This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Millennial Money series, which details how people around the world earn, spend and save their money.
Sarah Cloes, 27, took a chance when she started small business Flora Flora Co., which specializes in sustainably packaged shampoo and conditioner bars, in 2021 without taking on debt or outside investment. Thanks to popularity on social media, the operation blossomed from a one-woman show in her kitchen to a company with two full-time employees and a warehouse in San Marcos, California.
For the first three years, while trying to get Flora Flora off the ground, Cloes and her now-husband Bret lived frugally while she invested company profits back into the business. Revenues rose from about $40,000 in 2021 to $102,000 in 2022 to roughly $215,000 in 2023…