Forcht Group founder featured in book about Kentucky entrepreneurs

Forcht Group of Kentucky founder and President Terry Forcht is one of 20 entrepreneurs from the Bluegrass State featured in a new book written and compiled by the co-founder of a business and technology incubator in downtown Lexington.

Luke Murray said he wrote “Unbridled Spirit: Lessons in Life and Business from Kentucky’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs” in order to “raise awareness of the impact that entrepreneurship has made in the Commonwealth and encourage others to pursue similarly ambitious endeavors.”

Murray helped create Awesome Inc., a 6,000-square feet “business and technology incubator” on Main Street in Lexington in 2008. The company sponsors and houses the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. It’s first class of inductees, from 2010, include such notable figures as Jim Host, founder of Host Communications, William T. Young, founder of W.T. Young Foods and Overbrook Farms, former Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown Jr., and University of Kentucky President Lee Todd.

Forcht was one of three inductees in the class of 2012. He was joined by Ron Geary, of Rescare, and Bruce Lunsford with Vencor Vantas.

Each chapter in the book is an autobiographical-style account about the lives of each of the entrepreneurs written by Awesome Inc. staff based on interviews. Each chapter was ultimately approved by the entrepreneurs themselves.

In his chapter, Forcht details his early life growing up in Louisville. He held numerous jobs, including delivering the West End News, a weekly newspaper, delivering drug store prescriptions by bicycle and working in grocery stores. He recalls his father operating a grocery business.

His first calling as a true “entrepreneur” came at a young age — he’d by packs of chewing gum and sell the individual sticks at bus stops for an upcharge.

Forcht is a graduate of the University of Louisville School of Business. He got and MBA from the University of Miami and then returned to UofL to obtain his law degree.
He moved to Williamsburg to teach at the University of the Cumberlands and opened his own law firm. Through opportunistic timing, and forging good business relationships, he got into the banking business, nursing home business, finance companies and a whole host of other enterprises to build a group that includes a diverse cluster of businesses.

Forcht now resides in Corbin with his wife, Marion.

“I’m honored to be part of this book. It’s an excellent book about some of Kentucky’s most well known entrepreneurs and how they built their businesses,” Forcht said. “If someone is interested in starting a business, I’d highly recommend it to gain insight into what it takes to be successful.”

“Unbridled Spirit” can be purchased in electronic format online at Amazon.com for $9.95. The paperback version is $15.99 and is available as Awesome Inc., 348 East Main Street, Lexington, KY.