When Jason Ellinger, a professional filmmaker, began his career in the news, he covered violence and injustice on a daily basis. This led him to wonder what he could do to change the world using his skills and background in photojournalism.

That’s when the idea of ​​Beard & Bowler was born – a production house focused on helping nonprofits amplify their voice and strike a chord with an influential audience that had the tools to make a difference.

Through his experience in news work and the sociological understanding of his business partner, he knew exactly the right questions to ask to evoke emotion from the interview and put the viewer in an emotional state. Through the power of storytelling via video (using the 7 Elements of Story, of course), Beard & Bowler has been able to help nonprofit organizations exceed and, in some cases, double their fundraising goals at galas. B&B even helped a non-profit organization meet and exceed their goal within THREE minutes of showing one of their films at galas and other events.

Both his talent and the talent he was able to amass spoke for itself. Before he knew it, Beard & Bowler was garnering a lot of attention, not only from those in the philanthropic arena, but also from advertising agencies and marketing executives who wanted that offbeat, raw, and emotional feel for their products.

As a creative person, however, Jason was frustrated with the other aspects of entrepreneurship. While storytelling and filmmaking were his fortes, admin, client management and lead generation were tasks that were beyond his expertise and enjoyment. At the end of the day, he felt burned out working on tasks that not only didn’t make him money, but also didn’t bring him joy. At some point along the way, he lost the joy and passion his work had brought him in the beginning. As the company grew, so did the day-to-day tasks. It was all starting to get too much.

He knew something had to change.

Even in the pre-pandemic era, in 2019, Jason realized the office space he was renting was not being used and that hiring a full-time employee was out of the question. Aside from the financial commitment, there was the hassle of screening, interviewing, and narrowing down the final candidate. What his company needed was a good remote employee… He just didn’t know it yet.

That’s when Jason came across an ad for Wishup and thought he’d check out what this virtual assistant is all about.

How Wishup helped Beard & Bowler grow their leads, improve communication, and find joy at work again.

When Jason was first introduced to his virtual assistant (VA), he figured he would sign up for an assistant who could help him with follow-ups and prospect finding. However, he began to uncover all the additional skills that his VA could help with, which were slowly becoming an integral part of his organization.

With the help of his virtual assistant, he found over 500 new leads through platforms like LinkedIn. His virtual assistant researched prospects and organized the data in a simple and efficient way for Jason to review.

After collecting this data and working with his coach on outreach messaging, his VA reached out to these prospects to see if they were interested in a call, even going as far as reviewing data, scheduling meetings and listening to prospects call recordings to take notes in HubSpot. All the parts of running a business that were holding Jason back were now efficiently handled by his virtual assistant.

“The biggest tip I can give you is don’t try to do it yourself, hire an expert” – Jason Ellinger.

Currently, Jason’s virtual assistant’s workspace extends beyond simply screening prospects. His confidence in the VA’s competence, reliability and “get it done” mentality grew. At first, Jason couldn’t find enough work to utilize the breadth of his VA, so he began offloading a number of other tasks he felt he couldn’t handle, including:

• Write SOWs (B&B contracts)
• QuickBooks management (even receipts!)
• Management of internal and external communication
• Tracking of new, pending and late customer payments
• Create and send QuickBooks invoices to new customers
• Onboarding new employees in Gusto (payroll/HR software)
• Sending out invitations, scheduling meetings and following up with prospects
• Onboarding new contractors and preparing for B&B’s invoicing process
• Coordination of shooting schedules between the client and Jason’s crew of six
• Organize trips and find the best deals on flights, car hire and accommodation

Jason’s life and work had improved significantly after hiring a virtual assistant, so much so that the company brought in a second VA to help them with SEO, social media, ad spend and marketing. The VA helped them improve their Google ranking by implementing and monitoring SEO. He also helped B&B launch a successful YouTube short film campaign, helping to increase their visibility and online presence through SEO subtitles and hashtags.

Most importantly, Jason’s VAs help him stay accountable, motivated, and on track with his daily tasks with “gentle reminders” when attention is needed. As a result, he can now focus on the parts of his job he loves, knowing the backend tasks are done.

Working with a team of virtual assistants has helped Jason and his team understand the benefits and flexibility of working remotely. Currently, his team is 50% remote, and his entire company is able to enjoy a better work-life balance and do their best work thanks to the independence and freedom that remote work offers.

Jason’s advice for entrepreneurs looking to work with a virtual assistant

One of Jason’s top pieces of advice for working with virtual assistants is that business owners shouldn’t try to limit the scope of their VA’s work. Instead, take the time to learn about their strengths and previous work experience, and give them the opportunity and freedom to contribute to different parts of the company.

This allowed Jason to discover new things his VA could help him with every day that went beyond just professional help. He even helps Jason improve his personal credit score (which the company once used)!

The future is looking bright for Beard & Bowler and Jason is excited to see where he can take his company next, using his virtual assistants to take care of the company’s backend operations, which are not 100% on the shoulders of every business owner should lie.