Back in the day….over a decade ago, I had a good friend who had created a website and was making a good living selling one single aftermarket engine part for Dodge pickups. Now this was back when most people did not have internet service, and those who did, got it at the crawling speed of […]

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch… In yesterday’s blog, we found our hero (aka me), “The Pole Barn Guru” worked out of a job. But wait….turns out there was work to be done. Deep in the recesses of Hansen Buildings, works a mysterious character known only as ….. “Shoes”. Shoes isn’t actually her Secret Agent name. […]

I don’t think so…. Back in 2002, this was just a fledgling business. Sure, I had over 20 years of experience, but this new business meant starting over from nowhere.  I had never before sold buildings primarily through the internet. Our building plans – two pages (granted they were full blueprint size at 24” x […]

When I saw this as a headline in my LinkedIn group for Building Products Professionals, I just had to laugh and share….sometimes a wee bit of humor is just as important as educating about buildings. Geoff Keifer posted: “Just for Fun… Why do we still use Fax Machines?  Fax Machines have been around a while… […]

I Really Love What I Do How many of you can say you have been blessed to be in a career you truly love? One where you wake up every morning, excited to get to do it again? Call it luck, call it being blessed, call it anything you want….I love what I do. And […]

Part 3 of:  Mike the Pole Barn Guru… Unemployment Line? Back in the day…over a decade ago, I had a good friend who had created a website and was making a good living selling one single aftermarket engine part for Dodge pickups. Now this was back when most people did not have internet service, and […]

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch… In yesterday’s blog, we found our hero (aka me), “The Pole Barn Guru” worked out of a job. But wait….turns out there was work to be done. Deep in the recesses of Hansen Buildings, works a mysterious character known only as ….. “Shoes”. Shoes isn’t actually her Secret Agent name. […]

Mike the Pole Barn Guru: Unemployment Line? I don’t think so…. Back in 2002, this was just a fledgling business. Sure, I had over 20 years of experience, but this new business meant starting over from nowhere.  I had never before sold buildings primarily through the internet. Our building plans – two pages (granted they […]

As they say in journalism, “If it bleeds, it leads”.  It is important to remember the media’s goal is to capture eyeballs and all too often we are unable to turn our heads away from a train wreck. Patti Domm, CNBC Executive News Editor, recently wrote: “June’s miserable jobs report has put the fear of […]

One of the things I make myself available for is weekly individual coaching sessions with our Building Designers. In these sessions, the Building Designers can ask for advice on pole building design or features, discuss particular ongoing projects or share ideas on how to best serve our pole barn clients. Every once in a while, […]

I am not much different than probably most of my readers, when we get to the end of the work week, it is time to kick back and relax. It was on one of these “after the work week” evenings, that I met with a few friends to indulge in our favorite beverages, grab a […]

The night of July 26, 1988 will always stick in my mind. My cousin Amy called my home, to tell me my Dad had been killed in a construction accident. Dead at 57, my contractor father and his brothers had spent their entire lives working on buildings. In this case, my Dad was working with […]

Meet – Mike The Pole Barn Guru and how this name came about. We challenge you to stump Mike with a pole building question in a blog comment.

In the early 2000’s the worlds fastest pole barn builder envisioned the next step for the pole building industry. Complete building kits available across the country was his dream. Soon came the day Hansen Pole Buildings was born and today the Pole Barn Guru continues his quest to provide affordable building solutions that meets everyday needs.

In my early years, tremendous quality was not necessarily the strong point. It was the ability to offer a very reasonably priced building and deliver it quickly. My buildings were pretty much the same as everyone else I competed against. Business grew and I started being able to hire employees. Jim Betonte left the steel […]

In the summer of 1979, home interest rates began to rise. Idaho had a usury limit, home mortgages could not be written for 10% or more. When this ceiling was hit, home construction pretty much stopped in Idaho. I set out looking for other opportunities and ended up in Salem, Oregon. I was offered the position […]

In order to best understand where one is at today, it helps to know where one has come from. Jump in the “Way Back” machine with me and travel to my roots.