Ep. 11 | Savannah Ezema - Hailo

Savannah Ezema explains that Hailo helps homeowners delegate household tasks like laundry, dishes, childcare, and pet care. She now offers strategy sessions to help people identify pain points, find the right candidates, vet them with background and driving checks, set up payroll and scheduling, and provide ongoing quality control. She no longer manages a team but acts as a consultant and advocate.

“I help people identify this is what's stressing me out. I'm great at looking at someone and saying, you'd be good for this person and putting them together. And I'm also great at conflict resolution and keeping up with checking in with how's it going.”Savannah Ezema

Savannah says a basic strategy session lasts at least an hour, usually virtually, to talk through pain points and solutions. She gives ideas on how to write up a post, where to post it on social media and in groups, what to look for in candidates, and how to background check and review driving records. She can also help with onboarding, setting up payroll, scheduling, and to-do lists.

“I meet with you for at least an hour, probably virtually, to talk about your pain points and how we're going to solve for those. And then I kind of give you ideas. This is how I would write the post up. This is where I would post it on social media. These are the things you'd look for when you look for a candidate.”Savannah Ezema

Savannah started her business in college as Angel Assistants because clients said she was an angel. She rebranded to Hailo a little over a year ago, keeping the angel theme since she called her team angels. The name change coincided with a shift in her business model after stepping back for maternity leave.

“Everyone I helped was like, oh my gosh, you're such an angel. I called my team Angels. So that's why I kept that whole theme.”Savannah Ezema

Savannah says when she went on maternity leave and stepped completely offline, her business imploded. She was so involved that without her the company could not function. She spoke to other mom entrepreneurs who said the same thing happened to them but it is rarely discussed. She gave her team to her clients and put the business on hold to rebuild.

“When I stepped out on maternity leave and completely just went offline, my business kind of imploded. I talked to several moms after that and they were like, oh, that happened to me too. And it's such a common thing with mothers and entrepreneurs that is not talked about.”Savannah Ezema

Savannah recommends making sure you background check anyone working in your home. If they will be driving, check their driving record to make sure there is nothing concerning. She helps clients understand what to look for when reviewing candidates and sets up systems so homeowners feel safe and confident about who they hire.

“These are the things you'd look for when you look for a candidate as far as making sure you background check them. If they're going to be driving around, making sure you have their driving record. There's nothing crazy on there.”Savannah Ezema

Savannah says many households hesitate to give feedback because they love their helper and do not want to hurt feelings. She started Hailo partly to be an advocate for household employees and to facilitate conflict resolution. She offers monthly or quarterly check-ins to have those hard conversations and keep quality control, acting as a manager on retainer.

“Some households are very hesitant to give feedback because they don't want to hurt their person's feelings. Having me on still as like a retainer manager to be able to keep up with the quality control and have those hard conversations.”Savannah Ezema

Savannah explains that when she worked as a nanny, conflict felt like two against one with no advocate in her corner. She started Hailo to give household employees someone to speak up for them and to help families navigate uncomfortable conversations. A manager can do monthly or quarterly in-person visits, check what is working, and ensure everyone is on the same page.

“One of the reasons I started my company is whenever there was conflict in the home, it was like two versus one, where I didn't feel like I had an advocate in my corner. Part of me starting Hailo was having an advocate in the household employee's corner.”Savannah Ezema

Savannah says she deletes social media apps from her phone for weeks at a time. She suggests having a partner or employee monitor accounts while you are off, or giving out your phone number so people can still reach you. She believes if you miss a client during a break, they may not have been a good fit anyway and everything happens for a reason.

“I delete the apps from my phone for weeks at a time. If you go a week without social media and you miss a client, they may have been a shitty client anyway, and you may just have missed a bad experience.”Savannah Ezema

Savannah says taking a break for a week or more resets your dopamine levels. When you return to social media, you are more intentional with what you see and scroll on, and you have a more joyful experience because you are careful with what you take in. She first took a month off in 2022 and realized she could do it regularly.

“It kind of resets your dopamine levels too with social media because you're constantly getting those hits. And then if you take a break for a week, when you get back on social media, you're more intentional with what you see and scroll on.”Savannah Ezema

Savannah and her partner both work from home and pass their baby back and forth throughout the day. She says she operates best in sprints, cramming computer work into three focused hours while her partner watches the baby, then switching. They coordinate schedules and are looking at childcare options as the business grows.

“He'll work, I'll watch her. I'll work, he'll watch her, and we're just coordinating our work schedules based on that. I'm not like a consistent marathon runner. I'm like a sprint and stop and sprint and stop type person, so I cram everything on the computer in like three hours.”Savannah Ezema

Savannah says running around doing chores and errands is more fulfilling for her than sitting in front of a computer all day. She loves that her job changes with every shift and every household is different. Some homes have two dogs following her, some are empty so she can listen to podcasts, and some have three kids and both parents with constant chaos.

“Running around doing chores and errands for me is more fulfilling than sitting in front of a computer all day. And I love that my job changes a little bit like every shift. Each household is different too.”Savannah Ezema