Musically Inclined and Masterfully Motivated: Meet Andrea Yahr
“I love doing taxes,” Andrea Yahr says.
Andrea, a mastermind with numbers and Round Table Companies’ finance and human resources guru, may be one of the few people on this earth who loves doing taxes. But there is so much more to this numbers queen than meets the eye.
Andrea hails from Shakopee, Minnesota. In fact, her side of the family has lived in the same place for over 80 years. Andrea’s ancestors came over to the Cologne area of Minnesota and her parents’ family arrived in 1865. Andrea can even track her maiden name back to the 1600s.
“Everybody that came to Minnesota that has that name is somehow related to me!”
Despite family roots that run deep, Andrea has moved quite a bit thanks to her husband’s job as an ordained minister. Most recently, Andrea and her family moved to Hackensack, Minnesota. Prior to that she has lived in Indiana, Kansas, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
“When we moved to Indiana, I was working, and I would call clients. They would ask, ‘Are you from Minnesota or North Dakota?” Andrea says. “My accent is thicker than my husband’s for sure.”
Andrea met her husband when she was 17. Three months after graduating high school, the pair got married. Now, 23 years later, they have four children ages 21, 20, 14, and 7. All girls! Andrea and her husband also had three babies whom they lost, but their resilience and faith remain stronger than ever. Andrea’s ironclad support system is made up of her wonderful parents and family. She’s lived off and on with her mom and dad over the past 20 years in between her husband’s assignments when the family did not have a permanent homestead.
Discovering Her Purpose
So how did Andrea find her way into the wonderful world of bookkeeping, accounting, and taxes?
“Dumb luck, in a way,” Andrea says.
After she got married, Andrea knew she wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. But it didn’t pan out as a two-income household was needed. Andrea got a job as a receptionist and did some accounting for the office on the side. As fate would have it, the business eventually let their accounting person go and invited Andrea to take on that role. Plus, they would pay for her to go back to school.
“I got my associate degree in accounting and since then it just kind of worked out from there.”
Andrea’s love for taxes began when a friend who owned a tax business mentored her. Her thirst for knowledge and practical application grew. Andrea remained working for the company in their accounting department but began to see possibilities beyond her receptionist-turned-accountant job.
The job was meant to be because it led to something phenomenal. With passion, knowledge, and a sprinkle of excitement, Andrea launched her own business. She found her way to RTC through a business networking group while building the bookkeeping side of her business. That was back in 2016. The job opening proved to be a blessing at the perfect time since Andrea’s husband resigned his previous call and Andrea’s business wasn’t big enough to support the family just yet.
When you ask Andrea what she enjoys about her RTC role, she admits she enjoys watching the growth of the company while being a part of that sustainable growth.
Currently, Andrea’s favorite RTC projects have been moving into the EOS system and overseeing the implementation of new royalty software system to serve RTC’s royalty holder clients. Andrea loves how RTC is conscious about how it treats its team members, clients, and vendors. It is one aspect that makes her proud to work for the company.
Hidden Talents
When she’s not being a supermom, running her business (okay, she is always running her business), or working on RTC projects, you can find Andrea binge-watching shows on Netflix and Hulu. But let’s face it, she is actually always working. Luckily, she’s a master at working and listening to the television at the same time.
Of course, there is more to Andrea than meets the eye.
Prior to running the business, Andrea used to be a choir director for her husband’s church. She is also a talented pianist and self-taught organ player. When she was a little girl, Andrea wanted to be a musician when she grew up.
“When I was a kid, if I wasn’t playing eight hours a day on the piano, something was probably wrong with me.”
Her passion for music carried Andrea all the way to the halftime show of a Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers football game. When she was in high school, she was a member of an elite choir called Singing Unlimited. Her choir received a special invitation to perform during the football game halftime show. The catch? It wouldn’t just be song . . . it would also be dance. The choir had to put together an entire dance routine that lasted around 10 minutes.
“I was 16 and it was a phenomenal experience. It was one of those things where I was like ‘I will never get to do this in my life again.’”
To Andrea, every day is an experience. Her life is driven by the need to provide for her family and make sure they have everything they could want or need. That drive is what gets Andrea up and out of bed every morning, even though she is a night owl and can often be seen working at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. during tax season.
This woman has so many superpowers including an impeccable sense of smell. She can smell things no one else in her family can smell. Granted, this skill comes in handy if a foul odor needs to be remedied and no one can seem to locate its source.
However, Andrea’s real superpower is her nurturing spirit. She nurtures her children, her husband, her pets, and, in a professional capacity, her clients. She leads with love and strives for positive outcomes. And, for that reason, it is no surprise that her business is booming!