Here, five tips for success from business owners who know
what growing and winning are all about. Consider these words of wisdom from
Entrepreneur Magazine's Emerging Entrepreneur of 2011 Adam Nelson and
Entrepreneur of 2011 award winner Lee Rhodes.
1. Put your
networking skills to work. "Find people you can learn from," says
Nelson, founder and inventor of the Good Nite Lite, who first created his
product to solve his son's difficulties falling asleep. "What you may not
need from them today, you may need tomorrow."
2. Don't be swayed by naysayers. When Rhodes was pushed by
bankers and experts to start manufacturing her hand-blown glass candleholders
in China to save money, the experiment backfired. "We lost a
fortune," says Rhodes, founder of Glassybaby, which donates a percentage
of revenue to programs that help cancer patients. "I listened to people
who didn't understand Glassybaby. It's all about the story and there was
nowhere to fit 'Made in China' in my story."
3. Keep taking risks. "Our personal motto is: 'Fail
cheap, fail quick,'" Nelson says. "Don't be afraid to try."
4. Hire your weaknesses. "Remember as an entrepreneur,
you're probably a big-picture person and the details aren't as important, but
they will be and it'll come back to haunt you," Rhodes warns. "If
you're not good at [something], make sure you have someone beside you that is,
as you grow."
