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The U.S. job market surpassed forecasts with a staggering addition of 254,000 new jobs in September. Experts were forecasting the number to be around 150,000.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell from 4.2% in August to 4.1% in September.

Related: Barbara Corcoran Says This Is the One Question to Ask Before Selling Your Home

“You really couldn’t ask realistically for a better report for the economy — coupled with finding out that the port strike is not going to be an extended matter, and that at least for months, this is not going to be an issue,” Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee told Bloomberg Television Friday. “Those are two pieces of very good news.”

Experts note that last month’s interest rate cut is still taking effect and could boost sales in sectors that use borrowing rates, like cars and homes. More cuts are expected at the Fed’s next two meetings in November and December.

Inflation has slowed from its peak of around 9% in 2022, though it still remains slightly higher than the Fed’s set 2% goal.

California recently made a significant move in the franchise industry with Governor Gavin Newsom’s signing of Senate Bill 919 (S.B. 919). This bipartisan legislation introduces new registration and pre-sale disclosure requirements for third-party franchise sellers, including brokers, broker networks and franchise sales organizations. The bill aims to enhance transparency during the franchise sales process, an area that has long been under scrutiny.

Related: Considering franchise ownership? Get started now to find your personalized list of franchises that match your lifestyle, interests and budget.

The International Franchise Association (IFA) was a vocal supporter of this legislation, citing its alignment with the principles outlined in the IFA’s Responsible Franchising initiative. By focusing on transparency and disclosure, S.B. 919 is a step toward strengthening the franchisee-franchisor relationship.

“By improving information available to prospective franchisees during the pre-sale process, the legislation strengthens the foundation on which the franchise relationship begins,” Matt Haller, president and CEO of the IFA, said in a statement. “We hope this law will serve as a model for Responsible Franchising in other states.”

Related: See The Entrepreneur 2024 Top Franchise Supplier List

What this means for franchise brokers

Franchise brokers play an essential role in the industry by connecting franchisors with potential franchisees. Their fees are often tied to their ability to bring qualified candidates to the table. In states like New York and Washington, third-party franchise brokers are already subject to registration requirements and now, with S.B. 919, California joins that list.

The new law amends the California Franchise Investment Law (CFIL), adding specific annual registration and pre-sale disclosure mandates for franchise brokers and networks. These include yearly registration, where brokers must register annually and pay applicable fees, and new disclosure requirements, including requiring third-party franchise sellers to deliver a disclosure document to prospective franchisees. This document will cover essential information, including litigation history, compensation structure, the industries they represent, and the brands they sold franchises for in the previous year.

Related: The Critical First 100 Days of Onboarding — What You’re Likely Overlooking That Could Make or Break Your New Hire

A model for other states?

The IFA has expressed optimism that S.B. 919 could become a model for other states seeking to enhance consumer protections in the franchise space. California is a major player in the U.S. economy, and its moves often set the tone for future legislative trends. If other states follow suit, third-party franchise brokers nationwide may soon face a new era of increased accountability and transparency.

For the franchise industry, S.B. 919 represents a critical shift toward more responsible practices. It ensures prospective franchisees can access the information they need to make sound investment decisions. As the law rolls out over the next two years, franchise stakeholders nationwide be watching closely.

Related: Don’t Have Time to Start a Business? This Doctor, Lawyer and Now Part-Time Franchisee Would Disagree.

Americans love to shop — so much so that NPR devoted an episode of its “Consider This” program to the country’s shopping culture during the second year of the pandemic. But while just a couple of decades ago, shopping meant a trip to the mall, much of the activity has now moved online.

Personalized shopping is another area that emerging technologies have transformed. Where personal shoppers used to curate clothes for their clients just a few years ago, artificial intelligence is poised to take their place and reinvent our shopping experience.

Related: 5 Innovative Ways to Give Your Customers the Personalized Experiences They Want

AI technologies in retail personalization

Personalization has been a big subject in fashion retail for decades. While personal styling was only available to the elites during the 19th century, the advent of personal stylists and personal shoppers in department stores put a curated wardrobe within reach of the masses. Today, leading retailers are looking to artificial intelligence and machine learning to take their customers’ shopping experience to the next level.

The trend is not restricted to fashion. Retailers like Amazon have been embracing personalized recommendations since 2010, initially through the “customers who bought” feature. Offering product recommendations was not Amazon’s first foray into personalization. The company started that trend as early as 1999 by allowing customers to store shipping and payment information.

Today, retailers continue to use sophisticated machine-learning algorithms to deliver personalized recommendations to their clients. The use of AI in retail also includes chatbots welcoming shoppers to an ecommerce website just like a shop assistant would have welcomed them in a brick-and-mortar store.

Benefits of AI-driven personalization

Picture a customer in a huge department store looking for a small item. Even with the best sign-posting, they are likely to spend considerable time searching before they find that particular item. A knowledgeable shop assistant would make things easier.

When it comes to ecommerce, most retailers offer a basic search function on their platform. However, using that search function implies that someone knows exactly what they’re looking for. If the shopper only has a vague idea, the search could once again become time-consuming. A well-designed AI chatbot can cut down on that time by offering products that solve a consumer’s problem, without them knowing the exact name of the product.

Looking at fashion, the benefits of AI-driven personalization in retail become even more obvious. The legendary denim brand Levi Strauss & Co. is working on a project using AI-generated models that would allow customers to see clothes on different body types. The company acknowledged last year that it was not possible to present every single product on a range of different models. AI may be able to step into the breach.

Other benefits include more accurate forecasting of customer demand and the ability to manage supplies and staffing accordingly. As a result, in-person customers would benefit from limited wait times, while ecommerce clients would rarely, if ever, see the words “out of stock” when placing an order. Personalized retail marketing, including on social media platforms, is already offering more relevant products to customers than standard marketing tactics. AI can take retail marketing personalization to the next level.

Related: 3 Revolutionary Ways AI is Transforming Ecommerce

Implementing AI in retail

Retailers face similar changes to other businesses when it comes to implementing AI. Aside from accessible and affordable technology, they will need to gather consumer data, choose the most suitable AI tools for their circumstances and find ways to integrate AI-based applications with legacy systems.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), many retailers are interested in leveraging the benefits of AI and are watching developments closely. However, they continue to wait and see how the technology is developing and which best practices may emerge. Despite the hesitation, there seems to be no doubt that AI will change retail.

Challenges and considerations

Data privacy concerns and the cost of implementation are two of the main obstacles currently keeping retailers from embracing AI more widely.

Some NRF members have noted that the cost of implementation remains relatively high, while the benefits may seem logical but are as yet unproven and may not deliver an acceptable return on investment.

Successful implementation of AI in retail also requires significant amounts of data to train algorithms to deliver meaningful results. Convincing consumers to share their valuable personal information requires high levels of trust. Just like Amazon needed to convince its early customers to store payment information on the fledgling platform, retailers need to assure their clients that personal information will not be abused.

As retailers and industry organizations work to build a framework for AI in retail, adoption of these technologies will likely grow.

Future trends

AI will play a major part in enhancing customer experiences across different areas of retail. Early adopters like Germany’s largest producer of sparkling wine are already using AI to customize the content shoppers see in its stores. The company is using digital signs to display dynamic promotions for bottles close to the sign and avoids mentioning products that are out of stock.

Related: 3 Reasons Why AI and In-Store Teams Are an Excellent Duo for Smoother Retail Operations

While retailers may differ, many share the same goal — to remove friction from the shopping experience, both in-store and online. Streamlining interactions and customer service through AI is likely part of this development. Like other industries exploring the potential of AI, retailers are not looking to replace humans in their stores but rather to free up staff time for complex tasks.

Be it for fashion, gadgets, cars or groceries, Americans love shopping, and we are not alone in that. Personalizing the shopping experience is one of the keys to taking advantage of that affinity and growing any retail business’s customer base. AI will be one of the driving forces behind maximizing personalization and changing the face of retail as we know it today.

Cybersecurity marketing is changing rapidly, and the reason can be simplified down to a single word: trust. With improving technology, cybercrime is becoming more complex, and corporations must present themselves as not only solution providers but rather reliable guardians of clients’ most valuable assets. It’s no wonder that trust has become the bedrock of marketing in the cybersecurity industry over time.

Why trust is so important in cybersecurity marketing

Trust is important to any business, but the element of trust is critical in cybersecurity. The clients are not buying a physical product; they are buying a guarantee of safety. Decision-makers such as the CISO, CTO, and others need to be assured that the cybersecurity service provider they are looking at is able to grasp and respond to emerging threats.

Traditional marketing methods often fail to build this level of trust. Flashy ads and mass campaigns now feel overtly insincere, especially in a domain where sincerity is crucial. Prospects now need to have a high level of rapport with a company before even considering a demo, let alone becoming a customer. This is where the value of content marketing has risen as an effective approach.

Companies can demonstrate some level of thought leadership and credibility by providing educational resources like articles, case studies, webinars, whitepapers, etc. This shows that they grasp the evolving nature of cyber threats, which helps gain potential clients’ trust.

Related: 7 Marketing Strategies to Help Your Startup Grow and Scale

Challenges of traditional advertising in cybersecurity

While many cybersecurity companies still use traditional advertising, it’s proving more and more to be less and less effective in today’s market. Audiences are overwhelmed with ads, leading to extreme “ad fatigue,” where potential customers ignore these messages, making it harder for brands to stand out and establish credibility.

Moreover, people have become more skeptical of advertisements, often seeing them as exaggerated or misleading. This skepticism can be very damaging in cybersecurity, where trust is crucial. Instead of relying on ads, decision-makers turn to recommendations from peers or trusted industry experts. This is where influencer marketing becomes invaluable.

Related: Marketing Campaigns Must Do More than Drive Clicks — Here’s How to Craft Landing Pages That Convert Clicks into Customers

The power of influencer marketing

Influencers have emerged as powerful voices because they’ve built authentic relationships with their followers and, in many cases, opted-in subscribers. For cybersecurity companies, partnering with these influencers means tapping into that established trust and reaching an audience far more receptive to their message.

Finding the right influencers: The challenges

Finding the right influencers in the cybersecurity space isn’t easy. Unlike other industries, cybersecurity is complex and demands high expertise. For this reason, companies need to be very selective about whom they partner with. It’s not just about the influencer’s following; their audience should consist of decision-makers genuinely interested in cybersecurity solutions. Furthermore, the influencer must have credibility and a history of discussing relevant topics accurately.

Vetting influencers is a time-consuming process that involves analyzing their content and engagement rates and verifying their audience’s authenticity. A poor match can be costly, wasting marketing spend and potentially harming a brand’s reputation.

Using platforms to streamline influencer marketing

Given these challenges, many companies are turning to platforms that specialize in influencer marketing to simplify the process. These platforms vet influencers and provide data-driven insights to ensure that brands are matched with the most relevant voices. That’s where platforms like Presspool.ai, which I founded, come in — simplifying and streamlining the process.

These platforms use advanced analytics to connect cybersecurity companies with verified influencers, engaging high-intent audiences. By leveraging data, these platforms match brands with influencers whose audience perfectly aligns with their target market, such as CISOs, CTOs, or other decision-makers. This approach removes the guesswork and allows brands to build authentic partnerships, making influencer marketing both scalable and efficient.

How influencer marketing drives results in cybersecurity

When executed correctly, influencer marketing can be incredibly powerful for cybersecurity brands. It allows them to reach high-intent audiences—people actively seeking solutions—who are more likely to engage. The key is that these audiences are hearing about your solution from someone they already trust, which significantly accelerates the sales cycle.

For instance, when a respected influencer in the cybersecurity field endorses a product, their followers are immediately intrigued. They’re more likely to click through, read the content, and genuinely consider the solution. This level of engagement is rarely achieved through traditional advertising.

Moreover, influencers help educate potential clients, breaking down complex topics in a way that resonates with their audience. This not only builds trust but also positions the brand as a credible authority in the space.

Why data and technology matter

As with any marketing strategy, measuring ROI is crucial. This is where data-driven platforms like Presspool.ai become invaluable. By providing real-time analytics on campaign performance, engagement rates, and conversions, these platforms allow companies to see exactly how their influencer partnerships are driving results.

The ability to track and optimize campaigns in real-time allows brands to adapt quickly, ensuring they’re always getting the best possible return on investment. This combination of data-driven insights and authentic influencer partnerships sets the stage for the future of cybersecurity marketing.

Related: AI Might Know What You Are Feeling Before You Even Do — Here’s How AI Can Help Us With Client Feedback

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, cybersecurity companies must adapt their marketing strategies to avoid becoming irrelevant. Traditional advertising methods are rapidly losing effectiveness, and buyers are seeking more authentic, trusted voices.

By embracing influencer marketing and leveraging platforms that streamline the process, cybersecurity brands can connect with their target audience in a way that’s both genuine and impactful. It’s not about replacing traditional methods entirely but rather integrating a more nuanced, trust-based approach that resonates with today’s discerning buyers.

In an industry where trust is the foundation of every decision, I’ve seen first hand that building relationships through influencer marketing isn’t just a trend — it’s the future.

As exciting as it may be, learning a new language can often feel like a daunting task, with the typical endless vocabulary drills and grammar exercises. But Beelinguapp is here to change the game.

This innovative language learning app takes a fresh approach by combining audiobooks and dual-text reading to create an immersive, engaging experience. And right now, you can get a lifetime subscription to Beelinguapp—and all 14 of its languages—for just $34.99 (reg. $100) when you use code TAKE5 at checkout.

Traditional language learning methods can be time-consuming and overwhelming, especially for busy professionals. Beelinguapp offers a new, intuitive way to learn, making it easy to fit into your daily routine. Instead of memorizing endless vocabulary lists, you’ll follow along as you read and listen to a native speaker, seeing the same text in two languages side by side.

This side-by-side format is the core of Beelinguapp’s unique approach. It allows you to compare your native language to the one you’re learning, improving your understanding in real time. It’s like a language-learning karaoke, where you can follow the text in both languages while listening to a fluent speaker guide you through the pronunciation.

Beelinguapp caters to modern learners by offering 14 languages, including Spanish, English, German, French, Korean, and more. With its audiobook-style lessons and an ever-growing library of texts, you can choose from a wide variety of content—whether you’re interested in fairy tales, news articles, science papers, or novels.

This flexibility allows you to learn the way that best fits your lifestyle, all while gaining real-world conversation skills. The app provides texts at different levels, so you can start as a beginner and gradually build up to more advanced reading and listening skills.

If you’re hoping to learn a new language to help grow your business, this might be just the approach you need.

Through October 27, you can get a lifetime subscription to Beelinguapp for just $34.99 (reg. $100) when you use code TAKE5 at checkout.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Meta previewed new AI tools on Friday called Movie Gen that can create videos, edit them automatically, and layer on AI-generated sound for a cohesive video clip.

Movie Gen works with written text prompts, an image, or an existing video as input. There’s also an option to add a personal picture so users can see themselves in the video.

Related: Meta Is Putting AI Images on Your Facebook and Instagram Feeds, With Personalized Pictures

After the AI works its magic and generates a video, a user can type in a text prompt to create a custom audio soundtrack to play with the video.

^{A peek into a video Meta Movie Gen created from an image. Credit: Meta}

While Meta says Movie Gen’s high-definition videos are “the first of its kind in the industry,” when creating long videos at different aspect ratios, it doesn’t mean the AI is perfect. Right now the AI can only generate videos that last up to 16 seconds — and it doesn’t always get the assignment right.

In a demonstration to the New York Times, Meta’s AI tool made a mistake. Though it was able to create a video of a dog in a park talking into a phone, the AI messed up by placing a human hand around the phone instead of a dog’s paw.

? Today we’re premiering Meta Movie Gen: the most advanced media foundation models to-date.

Developed by AI research teams at Meta, Movie Gen delivers state-of-the-art results across a range of capabilities. We’re excited for the potential of this line of research to usher in… pic.twitter.com/NDOnyKOOyq

— AI at Meta (@AIatMeta) October 4, 2024

Chris Cox, chief product officer at Meta, stated in a Threads post that Movie Gen is “industry-leading” in video quality but that Meta isn’t prepared to release the tools because they’re too expensive and the videos currently take too long to generate.

Meta is sharing what it has right now because the outputs “are getting quite impressive,” Cox wrote.

Meta isn’t the first to show off a text-to-video AI generator tool — ChatGPT-maker OpenAI did it in February with its text-to-video model Sora.

In July, OpenAI published multiple YouTube videos in partnership with artists and entrepreneurs showing how Sora could create fantastical short films.

Related: Mark Zuckerberg Does a Better Job Than His Rivals at Explaining AI

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now worth around $206 billion, which puts him in the No. 2 spot on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.

Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook in 2004, has a 13% stake in Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and the newer X competitor, Threads. The company has invested heavily in artificial intelligence in recent years.

Related: Mark Zuckerberg Is $70 Billion Richer This Year

Zuckerberg saw his net worth increase by $78 billion in 2024. Per Barrons, Meta shares have been up around 65% this year (through Thursday’s close).

“Across Facebook and Instagram, advances in AI continue to improve the quality of recommendations and drive engagement,” Zuckerberg said in August. In July, Zuckerberg published a letter on Facebook pushing for open-source AI.

Zuckerberg jumped slightly ahead of the current No. 3, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($205 billion).

Meanwhile, Zuckerberg is about $50 billion behind the world’s richest person, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, whose net worth is currently $256 billion, per Bloomberg.

Related: Here’s How Mark Zuckerberg Works to Keep Facebook Relevant

In May, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that “the next industrial revolution has begun,” and AI will drive “significant productivity gains.” It looks like he’s right — industry demand for Nvidia’s next-generation AI chip, Blackwell, is through the roof.

“Blackwell is in full production, Blackwell is as planned, and the demand for Blackwell is insane,” Huang told CNBC on Thursday. “Everybody wants to have the most, and everybody wants to be first.”

Related: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s Biggest Worry Shows that Success Has a Downside

Nvidia first announced Blackwell in March and stated that it was the most powerful AI chip in the world with advanced security capabilities, better performance, and more memory. The biggest names in AI, including OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Google, will use Blackwell to power their AI efforts.

^{Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang displays the new Blackwell GPU chip, left, and the Hopper GPU chip, right, in March 2024. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

“There is currently nothing better than NVIDIA hardware for AI,” Tesla and xAI CEO Elon Musk stated, at the time.

Since the initial announcement, Blackwell has hit a few snags in production, leading to delays. Nvidia CFO Colette Kress said in late August that the company has fixed the issue and expects to ship “several billion dollars” worth of the chip in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Related: Nvidia’s Immense Market Power Is Worrying Investors — Here’s Why

The chip costs between $30,000 to $40,000 and took $10 billion to develop.

Huang said that Nvidia has updated its platform significantly with Blackwell, and intends to continue updating it. Nvidia has increased performance by two to three times from its 2022 Hopper chip to its Blackwell chip, which Huang says increases revenue for Nvidia’s customers by two to three times.

“What we’re looking at now is the beginning of the next wave of AI, the biggest wave of AI,” Huang told CNBC. “This is really about companies around the world using AI to be more productive as their digital employees and AI agents and co-pilots and however people describe them, as well as using AI, generative AI, to revolutionize the way they build their products and the products they build.”

Huang said last month that intense demand for Nvidia’s technology and software keeps him up at night. On Wednesday, Nvidia partnered with Accenture to train 30,000 of Accenture’s employees on Nvidia’s technology.

Related: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Says Nuclear Energy ‘Is a Wonderful Way Forward’ to Keep AI Data Centers Running

Migrating to Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a journey. It often feels daunting to start this journey, but it doesn’t have to be. With this article, I will run through five key strategies that when used in isolation, as well as when combined, will go a long way in ensuring your migration to AWS is as seamless as possible.

1. Follow a proven process

A successful migration is as much about the preparation as it is about the act of moving workloads. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail as the adage goes. The migration journey can be broken up into four key steps.

Discover: At this stage, it’s about defining the initial scope as much as possible. Don’t worry about the why, how or when. Focus on documenting which workloads you’re aiming to migrate.

Assess: You now know what it is that you want to migrate. Here’s where you think about the why, how and when. Any migration should have clear technical and/or business drivers that can be articulated in a business case. At this stage, make an early call on how you want to migrate and in what order.

Mobilize: You wouldn’t build a house on top of weak foundations, so don’t migrate workloads without configuring AWS properly. Ensure you’re setting up a strong Landing Zone that adheres to the AWS Well-Architected Framework. That way, you’ll be secure, operationally ready and aware of costs from day one.

Migrate and modernize: At the sharp end of the process, it’s all about migrating applications and modernizing them. This should be seamless if you’ve done the preparation right. You’ll need to consider aspects such as when, or if, you can tolerate a cutover window, as well as clearly document rollback plans if it doesn’t go quite to plan.

Related: Researching Cloud Solutions? Lessons from Amazon Web Services.

2. Assign a migration pattern to each workload early

AWS defines a set of migration patterns known as the 7Rs. This set of patterns covers the full spectrum, all the way from retiring workloads to completely re-architecting them to take advantage of all that AWS has to offer. A full list of the 7Rs can be found below.

• Retire

• Retain

• Rehost

• Relocate

• Repurchase

• Replatform

• Refactor

Assigning a migration pattern to each workload early, typically in the Assess phase, sets the scene for the latter phases of Mobilize and Migrate. These patterns aren’t set in stone, but establishing a north star for your migration helps to keep the journey heading in the right direction.

3. Don’t just transform your technology, transform your business

People, process and tools are the trio that many of you will be familiar with. The domains that are integral to a successful migration are no different. When embarking on a migration, it’s all too easy to get caught up in the new and shiny world of designing AWS architectures and dreaming of the better times to come. You must not forget what underpins any successful migration — operational readiness.

Operating workloads on AWS bring with it several changes to consider in your operational posture. Amongst them, you should prioritize these highest:

Cloud financial management: AWS brings with it a very different cost model — there is a sudden shift from capital expenditure (CapEx) to operating expenses (OpEx). On-premises, it is often easy to attribute capital costs — you’re able to directly link a physical piece of infrastructure purchased to the cost center that requested it. With AWS, you need to consider how, or if, you want to attribute costs at an increased granularity and implement the necessary mechanisms to enable it.

Resiliency and disaster recovery (DR): A major advantage of migrating to AWS is the increased possibility for resiliency, but have you considered your resiliency requirements? Defining your return-to-operations (RTO) and recovery-point-objective (RPO) targets helps to determine what level of resilience you require. AWS has published an excellent whitepaper on DR in the cloud, including guidance on how to define a DR strategy depending on your RTO and RPO targets, all whilst balancing with appetite for additional spend.

Security: Operating in the cloud brings with it a shift in mindset when it comes to security. You work on the basis of a “Shared Responsibility Model,” where AWS is responsible for the security of the cloud (i.e., physical security of the data centers), and you are responsible for security in the cloud (i.e., the configuration of your workloads). You need to consider how this impacts your existing tools and processes and evaluate whether cloud-native security tools are better placed to serve you.

Related: Prompting Change: Four Steps To Enable A Cloud Transformation In Your Business

4. Use the Well-Architected Framework

The Well-Architected Framework contains prescriptive guidance spread across six pillars, designed to make it easy to design and implement solutions that adhere to best practices. The pillars are Operational Excellence, Security, Cost Optimization, Reliability, Performance Efficiency and Sustainability.

Within the framework exists the concept of lenses. These are workload or use-case-specific additions to the standard guidance. One such lens is the migration lens. It covers the usual pillars but provides specific migration-related guidance aligned to the familiar proven phases of the migration journey (discover, assess, mobilize, migrate and modernize).

Keeping this framework and any additional lenses in mind and evaluating against the guidance throughout the migration journey will increase the chance of successful decision-making and subsequently a seamless migration.

5. Leverage specialist AWS partners

For large and complex migrations, it’s worth working with a specialist partner to support your journey. AWS makes it easy to identify the right partner through a variety of specialization programs. There are three key types of specializations to consider when you evaluate a partner:

Competencies: These are externally audited awards that verify that a partner has deep expertise and proven experience in either an industry (e.g., Financial Services), use-case (e.g., Migration and Modernization) or workload type (e.g., Microsoft).

Service delivery: These are focused specifically on an AWS service (e.g., Amazon RDS) and are awarded when partners can demonstrate that they can deliver solutions using said service to a consistently high standard and in accordance with best practices.

Well-Architected: The Well-Architected Framework that we discussed earlier has a dedicated partner program that recognizes those partners that are particularly experienced at designing for, evaluating against and remediating to get to AWS best practices.

You can search for an appropriate partner on the AWS Partner Finder.

Related: 4 Reasons Business Leaders Need to Accelerate Cloud Adoption

You should now have several key strategies front of mind to aid in making your migration seamless. Working to a proven process and leveraging a specialist partner where necessary, keeps your journey on the straight and narrow. Mapping your workloads to migration patterns as early as possible sets you up to make use of the Well-Architected Framework as you get ready to design your target architecture. Finally, don’t forget to take the whole organization on the migration journey. A successful migration can only be considered truly successful if everyone is bought into and benefits from the transformation.

“I always wanted to make a difference,” Emily Hikade, founder and CEO of luxury sleepwear and home company Petite Plume, tells Entrepreneur. “I wanted to make a change. I wanted to do something that meant something.”

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Petite Plume. Emily Hikade.}

Growing up in Central Wisconsin, Hikade was curious about the world from a young age. She biked to the library to teach herself French before high school. At 13, she convinced her parents to let her do a summer exchange program in the South of France — and returned home fluent.

Hikade went on to attend the University of Notre Dame, where she continued to study French alongside German and international relations. As her undergraduate career came to a close, Hikade accepted a job at the White House.

Related: He Started a Multimillion-Dollar Business That Brought Back the Espresso Martini — and Has Some Advice to Save Other Entrepreneurs Time and Money

In Washington, D.C., Hikade passed the foreign service exam and worked at the State Department’s Operations Center, where she got an up-close look at the White House’s Situation Room and navigated high-stakes calls with global leaders. Then another life-changing opportunity presented itself.

“Lights went out, people were screaming. All I could see were the faces of my three little boys.”

“I got a tap on the shoulder to head over to the dark side [to the CIA], as we say,” Hikade recalls. “I had the perfect cover because I really was a state department officer. I really did speak three languages at that point fluently. I really did take the foreign service exam. I could talk the talk.”

Hikade joined the CIA and added Russian and Arabic to her language repertoire. She worked as an officer specializing in counterterrorism for more than 10 years. However, during her time at the agency, a near-death experience would set her on another course.

Related: 2 Phrases I Learned From a Senior CIA Officer That Changed My Leadership Style

Hikade was flying to a meeting when the plane spun out of control and toward the water. “Lights went out, people were screaming,” Hikade says. “It was a commercial flight, a small puddle jumper, as they say.”

Hikade thought of her three sons at home; her youngest wasn’t even a year old.

“As I was bracing for impact, all I could see were the faces of my three little boys,” Hikade says. “And I had this profound sense of sadness — that my kids were going to grow up without a mom.”

Fortunately, the pilot was able to regain control of the plane, but the pivotal moment stuck with Hikade.

Hikade started thinking about what else she could do — and the answer, somewhat surprisingly, was pajamas. When she lived in France, she’d walk into the grocery store and see classic pajama sets with buttons, and she wanted to buy them for her sons. But she couldn’t find a similar product in the U.S. “Everything had gone toward Hanna Andersson, that sort of tight-fit style,” Hikade explains.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Petite Plume}

“I knew how to negotiate. I have a higher risk tolerance than most.”

So, while stationed in East Africa, Hikade decided to create the product herself — and give entrepreneurship a shot. She calculated how many pairs of pajamas she’d need to outpace her government salary (“and that number was not high”). The plan was never to start a multimillion-dollar company but to see if she could start a business.

“It was like, Okay, if I sell this many pajamas, I will be safe for my kids,” Hikade recalls. “And I had lived in all these different countries. I knew how to negotiate. I have a higher risk tolerance than most.”

Related: How Taking Calculated Risks Can Grow Your Business

Like most first-time entrepreneurs, Hikade had to overcome a fair amount of challenges along the way. However, one of the first and most significant emerged during the product development phase.

Hikade set out to make Petite Plume pajamas out of 100% organic cotton, but in the U.S., children’s pajamas must be able to withstand a direct flame for three seconds without igniting — which means cotton has to be blended with other materials or coated with flame-resistant chemicals.

“So we blended it with an inherently flame-retardant fiber; think of it like a tweaked wool,” Hikade says. “And that allowed us to pass all the strict Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) regulations without using chemicals.”

“We hit a niche.”

What’s more, the business’s launch “was all done on the cheap,” Hikade says. Once the product was ready, Hikade set up a Shopify site and had the factory ship directly to a 3PL in the U.S. Petite Plume officially launched in 2015, and despite lacking investors or deep pockets, managed to be profitable from the start and enjoy consistent growth over the years.

Related: 10 Growth Strategies Every Business Owner Should Know

Now, the company has evolved into a complete lifestyle brand with eight-figure annual revenue; its products are available in nearly 500 stores nationwide, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. In addition, Petite Plume’s ecommerce business has grown 70% year over year, while 2024 sales-to-date are up 50% compared to last year.

“We hit a niche,” Hikade says by way of explaining the brand’s ongoing success.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Petite Plume}

“I’m really proud of the company we’re building and [its] core values.”

A few years ago, someone asked Hikade what was harder: working at the agency or being an entrepreneur? She really had to think about the question, Hikade admits. As dangerous as her time as a CIA officer was, stress levels came with a degree of predictability, peaking during high-stakes meetings or operations and then coming back down, she explains.

When you’re building a company, those day-to-day highs and lows tend to be more erratic, Hikade says. She notes that your best and worst moments in business might even occur within the same 24-hour period.

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Despite the challenges of entrepreneurship, Hikade is all in on the business — and remains committed to building one that improves the lives of its customers and employees.

Petite Plume gives parents on its staff the flexibility to care for their children along with parental leave and offers healthcare, 401ks and profit sharing. “We have leaned into this 21st-century workforce,” Hikade says. “I’m really proud of the company we’re building and [its] core values.”

Hikade might have a higher risk tolerance than most, but any aspiring entrepreneur, whether transitioning from counterterrorism, finance or any other field, would do well to take her simple but essential piece of advice: There’s never a good time to start a company or make a change — so you just have to do it.

“Somebody said, ‘You get the business cards, and you put the CEO and founder on it early on, so it really defines who you are,'” Hikade says. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. So don’t wait for that perfect time because it’s never going to come. Carpe diem.”