After a couple of weeks of absence from our Wednesday headline our Women in Accounting Wednesday series is back on track. This week we want to introduce you to Beverly Lang, who also just happens to be a contributing writer for us.
Beverly starts off this interview by telling us about her practice.
"I started my company Diversified Business Solutions, located in Alabama, out of a desire to help other small business owners find the most economical and efficient accounting solution. DBS prides itself on helping companies better manage their time, money and information through the practical and efficient use of their QuickBooks software. We provide implementation, file cleanup, payroll, training and ongoing bookkeeping, in fact I do just about everything from general consultations to full charge bookkeeping.
I am an Advanced Certified QuickBooks Online and Desktop Pro Advisor specializing in QuickBooks Enterprise and Intuit Payroll. I received the Insightful Accountant's Top 100 ProAdvisors recognition in 2016 and 2017. I also became a member of the Intuit Advisory Council in 2017 and am continuing on the council for 2018.
Beverly and team mates
My firm became an Intuit Premier Reseller back in 2009 and has been awarded Intuit’s Sales Achievement Award, Payroll Gold Excellence Award, Highest Sales Growth Award, Top QuickBooks Desktop Sales Award and 20% Growth Quarter over Quarter Award.
With the advantages of technology, I was able to close my actual office and now work from home. This allows me to be more productive, spend less time traveling and lower my overhead which is a win for my clients."
We ask Beverly to tell us about some of the 'helps' that she makes use of since she is now running her business from home.
"Working from home means that there isn’t a clean line between work and life for me, so I depend on several apps to help keep me connected always. Slack and Google Chat are invaluable to my daily business processes. They are both great for communication and I use them both with clients, other business owners and Intuit contacts.
BlueJeans is another app that I use daily. As my clients grow across the US, I found that having a virtual ability for meetings anywhere anytime is vital. I love BlueJeans for virtual meetings with clients. I have a dedicated link (my cell phone number) that will allow us to connect at anything and I can attend a meeting on my computer, iPad or telephone and never miss a thing."
As we have been doing with our other participants in this series, we asked Beverly to select two words that best describe what her life is like in relationship to work and family.
"My two words would be, Dynamic and Rewarding. My day consists of numerous phone calls, emails and multiple client appointments but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I live in Owens Cross Roads, AL with my ex-husband Michael, our son Noah and our cat Lily. Noah is a very active 10-year-old with many after school activities, working from home allows me to spend more time with him.
Beverly and Noah
Each day comes with its own new set of challenges but being able to use my business experience and QuickBooks knowledge to help other business owners find a resolution, makes each day rewarding. It is all worth it to her a customer tell me how happy they are to be working with me."
In response to our inquiry about 'what motivates her', Beverly responded:
"Motivation comes in many different forms... first and foremost, I get to be a mom to the best son in the world. I get to work at the school helping stuff Wednesday folders, working on fund raising events and attend all the school functions with my child.
Second, I get the opportunity to work with some of the best people at Intuit who have become like family to me.
Finally, I am motivated daily by my love for QuickBooks and the small business owners I get to work with. The combined passion and love for what they do keeps me motivated in being the best leader, QuickBooks trainer and accountant I can be."
When Insightful Accountant started this series we knew that we would hear a lot from women about their work diligence, self-discipline, and family devotion. We believed that we would have a good balance of both work and family reflected in the responses these women provided, but we were not certain that we would ever hear what these women 'do for themselves' if we didn't specifically ask that question. So in Beverly's case, knowing how busy she stays with her practice, Intuit related training, writing for Insightful Accountant, and her home and family life, I simply asked her 'how do you treat yourself?'
Beverly told us, "Relaxation is a must in our industry due to the stress surrounding the time deadlines and importance of the work we perform. I try to treat myself at least once a month to a pedicure or massage to help relax.
Beverly and Noah(2)
Daily I enjoy my down time before bed that I share with my son Noah. We take 30 minutes each night to read together so we can both unwind from the day and get ready for a good night sleep."
Continuing in the light of balancing work, home, family and self, Beverly wrapped up our interview by saying, "I have been able to shuffle the daily demands of work and home life by creating some 'rules' that we all try to follow. Work and Homework must be finished before dinner, so we can all sit down together and spend time talking about our day. Phones, iPads and Computers are shut down by 7pm so we can spend quality time together reading a book, playing a board game like Monopoly or just watching a movie as a family. While my family unit may not be the norm (me, ex-husband, son and cat) it works for us, and after all, being happy is all that matters."
Clearly Beverly's ability to manage a very busy practice, the demands of her Intuit responsibilities, writing a dozen or more articles for us at Insightful Accountant each year, and maintaining a happy home and family life, including being a great mom, should be an inspiration for everyone reading this. Insightful Accountant wants to thank her for sharing her story.
We also want to encourage you, 'women in accounting' reading this story to consider sharing your own store. Whether you are an accountant, bookkeeper, or business advisor we want to open our weekly column to your contribution. If you would like to be included in this series simply write 'Count me in' within the comment section of this or any Women in Accounting Wednesday series. Your email will be recorded in private and we will contact you regarding the process. We look forward to telling your story.