Today we’d like to introduce you to David Kim. Them and their team share their story with us below:
David J. Kim is the co-founder and the strategic partner of Boba Republic, a milk tea cafe, whose first location opened in 2020 in Allen, Texas as well as a co-founder of Chingoo Properties, a small real estate investment firm based out of Houston, Texas in 2018.
Prior to focusing on his businesses full-time, David was the vice president for J.W. Entertainment (Jumping World), He helped oversee the expansion of the Texas-based indoor family entertainment center from seven locations to eleven locations across three states. Since joining the company in 2016, David has focused on streamlining and standardizing the store operations, increasing and implementing marketing efforts, enhancing the overall customer experience, and improving the employee retention rates.
“Chingoo” means friend in Korean, and back in 2018, his college friend, Eric Chiang, asked David for advice in regards to personal finance. David gave Eric some book recommendations including “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” and after reading the books and some extensive research, Eric proposed to David to start a real estate company together. With Eric’s facility engineer background and David’s operational and finance background, they were able to start a residential real estate firm that involves in syndication, brokering, and wholesaling.
Aside from working on his business ventures, David currently serves as the internal vice president on the international board of Lambda Phi Epsilon which is the largest Asian American-interest fraternity in North America. He hopes to enhance the college experience for Asian-Americans on college campuses by providing a platform for Asian American college students to become contributing leaders within their community.
David J. Kim was born and raised in Houston, Texas. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in finance as well as his Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Texas back in 2016. He is currently a part time working professional student at the McCombs School of Business pursuing his MBA.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As with any small businesses, the largest challenges are to start the actual business and also to prioritize correctly the type of work and projects that’ll grow the business. Once a business is started, there are over hundreds of projects and work that needs to be done, and there will never be enough time to complete them all. Prioritizing the tasks that’ll help the bottom line, but most importantly, help the organization run efficiently is an essential skill that must be developed and can be learned. Surrounding myself with other ambitious individuals as well as watching closely what great competitors do within your industry will help develop that key skill.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Chingoo Properties offer brokering, property management, and wholesaling services for residential properties. We specialize in investment properties as we are investors ourselves.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I am born and raised in Houston and will forever love the city. Besides the obvious (food and diversity), Houston has a very underrated small business scene. Many individuals in this city are hard workers who love what they do and the community around them – a mindset that I very much align with.
Contact Info:
- Email: david.kim@chingoorealty.com
- Website: https://www.davidjoonkim.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/davidjoonkim
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidjoonkim
