As you've undoubtedly heard from friends and family members, being an entrepreneur is a tough gig. When most of us think of working for ourselves, we dream of a life of ease - setting our own schedules, having plenty of time for the family, taking vacations whenever the mood strikes us. Although this lifestyle is possible, it doesn't come without a lot of hard work and dedication.

Here are five traits that are shared by every successful entrepreneur:

1. Effective time management. When you work for someone else, you put in your eight hours, and then you get to go home and forget about work. As an entrepreneur, though, you have to effectively manage your own time, or you'll find yourself working around the clock. When you get up in the morning, write down a detailed schedule - and stick to it! A written schedule is one of the simplest and most valuable time management tools available... and it can make the difference between enjoying work/life balance and slogging through 14 hour work days.
2. Organizational skills. You won't have a boss to help you prioritize projects and tasks - you're running the show, so you'll have to keep things organized yourself. Organize your workspace by keeping project documents in separate folders, and make sure critical papers don't end up in a jumbled pile on the floor. Also, getting a dry erase board will help you keep track of all of your projects and tasks.
3. An unquenchable drive to succeed. Let's face it, there will be days when you'd rather sleep until noon than work on growing your business. When these days come, you'll have to rely on your desire to succeed to ensure that you don't fall behind.
4. The ability to turn "work mode" off. Sure, it takes a lot of effort to run a business, but you still need to take time to recharge your batteries. It can be easy to blow off a night with the guys to work on an important project... but if you don't take time to unwind, you won't be able to work effectively.
5. The ability to say "no". When most of us launch our own businesses, we feel like we have to accept every project, task, and request that our clients throw at us. Some of these things will be, quite frankly, monumental time wasters. It's okay to say "no" to difficult clients... especially when you realize they are trying to take advantage of you. This will free up time for more productive, profitable activities.