About CNBC Make It
Paola Merrill, 29, and her husband, Luke Garing, 37, are the owners of Trail's End Bookstore in Winthrop, Washington. In 2025, the couple brought in $209,000, primarily from Merrill's work in content creation on YouTube. They purchased the bookstore late last year as Merrill aims to transition away from the creator economy and build a sustainable business offline. This is an installment of CNBC Make It's Millennial Money series, which profiles people across the globe and details how they earn, spend and save their money. Produced by: Tasia Jensen Managing Producer: Beatriz Bajuelos Camera: Dmytro Sachuk Editor: Marisa Forziati Animator: Alisa Stern Reporter: Gili Malinsky Additional Footage: Paola Merrill Subscribe to CNBC Make It.: http://cnb.cx/2kxl2rf Watch CNBC on the go with CNBC+: https://www.cnbc.com/WatchCNBCPlus About CNBC Make It.: CNBC Make It. is a new section of CNBC dedicated to making you smarter about managing your business, career, and money. Want to lead with confidence and bring out the best in your team? Take CNBC's new online course, How To Be A Standout Leader. Expert instructors share practical strategies to help you build trust, communicate clearly and motivate other people to do their best work.
Episodes
How I Built A $2.8 Million/Year Ice Cream Company
NewPooja Bhavishi, founder and CEO of Malai, shares how she built a South Asian-inspired ice cream brand that generated about $3 million in one year. Malai stands out by bringing flavors like cardamom, rose, saffron, nutmeg, chai, mango, and pistachio into the mainstream American ice cream market. The company now operates four scoop shops in Brooklyn, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Manhattan, with about 80% of revenue coming from retail stores and the rest from wholesale, e-commerce, and catering. Bhavishi started Malai after a Friendsgiving experiment in 2014, with no food industry experience, using customer surveys and early market testing to validate demand. Growth required risk, including a friends-and-family round, $200,000 in credit card debt for the first store, and $1.8 million raised overall. Despite high frozen logistics costs and rising ingredient prices, Malai became profitable in 2024 and continues expanding with pride in its cultural roots.
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a16z
a16z is a venture capital firm that invests in software eating the world. Each week, we share videos on technology trends and advice for building companies. The views expressed here are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any a16z funds.
Alex Hormozi
Founder Acquisition.com, Co-Founder Skool.com.