Today we’d like to introduce you to Babulal Nayee
Hi Babulal, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was originally born in India, my family did not have much. Often times we did not have food, we didn’t have electricity, times were tough growing up. I always had dreams of coming to America. I knew I wanted to be in America one day. I knew America was the land of opportunity it was where I could make nothing into something.
I came to America with $10 in my pocket in Orlando, FL. I stared my career in 1991 inside my brother’s garage. I knew I wanted to create something, but didnt know what. I worked as a pool tech and thats when I started getting exposed to hot tubs. I saw the current market did not have an efficient cover for it. Being an engineer, my brain said “I can do it!”. Before I could start anything, I knew I needed to buy a sewing machine. So I saved up my first $1200 with my wife. As soon as I saved enough money to get the machine, my brother had asked me to help him out. So respectfully I helped him. I then had to start over, after some time I saved up another $1200 and that was invested to get my first sewing machine. At this time, my wife was pregnant with our son in 1992. Knowing Florida’s heat and how tiring it can be outside we had to make do with what we had, we did not have a fan to keep us cool so we had to work in the heat because my wife and I knew we had something we did not want to give up on. We were in a very small warehouse maybe the size of a small 1 car garage. I still remember it like it was yesterday. There my wife and I learned how to sew on a sewing machine, we learned what materials we were going to use to produce the cover. We worked really hard day and night and through a lot of trial and error we produced our first cover.
I sold my first cover for $87.50 it was the happiest day of my life. I knew from that moment I was never going to give up, I didn’t care what it would take I was going to make it. I knew if I worked hard, treated my customers right and treated them how I wanted to be treated, I couldn’t go wrong.
As time and years had passed my wife and I along with my new born were running our little company and at this time I had a few employees under me as well. Things were going well and we were in the right direction. As success comes with well wishers it also comes with people who don’t want to see you do well also. As business was growing thinking things were going well, nothing prepared me for the wall I was going to hit. One day I noticed something wasn’t right, business was growing but financially it wasn’t. My expenses were growing and my facility was producing covers but the checks weren’t depositing, or at least not into our account. I realized I had to get myself and my family out of the area we were in. I was being taken advantage of and lost everything. In 1998 I moved to Tennessee. While my wife was in Florida taking care of our 2 kids, I was in Knoxville TN rebuilding my company working day and night rebuilding everything from ground up. I remember I sold my first hot tub cover in Knoxville to the Great Back Yard in Knoxville. That was the light i needed to see from losing everything and then finding someone who believed in me.
Once my wife and kids made the move to Knoxville in 1999 we said goodbye to Florida. From there we worked hard and saved every penny we could. As business grew, we moved warehouses to a bigger facility. My kids came to work with us, they were brought up in this company. As I was drawing and cutting the covers my kids would be drawing and coloring on the tables as well. In 2009 I wanted to make my job easier I also wanted to increase my production. Since starting my company I was doing everything by hand, I drew all my covers by hand, cut them all by hand. I saw there was a machine that could automate everything taking my drawing and cutting time from 1 hour a cover to 10 minutes a cover. Only problem was, I was renting a place at the time I knew eventually I would have to move out and If I was going to invest on this machine, i’d want it to be in my own building
In 2009 I bought my own warehouse, which is where we are located today off of Lovell Rd at 310 Simmons Rd next to Turkey Creek.
Today, my facility has the ability to make any hot tub cover in need, any shape or size we can build it. Both my kids are now working in our company and we had a great team that supports us. We are passionate about what we do and we are driven to providing a great quality product for our customers. Customer satisfaction is our number one goal.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We defiantly have not had an easy road in our years. We have gone through pains of losing clients due to competitor prices, market crashing. My wife and I having worked night and day, even weekends of long hours because we had to provide for our kids, we wanted them to have a better life than we did.
We have seen the market change with different, styles of covers different materials used, prices of material increase. We have also lost out on deals where we have made covers for clients and then didnt get paid. I have had to rebuild my company multiple times.
Online market competitors have been a constant struggle for us, as small brands would pop up and offer lower priced items, faster turn around times. They would require payment ahead of time but once they got the money they ran. So not only was it a loss for us, it was also a loss for the customer as well.
While I was trying to build my business I stayed consistent even though it was tough, i didn’t let it break me down. Today, we are one of the only facilities that still operates on a 2-3 week turnaround time period based on orders size.
Life has not always been easy, but I will remember every bit of it. These struggles have taught me through the hardest times not matter what you have to keep pushing, don’t give up. It may be tough now but its not forever. I taught those values to my kids growing up. Life will always try to knock you down, but you have to get right back up and show how strong you are.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Ocean Spa Covers is a family owned business located in Knoxville TN. We manufacture custom as well as standard size hot tub covers for all different shapes and sized spas. We are known for our ability to customize any cover possible as well as our turnaround time. Our greatest asset we are known for is our quality of work. We put quality over quantity. Each cover is hand made, hand sewn, hand cut, and hand put together and we stand by our product.
For all the reading, we want everyone to know we are not your regular online shop. We are here because of the community of Knoxville, we wouldn’t be here without the support of our community as well as the surrounding businesses that we are around. We appreciate everyone that has came into our doors as well as all those that have been with us through the start of our journey. We are here to help any way possible. Our covers are the highest grade material in the market and our workmanship is unbeatable. If you’re needing a spa cover, just give us a call.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
We are big Vols fans over here. Ever since moving to Knoxville we have loved the community as well as the atmosphere. From the friendly people to the beautiful mountain views we get to see every day. Knoxville is home to us, every weekend during football season my family gets together and we all cheer on the vols. We love how Knoxville has been growing over the past few years, seeing new faces and new businesses really shows the opportunity this city has to grow.
As for what we like least about our city, thats pretty tough. But I am sure everyone can agree no one likes sitting in traffic on Kingston Pike. But as time has gone by I have learned to enjoy and take advantage of the small things we take for granted such as time. Though the traffic may not be enjoyable, it often gives me time to self reflect or think of new ideas.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.oceanspacovers.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oceanspacovers/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OceanSpaCovers/
