a day ago
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
Imagineer Your Future: How Les LaMotte's Story Became a Roadmap for Modern Dreamers
It began with $14 in the pocket. Not a down payment on a future, not a stake from an investor, just stamps, a photograph, envelopes, and taking action with a belief that imagination could be engineered into reality. From that modest beginning, Les LaMotte would go on to build an international display company, create innovative products used by Fortune 500s, and tour the world. His life is a case study of the American dream, not the curated social media version, but the real one: scrappy, spiritual, hard-earned, and often painful.
That journey is now captured in his compelling book, Imagineer Your Future: Discover Your Core Passions , a hybrid memoir, mentor guide, and spiritual roadmap. Already used in his global keynote speaking engagements, LaMotte's book is being adapted into a more accessible three-part mini-series, aiming to serve not just entrepreneurs but anyone seeking clarity and courage in their life's calling.
"I didn't write this book for the successful or for the broken," LaMotte explains. "I wrote it for everyone, those just beginning, stuck, or even those who might have already 'made it' and still feel lost."
LaMotte's life defies the startup stereotypes. He didn't have venture capital; he had a handmade product born from childhood memories and life lessons. As an Eagle Scout-turned-graphic designer-turned-display engineer, he stitched together skills that seemed unrelated into something visionary. When a chance meeting at a trade show sparked the idea for lightweight, modular display systems, LaMotte got to work using materials he knew intimately: aluminium poles, design templates, and inherited ingenuity.
What followed was a whirlwind: orders from across the globe, high-profile clients, and a thriving business. But LaMotte is careful not to romanticize the hustle. He recounts losing a major position, sitting in his basement one morning as the sunrise illuminated thoughts of ending his life. A simple radio message, "Every day is a new day," intervened, becoming the turning point that reshaped his purpose. "I may have lost my dream position," he says, "but I didn't lose my spirituality. And that's what saved me."
Imagineer Your Future reads like a personal letter and a workshop rolled into one. It draws from LaMotte's life, his adoptive grandfather's influence (by showing him the art of creating a kite), his design career, and his spiritual insights and distills them into accessible principles of creativity.
At its heart, the book challenges readers to stop outsourcing their destiny. It invites them to listen not to society's expectations but to the quiet callings within. From students wondering which path to take, to seasoned professionals stuck in passionless careers, to entrepreneurs navigating uncertainty, LaMotte's message is consistent: life satisfaction matters more than status and money.
With interactive exercises and hard questions, he encourages readers toward uncovering their 'core passions,' a concept grounded in purpose over profit. He doesn't preach escape from the 9-to-5; he teaches intentionality within whatever path they're called to. "I ask people, have you ever sat down with yourself and asked why God has placed you here? Because it's not about money. It's the eternal meaning that counts behind what you do," LaMotte shares.
While Imagineer Your Future stands on its own as a transformational read, LaMotte sees it as just the beginning. He is currently reformatting the book into three bite-sized volumes, each focused on a distinct theme: passion discovery, business building, and life alignment. This evolution reflects his desire to meet readers where they are, not overwhelm them with a singular, massive story.
But his storytelling doesn't end there. He's also working on a historical novel based on what his father saw during his time and a previously published transcription of his grandfather's WWI diary . His creative pursuits, may it be through any creative outlet, are extensions of the same impulse: to understand, to heal, and to help.
He's also a musician, and after the loss of his major position within business, LaMotte spent ten years taking music into prisons. His album Sonrise: A New Tomorrow came from that chapter, one of many creative outpourings that brought light into dark places, healing both the inmates and himself. Sonrise: A New Tomorrow
What separates LaMotte's work from most motivational literature is his vulnerability. His book is about recapturing the essence of mistakes and how to overcome them, and choosing not to be defined by either success or failure. He writes for those chasing the American Dream, but also for those in danger of losing it, or losing themselves in it.
From mentoring entrepreneurs across Africa to speaking on global stages, LaMotte now spends his time helping others discover what drives them. His book isn't a monument to his own achievements; it's a toolkit. One that helps people from all walks of life imagine, design, and live the future they were meant for. "I tell people, your future doesn't begin when you have everything figured out," LaMotte says. "It begins when you decide to stop living someone else's story and start living your own, and feeling good in your own skin."
