, right? Everything. I needed to know templates, access, and passwords to everything, all of his preferences. I mean, I, I had everything I needed to hit the ground running for him. So we were able to avoid a lot of speed bumps. Now that is not normally the case. Most just don't have time to think about what they're gonna put on 28 pages. Um, but we will give that to you. As you start with belay, we will give you a, a templated training plan to help you get started. And your, your virtual assistant can help you kind of document, um, your preferences, document your travel information so that you can start creating that living document that you can take with you anywhere. Um, but truly once you get started, the keys are, um, in the beginning, just like any new employee, which I think most people don't realize this. You just have to invest the time there's, there's onboarding and training time involved. Um, it's not plug and play. Um, if you were gonna hire, you know, a brand new it administrator, whatever, you would have to train them and onboard them into how they're gonna do their job. And the same is true for your virtual assistant. You need to train them on you. You need to train them on systems. They're gonna need, you have to train them on your preferences. And so that investment of time upfront is crucial for the long term success of the relationship. So, and, and the quicker you'll feel the reward. So I think, you know, you invest in the beginning the first 30 days, um, and you invest in teaching your virtual assistant. How, how you like things, to be honest, what your preferences are. I'm a morning person. I'm a night person. I, I, I, a quick response is, is important. Details are important when I delegate something. Here's how I want it when I want it. All of those things transparently being put out there in the beginning of, of the best things you can give your virtual assistant to meet your expectations. Um, they can't meet expectations, they don't know exist. And so be clear on what it is you hope to get out of the relationship and how you would like them to work and operate for you in the beginning, and then correct those things all along the way with a constant open feedback loop, just like you would with any employee. Um, and then I think you're, you're set to have a great relationship.
Speaker 1:And then once you've onboarded you, I'm curious. What, what have you found to be the best cadence? Is that a daily check in? Is it once a week? I know you said you bring your VA in, or your assistant into meetings with you. Um, how do you stay on track in the midst of such a crazy schedule?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, um, we do a weekly one on one every Monday morning on zoom. So, um, one of the things I also believe in is being, being on camera. It, it matters. I mean, body language, you know, face to face eyeball to eyeball they're creating connection. Um, I think that's important. I think most people crave it, especially when you're working from home or working remote. You wanna kind of feel like you're seeing and being with other people. So I recommend a weekly one on one with your assistant. My preference is to do it first at the top of the week. So my assistant Monday morning, she's the first meeting I have. Most people think that's crazy. Like, shouldn't you be meeting with your C O first thing Monday morning or what that looks like? Nope. Um, I, it helps us both prep for the entire week. So my assistant will come with all the things for the week that she needs to have a great successful week. What are my priorities? What do we need done? Where, where are things sitting? And then throughout the rest of the week, we don't meet, but we communicate daily. So we use slack, um, to communicate, but, you know, whatever, whatever works for you, whether it's texting instant message. Um, but we are a bunch of slackers over here. And so we're constantly slacking, like, you know, she's updating me on things, which is, that's just my personal preference is I like to be updated when things are done. So she'll be like, Hey, the thing you delegated done, thumbs up, Hey, this will be done Friday. Awesome. Like being in the know, and that would be coaching. I would give a virtual assistant. If there's an assistant listening is, uh, you know, let your leader know progress. Reports are important for people to feel like there's movement because it's hard when you work virtual, you can't see movement. So you have to communicate movement in progress. So, so weekly one on ones, slack all the times in between. And if there's weird things that come up, you know, we just jump on a phone call, but it's, it's not very frequent because those, those weekly one on ones, we cover all the bases and they're only 30 minutes. It doesn't have to be long. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I wanna start to transition into, to the lightning round, but anything else that you would tell leaders when it comes to, to having a VA connecting with belay? What else should leaders know?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would say, um, a lot of it has, has to do with trust and letting go. And so I say, if you're gonna step into the arena and decide you're gonna delegate and work with somebody like a virtual assistant that, um, give them, give them the keys, give them the keys.<laugh> let them be the gatekeeper, but they have to have the keys to the gates. So, um, give them the keys, give them trust, um, and, and empower them on your behalf. And I think PE most people will rise up to meet that for you. Um, we think we, you know, we've done this really well for 10 years. And so we have so many little ticks and tips and tricks up our sleeve. If you, if you wanna peek at any other delegation resources, um, you can check out our website, belay solutions.com. If you go to our resources page, we have a lot of resources on delegating, how to use a VA things you could delegate to a VA, um, so on and so forth. But yeah.
Speaker 1:All right. We'll include like all of that on the show note. So thank you so much. Um, this isn't a, a, a lightning round question, but I am curious, uh, just cause I'm a Michael Mike Hyat fan, you know, in the two years that you worked with him or in that you've continued to what are one or two life lessons or business lessons that you learned from him that have made a, a significant impact on your life and leadership?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Um, the biggest thing I would say about Mike and I say this to people often is he is literally exactly what he is literally exactly what you think he is as gracious and smart and, um, generous and empathetic. He is all the things he appears to be for real. Um, as it was an honor to truly work from him, he, he taught me a lot. Um, one thing I would say about him that I loved was, um, he would say that he learns this from one of his daughters. Sometimes we can take ourselves very seriously and we stress ourselves out with what we're doing. And then he would say to me, Trisha, I just am constantly reminded that we are not running an emergency room. People aren't dying. And so we need to use that as a filter for how important or urgent we think things are when truly they're actually not like there are no lives on the line with what we're doing here. So it's OK.<laugh> it's OK. We can calm down. That was story. And then another story was he was launching, um, his, his platform book when I was, I was his assistant, when that book came out and he was going on this hundred interview tour, he was gonna do a hundred interviews, news, press, whatever. And I was coordinating a hundred interviews. I was his virtual assistant. That was a lot of calendaring. Um, and I, and I messed one up and it was like the wrong time zone. And he missed the interview and I was mortified. I felt horrible. And he, I said, I feel so bad. I'll reschedule. And he says, Hey, you know, we're all human. We all make mistakes. One out of a hundred is a 99. That's an, a plus in my book, you're fine. And so like grace, right? Absolute grace, knowing that nobody intends to, to, to, to miss the mark. Um, and just a lot of grace. And so that's what he's taught me. That's what I keep with me. Be gracious.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Your story. So now we'll dive into the lightning round. Just a bunch of fun questions. I always ask in every interview. Yeah. Uh, the first one is what's the best advice you've ever received and who gave it to you?
Speaker 2:I mean, aside from Mike saying we don't run an emergency room. Yes. I would say a former boss of mine. Larry Fesler, um, would say to me, um, it is what it is. It is what it is. Okay. So like, don't make a mountain out of a mole hill. Don't make it more than it is. Um, some things you can't change. It just, things are what they are.
Speaker 1:If you could put a quote on a billboard for everyone to read, what would it say?
Speaker 2:<laugh> could put a quote on a billboard, I would say, yes, you can.
Speaker 1:Hmm. Best purchase you've made in the last year for a hundred dollars or less.
Speaker 2:Oh, a hundred dollars or less. So not my I, not my AirPods.<laugh> right. They're
Speaker 1:Of the answers to that question have been AirPods, even though
Speaker 2:They'll take it's, we'll take it. Uh, yeah. Okay. This track pad, Mac track pad,
Speaker 1:Mac
Speaker 2:Track's track.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Um, what are one or two books that have made a significant impact on your life? Either recently or all time?
Speaker 2:Okay. Um, dare, dare. It's. It's a, it's a women's woman's version of daring to take the leap into leadership. So I would say dare, um, it's just reaffirmed me as a woman in leadership that I can do hard things. Um, and then I would say, oh my gosh, I have so many books up here. Um, one of the ones that's sticking out to me right now is, um, leadership on the line Was a great book also, but all the Simon cynic books, you know, start with why, and those are all, those are like typical. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So good. Uh, you talked about being a woman in leadership. Uh, what, this is an, a lightning round question, but I guess quick advice for women in leadership or aspiring to leadership. I think it's interesting. You always went for the position. I'm not sure. Sometimes women may not feel comfortable doing that cuz they don't think they have what it takes, but of course they do. What advice would you give them?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's exactly it is that most women think they don't have what it takes and they can't hang in the room and that it can be intimidating. And I think when I was, when I was young and in leadership, when I was 25 and a leader, I was the only female in the room and it was, it was very intimidating. Um, but I, my advice is that, um, we have everything. We have all the tools inside of us that any gender person would have. It's just a matter of letting them, letting them out and just being confident in knowing ourself. I think that women just can live in places of insecurity and you just have to believe in yourself. And I think that, you know, believing in yourself and knowing you can, I mean, truly know you can yourself talk, know you can, the more I tell myself I can, the more I know I can. And so just you can, that's why my billboard is gonna say yes, you can.<laugh>
Speaker 1:I love it. I love
Speaker 2:It.
Speaker 1:Uh you've you've gotten spend time and get to spend time with a lot of high, high quality, high impact leaders. I'm curious when you get a one on one with a great leader, is there a specific question that you always ask? No matter what in the meeting?
Speaker 2:Um, I, I, I don't know that there's a specific question, but I always want to know what is, what is their, you know, biggest tension point? What is, what is, you know, what is the thing that keeps them awake at night? You know, 99% of the time, okay. Maybe that's exaggerated most of the time. It has everything to do with people. It's the human resources, part of the business. It's HR or sales. I think keep people, most leaders up at night are entrepreneurs. How are we gonna grow more? How are we gonna sell more? And how do I, how do I lead these people?
Speaker 1:What's your biggest leadership pet peeve.
Speaker 2:Oh, lateness being late.
Speaker 1:Really? Wow.
Speaker 2:Wow. Late. Yes. I'm an on time girl. We actually have a guiding principle at belay that says we start on time.<laugh>
Speaker 1:I love it.
Speaker 2:And the team has some stories about me. There's been a couple people that have been like two minutes late and they get shamed. But yeah, I believe, you know, time time's importance will be on time.
Speaker 1:What's something you've done in your life. Maybe crossed an item off your bucket list that, uh, you think everyone should experience before they die.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh. That's a good one. Um, take an awesome vacation with your children alone. Like you and your child. Like just you, just you, me and my daughter, just the two of us.
Speaker 1:I love that. Is there anything left on your bucket list? I'm sure there's a lot, but is there one,
Speaker 2:I have a lot left on my bucket list. Yeah. My bucket list. All I know, it's all travel stuff. I mean, I just wanna see so many things I haven't seen. And so I just wanna see the world, you know, I wanna go to the French Polynesian. Okay. I wanna go to Bora<laugh> I just wanna see that beautiful place. I wanna go there. Um, and I also have some places I wanna, you know, visit in Europe, you know, I'm, I'm Italian, I've never been to Italy and I wanna go, so my bucket list is all places I wanna go. Not that I used to have skydiving on my bucket list, but now I have a of height. So we'd
Speaker 1:Height of Heights. Yeah,
Speaker 2:Probably when I would turn 40, all of a sudden I woke up one day when I was 40 and I was like, you know what, it's scary to be this high up. I don't like it. That's hilarious. I dunno. Yeah. It just like, my mortality hit me at that point in time. And now I can't now I don't have no desire to jump out of an airplane.<laugh>
Speaker 1:Um, if you could, if you could go back and have coffee with yourself at any age, uh, what age would that be and what would you tell that version of Trisha that would make a significant impact if you would've listened?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh. I would go back to my there's a couple ones. Okay. I'd go back to like my 25 year old self and tell me to stop being a me monster.
Speaker 1:Wow. Say more about that. Yes. A me monster.
Speaker 2:A me monster. Yeah. I mean, 20, you know, in my younger twenties, like my frame of reference and everything was like, what, what was good for me? What I wanted? I was so internally focused. I think it's a lot of young people. Right. And I have teenagers now, so I get this, but like, you know, very focused on me. Never really paid too attention to like people around me. I learned that as I, as I matured that, um, it's not all about you, you know? And so that's what I would tell myself. This is not all about you. It is look around you. That's what I would tell my 25 year old self<laugh>
Speaker 1:When you first said it, I thought you said mean MEA N monster. And I said, wow, were you like this terrible mean person?
Speaker 2:And well, I used to be, I used to be a, I used to be a meaner<laugh> leader when I was younger. I think that part of that's part of a lesson too, is as I matured in my leadership, I've, you know, I've learned that you can, you can have success and drive results and hold people accountable without being so abrasive. You don't have to be abrasive to do all those things. You can actually be extremely kind and fun and funny and also hold people accountable and get, get great results. You don't have to be a tyrant. You don't have to be slamming your fist on the table. Kind of you don't need power to have influence. And I think when we're young, we think we need power is influence, but it's not influence is separate from power.
Speaker 1:So good. Uh, as we close, anything else you wanna leave leaders with today?
Speaker 2:Um, first of all, thank you for having me. This has been super fun. Um, it's it's been a joy. Yeah. I love what you were doing. I, I would say leaders, um, don't go it alone. Whether it's you have a coach, you have mentors, you have an assistant, whatever that looks like for you is that, um, a support system around you is the, is the quickest way to, to success.
Speaker 1:Patricia, thank you for the conversation. Thank you for all the leaders. Your company helps on a daily basis. You're hoping change the world one leader at a time and hopefully we'll get to do this again sometime.
Speaker 2:Thanks Doug. I would love to.
Speaker 3:Awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, Hey leader, thank you so much for listening to my conversation with Trisha. I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did. You can find ways to connect with her and links to everything that we discussed in the show notes@lthreeleadership.org Ford slash three 18 and leaders. Always. I wanna challenge you that if you wanna 10 X your growth this year, then you need to either launch or join an L three leadership mastermind group. Mastermind groups have been the greatest source of growth in my life over the last seven years. And if you're unfamiliar with what they are, they're just simply groups of six to 12 leaders that meet together on a consistent basis for at least one year in order to help each other grow, go after their goals together, hold each other accountable and to do life together. So if you're interested in learning more about masterminds, go to L three leadership.org/masterminds. And as always, I like to end every episode with a quote and I'll quote, Bob Goff today. Bob said this. He said, figure out what you'd give your life for. And then you'll know what to give your time to so good. Well leader. I say it all the time, but Lauren, I love you. We believe in you keep going. Don't quit the world desperately needs your leadership. We'll talk to you next episode.