In 2006, Catherine Bunn's bank said no. She wanted to start a campervan hire business, had a solid business plan and a clear market opportunity — but the bank wouldn't lend against vehicle assets, and they weren't convinced there was a market. So she got creative.
She applied for a £20,000 mortgage extension to build a conservatory. She had very detailed plans drawn up. She just never quite got around to building it. The money went sideways into two campervans, and Highland Campervans was born.
Nearly 20 years later, Catherine runs a motorhome dealership and franchise business on the outskirts of Inverness with a team of 22, a loyal customer base, and some of the most practical and grounded business thinking you'll hear on Scale HER Up.
Start where you are — including the living room
Catherine started the business with a baby. Her son was two weeks old when she designed the website. He was six months old when the first hire went out. She'd load him into his car seat and go and collect customers from the airport.
Her first employee was a fellow mum who brought her own baby to work. They'd tuck the children into the back of the vans with pots and pans and a wooden spoon, and get on with the job.
It's a picture that says a lot about how Highland Campervans was built: practically, creatively, on very little sleep, with the resources available — not the resources they wished they had.
Growing on your own terms
Catherine has always paced the business at a speed she's comfortable with. That's meant organic growth, profits reinvested rather than over-borrowed, and a deliberate choice not to let the business swallow the family.
"I paced the growth of the business at a pace I'm comfortable with. There are things I've really wanted to do, but because I've had the children, I didn't want to miss them either."
Both sons are now 18 and over. The business is ready for its next phase of full-time growth and expansion. And Catherine is focused.
She's also honest that her natural caution — while protecting the business in difficult periods — may have held her back at times. Business advisors have pushed her to be more bullish in her forecasts. She's working on it.
The burnout turning point
One of the most useful pieces of advice in this episode is so simple it's almost embarrassing.
Catherine uses a HR management app called Bright HR to track her team's hours and annual leave. For years, she chased her staff to take their holidays, made sure everyone used their leave — while her own hours piled up unrecorded and unrecognised.
"I was working extra in the morning here, extra at night there, and I wasn't taking any toil back. So I started recording all the extra time on the app — and suddenly I realised I was completely overworking."
Now she tracks her own hours the same way she tracks her team's. She takes the time off she's entitled to. And she doesn't feel guilty.
"Treat yourself the same way you treat your staff."
It's a small shift with a significant impact — and one that any business owner who has quietly been working themselves into the ground should hear.
Castles, moats and cores
One of the most memorable frameworks Catherine shares is a model she learned on a business growth course from Bill Aulet of MIT: castles, moats and cores.
The castle is your infrastructure — the physical assets, facilities and capabilities that make your business operate. For Highland Campervans, that's the workshop, the sales yard, the storage and the services on site.
The moat is what protects you from competitors — the supplier relationships, franchise territories and community connections that make it hard for others to encroach on your territory.
And at the core — the crown jewel at the heart of everything — is what you're ultimately protecting. For Highland Campervans, that's the customer.
"Create amazing memories. That's our branding. How do we help our customers create amazing memories through every interaction with us?"
That's why they call their front-of-house team customer hosts, not receptionists. It's why the site has flowers when customers drive up. It's why they never say no — they say, "We can't help you here, but here's who can."
The beachhead strategy
The second business model Catherine shares is equally practical: the beachhead strategy.
Rather than trying to sell to everyone — every type of motorhome, every type of customer — the beachhead approach says: pick one specific segment, nail it completely, and only then expand into the next.
"We had a scattergun approach to our target market. We weren't clear who exactly we were targeting. And the problem with doing everything is you become a jack of all trades but not really an expert in anything."
Highland Campervans now specialises in compact motorhomes — 5 to 6.4 metres, ideal for the Highland roads. That's their bread and butter. Everything else flows around that core focus.
What's next
Catherine's next goal is a brand new workshop — built to a proper standard, properly insulated, properly heated — so the team can work through Highland winters without chipping ice off the doors at 5am or heating a barn with an inner tent.
She's secured some funding from Highlands and Islands Enterprise's Green Grant Fund. The rest is being worked through. It's the next chapter in a story that started with a Fisher Price campervan, a baby in a car seat and a conservatory plan that never quite materialised.
About Catherine Bunn
Catherine Bunn is the Managing Director of Highland Campervans, a motorhome dealership based on the outskirts of Inverness, and Director of Camper Lux Limited, the Motorhome Depot franchise for north Scotland. She founded Highland Campervans in 2006 after leaving the Royal Air Force, and has grown it organically over nearly 20 years into a 22-strong business specialising in compact motorhomes for the Scottish Highlands.
