The summer is a good time to take stock of how your kids are faring. Are they doing something that excites them? Do they wake up every morning eager to get going? Are they happy? 

I did not ask about their grades, because if you answered “yes” to those questions, their GPA truly doesn’t matter. It matters if they are thriving. 

For my book “Raising an Entrepreneur,” I interviewed 70 parents who raised highly successful adults about how they helped their kids achieve their dreams. It was a diverse group, and the cohort included people of different races, religions, incomes, family structures and educational backgrounds.

While many of these young people were not great students, all of them excelled because they found interests and communities that lit a fire in them.

Here are the four things that the parents of the most successful people always did when their kids were young: 

Every successful adult I spoke to had a passion growing up. With the exception of the artists, who maintained their practice into adulthood, many of these leaders pursued careers that have nothing to do with what they loved as kids. 

So why was it so important that the parents encouraged whatever passion their children had?

Since the activity was something they chose for themselves, they were excited to work hard at it. They learned grit and perseverance and became quite skilled. These experiences taught them to believe in their ability to succeed when they put their all into something.

Although many of the parents didn’t understand their kid’s passion, they supported them, because they saw the joy their child got from it. The most successful adults grew up knowing that their parents would always be there for them, no matter what they tackled.

The most successful entrepreneurs I profiled in my book are risk takers. 

In my research, I found that the people who are most willing to take risks are the people who weren’t punished for, or taught to fear, failure when they were young. This approach reminds me of a Billie Jean King quote I love: “We don’t call it failure, we call it feedback.”

Their parents always taught them that while it’s good to compete, to fight to succeed, and to win, it’s also good to lose. Setbacks are a chance to learn, grow and develop a sense of resilience.

The parents I interviewed always cheered on their children’s efforts, rather than only focusing on their achievements. 

Children who are invited to be curious learn that if they keep exploring, they will figure out a way to improve, or expand, or reinvent something they love and know a lot about. 

The future entrepreneurs in my book were taught by their parents to ask, “Does it have to be this way? How can I make it better?” These questions are often how the most successful companies get started. 

Many parents told me that they didn’t want their kids to be satisfied with something “because that is the way it is.” 

As their children grew more capable, the parents also resisted the temptation to do or fix things for them. Instead, they give their kids the tools to solve problems themselves.

Most of the entrepreneurs in my book were taught early on to empathize with others, and they grew up wanting to solve the concerns and problems of the people around them and in their communities. 

They were raised with a genuine desire to improve people’s lives. Their parents never told them that the goal was to make the most money, although that was often the result. 

This sense of compassion is what led them to want to create that piece of art, or product, or service that could bring people a sense of ease and joy. In turn, that foundation helped them build successful careers and lives. 

Margot Machol Bisnow is a writer, wife, and mom from Washington, DC. She spent 20 years in government, including as an FTC Commissioner and Chief of Staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and is the author of “Raising an Entrepreneur: How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dream.” Follow her on Instagram @margotbisnow.

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Growing up in Nara, Japan, I was surrounded by natural beauty, historic sites, long-held traditions and authentic, delicious food.

When I moved to the U.S. as an adult, I struggled a lot with the culture of fast and processed food. I was a busy, working parent and constantly felt ill or out of sorts because of my diet. So when I became a nutritionist, I decided to focus my work on sharing Japanese eating habits.

Anytime I return home, I am struck by the vibrancy of the elders in my community. Their secrets to longevity are eating with intention, and keeping Ikigai, a Japanese concept which translates to finding one’s purpose.

Here are the eight foods I always keep in my kitchen and eat every day to live a longer and happier life. 

My 99-year-old aunt starts every day with matcha, and so do I. I make sure to serve it in some of the special bowls she gifted me.

Green tea has many health benefits. It contains vitamin C, vitamin B, fiber and protein, as well as anti-inflammatory and illness-fighting polyphenols. Those naturally occurring compounds are high in antioxidants, the nutrients that protect against cell damage.

Since I was in high school, I have practiced Chado, the traditional Japanese tea ceremony for preparing green tea. Every morning, I sit meditatively with my matcha, chasen (bamboo whisk), hot water and bowl. 

Some of the most popular foods in Japan are miso (fermented soy paste, often used in soup), natto (fermented soybeans) and nukazuke (fermented veggies pickled in rice bran). 

Growing up, my father would always bring back a pile of daikon (radishes) and seasonal vegetables from his local farmer friends. I would sort the veggies, help pickle them and serve them with ginger.

Fermented foods are also packed with probiotics which help with digestion and absorption and can reduce the risk of disease.

Every region of Japan has unique types of miso and pickles, depending on the weather, crops, culture and lifestyle. It can sometimes be hard to get high–quality miso here in New York, so I make my own with three ingredients: soybeans, koji rice and sea salt.

In Japan, you can find seaweed — known as kaiso — in so many dishes and snacks. I think it is safe to say that I have consumed at least one bite of seaweed with each meal for as long as I can remember. 

This flavorful and sustainable staple has many health benefits. It’s low in calories and high in fiber. It also contains a variety of essential minerals and vitamins including iodine, iron, potassium, magnesium, vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids.  

At any given time, there are probably anywhere from five to 10 types of seaweed in my kitchen. They all have different flavors and culinary uses.

For example, I’ll throw kombu seaweed into miso soup with some dried mushrooms, or make a salad with seaweeds like wakame and hijiki. Or I’ll use kanten seaweed and red bean paste to make yummy vegan sweets. 

Soybeans are a delicious and affordable daily staple, and I’m always careful to make sure that I’m choosing minimally processed soy products.

My kitchen is not complete without edamame, kinako (soy powder), unsweetened soy milk and, of course, homemade natto and miso. Soybeans are high in fiber, B-vitamins, potassium and polyphenols like isoflavone.

I love red beans, or azuki, too. They are rich in polyphenols, fiber, potassium, protein, B-vitamins — all of which can help prevent inflammation. Red beans are often found in soups and desserts, like wagashi, which are often served with green tea.

The ingredients for wagashi are very simple: red bean paste, sweet mochi rice and fruit. I make it at home without any additional sugar, swapping in dried fruit and cinnamon as natural sweeteners. 

I’m a big fan of tofu because it provides protein, like you would get from meat and dairy, but without any of the cholesterol. It’s also quite versatile. It is always on my shopping list because it can be used in so many different types of dishes.

During the course of the week, I might prepare it as a burger, in dumplings, with veggies in fried rice, in soup, in a vegan curry, in hummus, as a side dish, in salad dressing and sauces and even as dessert.

Sesame seeds are my culinary superhero! Roasted brown or black sesame seeds are a kitchen staple for me, as is tahini. I’ll typically stir fry vegetables and fried rice with ground sesame seeds or paste instead of the oil, to get the whole benefits.

Sesame seeds are high in vitamin B and E, protein, fiber, and minerals like magnesium, calcium and phytosterols, which can help manage cholesterol.

Shiitake is a foundational ingredient for many Japanese dishes. The mushroom is packed with protein and vitamins D and B. It also contains lentinan, a polysaccharide which can help fight inflammation. 

I use dried shiitake for overnight dashi (soup stock) with kombu seaweed, miso soup, dressings, vinegar, curry — basically everything.

I will typically buy organic mushrooms from the local farmers market, put them on a bamboo plate, and place them at the window. I’m not the only one who enjoys them. I found out the hard way that my neighborhood squirrels love them too. 

Not just in Japan, but around the world, ginger is known as a healing food. It helps boost immunity and metabolism. It is often my go-to for settling upset stomachs and relieving colds. 

Ginger enhances the flavor of dishes and protects food from spoiling.

I add a generous amount of ginger into miso soup and use it in dressings, sauces, marinades and sweets. It’s the perfect topping for nukazuke, natto, fish and noodles.

Growing up, one of my favorite things to eat was my mother’s umeboshi (pickled plums) with ginger and red shiso pickles. And all year round, to fight illness, I love a cup of ginger tea with dried goji berries, cinnamon, matcha and kudzu. 

I hope that some of my longevity favorites will find their way into your kitchens as well!

Michiko Tomioka, MBA, RDN is a certified nutritionist and longevity expert. Born and raised in Nara, Japan, her approach focuses on a plant-based diet. She has worked in nutritional roles at substance recovery centers, charter schools and food banks. Follow her on Instagram @michian_rd. 

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Nahjae Olin was born and raised in the Bronx, New York City. She and five of her siblings grew up in a one-bedroom apartment just one block away from the place she now calls home.

In 2019, the 26-year-old preschool teacher had just moved back in with her family after graduating from college. By the end of that year, Olin tells CNBC Make It she had started planning to find her own apartment.

“I was back from school in 2019, and towards the end of the year, I was going through a rough time with my mom and knew I needed to move out,” Olin tells CNBC Make It.

After searching online for apartments and seeing how expensive it would be to live alone or even with a roommate, she decided to apply to the city’s housing lottery. She submitted her first of many applications in 2020. By the time she finally heard back in 2022, she had submitted over 100 applications.

The New York City housing lottery program helps residents find affordable housing, including rent-stabilized apartments. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development defines affordable housing as housing costs no greater than 30 percent of a single person’s or family’s income. 

“Housing lottery is the way that the city of New York makes affordable apartments that we finance and we regulate available to income-qualified New Yorkers,” Emily Osgood, associate commissioner of housing opportunity and placement services, tells CNBC Make It. “There are so many more people that need housing than we have apartments, so the fairest way to give people a chance is through a lottery process.”

Per the city’s rent stabilization system, there is a legal limit to how much rent one can be charged in a year. NYC’s Rent Guidelines Board determines the rate at which rent in a rent-stabilized apartment can increase lease-to-lease.

“It’s important to know that the way New York City funds affordable housing, it can be affordable to people at different income levels,” Osgood says.

The income requirement is determined by the area’s median income (AMI), unit size, household size, and annual household income.

The average ratio for HPD’s housing lottery is 50 applications for each available unit.

“It may not happen the first time, but you’ve got to stick with it. It’s not an overnight sensation. The timeline is probably going to be long, but hang in there,” Osgood says.

Osgood also says it’s important to remember that after the lotteries close, paper applications are added to the system, and everything is randomized and sorted into batches. Each applicant is assigned a log number, which can be viewed in their Housing Connect profile.

“The lower the log number, the better. The closer you are to coming up soon in one of those batches,” she says.

To speed up the process, Osgood also suggests keeping the Housing Connect profile up to date and having certain documents on hand, such as pay stubs and copies of I.D.s for everyone in the household.

When thinking about moving out on her own, Olin tells CNBC Make It she knew she wanted to stay in the Bronx because it’s where her whole life is.

Over the years, Olin heard back from several housing lottery properties in Brooklyn but kept holding out hope for an apartment in her home borough.

Her persistence paid off in 2022 when she got an email advising that she’d been added to the waitlist for a one-bedroom apartment in a building in the Williamsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx.

Olin assumed she’d land in a studio “because I thought there was no way I could afford a one-bedroom apartment on my own,” she says. “As soon as I went to view it, I fell in love with it and wanted it. I could see myself living there and was absolutely obsessed.”

In May 2023, Olin signed a two-year lease on a one-bedroom apartment for $881 a month. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx is $2,230, according to Apartment’s List.

Olin’s building offers access to amenities like a laundry room, gym, and free Wi-Fi.

To qualify for this lottery, Olin’s yearly income had to be between $33,086 and $46,700, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. When she was selected, Olin had to submit proof of income, which included bank statements, invoices, and tax forms.

Olin says getting her keys and moving in is a moment she’ll never forget. “It felt like a full circle moment. To live down the block from the apartment I grew up in is great.”

She plays hostess to her siblings and her mom who cried the first time she saw the apartment and told Olin how proud she was.

“My family never wants to leave now. My mom gets to see that I’m not struggling or scraping by to pay for my rent like so many people,” Olin says. “She knew how stressful it was for me to move out and find somewhere to live at my age and with my income. It just felt impossible, and she was super proud, and it made me even more proud of myself.”

Olin has been living in her apartment for over a year and doesn’t plan to move out anytime soon.

“It’s so hard to see myself leaving…I feel like it’s mine right now, and I’m not at a place where I want to leave just yet, but I do know that if I never do, I will be so sad,” Olin says. “It feels like this was my first big girl responsibility and something I had to do for the first time by myself.”

For those looking to follow in Olin’s footsteps, it’s important to know that you don’t need to be a New York City resident to participate in the New York City housing lottery. Still, Osgood says those who already live in NYC are contacted first, no matter the log number.

You also don’t have to be a U.S. citizen or have a particular immigration status to quality, Osgood added.

“But if everyone in your household isn’t able to show documentation of income or provide any information about your rent history, you’ll get to a point in the process where it’s just hard to prove that you, in fact, qualify,” she says. “It can be challenging, but there’s no prohibition if you’re able to show that you’re eligible; we want you housed and want you to have that opportunity.”

Nkenge, who was born in the Bronx but raised in Harlem, also started her housing lottery journey in 2020. When she was selected for a one-bedroom apartment in 2023, she had submitted over 120 applications.

Nkenge, who requested to only be identified by her first name for privacy concerns, tells CNBC Make It she started applying to the lottery because she was paying around $1,900 for a small one-bedroom apartment in Harlem, but wanted to reduce her rent costs to around $1,000 a month.

“I really want to save for a place, something that I can call my own and actually own,” Nkenge says. “I had a budget and I wanted to stick to that. That’s when the lottery ended up coming in right at the nick of time.”

Nkenge’s yearly income had to be between $36,798 and $59,340 to qualify for the lottery. While waiting for final approvals, Nkenge was shown three apartments — two in Brooklyn and one in Manhattan.

“I first walked into those apartments; they were definitely out of this world. They felt like a hotel,” Nkenge says. “I was greeted by a concierge and it just felt so elevated.”

Nkenge chose a one-bedroom apartment in the building in Manhattan. Her unit comes with a washer and dryer and the building has shared amenities that include a gym, game room, and rooftop.

The market rate for one-bedroom apartments in Nkenge’s building starts at $5,903 a month, according to StreetEasy.

“Living in an affordable home has not only made my life easier and less stressful, but it has also allowed me to have more access to things,” Nkenge said. “It has allowed me to save not only for owning a home but also even retirement, life insurance. That’s never something that I’ve had in the past, but now I’m able to afford that as well.”

Nkenge’s two-year lease guarantees her a rent of $997 a month, which includes a $85 utility allowance.

If she renews her lease in May 2025, Nkenge’s rent will increase by 5%, the current increase percentage rate allowed for rent-stabilized units in New York City.

An estimated 27,261,057 NYC residents applied for the city’s housing lottery between 1/1/2014 and 6/30/2020, according to the Department of HPD’s NYC Local Law 217 of 2019 report.

Nkenge believes even more people should have access to the program, especially people who look like her.

“A lot of the times when you’re not given the opportunity to be in certain spaces, it’s kind of hard to get in there to begin with. It’s about who you know, which,” she says. “Unfortunately, I come from a space where I didn’t really know a lot of people.”

Nkenge has been living in her apartment for a year and is taking advantage of her low rent by saving to buy a home, which she hopes to do in the next five years.

“You’re able to enjoy life better, have a better quality of life and are able to do the things that you love and accomplish the things that you want to accomplish,” she says.

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When Kema Ward-Hopper uprooted her family — and career — to relocate from the U.S. to Costa Rica six years ago, she wasn’t sure what to expect.

She and her husband Nicholas quit their corporate jobs as a research analyst and mortgage broker, respectively, in Houston, Texas, to pursue new careers as entrepreneurs abroad. 

The couple signed a one-year lease on a house in the middle of the jungle on Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula with their daughter Aaralyn not knowing “a single person who lived there” and “how long we’d be able to find work for,” Ward-Hopper, 42, recalls. 

But, she adds, the risk has paid off: Even though she had to leave a career she loved in the U.S., and is earning less than she did while working there, Ward-Hopper says she is “a lot happier” living and working in Costa Rica than she was in the U.S. 

Ward-Hopper now balances four part-time jobs: She’s a health and fitness coach, a Spanish teacher, a host for wellness retreats and, most recently, an author. She self-published her first book, “For my Beloveds: An End-of-life Journal for Guidance & Wisdom,” in September 2023.

“I work 25 hours a week now,” she says. “A heavy week is about 30 hours a week, but that is rare and happens about once a month.”

Last year, Ward-Hopper’s different income streams earned her about $10,500, according to financial documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. 

Meanwhile, her husband Nicholas, 43, runs his own remote logistics business, earning him about $19,500 in 2023.

“Living here has allowed me to explore my passions so that my methods of earning income don’t feel like a job, it just feels like I’m getting to do the things that I love to do, which is to be of service to others,” Ward-Hopper says. “We make less money, but we’re still living pretty comfortably … our money definitely goes further here than in the U.S.” 

Last year, the Ward-Hoppers moved to a three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath house in Nicoya. Their biggest expense is rent and utilities, which totals about $628 per month.

In addition to the lower cost of living, Ward-Hopper says she’s found a “more fulfilling, less stressful” career in Costa Rica than in the U.S. because of the country’s relaxed, “family-first” work culture. 

“It’s common to see children in businesses where their parents work, if they’re off from school and don’t have another child care provider, and bosses aren’t so rigid that if you need to take time off from work or step away for a minute if your child is sick or needs something, you’re going to get in trouble,” she says. “As a working parent with young children, that cuts out a lot of stress.”

Ward-Hopper’s son, Nico, was born in Costa Rica in 2020. 

Costa Ricans also value a healthy work-life balance, she adds. The country has a shorter workweek than many other nations, allowing ample time for hobbies, rest and spending quality time with loved ones. 

Many businesses in her neighborhood don’t open until 9 a.m. or later. “You can’t visit a coffee shop and get your morning latte at 7 a.m. like you’re able to do in the U.S.,” she says. “A lot of places are closed on Sundays, too, and holidays, which I’d think helps their employees not burn out.”

Costa Rica is one of the happiest countries in the world, ranking 12th on the World Happiness Report’s 2024 list. 

The Nicoya Peninsula, where the Ward-Hoppers live, is one of the five original Blue Zones. Blue Zones are regions in the world with some of the longest-living people and highest life expectancies, according to longevity researcher Dan Buettner.

Some of the factors that make Nicoya a Blue Zone, Buettner discovered, are the Nicoyans’ diet, which includes fresh fruit, vegetables and whole grains as well as their focus on family and community.

Ward-Hopper would add the Costa Ricans’ attitude toward work to that list. “Work is a lesser part of conversations and how people identify themselves here than in the U.S.,” she says. “That mindset makes it easier to have a fuller, more joyful life outside of what happens at our jobs, which is so often out of our control.”

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This story is part of CNBC Make It’s The Moment series, where highly successful people reveal the critical moment that changed the trajectory of their lives and careers, discussing what drove them to make the leap into the unknown.

Jay Chaudhry never thought he’d run a business, amass a fortune or help popularize an entire industry. Not growing up in rural India, not upon moving to the U.S. in 1980 to study engineering and marketing, not even after landing jobs at tech giants IBM and Unisys.

“I have no background of entrepreneurship in my family of small-scale farmers. So if you asked me, ‘Did I ever think about becoming an entrepreneur in my childhood [or] early years of my career?’ Not really,” Chaudhry, the billionaire founder and CEO of cloud security company Zscaler, tells CNBC Make It.

It took Silicon Valley’s dot-com boom — the wild success stories of tech startups like Netscape — to get Chaudhry thinking in 1996, “Why shouldn’t I start a company?” He made the rash decision to quit his job as an executive at Atlanta-based tech company IQ Software, and his wife Jyoti quit her job as a systems analyst at telecommunications giant BellSouth.

Together, they plunged their life savings — roughly $500,000 — into SecureIT, a cybersecurity software startup they co-founded in 1997. At the time, “maybe less than 5% of Fortune 500 companies had firewalls,” Chaudhry says. “Within 18 months, we had deployed firewalls in about 50% of [the] Fortune 500.”

His timing was perfect: In 1998, Chaudhry sold SecureIT to VeriSign in an all-stock deal worth nearly $70 million. Over the ensuing decade, the husband-and-wife duo founded two more cybersecurity companies and an e-commerce business, each of which got acquired.

By 2007, they were already wealthy entrepreneurs, and Chaudhry — who gets “bored” without something to work on — decided it was time to launch “one big company and put 200% focus on that,” he says.

That company was Zscaler, which aimed to help companies transition away from outdated firewalls and into the cloud era. The couple invested $50 million of their own money, says Chaudhry. Today, it brings in $1.6 billion in annual revenue and has a market value of roughly $30 billion.

Chaudhry’s own net worth is estimated at $11.5 billion by Forbes.

Here, Chaudhry talks about putting his family’s savings on the line to follow his gut, how his upbringing influenced his relationship with money and the advice he’d give someone who wants to quit their job to start a business.

CNBC Make It: What prompted you to stake your entire life’s savings on a startup idea — in an industry that didn’t really exist yet?

Chaudhry: This thing happened because I love to read and I love technology.

In 1996, Netscape had just launched and gone public, and I was fascinated by it. I said, “If [Netscape co-founder] Marc Andreessen could start a company — he was a young guy [right] out of college — why shouldn’t I start a company?”

My wife and I talked a few times, and the more we thought about it, the more conviction we got around it: [Netscape’s web browser] is the way to access information, and it should become popular. But if every company is connected to the internet, that means there will be security risks.

That was my simple thinking. There was no IDC or Gartner study about the market size. It was largely based on what the gut told us.

A gut feeling is one thing. Betting every dollar to your name is another.

It started out with us saying, “Let’s go get venture capital funding.” I had no experience raising funds, and I realized soon that it wasn’t that easy. This was [1996], Atlanta was not a VC mecca and we kept hearing, “Hey, you don’t have any experience.”

We were disappointed, but our conviction was building, which led to me saying, “Why don’t we put our life-savings on the line?”

I didn’t know anything. So, I really didn’t know how big the risk was. I couldn’t quantify it.

How did you make peace with that risk?

After talking back and forth, we asked each other, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” The company could shut down, we’d lose all of our savings.

The next question was, “Can we find jobs?” There was lots of confidence that we could.

I never had money in my early childhood, so there was never a notion that I must buy A and B and C. Our lifestyle was pretty simple. Our house in Alpharetta, Georgia, was $200,000 — a nice, typical middle-class house at that time — and we didn’t have any fancy cars or fancy payments.

Our only child at that time was going to a public school. There wasn’t a lot of overhead. We said, “Let’s take a chance.”

When a bet pays off, does that success make you more confident to take on bigger risks? Were any of your other ventures as risky as that first one?

The [financial] risk of SecureIT was, like, 1,000 times more than the risk of Zscaler. The amount I invested in Zscaler was a small fraction of my net worth.

But Zscaler was much harder. I put more money in it than all the others combined. I took bigger bets. I hired people more quickly to solve some very hard problems. I wanted to do something big, something lasting.

We were trying to solve a problem that was futuristic. Will it be successful or not? Will the market take off or not? That was all unknown.

So if you asked me the chances of success of Zscaler, there was a much higher risk. Because, with SecureIT, it was fairly obvious that as you connect to the internet, you need firewalls.

What’s your best advice for someone who’s thinking about quitting their job to start their own business?

First, build conviction by learning more about what you want to do. Don’t just do some of the cursory work.

Second, start by putting in your own money. That actually is part of testing your conviction. If you really have conviction, you’ll take a chance on yourself. That also means you’ve done some serious homework, you’re ready, you’re committed.

You can also make decisions the way you want to make decisions. If Zscaler was largely owned by VCs, they probably could have shut it down. It took us a few years to really start getting traction in the market, and VCs can write you off and move on. They say, “It’s one of my 20 investments.”

When you put in your own money, this is the only business you have.

Want to stop worrying about money? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure. We’ll teach you the psychology of money, how to manage your stress and create healthy habits, and simple ways to boost your savings, get out of debt and invest for the future. Start today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through September 2, 2024.

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