While most kids grow up fantasizing about becoming a fireman or an astronaut, Attilio D’Agostino always knew that he would be a serial entrepreneur. “When I was a kid, I had a sense that I would be doing many, many things, so I guess my dream has come true,” says D’Agostino, co-founder and co-owner of Alive Magazine and president of Tymbrini Corporation, a company that specializes in diet and nutrition.

D’Agostino’s serial entrepreneurial journey has stretched over 2,000 miles, five industries and even serious illness. When he was just 18 months old, his parents were informed that he had cystic fibrosis, a congenital disease that especially affects the lungs and inhibits cardio-vascular efficiency.

Nothing, however, not even disease, has stopped D’Agostino from living out his entrepreneurial dreams. Thanks to his commitment to fitness, he has beaten back symptoms. In fact, it was his focus on nutrition that brought him to St. Louis. He thought the city was the perfect place to open Attilio’s Discount Supplements in 2000. Shortly after he started the business, he, along with Elizabeth Tucker and Kelly Hamilton (two employees at Attilio’s), began a newsletter for customers.

The trio officially started producing their newsletter as Alive magazine in 2002 and began distributing it at more and more locations around St. Louis. By 2005, that passion to help customers produced 10 locations for Attilio’s Discount Supplements in the St. Louis area as well as three in Indianapolis, Ind. and upwards of $6 million in revenue. However D’Agostino felt his passion for supplements waning and knew it was time to make a change. He jumped into working on Alive. And, his efforts helped to create St. Louis Fashion Week.

Any entrepreneur who claims that the road is filled with too much uncertainty or that there are too many obastacles ahead can take heart in D’Agostino’s story. He has stayed committed to making his ideas happen no matter what.

“I don’t consider myself to be an entrepreneur,” says D’Agostino. “I have never had a business plan. I have never worried if my new ventures would work or not. I knew that I shaped my destiny. I just did it.”