A huge part of the joy I get from running a business like Trek Light Gear is the stories.  We hear from people on an almost daily basis, sharing their experiences, telling us how our products have improved their lives, made a trip more memorable, or even helped them get through a tough time.

There’s the couple who lost everything in a fire and decided to make their Trek Light hammock the first thing they replaced to make their new home feel like their old home. There’s the incredible Chimney Choir band, who told me they first came together when one of their members was lying in a Trek Light hammock next to a creek.  Talk of hammocks and rivers and dreams turned to talk of playing music and the rest took care of itself in that magnificent way life has of bringing people together who belong together.

While thinking about this beautiful side effect of running a business like Trek Light Gear, I was reminded of a story we received last year from Tiffany Mills, a long time customer and hammock lover.  Tiffany wrote to us to let us know about how her boyfriend-now-fiancée had used her Trek Light Hammock as the perfect spot to propose:

“Hello!

I’ve written in before and sent you some pictures, but I have more exciting news to share!   As I’ve said before, I am a HUGE fan of Trek Light and my family and I have so many happy memories with our hammock!  Saturday my boyfriend proposed to me while laying in one of your hammocks!

Here’s the story :

The golden leaves from the aspen forest lightly rained down onto our secluded hammock, as we lay in each other’s arms. My head was on Chris’s chest when I heard the steady pounding of his heart. “The forest is beautiful but there is one thing missing,” he said and then, from thin air, presented me with a small grey box. I think then he asked me to marry him, but I can’t remember I was in total shock. I must have heard him though because I was able to choke out, “Yes!” I then proceeded to soak his t-shirt with uncontrollable girlish tears.

Some guys get down on one knee, my man proposed to me in a Trek Light Hammock.”

No matter how many times I hear stories like these I’ll never take for granted how unique and truly special it is to be behind a small business which can have this effect.

I can’t exactly explain it, but with no exaggeration I can say that a Trek Light hammock possesses a unique ability to create happiness in those that use it and to bring people together in a beautiful way.  I’ve seen it firsthand over and over again since I started this business and some things simply don’t need to be proven to exist. Every hammock we sell plants a tree, every tree represents another place to hang a hammock and the cycle continues.  Each hammock provides another chance to cure a bad mood and give a fresh start, another place to linger and dream, and another place to encounter someone else chasing the same dreams.  My favorite stories to hear are those where people have met while in one of our hammocks and formed lasting friendships, relationships, future businesses, marriages, and plans to change the world.  Trek Light Gear itself began in a hammock and it’s incredible to now see that ripple effect continuing for other people with every hammock we sell.

The longer we’ve been in business the more fascinating the stories have become: I’ve heard more than one tale of babies being conceived in a Trek Light hammock (well, they’re “pretty sure it happened in the hammock” anyways), hammocks being used as slings and stretchers in emergencies, and even pregnant moms using our hammocks as an aid for home births (a practice that’s actually quite traditional and common in other parts of the world).  Ten years ago I never could have predicted that the same hammock that helped me camp lighter and more comfortably would also be responsible for someday bringing life into this world, curing insomnia or providing the means for two people to meet, fall in love and spend the rest of their lives together (and maybe even bringing more life into this world all over again).  It’s a simple hammock, with a simple design, but it’s taken on a life of its own and it’s an incredible example of something being much more than the sum of its parts.

Running a small business, or just being part of one, will always be an emotional roller coaster and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.  Along with all the great feelings when you accomplish something or experience growth comes an equal serving of stress, frustration, doubts and fear that any business owner knows all too well.   Since Trek Light Gear is still a very small operation I find I have to measure my profit and success in many ways beyond money – and in that regard it’s easy to feel like the richest business owner around.  Please keep sharing your stories, photos, videos and memories with us – it’s what keeps the wheels turning here.

If you’ve got a Trek Light story you’d like to share, let us know in the comments below or send us an email – you’ll make our day just by telling us how we’ve made yours.

For immediate press release:

Boulder, Colorado-based Trek Light Gear has added to its line of hammock lifestyle products with the launch of the patent-pending Trek Light HVR, the world’s first ever true ‘floating hammock’.  And you’ve got to see it to believe it.

“From the very first day I started a hammock business, a floating hammock has always been the goal,” says Seth Haber, founder and CEO of  Trek Light Gear.

The first prototype began field testing nearly a year ago and Trek Light Gear is proud to announce that a fully-working production model is now ready to be sold by Summer 2013. “The hardest part has been keeping our R&D process secret and the prototypes out of the hands of our competitors,” Haber said.

What Haber refers to as the ‘Trek Light Lifestyle’ has become a growing phenomenon among outdoor lovers and hammock fans around the country looking to lighten their load and relax comfortably wherever they go.   After successfully selling its unique brand of portable and lightweight hammocks for the last 10 years, the Trek Light HVR is a unique addition to its line of popular products – and a world’s first in hammock design.

Over the past year a select number of lucky hammock testers have been putting the HVR to use, and according to Trek Light Gear the response so far has been incredible.  Avid hammock campers everywhere will love the Trek Light HVR for its incredible versatility.  “A primary advantage of camping with a hammock has always been that you can camp over any terrain – rocks, water, even on the side of a hill – all you needed was two sturdy trees to make camp” says Haber.  “Now, we’ve made it so you can literally camp anywhere – with ZERO impact to your environment.”

The low impact and environmentally friendly approach to camping has always been part of Trek Light Gear’s mission and with the introduction of the HVR they just may have claim to the Leave No Trace crown.  Through Trek Light Gear’s Buy A Hammock, Plant A Tree program the company has planted thousands of trees over the years and Haber says the program will “absolutely continue” even though trees are no longer a necessity for its product line.

Trek Light Gear has also begun applying the patent-pending HVR technology to its other products as well – the HVR version of its hammock bug net, the Bug Free Hammock Shield, is currently in testing and should be ready for a Summer 2013 release as well.

 
While no retail price has been set yet, Trek Light Gear intends to debut the HVR at an affordable price point and make it available in its online store and retail location on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado.

With happy customers around the world and thousands of hammock lovers as part of the Trek Light Gear online community, this Boulder-based business will continue to find innovative ways of reaching the outdoor enthusiast community and spreading the philosophy that “Life is better in a hammock.”

For more information about Trek Light Gear and its products, visit http://www.TrekLightGear.com or follow the company on Facebook or Twitter (@TrekLightGear).

Additional Photos For Distribution (All Rights Reserved):

UPDATE:  April Fools!  We wish it were true but for now we’ll just have to keep on planting those trees and dreaming of a floating hammock.  Thanks to everyone who passed the story along and shared a laugh with us, feel free to keep spreading it around.

And especially thanks to those of you who forgot what day it was and actually got angry at us – we received more than a few upset phone calls and emails accusing us of trying to scam people and break the laws of physics.  You all made it an April Fools to remember, we love you all and thanks for being such fun fans and customers!

Too amazing not to share.  “Sir Ravi The Juggler” made a name for himself earlier this year when he posted of a video of him solving two Rubik’s cubes while juggling them and racked up over 4 million views in the process. Now he’s back with the trifecta.

What’s your hidden talent?

I just came across this great How To courtesy of Snapguide and thought you’d all enjoy it:

How to Make an Alcohol Burning Stove From a Coke Can by Paul Clayton on Snapguide.

If you’ve got a great DIY camp stove idea you like to use let’s hear about it in the comments.

If you’ve followed along with us you’ve seen us mention this amazing creation before – it was designed and built by the brilliant minds at North Street Labs and has been featured all over the internet since it’s debut.  I reached out directly to the NSL crew back in 2010 when I first heard about the project and immediately got them a Trek Light hammock to use with it.  We’ve stayed in touch ever since and now they’re selling the American Dream to generate money for future projects – and if the amazing CentriFury is any indication I expect big things from these guys. (Even better – the NSL team just posted a video of their latest creation, a propeller-powered car built in 48 hours – watch the video and you’ll even see them grabbing quick power naps in their Trek Light Hammock during the build!)

Ever since I first saw the video of the drivable hammock stand I’ve been dreaming of ways to put it to use.  My goal has always been to spread the message that life is better in a hammock and to bring social good in the form of a business –  what better way to get there than with an attention-getting drivable hammock?!?

The American Dream with a Trek Light Gear Hammock

The problem is, the American Dream doesn’t come cheap (can I get an amen?!?).  As you can see in the video it required a lot of labor, ingenuity and some pricey equipment including a motorized wheelchair that makes it what it is. This isn’t just a hammock on wheels, it’s a completely drivable, motorized hammock operated by a remote control (in the form of a video game controller no less)  – and ‘The American Dream’ is a hilarious and fitting name for such a creation.  North Street Labs is asking for $3000 which includes the shipping costs to us in Colorado (estimates have put it at $500+ for shipping alone).  It’s a one of a kind creation, a piece of modern art in my opinion, and the perfect way for a scrappy startup like Trek Light Gear to get the word out about our products.  But, it’s also a bit more money than we have lying around so we’re asking for your help.

As a business that bases its entire existence on the philosophy of giving back, it’s odd to be writing a blog post in which I’m asking for your donations. In fact, it was largely unheard of for a for-profit business to ask for donations of any kind, until the likes of sites like Kickstarter came around and brought a very interesting concept to light: when given the chance, we as consumers are actually interested in supporting businesses that we love, not just by making a simple purchase but by doing a little extra to help them succeed and grow (and in some cases, helping them to even exist in the first place).

So, here’s how we’re going to do this together.

At the top of this page and below you’ll see a widget which will allow you to make donations directly to our ‘American Dream’ Fund through the site Rally.org.   This isn’t a one-way street, and as a special thank you to everyone who donates $10 or more we’ll be emailing you a special one-time coupon code that you can use on any future order.  The more you donate the bigger your return gift will be:

• $10+:   15% off any order
  

• $25+:   20% off any order – Plus we’ll mail you a TLG beer koozie ($2) and TLG stickers!
  

• $50+:   30% off any order – Plus, we’ll mail you a Deluxe Eco Tote ($15), a beer koozie and TLG stickers
  

• $100+:   40% off any order – Plus, we’ll send you a Bindle Backpack ($27 value) along with the tote, beer koozie and stickers above!

• $1000+:  50% off any order – You’re a bona fide rock star. You’ll receive all the gifts above, plus a full camping hammock package (Hammock, Rain Fly, Bug Net, VersaTrek, hanging kit) and we’ll even paint/carve/stencil your name somewhere on the American Dream so everyone knows how awesome you are.

Bonus:  Anyone who donates any amount and helps us buy the American Dream has an open invitation to come by our warehouse in Boulder and take the hammock for a spin! Just give us a call first so we can coordinate a good time with you, we’re going to have a hard enough time not driving this thing all day as it is. If we get enough local support we can also organize a fun group outing around Boulder to take the American Dream out for a spin. And of course when we end up traveling with the American Dream we’ll do whatever we can to make sure you have a chance to ride it in your own town.

The only real fine print is pretty standard – the coupon codes you receive can’t be combined with other sales, promotions, gift certificates, coupons, etc.

If you’re savvy you’ve already noticed that you can easily use these coupons to save more off your upcoming order than your actual donation – making it a win/win for everyone.  You help us raise money with your donation, and whenever you need more gear or a gift for someone you know, you can actually recoup your expense and even save more money than you donated.  Keep in mind you can donate any amount so if you’re not worried about the coupon rewards you can still chip in a dollar or two and you’ll have our sincere gratitude – everything helps!

Everything we’ve done so far has been built by us working together – your purchases, your support, your word of mouth.  Helping us own a drivable hammock stand won’t really change your life (unless you take us up on our offer to stop by and drive it around!), but it’s going to help us in our mission to reach more people, touch more lives, and spread more smiles around the planet.   Let’s do this!

As many of you know, last year we introduced a brand new Trek Light Gear product called the Bindle Pack to our lineup.  The backpack has been creating waves since we introduced it, even getting a huge amount of press thanks to features in Gizmodo, GearJunkie, Entrepreneur Magazine and more.

It’s not just the incredible design that’s causing the buzz – it’s the fact that with your help a tiny company like Trek Light Gear has been able to make a huge difference in the world every time a pack is sold.

What happens when you purchase a Bindle Pack? Watch the video below to find out. And when you do, allow yourself to smile back when you see the look on the children’s faces – if you’ve purchased a Bindle Pack it’s you who made this possible.

Be The Change Volunteers -Bihar, India 2013

The more we accomplish, the more fired up I am to keep this ripple of positivity growing.  Together we’re disrupting the model of ‘business as usual’ and showing that everyone can take part in spreading happiness and making the world a better place, simply by purchasing something affordable that creates happiness in your own life at the very same time.  It’s a type of armchair hammock activism that’s not meant to replace your own giving and volunteering but to supplement it and magnify the effect we can all have in our daily lives. Thanks for being part of this incredible and ongoing adventure with me.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Back in November, I came across an article titled “Planting Seeds For College Early”  which told the story of a 3rd grade class at Linden Elementary in California.  While the ‘What do you want to be?’ question has always been a common one for young kids, Linden Elementary was taking it a step further and actually having a career day of sorts – Pam Knapp, the high school college and career counselor, spoke to the kids about not just doing well in school and getting into college, but why it’s so important to find your passion and begin following it early.

In the end the class was asked that famous question and a few of the answers ended up quoted in the article – the one which brought the article to my attention in the first place, was from 8 year old Mario Ruvalcaba:

“I either want to be somebody that gets to test out hammocks, or be a spy”.

Mario’s hammock tester comment was considered off-beat enough to make the article and he obviously caught the adults off guard a bit with it:  “Knapp said he might start in the military and be trained in espionage to be a spy. Hammock testing hasn’t made it into Linden High’s guidebooks just yet.”

Something about it immediately resonated with me – here was a young kid saying he had a dream of making a living in the hammock biz and whether he was 100% serious or not, I knew he was likely hearing the same reaction I heard from so many people over the years:

A hammock is an easy symbol of laziness to so many, the ultimate ‘I don’t want to work right now’ slacker accessory.

And 10 years ago I set out on a mission to change that perspective – to show people that a hammock can take you to the top of mountains and be a symbol of an incredibly active lifestyle.  It can bring stress relief and balance to the busiest of lives, cure insomnia, make you healthier, be the source of your best ideas, and it even can be used as a tool to save the environment and help find a cure for cancer.

So I sent an email to the reporter and asked to be put in touch with the class.  I heard back from his teacher, Ann Sisson, and immediately sent off a hammock for Mario to test and the rest of his class to enjoy.  I wanted Mario and anyone who may have heard his comment and in some way laughed it off to realize that the craziest sounding ideas are often some of the best – and if he wants to be a hammock tester, he was going to have the chance to start right away.

On December 14th I received an incredibly appreciative email from his teacher Ann saying that they had set the hammock up outside for Mario and the entire class to test out.   She included a number of photos (see below) showing how happy it made everyone.

A short while later I also received an email from the reporter who wrote the original article and he wound up publishing a great follow-up story on what happened after Mario received the hammock.  The story was featured in their local paper, the Stockton Record and was printed on Christmas Day with the headline Dreams Can Come True.   Rather than repeat most of the short story, I encourage you to read it:

Dreams Can Come True: Future hammock tester starts training

This story though, and what it means to me, wouldn’t be complete without pointing this out: December 14th (the day Mario and the class tested out the hammock) was no ordinary day for anyone in the U.S. and even around the world.  It was the day of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and right before the email showed up my head was spinning – I know I wasn’t alone in being unable to shake the thoughts of all the innocence lost and wishing for something to put a smile on my face.

This is what did it:

Seeing it in some ways made that morning’s tragedy sting a little bit more, but the overwhelming thought that put a smile on my face is that this also happened at the very same time that so much tragedy was occurring elsewhere.  While there’s evil in the world, there’s still a lot more good  – and it will overcome.  It got me through a tough day and helped me find optimism where there seemingly wasn’t any and I hope it in some way does the same for you.

In my mid-20′s I decided that I wanted to do something I enjoyed in my life, and I knew I wasn’t finding it in my cubicle. At the time, I was just on a simple mission to find a better way to sleep when I camp, not trying to start a business, but the more I thought about it the more I realized it could be done.  And I knew that if it could be done, I’d enjoy it much more than the job I had at the time.  Running a small business means I’ve still got a long way to go to get back to the salary I had when I left my corporate career, but it’s given me more reason to be happy than anything I would have gotten from a career that didn’t fit who I was as a person.

You don’t have to invent something the world has never seen before (I certainly didn’t invent the hammock from scratch) you just have to have a vision and a passion to share that vision with others.  You don’t have to know what you want to do for a living in 3rd grade and you don’t even need to know it 30 years later.  What’s important is that you continue to find ways to make your passion work for you, even when your passion changes as you change (hint: it will).

And no matter what you do, don’t forget to relax along the way – a hammock and a smile just might have the power to change the world.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering…..

Mario’s official review in his first gig as a hammock tester: “It feels like I’m laying on 100 pillows”.

Well done, Mario – you’re off to a great start.

What about you? Have you found a way to turn your passion into what you do for a living? Did you have any influences or interests as a young kid that are a strong part of what you’re doing today?

One of the strange effects of founding a hammock business is that whenever  a story involving hammocks or a picture of a hammock makes its way into the viral internet I’ll often begin receiving texts and emails from friends asking if I’ve seen it.  That exact situation happened earlier this week, when I was sent the picture below by a few people in a short period of time:

(I don’t know who owns the original rights to the picture other than the website which appears on it, so if anyone has issues with my reposting it let me know and I’ll take it down)

Like many of you, I immediately loved the picture when I saw it.  Never content to have just one motto or tagline, there are many extensions to TLG’s core message of  ‘Life Is Better In A Hammock’, and two of those are the ‘Hammock Everywhere’ and ‘Trees Optional’ themes you’ll hear often from us. So it turns out that this picture, oddly enough, is a truly great example of what the Trek Light lifestyle represents.

On Monday I re-posted the photo to our Facebook page with the caption “Where there’s a will, there’s a hammock” (another favorite saying around here) and it immediately started getting re-posted.  It turned out to be our most shared Facebook image ever – over 100 individual shares and 200+ likes and counting in a very short time.  Sure, it’s got a cute baby in it, but it’s obviously the hammock creativity that captures people’s imagination and causes the reaction.

As the comments started coming in, one of them was so unexpected it immediately caught my attention: “You should sell that! Great idea!”

Guess what? We DO sell that, and we always have.

Recreating The Internet: Step 1, Find A Baby

I immediately realized that we needed to recreate this picture showing people how easily they could do this with one of our hammocks – all I needed was a table, a hammock and a baby.

Two out of three ain’t bad, but definitely wasn’t going to cut it in this case.   So,  I had another of those great ‘man, my job is weird’ moments where I sat at my desk thinking about where I could get a cooperative baby model on short notice.  Luckily Jason, my right hand man around the office, has a close friend with a baby so just a few minutes and what I’m sure was a strange phone call later I sent Jason off with the simple mission of recreating the internet.

And, in case you missed it on our Facebook page earlier this week, here’s the great result:

The idea that you don’t need two trees to relax in a hammock, that you can be indoors, under a table even, is what causes the overwhelming “Why didn’t I think of that?” reaction we saw in so many of the comments.  It opens the imagination up and makes people realize that if they can turn a kitchen table into a great hammock spot for a baby that there’s probably a million ways they can get creative and hang a hammock for themselves.  It’s that open door into a new world, a light bulb going off the same way it did for me the first time I took a hammock camping.  And the reaction I saw, along with the viral spread of the image, is a great example of why Trek Light Gear exists and why I believe our mission resonates with so many.

Or, if you prefer, Trek Light Gear Motto #523:  Free your hammock, the rest will follow. 

A huge thanks to our new favorite hammock model, Adi Mae, and her mom Angela Tretter for helping to make this picture come to life on such short notice.

Please do us a favor and share it!  You have our blessing to save the image and post it wherever you can.  Hopefully some day down the road it’ll be this picture traveling in the fast lane of the internet making people smile and forward it on. I’m sure I’ll be hearing from more than a few friends when that day comes.

UPDATE: Better yet, in addition to sharing the image, if you’ve got all the necessary ingredients at home (table, baby, Trek Light hammock) why not take your own shot at recreating the internet Trek Light style and share your pictures with us on our Facebook page?  We’ll even give our favorite a $25 Gift Certificate! Submit your photos by 12/31/12 and we’ll pick a winner after the New Year.

The phone rang, and our employee Dan was on the other end:

“Tommy Chong just stopped by the kiosk and was really interested in the hammocks, he had to walk off but said he’d be back in a bit.”

Before we go any further, let me paint the picture a little better: We live in Boulder. Where, truth be told, there’s a lot of guys who look and even sound eerily like Tommy Chong.  And it just so happened to be Halloween.

Normally I’d have good reason to be a little LOT skeptical of such a situation, but coincidentally just one day earlier I had heard that a friend of mine had waited on Tommy Chong in her restaurant in Boulder.   That was enough to convince me that we were talking about the real deal – the king (well, co-king, no pun intended) of stoner comedy himself.

While I can only claim to know the public personality that is Tommy Chong, he immediately struck me as a perfect person to own a Trek Light Hammock.  If anyone follows our belief that life should be as much about relaxing and enjoying yourself as it is pursuing your dreams, Tommy Chong is certainly up there on the list.  I had a funny feeling he was just being polite and wasn’t going to come back to the kiosk, but sure enough an hour or so later the picture below showed up on my phone.  One look tells you all you need to know – that is definitely the one and only Tommy Chong.  He walked away with a brand new Double hammock and hopefully a great memory of supporting small businesses in Boulder.

Tommy Chong and the TLG Crew

I have fond memories of my Dad telling me stories about listening to Cheech & Chong’s comedy records back in the day, but as a teenager it never quite translated – I was just too young to get the humor.

It wasn’t until my own college years that I re-discovered their comedy and wound up shedding more than a few laughing tears with my roommates.  It’s counter-culture humor at its finest, comedy your parents are supposed to hate, and realizing that my Dad and I could both share a laugh at something like that some 20 years apart was one of those great moments of growing up.

For a small business getting your product into the hands of any known celebrity is always a great feeling, regardless of whether it leads to a single additional sale or not – when my own kids discover Cheech & Chong someday I’ll be sure to blow their minds with the fact that Tommy just may have spent his later years writing jokes from the comfort of his Trek Light Hammock.

Chong is pretty active on Twitter (@tommychong) and also has his own podcast potcast radio show so I’m hoping we can hear at some point what he thinks about his new Trek Light Gear hammock.    We’re too small of a business to pay for celebrity endorsements but I do know that our hammock is capable of making anyone’s life better – and a celebrity fan is way cooler than a celebrity spokesperson.  Who knows, maybe someday we’ll be announcing that we’re adding a Tommy Chong signature edition hammock to the lineup.

Hey Tommy, if you’re home, open up man – it’s me, Seth.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with the great folks over at Blind Horse Knives and the result is the podcast interview you can stream below.  Blind Horse Knives is the creative force behind Self Reliance Illustrated magazine, a joint venture with our favorite hammock-loving superstar, Dave Canterbury, and The Pathfinder School.   As an advertiser in SRI since the very first issue I’ve gotten to know the BHK team over the last few years and it was a pleasure to hang out and talk shop for their great podcast.

The interview began with some questions about Trek Light Gear’s home base of Boulder, CO and as anyone who knows me can attest – it’s an easy way to get me talking (and talking some more) about how much I love where I get to live and work everyday.   We eventually managed to segue into some great hammock related discussions, covering everything from the benefits of hammock camping, how to properly sleep in a hammock, and many of the newly discovered medical and health benefits associated with hammocks.

I’ve done a number of interviews over the years but this was my very first radio/podcast interview and a really fun experience.  If you’ve been following along with me on the blog and found yourself wondering just what my voice actually sounds like – wonder no more!

Hammocks aside, if you’re interested in learning more about self reliance and wilderness survival techniques, I highly recommend checking out a copy of SRI Magazine.  Each issue is filled with clearly explained tips, techniques and lessons – covering everything from using a compass and reading a map properly to starting a fire with next to nothing.   It’s the type of knowledge you may not necessarily apply on a regular basis, but if you do any camping, hiking or backpacking whatsoever it can prove invaluable when you need it most.

You can subscribe to the bi-monthly print issues or if you just want to purchase a single issue in digital format (eBook, Kindle, PDF) you can do that too.

Enjoy the weekend and get outdoors!