CNBC Make It

Like many Gen Zers, 20-year-old Kylee Harris got her first smartphone in middle school, she says, and began consuming social media soon thereafter. “Young Kylee was very much addicted to Musical.ly and Instagram,” she says. YouTube was also in the mix. That scrolling habit stuck around in high school as well, when Musical.ly became TikTok in 2018. After graduating, Harris moved from her home state of Mississippi to Tennessee with her boyfriend, where she now works as a personal care assistant and a specialty cobbler making shoes for an accessible shoe brand. On a day off in 2025, it dawned on Harris that something about her online habits needed to change. “I had woken up at about 12:30 in the afternoon,” she says, “and then I looked at the clock, and I saw it was about 4 p.m. and I had not gotten out of bed. And the only thing I had done that day was scroll on social media.” So when she came across an Instagram ad in January 2026 for The Reset — an inaugural screen-free day on January 24 hosted by Outward Bound, an organization for outdoor activities — it struck a nerve. ⬇️

Victoria Carroll always dreamed of being an actor. She studied acting in London and New York, and after trying to make it in L.A. for three years and struggling to pay rent, she moved to the Czech Republic in October 2015. A friend had recently relocated there and “a lot of Hollywood movies film there,” she says, so she knew there would be opportunities for English-speaking actors. Within days of arriving in Prague, she got cast and appeared in a play. A member of the audience then changed the trajectory of her career. He turned out to be a voice actor in a video game called “Kingdom Come: Deliverance” and asked if Carroll would be open to auditioning for one of the lead roles, Theresa. She’d never considered voiceover work but “I have sort of a policy in my life,” she says, “which is, if something is interesting, I say yes to it.” She ended up booking the role, which covered the cost of her rent, she says, and realized voiceover work could be a good moneymaking avenue. Carroll has since built up a robust, full-time career as a freelance voiceover actor. “If you name a company, I’ve probably worked with them,” says the 33-year-old, listing “Google, Apple, Nike, National Geographic, Adidas, Pepsi, Coke” as examples. In 2023 alone, she brought in more than $251,000 from her work, much of which has come from freelancer site Fiverr. Here’s how Carroll, who’s now back in L.A. where she lives with her husband and kids, has built her booming business.

When Amy Landino dropped out of college in 2007 with about $50,000 in student loan debt, she felt like she was starting out on shaky financial ground. Today, she generates about $8,200 a month in passive income through her content creation business — even as she’s shifted to focus her attention on her group coaching offering — while working just four hours a day. Along her journey from college dropout to successful entrepreneur, Landino has learned a lot about what it really takes to build sustainable passive income. She shares three complete lies she often hears about passive income, and what you should know instead: 👇

When Jen Glantz’s boyfriend asked to move in with her in 2017, she said no. They’d been dating for a year, and both of their New York City leases were about to expire. They would save so much money if they lived in just one place, he said. But Glantz panicked. Their lives felt so boring, says Glantz. They were on track to follow the traditional relationship playbook. Next they’d get married, then they’d have kids, and before they knew it, their iron-clad routines would guide them straight to a retirement home. Instead, Glantz argued, they should do something different. They decided to sell 90% of their belongings and moved to a new city every month (sometimes staying longer and occasionally repeating a destination). For two years, they found short-term rentals through Craigslist, Facebook groups, and Airbnb. They lived in 10 cities total, including Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and Austin. Now they’re back in Brooklyn. They’re married and have a daughter. But the lessons they took from this adventure still inspire how they live today, says Glantz. See what their experience was like — and what lessons they learned along the way: ⬇️

The day Lisa Collum started her side hustle in 2011, she went to OfficeMax and bought five binders with the last $99 in her checking account, she says. She filled them with copies of her fourth- and fifth-grade writing curricula, sliding pages reading “Top Score Writing by Lisa Collum” into the front plastic covers. As she sold them, the five binders became 10, then 20. Within five years, she was selling hundreds at a time from her living room’s makeshift assembly line, with her 8-year-old operating the three-hole-punch. Today, Collum is the CEO of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida-based Top Score Writing, which sells K-12 writing curricula and consulting services to schools and teachers across all 50 U.S. states. The company brought in nearly $1.9 million in annual profit in 2023, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. Here’s how she built her business.

When we picture spoiled kids, many of us think of tantrums over not getting what they want, being told to follow rules or simply facing any sort of inconvenience. But spoiled behavior isn’t just about entitlement or parents giving in — it’s about unmet emotional needs, inconsistent boundaries and a lack of connection, says Reem Raouda. As a conscious parenting researcher and coach, Raouda has studied over 200 kids, and she’s found that spoiled behavior can sometimes indicate unmet needs. Here are the five signs of highly spoiled children — and how parents can try to undo this behavior.

Most people assume their bills are non-negotiable and set in stone. But here’s the truth: Almost everything is negotiable, says millionaire Rose Han — companies build a cushion into their pricing because they expect some customers to ask for a better deal. Most people just never bother. Whether it’s your internet bill, credit card APR, insurance premium, or bank fees, you’d be surprised how often a simple phone call can get your costs lowered. Even if you don’t get an immediate discount, you can often secure a better rate, an upgraded service, or hidden perks just by knowing what to say, says Han. This was one of the key strategies that Han used to help pay off $100,000 of debt. She was able to transform her approach to her finances, which set her up to make her first million at 32. She shares how to do it: ⬇️

Shahezad Contractor, 44, is the founder and CEO of Cousin’s Burger, a halal restaurant chain with eight locations across the Northeast. The Cousin’s brand is known for its smash burgers, but also includes a pizza and barbecue restaurant. The business brought in over $4 million in total revenue and was profitable in 2025. See how he built his business into what it is today: cnb.cx/4tlFStj

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett’s top piece of advice for young people looking to grow their wealth is not about money or investing — it’s about who you spend time with and what you choose to do together. If you want to be successful, it’s “enormously important” to surround yourself with smart people, Buffett said at the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting when asked the advice he’d give to young investors. Equally important, he added, is to choose a job or path that you not only genuinely enjoy, but the people around you enjoy as well — something you’d still do even if you didn’t need the money. Here’s why the advice is so important, according to Buffett.

Kylee Harris took Outward Bound's Reset challenge avoided her screen and social media for a day. It changed her life.