CNBC Make It

Success means never being satisfied, says Emery Wells, the CEO and co-founder of video collaboration software tool Frame.io. Three years ago, Wells sold his business to Adobe for $1.275 billion, a culmination of seven years of hard work building and perfecting his software platform. Pulling off a billion-dollar exit can be life-changing, but Wells was soon back at work and thinking about what comes next, he says. If anything, the sale made Wells think about “just how relative success is,” he tells CNBC Make It. And meeting other successful entrepreneurs led him to believe that he isn’t alone. “I think one of the traits of highly successful people is really never being satisfied or never thinking you’re done,” Wells says.

If you’ve been an absent partner and want to reignite the intimacy you and your significant other once had, it can feel awkward broaching that desire — and understandably so, says renowned psychotherapist Esther Perel. But the only way to improve the situation is to address it. “It starts with a conversation, verbally or non verbally,” she says. “You reach out with words, or you reach out with your eyes or with your hands, but you have to take the initiative.” Here are 3 steps to help you start owning your mistakes and rekindling your partnership.

There’s no shortage of stories about how technical skills in IT, software and data are in high demand and can command a handsome six-figure salary. But according to one LinkedIn expert, one particular soft skill may be as coveted as an Ivy League education.

People in their 20s don’t always have much experience managing their finances, which means it’s easy to make mistakes, such as misusing credit cards or falling into debt because of “lifestyle creep.” These mistakes are often quite common, too, says Michela Allocca, a 28-year-old personal finance coach who specializes in helping young professionals. The “Break Your Budget” author has successfully navigated what she describes as the “weird time after college where you’re still figuring out how to manage a salary.” In fact, her net worth is more than $500,000, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. Here are five common money mistakes that can result in unnecessary debt or a missed opportunity to build wealth, drawn from Allocca’s experience.

When you apply for a job, prior experience is always great to have. If you lack it, make a point to showcase your motivation to learn, says Everette Taylor. Taylor is the head of crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. He’s his own proof of concept, he tells CNBC Make It: He was hired two years ago, at age 33, without “a strong, proven track record” as a CEO. He did, however, have “the willingness to be hungry enough to learn,” he says. His top priority for vetting job candidates now: whether they can genuinely perform the job they’re seeking and, if they haven’t done it before, whether they’re “committed to learning” and “putting in the work,” he says.

The idea of financial freedom can feel like a far-fetched dream — something only a few get to experience after a lucky break, or during retirement after working for decades, but Shao Chun says otherwise. Over the course of eight years working at Google, Chun lived below his means and consistently set aside up to 50% of his paycheck for investments. That allowed him to build a substantial portfolio worth $2 million, according to documents seen by CNBC Make It. But when he was laid off in February, Chun realized he no longer had to rely on a paycheck to sustain himself. Using the 4% rule as a guideline, Chun saw that he could comfortably and safely live off of his investments by withdrawing 4% of his portfolio in the first year and that same amount, adjusted for inflation, in each subsequent year. In theory, this amount would likely be small enough for his portfolio to support him for at least 30 years. Here are the four key principles he lives by that’s allowed him to achieve financial freedom.

If you’re thinking of living on your own, you’ll need to make about $45,000 per year in most states just to get by. That’s roughly the median income needed to cover basic expenses, according to an analysis by SmartAsset, which looked at estimates for housing, transportation, health care, taxes and other common expenses, as tracked by the MIT Living Wage calculator. However, the amount of money you need to make ends meet can vary significantly depending on where you live. Find out the minimum income a single person needs to get by in your state. ??

Forget the “quarter-life crisis.” These days, millennials are turning to the “quarter-life sabbatical.” Amid the waves of mass layoffs, people are choosing to repurpose their unemployment into soul-searching. That was the case for Peter Lancaster, 31, who was laid off from his technology job in California in May last year. By the end of June, he sold most of his belongings, put the rest in storage, handed his cat to a friend and set out to travel the world for eight months, spending about $20,000 during that time. Here are six things he learned during his adventure abroad.

Befriending your colleagues can be a delicate dance: Dish enough about yourself to encourage camaraderie, but not too much that you accidentally embarrass yourself or harm your reputation. Karen Lynch, the CEO of CVS Health, has a tip for striking the right balance: Share whatever directly helps you solve a problem or connect with someone else. If it doesn’t meet either of those two criteria, leave it at home. Here's how to avoid oversharing at work.

The cost of a college education — long touted as a requirement for a fulfilling, high-paying job — has soared over the last couple of decades, stoking skepticism among Gen Z about the true value of a four-year degree. As the youngest generation in the workforce debates the merits of a college education, more 20-somethings are gravitating to blue-collar careers.