We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Greg Hansen Sr a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Greg, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s talk about innovation. What’s the most innovative thing you’ve done in your career?

I think that we’ve approached this business from a different perspective. I like to create simple and efficient while Mikie designs from an artist’s perspective. Because of our ignorance about this industry, we didn’t know the “rules”. Our best ideas have come from just trying something to see what happens and building on that. I’m more focused on R&D than on higher production. The better ideas will get developed while the others fade away. Our “Starry Night G-carta by Mikie” is our classic example of that. The first attempts looked more like fried eggs, while over time it now looks pretty good.

Greg, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have been in the construction business most of my life. I took on many unusual jobs that challenged me or required that I learn a new skill. This business started from a suggestion from a friend. I didn’t have any retirement and I thought a home based business would suit me well. I’ve always enjoyed creating/making things in my garage and this has been no different. I never had the money to pay someone to make things for me, so I had to figure it out. I feel like the unusual jobs prepared me for this time in my life.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The first year in business. While there were successes for sure, there were some pretty big obstacles. A divorce, almost severing 3 fingers off on my table saw, shutting down the shop and moving 500+ miles after having lived there 23 years, developing a severe case of Eczema all while trying to figure out this process. There were many 15+ hour days and I wouldn’t trade any of that away. None of that was planned or expected but in fact necessary to develop different aspects of this business.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

“Love Does” a book by Bob Goff has inspired me to think more out of the box. I have read several books about business that have contributed and helped me learn better ways but this book helped me in a much broader sense. There are many perceptions of what success looks like and most of them are not important to me. I think you have to figure out what’s important to you and go after that. It doesn’t have to make sense

Contact Info:

• Website: gcarta.bigcartel.com
• Instagram: G.L._Hansenandsons
• Facebook: GL Hansen Sr.

Image Credits
Greg Hansen Sr