Do you have what it takes to be a billionaire?

What's it take to be a billionaire? Aside from hard work, determination and a little luck, it turns out there are quite a few other commonalities amongst billionaires. Duncan Greenberg at Forbes took it upon himself to find out what trends emerge when you look at the magazine's list of 657 self made billionaires. The results of its unscientific study won't guide you to billions but at the very least should give you a short lesson on failing and something to talk about around the water cooler.

It turns out that unless your parents had math-related careers and you were born in September, you're already handicapped in your quest to be a billionaire. When it comes to actions that are within your control, you better get started because billionaires tend to: drop out of college, work at Goldman Sachs, fail horribly at some point, start a small business, get an MBA from a top level institution and become a member of Skull and Bones.