Author’s Note: As we continue the search for the 2021 Top 100 ProAdvisors and ProAdvisor of the Year, we want to take this opportunity to highlight our 2020 award winners. Learn more about Insightful Accountant’s Top 100 ProAdvisors Award Program here.
This week, we’re spotlighting our 2020 Top 100 ProAdvisor Fran Armstrong, CEO and Owner of My Staff Your Staff Support Sys, Inc. Armstrong was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas but currently runs her business out of North Austin, City of Round Rock, Texas.
“I set a goal just after coming out of the U.S. Army to have my own business by the time I was 35 – but, when I discovered a letter written by my 14-year-old daughter describing her concerns about Mom (me), I decided that I should quit my job and try to create a home-based business that allowed me to be home with my children. That was 1994 in South Florida.”
And that’s exactly what Armstrong did. Having already implemented cloud technology in her firm as a remote working environment, her firm was in a much more prepared position to combat the COVID-19 pandemic switch to a fully remote environment.
“Since we have been outsourcers since 1994, and with the cloud becoming mainstream in 2010, along with our entire team already working from their homes, we were quite prepared when COVID-19 hit,” Armstrong told us. “We had already implemented a full private cloud server to host our client QBDT and already started to transition client from Desktop to QBO cloud. We also already had some tech stacks implemented for our clients, so they were already immune to the disruption of COVID-19 when it came to their back-office support. Most of our clients fared well through COVID-19 and had our full support for PPP/ERTC Corona Relief assistance. COVID-19, seated in my mind for the first time, that we built a recession proof, pandemic proof business model.”
Since Armstrong and her team set themselves up so well when it comes to cloud technology implementation, it’s no surprise to hear they have an impressive tech stack in place. “We have always had project management software in place for our internal team functions and to stay on top of client needs/deadlines. I learned early in 2010 how important project management software would be for our company (I can’t do everything and be everything to everyone)."
Armstrong continued, “With our niche/specialty being Construction Cost Accounting, we knew the absolute need for a heavy project management tool. With the cloud and integrated apps being how business is done today, we recently moved our project management tool from Aero workflow to ClickUp. ClickUp automation tools has been a game changer for us in managing our clients’ needs/deadlines and implementing a follow-up/tracking/collaborating method that can be automated for requesting source documents from our clients (the handholding, follow-up we ultimately have to do with our clients… I tried not coddling our clients this way, but that ended up working against us). We also implemented Panda-Doc this last year to automate the Change Orders, Scope of work/Agreements. It allows us to track our agreements for signature and integrates with Docu-sign (it’s cheaper than Practice Ignition, since we only needed the automated document creation and signature tracking).”
Not only was Armstrong able to succeed in building her firm by implementing the technology needed to thrive, but she was also able to lead them in a direction of growth and development. She shared with us, “In basic training (in 1980), [my Drill Sergeant] selected me to be squad leader, and when I asked him why (I wanted to just go unnoticed, as I did all through my youth), he told me I was a born leader. I laughed at him and said ‘No Way!’ I thought to myself - how can that be possible? He said he recognized it immediately, in how I walked, how I talked, how I presented myself during training. That was the boost I needed to get me out of the trauma that was my childhood, and from that point forward, I would not let anyone tell me what I could or could not do, and how I would live my life.”
Armstrong took her motivation and confidence into her business outside of the military. “I have implemented the advanced training I received in the U.S. Army into my current business model,” she told us. “The Army taught me how to create assembly line funnels to push paperwork for a platoon of over 850K soldiers to go to war, and that is what I believe makes it possible for us to handle extreme amounts of paperwork that exist in the accounting functions of a construction business.”
Fran Armstrong has taken her military training and turned it into a successful, forward-thinking firm that turned her into the 2020 Top 100 ProAdvisor we have today. “I was quite surprise to be selected as Top 100 ProAdvisor, as I live with imposter syndrome in my head about how talented I am and in what I have accomplished,” she shared with us. “Getting selected has impacted my life and my business dramatically. No one really teaches you to be a CEO of your home-grown practice, and we make lots of mistakes along the way. Top 100 pushes away the failures and highlights the successes in our lives.” Well, we certainly see why you’re a part of the program, Fran! We are proud to have you!