You may be a fresh entrepreneur with a brilliant business idea and it could perh aps be the result of intensive

research and long hours of hard work. However, on e universal rule applies in business, and that is, nothing is certain . No one can guar antee whether your start-up idea or business will last successfully past the one year milestone. But we see companies being started every day and new products b eing launched in the market. This clearly indicates that entrepreneurs can and d o overcome the challenges and succeed in their ventures. Here are five tried and tested tips that can help you emerge on the winning side . 1. Build a business that will stand the test of time When you start a business you are pursuing your dreams . For dreams to come true , you must start with passion and focus. Moreover, the secret lies in first maki ng employees happy and then going on to satisfy customers and vendors. Beyond th e vendors it is the community that you serve which determines your success. Ther efore, you can improve your odds of success by building a strong team. The reaso n why many entrepreneurs fail is that they they lack the strong and deep experie nce in the industry in which they wish to operate. The answer to this shortfall, is recruiting experienced team members, or getting experience yourself by worki ng in a similar field for a while before starting your business. 2. Make your business attractive to investors It would be a godsend for your business if you can get investment from Venture c apitalists. But VCs are very exacting and fund only about one out of 100 busines s plans which are submitted. Improve your chances by approaching the right inves tors. Do a bit of research on what types of investments a particular VC fund usu ally makes. Go to the firm s websites to find out if they invest in your specific in dustry and in start up companies. Try to get your proposal submitted by a repute d person or deliver it yourself, so that you will know that your business plan w ill have a chance of being studied with some interest. Present your investment p lan with passion and skill. 3.Give your customers the right products The most important thing to remember is to try and make your product one of the best in its category. Many new products fail to capture the market as a result o f companies not paying enough attention to customers. There are a lot of product s in the market which claim the latest technology in doing things faster, or bei ng more efficient or high-tech. However, people buy products for different reaso ns than these. Customers buy products because they are perceived as the right to ols for them. It would prove beneficial to your business to talk with the custom ers indepth on an ongoing basis and try to find out what they need. And, it is e qually important to convince them that your product is the best and the ideal on e. 4. Turn your sales leads and web visitors into buyers Market knowledge tells us that approximately only 4 percent of cold sales calls are likely to turn into sales. The odds are tough but you can attempt to generat e quality leads by studying the market and warming up cold calls with a combinat ion marketing campaign of e-mail, direct mail and other channels. That could tra nslate into business. But it will need a lot of persistence which eventually pay off as rewarding sales. As for online sales, conversion rates for most websites are in single digit sales. What entrepreneurs should do, is build visitors confide nce and trust while measuring and testing to find ways to make navigation persua sive and customer focussed. Taking into consideration the nature of your product your conversion rate can be brought up higher with a bit of intuition and innov ation. 5. Build your financial worth Become Creditworthy to Banks Many a start up entrepreneur has discovered the hard way that banks will not rea dily sanction loans to companies that aren t established. To overcome this situation

, one has to begin by starting small with whatever funds you can raise from othe r sources, growing gradually and building up both assets such as accounts receiv able and your own personal equity in the business. This gets you to the position where you are an attractive proposition to banks. Another way around this obsta cle is to find a banker you can relate to and develop a personal relationship. T aking the help of a banking advocate can help you get across a lot of hurdles. Above all you should not forget to build work-life balance into your business pl an, by knowing your work tolerance and picking a suitable business. You can also fashion a business that encourages balance. Entrepreneurial Learning Starting a business requires passion, focus, persistence and hard work, but when it does take off and succeed you will be the master of your destiny.