Latest news with #RootaMittal
Khaleej Times
a day ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
I've started dreaming bigger ever since I came here: Indian expat in UAE
Indian expatriate Roota Mittal, 31, has been in the UAE for little more than a year, but says it is 'a land of big dreams'. The Dubai resident and founder of she says that money is transformative, with the power to change your life, your lifestyle, your mindset and how you show up for life. If you had to write a letter to money, what would you say? I'll just be grateful. 'Thank you for being freely available to me. And thank you for helping me get paid doing what I love while helping my clients. Thank you for giving me the ability to enjoy life, travel, rejuvenate with spa experiences, and for taking care of my loved ones.' How would you describe your relationship to money? My relationship to money has evolved with time. It went from being stressed about money, to spending extravagantly when I made little money, to now where I enjoy my money and also make sure to invest it so it keeps working for me. How do you think this relationship was formed? I come from a simple middle-class family, so at the start, I felt restricted that money wasn't available freely to people like us. I didn't want to let the middle-class money mindset stop me from living my best life though. So, I worked on my wealth mindset - by reading books, attending conferences, learning from mentors, and trying to be better at business daily. What lessons about money management did you learn from your mother? My mum has the biggest heart, and that's what she has taught me by example. She's taught me to help people to my best ability - whether financially or otherwise. Who do you speak to about money matters and is it something you consider 'taboo'? Growing up in an Indian society, talking about money was and still is taboo. But that's why I've spoken freely for the past nine years about how much I've made with our business and my wealth principle. The intention is not to brag, but so it inspires other women and men to stop making it a taboo topic. Who has taught you the most about financial management? Reading books and blogs of people who inspire me has taught me the most. What has been the most profound experience you've had so far in relation to money, and what has it taught you ? There have been many which I share in my book Wealthy Moves, released in April. The one that comes to the top of mind was when I manifested investing in a cool startup, and how the universe helped me make it happen in a few short months. How do you think living in the UAE has changed your relationship with money? The UAE is a land of big dreams. I've started dreaming bigger since I came here. The best part is that the country is open to expats and provides opportunities like no other place. If you could give your child or your younger self one piece of advice about money what would that be and why? Money is abundant, it's freely available and you deserve you get paid really well. What do you value spending money on? Comfort while travelling. And getting a spa done every couple of weeks. What do you consider splashing out? Once in a while, I like to splurge on a jewellery item that becomes a staple in my daily wardrobe. Do you long-term plan your finances, and if so, how? I plan three-five years in advance. What is your long-term goal pegged to your finances? Owning land and turning it into a farmhouse amid the forest and mountains has been a dream of mine for a long time. A simple life to retreat to once we're done with our big city dreams. How much do you save each month? I prefer to save and invest at least 50 per cent of my earnings every single month. What is your greatest financial decision? Betting on myself. To quit my job and start my own education company. And becoming a startup investor. Listening to financial advice and implementing it blindly without understanding the reason or logic behind it.
The National
06-05-2025
- Business
- The National
My Dubai Salary: ‘I earn Dh25,000 a month as an entrepreneur after pivoting from a software job'
Roota Mittal pivoted from being a software engineer to become an entrepreneur because she was not feeling creatively fulfilled. Today, she runs a consulting company that aims to help individuals achieve financial freedom through digital education, coaching and strategic marketing. The founder of spent four years growing her company in Singapore and relocated to Dubai last year where she continues to scale her business and mentor entrepreneurs. 'My company helps freelancers, service providers and small business owners by teaching them necessary skills like social media marketing, artificial intelligence, technology and brand building,' Ms Mittal, 31, says. The Indian has a bachelor's degree in computer science from the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology in the city of Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Ms Mittal released her debut book, Wealthy Moves, in April. It offers practical business advice and social media marketing tips. She lives with her husband, a technology entrepreneur, in Dubai's Palm Jumeirah. Right out of college, I received two job offers. One was with the consulting company Deloitte and the other was with a New York-based tech start-up. The latter was a better offer and would give me a better learning environment. So, I took the second job despite it not being a big name. My starting salary was about 2 million Indian rupees ($23,741) per year, including stock options. I worked in their Gurgaon office in India and was with them for nearly three years. When I was approaching the two-and-a-half year mark in the corporate world, I thought to myself, although the money was great, I was not creatively fulfilled. I did not have any say in the kind of projects I was doing or making any real impact in the world. I could not imagine myself doing that until 60. I was 23 and had saved some money as well as repaid my education loan, so I was debt-free. I had one year to make it work, but I was determined not to go back to the corporate world. I started freelancing and provided marketing services to business owners worldwide and got my first client for just $280 per month. I ran Facebook ads for them at that point. My company pays me a salary of Dh25,000 ($6,807) per month. I like to take a lean salary for my expenses and the rest is reinvested in the business for marketing and other purposes. I have one full-time employee in India and hire agencies part-time for public relations, marketing and video. With the advent of artificial intelligence, the full-time team has become leaner. Since my business is in the growth mode, my savings sometimes go right back into my company. I don't save and invest a consistent amount every month, because an entrepreneur's income varies every month and is dynamic. It's not all glamour and glitz. I first started investing in the Indian stock market in companies like Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank and later switched to US equities, too. I actively invest in and trade in US stocks like Taiwan Semiconductor, Nvidia, Amazon, Apple and Berkshire Hathaway. I also have real estate investments in India and am also a start-up investor. I have invested in a tech company in the online education space in Silicon Valley in the US. The dream is to buy a nice villa in Dubai whenever the time is right in the next few years, but until then we are renting. I have zero loans. I had taken an education loan to support myself through college and paid it off. I haven't had debt for the past few years. I prefer being like that because then I can be nimble and agile when investing in my business. No, I am self-made. My parents gave me a good education and did their best. Even my company is completely bootstrapped. I grew up in a typical Indian middle-class family where education was high on my parents' priority list. However, there was never money available for taking a vacation, buying clothes or frequently going to a shopping mall or the movies. I grew up with that mindset. I used to joke with my mother that when I grow up, I want to go to a shop and be able to buy items without looking at the prices. That was my goal and why I worked so hard. My major monthly expense is on house rent. I also spend on cab rides because I prefer not to drive. I also occasionally go for shopping, the spa every two weeks and yoga classes. I like to take a look at what's coming in and what's going out every day as a business owner. On the personal side too, I review my income and expenses every day. But I don't think too much about spending or stop myself unless it's a very big purchase. If it's a fancy purchase just for luxury, I consider whether I should be investing the amount in my stocks instead. I don't think about retirement. I would love to keep working as long as possible. The returns from my varied investments, stocks and rental income from properties go towards my retirement savings. I have emergency funds in fixed deposits in India. The fund can sustain me for a year. My passive income mostly comes from stock dividends, which are reinvested back into the market. In my business, people buy digital products and courses, which bring me passive sales even though I'm not actively promoting them. My properties will also start yielding rent in a year. Flying business class, going to a new country and staying in nice resorts are my guilty pleasures. I love doing that. If I can't do that, I'd rather not travel. When I want to travel, I want to go all out. As an entrepreneur, I worry about how the market and the recession are going to turn out since I'm responsible for other people's livelihoods, too. What helps me is leaning on the principles of people who are smarter than me like Ray Dalio. He talks about how the economy works in cycles, so if there's a dip, it's bound to rise again after a few years. If we worry about money, we'll attract more worry. But if we go back to gratefulness, we will attract more abundance. In the short term, I want to double my savings and investments in the next one to two years. My long-term goal is to have a lovely villa in Dubai and save a good amount for our future kids so we can send them to the best schools and colleges. Work however much I want, from wherever I want. That is my definition of financial freedom. Investing in myself and my skills because I know I can rely on them. I am referring to my investing skills, business skills and marketing skills. No matter the inflation, your skills are only going to compound. If I lose everything today, I know I can build it back up because of the skills that I have gained.
The National
06-05-2025
- Business
- The National
My Dubai Salary: ‘I earn Dh25,000 a month running a digital marketing and coaching company'
Roota Mittal pivoted from being a software engineer to become an entrepreneur because she was not feeling creatively fulfilled. Today, she runs a consulting company that aims to help individuals achieve financial freedom through digital education, coaching and strategic marketing. The founder of spent four years growing her company in Singapore and relocated to Dubai last year where she continues to scale her business and mentor entrepreneurs. 'My company helps freelancers, service providers and small business owners by teaching them necessary skills like social media marketing, artificial intelligence, technology and brand building,' Ms Mittal, 31, says. The Indian has a bachelor's degree in computer science from the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology in the city of Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Ms Mittal released her debut book, Wealthy Moves, in April. It offers practical business advice and social media marketing tips. She lives with her husband, a technology entrepreneur, in Dubai's Palm Jumeirah. Right out of college, I received two job offers. One was with the consulting company Deloitte and the other was with a New York-based tech start-up. The latter was a better offer and would give me a better learning environment. So, I took the second job despite it not being a big name. My starting salary was about 2 million Indian rupees ($23,741) per year, including stock options. I worked in their Gurgaon office in India and was with them for nearly three years. When I was approaching the two-and-a-half year mark in the corporate world, I thought to myself, although the money was great, I was not creatively fulfilled. I did not have any say in the kind of projects I was doing or making any real impact in the world. I could not imagine myself doing that until 60. I was 23 and had saved some money as well as repaid my education loan, so I was debt-free. I had one year to make it work, but I was determined not to go back to the corporate world. I started freelancing and provided marketing services to business owners worldwide and got my first client for just $280 per month. I ran Facebook ads for them at that point. My company pays me a salary of Dh25,000 ($6,807) per month. I like to take a lean salary for my expenses and the rest is reinvested in the business for marketing and other purposes. I have one full-time employee in India and hire agencies part-time for public relations, marketing and video. With the advent of artificial intelligence, the full-time team has become leaner. Since my business is in the growth mode, my savings sometimes go right back into my company. I don't save and invest a consistent amount every month, because an entrepreneur's income varies every month and is dynamic. It's not all glamour and glitz. I first started investing in the Indian stock market in companies like Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank and later switched to US equities, too. I actively invest in and trade in US stocks like Taiwan Semiconductor, Nvidia, Amazon, Apple and Berkshire Hathaway. I also have real estate investments in India and am also a start-up investor. I have invested in a tech company in the online education space in Silicon Valley in the US. The dream is to buy a nice villa in Dubai whenever the time is right in the next few years, but until then we are renting. I have zero loans. I had taken an education loan to support myself through college and paid it off. I haven't had debt for the past few years. I prefer being like that because then I can be nimble and agile when investing in my business. No, I am self-made. My parents gave me a good education and did their best. Even my company is completely bootstrapped. I grew up in a typical Indian middle-class family where education was high on my parents' priority list. However, there was never money available for taking a vacation, buying clothes or frequently going to a shopping mall or the movies. I grew up with that mindset. I used to joke with my mother that when I grow up, I want to go to a shop and be able to buy items without looking at the prices. That was my goal and why I worked so hard. My major monthly expense is on house rent. I also spend on cab rides because I prefer not to drive. I also occasionally go for shopping, the spa every two weeks and yoga classes. I like to take a look at what's coming in and what's going out every day as a business owner. On the personal side too, I review my income and expenses every day. But I don't think too much about spending or stop myself unless it's a very big purchase. If it's a fancy purchase just for luxury, I consider whether I should be investing the amount in my stocks instead. I don't think about retirement. I would love to keep working as long as possible. The returns from my varied investments, stocks and rental income from properties go towards my retirement savings. I have emergency funds in fixed deposits in India. The fund can sustain me for a year. My passive income mostly comes from stock dividends, which are reinvested back into the market. In my business, people buy digital products and courses, which bring me passive sales even though I'm not actively promoting them. My properties will also start yielding rent in a year. Flying business class, going to a new country and staying in nice resorts are my guilty pleasures. I love doing that. If I can't do that, I'd rather not travel. When I want to travel, I want to go all out. As an entrepreneur, I worry about how the market and the recession are going to turn out since I'm responsible for other people's livelihoods, too. What helps me is leaning on the principles of people who are smarter than me like Ray Dalio. He talks about how the economy works in cycles, so if there's a dip, it's bound to rise again after a few years. If we worry about money, we'll attract more worry. But if we go back to gratefulness, we will attract more abundance. In the short term, I want to double my savings and investments in the next one to two years. My long-term goal is to have a lovely villa in Dubai and save a good amount for our future kids so we can send them to the best schools and colleges. Work however much I want, from wherever I want. That is my definition of financial freedom. Investing in myself and my skills because I know I can rely on them. I am referring to my investing skills, business skills and marketing skills. No matter the inflation, your skills are only going to compound. If I lose everything today, I know I can build it back up because of the skills that I have gained.
