B2B training platform grows faster with efficient support

Summary

Adding skilled part-time admin support at the right times in various functional areas translated to efficiencies across the business and faster overall expansion for 321 Growth Academy.

Client profile

321 Growth Academy help startups and scale-ups accelerate their growth through courses built for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. They help companies and people level up their sales, marketing, product management and people capabilities to realize better results. They offer hands-on learning, coaching and a community of growth experts.

The opportunity

Like their own customers, 321 Growth Academy is a small business. They had been experiencing steady growth and were at a point where they needed additional administrative support. They weren’t yet ready to bring on a full-time person, so the concept of Talent-as-a-Service through Virtual Gurus seemed like a promising solution.

Objectives

• Add immediate administrative capacity without adding a full-time staff member
• Find a flexible talent solution for adding fractional team resources as the organization grows

‍

The solution

321 Growth Academy started with a part-time virtual assistant (VA) to support their content creation efforts. The VA did a great job, but the workload grew to the point that eventually 321 needed to hire a full-time internal  team member.

Even though they no longer needed a VA for content creation, the 321 team was able to shift the focus of their Virtual Gurus package to another area where they did need more help —  bookkeeping.

“The Virtual Gurus account team helped us think through and prioritize the most important skills we needed,” said 321’s founder and CEO, Carey Houston. “We were growing and needed to change our processes. We needed someone who could set up a brand new accounting system, not just manage a system that was already in place. Virtual Gurus matched us with an experienced bookkeeping assistant who had those capabilities.”

The impact

Bringing on the right part-time virtual support at the right times translated to efficiencies across 321 Growth Academy’s business, which enabled faster growth. “We tell our team all the time that minutes are money,” says Houston. “Getting the right support allowed me to spend less time on things like admin and more time on what I do best — growing our company.”

321 Growth Academy also appreciates how working with Virtual Gurus reduces the negative impacts of staff turnover. Even if a specific VA becomes unavailable, the VG team can match them with another skilled assistant and get them onboarded quickly. Instead of spending dozens of hours interviewing 15 or 20 people when they needed that new bookkeeping VA, Carey spent just 40 minutes interviewing VG’s top two recommended assistants.

“I know Virtual Gurus would be a real partner in solving any issues or challenges,” says Houston. “The candidates are well-screened, and it’s a bonus that they’re all North American. We’re also thrilled to support their mission to provide opportunities for diverse communities. It’s not just a placement approach; it’s really a people partnership.”