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.”

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President Donald Trump announced the creation of government-sponsored investment accounts for children under age 18 as part of the sweeping budget bill he signed into law on July 4, 2025. 

The so-called “Trump accounts” are set to become available on July 4, 2026, and parents of U.S. citizens born from 2025 through 2028 will be able to opt-in for an initial deposit of $1,000 from the federal government.

Michael Dell, billionaire CEO of tech company Dell, and his wife, Susan, on Dec. 2 pledged a donation of $6.25 billion to provide an initial deposit of $250 to children ages 10 and under in certain ZIP codes when their families open an account on their behalf. 

Though Trump accounts are not explicitly designed for college savings, they will have similar benefits to 529 college savings plans. For example, Trump account beneficiaries may be able to use funds in the account for higher education expenses without early withdrawal penalties.

However, when the beneficiaries turn 18, the accounts will be transferred into individual retirement accounts subject to IRA rules and tax advantages.

Named for a section of the tax code, 529 plans were created in 1996 to help families save for their children’s higher education expenses. The plans are state-sponsored investment accounts that can offer tax advantages like state income tax-deductible contributions and tax-free withdrawals for qualified expenses.

“Fundamentally, any way that people can save money is good, whether it’s the 529 accounts or the Trump accounts or Roth IRAs or [Health Savings Accounts],” Michael Green, a certified financial planner with Apollon Wealth, tells CNBC Make It. “They’re all good tools. It really comes down to what people are trying to accomplish and what their goal is, what their capacity to save is.”

While several details about Trump accounts are not yet available, the Internal Revenue Service has issued some guidance on how the accounts will function. Here are some of the key differences between Trump accounts and 529 savings plans.

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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.

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Dell Industries CEO and chairman Michael Dell knows from experience how small investments can have large payoffs.

At age 19, Dell spent $1,000 on old computer parts to start his company from his University of Texas at Austin dorm room in 1984. The company has a market capitalization of $90.14 billion as of Thursday morning, and Dell has an estimated $147 billion net worth — making him the world’s 11th-richest person — according to Bloomberg.

He and his wife Susan Dell are donating a portion of that wealth, they announced on Tuesday, committing a total of $6.25 billion to investment accounts for roughly 25 million American children. The donation will expand the amount of children eligible for the Invest America Act, which is set to create $1,000 seed investment accounts for babies born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028.

The so-called Trump accounts, which will build compound interest and can be cashed out once the child is 18, received bipartisan support in Congress. Parents are expected to be able to open and contribute to the accounts starting on July 4, 2026.

The Dells’ gift is to create accounts — seeded with $250 each — for many American children 10 and under who were born before Jan. 1, 2025. It’s the largest gift ever devoted to American children, according to Invest America, a nonprofit advocacy group partnered with the Dells.

Dell attributes much of his success to following a set of principles and leaning into specific personality traits, he wrote in a CNBC Make It article on Oct. 6, 2021. Here are his six of his rules to leading a fulfilling career and life:

Be a team player

Being a good team player can fuel your personal and team’s success, Dell wrote. Working well with others often means treating your co-workers with respect and fairness while being humble and authentic, he noted.

It’s OK to feel frustrated at work, Dell wrote, “but don’t stay angry. Anger is counterproductive. Instead, be motivated by a desire to help others.”

Be curious and prepared to change

“It’s so important to always be learning. You want to have big ears,” Dell wrote, adding: “Try never to be the smartest person in the room. Surround yourself with people who challenge you, teach you, inspire you and push you to be your best.”

Pushing yourself to be more curious, especially about your customer’s experience, can also help you keep up with fast-paced change, a paramount skill for anyone who wants to get ahead at work, wrote Dell.

“There are only the quick and the dead,” he wrote. “Organizations need to constantly reimagine themselves, understanding and anticipating all the factors [like technology] that will impact them in the future.”

Be trustworthy

To be successful, you have to be trustworthy, abide by a set of ethics and act with integrity, Dell wrote. You’re allowed to change your mind after making a decision, he added, but you should objectively make decisions based on what facts and data tell you.

“You can’t be successful over time without [trustworthiness],” Dell wrote. “Markets are long-term efficient. If I make a commitment and don’t meet it, or if I deliver a bad product or service, no one will want to buy from me again.”

Be resilient and work hard

You need to be committed, driven, gritty and determined to “win” at anything, Dell wrote. You also must be able to take a metaphorical punch, get back up and keep fighting, he wrote.

“Success is a horrible teacher,” he wrote. “Setbacks and failures make you stronger over time — if you let yourself learn from them.”

Feeling positive about the future helps, he added: “Finding ways to grow optimism in yourself will make you much happier.”

Don’t be afraid to take risks and make mistakes

Experimenting and taking risks are part of growth, and mistakes can teach you how to change course or redirect your attention, wrote Dell.

“Never let a good crisis go to waste,” he wrote. “Focus on what you can control. Crisis often create new opportunities.”

Be pleased, but never satisfied

At his company, Dell wrote, he likes to say: Be pleased, but never satisfied. In other words, if you want to be successful, you have to improve continuously.

“The Japanese call it kaizen,” he wrote. “It means being in the race with no finish line. Celebrate and appreciate achievements, but always look ahead to the next big goal or opportunity.”

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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.”

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