Jim Rohn died today. I found out about it on Facebook. Thank you Tom Doherty for the information.
If you aren’t in network marketing or some other kind of entrepreneurial business, there’s a good chance you don’t know who he is. On the other hand, if you study anything by Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Les Brown, or any of the better known personal development superstars, you’re familiar with Jim’s work. That’s because each of them credit Jim Rohn with being one of their major influences.
He’s one of mine too. In 1999 my wife “dragged” me to my first multilevel marketing opportunity meeting. I was a high school guidance counselor, in lock step with the employee mentality. A world of abundance, freedom and personal accountability opened up to me, in ways a masters degree in counseling never opened.
And Jim Rohn was there. Not in body. But the concepts were all his. The company was founded around principles Jim developed in the middle part of the 20th century.
“Profits are better than wages.”
“The pain of discipline weighs ounces. The pain of regret weighs tons.”
“Don’t ask for things to get easier. Ask for you to get better.”
“Success isn’t something you pursue. Success is something you attract by the person you become.”
All Jim Rohn quotes.
Jim set the standard for the kind of presence I strove to become. The kind of educator, the kind of marketer, the kind of entrepreneur, the kind of person I aspire to.
Jim made me a believer. Not in the home business industry, or even the personal development industry. He made me a believer in myself. And in his simple, right down to business way, in my ability to enter a world I thought wasn’t mine to enter.
One of my favorite pictures is my two daughters, ages eight and five with Mr. Rohn. He appeared at a training in New York where Diane and I attended. Jill, our older one made it a point to tell him she does her homework before watching TV…something she learned from him.
As Jim walked away I heard him tell his assistant, “that made the whole trip worthwhile.”
We are saddened at his passing. So are a whole bunch of others. But the legacy of Jim Rohn lives on and on.
Check out http://tribute.jimrohn.com/. It’s all right there. Jim’s message of joy, character and abundance will outlive him. And each of us gets to take it to the next generation…by living it ourselves.
In Appreication,
Larry
Great words and a great story about your daughters Larry, thanks for taking the time to write it.
He was indeed a gentleman amongst men.