NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • Deloitte Fast 50
    • Generate wealth weekly
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Opinion
Home / New Zealand

Mark Williams: How I built a Napier Christmas light empire

Opinion by
Mark Williams
Hawkes Bay Today·
19 Sep, 2025 06:00 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Mark Williams at his Westminster Ave property during Christmas 2023.

Mark Williams at his Westminster Ave property during Christmas 2023.

You don’t need a business degree, or even working arms and legs to build something that lasts.

What you do need is an idea, a bit of guts, and a reason to keep showing up.

I’m Mark Williams, and for over 20 years, I ran Flexilight NZ, a Christmas lighting business, from my home and later, a small warehouse.

I operate from a wheelchair, typing with a splinted hand and a stick.

The business started with a few strings of lights and a second-hand modem and became a trusted brand and an unlikely personal journey.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This isn’t just about Christmas lights.

It’s about adapting, pushing boundaries, and outshining expectations. Literally.

In 1986, at 16, a car crash left me a C4/5 tetraplegic. Rehab wasn’t just about survival — it was learning life from scratch.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

While others started careers, I was learning to sit upright again.

A year later, I met my first computer. It became my lifeline.

I did courses at EIT, learned Word, Excel, and basic graphics. But I couldn’t work just yet. I spent seven years strengthening muscles for tendon transfer surgery.

While rebuilding physically, I kept my mind busy, GST for my parents’ shop, CCS board meetings, and community involvement.

In 1996, the world shifted. The internet landed in NZ, and I downloaded a Spice Girls music video — five hours later, I was hooked.

I explored online business. Amway gave me my first glimpse of passive income. That led to self-help books and a diploma in Freelance Journalism.

I could tell a story, but media was a locked door back then. So, I pivoted. I taught myself web design, e-commerce, and digital marketing. I had the skills. I just needed a product.

Around 2000, I met Barry at a market. I’d been decorating my house with Christmas lights. Barry imported them.

He also sold furniture from Thailand and had a great back story, involving helping the Karen hill tribe.

Barry offered me the Hawke’s Bay retail arm of his business. I dove in. Wrote a business plan, found a shop in Napier, and hired WINZ-supported staff.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

One woman even got WINZ to fund her job. It was working — sort of.

Furniture was heavy, costly to ship, and not exactly flying off the shelves.

But something else was - Christmas lights.

Even in the off-season, people asked for them. I saw the spark. I closed the store and went online, right as Trade Me took off.

Trade Me let me sell from home and eventually, my warehouse.

 Mark Williams decorated his Westminster Ave home in Napier for his first Matariki light display.
Mark Williams decorated his Westminster Ave home in Napier for his first Matariki light display.

I focused solely on lights. Not just any lights — ones suited to Kiwi summers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

I worked with overseas suppliers to create custom designs. Rope light Motif’s, icicles, netting — all tested on my house. If it failed on my roof, it didn’t make the site. That’s how Flexilight NZ truly began.

What started in my lounge soon outgrew it, so we moved into a small warehouse.

As more containers came in, we doubled the warehouse, but sometimes even that wasn’t enough.

That’s when I invented a new game I called “Container Tetris” — the fine art of stacking, shifting, and squeezing stock into every square inch of storage space.

It was frustrating, exhausting, and strangely satisfying. The warehouse gave us the breathing room to handle volume and grow the business.

I still did it all — website design, product testing, packing, emailing customers, sorting freight, fixing plugs — all from a chair with adapted tools and a lot of patience.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Christmas was mayhem. My lounge still turned into Santa’s depot every year. But orders rolled in because I delivered what people wanted: honest, quality lights. No fluff, no fakes. If I said it worked, it worked.

Soon, councils and wedding planners came knocking. Even clients from the Pacific Islands. I became more than a retailer — I was a lighting consultant and go-to problem solver for post-Boxing Day blowouts.

I was one of the first people to import LED lights into New Zealand, working closely with Chinese suppliers to design products that suited our unique climate and tastes. By the end, I’d brought in over 60 containers.

Flexilight grew bigger than I ever imagined. By 2023, it had outgrown my lounge and “lifestyle business” dreams. I sold it.

I thought I’d retire. Then I saw an ad for the Kera Travel — a new lightweight hoist made in NZ. I’ve hated hoists most of my life, but this one? It had dignity. It worked. I saw the potential.

I sold HT Systems my biggest asset: me. I’m now the National Sales Manager for www.htsystems.co.nz.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

I didn’t get rich at 30 or retire by 40. But I lit up thousands of homes, 30 cities, and a few Pacific nations. More importantly, I lit up my own path.

You can build something real with ideas, courage, and a lot of hard work.

For me, every light sold wasn’t just a product — it was a little win, a spark of independence, a reminder that purpose can glow even in the darkest places. They lit up homes, sure — but they lit up mine first.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

'Reckless': Police find man asleep at wheel of jackknifed van in late-night rural road crash

21 Sep 08:11 PM
New Zealand
|Updated

Email from acquaintance to former top cop led to gun vetting change

21 Sep 07:46 PM
Live
New Zealand

Watch: Trump arrives in Arizona for Charlie Kirk’s memorial, as tens of thousands gather

21 Sep 07:12 PM

Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

'Reckless': Police find man asleep at wheel of jackknifed van in late-night rural road crash
New Zealand

'Reckless': Police find man asleep at wheel of jackknifed van in late-night rural road crash

The man is due in court today charged with meth and driving offences.

21 Sep 08:11 PM
Email from acquaintance to former top cop led to gun vetting change
New Zealand
|Updated

Email from acquaintance to former top cop led to gun vetting change

21 Sep 07:46 PM
Watch: Trump arrives in Arizona for Charlie Kirk’s memorial, as tens of thousands gather
Live
New Zealand

Watch: Trump arrives in Arizona for Charlie Kirk’s memorial, as tens of thousands gather

21 Sep 07:12 PM


Kiwi campaign keeps on giving
Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP