He had a gig mowing lawns at 11. By 25, he had turned it into a multimillion-dollar landscaping business.

Cody Kuebler, 25, started mowing his neighbors' lawns when he was 11.

CLK Landscape Construction He began by cutting neighbors' grass for about $25 a lawn.

A move at 14 meant rebuilding his customer base from scratch.

He now oversees millions of dollars' worth of equipment — and works six days a week.

Some kids mow lawns for pocket money and move on.

Cody Kuebler kept at it, turning the childhood gig into a multimillion-dollar business.

Now 25, Kuebler said he spent his summers growing up cutting his neighbors' grass for around $25 a job, first with an aging push mower, and later with one his father gave him for his 11th birthday.

The gift involved "a little bit of horse-trading," he said: He'd have to cut his dad's lawn.

Along the way, he hired friends so he could take on more customers and expand into snow removal during the winter months.

Eventually, he earned enough to invest in riding lawn mowers with wagons attached.

"I got a little taste of earning money and being my own boss," Kuebler told Business Insider.

"That kind of stuck in my head." Business Insider's Young Geniuses series spotlights the next generation of founders, innovators, and thinkers trying to reshape industries and solve global challenges.

See more stories from the series here , or reach out to editor Peter Gelling to share your story.

Getting to where he is today, though, took grit and determination.