self-starter 
noun
1A person who is sufficiently motivated or ambitious to work on their own initiative without needing direction: he was the self-starter who worked his way up from messenger boy to account executive...
- This environment, much like the set-up of a small business, compels the counselor to take initiative and become a self-starter.
- Indeed, these schools work best where the child is a self-starter and is easily motivated.
- Franchisors also look for people who can take direction and are self-starters as well.
2 dated The starter of a motor-vehicle engine.
Derivatives
self-starting
- When they see it happen, bookshop clerks add to their knowledge of the pathos of human nature and, after the self-starting author has departed, quietly return his books to Sociology.
- Of course it is not all self-starting stuff around here.
- We are seeking teams that are effective, focused, disciplined and self-starting.