Check Her Out: Paige Klein from practice:hospitality513

How did you come up with your business idea?

While meeting with a couple mentors over the years, I did an exercise of “what 50 things would I want to accomplish in the next 50 years” … essentially, what does my legacy shape up to be when I look back? We are all wired for relationships and to be a part of a bigger story. Dissecting the themes in that list highlighted that my story is rooted in a love for hospitality through cooking, caring for those around me, and creating clean and safe spaces. It evolved from a children’s culinary school to supporting and equipping families, “families,” and individuals with better life skills. The name comes from Romans 12:13 which is “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” And of course, there was a mommy blogger who took Practice Hospitality (I’m sure she’s very nice) so I decided to represent the 513 region.

What exactly is your business?

Practice:hospitality513 is a female-led small business. Our goal is to help make the home life easier through services like cleaning, cooking, and care. Our mission is to equip and strengthen our community through hospitality services. Ultimately, we want to support people and families that may need an easy button in a busy schedule, want to grow in their personal life and care skills, or alleviate stress of tedious to-dos.

How did you find out about Aviatra?

I had heard about Aviatra years ago when my friend Terrah Kocher mentioned the program and vision. She’s an amazing connector and ran her own marketing consulting business for a while. So, I just tucked it in the back of my brain for future needs/connections. When the time came that I needed to move forward in pursuing my business idea, I asked my friend Angela Ozar (awesome woman who happens to work for Aviatra), which program would be best and she encouraged me to check out the Explore Program since my idea was still evolving.

What is your inspiration?

People trying to get their life together! We all have different skill sets and I’d love to be the person who customers can use when they want to cultivate new or refine current life skills (like cooking classes, “How to Aldi,” or decluttering). And mostly, I’m inspired by those who model loving people well in their best capacities.

What has been your biggest accomplishment with your business so far?

Having served 50+ families over the past year through all our services and daily having opportunities to build into our community has been my biggest joy and accomplishment.

What was the most valuable thing you gained from your experience?

From both my experience with Aviatra and leading my business, the most valuable thing was the relationships and encouragement from peers and mentors. I love learning from others and believe that these relationships are foundational in strengthening and equipping our spheres of influence.

What was the biggest challenge you faced when starting your business?

The biggest challenge wasn’t the idea or business itself but uncovering all the things I didn’t know – financial, legal, and marketing to name a few are areas that I have little to no expert knowledge in. Going through Explore helped me be able to have a better sense of how to ask the questions to get the answers I truly needed.

Are you active in the Alumni Network? How has that helped you?

As I’ve mentioned, relationships are foundational and critical for not only finding new or building up existing business but as a small business owner it can be really difficult to have only yourself or a couple employees to bounce ideas off of. I’m blessed to have a place I can feel confident that my business will be honored, but given constructive feedback. Nobody needs an echo chamber of meetings with yourself in the mirror!

Where do you hope to be in 5 years?

My dream is that I can create a network of independent contractors who can find job opportunities that fit their schedules. Also, my ultimate goal is that customers can grow from a “newbie” or easy stage in their life skills to a place of self-confidence and sufficiency and then they can pass on the good news!