Meet Kim. Her motto in business and in life is, “If I’m going through this, someone else is too.” It’s why she opened her first business in Cabarrus County (a CBD dispensary) and it’s the driving force behind her pursuit of creating sustainable tiny home communities in Concord and beyond.
In terms of the American dream, Kim has checked all the boxes, except one. She built a successful corporate career, had a family, earned a master’s degree. The one thing she has tried and tried to achieve, but hasn’t yet, is homeownership.
After fighting and winning a battle with cancer, her “why” behind her CBD business, and becoming a single mom, homeownership has been just outside of her reach. She was so close to finally buying a home just a few years ago, and then the housing market skyrocketed. Affordable housing was not available or affordable.
Kim didn’t give up. She’s turning her own hardship into her non-profit, “Tiny House Big Movement.” Her dream is to not only build tiny homes that are affordable and made with sustainable materials, but also cultivate multi-generational, thriving communities.
From the beginning of her entrepreneurship journey, Kim has relied on resources and support from many organizations housed inside of the Cabarrus Center. Because of all those strong relationships and positive experiences, Kim knew she could count on all of them to help her make connections and build this dream alongside her. She was right.
The Rowan-Cabarrus Small Business Center, The Chamber and the Cabarrus Center Venture Mentoring Service have been instrumental in helping Kim gain a lot of traction with this mission-driven dream.
“Everything has become so much bigger than me,” said Kim. “Connections I couldn’t have dreamed of having. People believe in this concept.”
Kim had started a successful business before, but this was her first time starting a non-profit organization. That’s where the help from the Rowan-Cabarrus Small Business Center (SBC) came in.
After feeling like she had completed all the necessary steps, Kim reached out to SBC Director, Meg Smit. The SBC was able to contract a subject matter expert, Wilmenia Gripper, to help Kim ensure everything was in order for her new non-profit.
“Wilmenia helped me realize all the things I didn’t know to set up,” Kim said. “She also helped me figure out tools that I could utilize. So many companies supply free tools for non-profits and I wouldn’t have known about that without her.”
Arguably, not many people can say they utilize the resources within the Cabarrus Center as much as Kim does.
“Make me the poster child for the Cabarrus Center,” Kim said with a smile. “I could never say a bad thing about it. It’s a one stop shop for literally everything. I can ask the EDC a question, run upstairs ask Meg at the SBC a question and then head down to The Chamber office. The people in all those organizations are so great.”
With zoning and other technical aspects related to the City of Concord already approved and in motion, Kim is working toward getting the funding to buy the right parcel of land in Concord to get the first community built.
“I’m looking at building different floor plans from studio to two-level,” said Kim as she described her vision. “The empty nester grandmother is there, single mother is there, creating community. I see an area for a community garden and events on-site where people can come in and teach classes to improve quality of life.”
To learn more about Tiny House Big Movement and the Carolinas Tiny Home Festival, a first fundraiser for the organization taking place in the spring, visit www.tinyhousebigmovement.org/cabarrus or find them @tinyhousebigmovement on all the major social platforms.
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