Graham Byers has always wanted to live life his way and enjoy it how he wanted. Once he realized that entrepreneurship provided a clear path to achieving this, he was set on founding a successful business. Pairing this desire with his computer savvy, he set out to grow an online ecommerce business.
Byers has always had a hustlers’ mentality. Growing up in Los Angeles, he had a pretty typical upbringing. Even though he was never wanting for anything, he spent time flipping things on eBay to make money for himself while in school. He had fun side hustles throughout high school and into college, but once the 2008 recession hit his family hard he knew it was time to make his own money for real. It came together at the perfect time, and as he was researching ways to make money online he met his business partner Dante. Although success would not come until he graduated, Grant had the seeds planted for how he could make enough money to support himself and not work for anyone.
He would go on to take a job at a software company in San Francisco after college, but he was working hard with his business partner to build out an ecommerce business. With an initial investment of only a few thousand dollars, they were able to grow it to a few hundred thousand dollars in revenue and eventually sell it all while he was still working a corporate job. He has since left his corporate job, and is located in San Juan, Puerto Rico with his business partner.
For Byers, the most challenging thing for him along his journey has been persevering even when things are not going smoothly. Everyone thinks their business idea is terrific on paper, but only the market will truly be able to tell how much of a success it becomes. Byers has always taken the challenge of a failed venture to break down what the cause is, dig deep, and grind away even when things are falling apart. It has what has set him apart, and has brought him success while others pack up and leave when the going gets tough.
In entrepreneurship, time is not on your side. Because of this, Dennis recommends anyone to “Start yesterday”. Stop making excuses, pushing things off, and say you will do it next week. Get started now, and learn as you go. Simply getting started can be the hardest thing, and it is massively important to push through that and pick momentum up. Once the business picks up steam, things become easier and everything falls into place. Before you know it, you will be a huge success.
