At the airport today I was amazed at how many "Get rich!" books there are at the book stores. I don't happen to ascribe to the belief that everyone can get rich.  I think there are a number of basic prerequisites that one has to have in order to become wealthy.

In no particular order, here are characteristics that wealthy people seem to have in common:

1. They don't just have ideas, they do something about them. This is a big deal. I always hear people coming up with interesting ideas but then finishing with saying "Yea, someone ought to do that."  I've passed on some ideas in the past that I think could make someone much better off financially but when I follow up, they've done nothing.  For example, up at Higgins Lake they have a serious zebra mussel problem. I read on-line that a 400hz frequency generated in the water near them will cause them to not be able to secure nutrients from the water which, after around 40 days kills them.  Someone could build this relatively easily.  Parts would cost around $50 and could be sold to dock owners at lakes for around $200.  Another simple example would be cheap, easy, hand sand sifters for beaches at lakes.  These ideas won't make someone rich. But I'm amazed at how often I'll bump into people who could make these things easily, need the money, and have the time but still won't do them.
   
   The point being, people come up with ideas but few people actually follow-up on them.
    
2. They don't get discouraged.  When doing something that requires effort, setbacks are inevitable. Successful people tend to not be discouraged easily. In fact, for a lot of successful people, being "discouraged" is a foreign concept.  This is important in multiple ways. First, it means they won't grow bored or lose focus on what they are trying to achieve. Secondly, it means that when something blows up on them, they won't give up.
    
3. They have delayed gratification.  This is another big one.  People who build a successful enterprise are almost always people with a well developed sense of delayed gratification.  They don't plitter away their capital on things.  In my own example, for the first 10 years of my business, I didn't own a high end car.  I could have.  I remember the owner of a website who sold out during the dot-com. He was 22 and took his $300k buy out and bought himself a Ferrari.  I suspect he's probably working for someone else now.  By contrast, that $300k could have been used as capital to invest in things that would have far greater long term rewards.
    
4. They don't blame others. Whenever I meet someone who starts blaming their problems on other people I can't help but think "loser".  If someone takes the attitude that other people
   "have it out for them" the odds are that they're failures.  Successful people tend to blame themselves and combined with item #2, use that to make themselves better.  If you meet someone who uses the word "luck" (either good or bad) a lot you're probably meeting someone who isn't successful.  Whenever someone thinks their destiny is in the hands of other people or luck they're limiting their success.
    
5. They have a positive attitude. Successful people tend to believe in themselves and have a "can do" attitude.  This doesn't mean they're bubbly or happy people. What it does mean is that they think that if they put their mind to it, they can do it.  The people I meet who haven't done so well in life tend to be very quick to list off the various obstacles that they face that keep them from succeeding.  A successful person might list challenges they face but is also working out a plan to overcome those challenges.