We caught up with the brilliant and insightful The Tiny Home Lady a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

THE Tiny , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

By 2017 my husband and I had been living in Marin for 7 years. We totalled up $100k in rent paid and were really tired of being renters where all our hard earned money flowed out of our bank account with no equity to show for it. We both had jobs, I was a Lighting sales rep and my husband a caterer while we made $100k a year together we simply did not have enough to buy a home in the $800k-$1m that was available in Marin. We tried to buy land and build a home on it but got outbid on three properties. We also wanted to travel and see other parts of our country and that’s when the lightbulb went off, what if we got a Tiny Home on wheels we asked ourselves.

By November 2017 we flew from San Francisco, CA to Arlington, Texas and attended the Tiny Home Jamboree. It was there on the 3rd day we met our builder. We weren’t sure about how we were going to pay for the home and asked my husband’s parents for the funding for the downpayment and they said yes! We had our builder, we had the funding and we did not need the land because we were going to travel. Within 6 months into our build we got a call from our builder saying they were going out of business and that we needed to drive to Utah to pick up our unfinished Tiny Home.

The Tiny Home Rescue mission took us a week. For the next 8 months during 2018 we planned, purchased and built our home. We even had to do all the work to get it certified by Pacific West Tiny Homes a 3rd party certifier (fortunately the builder paid for that certification because at the last minute when we were picking up the home and signing an “As Is” agreement we remembered they were to certify our home but no longer could do that so we had to use another company.

The whole building and certifying experience was one thing but we also had to fix incorrect plumbing and electrical mistakes but the biggest lesson was having to replace our (3) 6k axle and tire system with a (3) 7k axle and tire system to the tune of another $5,400.

We set off on our travels March 2019 and landed back in California October 2018 driving 6000 miles from CA to TX to CO and back. During our travels we drove our Tiny Home to 12 Tiny Home Events to showcase our work. At each of the events that featured speakers, I transformed into THE Tiny Home Lady and shared our journey of the builder experience and what to look out for when hiring a builder.

We landed back in Sebastopol California and within 6 months of landing Covid hit. This gave me the opportunity to think more about what I could do now that I was no longer traveling. I chose to assist others in the journey of going Tiny and open up my consulting business. Early on the calls were tough because so many people wanted to go Tiny but they either did not own land or the land they did own was not legal to place a Movable Tiny Home.

Throughout the following couple years, I made it my mission to assist people through consulting services. Eventually I added design services to my list of services and started designing Tiny Homes from scratch. I have designed 4 homes that have gotten built by Mendo Tiny Homes.

Along the way I also became an affiliate with PreFab Innovations and started selling homes 1000 square feet and under built to the California residential code (just like regular homes) under the Factory Built housing law in the State of CA. These homes were mostly sold as ADUs in the backyard of a primary home and two have been sold as primary homes on raw land. The Modular homes offered homeowners the opportunity to go beyond 400 square feet (that;s the limitation of a Movable Tiny Home). The modular home is built in the factory reducing the time workers have to spend onsite and also appreciates in value because it is known as real estate vs. being personal property as with the Movable Homes. The modular home sales soon became the main focus of my business.

THE Tiny , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I think I covered this greatly in the previous section…but here’s more about what sets me apart.

The Tiny Home lady isn’t just talking about Tiny Homes—she’s leading the charge for real change. She’s pushing the industry forward by integrating cutting-edge solutions like AI-driven permitting and blockchain technology for ADU development, while also maintaining a personal, hands-on approach with every client she serves.

Her message is clear: Housing should be accessible, flexible, and aligned with how people actually want to live. And she’s not waiting for the system to catch up—she’s creating the roadmap for others to follow.

I’m incredibly proud of the people I’ve helped transition into Tiny Living and the communities I’ve built along the way. Whether it’s a retired couple finding financial freedom in a Tiny Home, a single mom securing stable housing, for her kids and grandkids or a homeowner generating income through an ADU, each success story fuels my mission.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When our builder went bust and we had to finish our own tiny home we took 8 months to do that and had plenty of obstacles thrown in our way from fixing plumbing, to installing ceiling boards high above our head to incorrect axle tire system. Each obstacle was met with a deep breath and sometimes tears but ultimately we moved forward through the obstacle and turned it into a great understanding of the Tiny Home Journey to guide and assist others on the path.

Have you ever had to pivot?

From 2018 till 2023 I was very focused on the Movable Tiny Home consulting and began selling Tiny Homes. To date, I have sold ten Movable Tiny Homes. During the many VIP Tours I hosted, I began realizing that many people wanted something a bit larger than 400 square feet and they wanted to appreciate their land with real property and they did not want to move it. I met PreFab Innovations a modular builder based in Fresno and began selling Modular homes to homeowners to place in their backyard and a couple as the primary home.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thetinyhomelady.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinyhomelady/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TinyHomeLady
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tinyhomelady/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tinyhomelady

Image Credits

Headshot Mindy Bean Photography
Blue Tiny Home Stacey Murphy
White tiny home interior Mendo Tiny Homes