It’s hard to believe we’re already one month into 2021, isn’t it? After the interminable year that was 2020, we’ve all been reveling in the promises a new year brings. Which is why we’ve decided to focus this installment of our employee spotlight series on one of our newer Powerhouse superstars: Heather Osborne. Among her many, many talents, Heather lends her executive assistant expertise to our clients as well as her sense of humor and positive outlook to all of us here at Powerhouse. Trust us, 2020 got so much better when Heather joined our team last April!

Heather’s executive assistant talents highlight one of our lesser-known service offerings. (Seriously, if you’re wondering if Powerhouse can help, take a page from that ubiquitous app tagline: there’s a Powerhouse service for that!) Heather provides executive assistance for Living Off Rentals/Green Vet Homes, for whom she does everything from scheduling and preparing newsletters, to researching and finding contractors, managing social media, organizing podcasts, maintaining websites, and preparing the annual business plan documentation. Her talents allow the client to focus on growing the business and making the most of the opportunities that come around.

While Heather has been with Powerhouse for less than a year, she already has some favorite things about it. Namely, how supportive everyone is of each other and how Powerhouse provides flexibility for professional growth. Powerhouse President Jessica Bertsch is adamant about encouraging that growth; she’s a master at bringing out hidden talents her freelancers weren’t even sure they possessed! Just ask Heather about hosting Powerhouse’s virtual “Salute to 2020” Power Hour. She brought festive fun as well as healthy reflection on what has to have been the strangest year we’ve ever known. Which just goes to show that the support she speaks of is something she offers in spades.

Heather is a veteran military spouse. Her husband, John, served for 26 years in the United States Marine Corps. She’s the proud mom of three sons, the eldest of whom is currently serving in the Marine Corps; the middle son will graduate from Texas A&M this year with a civil engineering degree; and her “baby” is 14 and already both a second degree black belt and an Eagle Scout. So, Heather knows something about service, as well as how to juggle multiple schedules and cheer on amazing accomplishments. It’s probably why she describes herself as someone who “likes to work” and “enjoys being part of a team.” She understands how to utilize the group dynamic to get things done and thrives on being organized.

When she’s not working, Heather will most likely be found spending time with her family, whether that means watching movies or geocaching, or curling up with a good book. Whatever she’s doing, it’s all family-oriented and designed to bring her a good work/life balance. That commitment to balancing professional and personal health is one of the other things she admires about Powerhouse and why she believes that in five years Powerhouse will still be helping businesses reach their best potential. Finding that balance means being focused and intent on work when it’s work time and “turning it off at the end of the day.” When you’re balanced, you work better and can do more for your clients.

“Schedule everything,” Heather says. Seriously. Put me time, family time, work time, all of it in the schedule. It allows you to see where you’re productive and to find the places you’re not quite in balance. And put family first. Putting family first will ensure that you get work done and done well so you’re not interfering with what is most important in life: spending quality time with those you love.

Because we’re taking some time this year to focus on us, we asked Heather what her favorite services are that Powerhouse offers. She loves them all (we told you she was supportive), but admitted to a particular fascination with graphics and web design. “That creative side of Powerhouse is dynamic!” were her exact words. She added, “There always seems to be a new service that comes up every time I turn my head.” So really, how could she choose just one or two favorites?

Professionally, Heather is happiest when she can take a task off clients’ hands so they can manage the business side of the house. “They are happy, and it makes me happy,” she says. It all goes back to that balance thing. Heather has found that “peace of mind outweighs everything.” When you put faith and family first, everything else naturally tends to balance out. That makes for more successful workers and a happier, better grounded individual. It’s a beautiful circle.

As always, we asked Heather to share something not many might know about her. She answered with the fact that she taught the deaf and hard of hearing for years and is fluent in sign language. We’re not sure about you, but we’re busy trying to figure out how to leverage that skill into another Powerhouse service . . .

The year 2020 brought some unique, unprecedented, unexpected, “un-everything” challenges with it for our communities, our nation, and our world. You just can’t escape that 2020 will go down in the history books with one main descriptor: it was the year of COVID-19. It’s true that we all had to attempt some adjustments to how we do business, even to how we interact with one another. The biggest lesson we all learned has to be that, even with all the technology we are fortunate to employ, there’s just no substitute for the human touch.

The skillful application of technology, specifically virtual work, to that human touch is exactly what Powerhouse Planning excels at accomplishing. In fact, 2020 was our best year ever! It does seem strange, considering the circumstances, but not only did Powerhouse have its best year ever, but our clients were incredibly successful too. The way Powerhouse is structured happens to be the way many companies had to pivot to, and we were well-placed to help them make that shift successfully. We grew our client base this year, and several of our retainer clients renewed their contracts. We enjoyed returning clients and an increase in project-based opportunities as well. We continued to work with clients such as Cape Henry Associates, Operation: Job Ready Veterans, Nomadés, and PayNet. We also added new clients, including Green Vet Homes and HelloHealth. We are blessed to work with some phenomenal companies and help them spread goodness in this world.

Our growth remained steady, largely due to the strategic vision of Powerhouse President and founder Jessica Bertsch. “We’re committed to keeping our team small but highly effective. We only grow team members when we need to,” she says. That strategic vision was cemented with the lessons we all learned from the pandemic this year. “People have realized that you can work smarter and harder at home because time management becomes so crucial. We’ve been blessed and thankful for our remote careers,” she goes on to say. The experience we have with working remotely is what made the pandemic so easy to navigate; we were already used to the challenges of remote work, and we’ve only solidified our commitment to remaining a strong, vibrant virtual work community.

One of our favorite things about Powerhouse is our “Share the Goodness” campaign. Jessica made a conscious decision when she started Powerhouse that she would give back 10% to our communities across the world. This year, we sponsored multiple children through The Children’s Hunger Project of Brevard County, Florida as well as continued our support of our sponsor child, Ambiya, through World Vision. Ambiya was the first recipient of what became our “Share the Goodness” endeavor, and she remains a Powerhouse employee favorite. We helped provide 10 families with Thanksgiving meal baskets with the Space Coast Basket Brigade, and Powerhouse Operations Manager Jennifer Kirkpatrick led the charge to raise funds for 25 more. Powerhouse’s Indiana State University (our founder’s alma mater) scholarship supported a professional aviation flight technology major who used the funds to pursue his dream of becoming a professional pilot by working to earn his commercial aviation licenses. We also founded a Salute to Sisterhood Scholarship with the AOII Foundation, which will serve to help young women interested in leadership opportunities.

We asked Jessica and Jennifer if there was anything they’d add that summed up 2020, lessons learned, inspirational quotes, really anything. Jessica offered, “I keep coming back to that phrase, ‘My plate is full.’ You know, the idea that you have all you can handle. For me, God gave me a full platter. That’s a blessing, but what I’ve learned this year is that I need to ask for help. In the end, by asking for help I appreciate others more and we can still do so much and make a big difference. In other words, self-care is huge.” Jennifer added that when you ask for help you should consider how that makes others feel. “If we communicate and ask for help when we need it, we come together and are stronger as a team.” Those who are asked to help feel important and appreciated, and those who receive support are doubly blessed.

Communication really is key, and it’s something Powerhouse has worked on this year in particular. “We’ve worked hard to create an open, inviting environment. Our brainstorming meetings with the team are some of my favorite work memories from this year,” Jennifer said. Jessica added that it’s been a year dedicated to focusing on our team members. “We started with a few of what we call Power Hours. Small, volunteer, virtual meetings with our team members that don’t necessarily have anything to do with work. We also added a quarterly State of Powerhouse address where we let our team know what’s going on. We didn’t realize how crucial these two things were at first, but what we’ve learned is that our team craves that transparency and ability to get to know one another. Creating that bond is one of the reasons we’re such a unique and effective virtual workforce.”

Moving into 2021, we’ll continue to focus on improved communication and transparency with our team. We’ll be the same in all the right ways, just better able to help our clients make a difference. And that’s really what drives us at the end of the day—taking the talents we have and applying them to our clients’ needs in order to be a force for good. Our clients are all working hard to better our world, and we love being able to help them achieve or surpass their goals. Still, Jessica hopes that 2021 brings back some of the normalcy 2020 took away. “I miss our people,” she says. “I can’t wait to be able to travel to our clients again. I’m grateful that we had our best year ever, but I look forward to getting back to building our relationships in person.” We couldn’t agree more.