Kyle Willis: The Busy Trap

**Josh Kopel** (0:00)
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Now, here we go.

**Kyle Willis** (0:54)
Well, mistakes are going to happen when everyone is operating at about 120%, which I believe is what the restaurant, that's the badge of honor that the restaurant industry is wearing, is that everyone's operating over 100%, which actually isn't possible, by the way. Just going to remind everyone, we actually have 100% capacity. That's all that we can get. So that is a true badge of honor here.

**Josh Kopel** (1:13)
Welcome to FULL COMP, a show offering insight into the hospitality industry. Featuring restauranteurs, thought leaders and innovators. Served up on the house.
What if it turns out that you are the biggest obstacle to your restaurant's growth? Kyle Willis, the VP of Growth at BELAY Solutions, has spent years watching high-capacity operators hit the same wall over and over again, too busy doing the work to actually lead the business. Growth always stalls at capacity, and most of us have no plan for getting out from underneath it. In today's conversation, we get into why delegation develops your best people and multiplies what you can do, how a structured 30, 60, 90 onboarding relieves the pressure fast and why time is always our most expensive currency. If you're running at full capacity and still not moving the needle, this is where we start.

**Kyle Willis** (2:14)
So my background came from working with a company called Storybrand. We actually had a partnership with BELAY back in the day. We at Storybrand, we had a marketing framework, worked with tens of thousands of small business owners on their marketing, on their messaging. I have a heart for small business owners. So this is where I first got introduced to BELAY and wanted to come over and actually work directly with BELAY to continue to serve the small business owners. I've been a part of a founder and startup myself and know what it's like to wear an endless amount of hats, to be playing all the instruments in the band. And so love the opportunity to be with BELAY to support those business owners, to support those leaders, coming alongside them, helping take off the tasks that they do not need to be spending time on so that they can get back to those superpowers of what they can do in running the businesses, running the restaurants, whatever that may be.
I'm really just concentrating on only the work that they can do.

**Josh Kopel** (3:03)
So I want to start with kind of trying to thread those two experiences together. So for those that don't know, what is BELAY?

**Kyle Willis** (3:10)
BELAY is a remote fractional staffing organization. So we are working with leaders from all different industries, all different organizations, and we are coming alongside them to provide assistant solutions in the form of an executive assistant. So think of this like you might have heard the term virtual assistant, but it is a human-centered product that is coming alongside them, taking off the administrative task from their plate. Think email, inbox, scheduling, travel, personal assistant, all of those different things that they can jump in and do. And then we also have a whole other side of the house on financial solutions. So think if you need help with payroll, bookkeeping, you know, all of that type of things. But BELAY was really built on the virtual assistant, that administrative support that comes alongside you.

**Josh Kopel** (3:54)
So you're working for Donald over at Story Brown. You're probably really happy over there. I know he runs a great show.
What are the parallels between the two brands? Why do you think you were a good fit there, and what makes you a good fit here?

**Kyle Willis** (4:08)
It's amazing how much crossover there is on that end user of both of those products. And like I said, I mentioned earlier, having a heart for that small business center, being one of those myself for a season as well, I think that is the biggest crossover. And you've got these high capacity, high powered leaders that are trying to do everything. So at Story Brand, they're running the business, they're the founder, salesperson. They're also trying to do all of the marketing, but they're probably not really a marketing person. That's where I think Story Brand really came in and helped plug the hole.