5 Success Tips from Award-Winning Entrepreneurs

Every entrepreneur faces challenges, and many of them will tell you it's how you handle those challenges that will determine success or failure as a business owner.

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."

Related Video: Glassybaby Founder Lee Rhodes on Growth Mistakes

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."

5. Don't be afraid to share your idea. "There's always the opportunity where they may not be able to help you, but somebody else will," Nelson says.

Are you already establishing your company as an industry leader? Consider throwing your hat in the ring to be considered for Entrepreneur magazine's Entrepreneur of 2012 awards. Deadline is June 15, so act fast.

Who do you think deserves a shot at Entrepreneur of 2012?