The Boost Pad

The Boost Pad is a business incubator in the Greater Charlotte region of North Carolina that assists women and other minorities hoping to start a business. The organization has five staff members and is funded by donations that are allocated to programming and providing support to entrepreneurs.

Steven Lewis, Executive Director of The Boost Pad, needed an executive assistant to help manage his heavy workload from handling multiple entities. Aside from his work at The Boost Pad, Steven is busy with his responsibilities as the Managing Partner of Co-Active Capital and the Chief Operating Officer of Cellular Farms. On top of that, he is a Sales Manager at ETaxBreaks. Considering his struggles to keep track of all his tasks on his own, he needed a right-hand man.

Creating Organized Streams of Information 

Enter Mark, an executive assistant who Steven got matched with through Magic. He keeps Steven updated on applications for the organization’s incubator program, where entrepreneurs benefit from a six-month mentorship period and other learning initiatives. Mark also regularly checks Steven’s and his co-director Joan T. Randall’s emails, informing them of messages they have received.

The time difference between Steven and his assistant has proven helpful. He wakes up to reminders of messages that come in overnight, which lets him efficiently prepare for the day.

To make it easier for members of The Boost Pad to access relevant work information, Mark created a Slack to Trello platform as well.

“What he did that was very helpful to me that others haven’t seen is the linking of Slack to Trello,” said Steven. He uses the former to track tasks, activities, and meetings for the day. The latter, meanwhile, lets him plan short-term and long-term projects.

“[…] Basically, what it allows me to do is have all in one place what’s come in and [in] the other place, a to-do list. And with the ability to instantly move between the two.”

Valued Contributions To Work Processes  

Apart from facilitating the access of work information, Mark joins company meetings and enthusiastically shares ideas with the organization to improve existing processes.

“I think that Mark is incredibly talented and intuitive. We’ve invited Mark to participate in our weekly routine meeting, and so he hears things, and he says, ‘Hmm, there’s an opportunity here for me to improve a process or to do something that nobody’s asking me to do.’ Mark is a real self-starter and a go-getter, and a day later, or two days later, he’s like ‘Okay, I got this done. ‘What do you think?’ ”

Given Mark’s contributions to the social enterprise, it’s no surprise that he is being valued not only as an assistant but as a team member.

“I don’t think of Mark as an assistant, I think of him as more of a team member. […] Because he has the desire to do more, and he’s just been very gracious and humble in the way that he’s been a part of our team.”

A Proactive and Eager Executive Assistant 

Before Steven discovered Magic, he was unable to find the right assistant who would cost-effectively fit the organization’s needs. At some point, he seemed a bit wary of getting a virtual assistant. That all changed when he met Mark, who has positively impacted The Boost Pad and how Steven works.

Mark’s proactiveness and eagerness to contribute to the organization have benefited Steven, who appreciates that his assistant ensures that he stays on top of things without needing to be handheld throughout the day.

For people seeking a virtual assistant, Steven believes that they don’t necessarily have to be familiar with hiring one. As long as they hire the right assistant, the client and the assistant can navigate the experience together.

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