Did you know “Miss Betty”? 

Today I am reflecting on my friendship with Betty Anderson. She was a fiercely independent, smart and strong woman who will be missed by many. I met Betty about 12 years ago when she hired BDS to convert her software from Knight Integration Software (KIS) to QuickBooks Enterprise (QBES) at Florence Steel Erectors (FSE). I was brought in as the QuickBooks expert, and at that time I really had more to learn from Betty than she did from me.

Working with Betty was fun! She was smart and understood what she wanted. She worked hard and made sure everything was running smoothly throughout the day. She negotiated the best price, she expected results and wouldn’t accept shoddy work. Converting FSE was a huge project and we both wanted to get it done. She kept parallel systems going until she would trust QB. We truly worked 9-10 hour days. I practically moved in FSE so we could get the project done and she would keep me fed, bringing lunch back so we could continue to work on the project and eat at our desks.

Betty taught me a lot during those trainings. I learned about construction accounting and learned that gas stations made great cheese burgers. Typical in a conversion training, the client wants QBES to do everything their other program did. For FSE, were able to accomplish 90%.  I was able to point out the “Pro’s” how the bank reconciliation feature was BETTER and that you no longer had to close out a month. The “Con’s” were KIS did handle Multi State Payroll better than QB. The challenge was getting Betty onboard with QB and my dream was for her to admit she loved QuickBooks.

Challenge accepted! Betty wanted me to figure out how to run Multi State Payroll in QuickBooks. I kept dismissing the issue thinking, 90% if a pretty good “score”. She nicknamed me the QB Queen, and would not accept “no”. She would say “Carrie, you can do it, you can make QB do it. I know you can.” I am telling you, she kept calling, emailing and requesting Multi State Payroll.  She literally cheered me on until I figured it out. It took months of research and perseverance. I had many phone calls and postings with QB Payroll experts, to figure it out.  One day I was leaving FSE working as late as possible.  I was driving my Black Suburban, she nicknamed “the bus”, to pick up my daughter from her after school program. To my delight my cell phone rang, it was the QUEEN of Construction Payroll: Nancy Smyth. She talked to me about an hour, patiently explaining the workflow. I remember driving all over town as this workflow absorbed in my brain.

The next day, we tackled this part of the project.  Betty & I persevered until we finished the setup. We created a workflow, documented it and worked until all the payroll tax returns were flowing accurately! Betty was in the background checking behind me making sure the two systems matched. She reported that we BALANCED! YAY!

I said “Betty, do you love QuickBook now?” She said “no”.  Hmmmm I asked, “why not?”. She said we need better reports. We need to be able to compare actual to estimates. Honestly, I had never done this before, but I never told her that! I said “Aren’t those canned reports working for you?”.  She said “NO!”. Here we are, another challenge.  Big deep breaths, I said “okay”! Not wanting to let her down, I dug back into my QB community and hired Diane Gilson to work with me to explain how to setup the work flow properly to be able to use those canned reports. I rushed back up to FSE and said “aha I’ve got it”.  She smiled and said “I knew you could do it!” “That’s why I call you the QB Queen”.

During this time, and as a result of my new skills, I was also able to confidently pass my QB Advanced Certification. Honestly she pushed me to learn more and make her proud.

However with success also comes reality.  Betty was bragging all over town about how I helped her, and recommending me all over the place. I got signed up for more projects and worked tons of hours. I had little downtime! The downside was, I was focusing on projects and not my health. In time, I gained weight and started having health issues like left arm numbness ending up in the emergency room.  No worries, it was stress induced and my heart checked out fine. During one of my consulting appointments with Betty, I admitted to my health scare. She then, launched into telling me more details about her heart attacks and health struggle. She explained how difficult it is to detect heart problems in women. She told me to get a handle on my stress, TODAY and not ignore these signs from God.

For the next few months, I started exercising and losing weight.  I had another follow up visit at FSE.  When I walked in with my new “look”, she said “Wow, tell me about what steps you did to change this around? You look fantastic!” I shared my new habits and she couldn’t stop praising me. As I started to leave for the day, she stopped me.  She said “promise me something, do not let your health slide again. Your kids and Tim need you. Exercise and eat right.” Then she said “WAIT”, she looked me in the eye and said   “Seriously promise me you will do it.” To this day, I can hear her saying this and when I drive past FSE, I remember that speech.

Over the years of working together, she introduced me to many people. One of them was a close family friend, that was like a daughter to her: Tammy.  BDS was hiring and based on her glowing recommendation, they hired Tammy. That is another whole long story in itself but I want to focus on Betty. Tammy & I worked together for a few years until we both left and started our businesses! We have remained connected on facebook for many years.

Flash forward to April 1st of 2017.  I picked up on FB that Tammy was going to Charleston for the Cooper River Bridge run to cheer her husband on.  I asked if she was going to sign up as well, she seemed very unsure of whether she could handle it.  I encouraged her to do it. Finally I reached out to her and said “walk with me”. Ultimately she agreed. We coordinated it beautifully, finding each other among a mere 40,000 participants. As we walked together and she kept telling me, “don’t let me hold you back.” I continued to assure her that she didn’t hold me back, we had the same pace. We had a great time chatting, catching up on kid news and enjoyed the musical entertainment along the way. Tammy is a lot of fun and we laughed a lot that beautiful spring day.

Here is to you Betty, we promise to stay healthy for our families and keep your message going.  Both Tammy & I learned from your strong spirit and have taken that into our own businesses.  We will continue to face challenges with grace like you and not quit!

Betty,