The-Founders'-Pod
In this video, attorney Seth Hansen from McFarland Ritter PLLC talks about his work in business law, estate planning, and construction-related litigation. The hosts and Hansen reminisce about their past experiences building pizza ovens and joke about their shared last name. They also discuss Hansen's family background and how his father became a serial entrepreneur. Hansen provides insights into the phone book industry, mentioning how his company's Impact Directories gained market share by providing a higher-quality product and tracking ad performance. They held onto the print product even when competitors shifted to online ads. Despite experiencing great success, Hansen notes that the recession hit the phone book market hard, resulting in the eventual sale of the company.
In this section, the hosts introduce their guest, Seth Hansen, who is a lawyer specializing in business law at McFarland Ritter in Boise. He helps clients set up new businesses, drafts contracts and agreements, does estate planning, and handles construction-related litigation. Hansen has known the hosts for over a decade and they reminisce about building pizza ovens together in the past. They also joke about potential family relations due to their same last name and discuss the genealogy app. The conversation is light and humorous before delving more into Hansen's work at the law firm.
In this section of the video, attorney Seth Hansen discusses how their firm has been receiving many cases of commercial and residential buildings not built to proper standards. He explains that most of these cases settle instead of going to trial, and that builders usually try to fix their mistake and guarantee their work. The firm deals with both commercial and residential buildings, and even though commercial clients may seem less emotional, business owners still take pride in their name being on the building and want it to be built correctly.
In this section, Seth Hansen discusses his family background, his father's unconventional career path, and his own decision to study American studies in college and then attend law school. Hansen's father was a middle eastern studies major who wanted to pursue a career in the State Department, but ended up becoming a serial entrepreneur. Hansen's parents both encouraged their children to major in subjects they enjoyed rather than in business or finance. Hansen himself majored in American studies before deciding on law school.
In this section, Seth Hansen explains how his father's entrepreneurship journey started with selling medical supplies, which led to other sales opportunities in different locations. His father's decision to move to Boise, Idaho, was due to the city's lack of violence compared to where they were previously living. Hansen also recounts how his father started a real estate magazine and a few other businesses that didn't go well. Eventually, his father bought the Graphic Arts Publishing because he was selling the newspaper's ads. Hansen remembers a lot of stress during this time, but around 12 years old, his family was doing okay financially but not incredibly wealthy.
In this section, Seth Hansen discusses his experience working at his family's printing press when he was younger. The business was stressful and required constant effort to maintain profitability. Hansen spent his time on the inserter machine or on the press, both of which required manual labor. He did not particularly enjoy the work and knew that he did not want to make it his career. However, his experience at the printing press proved to be valuable in later years. Hansen also shares how his father's printing press business evolved into printing phone books during a time when Boise already had two phone books. This decision was made because the printing press lost half of its customers due to a paper supply issue, requiring the business to adapt quickly.
In this section, Seth Hansen talks about how his father got into the phone book industry and how it was the Wild West during the early 90s when phone books were popping up in different areas and charging tens of thousands of dollars for ads. To keep companies such as U.S. West and those associated with it such as Dex and Yellow Book from having a monopoly, the Supreme Court made them sell their numbers for a certain amount per number. Hansen's father purchased the number list even though it was not cheap and it came on a disc or a drive. Hansen talks about how it was easy to find anyone's phone number because it was public information, not just their phone number but their address too. However, with the decline of phone books, finding someone's number has become much harder, and prank calls have declined as a result. Hansen's father was able to undercut the competition by charging half the price for a product that was in full color while others were still in black and white.
In this section of the video, Seth Hansen discusses his experience with the phone book industry. His company, Impact Directories, was a strong competitor that was able to gain market share by printing larger, higher-quality phone books that were easier to read than their competitors. They also used a system to track the number of phone calls generated from specific advertisements in the book, which was a precursor to the conversion tracking used by Google today. As a result of their success, other companies in the industry started printing fewer directories and cutting corners, leading to less competition and the eventual demise of many of the other phone book companies.
In this section, the conversation shifts to the phone book business and the system used to distribute the phone books. The guest mentions that his father chose to switch over to the phone book business since it was lucrative and profitable once the phone book was paid for and every page of advertising added was pure profit. They distributed the phone book every year for a few months and my guest's dad sold the press once the business grew. They also discuss the legal aspects of separating the phone book business from the previous business and how his father used a previous company name to set up the new business.
In this section of the video, Seth Hansen talks about his involvement with his father's company, Impact Directories. He explains that while he initially worked on the press and distributed books, he eventually became an appointment setter and cold-called businesses to set up appointments for salespeople. Hansen's dad had the idea to use appointment setters to call businesses and get salespeople interested in their company. The strategy was successful and kept getting more successful, leading them to open more books. Hansen also discusses the value in experiencing failure as an entrepreneur and how his dad's previous experiences helped him to know how to grow Impact Directories successfully. Additionally, Hansen talks about how he never initially wanted to work for his dad and while he was in law school at William and Mary College, he was not entirely sure about what he wanted to do.
In this section, Seth Hansen, a lawyer turned vice president and general counsel for his family's company McFarland Ritter PLLC, discusses his decision to join the family business after law school. While he admits to having a "quarter life crisis" during law school and considering the possibility of long work hours as a firm lawyer, his father's rapidly expanding business back home convinced him to return and work with his family. Hansen's legal experience came in handy when working on issues with clients, vendors, and different companies. However, as a business owner himself, he understands the general mindset and sometimes-friction that comes with hiring an in-house counsel. He also shared a story about impact directories accidentally printing a sticker over "lawyer" resulting in the hilariously misspelled term "lawer" in 200,000 copies of their phonebook.
In this section, Seth Hansen, an attorney at McFarland Ritter PLLC, shares a story about a mistake his former company made when creating a book for a client. They misspelled a word and decided to create small stickers to fix the mistake rather than reprinting the entire book. Despite being embarrassed about the error, they owned up to their mistake, presented a solution, and the client continued to do business with them. Hansen also discusses working for the phone book company during the Great Recession and the challenges they faced with the rise of Google and cell phones.
In this section, Seth Hansen talks about companies who went all digital and put all their eggs in that basket. He emphasizes that the problem was that they could not compete with Google. Meanwhile, their phone book business still gave a phenomenal return on investment, so instead of selling online ads, they focussed on the print product. They were slow to make the transition, while other industry players made the change quickly and went out of business fast. Overall, they saw a long tail in their business and built economies of scale by acquiring another company and starting phone books in Wisconsin, which was a very different market. When they eventually sold the company, there was a big offer that would have ensured that his dad would never have had to work again. But the recession hit, and the market for phone books completely went away.
In this section, Seth Hansen talks about his family's involvement in the phone book business and the decision to sell the company. Although they had a wide variety of clients and met people in different industries, the business was seen as outdated and uninteresting by many. Seth's father, the majority owner, left the company to do some missionary service and Seth and his brother-in-law became co-presidents. They began diversifying the company with a real estate business but had to consider how long the phone book business could maintain its trajectory. Despite the pride and ownership his father had in the company and its ability to provide for the family, they eventually made the decision to sell as the market became more difficult.
In this section, the speaker talks about their experience running a property management company, which was a set-it-and-forget-it kind of business for the most part. However, one incident involving the SWAT team caused $80,000 worth of damage to a rented home, which was empty at the time. The government informed them that the insurance wouldn't cover the damages, which was a hard pill to swallow. The speaker also talks about how they diversified their business by selling digital products, such as websites and search engine optimization, which was similar to advertising in phone books, but with economies of scale.
In this section, Seth Hansen discusses the decision to sell the business and lay off the employees before the pandemic hit. They had looked forward and saw the numbers going down and realized that it was unsustainable even with the digital revenue rising. They didn't want to lay off employees piece by piece, like cutting a dog's tail, and saw that the fixed costs were making it challenging. Additionally, Seth had a midlife crisis and wanted to try new things, so he decided to start working part-time while figuring out what to do next. Eventually, the decision was made to sell the business, and they were able to provide severance packages for the employees. Seth believes that it was the best decision, especially given what happened during the pandemic.
In this section, Seth Hansen, an attorney at McFarland Ritter PLLC, talks about his journey to joining the firm. Seth initially considered being a seminary teacher, a job he found to be unexpectedly difficult. This made him realize that being a lawyer might be a better option. Joining McFarland Ritter was a smart move for Seth because it allowed him the freedom to set his hours and develop his own client base, while still providing him with the resources and support of an established firm. He appreciates the firm's ability to refer business to him while also allowing him to take cases that he is passionate about.
In this section, Seth Hansen shares some key lessons he learned during his time at Impact Directories. He emphasizes the importance of tracking everything, even if it seems outdated or ineffective, in order to focus marketing dollars on what works. Additionally, Hansen advises aspiring entrepreneurs to find businesses that have great leverage, where most of the profit comes after expenses are paid. He also encourages people to not be afraid of going into unsexy industries that can still be highly profitable, such as companies that fortify bodies, and he shares his pleasant experience with older customers who are respectful and appreciative of his work.
In this section, Seth Hansen of McFarland Ritter PLLC discusses the underestimated opportunities in businesses that may not seem interesting anymore, such as phone books. He notes that despite the common perception that phone books are no longer in use, they are still around and can be a source of good earnings. Hansen advises aspiring entrepreneurs to carefully consider these opportunities and not be too quick to dismiss them, as they might lead to significant monetary gains.
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