In 2017, Leena Pettigrew was gifted her first houseplant — a golden Pothos, notoriously easy to care for — and killed it.

Five years later, she tried again. She and her husband Marquise were redecorating their home in Houston, and they needed to fill its empty corners, she says. She drove to Lowes and bought a couple of succulents.

The hobby blossomed into an obsession, and then a side hustle: After her home became “overrun” with 8-feet-tall Monsteras, she looked for ways to sell her extra houseplants online. She found home décor marketplace website Palmstreet, and started auctioning off her plants on livestreams there last June, she says.

From July 2023 to July 2024, Pettigrew brought in nearly $148,600 in revenue, or an average of $12,380 per month, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. She stores up to 1,000 plants at a time in her garage, she says.

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Pettigrew, 44, works about 20 hours per week sourcing, selling and shipping the plants — in addition to her full-time I.T. job, where she makes roughly $90,000 a year, she says. She also is a paid consultant for Palmstreet, where she helps train new sellers.

The side hustle is profitable enough to replace Marquise’s former full-time income, they say. The couple now runs the Palmstreet side hustle together, along with five contract employees, from their garage-turned-greenhouse.

Here’s how Pettigrew built and maintains her lucrative side hustle:

To develop her green thumb, Pettigrew spent a lot of time on YouTube, she says: She and her husband would lay in bed on their phones, watching plant-care and bass-fishing videos, respectively, before going to sleep.

Selling her houseplants proved more of an administrative process, she says. As she unloaded her extras, finding local buyers on Facebook, she realized she enjoyed the interactions. But creating an actual business — sourcing and buying inventory, keeping organized track of each customer sale — took time and effort.

“I spent hours and hours tracking every purchase and expense in spreadsheets,” says Pettigrew.

At PlantCon Houston, a fair for houseplant enthusiasts, she met another seller who convinced her to try Palmstreet, which was called PlantStory at the time. The platform, which promised to take over much of Pettigrew’s administrative work, offered two options: a traditional online store and a livestreamed auction system, where she could sell plants on camera in real time.

Pettigrew listed a couple plants on her online store, but taking photos and writing descriptions for each one took time. She tried the livestream feature, and her on-camera presence felt awkward and stiff — until Marquise, who was arranging plants next to Pettigrew, started making jokes.

He made Pettigrew laugh, which made her appear more at home to the livestream’s 55 viewers, the couple says. That auction lasted about four hours, and sold 53 plants, according to a Palmstreet spokesperson.

Two months and several successful livestreams later, the couple sat down to develop a more comprehensive business plan, says Pettigrew.

Today, Pettigrew sells roughly 100 houseplants per livestream. With an established audience and reputation, she can charge more per plant, she says: starting at $30, rather than her old starting price of $5. She sells larger plants, like those Monsteras, for upwards of $115 each.

The extra income allowed Marquise, who now occasionally hosts his own livestreams, to mostly step away from his full-time job: running an auto repair shop co-owned by the couple. He still works about six hours per week there, largely for friends and family who “coax” him to take their appointments, says Pettigrew.

Running the auto shop full-time was stressful, Marquise says. Employees were dependent on the couple for their livelihood, and customers were often unhappy — concerned about their car, the bill or when they could get back to work.

In contrast, managing contract workers for Pettigrew’s side hustle — she started hiring people this past spring — is a less stressful experience, she says. The workers only rely on them for part-time work, so the business’ success doesn’t feel life-and-death. The job is less labor intensive, and the customers are largely easier to work with, says Pettigrew.

Together, the couple has five streams of income: Pettigrew’s I.T. job, Palmstreet selling and consulting, the auto shop, and a virtual mechanic gig Marquise picked up with his spare time.

The money helps keep the auto shop open. It’s also recently funded a couple weekend trips around Texas to preserve their sanity, they say: When you both work from home, with your side hustle in your garage, it can be hard to unplug.

If the side hustle ever outpaces her full-time salary, Pettigrew wants to sell the auto shop, move to Florida, open her own greenhouse and hire enough staff for her and Marquise to only need part-time work. It could happen within the next year or two, she says.

They’d spend their remaining time on other passions, like volunteer preaching work, adds Pettigrew.

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When hiring managers look for candidates, 54% say they want someone who’s committed to learning and upskilling. That’s according to a recent LinkedIn survey of 1,024 hiring managers. Almost half, 48% give extra consideration to a candidate who can start as soon as possible and 40% to candidates who are willing to work in the office full time.

On the flipside, there are resume turnoffs for hiring managers as well. More than a third, 37% said seeing that a candidate frequently changed jobs might prevent them from pursuing them. It makes them think, “if you were only there for nine months, maybe you’ll only be here for nine months,” says LinkedIn career expert Drew McCaskill.

Close to the same number, 34% said that seeing a work history that lacked direction might cause them to pause before moving forward as well.

Whatever your reason for your somewhat scattered resume, here’s how to let recruiters and hiring managers know you’re still right for the role.

It’s not uncommon for people to have multiple types of jobs on their resume and to have some short stints at some of them.

Maybe when you started out your career, you weren’t sure if you’d want to go into sales or marketing, so you tried both. Maybe you had to leave your job to take care of a sick relative for a year during the pandemic. Maybe there were layoffs at your previous company.

You just “need to have an explanation as to why” that has been your trajectory, says McCaskill.

Your resume summary, above your experiences section, offers an opportunity to connect the dots between your various career experiences or explain any existing gaps. The “about” section in your LinkedIn is another opportunity to craft your narrative and let recruiters know “how the things that you’ve done have made you the professional you are now,” says McCaskill. You can also explain it to them in your interview.

“Career gaps do not have the same negative impact that they would have had five years ago,” he says as an example. “Especially if you’ve got a really succinct reason why you had a career gap.” Tell them you were taking care of that elderly parent, you took a year off for your mental health — whatever it is.

If you’ve jumped around between industries or had short stints at some roles, you can say, “here’s what I got from each one of those experiences that makes me really good for this role now,” says McCaskill, adding that you should “explain it like it’s an asset.”

Whatever you do, don’t give them a reason to think you’ve done anything wrong, he says. “Don’t make apologies for it.”

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Growing up in Nara, Japan, surrounded by tea fields, matcha has always been a part of my life. The full aroma and the deep bitter and sweet umami taste of this vivid green tea evokes so much nostalgia for me. 

When I was in high school, I started taking formal tea ceremony lessons. It was a highlight of my week. Our tea master would always give my classmates and me delicious, seasonal Japanese wagashi (sweets) and flowers, and she invited us to watch and help during her tea ceremony at a prestigious temple in Kyoto. 

I still regularly perform Chado, the traditional Japanese tea ceremony for preparing green tea. I stopped for a time when I moved to the United States, but resuming the practice here in New York has provided a valuable sense of community for me. 

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More than anything, I associate matcha with the wisdom of my elders. My 99-year-old aunt and my 98-year-old mentor, who I call Papa-san, have been making their own matcha for most of their lives. I’ve even inherited some of their matcha bowls and utensils.

Matcha is my No. 1 beverage for boosting longevity, and I drink it every day.

Matcha contains key nutrients like vitamins A, C and K; fiber; protein and the amino acid l-theanine, which has been shown to help improve sleep, reduce stress and boost cognitive function. 

It also has polyphenols like epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Polyphenols are naturally occurring compounds in plants that are high in antioxidants and can help fight illness and inflammation. 

Studies have also shown that matcha can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and can improve your gut health as well. 

There are so many ways to consume matcha, including sweet treats like cake, cookies, chia pudding and mochi. 

If you ever have the opportunity to attend a Chakai (tea gathering) or be served in a formal setting, there are several rules to follow — these are some key ones.

When you are served, say “Otemae chodai Itashimasu,” which means ”Thank you for serving tea to me.” Then pick up the bowl, hold it with both hands, take a moment to look at the color and enjoy. 

After you finish, once again, look at the bowl and carefully hold it in both hands. Then return it back to the place where you were served.

The most important thing is to express your appreciation, relax and embrace the moment. 

My day starts with offering a prayer and a bowl of matcha to my ancestors. Then I make a bowl for myself and one for my son before he goes to work as a physical therapist. This daily ritual for performing Chado fills me with such a sense of peace. 

Here are the steps I take:

1. I boil approximately two ounces of water.
2. I place half a cup of hot water into my bowl and with my chasen (bamboo tea whisk), I swirl the water several times to purify my tools. Takayama, a village in my home of Nara, is famous for making chasen.
3. I drain the water and then wipe everything with a clean cloth or paper towel.
4. With my chashaku (traditional bamboo tea scoop), I measure out two grams of green matcha powder and place it on the bottom of the bowl.
5. I slowly pour approximately 60 ml of hot water over the powder and enjoy the emerging aroma.
6. I hold the bowl carefully with my left hand and whisk, making sure to hold the chasen vertically, for about 20 seconds. I call this my “gift of Zen moment.”

During the summer, I will sometimes transfer the prepared tea into a portable thermos and add about half a cup of crushed ice for a refreshing and cool to-go treat. 

One of my favorite makers of matcha is the Ippodo Tea Company. It is based in Kyoto, and has been operational since the 1700s. I also recommend using bamboo tea whisks, which you can often find in Asian grocery stores or online.

If you’re just getting started, you can always use a small kitchen hand whisk or even a mason jar with a lid — but no blender, please, the matcha powder is so delicate. 

After I complete this meditative routine, I always feel a little lighter. Simply put, it is healing. 

Correction: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of a word in Japanese.

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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Figuring out how much money you’ll need in retirement can be tricky. After all, while some factors are in your control — such as what sort of lifestyle you plan to lead in retirement — others, like your life expectancy, are nigh impossible to predict.

Researchers at Morningstar are trying to narrow down how things will play out for most Americans. The investing research firm recently released an updated model of U.S. retirement outcomes based on spending, investing and life expectancy data, among a litany of other factors.

Morningstar’s model — which assumes a hardly guaranteed status quo for Social Security benefits in the future — predicts that 45% of U.S. households will run short of money in retirement. For a large chunk of Americans, that could mean returning to work, going into debt or drastically reducing costs to make ends meet.

But if it’s still relatively early in your retirement savings journey, there are two major levers you can pull that drastically increase the chances you’ll have enough money to live on in retirement and even pass along to your loved ones.

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One is investing in a workplace retirement account. Morningstar found that 79% of Americans who have at least 20 years of future participation in a defined-contribution plan, such as a 401(k) or 403(b), will have enough money to sustain their expenses in retirement.

The other is getting the timing of your retirement right — and the longer you wait, the better. Morningstar projects that 45% of households will fall short in retirement with a retirement age of 65. That figure falls to 28% for households who delay retirement until age 70.

When it comes to setting yourself up for a sustainable retirement, it’s very clear what tends to trip people up, says Jack VanDerhei, director of retirement studies at Morningstar Retirement and one of the study’s co-authors: “Spending longer and saving less.”

Indeed, the less money you have saved and the longer you need to make it last in retirement, the higher the chances that your coffers will run dry.

If you follow a common model, you save throughout your life in a tax-advantaged retirement account, and once you stop working, you replace your salary with a combination of Social Security and pension income (the latter is rarer these days) along with periodic withdrawals from your portfolio.

Your chances of your income lasting throughout your retirement, then, rely on maximizing your Social Security benefits and building a large enough portfolio to withdraw from indefinitely.

Here’s how to skew the odds in your favor.

Save in a workplace retirement account

It’s not hard to see why saving in a workplace retirement account tends to boost the odds of a successful retirement. By enrolling in a 401(k), for instance, you sign up to have money diverted from your paycheck directly into your portfolio, which drastically decreases the chances that you’ll spend it.

You also potentially earn a matching contribution from your employer, a benefit that financial planners often call “free money.”

By consistently investing over at least two decades — ideally more — you allow the power of compounding interest to drastically up the value of your portfolio.

“The main takeaway for young people — or at least a really important thing to highlight — is that if you have access to a plan but don’t participate, we definitely encourage you to participate,” says Spencer Look, associate director of retirement studies at Morningstar Retirement and the study’s co-author. “Just saving something is better than nothing.”

If you don’t have access to a workplace retirement plan, “saving outside of one, in an IRA, is really important,” says Look. “If you mimic [contributing to a workplace retirement account] outside of the plan, you’re still setting yourself up for retirement.”

Delay retirement if you can

Not everyone has the ability to keep working until they’re 70. But if you can, delaying retirement as long as possible has a positive “two-pronged effect” on your retirement sustainability, says Look.

For one, you shorten the amount of time you need your money to last, reducing the amount you theoretically need to have at retirement.

For another, you boost another source of income: Social Security. For anyone born after 1960, full Social Security benefits kick in at age 67. You can claim Social Security as early as age 62, but will receive a reduced benefit. Conversely, the Social Security Administration will boost your benefit by 8% per year for each year beyond full retirement that you delay claiming, up to age 70.

It’s easy to see, then, why those who retire at 70 have so much more success in Morningstar’s model. And even if you can’t delay that long, it’s likely wise to work as long as you’re able, says Look.

“It can be pretty dramatic for people. You see the results retiring at 70. It’s not possible for everyone,” he says. “But even working a little bit part time if you don’t have enough savings is something that could be helpful.”

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Younger credit card users are unlikely to achieve a perfect 850 credit score — even with the best credit usage habits, credit expert John Ulzheimer tells CNBC Make it.

That’s because the length of your credit history accounts for a sizable 15% of how your credit score is calculated. Since younger consumers likely haven’t been using credit for very long, their credit history will be shorter than that of older consumers who have been using it longer, he says.

“You can pay your bills on time, you can keep your credit card debt modest, you can apply for credit only when you need it,” Ulzheimer says. “But you can’t control how old you are.”

Your FICO score, which is the credit score used by the majority of lenders, can range from 300 to 850 and is calculated based on several weighted categories.

• Payment history (35%): Whether you’ve regularly paid your credit card bills on time
• Amounts owed (30%): How much of your overall available credit you’re currently using
• Length of credit history (15%): How long you’ve been using your credit
• Credit mix (10%): The various types of credit you’re maintaining, such as bank credit cards, retail credit cards and installment loans
• New credit (10%): How recently you’ve applied for new lines of credit

And keep in mind that very few people have a perfect credit score to begin with. Just 1.54% of U.S. consumers reached that score, according to a May report from Experian. The majority of them were between the ages of 60 and 78.

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However, you don’t necessarily need a perfect score to reap the best benefits. “If you do all the other things properly, banks are going to be throwing money at you,” Ulzheimer says.

A perfect 850 may earn you bragging rights, but you can unlock the same benefits, including the most favorable interest rates on mortgage loans and new lines of credit, with a score of 760 or above, Ulzheimer says.

“That’s 90 points off the perfect score and very attainable regardless of how old you are,” he says.

But don’t fret if you’re not in that credit range just yet. The average credit score is 717, according to FICO.

While there’s no way to boost your score by hundreds of points overnight, one of the key moves you can make is to consistently pay your bills on time, Tommy Lee, FICO’s senior director of analytics and scores, told CNBC Make It in August.

“The good news is your FICO score is dynamic and changes with your credit behavior,” Lee says. “Your FICO score today doesn’t have to be your FICO score tomorrow.”

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