Matched to the work, not the title
Sam named exactly what he needed: workflow automation, order entry, RMAs, and back-end admin. Michael had built similar systems at LimeGreen and AirDoctor. He wasn't learning the job on Sam's time.
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Earning the
Enlightening Salesand Lighting Source Texas
Case study · Sales agency operations
Earning the
second hire
How one Automation Specialist took order entry off the office's plate, and made the case for growing the team.
PO automation
Built by Michael
Built by Michael- Manufacturer PO receivedCaptured
- Line items and pricing pulledMatched
- Order entered in Monday.comLogged
- RMAs routed for reviewFlagged
- Office team notifiedDone
No re-keying across manufacturers
- 5★communication and follow-through
- 1office role moved into field sales
- 90days to a system heading to launch
- 2ndUnicorn hired on the account
The storyA builder of systems
Enlightening Sales is a third-generation lighting, hardware, and furniture sales agency covering Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Sam Schwartz also runs Lighting Source Texas, the family business's installation arm.
Sam builds in systems. By the time onboarding started, he had already written the SOPs, manufacturer breakdowns, and a weekly task list. Yet his office was still entering purchase orders by hand.
Where pressure was building
- Manual order entry was eating the office's time. Staff re-keyed purchase orders across multiple manufacturers and looked up pricing by hand, when Sam wanted them doing inside sales and client nurturing.
- Sam needed progress he could see. An earlier marketing placement hadn't met his bar, and he paused the role. Whoever came next had to show their work from day one.
- A specific ask. Workflow automation, order entry, RMAs, and back-end admin. That list became Michael's role.
As long as the office was buried in clerical work, the shift to selling couldn't happen.
What Assistantly put in place
Five decisions that made it work
Proof before placement
Michael's Day One™ work trial showed how he thinks. Instead of automating the process as it stood, he found a step that was being skipped. That's the judgment Sam needed from someone building his back office.
Onboarding built for visibility
Back-end work doesn't always show day to day, so progress was made visible from the start: daily end-of-day reports as a non-negotiable, coaching to over-communicate before day one, and Michael setting up Office Manager Sarah as his week-one contact while Sam traveled.
One clear first priority
Purchase order automation came first, built with Monday.com, Supabase, and Claude. GoHighLevel nurture sequences were set for months two and three, so the scope didn't sprawl early.
A sharper search for the next role
When Sam reopened the marketing role, it was retitled Marketing Operations and rewritten around GoHighLevel and B2B trade experience. No candidate was presented without a completed, reviewed Day One™, and an Assistantly project manager ran daily check-ins for the new hire's first weeks.
What changed
Ninety days,
one system, one more hire
- First two weeks
Visible from the start
- Reached out to Sam's office staff and scheduled working sessions on his own
- Gathered what he needed for the back-end build without being chased for it
- Sam rated his communication and follow-through five stars
- By day 90
A system taking shape
- Built an order automation process Sam called huge for freeing up capacity
- One office team member moved out of clerical work and into a field sales role
- Built the system independently and is leading its rollout
- The second hire
Trust, earned
- Sam reopened the marketing role he had paused
- John Levi started as Marketing Operations, with Michael as his peer resource
“Michael's delivering on every promised metric that y'all had.”
“He's what I would have expected in a perfect world... five stars.”
Sam SchwartzVP of Sales, Enlightening Sales
The ripple effect
One proven hire
moved the whole office
Ninety days in, Sam's office has an order automation system heading to full launch, a team member doing sales instead of data entry, and a second Unicorn on the account.
- MichaelAutomation SpecialistProven in 90 days
- Office teamFrom data entryNow in field sales
- John LeviMarketing OperationsMichael as peer resource
Why this worked
Trust, earned one hire at a time
Progress Sam could see
Michael didn't wait to be asked. Daily reports, self-scheduled sessions, and a system taking shape meant Sam never had to chase an update.
Every placement sharpens the next
What Assistantly learned about how Sam works shaped Michael's onboarding, then the Marketing Operations search, scoped around operations and vetted with a completed Day One™.
Trust is earned
The second hire didn't come from a pitch. It came from 90 days of watching Michael deliver.
That's proof over promise.
Find your Michael
Tell us the role, and we'll show you who has already done the work.