What does it take to start a successful business? While there's no such thing as the perfect entrepreneur -- even Bill Gates has made mistakes -- a number of personal qualities can help you to build a successful business. If you pass muster on most of these traits, you're off and running.

    1. You can delegate. No matter how smart and energetic you are, it's a mistake to try to attend to every detail yourself. Unless you're a solo act, you're going to have to trust employees to do their jobs so that you can run the business.

    2. You are a teacher. In order to delegate successfully, you will need people with appropriate skills -- and they may have to learn some of those skills from you.

    3. You are self-motivated. As a small business owner, you won't have a boss to tell you when to get to work. If that's a problem, keep your day job.

    4. You can work with numbers. You will spend a fair amount of time keeping track of money -- expenses, revenues, taxes and the like. A math phobia won't help.

    5. You don't mind making mistakes. You will make them; the trick is to learn from them and move on. Not everyone finds that easy to do.

    6. You like to work. Contrary to myth, you don't need to be a workaholic to start a successful business. Many entrepreneurs find that it makes more sense to establish a reasonable working pace -- one that lets them strike a balance between work and their personal lives. That said, don't start a business unless you enjoy work. There's going to be plenty of it.

    7. You don't mind selling. You'll have to sell products to customers, of course. You may also need to sell lenders or other financial backers on the prospects of your company. And you'll need to convince potential employees to accept jobs with your firm rather than going to work for the competition.

    8. You don't quit easily. You'll encounter obstacles that might stymie some individuals. You'll have more success if you are the type of person who relishes such challenges. A dash of optimism helps; it will help you handle the uncertainty that is part of every venture.

    如何成功地創業？不存在十全十美的企業家——即便比爾蓋茨也會犯錯——不過具備一些素質能幫助你成功。如果你在以下的大部分事項中做得足夠好，那么你就擁有了一個好的開頭。

    第一，會委派工作。不論你是一個多么聰明和精力旺盛的人，事必躬親是錯誤的做法。除非你唱獨角戲，不然你要信任員工，派他們完成工作，這樣你才能有空經營企業。

    第二，老師型。要成功委派工作，你將需要有具有合適技能的人，而他們也許要從你那里學一些技能。

    第三，自我激勵型。身為小企業家，沒有老板會告訴你什么時候來上班。如果你有工作動力問題，還是繼續打工吧。

    第四，能和數字打交道。相當一部分的時間需要跟蹤資金——開銷、收入、稅等等。怕數學可不行。

    第五，不怕犯錯。你一定會犯錯誤；關鍵在于能夠汲取教訓然后繼續努力。這不是人人都能容易做到的。

    第六，喜歡工作。和那些創業神話相反，并非一定要是工作狂才能成功。許多企業家都認為建立合理的工作節奏更重要，在工作和個人生活之間建立平衡。除非對工作熱愛，否則不要創業，因為今后會有很多的工作。

    第七，不介意銷售。你肯定得將產品賣給客戶。同樣，你也許需要把你公司的前景“推銷”給借款者或其它金融資助方。你還需要說服潛在雇員為你工作，而不給對手打工。

    第八，不輕易放棄。你將會遇到可能讓人停步不前的障礙。如果你是一個喜歡這種挑戰的人，那么你會取得更多的成功。一些樂觀主義會有幫助的，它將幫助你處理每一個企業中都存在的不確定性。