Check Them Out: Kate Dailey and Kim Shearer of The Porcelain & Plaid Company!

What exactly is your business?

The Porcelain & Plaid Company, LLC is a home decorating business, but we are not the typical design company. We specialize in highlighting the pieces you already own, and, working within your budget, we also bring in a few new, game-changing pieces. It is big impact design for people on a smaller budget.

How did you come up with your business idea?
We have always loved interior design, but because we are school teachers, we’d have to get creative when working within our budgets to decorate our own homes. When many of our friends began asking us for help when they needed to decorate on a budget, we realized that we were providing a service that people truly need.

How did you find out about Aviatra?
Once we decided to start our company, we knew we had a lot to learn about starting and owning a business. We’d already enrolled in an interior design program to perfect our design skills, but we didn’t know how we could perfect our business skills. We immediately began searching online for resources for female entrepreneurs, and that’s how we discovered Aviatra.

What is your inspiration?
We are inspired by women who use their intelligence and creativity to make things happen. Our company exists simply because we never let our modest paychecks stand in the way of good design.

What has been your biggest accomplishment with your business so far?
Booking our first client and seeing our logo for the first time!

What was the most valuable thing you gained from your experience with Aviatra?
Initially, we really didn’t have the financial knowledge we needed to make informed, responsible decisions regarding the structure and operations of our new business. Aviatra gave us the tools, resources, and confidence we needed to turn our company into a reality.

What was the biggest challenge you faced when starting your business?
One of us is a Social Studies teacher and the other is an English teacher. We have multiple master’s degrees between us, but we were terrified of the financial components of business ownership! We overcame our fears by doing our research and asking lots and lots of questions.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years?
We hope The Porcelain & Plaid Company, LLC is thriving and that we’ve helped hundreds of people realize good design doesn’t have to cost a fortune!

Any advice for future Aviatras?
Life is too short to keep your passion on the back-burner.