Charles Schwab: This is the most important skill for an entrepreneur

When you're starting a small business, it can be an exhaustive experience, and it could be easy to feel defeated.

But there's one thing Charles Schwab said all entrepreneurs need: Optimism.

"Optimism is a mindset that you have to have."

- Charles, Schwab, Charles Schwab Corporation founder

"If you're an entrepreneur, you've got to be thinking positive about what you can't even see," Schwab told FOX Business. "And sometimes, that means you've got to believe, and if you're not able to believe in your future, or at least see that in an optimistic way, you can't ever really get on that road to fruition or to get on that road to success."

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
SCHW THE CHARLES SCHWAB CORP. 76.40 +0.86 +1.14%

Schwab reiterated why a positive outlook is critical to an entrepreneur.

"When you're an entrepreneur as I was for the 40 years of developing Schwab ... there were plenty of negative steps along the way," Schwab said.

"It takes perseverance too when you get in those soft periods and those periods you're questioning yourself, you question your judgment and you have to have an overall thought of purpose."

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He said one way he grounded himself during those tough times was to remind himself: "The company is too important to ever hold back."

Charles Schwab is the founder, former CEO, and current chairman, of The Charles Schwab Corporation. Among the giants of the financial services industry, he is one of the most successful entrepreneurs and leaders in American business.