When Peter Cancro bought Mike’s Subs as a 17-year-old with a $125,000 loan from his football coach, he wasn’t even old enough to legally slice cold cuts at the Point Pleasant, New Jersey, sandwich joint.

The shop, which he ended up renaming Jersey Mike’s Subs, has since made him a billionaire.

On Tuesday, private equity giant Blackstone announced that it had entered into an agreement to buy a majority of Cancro’s company. The deal reportedly valued Jersey Mike’s Subs at around $8 billion including debt, bumping Cancro’s net worth to estimated $7.5 billion, according to Bloomberg.

In 1975, however, he was just a senior in high school who didn’t want to go into business. He had plans to study law and political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The night his mom suggested he buy the business he’d been working at since he was 14, he laughed, Cancro told Forbes in August.

When he thought about it more, though, “the light switch went off,” he said. He called the restaurant owner the next day and the owner told Cancro he had a week to find $125,000, Cancro told “The Jedburgh Podcast” in 2021.

“It was something I really wanted to do,” Cancro, now 67, told Forbes. “At that age, you don’t think you can fail.”

By the end of the week, he had secured the loan, worth nearly $750,000 in today’s dollars, from a former football coach who happened to be a banker. Cancro became the sole owner of Mike’s Subs before even graduating from high school.

Nearly 50 years later, the chain has just under 3,000 locations worldwide. In 2023, the company brought in $3.3 billion in sales and has had an average annual sales growth of about 20% since 2019, according to food service consulting firm Technomic.

The company’s growth hasn’t come without challenges. In 1991, four years after the company began franchising, the company struggled to secure the cash to pay its bills due to a series of bank failures in the Northeast, Cancro told “The Jedburgh Podcast.” He had to fire all of his corporate staff, including his brother.

“It was a tough time: 1991 [was] my toughest recession, even beyond 2008,” Cancro said, adding that he thought about taking the company public or selling some of his stake but didn’t. In 1994, he said, the situation improved, and the chain expanded into North Carolina soon after.

In 2006, the company flatlined again, largely due to the dot-com bubble burst in 2002, he said. At the same time, his stores were starting to show their age, so he made a risky decision to give the stores a face lift. “I said, ‘I’ll put everything on the table,’ and we paid for the retrofits,” he said on the podcast. “It was only like $15 million total, but it was all the money in the world back then.”

By 2007, he said, the company was back on an upwards trajectory.

These days, only 1% of people who apply to own a Jersey Mike’s franchise are approved, the company told Forbes. Opening a store front will run you anywhere from $200,000 to up to $1.3 million. That said, the returns can be well worth the investment: traditional locations bring in an average of $1.2 million a year in sales, according to the company’s website.

Cancro will retain a minority but “significant” equity stake in Jersey Mike’s and continue to lead the company as CEO following the completion of the acquisition, which is expected early next year, according to the press release. Blackstone’s portfolio of franchisors includes Hilton Hotels and Tropical Smoothie Café.

“We believe we are still in the early innings of Jersey Mike’s growth story,” Cancro said in the release.

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This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Ditching the Degree series, where women who have built six-figure careers without a bachelor’s degree reveal the secrets of their success. Got a story to tell? Let us know! Email us at AskMakeIt@cnbc.com.

Bridgette Tena has one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. She says she couldn’t be happier. 

The 51-year-old is a roofer in Santa Fe, New Mexico, part of the less than 10% of women working in construction in the U.S.

Roofers face the second highest rate of fatal work injuries among all occupations, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Roofing is also one of the fastest-growing jobs in the U.S., with nearly 15,000 jobs expected to be added each year over the next decade. 

“Working in this field is hard, don’t get me wrong, but it’s beyond rewarding,” Tena tells CNBC Make It. “It’s the coolest job ever. I love what I do.”

Tena started building and repairing roofs as a side hustle four years ago to supplement her real estate broker income and learn more about the construction side of the housing market. 

She launched her own roofing business, B. Barela Construction, in February 2021. 

Last year, B. Barela Construction brought in about $180,000 in revenue, and the business is on track to surpass $200,000 in revenue for 2024, according to financial documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. 

Her combined income from running B. Barela Construction and working in real estate is more than $70,000 (she declined to share her exact salary). 

Ahead of her fourth year in business, Tena says she hopes to scale the business into a full-time career. 

Here’s how Tena found a job she loves and built a business bringing in six figures— without a bachelor’s degree: 

Tena jokes that she was “destined” to work in construction as her uncle and grandfather were both general contractors. “It’s something that was always tugging at my heart, but it took me years to finally chase that dream and follow that career path,” she says. 

She attended Santa Fe Community College on and off between 1995 and 2002, waffling between entering business, law or real estate, but never finishing her bachelor’s degree. 

After leaving college, Tena worked as a receptionist in a local realtor’s office in Santa Fe and obtained both her realtor and real estate broker licenses. 

Realtors are licensed to help people buy, sell, and rent real estate and must work for a sponsoring broker or brokerage firm, while brokers have additional training and can work independently or hire other real estate agents to work for them.

Tena worked as a broker for more than a decade but didn’t find the career fulfilling on its own; she soon realized that she “belonged outside, not in an office.” 

But the reason she didn’t start working in construction sooner, she says, is because “it’s such a man’s world.” 

“I never saw someone who looked like me working in the field, and as a woman, it was scary and intimidating to get into that kind of work on your own,” Tena adds. 

Tena started apprenticing with a general contractor on construction projects in 2016.

She was inspired to take the leap and obtain her general contractor (construction) license with the state of New Mexico during the pandemic lockdown of 2020 when demand for real estate slowed and she suddenly had more free time. It only took her a few weeks to finish the certification.

In New Mexico, prospective general contractors must pass a trade-specific exam and show they’ve completed at least two years of work experience with a licensed contractor in the state to obtain the certification.

Tena spent most of the lockdown drafting a business and marketing plan, practicing installation and repair techniques on a shed in her backyard and researching names for her roofing business.

She officially launched B. Barela Construction in February 2021, less than a year after obtaining her license. The name pays homage to Tena’s grandfather, Lino Barela, who inspired her to pursue a career in roofing and construction.

Since then, Tena has pursued several specialized licenses to expand her business’ offerings. In 2023, she attended a free two-week GAF Roofing Academy training program in Denver, Colorado which was held exclusively for women.

Through the program, Tena received a roofing certificate that covers shingle installation and roof coating, among other skills. 

The requirements to become a roofer vary state by state in the U.S., but most states will require roofers to have a local license and complete an apprenticeship or on-the-job training. 

The start-up costs to becoming a roofer including training, licensing and equipment can range anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 or more, Tena says, adding that she spent about $20,000 of her personal savings to launch her roofing business. 

That initial investment, however, can pay off, as more experienced roofing contractors earn upwards of $100,000 in the U.S., per ZipRecruiter’s estimates. 

Tena adds that running your own roofing business has an even greater earning potential, as you can set your prices and take on more customers. She says there’s high demand now for roofers due to backlogs brought on during the pandemic and supply chain issues.

It didn’t take Tena long to drum up business, she says, as she’s a Santa Fe local and has a wide network of builders, construction foremen, and other potential customers from working in real estate for so many years. 

Tena says that on a typical weekday, she works from 6 a.m. until 4 p.m., but is also on call during the evenings and weekends for emergency repairs, whether it’s a leaky ceiling or crumbling drywall. 

“We’re always rushing around with our ladders,” Tena says. For Tena, a typical day on the job involves climbing up a slender ladder and working on top of commercial buildings and homes that are 8, sometimes 30 feet high.

Once she’s up there, she and her team might remove old roofs, install new shingles or repair holes. Because she’s up so high, and working with hazardous materials including saws and nail guns, Tena wears a hard hat, thick leather gloves, a safety harness and other protective equipment to minimize injury.

She works with four full-time employees and close to a dozen contractors, many of whom are women — her mother and daughter have often joined her to help on bigger jobs. 

“There was one customer when we showed up with an all-women crew, who looked at us and said, ‘Where are the roofers?’ and I told him, ‘We are’ and he was like, ‘No, the men,’” Tena recalls. “That was brutal, but I told the girls we have to let stuff roll off our back, that creating an inclusive environment for women in construction starts with us.” 

Roofing might not be a popular career choice among young professionals but it’s an “underrated” field that can provide a lot of stability and fulfillment, Tena says. 

“People are always going to need a roof over their heads, so roofers are always going to be in demand,” she adds. “You’re not just working; you’re protecting what’s most important to people — their homes. It’s hard to find that kind of fulfillment in many jobs.”

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For many people, a sudden influx of wealth can come with the unexpected challenge of learning how to manage it properly. It’s an obstacle Grammy-winning actor, singer and songwriter Anthony Ramos faced during his time in the cast of the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton.”

Ramos was one of the show’s original cast members, playing the dual roles of John Laurens and Phillip Hamilton. When the musical began off-Broadway, he only made around $420 a week from the gig, he told host Vivian Tu on a recent episode of SoFi’s Richer Lives podcast.

“Getting that first paycheck was great because I was getting paid to do something again, to do something I loved, but I was still struggling in New York,” Ramos said.

In 2015, the production debuted on Broadway, which came with a substantial pay bump. However, Ramos soon realized how expenses like taxes and manager and agent fees could quickly chip away at his earnings.

“If you’re an ensemble member, you’re probably making $1,800 a week and then you get taxed on that,” he said. “Then 10% to the agent, 10% to the manager.”

On top of that, Ramos started spending more as his income increased. “I thought I was way better with money than I actually was,” he said. “But I think the more money I made, the worse I got with money.”

Ramos eventually hired a business manager to help him manage his finances. His “epiphany moment” came when he told her he wanted to go on a vacation to Hawaii. Initially, his business manager said he had the money to take the trip, but after just a few weeks of overspending, she let Ramos know he would no longer be able to afford it.

“That was something I was looking forward to and now I can’t do it,” he said. “I don’t want to feel like I can’t do a thing because I was irresponsible.”

The experience taught Ramos a valuable lesson: It’s OK to seek out help with managing your money, especially if you realize you’re not good at it on your own.

He says his business manager helped him gain a clear understanding of his finances and taught him to avoid spending money he hadn’t earned yet from upcoming gigs.

That’s a strategy anyone can implement, no matter if they’re earning a consistent paycheck from a 9-to-5 job or inconsistent income from gig work, he said.

You don’t need to be a rich celebrity to sharpen your money management skills. The key to getting started is to get a clear picture of how much you’re spending, compared with how much you’re earning.

One way to begin is by implementing self-made millionaire Ramit Sethi’s “conscious spending” plan. With this strategy, you divide your spending into four categories:

1. Fixed costs: Rent, mortgage, utility bills, student loan payments
2. Savings: Emergency fund and money for large purchases or future vacations
3. Investments: 401(k) or Roth IRA contributions
4. “Guilt-free spending”: Dining out, shopping, splurges

By divvying up your money this way, you take care of your financial priorities first, which leaves the rest of your income for things you love, Sethi says.

Plus, once you’ve got an idea of how you’re spending your money, you can make necessary adjustments to meet your financial goals, a sentiment Ramos echoed on the podcast.

“You’ve got to look at what you’ve got. What do I have right now? How can I make the most of it?” Ramos said. “Everything feels like a bonus when you’re literally focusing in on what you got.”

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When you’re doing a job interview, whether virtual or in person, you’ll want to follow the appropriate etiquette.

“You want to make sure that you’re making good eye contact,” says Emily Levine, executive vice president at recruitment firm Career Group Companies, “that you’re reading the room in terms of when it’s appropriate to speak, when it’s appropriate and time to ask questions.”

Levine has interviewed “thousands and thousands of people” in her career, she says, often for A-list celebrities looking for personal assistants or chiefs of staff.

Here are Levine’s best tips for avoiding her top red flags in a job interview.

To begin with, you’ll want to make sure you arrive at an appropriate time, especially if you’re there in person.

Arrive too late, and you risk missing part of your interview, wasting your interviewers’ time and making a bad impression. But “if you show up too early, it’s also too eager and might make the interviewer feel rushed,” says Levine. Ten minutes early is the “perfect” time to walk into your interviewer’s office.

“I recommend making sure that you are parked 15 to 20 minutes early in the building” as a precaution, says Levine. That will ensure you have enough time to find the suite or office number but that you’re not there long before the interview starts.

Presentation is also key.

If you’re online or in person, “don’t chew gum, don’t have your sunglasses on your head” during the interview, says Levine. These are too casual and unprofessional.

If you’re in person only, make sure you don’t come in “smelling like cigarette smoke or wearing too much perfume,” she says. A lot of people are sensitive to smell and you want to make sure it’s not uncomfortable for them to be in the same room.

You want to leave “an impression based on your experience, not the way that you’re dressed or you smell,” she says.

Finally, regardless of your professional past, be strategic about how you talk about it.  

Avoid bad-mouthing previous employers, for example, or “divulging too much information that’s proprietary or confidential,” says Levine. Especially in her line of work, some of her clients make their employees sign non-disclosure agreements. When candidates tell her they’ve signed an NDA but still proceed to divulge confidential information about a previous employer, it’s a red flag.

Regardless of how private your employer was, spilling secrets gives the impression that if your interviewer hired you and shared proprietary information, in the future, you “would most likely do the same” with them, says Levine.

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If you’re like me, you probably spend your weekends tackling the tasks you didn’t have time for during the workweek. By the time you’re done doing the laundry, washing dishes, mopping the floors or even finishing up more work — it’s already Monday again.

That’s no way to live, says Cassie Holmes, a happiness researcher and author of “Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most.”

According to Holmes, you should actually treat your weekends like a vacation.

“People associate vacations with a break … Whereas our weekends tend to be a routine where we are moving through our activities,” Holmes recently said on the “Everyday Better with Leah Smart” podcast. Treating your weekend like a vacation helps break you out of the “routine of doing, and it allows you to just be.”

In 2017, Holmes ran an experiment on over 400 working Americans. On a Friday, she told some of the group to treat the time like a vacation and told the others to spend it like they would any other weekend. When measuring their happiness afterwards, she found that those with a vacation mindset showed more satisfaction and positivity when they returned to work.

The vacationers were “doing less housework and work for their jobs, staying in bed a little longer with their partner, and eating a bit more,” she wrote for Harvard Business Review in 2019. But the real differentiating factor was that they were “more mindful of and attentive to the present moment throughout their weekend’s activities.”

For some people, it’s hard to stop going through the motions after work. 78% of American workers don’t take full advantage of their PTO, according to a May 2024 Harris Poll survey. And when they do take time off, 54% say they can’t completely unplug from their jobs, a 2022 Glassdoor report found. 

If you find yourself feeling time poor once the weekend rolls around, you can ease into Holmes’ happiness mindset by starting with spending just one day like a vacation, she says.

“Some people are like, well [the weekend] is when I get my chores done,” she said on the podcast. “Why don’t you carve out Saturday? And then Sunday, you can do all the stuff that you have to do.

Spend 24 hours doing the things that make you feel the most relaxed and disconnected from your normal routine. Take a day trip to a local nature reserve, try out a new restaurant or spend the day at a spa. And if you’ve got a lot on your plate, reward yourself with a cocktail after doing the dishes, or listen to your favorite podcast as you fold clothes for a similar mental break.

Many highly successful people use a similar method to make their Mondays more productive. Mark Cuban spends his weekends surrounded by his loved ones, he said at SXSW in 2014, as his work weeks are usually jam-packed. Richard Branson prefers to party on Saturday nights and spend Sundays doing activities like rock jumping and paddle boarding, he told the Telegraph in 2011.

However, Holmes warns that there is one caveat to the vacation mindset. Spending all of your weekends like vacations can reduce the exercise’s emotional and mental impact. You won’t feel as rejuvenated and rested as you would if this wasn’t the norm, so act like a vacationer only on the weekends when you really need a break.

“Given that the vacation mindset and resulting happiness stems from mentally breaking from routine and the day-to-day grind, this intervention cannot itself become a routine,” she wrote for HBR.

“When used judiciously, this simple reframing allows you to enjoy some of the happiness from a vacation without taking additional time off.”

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