A case study on freeing up the founder to focus on growth instead of admin
About QBM Services
QBM Services is a locally owned commercial janitorial and facility maintenance company based in Ogden, Utah. They serve businesses across Northern Utah, from Provo to Logan.
Their services include:
- Commercial janitorial cleaning
- Day porter services for high-traffic environments
- Carpet cleaning and floor care
- Window cleaning
- Tile and grout deep cleaning
- General handyman and light maintenance services
QBM works with office buildings, event venues, retail spaces, and industrial facilities. The business is built on reliability, responsiveness, and long-term client relationships.
The Situation
As QBM grew, so did the number of moving parts.
- Scheduling.
- Client communication.
- Invoices.
- Vendor coordination.
- Follow-ups.
- Internal admin.
None of these tasks was difficult on its own. But together, they pulled the owner, Reece, away from the work that actually grows the business.
Reece found himself spending more time managing the business than leading it.
That is common in service companies.
It is also where growth quietly comes to a halt.
The Real Constraint
The constraint was not a demand.
QBM had work. They had clients. They had opportunities to expand.
The constraint was the owner’s time.
Every hour spent on inbox management, scheduling changes, or operational admin was an hour not spent:
- building client relationships
- improving service quality
- winning new contracts
- thinking strategically about growth
The business did not need another manager or another technician.
It needed leverage.
The Hiring Decision
Reece decided to hire an Executive Assistant through Pavago.
The goal was not delegation for the sake of delegation.
The goal was to:
- remove low-value work from the owner’s plate
- Create a single point of ownership for admin and coordination
- allow the owner to focus on decisions that directly impact revenue
This was about buying back time.
What the EA Took Ownership Of
The Executive Assistant became the operational filter for the business.
They handled:
- inbox and communication triage
- scheduling coordination
- internal follow-ups
- administrative tasks that previously landed on the owner
Instead of everything routing through Reece, it routed through someone whose job was to manage it properly.
ROI in Practical Terms
The return on this hire did not show up as a line item on a spreadsheet.
It showed up in how the business ran.
With an Outsourced Executive Assistant in place, Reece spent less time reacting and more time leading.
That meant:
- more time on client relationships
- more attention on service quality
- more capacity to pursue new contracts
- better decision-making with fewer distractions
This is the same dynamic Parker often describes as the “Alfred effect.”
You do not hire an EA to do work instead of you.
You hire an EA so you can do the work only you can do.
The result is not just efficiency.
It is a higher-value output from the owner.
That shift reliably leads to more revenue over time because the person best positioned to grow the business is no longer buried in admin.
Why This Worked
This worked because the EA was not treated as a task-taker.
They were given ownership, clear expectations, and trust.
The hire reduced noise, not just workload.
That clarity made the business easier to run day to day.
Pavago’s Role
Pavago did not manage QBM’s operations.
Our role was to:
- help identify an Executive Assistant capable of real ownership
- vet for reliability, communication, and judgment
- support Reece through the hiring and onboarding process
The value was not in filling a role quickly.
It was in placing someone who could genuinely support the owner.
The Takeaway
QBM did not hire a Remote Executive Administrative Assistant to save money.
They hired one to unlock the owner’s time.
By removing low-value work from the founder’s plate, the business gained focus, clarity, and capacity for growth.
For owner-led service businesses, that kind of leverage is often the difference between staying busy and actually scaling.
Get Your Time Back with the Right Hire
