We've been watching Oprah's journey since 1986, when she first began her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show. During that time, she has shared her success and her challenges with us in a very public way. She has received acclaim and awards, and also much criticism.

As she prepared the final season of her talk show, she boldly launched the OWN network. The idea was to bring to TV the inspiration and content found in O Magazine. So far the network has had some hits, but more misses. Oprah continues to re-work the format in order to stay true to her vision, and also appeal to her viewing audience. The most popular television trends now are reality shows and their related dramas. So launching a whole network encouraging you to live authentically, to grow, to change and 'Live Your Best Life!" would seem counter-intuitive to the business of television. However, Oprah has said, "I don't think of myself as a businesswoman." She follows her intuition, and has always regretted when she didn't listen to it.

In this video, she shares some of her challenges with starting a network and the criticism that she's received as a result. She makes no bones about it, "Had I known that it was this difficult, I might have done something else”

There's much to admire about a person who keeps going and doesn't give up. In spite of shows that failed to live up to expectation, The Rosie Show and Gayle's talk show, the network keeps plugging along. Oprah's Life Class is a big hit. Not only does she have the top experts in their field, she encourages online engagement through Twitter, Facebook and LiveStream - allowing those without the network to participate as well. Don't count her out just yet - this is just the beginning!