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The Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce presents Local Entrepreneur Profiles, a monthly series highlighting some of Santa Fe’s most successful businesspeople. Writer Andrew Koss is a creative writing student at Santa Fe University of Art and Design and was a former editor for the 2014-2015 Glyph literary journal. Local Entrepreneur Profiles will be published in the Business Advocate newsletter, ENews updates and online at santafechamber.com Local Entrepreneur Profile – Charlie Goodman Written by Andrew Koss How does Charlie Goodman balance the workload of owning three different companies? “I think I have adult A.D.D.,” he says. “I go down a path and see where it leads me. As Yogi Berra said, ‘When you come to the fork, take it.’” And “take it” he has. Goodman began his professional career in the 1970s working for Gulf Oil in their explosives division. “We used to say business was booming,” Goodman jokes. He entered the property management business while still employed with the company. A close friend approached him with an opportunity to purchase a piece of property. “We paid $35,000 for it,” Goodman says. “We thought the value would go up even more, but we wound up holding it for 30 years and only got a 5% return.” Like many other financial success stories, Goodman started his company in a garage. His wife, Diane Goodman, was involved from day one. He borrowed money on a credit card, and after six weeks discovered that he wasn’t going to make enough money to pay the bills. He solved this by purchasing another property company. In 1982, Charlie moved his assets and his family from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. “Santa Fe was and is a much smaller town,” he says. “It offered a different opportunity and a different place to live.” Charlie figured he could make a living with 50 – 100 properties. “I wanted to create a cash flow for me and my family,” he says, “whether I was still around or not.”He merged his Residential Property Management Inc. with Kokopelli Property Management in 2000, adopting the latter’s name due to its wider brand recognition. Today, Kokopelli Property Management manages 800 homes in the cities of Santa Fe, Taos and Angel Fire, dealing in vacation rentals, commercial property management and maintenance. Charlie’s family plays a prominent role in his business. Diane is President of Kokopelli Property Management, and both of their sons work for the company as well. Brant Goodman is the company’s Chief Operating Officer and Ryan Goodman is the Chief Marketing Officer. Charlie’s sons spent their childhoods as Boy Scouts, just as he did. All three of them eventually worked their way up to the rank of Eagle Scout. The experience and discipline learned in the process helped make Brant and Ryan into strong businessmen. Some might be wary of working so closely with family. “My sons would tell you it’s a challenge,” he says, “but they wouldn’t do anything else. It gives me an opportunity to interface with them in a different way. We’ve had problems come up, where they looked like they were a deer caught in the headlights and didn’t know what to do. That’s where I fit in and can come in to help solve the problem.” His business philosophy is to give his employees as much rope as they need to run the business. If someone makes a mistake, he says it’s fine, as long as they learn from the mistake and don’t make it again. In addition to property management, Charlie owns Santa Fe Storage and Moving He has also worked in the financial consulting business for 29 years. With so much on his plate, you would think he would think he would like some time off. On the contrary, Charlie says, “I live in Nirvana, so why would I need to go on vacation?” Charlie drives through the middle of downtown any time he gets a chance, and when the mood strikes him, he walks from his office over to the plaza and places a Frito pie on his ever-crowded plate.
The Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce presents Local Entrepreneur Profiles, a monthly series highlighting some of Santa Fe’s most successful businesspeople. Writer Andrew Koss is a creative writing student at Santa Fe University of Art and Design and was a former editor for the 2014-2015 Glyph literary journal. Local Entrepreneur Profiles will be published in the Business Advocate newsletter, ENews updates and online at santafechamber.com
Local Entrepreneur Profile – Charlie Goodman
Written by Andrew Koss How does Charlie Goodman balance the workload of owning three different companies? “I think I have adult A.D.D.,” he says. “I go down a path and see where it leads me. As Yogi Berra said, ‘When you come to the fork, take it.’” And “take it” he has. Goodman began his professional career in the 1970s working for Gulf Oil in their explosives division. “We used to say business was booming,” Goodman jokes. He entered the property management business while still employed with the company. A close friend approached him with an opportunity to purchase a piece of property. “We paid $35,000 for it,” Goodman says. “We thought the value would go up even more, but we wound up holding it for 30 years and only got a 5% return.” Like many other financial success stories, Goodman started his company in a garage. His wife, Diane Goodman, was involved from day one. He borrowed money on a credit card, and after six weeks discovered that he wasn’t going to make enough money to pay the bills. He solved this by purchasing another property company. In 1982, Charlie moved his assets and his family from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. “Santa Fe was and is a much smaller town,” he says. “It offered a different opportunity and a different place to live.” Charlie figured he could make a living with 50 – 100 properties. “I wanted to create a cash flow for me and my family,” he says, “whether I was still around or not.”He merged his Residential Property Management Inc. with Kokopelli Property Management in 2000, adopting the latter’s name due to its wider brand recognition. Today, Kokopelli Property Management manages 800 homes in the cities of Santa Fe, Taos and Angel Fire, dealing in vacation rentals, commercial property management and maintenance. Charlie’s family plays a prominent role in his business. Diane is President of Kokopelli Property Management, and both of their sons work for the company as well. Brant Goodman is the company’s Chief Operating Officer and Ryan Goodman is the Chief Marketing Officer. Charlie’s sons spent their childhoods as Boy Scouts, just as he did. All three of them eventually worked their way up to the rank of Eagle Scout. The experience and discipline learned in the process helped make Brant and Ryan into strong businessmen. Some might be wary of working so closely with family. “My sons would tell you it’s a challenge,” he says, “but they wouldn’t do anything else. It gives me an opportunity to interface with them in a different way. We’ve had problems come up, where they looked like they were a deer caught in the headlights and didn’t know what to do. That’s where I fit in and can come in to help solve the problem.” His business philosophy is to give his employees as much rope as they need to run the business. If someone makes a mistake, he says it’s fine, as long as they learn from the mistake and don’t make it again. In addition to property management, Charlie owns Santa Fe Storage and Moving He has also worked in the financial consulting business for 29 years. With so much on his plate, you would think he would think he would like some time off. On the contrary, Charlie says, “I live in Nirvana, so why would I need to go on vacation?” Charlie drives through the middle of downtown any time he gets a chance, and when the mood strikes him, he walks from his office over to the plaza and places a Frito pie on his ever-crowded plate.