The dream of starting a business is becoming a reality for many people. Some want to quit their jobs completely and dedicate their entire careers to self-employment, others have used it as a valuable second income. More and more, however, it is becoming a crucial 'second chance' for those unable to find traditional employment.

How do you know whether you can be a successful entrepreneur, or if you are better off as a salaried employee? While there is no sure-fire formula for success, studies have shown that successful entrepreneurs share these ten characteristics. Check if you possess any one of them.

Be passionate with what you do. You start a business to change any or all part of your life. To attain this change, you need to develop or uncover an intense, personal passion to change the way things are and to live life to the fullest. Success comes easily if you love what you do. Why? Because we are more relentless in our pursuit of goals about things that we love. If you hate your job right now, do you think you will ever be successful at it? Not in a million years! You may plod along, even become competent at the tasks, but you will never be a great success at it. You will achieve peak performance and do what you have to do to succeed only if you are doing something that interests you or something that you care about. Entrepreneurs who succeed do not mind the fact that they are putting in 15 or 18 hours a day to their business because they absolutely love what they do. Success in business is all about patience and hard work, which can only be attained if you are passionate and crazy with your tasks and activities.

Never consider the possibility of failure. As an entrepreneur, you need to fully believe in your goals, and that you can do it. Think that what you are doing will contribute to the betterment of your environment and your personal self. You should have a strong faith in your idea, your capabilities and yourself. You must believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have the ability to recognize and fulfil them. The more you can develop faith in your ability to achieve your goals, the more rapidly you can attain it. However, your confidence should be balanced with calculated risks that you need to take to achieve greater rewards. Successful entrepreneurs are those who analyze and minimize risk in the pursuit of profit. As they always say, "no guts, no glory."

Education: Education is where it all starts. We hear so much about entrepreneurs who spring out of nowhere, drop out of college to start a business, and become billionaires 2 years later. But really, anyone who is a successful entrepreneur at age 22 probably started educating themselves at age 14. None of them are overnight sensations – just hard workers with insatiable drive from a very young age. Of course, it’s never too late. You can educate yourself at any age. And it doesn’t matter how you do it – what matters is that you keep gaining and internalizing drastically different perspectives as you build your business.

Persistence: Once you have the above elements in your day to day business, persistence will most likely drive you to the top in everything you want to accomplish. Add this quality, and I can almost promise you, that it will be difficult in not achieving acceptable dreams.

Constantly Look for Ways to Network. In business, you are judged by the company you keep - from your management team, board of directors, and strategic partners. Businesses always need assistance, more so small businesses. It is important to form alliances with people who can help you, and whom you can help in return. To succeed in business, you need to possess good networking skills and always be alert to opportunities to expand your contacts.