Getting That Correct Companion To Help This Father-Of-Two Improve His Business

Wes Johnson, 47, founded Lawson Hammock in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 2005 while working on home construction looking for background noise. As a camper, she knows that many other outdoor enthusiasts trade their sleeping bags for sturdy outdoor hammocks, but many of them are not very comfortable. So if he could think of one, he imagined there would be a market for it.

Johnson is not looking for opportunities to start a business. When he meets two brothers who sell hand-stitched hammocks at an outdoor festival, he offers to buy their equipment from a friend with a $30,000 loan. He sold his goods through Lawson Hammock – his brother’s surname is Lawson – built a thriving business and began working on a prototype of his ideal hammock.

To make a hammock, he opened a local sewing and tailoring shop, then set up a simple e-commerce site and started marketing it, refining his designs further. However, there was a problem: it took a long time to make a hammock.

Johnson found it so tricky that he considered closing shop. Instead, she stayed with him and started distributing his hammocks to merchants who could sell them to him. After signing his first dealership with nine branches, he looked for a manufacturer who could help him improve his processes.

When he found one that made tents for a large outdoor company in the United States, he asked the company to develop a prototype hammock that could be used as a tent. He outsources warehouse and shipping to foreign partners, which saves time.

In 2006, the company’s revenues ranged from $20,000 to $30,000. When the Great Recession hit in 2008, Johnson saw an opportunity to thrive as people went camping and other cheap vacations. He began to devote himself more to business and left the real estate industry in 2010.

Convinced that the design was not strong enough, Johnson began selling magazines for his product and was covered by Backpacker and Outside magazines. The effort fueled growth, and in 2015 Johnson had sales of $500,000. To keep his budget, Johnson opened a co-working space in Raleigh. In addition, he invested in obtaining a patent for the Blue Ridge camping hammock to defend his idea.