An entrepreneur is a person who starts a new business or revives an existing one in order to capitalize on new ideas or niches. An entrepreneur thinks out of the box and with different parts of the brain. They are crazy enough to believe they can change the world and generally are the ones who do. Successful entrepreneurs, particularly, use their creativity and charisma in ways that other small business people don't. In my experience, successful entrepreneurs demonstrate four similar traits.

(1) Influencer - successful entrepreneurs have the ability to make an impression on others with their ideas. They understand that they must be able to education the public in order to build a consensus about their product and/or service in order to sell it and to build a team to promote and develop it. They are gifted in creating buzz about what they do and they are seriously selling themselves and the business 24/7. They are known as an expert in their field and a resource for all others interested in it.

(2) Innovator - successful entrepreneurs create an answer or solution to a problem. They believe in their way of doing things. They don't respect the status quo, they challenge it! They don't ask for permission or look for permission to change the old way of doing things. They constantly put one step in front of the other in reworking the paradigm.

(3) Optimistic - successful entrepreneurs are persistently positive. They believe so strongly in their idea that they easily gain followers to help them build the company and financial backing to fund them through the startup phase. They never think about the risk they are taking in putting themselves on the line in launching a startup and the encourage others to take similar risks in following them. The aura that surrounds them is intoxicating and others want to be part of something that feels special.

(4) Relentless - successful entrepreneurs never take no for an answer. They always see success over the next mountain they must climb. They visualize winning and create it through shear determination. They don't believe there is failure only an opportunity to learn for the next time. They view competition as a challenge and meet it head on. They walk the talk when it comes to working hard and are aware of their strength and weaknesses.

But successful entrepreneurs also never forget the importance of being patient. They listen to that little voice inside that whispers "it takes time - keep going - be kind to yourself, your employees and even your customers - you've got what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur".

Let me know what other traits you demonstrate as a successful entrepreneur.