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.

Emery Wells put himself on the path to a dream career by recklessly buying a $17,500 camera that he definitely couldn’t afford.

Wells, 42, is the CEO of Frame.io, a video collaboration software business he co-founded in 2014 and sold to Adobe for $1.275 billion in 2021.

Nearly two decades ago, he was a 25-year-old freelance video editor who’d recently quit bartending in New York to pursue a full-time film career. At an industry trade show in 2006, he watched a startup called Red Digital Cinema announce its intention to build a digital camera high-quality enough for big-budget Hollywood productions.

Without hesitating, a colleague put down a $1,000 deposit to get on the product’s waitlist. “I was shocked,” Wells tells CNBC Make It. “And out of, really, just jealousy, I said: ‘Well, I’m signing up [too].’”

The deposit nearly maxed out his credit card’s $1,200 limit, he recalls: “I was already in debt … and I think I may have had a few hundred dollars in my bank account at the time.” When his Red One camera shipped a couple years later, he found a way to scrounge up the rest of its cost.

Being among the few people in New York to own one altered the trajectory of Wells’ career, he says. Suddenly, he was in high demand. By 2014, his post-production company Katabatic Digital brought in more than $1 million in annual revenue from clients like Coca-Cola and Pfizer.

But the real money, it turns out, was in a piece of software built by Wells and Katabatic engineer John Traver — a platform for people to collaboratively give feedback on videos throughout the post-production process. When they launched Frame.io as a standalone tool, more than 15,000 clients signed up.

Wells faced a decision: Focus on the established, stable business or dedicate himself to a hot, but unproven, startup? He opted for the latter, shuttering Katabatic to focus on Frame.io full-time.

The startup raised more than $80 million in funding over the next five years, and as Wells and Traver weighed an IPO, Adobe made them a billion-dollar offer they couldn’t refuse.

Here, Wells discusses the risks of giving up a sure thing to take a chance on a bigger opportunity and the reckless purchase that made it all possible.

CNBC Make It: You built Katabatic Digital into a successful business. What made you start thinking about sacrificing it for something bigger?

Wells: Post-production is client service work. Sometimes you have clients. Sometimes you don’t, and there’s nothing to do.

I hired John Traver to do post-production stuff, but he had a minor in computer science. We started tinkering on software ideas over the course of several months. I don’t think there was a super serious goal of creating a software company, because we didn’t know that we could.

We said, “Why don’t we spend some time building something that we know really, really well, that we know there’s a market for, we know we can solve the problem better, and we know we could make some money doing it?”

When did you realize Frame.io might be big enough that you’d have to shift your focus away from Katabatic? How did you make that decision?

In 2014, we were trying to raise money for Frame.io. One serial entrepreneur told us, “I would never give you $1, and nor would any other investor, until you’re all in. Not 99%. You cannot have this other thing. I’m not giving you money to do a side project.”

It really resonated with me. I was like, “Oh, gosh. Do I have to shut down? What do I do?”

As we got closer to the launch, where people could pay for Frame.io and use it, my time naturally shifted towards it. I started turning down work from clients, because we were spending all of our time trying to get this thing ready.

I think it was starting to form in my mind: If we’re going to really go for this, we have to really go for it.

Did it feel like a major risk to abandon Katabatic for something much less certain?

I’d spent almost a decade building this post-production company from scratch. I probably had a few hundred thousand dollars in savings, and I spent a lot of that money on Frame.io. So, yeah, it was definitely a huge risk.

But it was a calculated one, and I was getting signals on the success of Frame.io along the way [from customers and investors] that encouraged me to take more risk and more risk and more risk. In the first 90 days after we publicly launched, we were doing $30,000 of monthly recurring revenue. We raised a $2 million seed round from Accel.

That was the moment I was like, “OK.” I don’t think I ever personally took another post-production job at that point.

Did you always think Frame.io could become a billion-dollar company? Was it a big, “swing for the fences” idea?

Frame.io is the idea that became bigger and bigger and bigger the more time we spent thinking about it. When we launched, I wouldn’t say I had conviction that it was going to be a billion-dollar business.

I think that’s true for a lot of founders. Not to compare myself to Mark Zuckerberg, but there’s these fun interviews of Mark from the early days talking about how big Facebook was going to get. He’s like, “I don’t think we’re ever going to [grow beyond college students].”

It just happens. You go from $1 million in revenue to $3 million to $6 million. Then you’re pitching how you’re going to get to $10 million, $20 million and beyond. And I’m like, “Are we? I don’t know if we’re really going to get there.”

Every single fundraising round, you have to sell that pitch to every investor you talk to — but if I’m being honest, I [didn’t] know.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Are you stressed about money? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course. We’ll teach you how to be more successful and confident with your money, and practical strategies to boost 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.

In June 2017, I was let go from a journalism job and decided to spend the summer working a temporary gig and saving money to travel in the fall. When I got back to the States in December, I felt I was ready to find my next role in journalism. I stayed with my parents to save money on rent.

Over the course of a year, I applied to dozens of jobs. Some led to emails with the hiring manager or recruiter. Others to the first phone conversation. At least one led to seven rounds of interviews with no offer at the end of the process. Over the first six months alone, I interviewed at more than 10 different companies to no avail. No one would hire me.

Getting rejected time and time again was extremely disheartening. I felt worthless. I was depressed. What was I if not the title I got from my job? What proof did I have that I mattered?

There are currently 7.2 million unemployed people in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with 1.5 million of them being long-term unemployed, or out of work for 27 weeks or more. Many of them might be feeling the very same pain I felt that year.

For me, though, it was exactly that emotional toll that led to some critical shifts in how I approach my work life. These shifts have stayed with me ever since and helped me build a much healthier relationship with work.

I remember one night in May 2018, heartbroken and lying in my parents’ basement, I came to the first realization.

I had been working as a journalist for seven years. I’d written for national publications like The New York Times and local ones like the Village Voice. But when it came to my self-worth and sense of accomplishment, none of it mattered.

Regardless of what I did, nothing was ever enough. It felt like I had this big hole in my stomach, and no matter how many published articles I chucked into it, it never filled up. It only got bigger. My relationship with work left me empty.

“I always say that perspective comes at an extremely high cost,” says Janna Koretz, a clinical psychologist and expert on leadership and mental health. “When people go through a difficult thing, whatever that is, personal, professional […] You gain a perspective in that.”

When my professional black hole dawned on me, I decided to shift my perspective on my career. If I never got to write professionally again, I thought, everything I’d done thus far was plenty to be proud of and glean joy from. It was already enough.

A few months later, the ongoing application process took its toll again. I started pinning all my worth on getting any response from hiring managers.

I was talking to a friend who’d recently had his own change of heart about work as a result of a debilitating neurological disorder. And he gave me an assignment. Imagine a world in which there was no work, he said, and write a list of human characteristics that you bring to it. What do you add to the world just by being who you are, he said.

“I think that’s a great exercise,” says Koretz, “because you do then start to realize all the things that you do bring to the table that have nothing to do with work.” At Koretz’s practice, Azimuth Psychological, they give people a similar exercise. They lay out a scenario in which there are no jobs and their patients have unlimited money, and they ask them what they would do.

It helps people “start to realize you have more than you think, you are more than you think,” says Koretz. “It brings people a lot of hope and joy.”

That’s what I found in doing my friend’s exercise. I wrote down 11 different attributes: naturally curious, creative, seeks joy, etc. And within a couple days I felt a seismic shift in my body. I realized I could love work and put my all into it, but it didn’t define me as a person. It was just something I did in my day-to-day.

Going forward, looking for a job was a much easier process. I was able to approach my search with a greater sense of calm and perspective on what it meant for my life. I didn’t need to accomplish anything else, only to find something I could live off and enjoy doing. And my entire worth as a human didn’t rest on getting hired.

I also put as much of an emphasis on everything else I did in life, like spending time with my friends and doing some creative writing on the side. They’re lessons I’ve thought about again and again as a reminder of what matters to me.

In the fall of 2018, I finally got hired. I was thrilled to be able to start a new job, but by then I was approaching work a little bit differently. I knew though I could enjoy work for the successes it brought, ultimately, I had nothing to prove.

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 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.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Six-Figure Side Hustle series, where people with lucrative side hustles break down the routines and habits they’ve used to make money on top of their full-time jobs. Got a story to tell? Let us know! Email us at AskMakeIt@cnbc.com.

When Leena Pettigrew tells friends she earns over $100,000 per year selling plants online, they usually think she means cannabis.

In reality, the full-time IT analyst spends 20 hours per week sourcing, growing, packaging and selling houseplants from variegated micans and Anthurium luxurians to Philodendron Ring of Fires in her Houston garage.

With almost no prior gardening experience, Pettigrew started buying plants to redecorate her house in 2022, she says. When her office, bedroom and living room became “overrun” with eight-foot-tall Monstera plants, she looked for ways to sell them.

Her search led her to Palmstreet, an online marketplace for plants, crystals and home decor. She joined the platform in June 2023, and brought in nearly $148,600 of revenue in one year, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

The 44-year-old is also a paid consultant on the platform now, and helps train new sellers, she says.

DON’T MISS: The ultimate guide to earning passive income online

Most of her sales come from livestream sessions. Twice per week, Pettigrew auctions off plants — purchased from local nurseries or other online vendors — for four hours, or more, at a time on Palmstreet. Sometimes, she’s joined by her husband Marquise. They sell roughly 100 plants each stream, all of which ship nationwide, she says.

“When I first started, I was extremely anxious on camera and felt like I had to do a lot of preparation to be successful,” says Pettigrew, adding: “I still get nervous and sometimes take a shot of bourbon beforehand.”

Yet her business is profitable and earns enough for her husband to significantly cut his working hours at an automotive shop they co-own, she says. Marquise and five contract employees now help Pettigrew with customer service, marketing and shipping.

Here, Pettigrew discusses how she honed her side hustle, the pros and cons of turning her hobby into a business, and how other people can replicate her success.

CNBC Make It: Do you think your side hustle is replicable? How much does it cost to get started?

Pettigrew: I think almost anyone can do it — but not everyone.

Palmstreet is competitive. It costs about $1,000 to build enough of an inventory for the platform to accept your application. There’s a commitment that goes into this, whether it’s selling on livestreams, taking care of your plants or posting on social media.

You have to stand out. Good customer service and having unique plants can help, but I think personality makes the biggest difference. If you want people to watch your livestreams, you have to have enthusiasm and joy for what you do, and be yourself.

Does that level of enthusiasm and joy come naturally to you?

I’m very introverted and shy. When I first started, my husband had to come out on livestreams with me so I’d feel more comfortable. We’re both silly, so he helps me goof around, have fun and not take myself so seriously, which I think helps us connect to customers.

I also have to have a little downtime after livestreams. Otherwise, I’m irritable.

You and your husband co-own an auto shop, and your husband still spends about six hours per week running it. What’s the biggest difference between that and selling plants online?

Selling plants is a lot less stressful.

In the auto shop, customers relied on us to get to work. Sometimes, having their car break down, and having to pay for it, was the worst day of their lives. Our workers relied on us for their household incomes, too, and it was hot and dirty.

When we sell plants, people are spending their disposable income on things they want. Our contract workers are part-time, and while there’s still some dirt involved, it’s at least more concentrated.

Have you experienced any downsides to turning your hobby into a business?

The side hustle, and my husband and I’s remote jobs, are all out of our house. That can make it hard to stop working.

Sometimes, we feel like we don’t have time for our spiritual needs. So, we’ve started taking weekend trips, even just around Texas, to physically get out of the house, get away from work and connect with each other.

Once you own your own business, you can’t turn it off. There’s always something more to do.

Want to make extra money outside of your day job? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course How to Earn Passive Income Online to learn about common passive income streams, tips to get started and real-life success stories.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

Newly appointed Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol won’t be required to relocate to the company’s headquarters in Seattle when he joins the coffee giant next month. 

Instead, Starbucks says Niccol can live in his home in Newport Beach, California and commute to Starbucks’ head office 1,000 miles away on a corporate jet, according to the new CEO’s offer letter, which was made public in an SEC filing last week.

In his new role, Niccol, 50, will be paid a base salary of $1.6 million annually and has the opportunity to earn an annual cash bonus that could range from $3.6 million to $7.2 million depending on his performance. He will also be eligible for annual equity awards worth up to $23 million.

Niccol successfully negotiated a similar deal when he became the CEO of Chipotle in 2018. 

At the time, the fast-casual chain was headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and Niccol — who served as CEO of Taco Bell before his stint at Chipotle — lived in Newport Beach, a 15-minute drive from Taco Bell’s main office in Irvine, California. Chipotle moved its headquarters from Denver to Newport Beach three months after announcing Niccol’s appointment.

In the offer letter, Starbucks also notes that it will set up a remote office for Niccol in Newport Beach along with an assistant of his choosing. 

When he is not traveling for work, however, Niccol will still be expected to work from the Seattle office at least three days a week in alignment with Starbucks’ hybrid work policies, a company spokesperson tells CNBC Make It.

“Brian’s primary office and a majority of his time will be spent in our Seattle Support Center or out visiting partners and customers in our stores, roasteries, roasting facilities and offices around the world,” the spokesperson added. “His schedule will exceed the hybrid work guidelines and workplace expectations we have for all partners.”

Starbucks employees have been required to work from the office at least three days a week since early 2023.

Niccol’s arrangement underscores the gulf in bargaining power between high-ranking executives and the average employee in terms of flexibility.

While rank-and-file employees might not be able to demand the flexibility to work remotely from a different state, companies make exceptions for senior-level employees to attract and retain top talent, says Raj Choudhury, a professor at Harvard Business School who studies remote work.

Choudhury says there is a growing number of CEOs who are “working from anywhere,” though there is no comprehensive research on the topic. 

“It’s becoming increasingly common because we’re still in a competitive labor market,” he explains. “Executives aren’t accepting job offers if flexibility isn’t on the table.” 

Victoria’s Secret made a similar concession last week when it hired Hillary Super from Fenty x Savage, Rihanna’s lingerie brand, as its new CEO. 

When Super starts in September, she will work from the retailer’s New York City offices instead of its headquarters near Columbus, Ohio, traveling to Columbus as needed, according to her employee agreement.

Despite these recent instances, it’s still hard to draw any definitive conclusions about CEOs’ remote work preferences.

Although some CEOS — including Amazon’s Andy Jassy and JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon — are drawing a hard line on return-to-office policies, other research has indicated that bosses aren’t thrilled with the loss of remote work.

Choudhury sees Niccol’s arrangement at Starbucks as an example of a company taking a “smart risk” to snag a star executive. 

The coffee giant’s performance has struggled this year, hurt by weak sales in the U.S. and China, its two largest markets, CNBC reports. Starbucks shares fell 21% during former CEO Laxman Narasimhan’s tenure. 

Niccol has a strong track record of turning around troubled companies: As CEO of Chipotle, he helped the chain rebound from its foodborne illness scandal and led its restaurants through the pandemic. During his time at the restaurant chain, its stock soared 773%, CNBC reports.

“Starbucks based its process of selection on this person’s prior record of boosting restaurant-based companies, not their location,” says Choudhury. “I expect more companies will take notice and follow suit: If you want to attract and retain the best talent, you have to be open to flexible work arrangements.”

Such an emerging trend could have benefits for desk workers craving flexibility, Choudhury adds. 

“If more C-suite leaders start working remotely, middle managers might be inspired to start trying it, as culture changes start at the top,” he says. “This is a great opportunity for Starbucks to experiment with offering employees, wherever possible, the same degree of flexibility it’s giving its executives.”

This story has been updated to more accurately reflect Laxman Narasimhan’s title.

Want to be more successful and confident with your money? Take CNBC Make It’s new online course. Our expert instructors will help you master your money and discover practical strategies to boost your savings, reduce debt, and grow your wealth—in a way that works best for you. Enroll in ”Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure″ to start your journey to financial freedom today! Get a 30% discount with the coupon code EARLYBIRD until September 2, 2024.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

When a company looks for a new hire, they want assurance that that candidate actually wants to be there.

Nearly half, 47% of hiring managers say a candidate’s enthusiasm about the job is the most important factor when considering them, according to a recent LinkedIn survey of 1,024 hiring managers. A similar number, 46%, ranked the quality of a candidate’s responses as critical, and 45% highlighted their soft skills. On the flip side, 54% of hiring managers say that a lack of enthusiasm for the job can prevent candidates from moving forward in the hiring process.

“If you have a ton of different human beings with whom you can work,” says LinkedIn career expert Drew McCaskill, “and you get the chance to choose, you’re going to choose the ones who show you that they are engaged.”

Here’s how to show that enthusiasm.

There are all sorts of little ways to prove you’re interested in the role during the interview process.

“I’m going to show up looking like I would on my first day of work, even if it’s on video,” says McCaskill, “I’m going to put my best foot forward. I am going to be engaged. I’m going to know about the company.” He also recommends asking the interviewer questions about the role.

While much of this comes down to professionalism, it also proves you want to make a good impression so they truly consider you. McCaskill also recommends sending a thank you note after the interview. Snail mail is a nice touch, he says, but there’s a chance they won’t receive it. No matter if you go the physical or virtual route, “use the note to reinforce your interest and why you’d be a good fit for the role.”

“Old fashioned is kind of tried and true,” he says of the practice.

Perhaps the best way to let your interviewers know how enthusiastic you are about the job is to tell them directly.

“One of the things I tell job candidates is that you should not leave a job interview without expressing to that recruiter or that hiring manager that you really want that role,” says McCaskill. Explain how you, specifically, can contribute to the business and help the team achieve its goals.

And tell them why the role speaks to you. Do you connect with the company’s mission? Are you passionate about the problems it’s solving?

“You have to give them your why,” says McCaskill.

Want to land your dream job? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Ace Your Job Interview to learn what hiring managers really look for, body language techniques, what to say and not to say, and the best way to talk about pay.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.