Bryan Young is currently a junior in college. He's enrolled in the entrepreneurship program at North Carolina State University located in Raleigh, NC and is a former military brat. He technically started his first legal business when he was 12 years old (a lawn care company), but his first experiences with entrepreneurship started way before that. In elementary school he would take his lunch money and buy candy at wholesale prices and then sell it at a markup. When people wanted certain types of candy in which he had a short supply of, it would often creating bidding wars between classmates, which was not intentional but he used it to his advantage--knowing if it didn't sell the candy he didn't eat that day. Fortunately, that never happened (he usually sold out by lunch), but he planned for weeks walking 20 minutes to a bus stop near a guy who sold candy before and after school, to gauge his prices even though the bus he was suppose to ride stopped right in front of his house. He eventually worked a partnership deal with him as he prepared to enter middle school but moved to Okinawa, Japan just a few weeks afterwards so it never really matured. "I just recently told my mom about what I did and she wasn't happy to say the less and I'm 22 now so I can only imagine how she would have reacted back then if she found out," Bryan Said. "I often gave my little cousin and close friends free candy to keep them quite. It did prepare me for the lawn care company that I would eventually start with plenty of help from my mother."

Bryan learned how to do business from watching local drug dealers and street hustlers which he refers to as street entrepreneurs. His grandmother ran an illegal but successful operation bootlegging liquor from her low income home. He is the oldest male from his mother's side to have never been to jail. "Not to say I'm an angel because I am far from that, but I was fortunate enough to have a mother and aunt who cared enough to get me and keep me going down the right path," Bryan said.

At the age of 8, he spoke to his biological father for the second time in his life and was told that he wanted nothing to do with him so he does not say much about him or his side of the family. His mother served twenty years in the Air Force, so he had the chance not only to travel the world but to see what it is like to struggle in a low income family and to live in a middle income home. Both were unique experiences and he learned how to survive in both atmosphere as well as how to adapt. By no means does he support drugs and violence but it was how the individuals involved decided to survive in that environment. He openly admits his regret of having his own experiences being involved with drug dealers creating businesses to cover up their operation. He has also found creative ways to make money from using his athletic ability to installing car electronics.

When he was younger he used to always take rubber bands and write inspirational words or quotes on them. When companies started manufacturing them his mother realized that helping her son utilize his talents would prepare him for a better future. The lessons that he learned from his mom and her-then husband began to prepare him to think like an entrepreneur. With his weekly allowance Bryan eventually ended up buying a lawn mower and starting a lawn care service using the dentists, doctors, and other high paying medical field job holders she worked with as his main clientele. "I think many just wanted to support me because I was showing initiative," says Bryan. At 12 years old, an idea that started out cutting a few yards a week turned into a business that pocketed Bryan over $500 a week in profit, and his mother played a crucial part in that success. She had a love for numbers and didn't mind sitting down with him to figure out a pricing strategy. He eventually based his prices off of military rank as this determined income on military bases usually determines where you live. Which was the case at Kadena, AFB and housing areas are built off of cookie cutter blueprints. It wasn't long before he had a payroll with his mother as a part time secretary and hired employees, usually friends, to assist with the work. He focused on quality and it didn't take long for word to get around before the quantity of the customers grew. His mother and my brother's father also took the time to show him the value of a dollar and how important investing was.

At 17, just before he became a senior in high school he couldn't find a job and decided to start a long haul trucking company (18-wheelers) with his mother. Things went extremely well and at 19 I was starting to be recognized as an up and coming entrepreneur. Just a few months before his 21st birthday the business nearly went bankrupt. The main factors were the price of fuel, the rising price of food which hurt bid rates, driver salaries and some high cost maintenance repairs which he had no control that caused the company to lose over $180,000 in less than three months. Growing the company from three trucks to sixteen which included owner operators in less than six months hurt the company as well. He says that miscalculating finances and not having a management team that was prepared for such rapid growth played a major role in the adverse effect the company saw. The high expenses of growth and not collecting accounts receivable fast enough also played a role. Two of our top five customers severely cut back production and one went completely out of business all together within weeks of each other unexpectedly. On top of having to pay the mortgage for a 7-bedroom home built for his mother when he was 18 and rent for his apartment.

"Going forward with building my mother's dream home went against every business instinct that I've ever had, it was too big, too expensive and we were still in the start up phase even though the company was doing very well. But my mom is my role model and I don't know anyone who shares a bond as strong as we do that would have passed up on the opportunity. After spending 20 hard years in the military and raising a child as a single mother supporting her dreams was the least I could do, she had already spent years supporting mine. My mistake was not building a house, my mistake was planning for everything except economic disaster. The experience humbled me and challenged every relationship I had but I learned many valuable lessons about life that have helped me become a better businessman and person. Of course I wish the outcome would have been different but I think it needed to happen in a way. Unfortunately, I pushed some good people away in the process but I found out who I really was and we're still trucking!" he once responded when asked about the situation while speaking to group of high school students about entrepreneurship and overcoming challenges in life.

The company re-evaluated and fixed the factors they could control and he's downsized since then but fuel prices are still effecting the company. The different branches of the company currently produce gross revenue of over $5 million per year together and plans for continued growth are being made. In the summer of 2008 as a strategic move to combat a bad economy, they became an independent branch of Sunteck Transport. This move has made the company part of the largest trucking company in the Southeastern United States and the fourth largest in the country with a fleet of over 200 trucks.

Less than a year after nearly going bankrupt he was being recognized again as an up and coming entrepreneur. This time he didn't feel he deserved the credit but what a difference a year made. Through business consulting Bryan has been involved with more than 15 entrepreneurial ventures so far. He helped William Young, a friend of the family and car wash owner, more than triple his sales during the summer months from $3,000 to $12-$15K per month from 2005-2007 after being put in charge of marketing and sales. He has also had jobs working for places like Little Caesars and Best Buy. He says that, "I took these jobs to see not only if that type of business would be one that I would want to run in the future but to understand how it feels to be an employee. My mom preferred that I focus on school but I learned early on that you can not be a good leader until you understand what it is like to be led."

At 18, he worked for a company that installed computer systems for the government to bring home a salary during the start-up phase of his company. He came on really as a assistant but only did that for the first day. A gentleman by the name of Mike Foreman was in charge and treated him more as a son then a employee. In the end he was offered a six figure salary to join Mike's company. However, their next assignment was in the middle of the war in Iraq and he turned down the offer not only because he was in love but he also wanted to be around his family to provide a positive male figure for his brother and cousin's. He also already had a trucking company that was still in the start-up phase. Mr. Foreman did teach him a lot of things in the talks they had but he re enforced the fact that hard work does not always go unnoticed and the best leaders are those that understand what the people they are leading go through on a daily basis.

There is a whole lot more not only to Bryan's story but to the lessons he has learned thus far in life. He continues to learn from a business and personal standpoint on a daily basis. He was once ashamed that he thought differently from his peers and keep many of his entrepreneurial experiences to himself or the people he involved. He has changed since then and now regularly speaks to high school students among others about his business experiences and how he overcame life's challenges.

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