Melbourne mum launches multimillion-dollar pillowcase company with just $50k

Olivia Carr left school at 17 and became a single mum at 19. But she still managed to land an “ultimate dream job” — before walking away.

Olivia Carr never went to uni — in fact, she never even finished high school, dropping out at 17 and welcoming her first child at 19.

But that didn’t stop her from landing an “ultimate dream job” as a general manager of Pacific Brands at just 32 after running her own company for years.

That dream job also came with a $200,000 dream salary — but after just 18 months in the role, the mum of two had itchy feet.

RELATED: Phone call behind 22yo’s $1m deal
RELATED: Truckie’s ‘$1 million a week’ gamble

She knew she wanted to start her own business but had no idea what that business would be.

But she was convinced the best place to find inspiration was the US, so she quit her job and bundled up her two kids for a five-week trip for research.

While she was there, she had a few ideas and was particularly drawn to the booming food truck scene.

Olivia Carr’s business was born thanks to one giant hotel stuff-up. Picture: Supplied

But in the end it was one big hotel stuff-up that changed everything.

For years, Ms Carr had slept on a silk pillowcase, as she found it kept her hair healthy and sleek as well as feeling “comforting”.

Naturally, she took it with her on her trip, replacing hotel pillowcases with her own silk one.

But one morning, cleaners accidentally took it with them when they replaced the bedding, and as the laundry was done off-site by contractors, Ms Carr was told she would never see her beloved slip again,

“I was obsessed with it — I didn’t sleep on anything else,” she said.

She searched high and low for a replacement but couldn’t manage to find a single option.

For the next few weeks she had to make do with regular pillowcases but soon found both her hair and her quality of sleep suffered.

After returning to Australia, she realised if she was so passionate about the humble item, others would be too — and a business idea took hold.

The Kardashian/Jenner clan are huge fans of her pillowcases and sleep masks. Picture: Snapchat

The Melbourne mum moved fast — she had quit her job in May, travelled to America in June and in July she flew to China to learn all she could about silk.

She launched her brand Shhh Silk in October 2015 — with just $50,000 of savings.

From “day one” she was determined to build it into a global, multimillion-dollar brand — and for the Kardashians to sleep on her products one day.

The 37-year-old said some people questioned her decision to leave her secure, high-flying job, but for her it was a no-brainer, as she had never been “driven by money”.

“Why would I give up the best-paying job I’d ever achieved which a lot of people would aspire to? And secondly, why silk pillowcases — was there even a market for it?” she said.

“People thought I had literally gone insane, and they said, ‘as if Kim Kardashian will ever sleep on your products’.

“I didn’t have investors or a million-dollar marketing spend, but if I was saying it was going to happen, people knew I was going to give it everything and more.”

On a whim in January 2016, Ms Carr returned to the US and bluffed her way into leaving her products in a package at Kris Jenner’s home.

Kim Kardashian loved them, and after later meeting the reality star’s stylist, Ms Carr discovered the celebrity wanted them in king size.

She created a personalised package for her, and later that year Kardashian posted pictures of the products on social media.

Other members of the extended clan have also shared snaps of the items online, and the business started booming.

Last year, Ms Carr told the Sydney Morning Herald Shhh Silk was on track to make more than $1 million in revenue in 2018, and she wanted it to be “a $50 million business in five years”.

The mum-of-two wants to build a $50 million business over the next few years. Picture: Supplied

Ms Carr, who will be a guest speaker at next week’s Online Retailer Conference & Expo, told news.com.au she and her partner had personally invested more than $1.5 million to get Shhh Silk off the ground, and it still had “zero external funding”.

She said she was incredibly proud of her journey from “high school dropout” to the founder of a multimillion-dollar company.

“I heard all the stereotypes — if you don’t go to uni you’ll never land a good job, and having a child at 19 on my own also meant I was faced with a lot of negative stereotypes that were thrown around — ‘you’ll never get anywhere, you’ve ruined your life’,” she said.

“Having moments where I have proved myself and others wrong is what drives me.

“Having my own business is like having a third child, and that for me is the most fulfilling part.”

Continue the conversation @carey_alexis | [e-mail]