About the Book

Today’s graduates face the toughest job market in 10 years. Their peers only a few years older, who just started their careers, are now back on the job hunt with few prospects. There is a highly competitive pool of applicants for companies that aren’t hiring. What options do these bright, young, ambitious people have? To wait for the economy to recover and recruiters to come knocking? Or to take that ambition and passion and turn it into something tangible? Now is the time to become an entrepreneur-take that drive and start realizing your dreams. In Young Guns: the Fearless Entrepreneur’s Guide to Chasing Your Dreams and Breaking out on Your Own, Robert Tuchman shows professionals that they can start and succeed in their own business with examples of many entrepreneurs under the age of 35. There is no better time to take a chance than when you’re youthful, bold and have very little to lose-and he knows from experience. When Robert Tuchman graduated from college, he was quickly forced to abandon his dream of becoming a sports writer. Eventually he accepted a position as a stockbroker trainee, but soon realized that he was completely unfulfilled in his new job. There had to be something better. Tired of working at a job with little prospect of advancement, he formed his own company, Tuchman Sports Enterprises (TSE), out of his apartment. Within two years of working out of that tiny one-bedroom Upper East Side apartment, with one phone and a fax machine, his company was named to the annual Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest growing privately held companies and as one of the top 100 promotion agencies by Promo Magazine. He started TSE with no money and no investors and ended up selling it for millions of dollars to a major firm. Last year TSE earned over $70 million dollars in sales.

Some Tips from the Book:

• Who are you helping? Your business needs a purpose, which means it needs a customer. Always keep in mind that you are selling to someone.
• Start your business plan, even if you’re not ready. Whether your business plan is on a napkin or a 50 page document, you need to get it started. Plans can be readjusted, but as long as the basic vision is there, you can move forward.
• Market yourself and your company. Talk to anyone and everyone about your business because even if they are not the customer, they may meet someone who will be. Make any and all connections and cultivate a company personality as an extension of your own.
• Selling light and performing heavy. Promise your customers what you know you can deliver (be honest!) and then strive to do more. People remember it when you exceed expectations and this will get you more business in future.
• Failure and the learning curve. You or someone on your team will fail occasionally. No one’s perfect. The best thing to do is step back and learn from these mistakes. You will come back stronger each time because of them.

About the Author

When Robert Tuchman graduated from college, Tuchman was quickly forced to abandon his dream of becoming a sports reporter. Applications to sports programs across the country were ignored and eventually he accepted a position as an investment advisor at Lehman Brothers in New York, followed by a stint Paine Webber. Still wanting to break into the sports industry, he joined Sports Profiles after reading about then in Entrepreneur working out of his apartment selling sports magazine advertisements. Quickly realizing that everyone to whom he sold ads wanted the perks (tickets to games or luxury trips to events) more then the ads, he decided to start a business that catered to this niche called Tuchman Sports Enterprises (TSE). Within two years of working out of that tiny one-bedroom Upper East Side apartment, with one phone and a fax machine, his company was named to the annual Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest growing privately held companies and as one of the top 100 promotion agencies by Promo Magazine. He started TSE with no money and no investors and ended up selling it for millions of dollars to Premiere Global Sports. Last year TSE earned over $70 million dollars in sales as the Corporate Events division of Premiere Global Sports. Robert Tuchman now serves as President of that division, still guiding his company in its new form. He also writes a monthly column for Incentive magazine for incentive and meeting planners. He is also the author of The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live, a sports travel book. His articles have appeared in ESPN.com and Sports Business Journal. A favorite commentator on the sports industry, you may have seen him recently discussing Michael Phelps on “Anderson Cooper 360″ or the “CBS Morning News.” A frequent guest on “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” he has also appeared on CNN, the “CBS Morning News,” BET, and has been featured in USA Today, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Entrepreneur.

Tuchman currently writes a column called Young, Fearless, and Fed Up for Entrepreneur.com