If I think back on my life, whether as a 15 year old high school kid teaching my class mates guitar, then progressing to teaching at the local music shop, or performing music, driving test cars or working as a sub contract courier, these are all examples of being self employed... I had no "boss", I earnt no overtime, had no holidays, or paid sick leave, if I didn't work I didn't get paid...yet, I didn't create anything.

 
So the first criteria in my opinion is that to be an entrepreneur, is you need to create something, it is not enough to just provide a service in the areas you are qualified, you study law, graft away at a firm for a few years and then go on to start your own practise, this is not genuine entrepreneurialism in my opinion. The same can be said of any service industry were the primary source of income is derived from the provision of your own services. You have essentially created a Job for yourself, you keep 9-5 office hours and without you the business ceases to function. This is self employment. Once you can step away from the day to day operations, and you start to build a business which operates independently from your efforts, then you have begun your entrepreneurial adventure.

 
My first entrepreneurial 'creation' I would suggest, was my also my first F&B (Food & Beverage) outlet... In 1993 I started a small stand at the Kirribilli Markets in Sydney, my original concept was to simply sell authentic Mexican ingredients from a supplier I discovered in Sydney (Senor Nila). So I created a nice looking little stall, replete with the obligatory Sombrero's and Pinatas and thought to promote the moles and salsas with examples of Mexican Cuisine. The end result: no ingredients sold but Loco Lyndsay's Fajita Bar was born...we sold out of the dishes I'd prepared that day and it laid the foundation for a special event catering business and full service restaurant, the former which ran for almost 8 years up until I relocated to Asia.

This segues nicely to the second hall mark of an entrepreneur, the ability to adapt and reposition your business, to be flexible and embrace the opportunities which present themselves as you embark on your journey.

 
I remember hearing the story of a guy who invented a snap on steering wheel cover, super excited by his invention he prototyped and then produced 500,000 of this novel covers and proceeded to market them... a few months in and there was zero interest, he'd invested his life savings and was stuck with 499,860 of the disks and on the verge of bankruptcy. Sitting on the lounge commiserating with one of his friends, they asked him to throw one over so they can have a closer look at the cover...he picked one up and threw it across...it glided effortlessly across the room and landed snuggly in his friend's hand, the aha moment was born..within days, he'd reimagined his Steering Wheel Covers as flying disks and proceeded to build a million dollar business... Adaptation!

The next aspect of being an entrepreneur is that you need to take a risk of sorts, that's not to decry the safety first approach that some people adopt, but at the end of the day you need, at some point, to immerse yourself in your venture and embrace the potential risk of failure...it is only through this process, that you learn and become resilient to the seemingly insurmountable problems which undoubtedly will manifest of the course of your companies growth.

Finally, you need to be able to solve problems and persevere....although strictly speaking, this is more related to your ability to be successful, the most entrepreneurial individuals I have met, all seem to be able to constantly adapt, change and rise to the day to day challenges a new business initiative throws at them. This ability perhaps more than any other is what really determines whether someone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. Facing adversity daily and maintaining your enthusiasm..

 
 Of course, this is a pretty subjective point of view and there are countless examples one can point to which run contrary to my position..however, in the broadest sense I feel these four points are common amongst entrepreneurs.