Jim Rohn

Emanuel James "Jim" Rohn (September 17, 1930 – December 5, 2009) was an American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker. His rags to riches story played a large part in his work, which influenced others in the personal development industry.

Early life

Emanuel James "Jim" Rohn was born in Yakima, Washington, to Emanuel and Clara Rohn. The Rohns owned and worked a farm in Caldwell, Idaho, where Jim grew up as an only child.

Career

Rohn started his professional life by working as a stock clerk for department store Sears. Around this time, a friend invited him to a lecture given by entrepreneur John Earl Shoaff. In 1955, Rohn joined Shoaff's direct selling business AbundaVita as a distributor.

In 1957, Rohn resigned his distributorship with AbundaVita and joined Nutri-Bio, another direct selling company. It was at this point that the company's founders, including Shoaff, started to mentor him. After this mentorship, Rohn built one of the largest organizations in the company. In 1960 when Nutri-Bio expanded into Canada, Shoaff and the other founders selected Rohn as a vice president for the organization.

Les Brown

Les Brown may refer to:

See also

Personal development

Personal development covers activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations. Not limited to self-help, the concept involves formal and informal activities for developing others in roles such as teacher, guide, counselor, manager, life coach or mentor. When personal development takes place in the context of institutions, it refers to the methods, programs, tools, techniques, and assessment systems that support human development at the individual level in organizations.

Personal development may include the following activities:

John Earl Shoaff

John Earl Shoaff (March 21, 1916 - September 6, 1965) was an American entrepreneur and motivational speaker. Shoaff was President and Board Chairman of the Nutri-Bio Corporation, a direct sales organization which sold vitamin, mineral, and protein dietary food supplements.

Shoaff was influential in the early career of Jim Rohn (1930–2009), another American motivational speaker and writer.

Early life

Shoaff was born March 21, 1916 in Point Grove, Pennsylvania. Shoaff was born with a heart condition, and was not expected to survive childhood. At age 14 during Great Depression Shoaff left ninth grade to work in a local dry cleaners, working his way up to manager.

During World War II Shoaff was not able to enlist due to his heart, and instead worked overseas as a medical volunteer with the American Field Service. After the war, he was told that this combat duty had caused further heart complications. He married his sweetheart, Flossie, and proceeded to open his own dry cleaning business which he named "Earl's Cleaners" in Michigan.

Caldwell, Idaho

Caldwell is a city in and the county seat of Canyon County, Idaho, United States. The population was 46,237 at the 2010 census.

Caldwell is considered part of the Boise metropolitan area. Caldwell is the home of the College of Idaho and College of Western Idaho.

History

The present day location of the City of Caldwell is along a natural passageway to the Inland and Pacific Northwest. Indian tribes from the west coast, north Idaho and as far away as Colorado would come to the banks of the Boise River for annual trading fairs, or rendezvous. European and some Hawaiian explorers and traders soon followed the paths left by Indians and hopeful emigrants later forged the Oregon Trail and followed the now hardened paths to seek a better life in the Oregon Territory. Pioneers of the Trail traveled along the Boise River to Canyon Hill and forded the river close to the "Silver Bridge" on Plymouth Street.

During the Civil War, the discovery of gold in Idaho's mountains brought a variety of new settlers into the area. Many never made it to the mines but chose to settle along the Boise River and run ferries, stage stations, and freighting businesses. These early entrepreneurs created small ranches and farms in the river valleys. Caldwell's inception occurred largely as a result of the construction of the Oregon Short Line Railroad, which connected Wyoming to Oregon through Idaho. Robert E. Strahorn came to the Boise River Valley in 1883 to select a route for the railroad. He rejected the grade into Boise City as too steep and chose a site thirty miles to the west. He drove a stake into an alkali flat of sagebrush and greasewood and the City of Caldwell was platted. Caldwell was named after one of Strahorn's business partners, Alexander Caldwell, a former Senator from the State of Kansas.