Meet Joanne Hanson

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joanne Hanson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Joanne, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I found my purpose through a culmination of things. After a particularly stressful time in my corporate job, my husband and I took a trip to Giants Ridge, MN to stay in an Airbnb on the lake. We loved it, it was exactly the break we needed from our busy, stressful city lives.

I’d been looking to invest in real estate for a while, and somehow it just crossed our minds to invest in short-term rentals rather than long-term rentals, which is what i’d been focussed on.

We bought our first property at Giants Ridge right next door to the Airbnb we stayed in on our trip. We figured if it had helped us unwind and relax, then it could help other busy city-dwellers. And so The Hygge Suite was created.

Our mission at The Hygge Suite is to “create magic memories” for our guests. Hygge is all about enjoying the small moments in life with the people we care about. And this is my purpose.

I love helping people, and through my short-term rental business i’m able to use my skills in interior design, branding and hospitality to help create magic memories for our guests.

Hearing the feedback from our guests is the thing that drives me to do what I do. Knowing that we’ve helped someone relax, unwind, and have a memorable vacation.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’m the Owner of two real estate business in Minnesota. The first is our own investment business where we own and operate The Hygge Suite brand of vacation rentals.

The second business I started last year to help others do what we did with our own properties. The Works BnB is what it sounds like – we offer ‘the works’ in terms of helping clients find, set-up, design and manage their own short-term rentals in Minnesota.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The most important skill I think you need to start a business is action. Without action, it’s just words and ideas. It took me a while to gather the courage to take action, but as soon as you do, you’re committed and there’s no going back. Even if it’s not perfect action, any action at all, will get you closer to your dreams.

The second most important quality is linked to the first, and that’s risk taking. There is always going to be some form of risk involved in any business venture. It’s all about calculating the possible things that can go wrong, and trying to mitigate them as best as possible, and then just jumping in and see what happens.

I think the third skill you need to be successful in your business venture, is the ability to learn. I listened to 1000’s of hours of podcasts on real estate, read blogs, discussion boards, attended meet ups etc. But perhaps the most valuable thing, was joining a short-term rental mastermind group. This has given me the opportunity to learn from some of the best people in the industry. And just being in their presence makes me a better professional as a result.

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
A really small phrase from my mastermind mentor had a profound impact on me over the past 12 months – “I am”.

After an almost 20 year career as a marketing professional in corporate, I didn’t feel like I was actually now a business owner or real estate investor. I felt like this is something that other people did, people who were more brave and successful than me.

I constantly used the phrase “I’m trying” until my mentor corrected me and said “you are”. It was in that moment that I realized he was right. I WAS a real estate investor and business owner. Whether I felt like I was worthy of this title or not.

From then on out, I kept repeating to myself “I am a real estate investor and business owner”. I wasn’t “trying ” to be any longer. I was doing it.

This has really helped me gain the confidence to set up The Works BnB to help others do what I’ve done.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Kristina Soligny – Steenz Studios

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