From Burnout to Breakthrough Scaling with Virtual Teams

Dave:
And my philosophy around that is if someone can do it 80 percent as good as you, it’s time to let go and train them up.

Today we sit down with Alexis Schomer, a multi-time entrepreneur and partner at Your Startup Operations, a boutique agency dedicated to helping founders recruit, train, and manage top-tier remote teams. Alexis launched her career co-founding health tech startups during college, navigating co-founder disputes, and she built a marketing agency before harnessing her own experience to support other entrepreneurs in overcoming the same operational challenges that she once faced.

In this episode, Alexis shares her honest journey through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, from managing burnout and pivoting roles to the struggle of finding and retaining the right people. You’ll hear her insights about leveraging virtual assistants the right way, the impact of AI on modern business, and actionable advice on scaling teams and letting go of tasks as a founder.

If you’ve ever wondered how to overcome operational bottlenecks and finally scale with confidence, this episode is for you. As always, if you found value from this content, please like and subscribe.

All right, Alexis Schomer, welcome to Beyond Fulfillment.

Alexis Schomer:
Thank you for having me, Dave. Excited to be here.

Dave:
Yes, we’re excited you could take the time. Alexis, you’ve been an entrepreneur for many years and founded several startups. Your current role is as a partner with a VA agency called Your Startup Operations, but you had quite an interesting start to your journey as an entrepreneur. Can you talk about your backstory and how you got to where you are today?

Alexis Schomer:
Absolutely. My entrepreneurial journey started when I was in college and I co-founded my first health tech startup. We went through the typical startup process of trying to find developers, raising money, and we ended up with a co-founder dispute and a legal battle.

I learned a lot from that first experience, which led me to my second health tech startup. Similar challenges came up around finding the right team and building quality in-house people that we could scale with. I would say one of the biggest challenges in the first ten years of my entrepreneurial journey was really finding the right people.

I actually tried using virtual assistants early on for things like marketing and development. I failed many times because I didn’t understand what it took to find the right people. Recruitment was a huge challenge in the beginning.

Fast forward five or six years, I founded my marketing agency and started building that team. I gained experience working with remote people all around the world. I also helped run a food manufacturing warehouse as COO for a period of time, building an in-person team and running a manufacturing line. All of those experiences led to where I am today.

Jenna and I founded Your Startup Operations to help entrepreneurs by giving them the resources we wish we had during our first startups. We help recruit, train, and manage remote teams so founders can focus on scaling their businesses and working on revenue-generating tasks instead of admin.

Dave:
After several early challenges and setbacks, how did you keep going to finally find your stride multiple businesses down the road?

Alexis Schomer:
That’s a great question because I’ve definitely faced periods of burnout and wanting to quit. I’ve walked away from roles and startups when my heart wasn’t in it anymore. I’ve gone back and forth between putting everything into a startup and having a more stable income.

Stability has always been important to me, and I balanced that by having a revenue-generating business alongside startups. In the early days, while building technology and trying to raise money, I also did digital marketing to support myself. That helped me stay in it longer.

I think it’s important to honor how you feel. Discipline matters, but if something no longer aligns with your purpose, it’s okay to step away or pivot. Over the past ten to twelve years, I’ve honored what I needed in each phase.

Dave:
Let’s talk about Your Startup Operations. One common concern entrepreneurs have is managing and training VAs. How does your model address that?

Alexis Schomer:
One of the biggest struggles entrepreneurs face is not having the time to manage and train a VA. We focus on growing businesses that need full-time support. The challenge isn’t whether there’s enough work, it’s how to onboard and train someone when you’re already busy.

Our sweet spot is entrepreneurs who are growing and still doing things like invoicing, proposals, and follow-ups themselves. We help get their processes out of their head and onto paper, write SOPs, and train the VA so the owner doesn’t have to spend ten to twenty hours a week managing and quality checking.

That’s our differentiator.

Dave:
How has the business grown in such a crowded space?

Alexis Schomer:
Our business has grown mostly through word-of-mouth referrals and networking. Clients refer new clients, and referral partners like CPAs connect us with businesses that need admin or bookkeeping support.

Dave:
As you’ve scaled, what new challenges have come up?

Alexis Schomer:
We’re a systems-first company. As the team grows, we constantly evaluate onboarding, performance reviews, and internal systems to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. With every stage of growth, we reassess our systems and technology.

Finding the right people is always the biggest challenge. A good hire can make or break your business.

Dave:
You’ve had partnership challenges in the past. How do you and Jenna complement each other now?

Alexis Schomer:
People ask me that a lot. I think partnerships are like dating. Past failures don’t mean the right partner doesn’t exist. Jenna and I are very aligned but also complementary. She’s more analytical, which balances my emotional side, especially when it comes to making hard decisions.

Dave:
AI has changed everything in the last few years. How has it impacted your business?

Alexis Schomer:
AI has been incredible. It’s allowed our VAs to become exponentially more efficient. Tasks that once took eight hours can now take two. Our team is AI-enabled, but we emphasize using AI as a tool, not a crutch.

AI has replaced some tasks, but it’s also created new roles. We train our team so they’re evolving alongside the technology.

Dave:
What mistakes do you see entrepreneurs making most often?

Alexis Schomer:
Thinking they can do everything better themselves and being afraid to delegate. My philosophy is if someone can do it 80 percent as well as you, it’s time to let go and train them up.

Having someone like us in the middle, managing the VA relationship, helps remove that fear.

Dave:
What’s next for Your Startup Operations?

Alexis Schomer:
We see next year as our year of growth. We want to expand beyond our existing network, niche into specific industries, and pre-train VAs so we can scale faster while maintaining our white-glove approach.

Dave:
What advice would you give entrepreneurs on the fence about virtual assistants?

Alexis Schomer:
Start by identifying what you want to delegate. Track repetitive tasks for a week and list out your processes. That clarity alone shows how much can be delegated. Language barriers aren’t an issue. Most VAs we work with have excellent written and verbal English.

Dave:
Where can people find you?

Alexis Schomer:
Our website is yourstartupoperations.com, and you can also find us on social media.

Dave:
We’ll link everything in the show notes. Alexis, thank you so much for taking the time to be here and sharing your journey with our listeners.

Alexis Schomer:
Thank you, Dave. This was a blast.