The Obstacle Course: Lessons about Business, Personal Growth and Grabbing the Brass Ring

Told in an informal first person narrative, The Obstacle Course shares George Lovato, Jr.'s experiences during the startup of his first business, a car rental and leasing venture that became a successful national company in the early and mid 1980's. Topics include designing a business plan, selecting the right partners, defining roles and setting boundaries within a business, listening to and following the inner voice, practicing positive visualization techniques, assembling advisors and mentors, raising capital, pitching a concept on Wall Street, and taking a company public. From The Obstacle Course: "I learned that over time everything - people, opportunities, our own needs - undergoes transformation. This is all part of the journey down the obstacle course. I learned to adjust my vision, realign my intentions and modify my goals to accommodate and profit from these inevitable changes. I hope my experiences recounted herein will shed light on your own professional journey, and give you courage and a sense of camaraderie during the tough parts of the obstacle course you find yourself upon." George Lovato, Jr. Starting your own business is an exciting and challenging adventure. As you will learn from Lovato's experiences recounted in The Obstacle Course becoming an entrepreneur is very much like participating in an obstacle course that leads through numerous barriers and difficulties. Some of these obstacles are straightforward and simple, and are overcome very quickly. Other challenges require multiple attempts in order to proceed ahead on the course. Still other obstacles call on inner strength, persistence, faith and even just plain luck to be successfully completed. In an informal and conversational narrative Lovato shares his adventures and misadventures as a young, inexperienced entrepreneur. The Obstacle Course retraces the ups and downs, stops and starts, reversals, leaps, falls, stumbles and victories Lovato endured during his first and ultimately successful foray into the world of business. Although no one can know the precise nature of each of the obstacles that may be encountered during the startup of a new business, there are challenges universal to the process. In The Obstacle Course Lovato reviews common difficulties and their solutions, and explains the use of the successful entrepreneur's most essential tools: tenacity and its partner, the inner voice - our intuition or gut instinct.