There Is No Timeline on This: The Reinvention of Anita Best

By Leah Wilkerson

She started painting in her late 60s. She built a 5,000-person client network through years of consistent relationship-building. She believes it is never too late—and her life proves it.

Anita Best started painting in her late 60s.

Not because she suddenly had extra time.

Not because she was slowing down.

Because she decided it wasn’t too late.

Decades earlier, Anita had painted briefly before setting art aside. Life had other plans: a successful career in real estate, followed by franchise consulting, countless client relationships, and the discipline it takes to build a business through consistency and trust.

Art waited patiently in the background.

Then, during COVID, she picked up a brush again.

This time, she didn’t put it down.

That was just a few years ago. Today, she paints almost daily.

Her canvases are luminous, colorful, and full of movement. A cascade of daisies tumbles across a canvas, inspired by a garden she photographed in Scotland. A flamingo dancer is caught mid-flight in the Florida Everglades. Landscapes and scenes from her travels are transformed through paint into something more expressive than memory alone.

Anita describes her goal as making nature “more beautiful and interesting than reality—if that’s even possible.”

Spend a few minutes with her work, and you’ll understand what she means.

Two Businesses. One Philosophy.

What makes Anita’s story especially relevant to Women for Women members is that she isn’t just an artist—she’s an entrepreneur with decades of experience building relationships, creating opportunities, and helping others succeed.

In her franchise consulting business, Anita worked as a trusted advisor, helping people find businesses that aligned with their goals, skills, and lifestyles.

Before that, she spent years in real estate and was a partner in a successful Keller Williams office, which she helped run during its first three years.

Along the way, she built a database of more than 5,000 contacts.

Her most effective business development tools?

Consistency. A monthly newsletter. Underpromising and overdelivering. And, perhaps most importantly, genuinely caring about her clients.

For years, Anita stayed in touch with her network not by leading with sales, but by sharing something uplifting, thoughtful, inspiring, or genuinely entertaining.

“Because the content is always generic happiness and inspiration,” she says, “I get very few unsubscribes.”

There’s a lesson there.

People may forget what you’re selling. They rarely forget how you make them feel.

The Power of Staying Connected

Anita also understands the value of community.

Nearly fifteen years ago, she became part of a mastermind group with peers from around the country through her consulting practice. The group became a trusted source of ideas, encouragement, resources, and support.

Last year, Anita stepped away from franchising to focus more fully on her art, travel, and garden.

And true to form, she has built community there, too.

Today, she has a circle of trusted artists who meet weekly to share artistic knowledge, marketing strategies, ideas, and encouragement.

It’s a pattern that has followed Anita throughout her life: find good people, stay connected, and learn from one another.

“Powerful and enriching stuff,” Anita says.

Simple words. Big truth.

Many successful businesses are built on expertise. The most enduring ones are built on relationships.

The Churchill Standard

Ask Anita who she most admires, and she doesn’t hesitate.

Winston Churchill.

Not only because of his leadership, but because of his persistence. Churchill was also a prolific painter, completing hundreds of works during his lifetime.

His famous words—“Never, never, never give in”—have become a guiding principle for Anita.

After all, starting an art career in your late 60s requires a certain kind of courage.

The same determination that helped her build successful businesses is now helping her create a body of artistic work she never had the opportunity to pursue decades earlier.

It’s Never Too Late

Twenty-five years ago, Anita wrote a personal mission statement.

She still uses it today.

She built a referral-based consulting business.

She built a network of thousands.

She built lasting communities.

And now she has built a creative practice she loves.

Today, she shares original paintings and giclée prints with collectors from her studio, while her dogs, Gemma and Elvis, nap or play nearby.

Outside the studio, she enjoys traveling and gardening, and she shares life with her beloved husband, Gerry. Together, their family includes ten grandchildren.

It’s a full life—and one that continues to evolve.

Anita’s story is a reminder that creativity doesn’t expire.

Neither does curiosity.

Neither does the possibility of beginning again.

Whether you’re launching a business, rediscovering a passion, or finally exploring something you’ve always wanted to try, Anita offers living proof that there is no deadline on becoming who you’re meant to be.

Her tagline says it perfectly:

It’s never too late to find your passion.