Faith, Family, and Freedom with Brett Baker

Co-founder Brett Baker joined Brian Sooy to talk about the virtual staffing business and the great things VAUSA® does for its employees, the military community, and clients.

Business Exists to Build People

”We believe that this business exists to build our people, our people don’t exist to build our business.”

We are very faith-forward; we don’t just hire Christians, we don’t just do business with Christians, but we believe that we should be building opportunities for people to improve their marriages, themselves, faith, and if we can build those things and present them opportunities to join, then hopefully God does the rest

That’s how we are stewarding this business —  that’s the mission — that’s the inspiration for why we do what we do.

I have been very fortunate because this has given me a new purpose in my life upon exiting the military. There’s a lot of pitfalls that veterans fall into when they leave and a lot of it is trying to find purpose. Building this has given me a sense of purpose; it’s what gets me out of bed in the morning and t’s been an amazing experience.

Shared Values Create a Win-Win Culture

VAUSA has three shared values: authentic connection, selfless service, and intentional growth.

Obviously, we are a service-based business, so authentic connection isn’t just being friendly; it’s the ability to have tough conversations. It’s the ability to call out the elephant in the room because when you’re working in a virtual environment — especially a virtual environment — it’s easy to tiptoe around issues and sweep them under the rug. That just festers problems and relationships. 

This is a relational business. Selfless service is putting the client’s needs above our own. Selfless service is something all the military families on our team are living out through their everyday lives.

Intentional growth is how we are constantly trying to improve ourselves. We want to be pushing our people to grow as well.

We want to see people growing in every aspect of their lives, not just their relationship with their clients but in business too.

These are the driving values for our business and how we handle every situation. If we mess a situation up or something goes awry, we look at it and ask, “Where did we go wrong in our values? Did we hire someone who didn’t display those values? Or did we not display these values?”

So it is not just something we throw on our website. It’s something that’s ingrained in everything that we do. It’s incredibly important because it sets the expectations for everyone around us of what we expect.

Are there silos in your business?

In my experience, it hasn’t been like one department is siloed from another. We do go through periods where departments aren’t talking the way that they should.

Unfortunately, a lot of times, you catch these things a little late. We run off of EOS. Mary Elaine is the integrator, which means she is focused on people and processes. She’s the actual operator of this business.

My focus is on business development and cultural initiatives in the future. I’m (thinking) three to five years down the road. I’m focused on where we are taking this company and aligning key relationships to bring that to fruition.

What she’s noticed is that if departments aren’t reaching out to her with questions, that’s always been a red flag for us.

We want leaders who we’re having to pull back the reins on. We don’t want leaders that we’re having to push all the time.

It’s continual realignment, knowing that Mary Elaine is guiding the organization from the ops perspective.

Cast a Vision for the Future

It’s important to cast a clear vision for a long-term future and this quarter.

It’s very easy for everyone to just start knocking out to-do’s, and it’s natural to look at the things I have to get done today.

The reality is, are we doing the most important things driving us towards the businesses’ true objectives? In EOS, we call them rocks. Those are the most important things that must be done. And it’s very easy to just be busy getting things.

But if you didn’t move the ball, you didn’t get the important things closer to the finish line.

It’s not just what we’re busy with, because you can say these are good things.

It’s being intentional with our lives. Are we moving ourselves in the right direction to become the best version of ourselves, both today and in the future, or not?

Busy is just like the devil’s playground. He just loves getting us distracted.

Is it Possible to Successfully Run a Faith-Guided, Profitable Business?

Yes. It has been great for us so far, and I certainly hope it continues. I have no intention of being less profitable as we move forward.

If you’re doing business for a greater cause than just your product or service, I would encourage every organization to try to get to that point.

Will the faith aspect scare some folks away? It will. We’re not here jamming faith down anyone’s throat.

Jesus played out a life, an example for us to follow. And that’s what we’re going to do. And it’s interesting to see it scare people off because it’s like, well, you know, these are the same foundations that this country was built upon.

So it’s infused into your everyday life, whether you know it or not. 

What if I lose some clients? But at the end of the day, I will get the right clients and get the right talent from it.

This is our mission. And if our mission means that this company is worth, you know, $50 million one day, then that’s what it’ll be.

But if this company never reaches, you know, these high valuation numbers, that’s okay too. Because for us, we measure it with the impact that we’re making.

Align Purpose and Profit for the Good of People

In my experience, both in my own life and observation, helping other human beings brings true joy and contentment to everyone.

I believe it’s an innate drive that God put in us. There’s an incredible feeling of knowing I helped that human being.

We joined a peer advisory group called C12, a coaching group for Christian business leaders. Christian CEOs come together and share business best practices, and it was incredible for us, having no business experience coming into this. They put an emphasis on asking how we are using our business as a ministry and how we are having an impact.

That’s when it clicked for me. Every business that has people in it is in a great position to have a positive impact on other human beings. 

When that clicked for me, all I saw was an opportunity for the rest of my life. Every business has the chance to have a positive impact. It doesn’t matter what your product is. It doesn’t matter what your service is.

I was in special operations and a gunfighter. Now I’m in a virtual assistant business. 

I’m not a good virtual assistant. I have no skill sets in this. I need one, but yet I am super passionate every single day about waking up and trying to move our cause forward because it has nothing to do with the service, it has everything to do with the people. 

You don’t have to have some dynamic, crazy cause to be a business and have a purpose with an impact on other human beings.

You just have to invest. You have to invest time, energy, and a little bit of money into trying to build a real relationship with the people and understanding their struggles, and then removing the roadblocks for them that will prevent them from being successful.

We see ourselves as opportunity builders who will help people become a better version of themselves. 

Successful people have said to me, whether verbally or in books, “The owner’s job is to take care of their people. If you take care of your people they’re going to take care of your clients. 

What we can do is take care of our people and promote a culture in which our people take care of each other. I believe if we do that, then they’re going to take care of our clients. 
Now, I want to provide the best service possible. We put a ton of emphasis on this. And I haven’t talked much about the client side, because the mission is with my people. But if I take care of them and I love them, then my hope is that they’re going to work that much harder for our clients. So far, it has proved to be true.

(Be sure to listen to this section in the podcast!)

Leaders are Responsible for People 

You’re not a leader unless you’re responsible for people on some level.

We can do more with great people. The leader’s job is to focus on those people. 

In the military, if I’m a team leader and have three people underneath me, what is more effective in a gunfight than me sitting there shooting my gun or me effectively communicating and maneuvering those other three people to put their fires on a target and attack the enemy?

It’s me by myself; I can do very little. If I am controlling three people, six people, — or a platoon of people — effectively leading and controlling their efforts, that makes me force in a virtual world. 

Pouring into them, trying to cast vision for them, trying to love on them to take care of their families, creating a culture that they want to come into work every day, and finding clients that will treat them well is the most effective use of my time.

If you’re leading people, you already have them underneath you. You have to talk to them. Start having conversations of true depth and meaning. Get to know them and figure out how to come alongside them and support them.

If you do that, I think you’re going to see people who want to stay with you longer, and I think you’re going to see people who work much harder for you.

I Need People to Fight For And a Cause To Stand For

If you just gave me a business and said, go make a hundred million dollars, that doesn’t get me out of bed in the morning.

I need people to fight for and a cause to stand for.

That is what gets me through the tougher times. If you don’t have that solid purpose baked into everything you do, then when times get tough, people will leave. You’re not going to want to do the things that you’re supposed to do.

I love trying to drive purpose into every level of the business. I love thinking about it. Do we have a purpose? Are we infusing that in every aspect of our business? Can we get people bought into it?

Edited for clarity and brevity. Listen to the full podcast and give it a five-star review!

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