When Konstantin Chinkov first began designing watercolor coloring books for his young nephew, the lifelong artist had no idea it would turn into the burgeoning business he has today.
Owned and operated out of North Shore’s Business Development Center, Chinkov is one of eight graduates of the Chattanooga Chamber’s inaugural INCubator Resiliency Program cohort.
“I was working at an insurance company while my wife was finishing graduate school,” he said. “And my nephew would always ask me to draw stuff for him to paint on top of, so eventually I just made him a little book of 20 pages of sketches and it became very popular with his friends and classmates. … That’s when the light bulb went off.”
Several years after that moment, Chinkov said he had worked through issues like what paper weight allowed for printing and could also hold the water necessary. He’d figured out the ideal paint and brushes to sell as a set, but he needed a space to scale the business as well as guidance on how to grow Wondering Watercolor sustainably, connect with wholesalers and also learn ways to operate more efficiently.
“My wife was pregnant and she was like ‘You’ve got to move everything out of the house,’ because it was starting to take over. At one point I had ordered a literal ton of paper and it came to my house on a freight truck,” he said.
Once accepted to the BDC’s INCubator program, Chinkov said he quickly began learning everything he could through the free business development classes offered. Then, through the Resiliency Program classes he completed a SWOT analysis workshop, created a business continuation plan, connected with potential funders and learned how to incorporate AI into his research to find the best material sourcing, with help from the Chattanooga Public Library’s directory and archives.
“I’ve been in the INCubator program the whole time, which has been such a blessing,” he said. “There will be meetings for how to find commercial space once you’re out of [the BDC] here, or like legal advice. Just all of the stuff I don’t know to think about.”
Equipping entrepreneurs like Chinkov and the other inaugural INCubator Resiliency Program graduates with such tools to help them better execute their ideas is the primary focus for Marcherie Savage, director of entrepreneurial development for the INCubator.
Business forecasts in 2024 predicted 2025 would bring significant challenges for small business owners, she said — and that prediction has proved to be an accurate one.
“A lot of entrepreneurs are geniuses but fail in silence,” Savage explained. “You often don’t know what you don’t know, and our goal is to provide those pieces to fill the gaps. … Being an entrepreneur you’re often working with your head down and haven’t looked at that SWOT analysis or business plan in years and the goal is to get you back in front of the blueprint to see where it’s working and reevaluate where to pivot.”
As an entrepreneur herself, Savage said part of the inspiration for creating these hands-on, in-depth opportunities came from her own initial experiences and those of other business owners in the area.
“There’s storms people have to prepare for, whether that’s financially, mentally, if someone passes unexpectedly or a literal storm,” she explained. “So many business owners don’t have those things lined up and they get overwhelmed and don’t really know where to start. That’s what this Resiliency Program is about; giving them that competitive edge.”
For Flappy Nappies business owner Chelsea McAmis, an added benefit of the Resiliency Program was the ability to connect with other area entrepreneurs and find out where they could support one another.
“Every single training that I’ve been to, I’ve taken at least one thing that has been very useful,” she said.
A mom of three, McAmis’ children were some of her first product testers for her cloth diapers and additional wool-based product line for young children. Eventually, she said, she hopes to expand the line to include things that she now recommends other brands for, like training potties, which are often difficult to find in a size for children under three.
Through the INCubator programs, she connected with another local business, Fusion Threads Collective, who now dye the wool for her products. She also already has other local businesses in mind to connect with for future product development.
“The connections are invaluable and so are the presentations,” she said. “From the resilience program specifically, my favorite was the one on AI; it was extremely informative and really gave me some good ideas on how I can utilize it going forward.”
For Fusion Thread Collective’s co-owner Audrey Loyd, additional resiliency programming in the works for next year is already of interest.
“We only wish we’d had this course available to us sooner to have saved us some early headaches as we learned how to grow and scale a business,” said Loyd, who graduated from the inaugural program alongside her business partner Mariel Rico. “Some of these courses really exposed where we had weak points we hadn’t thought to address — like systems to protect our company in the event of an emergency or natural disaster.”
For next year’s classes, Loyd said a session on how to pitch for funding opportunities like Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union’s Idea Leap Grant would be of particular interest.
Anyone interested in learning more about the INCubator’s free monthly program or joining the second Resiliency Program cohort next year can learn more on their website or by emailing [email protected].
“All of our classes are open to the public and free,” Savage said. “We want to ensure that every speaker or panel we have is valuable for a business that’s ready to scale. You can only do what you know to do and that’s where we come in.”
— Full business list of inaugural INCubator Resiliency Program graduates:
Leatherworks
Pursuit of Happiness
JH and Associates
Wondering Watercolors
Ridgeback Blades
Sparkle Commercial Cleaning
Fusion Threads Collective
Flappy Nappies
