October 2013
Link Newsletter
Our monthly newsletter, Link Newsletter, is full of tips, reminders, and timely advice to help you stay well informed when it comes to your business and personal finances. If you have questions about any of the articles, feel free to email Damon Yudichak at Damon@yudichakcpa.com.
October 2013
Damon Yudichak
Portrait by Charles Gupton
In This Issue
My Second Marathon
This month I completed my second marathon the Myrtle Beach Marathon.
My training for this marathon was not as intensive as the first marathon. I felt like I already had the fitness from the last marathon. I had some challenges outside of running during January and February so I determined that my goal for this marathon was simply to finish. My other big goal for this race was to be in less pain at the end of the race.
My main strategy for reducing pain was to run for four minutes and walk for one minute. This would give my legs some rest throughout the race. As I passed the 18 mile marker, I sighed, rolled my eyes and moaned to myself, “I still have 8 more miles to go.” I made it 2 miles further before I hit burnout this race but I still ended up walking a lot at the end of the race.
A couple of friends caught up with me around the 22 mile mark and we ran/walked together for a mile. They were much stronger than me at that point and I ended up not hanging with them. I said to myself, “I’ve got to run my race and my race alone.” I had developed my plan and I wanted to stick to it.
I ended up finishing this race 5 minutes faster than my last marathon. I was in a lot less pain this time. I’m becoming quite fascinated with the marathon. It is an amazingly challenging and rewarding experience.
I’ve come to believe that the only way for me to get better at the marathon is to run more marathons.
Business Owner Profile – Rachel Kendall
This month’s business owner profile is Rachel Kendall the founder of Rachel Kendall Team LLC. Rachel was chosen because she has been able to have strong growth as a real estate company over the past three years.
DY: Tell me about how you started your business and how it has grown over the last three years.
RK: When I started my business I made a conscientious decision that as long as someone wanted to buy or sell a home, regardless of the economy, they should use me. The fact that I only knew my brother and Dad was not in my favor but I made it a challenge to meet and share what I was doing with everyone! After a few months I realized that my husband’s experience and caring personality would be of great help and asked him to join me. Between the two of us we changed the traditional format to one of what we defined as full service and won Rookie of The Year for Keller Williams International! Since then we have tripled our business and are now top 10 in the triangle of all real estate teams!
DY: What has enabled your company to grow so strongly in a hard hit industry during a tough economy?
RK: The fact that we decided to create our real estate business in a tough economy was somewhat of a mystery to us. We never knew a different industry because we were not in real estate during that period of time. We simply saw this as a helping business that we wanted to participate in and do what we do, help people!
DY: You told me that marketing is very important to your company. What types of marketing work best for you?
RK: Making certain that the market is aware of our folk’s properties/listings is imperative. Anyone can list a property. Our goal is to never realize an expired listing and to close in record time. Once we have achieved appropriate condition and price it is our responsibility to fulfill the commitment. We have gorgeous professional virtual tours since a large part of our population discovers homes online. We offer higher incentives to buyer agents. We pay for stager to visit and consult to assure optimum presentation.
DY: Tell me about your philosophy of customer service?
RK: It’s one thing to profess to be a full service Team and another to truly be one! The term speaks for itself. As mentioned, we provide 100% service from beginning with a visit from our stager, quality and competitively priced service providers to help get the property in showing condition, professional virtual tour, talented buyer specialists searching for qualified buyers to wonderful and helpful listing specialist and closing experts. It’s all about caring. We think outside the box 24/7.
DY: You’ve built a strong referral network. What have you done to be successful at building a strong referral network?
RK: I think the key to building a strong referral network is to become a business that everyone is proud and excited to share with friends, coworkers and family. When I was teaching the highest compliment I could receive was another teacher requesting their child to be placed in my classroom! Same concept.
DY: What’s been your biggest business failure over the last three years? How did you use this failure to improve your business?
RK: My biggest failure over the past 3 years was not developing a Team sooner. We now have so much support. I am still working 24/7 but I do have time to occasionally take my Scotties for walks! As we tell our children, “never complain about something self-inflicted!”
DY: What has been your biggest accomplishment over last year?
RK: My biggest accomplishment over the past year has been doubling our business AND realizing NO expired listings. We don’t call on expired’s but get calls from expired’s! We have added two amazing buyer specialists and our caring, extremely experienced Team Administrator. I am also so excited about our “big hearted” additions to our Team. We are just getting better!
DY: What motivates you?
RK: Productivity and making people happy quickly, motivates me. I am simply teaching another subject. Instead of someone’s child, I am taking care of someone’s financial livelihood. Both are so important. It’s all about the intrinsic. May we never compromise our values!
To learn more about Rachel, visit her website www.rachelkendall.com.
About Me
My name is Damon Yudichak and I am a Certified Public Accountant. My father was an Army officer and we moved around a lot. We finally ended up in Fayetteville, NC. I’ve been a resident of Raleigh since 1999 when I moved here to go to North Carolina State University. I am fascinated with the moon and am still amazed that man has walked on the moon. I also am a big standup comedy fan.
The Orange Star Newsletter is prepared by Damon Yudichak. The Orange Star Newsletter carries no official authority, and its contents should not be acted upon without professional advice.
In accordance with IRS Circular 230, this newsletter is not to be considered a “covered opinion” or other written tax advice and should not be relied upon for IRS audit, tax dispute, or any other purpose.
