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A journey towards entrepreneurship may seem like a smooth road, but for some, it means getting hit with obstacles and still keep going. We’ll introduce you to a young man yet a highly-ambitious entrepreneur who is the perfect anecdote of rising from rags to riches. Meet Grant Mitterlehner, entrepreneur and CEO of two major companies, who is the perfect inspiration for the Next-Gen 21st century investors and entrepreneurs-to-be.
Let’s first learn a little about the background of Grant Mitterlehner. Mitterlehner is native to Houston, Texas, and was enrolled in a college in Brooklyn. However, coming from a middle-class family meant facing financial struggles. Mitterlehner could no longer afford to live in Brooklyn and could no longer afford to continue his college either. So, he had no choice but to drop out. Dropping out of college meant heading back to his hometown, where he would start living with his mother. He hoped to continue his degree from where he left off, but no university was ready to accept his credits. This meant starting college all over as a fresher.
Wasting time to restart his degree was not on Mitterlehner’s watch, so he landed a job as an Uber driver to meet his daily expenses. Later on, due to his notable work ethic and an urge to strive more, he started working as a Regional Manager in a company. In just four months, Mitterlehner climbed the corporate ladder and was promoted to Director, holding authority over five major markets.
After being promoted, Mitterlehner didn’t wish to settle just yet. His ultimate wish was to start his very own venture. So, this was the turning point of his success story. But, how did he gear himself for an uncertain future and the dream of starting his own business?
After quitting college, Mitterlehner needed a job. Till now, his ultimate goal was reaching a six-figure wage, where he could also learn all the necessary skills and expertise related to sales to start his new venture. In short, he was able to focus his way up by developing expertise in sales, networking, and helping new sales reps learn the business. This allowed Mitterlehner to build up his finances and savings, learn all the insights of the solar industry, as well as learn how to manage people.
However, starting a business meant having startup capital to pay all the expenses involved in creating his new business, which includes office space, rent, R&D, new hirings, permits, licenses, and the list goes on. So, how was Mitterlehner able to raise funds to start his own business?
During the first year of his job, Mitterlehner was able to attain a 50% increase in his salary. However, he continued to live in his mother’s house to reduce expenses, such as rent. He used to keep track of all his daily expenses and limited his spending to a maximum of $1,500 each month. As a result, he was able to save up to 40% of his entire income each month! In short, the more he earned, the more he saved.
“If I limit what’s actually in my checking account, then it kind of stops me psychologically from being able to go over that. It’s almost as if I don’t have money. It’s like a mental block”, he said in an interview.
He received his paycheck every two weeks and would instantly divide his salary into different categories. He kept one part of his savings for taxes, the second for his expenses, and the remainder for his savings. As far as his savings were concerned, his first ultimate goal was to build up a $10,000 pot for an emergency fund by his savings. When he reached this target, he started using 50% of this money in an investment account.
Mitterlehner finally opened a brokerage account and began investing using dollar-cost averaging by putting 50% of his monthly savings into this account. In short, the strategy he made use of while investing was based on impact investing.
“The main difference [between individuals] was that they were in charge of their finances; they understood how to budget, invest, and the majority of them owned businesses and corporations.”
In 2020 when Mitterlehner was only 24 years old, he had raised $148,000 to start his very first venture, MittGroup. MittGroup is a renewable solar energy company which is helping the masses receive efficient energy resources. In 2021 alone, MittGroup saw revenue growth of 107% and was also awarded the #1 Best place to work for employees by the Houston Business Journal.
Only a year later, Mitterlehner founded his second company, Mitt Blockchain, which is a crypto mining company focusing mainly on Bitcoin and Ethereum. Later, he co-founded CryptoArmour, to enhance cyber-security efforts in the crypto space. Mitterlehner, along with his co-founder, believed that crypto security is vital for the industry’s future.
Apart from all the investment and saving techniques Mitterlehner incorporated in his journey, what other footsteps could Next-gen entrepreneurs follow?
Mitterlehner always reads books in his free time. Before starting his business and even now, he spends most of his free time reading books revolving around finance, business, and personal development. He also spends a considerable amount of time studying markets, various industries, the economy, and how to manage people well and make key decisions.
“One thing readers need to know is the power they have in their hands because their phone is unbelievable. They literally have access to all the questions they could ever have in the world, in the palm of their hand”, says Mitterlehner.
The pathway to becoming an entrepreneur wasn’t easy either. There was tremendous uncertainty every other day, but Mitterlehner chose to embrace this certainty. One needs to be a risk-taker in order to achieve the impossible and do something extraordinary. And that is exactly what Mitterlehner did.
For all the Next-Gen entrepreneurs out there: Stand by your idea, and put in the work.
Connect with Grant Mitterlehner now to know more about him and his future plans:
Instagram: @GrantMitt
LinkedIn: @GrantMitterlehner
Facebook: @Grant.Mitterlehner
Twitter: @GrantMitt3
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This content is brought to you by Jitender Jagga.
Photos provided by the author with written permisson from owner Zain Raza.