6 Inspiring Entrepreneur Stories

There are a million and one ways life can get in the way of your career path, or throw a wrench in your plan to plan to become an entrepreneur. You might suffer a great personal loss. A challenging situation could leave you feeling helpless. Health problems may threaten not only your career, but your life.

You may very well have experienced great personal hardship already.

How do you recover and move on?

Check out these everyday, inspirational heroes, whose personal hardship became the driving force behind amazing businesses and charitable initiatives that not only helped them, but also offer a guiding light to others.

From Losing a Son to Building a Life-Saving Program for Students

In 2005, while pursuing her Master's degree in social work, Mary Beth Schewitz suddenly and tragically lost her 20-year old son, Max. He had fallen victim to an undiagnosed cardiac condition--one that could have been detected earlier with a simple EKG test.

"There are countless sad days after your child dies. You resolve just to put one foot in front of the other until night falls; then you cry yourself to sleep, a sleep plagued with dreams of longing and regret," Schewitz says.

In fact, no one would blame Schewitz if her grief had paralyzed her and kept her from moving forward.

Life had others plans for her, however. She met with Dr. Joseph Marek, a Chicago cardiologist who had just piloted a school-wide EKG screening program to identify young adults at risk of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) from hidden and undiagnosed conditions.

"While it was too late for our son, we knew there were others just like him, living their lives unaware that they had a heart condition that could kill them. We knew from the moment we met with Dr. Marek that we would do all we could to bring EKG screening to young adults in our area," Schewitz told me.

Just a year after her son's passing Schewitz created the Max Schewitz Foundation, which provides free EKG screenings to high school and college children. They have now tested over 43,000 students; 828 students had an abnormality that required further medical evaluation and 438 students received free echocardiograms from the Foundation.

What does Schewitz want people struggling with tragedy and hardship to know? "Resilience is a quality you're lucky to find you possess just when you need it most."

A Tragic Accident That Led to a Boy Finding His Purpose

At seven years of age, Kevin MacGuire was playing baseball, as American children are wont to do, when a drunk driver drove off the road and struck him in the yard in which he stood. He was paralyzed from the waist down.

"My parents never allowed me to use my disability as a crutch," Kevin told me. "I wasn't to wallow in pity. I never made excuses because of my disability."

In fact, Kevin's parents went to great lengths to help him walk again, even sending him to Lourdes, France, at twelve years old, to visit a shrine with healing waters.

"I went there to be healed, however, upon arriving, I saw so many other people from around the world who had more dire medical conditions," Kevin said. "This put my disability in perspective. During that week, I realized I would be fine, and began praying for the other visitors."

Kevin went on to graduate from Georgetown Law Center and founded his own firm in 1992, specializing in Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. He consults with NFL teams and stadiums, Live Nation concert venues, and the White House Visitor Center on accessibility issues.

He is also the founder of AbleRoad, a website and free smartphone app that allows people with disabilities to find and review any public space or business location for accessibility. He hopes AbleRoad reviews will help businesses understand the accessibility issues their locations may pose to people with disabilities, and persuade them to make changes.

What drives Kevin to help others? He says, "I have this instilled work ethic to push myself when others would simply give up and walk away. That's not me."

A Breast Cancer Survivor Turned Entrepreneur

Wendy Kuhn was just 42 when she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. After a number of surgeries, several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Kuhn had one thing on her mind: How can I keep my breast cancer from coming back?

She described to me the moment at which she realized her situation was going to change for the better: "After my first breast cancer surgery, when I learned the cancer was invasive but also discovered that it wasn't in my brain, I took pause and thought, who do I want to go through this journey for?" That was the point at which she knew it would, indeed, be a journey; that this wasn't a death sentence.

"I decided my priority was being an excellent role model for my nieces, my stepdaughter, and my sisters," Kuhn says. "I wanted them to see that this could be handled with grace, dignity and humor."

Her illness inspired Kuhn to pursue her dream and became a holistic health coach, specializing in cancer prevention and awareness.

She built a wellness business and now offers presentations and workshops free of charge at her local cancer support center and women's shelters. Through her business and volunteer initiatives, Kuhn is helping others make healthier life choices and gain awareness of cancer risks and symptoms, despite economic and social barriers that might otherwise have left them in the dark.

Finding Courage After a Brutal Attack

Jenny Lynn Anderson was a veteran corporate journalist, well-respected and 25 years into her career, when at a business conference, she became the victim of a hotel invasion, robbery, and brutal sexual assault.

"In the aftermath of my sexual assault, it took courage each and everyday to survive," Anderson told me.

Three specific things significantly impacted her recovery, Anderson says: forgiveness of the man who sexually assaulted her; seeking psychological helped for PTSD; and writing her book, Room 939: 15 Minutes of Horror, 20 Years of Healing.

Anderson decided to share this devastating event in her life to help and inspire other survivors by speaking openly about it. She changed careers and built a part-time business out of her inspirational speaking.

"I recall vividly--even down to what clothing I was wearing, skinny jeans and white peasant blouse--standing on the lawn of Valdosta State University in front of about 300 students sharing my message of surviving a sexual assault," she told me. "I looked into the faces of these innocent students and knew what I was saying was having an impact because they were eerily quiet and still. I thought to myself, 'I am changing lives and empowering others to break the silence.'"

Helping More Than 400,000 Families With Affordable Therapy

A licensed therapist since 1974, Janet Lehman's own life was not without its struggles. Her husband, also a counselor, struggled with a heroin addiction and later, alcoholism. Her son, Jeremy, was bullied throughout middle and high school.

Lehman knew that negative child behaviors could be managed well in a traditional counseling setting. However, she could also see that the stigma of mental illness and financial barriers were preventing families from securing the help they needed.

Before his death in 2010, Lehman's husband James worked with her to create a program called Total Transformation that would go on to help more than 400,000 families in 70 countries work through negative child behaviors in the privacy of their own homes. Their program cost each family just $20, effectively breaking through the social and financial barriers impeding their ability to get help.

Lehman credits her late husband for much of the success of the program. She explains that after a rough adolescence, James went through an accountability program where he learned to stop making excuses, blaming others, or thinking he was a victim of someone or something. His outlook was transformed. The lasting legacy of James, Lehman says, is to enable families to transform negative behaviors in children with affordable and accessible help.

Despite losing her partner and husband, Janet's tenacity helped her see their idea through and build a successful business that helps thousands.

Spreading Hope Despite Illness and Injury

In 2006, 36-year old Michelle Eberwein suffered an injury that would change her life forever, when she broke her spine. After spinal fusion surgery, she didn't bounce back with a miraculous recovery; setbacks added another year on to her recovery time.

Six months later, Michelle was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Another four months later, doctors discovered she had also developed fibromyalgia. To top it off, Michelle needed another major spinal surgery. Depression set in and before long, the once vibrant woman found she was addicted to the painkillers used to treat her many types of pain.

While looking for information on her newly diagnosed conditions, Michelle was disheartened to learn just how little was out there. She felt she had to do something--anything--to stop the freefall of her health crisis, but struggled to find any resources or tools to turn it around.

"I decided I did not want to be a victim anymore in my own health crisis. I decided to get healthy," she told me. "I decided to be thankful for a new day to make a difference. And I decided to actually make a difference." Michelle decided her new role was to spread awareness about incurable illnesses and medical conditions; to bring hope to those suffering without the hope of a cure.

Michelle launched her business, Hope in Bracelets, with the goal of turning her bracelet-making hobby into an awareness campaign for chronic, incurable illness patients. "I am trying to take this to a level where you will see models in magazines with a Hope in Bracelets bracelet on their wrist. Everybody knows somebody who is fighting a battle," she explained.

Michelle was nominated for 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year at Idea Café.

About the Author

Larry is the Founder of WordStream, Inc. A PPC software management and services company. You can connect with him on Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.