We spoke with Tony, Co-Founder, and Chief Client Officer at Proxxy, about how using Shift has helped him and his team support small businesses across the globe. Watch the video and read more below!

** Tony is using the old version of Shift (v7). Check out the new version of Shift (v9), here. **

Tony co-founded Proxxy, an executive multiplier service, with the vision of enabling small businesses to accomplish strategic goals and tackle growth initiatives. To achieve this vision, Tony and his team work closely with their clients, handling the not-so-interesting yet ever-so-important tasks so that executive leaders and their teams have more time to focus on company growth and development. When he's not leading his own team or helping businesses scale, you can find Tony at a Dallas Mavericks game or polishing his golden Dirk Nowitzki bobblehead statue.

The Need for Shift

Prior to centralizing his workflow within Shift, Tony had several Chrome browsers (one for each client) and tabs open to try and keep track of all his email accounts and applications (due to the nature of his work, Tony has a separate email account for each of his clients along with a handful of applications to go along with the consulting tasks associated with that particular client's needs). As his client portfolio grew, his productivity began to unravel as he was spending valuable time navigating a sea of Chrome tabs while trying to keep track of which task needed to be completed where.

In the back of his mind, Tony knew that the way he was working was inefficient and certainly not scaleable as he looked to expand Proxxy's team.

Tony was introduced to Shift in October of 2019 by his business partner who, in turn, came across Shift after seeing it in use by a client (we love product-led growth)! Immediately after jumping in, Tony understood the untapped potential of working within Shift, especially in a teams context. Tony and his team have been using Shift ever since.

"Immediately, I knew I had come across the right tool for what my team and I needed to do"

Tony's Favourite Features & Implementing Shift Across His Team

With all the context-switching that Tony has to deal with in his day-to-day, the Shift sidebar allows him to compartmentalize his workflows in a way that's easy to visualize and maintain across his client portfolio. For each client email account (of which Tony has several), he creates a subsequent Workspace that contains all the bookmarks, web tabs, and application log-ins relevant to that specific client. One of the takeaways that we found most interesting from our conversation with Tony is that he's constantly dragging and re-ordering his sidebar icons so that only the related email account and Workspace are displayed. In doing so, he feels comfortable screen sharing Shift while on client calls and keeping the focus siloed on that particular client. 

In addition to the benefits that Tony has seen on his productivity and overall sense of organization, implementing Shift across his team has helped Proxxy become a "well-oiled machine". Ultimately, centralizing their workflows within Shift keeps everyone on the same page and ensures alignment for each team member; having a high-level overview of their client emails and tools with one quick glance provides insight on where the focus needs to be. Client needs are constantly evolving in real-time and the sharing capabilities of Workspaces enable Tony and his team to be a strong point of contact for their clients, pushing them closer to their vision of supporting small businesses.

"Workspaces changed our world for the better"

While asking Tony about the benefits of implementing Shift across his team, he mentioned that Shift plays an integral role in Proxxy's onboarding process. When a new hire starts, Shift is the first tool that they're introduced to! As we all know, training new hires is a huge time commitment. When new employees know which client email accounts they need to add and which Workspaces to be a part of, they can quickly become fully-ramped members of the team.

As an avid sports fan (fun fact, Tony has been a Dallas Mavericks season ticket holder for the past 20 years), Tony knows that organization and alignment are the ingredients of success in any team context. With Shift by their side, Tony and his team are set up for success to support their clients. 

Tony's Recommendation

When asked what he would tell those who were considering Shift for themselves and/or for their team, his answer was simple.

Just try it.

P.S. Need a new book to read? Tony recommends checking out "Good to Great", by Jim Collins.

To chat about Proxxy (or anything sports), connect with Tony on LinkedIn.

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.