Energetic employees can expect others to accuse them of being "brown-nosers." You hand self-starters a self-help book, they often see themselves being written about, with many complaining, "Damn, I could have written that."

Candidates who are self-starters believe they can control their own destinies.

Willam was the self-starter, Lew the talented choreographer (Filling Station) and dancer (Balanchine's first American lead in Apollo), and Harold the dedicated teacher.

Requirements: Legal background or have completed at least one year at a recognized law school; must be self-starter and confident in their research and writing capabilities.

Instead, they are self-starters striving for independent success.

The Beyond Self-Starters event will be held at The Assembly Rooms in Fenkle Street, Newcastle, from 12.30-4.30pm on January 29 and will showcase the different entrepreneurial types in the North East and examine the motivations people have to become entrepreneurs.

Oxford-educated Sheridan - whose product designs include The Butt Plug, a pink rubber, bum-shaped cover for an electrical plug - reckons Wales needs to nourish its creative genius and encourage self-starters to translate their ideas into business.

But as a new function, it also needs self-starters and ambassadors.

"With the digital age upon us, there has never been more opportunity out there for motivated self-starters.

Executive producers are usually tenacious self-starters, Wilson adds.

As a new report reveals that one in ten of the country's most successful entrepreneurs plans to leave the country because they believe it's easier to make money abroad, we speak to three Tees Valley self-starters who've made headlines here over the past year.

He describes successful teleworkers as self-starters with strong work ethic, discipline, and the ability to work well without supervision.