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“I all the time wished to make a distinction,” Emily Hikade, founder and CEO of luxurious sleepwear and residential firm Petite Plume, tells Entrepreneur. “I wished to make a change. I wished to do one thing that meant one thing.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Petite Plume. Emily Hikade.
Rising up in Central Wisconsin, Hikade was curious concerning the world from a younger age. She biked to the library to show herself French earlier than highschool. At 13, she satisfied her dad and mom to let her do a summer season alternate program within the South of France — and returned dwelling fluent.
Hikade went on to attend the College of Notre Dame, the place she continued to check French alongside German and worldwide relations. As her undergraduate profession got here to a detailed, Hikade accepted a job on the White Home.
In Washington, D.C., Hikade handed the international service examination and labored on the State Division’s Operations Heart, the place she acquired an up-close take a look at the White Home’s Scenario Room and navigated high-stakes calls with world leaders. Then one other life-changing alternative offered itself.
“Lights went out, folks had been screaming. All I might see had been the faces of my three little boys.”
“I acquired a faucet on the shoulder to go over to the darkish facet [to the CIA], as we are saying,” Hikade remembers. “I had the proper cowl as a result of I actually was a state division officer. I actually did communicate three languages at that time fluently. I actually did take the international service examination. I might discuss the discuss.”
Hikade joined the CIA and added Russian and Arabic to her language repertoire. She labored as an officer specializing in counterterrorism for greater than 10 years. Nevertheless, throughout her time on the company, a near-death expertise would set her on one other course.
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Hikade was flying to a gathering when the airplane spun uncontrolled and towards the water. “Lights went out, folks had been screaming,” Hikade says. “It was a business flight, a small puddle jumper, as they are saying.”
Hikade considered her three sons at dwelling; her youngest wasn’t even a 12 months outdated.
“As I used to be bracing for impression, all I might see had been the faces of my three little boys,” Hikade says. “And I had this profound sense of disappointment — that my children had been going to develop up with out a mother.”
Fortuitously, the pilot was capable of regain management of the airplane, however the pivotal second caught with Hikade.
Hikade began excited about what else she might do — and the reply, considerably surprisingly, was pajamas. When she lived in France, she’d stroll into the grocery retailer and see traditional pajama units with buttons, and he or she wished to purchase them for her sons. However she could not discover a related product within the U.S. “The whole lot had gone towards Hanna Andersson, that form of tight-fit type,” Hikade explains.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Petite Plume
“I knew learn how to negotiate. I’ve a better danger tolerance than most.”
So, whereas stationed in East Africa, Hikade determined to create the product herself — and provides entrepreneurship a shot. She calculated what number of pairs of pajamas she’d have to outpace her authorities wage (“and that quantity was not excessive”). The plan was by no means to begin a multimillion-dollar firm however to see if she might begin a enterprise.
“It was like, Okay, if I promote this many pajamas, I can be protected for my children,” Hikade remembers. “And I had lived in all these totally different international locations. I knew learn how to negotiate. I’ve a better danger tolerance than most.”
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Like most first-time entrepreneurs, Hikade needed to overcome a good quantity of challenges alongside the way in which. Nevertheless, one of many first and most important emerged throughout the product growth part.
Hikade got down to make Petite Plume pajamas out of 100% natural cotton, however within the U.S., kids’s pajamas should be capable to face up to a direct flame for 3 seconds with out igniting — which implies cotton needs to be blended with different supplies or coated with flame-resistant chemical substances.
“So we blended it with an inherently flame-retardant fiber; consider it like a tweaked wool,” Hikade says. “And that allowed us to cross all of the strict Client Product Security Fee (CPSC) rules with out utilizing chemical substances.”
“We hit a distinct segment.”
What’s extra, the enterprise’s launch “was all executed on a budget,” Hikade says. As soon as the product was prepared, Hikade arrange a Shopify website and had the manufacturing facility ship on to a 3PL within the U.S. Petite Plume formally launched in 2015, and regardless of missing buyers or deep pockets, managed to be worthwhile from the beginning and luxuriate in constant development over time.
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Now, the corporate has advanced into an entire life-style model with eight-figure annual income; its merchandise can be found in practically 500 shops nationwide, together with Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. As well as, Petite Plume’s ecommerce enterprise has grown 70% 12 months over 12 months, whereas 2024 sales-to-date are up 50% in comparison with final 12 months.
“We hit a distinct segment,” Hikade says by the use of explaining the model’s ongoing success.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Petite Plume
“I am actually happy with the corporate we’re constructing and [its] core values.”
Just a few years in the past, somebody requested Hikade what was tougher: working on the company or being an entrepreneur? She actually had to consider the query, Hikade admits. As harmful as her time as a CIA officer was, stress ranges got here with a level of predictability, peaking throughout high-stakes conferences or operations after which coming again down, she explains.
If you’re constructing an organization, these day-to-day highs and lows are typically extra erratic, Hikade says. She notes that your greatest and worst moments in enterprise would possibly even happen throughout the similar 24-hour interval.
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Regardless of the challenges of entrepreneurship, Hikade is all in on the enterprise — and stays dedicated to constructing one which improves the lives of its prospects and workers.
Petite Plume provides dad and mom on its employees the flexibleness to care for his or her kids together with parental depart and provides healthcare, 401ks and revenue sharing. “Now we have leaned into this Twenty first-century workforce,” Hikade says. “I am actually happy with the corporate we’re constructing and [its] core values.”
Hikade may need a better danger tolerance than most, however any aspiring entrepreneur, whether or not transitioning from counterterrorism, finance or every other discipline, would do nicely to take her easy however important piece of recommendation: There’s by no means a great time to start out an organization or make a change — so that you simply must do it.
“Any person stated, ‘You get the enterprise playing cards, and you place the CEO and founder on it early on, so it actually defines who you’re,'” Hikade says. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. So do not watch for that good time as a result of it is by no means going to return. Carpe diem.”
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