John McKenna, CEO of Peachtree VA, a virtual assistant staffing organization & President of The Emerald Group, a premier mortgage recruiting firm.

Based here in Cleveland, John acquired Peachtree VA early in 2022 to grow their vetted virtual assistant offering in the wake of a flourishing virtual assistant industry where entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses, nonprofits, executive directors, and other business models are often stretched thin, and using a virtual assistant can gain back some of their time, reduce cost and streamline their business.

John points out that engaging virtual assistants can alleviate the exhaustive hiring process for companies, citing surveys showing that traditional hiring can be 78% more expensive and exponentially higher if an employee does not work out. Research also suggests that direct replacement costs can be as high as 50% to 60% of an employee’s annual salary. Then there’s the price of turnover with a traditional hire, with costs ranging from 90% to 200%of their annual salary.

We cover a lot in our conversation today — from the ins and outs of entrepreneurship-via-acquisition and what that looks like in practice, to the nuance of this quickly evolving virtual assistance space — how to effectively delegate, the implications of the gig economy, supplementing exhaustive and costly hiring processes, and what comes next for Peachtree VA as John continues to the grow the business from here, helping their clients focus on what matters most!

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This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm!

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Connect with John McKenna on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnamckenna/
Learn more about PeachTree VA — https://www.peachtreeva.com/

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For more episodes of Lay of The Land, visit https://www.layoftheland.fm/

Past guests include Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Steve Potash (OverDrive), Ed Largest (Westfield), Ray Leach (JumpStart), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Lindsay Watson (Augment Therapy), and many more.

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