22 Mar

Business Start-up History

Posted by admin in Blog Posts |

Ok, back to the boring stuff for a bit…

So a short history on the company and how and why it was formed.  Basically, Mexico has become my favourite place of mine to visit and travel around.  Initially I undertook a couple of small group trips through a company called Trek America  just to get a feel for the country and with the benefit of the security of a group and a Spanish speaking guide.  After those trips I was pretty happy with the place and decided I wanted to see more of it by myself.  I then did something I have also wanted to do being a big overseas roadtrip.  So in 2007 I left behind the NZ winter bought a car in Mexico city and spent the next 5 months travelling and exploring.  I managed to pickup a nice big old 80’s Ford V8, ridiculously big actually but was in great condition from the previous owner who was a ex-police officer and cared for it very well.  So surfboard, tent, guitar and pack in the boot and I took off around the country for the next 5 months exploring.  Having the car was great, it gave me the freedom to be as flexible as I wanted.  I had no set plan, and just made my travel decisions the night before with my handy lonely planet guide, and Mexican road atlas.  Anywhere I liked I stayed for awhile, anywhere that I didn’t, I just left for somewhere else.  Was so much to see and do there was no reason to be bored. 

 

Ford Grand Marquis - The Manta Ray

Ford Grand Marquis - 'The Manta Ray'

 

 

Anyway, sorry blabbling a bit there.  So 5 months driving round Mexico, living my dream for awhile.  Upon my return as I was relaxing in one of the hammocks I brought back I wondered if anyone else in New Zealand was selling Mexican Hammocks in New Zealand.  A bit of web research and investigation came up showing a bit of a gap in the market.  So I made a few inquiries with suppliers in Merida, Mexico, THE hammock making capital of Mexico.  They make the best hand-woven hammocks that I have come across in my travels and are favourites all over the world.  A few samples and some quick sales thanks to Trademe, then the growth of the website, really kicked things along.  So much so that I am now operating the same model in Australia with the assistance of a friend running things over there, www.hammocksaustralia.com.au.  The rest as so often said is history!

 

 

Have a good week,

cheers,

Mike

www.hammocksonline.co.nz

16 Mar

Letterbox Theft!!

Posted by admin in Blog Posts |

I was planning on writing about something else this week, however something more interesting came up.

 

As is common on a Saturday night, there is always some drunken adventures partaken by some. 

Our letterbox was the target of this recently,  obviously deemed to boring for some locals, who decided to steal it and replace it with a much larger and brighter box. 

As shown below..

Our replacement letterbox from the Dorkings Corporation

Our replacement letterbox from the Dorkings Corporation

The accompying letter read;
(Typed content)

“It, out of LOVE!”

“Hello, i jost got a message saying that guitar palying was a-okay this is awesome crazy and cool every one should have one a guitar and a typewriter”

(Handwritten)

Congratulations!

You have been awarde this free upgrade by dorkings corporation!!!!
Simply smile and use this as you would any epistle receptacle
NO OBLIGATION!!!
NO ASSEMBLY REQUIRED!!

With salty pinnacles
from the dorkings’ team
enjoy!”

Colours are a bit hippish for me, but otherwise not a bad letterbox.
Have a good week,
Mike
www.hammocksonline.co.nz

10 Mar

Hola! Bienvenido! Hello! Welcome!

Posted by admin in Blog Posts |

Hola! Bienvenido! Hello! Welcome!

Welcome to the Mexican Hammocks Blog! 

I’ve been thinking and meaning to do this for awhile now, but was kind of put off as I didn’t really know what to say or write about…

I still don’t really, but I’ve got a few ideas, and we’ll see how they go.  I think I’ll start simply but  just letting you know a bit about me and Mexican Hammocks Ltd, who I am, what I do, etc.  Hopefully it will give you a feel as to who I am and what I’m about so you don’t feel like you are reading from and buying hammocks from a total stranger! 

So… Me = Mike.  Mexican Hammocks Ltd = Me (plus assistance when required from my father John, and my friend Anna).  That’s me in the photo below.

Product testing

Product testing

In short I’m a 28 single male from Wellington.  Born in Dunedin with the rest of the family, but moved up to Wellington at a tender age I can no longer remember.  Have some pretty varied interests, surfing probably being my favourite, along with playing guitar, skating (just taken this up due to long term lack of waves in Wellington – hurts much more now than it did as a kid!) , gardening (just harvesting my tomatoes now), bit of DIY, travelling, business and finance, along with the odd beer and bbq every now and then, and of course relaxing in my hammock with a good book and some music whenever the sun is shinning.  Not much of a personals ad really is it, but that’s pretty much me! 

I do take Mexican Hammocks Ltd very seriously though, and this is my main focus.  I like to give people good quick service, and get their hammocks out to them as soon as possible.  I shop a lot online myself and hate it when a company takes a week to pack and send my purchase – when I buy it I want it now!  So my main goal is to get all purchases out to customers as soon as possible, and do so by having all purchasers sent out the day of purchase or at the lastest the following morning. 

No corporate HQ, fancy offices, or flash shops, just a home office sorry.  Well not really, means costs can be kept to a minimum, therefore allowing me to offer hand-woven hammocks at what I truely believe are great value prices.  I wouldn’t feel comfortable selling them if I wouldn’t pay those prices for them myself or believed strongly in the product.  I’m happy to sell them, as I know how good they are, and use mine daily if I can. 

The website, www.hammocksonline.co.nz itself has information there about, ‘why us’ and ‘why our hammocks’ so I won’t go into that again, you can click on the highlighted words to see that (all links will open up in a new window, so you can still carry on reading this, if you managed to make it this far).  Also there is a bit of info ‘about us’ so I won’t go too into that now either. 

Good, done!  That is the best blog post I have ever done… It is also the worst…  Being the first, so better and worse to come I guess.

I’d love it if people could take the time to tell me a bit about themselves, where are you from, what do you do, where do you hang your hammock, anything you want.  One big problem with an online store, is you don’t really know who you are communicating with, and it makes it a bit harder to get to know your customers.  Hopefully this blog here will help so go ahead and add a comment, talk with other posters, and tell me what you’d like to see here…

Things I’m considering writing about, mostly things I know a little about and I hope will be off interest to you:

Next week – a short history of Mexican Hammocks Ltd, and how it came about

Hammocks (history, how they are made, where they are made, different types etc)

Travel (New Zealand, Mexico, worldwide)

Gardening (I can’t provide pro advice, but I’m sure I can find someone that can) 

Guest Posts (from my Suppliers in Mexico, friends in Mexico city, giving you a little insight into a different life and culture)

DIY

So on, so on.

 

Well congrats if you made it this far.  I will do my best to put out a new post everyweek, so check back often and please feel free to add comments. 

 

Mike

Owner/Operator Mexican Hammocks Ltd

www.hammocksonline.co.nz

www.hammocksaustralia.com.au