Youthful auctioneer building good business

By Heather Thorstensen
hthorstensen@agrinews.com

Date Modified: 08/19/2010 9:07 AM

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CHATFIELD, Minn. — Jordan Hanson, one of 10 FFA members nationwide last year to receive the Agri-Entrepreneurship Award, has used his $1,000 monetary prize to further his education, both in college and as an auctioneer.

Getting started in the auction business is a challenge, he said. You have to build a name for yourself.

"It's like riding a bike with two flat tires," said Hanson, 20, of Chatfield.

People told him they'd give him a job if he went to auctioneers school.

So he did.

He graduated from Continental Auctioneers School in Mankato last month, after completing a five-day program.

He was voted best Minnesota auctioneer in his class and the school's president, Rich Haas, said he has a bright future.

"He's probably one of the best auctioneers I've ever heard," said Haas.

Hanson is now certified as an auctioneer, online auctioneer, real estate auctioneer and charity/fundraising auctioneer.

"I think it will open a lot of doors, a lot of opportunities," Hanson said.

He earned his FFA award for his horse business, J. H. Horse Company. He buys unbroken horses, breaks them and sells them. So far this year, he has sold more than 100 head. They sell across the country, including Iowa, South Dakota and over to the eastern states. Quite a few stay in Minnesota.

He expects graduating from auctioneers school will give him credibility, contacts for people looking to buy or sell horses and a second source of income. He plans to get increasingly involved with auctioneering and could one day make it his main job. Another possibility is to get involved with real estate, a growing segment of the auction business.

He grew up going auctions. At the age of six or seven, he bought his first ponies.

"I always thought it was fun," he said.

By his first day at the auctioneers school, he already had experience running auctions at horse sales, a produce auction and at fundraisers for clubs at University of Wisconsin-River Falls, where he'll be a junior this year, studying ag business with a minor in animal science.

He found a mentor in auctioneer Travis Parr of Wisconsin, who helped him land some jobs.

When he's running a sale, Hanson likes to get the crowd involved.

"Keeping them upbeat, on their feet, ready to go. If they ain't happy, it's just me sitting up there, chanting, not getting anything done," he said.

It's tricky knowing where to start bidding prices and when to sell, he said. If an auctioneer stays on one item too long, buyers lose interest. He learned at school that it's not about how fast you can talk, but how fast you sell.