"We couldn't have built Triad without that role on my team. Without Brooke as an EA beside me helping facilitate where my time is best used, it would have been impossible."
— Brad Johnson, Co-Founder
The Challenge
As co-founder of Triad, which houses both Triad Wealth Management and Triad Partners, Brad Johnson had already spent over a decade building a book of business before starting his own company.
What he hadn't built was a system to manage it.
He was getting two to three hundred emails a day, trying to recruit new clients while keeping up with existing ones, and running his family's calendar alongside his work calendar with no one checking either against the other. The gaps started to show.
The breaking point came on his wife's birthday.
"I once had to leave my wife's birthday party to go buy her birthday present," he remembers, "which is kind of sad and embarrassing in a lot of ways." He'd double-booked himself, this time on the one day he couldn't afford to.
Brad didn't even know executive assistants existed as a role until he was 35, something a mentor pointed out to him almost in passing. Once he saw it, he couldn't unsee it.
"I believe the EA role is the biggest missing role in finance. I believe most advisors don't even know how to properly use an EA."
The Solution
Brad first heard about BELAY through a private mastermind group, where a mentor who'd used the service extensively made the introduction.
BELAY matched him with Executive Assistant Brooke Martin, who came in with high-level operational experience from managing a multi-campus church. Brad started her on a fractional basis at 10 hours a week and scaled her quickly, eventually bringing her on full time.
Brooke took ownership of his inbox and both work and family calendars, coordinating directly with Brad's wife to make sure nothing was missed on either side.
"If a request comes into the work calendar, I typically don't even see it because Brooke's in my inbox. She also has access to the family calendar."
They built trust deliberately, starting with a detailed onboarding document and a structured quality control system before Brooke ever sent an email on his behalf.
"I think the right tools and the right approach and the right intention create the foundation of trust."
"If you're not doing $50 per hour work and doing $10,000 work instead, it doesn't take too many hours to see how that math adds up."
— Brad Johnson, Co-FounderThe Impact
The shift was immediate. What used to be hours a day lost to email became a 15-minute end-of-day shutdown, with clients and team members hearing back almost immediately.
"It will make you look like a rock star as a leader when you have somebody like that running beside you."
Freed from the lower-value work, Brad redirected his time toward recruiting top talent and building the Triad brand, the kind of work that actually moves the business forward.
"If you're not doing $50 per hour work and doing $10,000 work instead, it doesn't take too many hours to see how that math adds up."
The impact reached past the business, too.
With a system he could trust running in the background, Brad no longer has to choose between showing up for Triad and showing up for his family.
"Brooke makes our marriage better because we don't have the conflicts where I'm not showing up where I'm supposed to or distracted because I double booked myself. Time is your most valuable asset, and this role gives you your best chance to control where your time goes."
Ready to build a business that fits your life instead of running it? Partner with BELAY and access the talent, systems, and support that turn overwhelmed founders into confident business owners with teams they trust.
