The Launching Point with Mike O'Toole

In honor of ADHD awareness month, Eric Tivers, the owner of Tivers Clinical Specialties, shares his journey of launching into entrepreneurship despite being diagnosed with ADD in college. He was able to overcome that as an obstacle and launch a successful business helping those with ADHD and with high-functioning Autism.

Jacob Cramer, the founder of Love for the Elderly, was only 13 years old when he came up with an idea to send letters to the residents of nursing homes after volunteering in a nursing home. Today, he has grown it into a global organization that has delivered over 10,000 letters to nursing homes all over the country and he's only 15.

Sahara Wright, CEO of The CEO Effect, graduated from law school and went to work in family law. After she discovered she hated it, she tried to look for a job in business law. But after not being able to land a job in that area, she decided to make her own way and started her own law firm. Today, she helps small business owners think more strategically about their businesses.

Rueben Wood is a celebrity journalist, media icon, and chef. He graduated from high school and got a taste of the music industry, but through a series of events brought on by bad management, he found himself homeless on the streets of Atlanta. He had a vision to start a media magazine for independent artists and launched the idea with no money in his pocket. Today, only four years later, he is fully supporting himself through his business ventures.

Jan Spence, a professional speaker, sales trainer, one-on-one coach for small businesses, and business consultant, got her first taste of entrepreneurship when she was just 15, but it was after her husband had been laid off for the second time in two years from his "secure" job that they decided it was time to take the risk and make the move fully into owning their own business.

Dre Baldwin, an athlete, entrepreneur, author, publisher, speaker, and marketing and branding expert, played basketball for a division III school, but had a goal of playing professionally. He became an accidental entrepreneur after posting a tryout video on YouTube and people started commenting and asking him questions. Today, he has over 4000 videos posted and a strong fanbase that he has been successful monetizing.

Maura Sweeny, an author, podcaster, international speaker, and Huffington Post contributor, was brought up to be an attorney in New Jersey, but realized that she was on a trajectory for a career path that she had no passion for. It wasn't until she was 50 that she had the courage and confidence to step out on her own and be who she was always meant to be.

In this bonus episode, I talk about how well the podcast is doing in terms of listens, how things will change now that New & Noteworthy has ended, how I am and how I plan to monetize, and my reasons for shifting from three episodes per week to one.

Dean Roberts, author of I'll Fix My Head Before I'm Dead and a serial entrepreneur, was kicked out of school at 16 and went into the Navy. After a short corporate career, he went into the family business, began to find his way, and turned it into the largest doll house manufacturer in the world.

Kelly Mccauley, the owner of Solo Smarts, was a broke, single mother doing desktop publishing for her church office. Her need to make extra money and pay her bills was the beginning of what turned into a successful business around meeting the needs of solopreneurs.