Business awards forced couple to look ahead and set precise targets.
Marcel and Karen Bakker were practically pushed into their cabin-building business - the couple were still making their first cabin when a family member booked them into a home show.
"We had started making our first unit but it was still an incomplete cabin," says Marcel. "My sister-in-law booked us
to go to this show in Hamilton so away we went. We sold two of three units at the show." However, he says, the business took on a life of its own after the first year of operations in 2001.
Cabins To Go is based in Whangaparaoa, and makes portable cabins which are used to house short-term guests, in camp grounds, as boarding houses, or as offices, among other uses.
The Bakkers were travelling in Europe, where they spent time living in caravans. "We thought if only we could make something better - that was the idea we had. People are having to live in rented caravans some of which are over 30 years old."
As well as selling cabins, the company has developed a strong business based on leasing them out. They are often used as home offices, providing a cheaper option than renting commercial premises. Then there are clients - typically in the 45-55 age group - looking for units for their aging parents, or to house teenagers somewhere with more privacy for both parties.
About 70 of the company's cabins are out on lease, from three months to an average of about nine months. The longest time a cabin has been rented out is seven years, Bakker says.
Like most smaller businesses, for Cabins To Go the first few years were all about staying alive and trying to build sales. It helped that Bakker has spent most of his working life in construction. That background gave him plenty of useful knowledge about how to build cabins efficiently.
One of the best things he did was getting into the finalists list at the 13th Westpac Enterprise North Shore Business Excellence Awards, which forced the company to set very precise growth targets, Bakker says.
"One offshoot of the awards was us getting to know Results.com and working on business planning and where we are going with the business."
Results.com is an online company which helps businesses improve their operations to achieve high performance.
The transformation is major, he says. "We used to do a bit of business planning with our accountant, about twice per year. Then we put that away for another six months.
"Now, we are focused on our business on a daily basis. We plan every week and have a 90-day target. If we don't achieve the target, we ask why. Just getting prepared for the awards has forced us to be focused on our business."
Bakker reckons most businesses get to their most precarious stage in the first two to three years in operation. "Companies don't often stop to think why, they just do it."
He says the stringent planning process his company goes through includes having a long-term business plan, which stretches out 10 years ahead. It also means having focused targets, not all of them financial.
"We focus on funding issues, production schedules (how to manufacture more effectively), what's going on in the supply chain so we can deal with potential problems. It also means putting systems in place - for example something as simple as check sheets has been our focus over the last six months.
"When you get busy it is easy to forget something as simple as getting your manuals made up properly."
Cabins To Go's revenue has doubled every year for the past eight years and there is potential to move into Australia, which is one of the company's targeted export markets in its three-to-five-year plan.
Six years ago the company bought its own land to set up a purpose-built factory for making the cabins.
Bakker says the company's modular units can be towed on site with ease. The units can also be driven down the driveway and placed on any campsite. "That's where we are competitive. It is something we can do in a day out. Everything is well controlled in the factory - we can build the cabins and tow them to site."
Bakker has some very basis principles which he adheres to. The first is: gather as much knowledge as you can. "Think about what you're going to do first. Talk to as many people as you can."
The second: don't try to be everything to everybody. "This is the biggest mistake people make - trying to make everybody happy."
Staying focused on what you do is the ultimate secret to success. "That's the hardest one to get your head around," Bakker adds, saying there is a human tendency to want to please everyone rather than do one or two things really well.
