Guest Post: Author Robert Tuchman

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Young Guns

10. You must get into the habit of asking yourself: Why not me? Your own answer to this question will be the single most important factor in your personal campaign- your mission- to start a great business from scratch.
To start this journey, your thinking has to be, “What have I got to lose?” If you’re still in your twenties, the answer is almost certainly that you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain! Being young and not having too many responsibilities is and exhilarating experience. Take advantage of this time in your life. Being young means having vast reserves of positive energy and enthusiasm that you can devote to your new business.
A simple game plan should include: Your best idea so far for a name for your business, your best description of the group of people your business will be helping, your vision of what the company will look like five years from now, your main goal to accomplish in the first year of your business, and the three most important immediate goals you see for your business to achieve in the next thirty, sixty, and ninety days that will support the big goal you just identified.
There will be a “gut check moment” early on in the life of your business, and if you don’t know why you are doing what you are doing, you will make the wrong move and your business will miss out on an opportunity.
The closest analogy to picking the right business partner is not the act of hiring the right employee, but the act of picking the right spouse.
During the first year, and all years thereafter, you will have to find a way to achieve balance. Basically, this means avoiding the temptation to work seven days a week, eighteen hours a day, without a break.
During your first year of operation, it’s extremely important to develop new relationships and meet people in your industry.
Never forget: When you start your company or venture, you are the business. That means you are in charge.
Use that youthful reservoir of energy you have to talk endlessly about what you love most about your business. After all, you are venturing out after something you are passionate about.
What separates successful entrepreneurs from floundering entrepreneurs? Daily commitment to fulfilling the benchmarks you have set for yourself and your company in both your short-term and long-term business plans