We interviewed Selena, Founder of Office Mercenary, plant lover, and Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast. Learn how Shift has helped her and her team thrive in the Virtual Assistant (VA) and Online Business Manager (OBM) environment.

** Selena is using the old version of Shift (v7). Check out the new version of Shift (v8), here. **

From taking care of documentation, processes, and procedures, to email and social media management, Selena's team of virtual assistants and online business managers provide a crucial level of support to small businesses. When she's not busy providing her clients with top-notch service and keeping her business and team on track, you can find Selena tending to her indoor garden, or hosting a Dungeons and Dragons tournament (self-proclaimed "nerd" here folks - we love it)!

The Need for Shift

VA and OBM work inevitably comes along with a plethora of emails, documents, and various tools to manage for clients, on top of those used internally to run a team and business. Before finding Shift, Selena recalls using several different browser windows, each swimming in a sea of web tabs. She often found herself opening duplicate tabs for the same thing because it was easy to get lost. All too often, Selena found herself spending up to 20 minutes at a time trying to find the right tab to find and respond to a notification.

"It was messy. It was really messy. Finding time, in general, is hard enough to answer emails, never mind having to spend extra time trying to find where the emails are."

Selena's Shift Experience (AKA life after the "dark ages")

Selena remembers seeing an online ad for Shift back in May 2020, right before she started using it. She signed up for the free trial, purchased a subscription shortly after, and hasn't looked back since. Shift has vastly reduced her stress and saved her sanity, as she puts it. She and her team no longer spend hours a week looking for the correct account within a sea of web tabs. Shift also provides Selena with convenient oversight on accounts managed by her other VAs on her team that she doesn't manage directly through a quick glance at the unread badges for that account in the sidebar.

Not only has Shift made Selena and her team's lives easier, but the residual effects have benefited her clients and business as well. Shift keeps her team logged into different email accounts for longer than they would be if they were using them in a browser. Organizing documents for each client is made easier by Shift's interface, and the fact that tabs can be opened within each account, rather than in one big space. On top of that, differentiating among all the emails in her sidebar is made easy by Shift's API integration. Logos added by her clients to the account are automatically displayed in the sidebar, helping her to quickly and easily identify what clients have outstanding tasks.

"Most of the VAs on my team use Shift. It works beautifully and is a real game-changer in keeping us all sane. It makes all our lives easier and our clients are happier."

Selena's Life Outside of Work

Outside of her busy work life owning and running a business, Selena is a mom to three cats and two dogs and is an avid gamer. She regularly coordinates a Dungeons and Dragons group. She also enjoys hiking and the outdoors with her husband and tending to her indoor garden in her office.

Selena is the founder and owner of Office Mercenary, providing a wide range of services including customer service,  email monitoring and maintenance, data entry, marketing assistance, and more. Check out her website here.

What's next?

Ready to try Shift for yourself? Download now!

Find quick tips and best practices in our Getting Started section here.

Read about other Shift Case Studies here.