At a Glance
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman [as an audiobook].
What charity or cause are you passionate about?
Anchorage South Rotary Club.
What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?
Kiss my wife and kids. Figure out what’s for dinner. Try to get off my computer. Not always super successful because a lot of times our auctions close in the evenings, so I have to process invoices.
What vacation spot is on your bucket list?
Australia.
If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?
A cheetah would be pretty cool ‘cause they’re so fast, and an auctioneer is known for their speed, at least in voice.
At a Glance
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman [as an audiobook].
What charity or cause are you passionate about?
Anchorage South Rotary Club.
What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?
Kiss my wife and kids. Figure out what’s for dinner. Try to get off my computer. Not always super successful because a lot of times our auctions close in the evenings, so I have to process invoices.
What vacation spot is on your bucket list?
Australia.
If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?
A cheetah would be pretty cool ‘cause they’re so fast, and an auctioneer is known for their speed, at least in voice.
Off the Cuff
he new refrigerator for employees at Alaska Premier Auctions and Appraisals has a video screen on the door. That’s not just because co-owners Dan Newman and Nick Cline like to pamper their staff; the fridge door becomes one more place to display security monitors watching the eclectic stock of merchandise.
Newman spent a decade in marketing and sales for KTUU Channel 2, and he says those skills transfer to auctions. He used to deal with mattress stores one day, then cars the next. Now he deals in taxidermy, liquor, firearms, furniture, paintings, knickknacks, and office surplus—none with set prices. A “salesman through and through,” Newman decided to monetize his motormouth by training at Missouri Auction School, specializing in charity benefits. He opened the auction house in 2018 and is its principal auctioneer.
Items enter the shop mainly because of the Five Ds, he explains: death, divorce, downsizing, departing, and developing fundraising strategies. His Anchorage warehouse is crammed with reminders of lives gone by. Newman hopes his business will become his lasting reminder: “I like the thought of building something that outlasts and is greater than myself.”
Dan Newman: My best, I would like to think, is my ambition. Having the drive to want to succeed, want to do better, want to do good. That, and maybe a little bit of charisma mixed in helps pay dividends in the long run. My biggest detriment… getting complacent, getting lazy, being comfortable.
AB: Is there a skill you’re currently developing or have always wanted to learn?
Newman: Learning how to be a business owner. I think that is a skill in itself, and every day I try and learn something new, either about the business or the people or whatever systems and processes.
AB: What do you do in your free time?
Newman: I like watching movies. That is one of my escapes… Hanging out with the kids at their different sporting activities… Motorcycles in the summer… Snowmachines in the winter.
AB: What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
Newman: I’ve gone skydiving. I’ve driven a Lamborghini around the Las Vegas speedway. I’ve snowmachined up mountains. I’ve taken motorcycle trips down to Seward. I like the thrill of speed.
AB: Other than your current career, if you were a kid today, what would your dream job be?
Newman: International rally race car driver.
AB: Dead or alive, who would you like to see perform live in concert?
Newman: I think Jay-Z would be awesome to see in concert. He is an icon and a very savvy business mogul as well.
AB: What’s your favorite local restaurant?
Newman: Twin Dragon. They’ve been around forever, and back in my advertising days I had to dig up one of their old soundtracks [“Twin Dragon! Mongolian barbecue!”], so I got to remake that commercial. I’m good friends with the owner, so I’ll go there for client lunches and just hang out. They have a really great, inexpensive lunch buffet that you can load up and eat like a fat guy and love it.
Newman: High-intensity interval training.
AB: Is there anything you’re superstitious about?
Newman: I do believe in karma. You get out of it what you put into it, in terms of planting good seeds. Filling the good karma bank and eventually taking good, positive withdrawals.
AB: What’s your greatest extravagance?
Newman: Probably my tech and my gadgets. That’s kinda my thing. I’m nerdy and geeky enough to be dangerous. The thing that I’m willing to splurge a little, in terms of extra luxuries, is gonna be my tech gadgets. Unfortunately, it sucks because they don’t retain value. Six to twelve months later, they break and you have to go buy something new. 
