The Launching Point with Mike O'Toole Mike O'Toole, inspired by the podcasts of John Lee Dumas, Pat Flynn, and Tim Ferriss, chats three days a week with successful entrepreneurs.

Kim Kaupe, the co-founder of ZinePak, was a naturally curious, outgoing, and gregarious child that had no intentions of becoming an entrepreneur.  She met her co-founder right as she was becoming disillusioned with corporate life and they began to innovate in the physical products space as CD sales were declining rapidly.  Today, she is more confident than ever as her company is experiencing strong and consistent growth.

Brian Clark, the founder of Copyblogger and Rainmaker Digital, was in law school when he already started thinking of an exit strategy.  After spending a few years as a lawyer, the emergence of the Internet sparked his curiosity and he began spotting opportunities for making money.  He quit being a lawyer and pursued entrepreneurship full-time.  Today, he has started nine businesses with eight of them being successful while learning to become well rounded in all aspects of his life.

Lindsay White, the owner and designer of Lot801, got a 9-to-5 job right out of college and worked her way up in the company.  After her boss told her that he was going to retire soon and would like to pass the business down to a few employees including her, she ultimately came to terms with the fact that she hated what she was doing.  When she was looking for non-gender specific items for her daughter and couldn't find any, the light bulb went on.  A year and a half later and she has been able to quit her job and pursue what she loves full-time.

Swami Tirtha, owner of The Hip Guru's Guide, started as a regular guy from the suburbs, but when he was a freshman in college, both of his parents were killed in a car accident.  He discovered meditation as a way to help move forward and it ended up being the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey.  Today is is a speaker, educator, monk, shaman, and energy healer.

Jason Treu, an author and business and executive coach, was in law school when he observed that most lawyers were not happy with their career choice.  He decided to pivot and pursue the life that he loved, but was faced with the death of his father and a girlfriend that tried to commit suicide.  In the midst of these obstacles, he persevered and grew a business that today allows him to be authentic and generous and help VPs get unstuck and find their purpose.

Peter Merit, the owner of Custom Business Planning and Solutions, worked in the corporate world for decades, traveling all over the world and constantly on the road.  After an unreasonable travel request was made right around Thanksgiving, his wife told him to quit.  So he did and he's never looked back.