If you are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, you are more than likely wondering what it truly takes. There's no cookie-cutter answer that applies to everyone. After failing multiple times and founding a few successful businesses along the way, I’ve come to a few conclusions. Here are five rules to follow if you want to be a successful entrepreneur : 1. Work smarter, not harder. Many people envision an entrepreneur as being someone who works 18-hour days, doing nothing but eating, sleeping and breathing his or her business. We tend to paint the picture of someone so driven to succeed that their entire life involves working. Of course, hard work is a key to succeeding as an entrepreneur -- it takes grit, after all. But it doesn't quite look like that in reality: Working every waking minute of the day isn’t going to automatically make you a successful entrepreneur. This approach would mean that the entrepreneur is responsible for doing everything, like the old adage, “If y...