On a mild winter day in Arizona, 38-year-old Cami’s laundromat can teem with customers loading their clothes into washers and dryers, and employees working on laundry deliveries.

For Cami, running the business as her only job is a welcome change of pace, she says. She worked almost full-time as a nurse at a hospital while simultaneously running the laundromat from October 2020 to April 2023, when she quit nursing. (Cami requested to be identified by her nickname only, due to security concerns over her cash-heavy business. Her identity and the name of her business are known to CNBC Make It.)

“Now, I’m only working maybe five or six hours a week [running the laundromat],” says Cami. “But I also am hesitant in telling people that, because that’s not how it was five years ago, four or three years ago. I was working a lot more hours trying to grow this business.”

In that time, she hired employees — the laundromat employs six people, including one part-time worker — so she can “focus more on growing the business and not working in the business,” she says. Cami also spends about 10 hours per week creating and posting videos on social media about her business and the experience of running it, she notes.

DON’T MISS: The ultimate guide to starting a business—everything you need to know to be your own boss

Cami’s laundromat brought in roughly $475,000 in revenue last year, plus nearly $30,000 in rent from a salon that operates next door, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. That included about $119,000 in profits — some of which went back into the business, and $66,000 of which became Cami’s salary, she says.

She also made about $22,000 from six months of social media posting in 2024, and is on track for a significant bump — “around $200,000” — in 2025, she says. And though she misses the camaraderie of the hospital, she enjoys the work-life balance and freedom she’s experienced with business ownership, she says.

“This is my first time where I’m able to be home for all the holidays, have every weekend off,” says Cami. “I never have to go to a boss or a manager to be able to take off on a random trip home or anything like that. So my freedom of time has been completely changed.”

After 13 years of working as a nurse, primarily in the bone marrow transplant unit of a large hospital, Cami was ready for a change, she says. She just didn’t want to re-enroll in school to do so. “And so I knew, really my only way out of working would be to own a business,” she says.

She looked into a couple ventures, including renting out storage units and buying a mobile home park. Then she saw a listing for the laundromat on bizbuysell.com, a marketplace for buying and selling small business.

A friend referred Cami to his uncle, who owned two laundromat locations himself, she says. “He looked at the numbers with me, and he said something that I will never forget. He said, ‘You know, if I could go back in time … I would never go to college. I would never get my master’s degree,’” says Cami. “He’s like, ‘All I would do is buy laundromats, because laundromats scream money.’”

Cami planned to buy a business for about a year before actually making a purchase, she says, and selling her house to help fund the expense was part of that plan. She sold her house for $310,000 in April 2020 and moved into a rental home, she says.

Because her mortgage wasn’t fully paid off, she received about $150,000 in equity from the transaction to put toward the $300,000 laundromat, she says. She took another $50,000 from her savings to make a $200,000 down payment on the laundromat in October 2020, she says.

“We seller-financed the remaining $100,000 with a 6% interest rate over the next two years,” says Cami, adding that she paid the loan off in about a year and a half. ”[Selling my house] wasn’t very scary. I was more excited about owning a business rather than owning a home.”

The laundromat had already been functioning for over 20 years and was “cash flowing,” says Cami. She put $20,000 toward renovations like new lighting, flooring and fresh paint to make it feel more “homey,” she says. She’s currently paying off two loans for washing machine purchases and two loans for vehicles for her laundromat’s pickup and delivery services, totaling “about $4,900 a month” in payments, she says.

As she ran the laundromat, she gradually decreased her hours per week at the hospital. She bought a new house in April 2023, she says.

At Cami’s laundromat, machine prices range from dryers that cost 25 cents per seven minutes to 80-pound washers that cost $12 per load. Laundry pickup and delivery prices vary depending on the job, too.

Cami didn’t have any prior leadership or business ownership experience, which was “the biggest learning curve,” she says. She says she listens to business podcasts, reads books and tries to attend “at least one or two laundromat conferences a year” to stay up-to-date on industry trends, software and technology.

One of the biggest lessons she’s learned, she says: Make money and use it to follow your passions outside your job, rather than pursuing a career around your passions. In her case, her passions are time with her loved ones and control over her schedule, she says: “My days are a lot smoother [that way].”

The average laundromat can generate cash flow between $15,000 and $300,000 per year, and can range in market value from $50,000 to more than $1 million, according to The Laundry Association. Cami estimates that she could potentially retire in about six or seven years, or maintain ownership and hire someone else to run the business.

She could also acquire a second location — buying someone else’s laundromat or starting from scratch — grow it and eventually sell it for a profit, she says.

“I see it as this fun game that I like playing,” says Cami. “I love the hustle of trying to learn more so I can scale it bigger and make it grow.”

Black Friday sale: Want to up your AI skills and be more productive? Get 25% off our most popular course of the year, How to Use AI to Be More Successful at Work, with coupon code GETSMART. Offer valid Nov. 17 through Dec. 5, 2025.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life, and request to join our exclusive community on LinkedIn to connect with experts and peers.

Before your child even steps out the door every day, their emotional baseline for the day is already set — not by color-coded routines, but by how safe and connected they feel in your presence.

As a conscious parenting researcher, I’ve studied more than 200 kids, and I’m a mother myself. I’ve found that the happiest, most resilient kids are raised in homes where connection matters more than control, especially in the morning.

Parents who raise happy kids practice nine morning rituals to create emotional safety and support their children’s developing brain:

Before your child wakes up, take just 60 seconds to check in with yourself: Take a few deep breaths, a moment of stillness with your coffee, or a quick meditation.

Children learn how to be calm directly through our nervous systems. When you begin in a regulated state, you provide a sturdy emotional foundation for your child’s day.

Before asking about teeth-brushing or backpacks, create a moment of genuine connection, like eye contact, a warm smile, or physical touch. Your message should be: “You matter more than the morning rush.”

This brief emotional attunement regulates your child’s nervous system and sets the stage for cooperation and calm.

Integrate small rituals that slow the pace, like playing soft music during breakfast, sitting together without screens, or implementing a 30-second family huddle before heading out.

These micro-moments teach kids that calm is available even on busy mornings.

Even in the midst of spilled milk and mismatched socks, find opportunities for playfulness, like a silly voice, a 10-second dance party, or a shared inside joke.

Laughter reduces stress and reinforces that mistakes or morning mishaps don’t overpower emotional safety.

Before diving into the day’s logistics, pause to check in with how your child is feeling: “How’s your heart this morning?” or “What’s one thing you’re looking forward to today?”

These brief emotional check-ins build emotional literacy, which is one of the strongest predictors of lifelong resilience and happiness.

A morning hug, a forehead kiss, or a moment of snuggling releases oxytocin and increases emotional security.

Choose three specific moments in your morning routine where you’ll pause for intentional physical connection and affection, regardless of how rushed you feel. It’s one of the fastest, most effective ways to regulate a child’s nervous system.

Make mornings a device-free zone for both parents and children for at least the first 20 minutes of waking. No phones, tablets, or television.

This digital boundary creates space for natural conversation or even comfortable silence together.

Children live at a different pace than adults. That’s just their biology. I recommend adding five extra minutes to one morning transition and match your child’s pace.

When we slow our movements and expectations, we help regulate their nervous systems. What looks like “dawdling” is often a child’s natural rhythm: their brain processing the world at a developmentally appropriate speed.

Instead of rushing out with a quick “Let’s go,” pause for a real goodbye: eye contact, a hug, reassurance.

Then add a “connection bridge,” or something to look forward to later: “I can’t wait to hear about your science project tonight,” or “Let’s make pancakes tomorrow morning.”

Let go of the idea that every morning needs to be rushed, or that the day is in shambles because they didn’t finish their homework the night before. Focus on creating emotional safety. Even adopting one of these habits can help shift your child’s entire day and support healthier brain development.

Reem Raouda is a leading voice in conscious parenting and the creator of the BOUND and FOUNDATIONS journals, now offered together as her Holiday Emotional Safety Bundle. She is widely recognized for her expertise in children’s emotional well-being and for redefining what it means to raise emotionally healthy kids. Connect with her on Instagram.

Black Friday sale: Want to up your AI skills and be more productive? Get 25% off our most popular course of the year, How to Use AI to Be More Successful at Work, with coupon code GETSMART. Offer valid Nov. 17 through Dec. 5, 2025.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life, and request to join our exclusive community on LinkedIn to connect with experts and peers.

Andrew Rendon liked some elements of his commute, though many people wouldn’t. That’s because his commute entailed a roughly 2.5-hour drive and a flight to boot.

Rendon, a 31-year-old DevOps — or development and operations — engineer, and his wife used to live and work in central New Jersey, but within the past year the couple moved to North Carolina, where his wife found a job. His in-laws had also recently moved south.

Rendon and his wife had been renting in New Jersey but he says they knew buying a home there would be too expensive.

“The same square footage, the same type of house that we get down here would be easily twice the cost in New Jersey,” he says.

So they packed up for the Tar Heel State, where they bought a home, and Rendon began supercommuting once a week.

Waking up at 2 a.m.

Most of Rendon’s co-workers on his team were hired during the pandemic-era remote work boom and work remote to this day, he says. Because he was hired later, when return-to-office mandates started rolling out, he didn’t get the same flexibility. Rendon knew his move would mean he’d be supercommuting.

Once a week, Rendon would pack a suitcase and hit the road by 3 a.m., driving roughly 2.5 hours to the Raleigh airport. While there’s a closer airport, airfares are cheaper out of Raleigh, he says. And he’d gotten used to the long drive.

“I love to drive, so I try to find the best of it,” he says. “I listen to a podcast, so that kind of gets me by.”

After his flight, usually 1.5 to 2 hours, he’d arrive in Newark between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. and get on a quick train ride to his office. After the workday, he’d stay in town at a hotel overnight, work one more day in the office, and catch a flight back to Raleigh in the evening.

“I used to love flying as a kid so being able to get on a plane every week, that part is really cool,” he says.

But the constant travel had some negative side effects, too. He’d “gotten sick so many times,” he says.

“The lack of sleep takes a toll, it does kind of catch up,” he adds. “The driving adds to some exhaustion in waking up early.”

Between gas, airfare, hotels and other costs related to his supercommute, he was initially looking at around $1,200 a month. In the last few months, though, that climbed upwards, coming out to around $1,800 or $2,000 a month.

“Dying to find something closer”

After roughly 10 months of weekly flights to work, Rendon accepted a new job, no supercommute necessary.

Rendon says it’s “insane” that it worked out after a dispiriting monthslong search.

Though he liked the work and travel for his old job, he says he’d been “dying to find something closer” as costs rose and he thought about the implications for his home life. But there was “just too much competition” in the job market, he says.

“The job market has been insanely brutal; even for someone with 10 years of IT experience, it’s really bad,” he says. “Everyone’s looking, between layoffs and AI.”

In some ways, Rendon felt the supercommute was easier than the job hunt.

“I had so much burnout that I’d rather do that and just not have to worry about constantly doing the whole spiel, doing the resume, the interview prep,” he says.

In addition, “Employers are expecting a lot more out of you now than they did 3 years ago, for the same job,” he says. “The ball is in their court.”

In the end, though, a recruiter reached out to Rendon and he accepted a new position, with a roughly $40,000 pay cut, that’s in-office in North Carolina 5 days a week.

As for the move, Rendon says, “I wouldn’t second-guess this if I had to do this again tomorrow; I love where we’re living now compared to New Jersey.”

His commute now is much shorter than it was before — roughly 15 minutes driving.

“I get to come home to my wife every single day,” he says. “I will miss the travel…but for now I can live my life again.”

Want to level up your AI skills? Sign up for Smarter by CNBC Make It’s new online course, How To Use AI To Communicate Better At Work. Get specific prompts to optimize emails, memos and presentations for tone, context and audience.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life, and request to join our exclusive community on LinkedIn to connect with experts and peers.

Cat Goetze may be a tech founder, but she’s on a years’ long journey to reduce her reliance on devices.

Two years ago Goetze, who goes by CatGPT on social media, wanted to swap her smartphone for something more low-tech.

“I was kind of just sitting around [thinking] it’d be so cute if we still had landline phones and you could twirl the cord and talk with your friends,” she tells CNBC Make It. “That just felt nostalgic and chic to me.”

Looking into it, she didn’t realize getting a landline for her apartment would require getting a new number and paying for a phone line. So, the 20-something zillennial built her own version from a phone she thrifted: “I literally just hijacked a landline phone and made it Bluetooth compatible.”

The pink clamshell handset quickly became the most talked-about feature in her apartment. Whenever someone buzzed into her building’s security system, Goetze would let them in from her landline. She could also place outgoing calls from the set.

After two years with it, Goetze unveiled the phone to her online audience in July 2025 to see if anyone else thought it was a good idea.

Within hours, hundreds of people commented on the video within hours saying they needed the device. She set up an online shop to collect pre-orders thinking 15 to 20 people would place actual orders and she could make the devices by herself in her apartment.

Goetze’s project, Physical Phones, passed $120,000 in sales in its first three days, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. The business has sold over 3,000 units and made $280,000 in sales by the end of October.

“It literally felt like we had captured lightning in a bottle,” Goetze says.

Physical Phones currently has five styles of phones that range from $90 to $110. Goetze partnered with an electronics manufacturer to produce the phones, and the first batches are set to ship to customers starting in December.

Physical Phones connect to both iPhone and Android devices via Bluetooth and will ring when the smartphone receives a phone call, or an audio or video call from platforms like WhatsApp, FaceTime, Instagram and Snapchat; the audio of the call then routes to the Physical Phone.

Users can place outbound calls by dialing a phone number or pressing the star sign (*) to activate their smartphone’s voice assistant and instructing it to call a contact’s name.

Goetze says the success of her business aligns with a growing movement of people trying to reduce their screen times and reliance on smartphones.

She points to the Covid-19 pandemic as having a major impact on how people use their phones today. People were stuck at home and away from people, so they turned to apps like TikTok to fill the time and feel connected.

Now, as some consumers grow skeptical about tech companies’ hold on their attentions, and are getting tired of navigating AI and AI-generated content online, people are trying to course-correct, Goetze says.

“Our attention spans are shorter. We feel more anxious. We’re less present and unable to enjoy our lives. We’re going through a total loneliness epidemic,” she says. People are now “starting to put their foot down and realize, ’You know what, I actually don’t want this, and I’m going to go ahead and choose a different future.”

Goetze stops short of “demonizing” technology, however, explaining that it’s “what brings us sustainable forms of energy and vaccines and a bunch of really good things for for the world, but it’s like, OK, how do we live in harmony with it?”

Black Friday sale: Want to up your AI skills and be more productive? Get 25% off our most popular course of the year, How to Use AI to Be More Successful at Work, with coupon code GETSMART. Offer valid Nov. 17 through Dec. 5, 2025.

DON’T MISS: How to use AI to be more productive and successful at work

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life, and request to join our exclusive community on LinkedIn to connect with experts and peers.

Nothing is as desired as much as the thing you want but can’t have. In fact, for most people there’s a hierarchy of spending that goes something like this:

• If you don’t want something and you don’t have it, you don’t think about it.
• If you want something and have it, you might feel OK.
• If you want something and don’t have it, you might feel motivated.
• If you want something and can’t have it, you drive yourself absolutely mad.

As I explain in my book “The Art of Spending Money,” it hardly matters what the “something” here is — a glass of water to a thirsty person is more valuable than a private jet is to a billionaire who has two others.

This all makes sense when you understand what your brain wants, and you’ll notice it more during the holidays. By and large, your brain doesn’t want nice cars or big homes. It wants dopamine. That’s it.

I’ll leave it to the excellent book “The Molecule of More” to describe the process: “Dopamine is the chemical of desire that always asks for more — more stuff, more stimulation, and more surprises. In pursuit of these things, it is undeterred by emotion, fear, or morality. From dopamine’s point of view, it’s not the having that matters; it’s getting something — anything — that’s new.”

In other words, your brain doesn’t want stuff. It doesn’t even want new stuff. It wants to engage in the process and anticipation of getting new stuff. This is similar to actor Will Smith’s description of fame: “Becoming famous is amazing. Being famous is a mixed bag. Losing fame is miserable. The change, not the amount, is what matters.”

You can see this so often with money. When you’re young, you dream about having a car — any car.

When you get a $10,000 car, you dream of the $20,000 car. When you get a $20,000 car, you dream of the $50,000 car. If you get the $50,000 car, you dream of the $100,000 car. If you get the $100,000 car, you dream of having several $100,000 cars.

There’s almost no end to this. The millionaires look at the centimillionaires, who look at the billionaires, who look at the decabillionaires, who look at the centibillionaires. And what do the centibillionaires want? Immortality.

It’s always just: “What’s next? What’s missing? How can I get to the next level?” That’s what you do because that’s what your brain wants.

Wanting less can have the same impact on your well-being as gaining more money. But it’s not only more in your control; it’s a game you can actually win, leading to durable contentment instead of fleeting happiness.

To be content with what you have is the deepest way to enjoy the house you’ve purchased, the clothes you wear, the vacations you take. After all, would you rather be a billionaire who wakes up every morning anxious about what you don’t have and jealous of those who have more, or an ordinary person who wakes up so content, with so much pleasure, able to appreciate what you have regardless of how much that is?

My grandmother-in-law was financially poor, but psychologically rich. The gap between what she had and what she wanted was smaller than some people’s with one hundred times as much money as she had. Once you see someone master that equation, you’ll never think about wealth the same.

Morgan Housel is the author of the new book, ”The Art of Spending Money.” He is a two-time winner of the Best in Business Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, and winner of the New York Times Sidney Award. He’s a partner at The Collaborative Fund and is the host of The Morgan Housel Podcast.

Earn more and get ahead with CNBC’s online courses. Black Friday starts now! Get 25% off select courses and 30% off exclusive bundles with coupon code GETSMART. Offer valid November 17 through December 5, 2025.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life, and request to join our exclusive community on LinkedIn to connect with experts and peers.