When Todd Graves and Craig Silvey came up with the idea for a restaurant in southern Louisiana that only sold chicken fingers, they probably didn’t expect to get the lowest grade in a startup-pitching assignment for Silvey’s LSU undergraduate business class — or to get rejected for bank loans when they tried to make it a reality.

Yet the concept, which eventually became Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, propelled Graves to his debut Tuesday on the Forbes 400, a ranking of America’s richest people. He’s reportedly the country’s 107th-richest person, with an estimated net worth of $9.5 billion, largely driven by his ownership stake in Raising Cane’s.

“If people tell you something can’t be done, it makes you strive so much more to do it,” Graves, now 52 and the company’s co-CEO, told students at Nicholls State University in 2009.

To raise enough money to open the fast-food chain’s first location in 1996, Graves moved to California from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to work 90-hour weeks in an oil refinery — and, later, fish for salmon in Alaska — according to the company’s website.

He spent between $40,000 and $50,000 of his own money, plus roughly $100,000 from friends, family and a Small Business Administration loan, to get his restaurant off the ground, he told the “Trading Secrets” podcast in May.

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Today, Raising Cane’s — named after Graves’ yellow lab Raising Cane — has more than 800 locations internationally and brought in $3.7 billion in net sales last year, a company spokesperson tells CNBC Make It. Graves owns more than 90 percent of the company, and has no plans to take it public or sell his stake to private investors, he said.

“I want my kids in the business to be able to carry our values on after their mom and I are gone,” said Graves. “They can turn this into a worldwide business and continue to grow.”

When Graves and Silvey — who left the business in 1999 — opened their first location in Baton Rouge, Graves had zero business management skills, he said. He worked seven days per week at the restaurant, from opening at 8 a.m. to closing at 3:30 am the next morning, he added.

As the company grew, Graves figured out how to recruit employees and develop leaders on the fly, he said: “I was building a plane while I was flying it.”

Most entrepreneurs finance their businesses with a mix of debt and equity. Graves relied almost exclusively on loans when starting out, he told the “How I Built This” podcast in 2022. He’d offer private investors a 15% interest rate on a loan, which he’d then use to secure additional funding from community banks that treated the debt as equity, he said.

In retrospect, the approach was “stupid,” and nearly cost him the business when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana in 2005 — shutting down 21 of his 28 storefronts in the Baton Rouge area — but it allowed him to maintain his ownership stake while growing his company, he said.

“Debt to equity, you should have proper balances in your business, and that helps you get through tough times like a major hurricane — but I levered everything,” said Graves, who credited his business’ survival to reopening as much as he could quickly after Katrina passed. “Luckily I lived through that, but that’s when I really learned to balance risk.”

The company — which turned 28 this year and is on its third real-life yellow lab mascot, Raising Cane III — had its first billion-dollar quarter in sales earlier this year and is on track to finish 2024 with nearly $5 billion in sales, says the Raising Cane’s spokesperson.

Contrary to the company’s hard-charging early expansion, Graves now preaches the value of not rushing into opportunities or growing too quickly at his brand’s expense, he told “Trading Secrets.”

“The vision of Raising Cane’s is to someday have locations all over the world, and be the brand for crave-able chicken finger meals, great crew, cool culture and active community involvement,” Graves said. “You have to stay disciplined, because if you are successful, opportunities are crazy, and you can grow it towards something not special at all.”

His outlook echoes advice from other successful entrepreneurs. Kind Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky and Vuori CEO Joe Kudla advocate for taking a step back to self-reflect before big decisions, and Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck says he takes his time to analyze any potential opportunity.

“Sometimes, you can take big risks. Sometimes, you need to be very safe and methodical about how to back out of situation,” Beck told Make It last year. “Control the things you can control and acknowledge the things you can’t control.”

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The best employees Mark Cuban has hired aren’t the ones with unwavering confidence or sharp business acumen.

A different trait sets high achievers apart, according to the billionaire entrepreneur and investor: They’re problem-solvers. 

“For me, the number one thing is you reduce stress rather than create it,” Cuban, 66, told CNBC Make It at an event announcing his AI partnership with Google. “There’s a lot of people that are just a whirlwind and everything seems to be difficult, causing a lot of unnecessary stress.”

As an employee, Cuban explained, the best soft skill you can develop is the ability to “analyze a situation, find a solution and not make a big deal of it.” 

Cuban’s desire for a less stressful work environment isn’t unfounded. Research has shown that stress seriously impacts productivity and job performance, and it’s estimated to cost American businesses more than $300 billion every year. 

With all this in mind, Cuban said, “the greatest value you can offer a boss is to reduce their stress.”

Stress at work is inevitable — but embracing it can help you become stronger, smarter and happier, Kandi Wiens, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Master’s in Medical Education program, tells CNBC Make It.

Research has shown that people who hold a positive stress mindset, which means stress is a challenge to be embraced, are more productive, focus better, feel more motivated at their jobs and are less likely to consider new work opportunities due to stress.

To win over your boss, Wiens suggests the following: Meet deadlines ahead of time and lend an empathic ear during difficult times. 

“Keeping your commitments and being a good listener are simple strategies to build your boss’s trust and confidence in you,” says Wiens. “It’ll also just make their life — and yours — easier.”

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Maha Abouelenein knows what it takes to be successful.

In 2014, the 53-year-old founded her Minnesota-based communications firm, Digital and Savvy, to provide public relations services to large companies and CEOs, from Target to entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. That was after she worked as a public relations executive for over 10 years in the Middle East, most notably as Google’s head of communications for that region.

One habit helped Abouelenein continue advancing her career even after starting over in another country, she tells CNBC Make It. 

It’s “being a lifelong learner,” she says. “It’s about being curious… I don’t want to be left behind because I don’t know things. It’s that simple.”

Being willing to hear fresh perspectives and learn new skills doesn’t just help you stay relevant, but it helps you stand out, “especially with rapid innovations in technology and when you’re competing against a global remote talent pool,” Abouelenein wrote in her new book, “7 Rules of Self-Reliance,” which was published this week.

Research shows that continuing to learn throughout your career can increase your memory and cognitive abilities, as well as improve your happiness. Employers also tend to seek employees who possess a “growth mindset,” where they continuously pursue new skills and improve themselves, LinkedIn workforce expert Aneesh Raman told Make It in March.

Moreover, with increased digital access to resources, classes and tools to make education more widely available, “being a lifelong learner today has never been easier,” Abouelenein adds.

She points to her own life as an example: Abouelenein’s strengths are creativity and strategy, but she struggles with financial literacy, especially tedious topics like accounting and balance sheets, she says. Though she’s a public relations veteran and successful CEO, she still took a “finance for non-finance executives” course last year.  

“YouTube videos and podcasts are for free — you can find 10 minutes a week to listen to a podcast and learn something… Why wouldn’t we take advantage of all the [opportunities] out there for us to learn and level up?” she asks. “We’re also not just competing with people in our own cities because of remote working environments. You need to have a competitive advantage.”

Most people know the areas where they can brush up on their skills — but, if you’re unsure, consulting with your boss or colleagues could help you find a benchmark. Getting this kind of feedback can be difficult, as no one wants to be told what they aren’t particularly good at. However, seeking criticism shows curiosity, humility and an eagerness to improve — all of which are valuable qualities in an employee, according to Abouelenein.

“You need to be proactive,” she says. “You need to drive your career.”

Her advice echoes that of billionaire Jay Chaudhry, who says one of the top traits he looks for in entry-level and top-level job candidates alike is a willingness to learn. 

“In today’s world, everything is changing rapidly,” Chaudry told CNBC Make It recently, adding that “the way you work, how you work, where you work — all that is changing.”

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It can be hard enough avoiding burnout with one full-time job. Try working two at the same time.

That’s the reality for Jyoti Bansal, 46, the current founder and CEO of two successful software startups: Harness, founded in 2017 and most recently valued at $3.7 billion in 2022, and Traceable, which launched in 2019 and was valued at $500 million in May, Bansal told TechCrunch at the time.

Startup founders are already at high risk of burnout and other mental health issues, thanks in part to their stressful jobs and the uncertainty of success for new businesses. 

So how does Bansal manage to stay healthy and productive while running two fast-growing startups? It helps that he’s built a successful company before: In 2017, he sold his first software startup, AppDynamics, to Cisco for $3.7 billion.

But Bansal, who is also a co-founder and partner at VC firm Unusual Ventures, tells CNBC Make It the secret to his ability to run two businesses simultaneously is deceptively simple, even counterintuitive: Don’t try to multitask.

“It’s very ironic that people think, [because] I’m CEO of two companies, I should be the best at multitasking,” Bansal says. “Actually, my cheat code is to not do too much multitasking.”

When he first started out as an entrepreneur with AppDynamics, Bansal often allowed himself to get distracted by trying to do too many things at once. “I used to be in a meeting and I’m on my phone replying to emails and responding to messages all the time,” he says. 

Multitasking can ultimately slow you down and result in poorer decision-making, because your brain performs better when you focus on one task at a time, research shows.

When Bansal realized that multitasking wasn’t helping, he switched his approach. “What I realized is that I’m much more productive by doing one thing in a 30-minute interval, maybe an hour interval,” he says. “So you do multitasking on an aggregate, but not at any one moment.”

Now, Bansal splits his time between his two companies by marking off intervals where he works only on one task or project from one of the businesses at a time. It’s a strategy called time blocking, or time boxing, which has been shown to boost productivity while combating burnout — especially when you schedule in breaks from work, too.

“I’m just much more efficient, more mindful, more present in that moment. And that’s really helped me,” Bansal says.

Rather than trying to do “two things at the same time,” and risking suboptimal results, Bansal can now spend 30 minutes “working with our engineers [on] technical problems I’m interested in.” The next 30 minutes, “I could be with our investors and board on something [at a] much higher business-level kind,” he says. “The next 30 minutes, I could be in a customer conversation. And I can do it between the two companies.”

Other high-profile leaders, from Whole Foods Market CEO Jason Buechel to Goldman Sachs executive Shekhinah Bass, use time blocking to boost their efficiency while avoiding becoming overwhelmed by jam-packed schedules and to-do lists. 

The scheduling trick allows Buechel to “focus on Whole Foods Market’s longer-term vision and strategy” instead of being stuck in back-to-back meetings all day, he told CNBC Make It in September.

When it comes to deciding how to prioritize those 30-minute blocks, Bansal’s strategy is to keep the focus on what he can meaningfully accomplish: “I don’t really try to manage time. I try to manage impact,” he says.

Bansal often has employees from both companies who want his full attention on different issues or projects. To arrange his schedule, Bansal thinks about where his experience and skills will be “most impactful” at any given moment.

“My framework is very simple: If I don’t spend my time on something, is it going to move the needle one way or another, like, negatively or positively?” he says.

If the answer is “No,” Bansal typically feels comfortable delegating that responsibility to another high-level employee so he can focus on something more pressing or relevant to his skills. Delegating can be a key tool for managers looking to boost efficiency and productivity, according to leadership experts. It’s also why Bansal says it’s “very important” to surround himself with people he trusts.

“Probably the most important thing is to have the right people. How you scale [a business] is having the right people,” he says. “They know how you think, I know how they think. We are on the same page and we can operate in an effective way.”

Want to earn more money at work? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Negotiate a Higher Salary. Expert instructors will teach you the skills you need to get a bigger paycheck, including how to prepare and build your confidence, what to do and say, and how to craft a counteroffer. Pre-register now and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 50% off through Nov. 26, 2024.

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Growing up in Nara, Japan, one food that was a constant in my home was tofu. It’s truly been a lifelong staple. 

When I was a baby, once I could eat solids, my mom commonly prepared two dishes for me — one was a mix of tofu, rice porridge, sweet potato, kabocha (squash), and nori (seaweed) paste, and the other was miso soup with rice porridge.

I carried on that culinary tradition with my two kids when they were small. I never bought any ultra-processed baby food; instead I opted for tofu. It saved me time, money and stress, and it was a way for us to connect with our roots while living in the U.S.

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When we arrived here in 1994, tofu was harder to come by. If I could only find shelf-stabilized packaged versions, I kept about two dozen of them in the house at any given time. Even today, I always have several packs of tofu in my refrigerator.

In Japan, tofu is enjoyed by folks of all ages. My in-laws are 95 and 88 years old. They still live in Nara, and have tofu, natto (fermented soybeans) and miso soup every day. They attribute their longevity and immunity, in part, to that daily routine.

Here is why tofu is my No. 1 kitchen must-have.

Tofu is traditionally made from soybeans and nigari, the liquid that remains after removing the salt from seawater. In the U.S., calcium sulfate is often used as the main coagulant. 

Either way, tofu contains all the essential amino acids that meat, poultry, eggs, fish and dairy do — but without cholesterol, since it is plant based.

It also is rich in calcium, iron, vitamins, fiber and isoflavones, a type of plant estrogen. 

Studies have shown that the consumption of tofu can help reduce the risk of heart disease, fight cancer and reduce the risk of bone loss. 

It takes 70.6 kilograms of greenhouse emissions to produce just one kilogram of beef, but only 3.2 kilograms of emissions to produce the same amount of tofu.

I typically purchase 14 ounces of organic tofu for $2 or $3, which is often much less than the same amount of poultry or beef would cost me at the grocery store. 

To me, it is simple math. In the course of the week, if you were to swap out one or two beef burgers for a tofu burgers, you would feel better, pay less for groceries and do something small to help the environment. 

Tofu has a very natural, subtle flavor, so it can be matched with just about any cuisine or dish. Since it’s soft, you can also prepare it without a knife and cutting board.

As a nutritionist and cooking instructor, I am always developing new recipes, and tofu makes it very easy to experiment.

I serve tofu in a variety of ways: pan-fried or in soups and salads, in nimono (slow cooked roots and veggies), dumplings, veggie pancakes, vegan curry, burgers, cabbage rolls, mochi and ice cream, to name a few. 

My go-to lunch is a tofu miso soup with seasonal roots and leafy vegetables, seaweed, ginger and goji berries. Generally, I make a large pot and return to it throughout the week, serving it with multigrain rice, natto and nukazuke (pickles). 

My other perfect, simple meal is hiyayakko. It is cold tofu — usually the silken or soft variety — topped with nori, sesame seeds, ginger, shiso, scallions, natto and a little bit of soy sauce. If you prefer it warm, you can always pop it into the microwave for one to two minutes and then add your toppings. 

I often call tofu my best friend for happy living. I hope you are inspired to incorporate it into your kitchen, too. 

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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