Entrepreneur.com: It's fascinating to hear other people's success stories. One of the most interesting parts is learning how successful entrepreneurs got their start and how they overcame challenges and adversity. Did an idea flash in their minds like a lightning bolt? Or was it something that percolated over the years? How did timing play into their launch? Did experience or desperation drive their plan forward?

The common ground all these entrepreneurs shared was financial success and the gratification of creating something larger than themselves. Here are a few excerpts of their experiences:

Rachel Ashwell, founder of Shabby Chic
Ashwell left school at age 16. She separated from her husband in her mid-twenties--with two babies under the age of 2 to support. These circumstances drove Ashwell to take a chance and start a retail business--Shabby Chic.

Julie Clark, founder of The Baby Einstein Company and The Safe Side
Money was never the motivating factor for Clark. A teacher, she founded her first company, Baby Einstein, to provide educational videos for her own babies. Clark grew Baby Einstein into a cultural phenomenon and sold it to The Walt Disney Company for $50 million, using some of the proceeds to launch her newest venture, The Safe Side.

Tomima Edmark, inventor of TopsyTail and founder of HerRoom.com and HisRoom.com
Edmark was working a corporate job in the late 1980s when she felt she'd hit the glass ceiling. She knew this wasn't what she wanted to do for the rest of her life so she wrote a book on kissing, sold it to a publisher, and used the proceeds to launch TopsyTail, which became an overnight success and garnered more than $100 million in sales.

What Inspires People to Startup? [Entrepreneur.com]

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