Zig Ziglar

Biography

Born in year 1926 in Alabama, the infamous Zig Ziglar is one of the world's most popular and motivational speakers. His real name was Hilary Hinton Ziglar but the man came to be known as Zig Ziglar as his alias which originated from his pet name in elementary school during the 1930s in Mississippi. He went to college in the same state in the city of Jackson and attended university at University of South Carolina.

His humble initiation and even his first job as a salesman never stood in the way of his positivity, the output of which yielded him great fame and prosperity. From being an exceptionally good salesperson, he moved on to becoming a famous author following which he became renowned for being an excellent motivational speaker. His work provides guidelines on self help and positivity, which he implemented into religious beliefs thus concocting his very own philosophies.

Before he died of pneumonia on November 28, 2012, Ziglar altered the minds of many millions of people, including American presidents and many other great leaders of the world during his 40 year long career as a speaker. He journeyed more than five million miles in his efforts to awaken the world and also assisted 500 companies in their work by providing them advice.

Early years
Zig Ziglar was born tenth of twelve children to Lila Wescott and John Silas Ziglar in Coffee Country somewhere in southeastern Alabama. Most of his childhood years were spent in Yazoo City of Mississipi where his family moved in 1931 when his father got a job at the Mississippi farm as a manager. At this point in time, young Zig was five years of age and a year later both his father and younger sister passed away; the father of stroke and the sister following suit two days later. Thus with the already prevalent hardships that a family of meager income and many mouths to feed had to face, the family was left in the care of Zig's mother alone whom Ziglar describes in his autobiography as "a remarkable woman" for her toils and the equipment of values and morale that she provided him with.

Perhaps this is what taught Zig to take up his fortunes in his own hands and so after serving the United States Navy during the Second World War as a V-12 in the Navy College Training Program, when he went to University of South Carolina which is located in Columbia, he took up a part time job as a salesperson and sold pots and pans for the WearEver Aluminium Company where he gained skill and tactic and soon excelled greatly in his work.

In 1947, Zig Ziglar moved to Lancester and began selling cooking equipment as a full time job after he dropped out of college. Zig Ziglar also credits P. C. Merrell, a divisional supervisor at WearEver for changing him altogether by believing in him and giving him advice.

Later years
Zig Ziglar gains his profound interest in helping other people from the strength of his beliefs in God. His favorite phrase remains to have been about assisting other people to get that which they desire in order to get that which one desires for one's self. Zig Ziglar was a Christian and some of his work seems to notably have subtle messages about God and Christianity.

His words always seemed to be conveyed straight from his heart and amid his messages about honesty, integrity, hard work and virtue, Zig was a comfortably encouraging person. He seemed to make his listener understand that one could do absolutely anything at all. His speeches always ended with 'if you do this, and by you, yes I mean you, I will see you at the top." which naturally gained him respect, love and admiration. He always provoked one to put on a friendly face to the challenges that life throws in one's way.

"See You at the Top" was initially rejected by 30 publishing houses before Ziglar found a publisher who agreed in Louisiana after which it sold more than a quarter million copies and remains in print to date. The many books that he has written (about more than thirty) include ten that have been listed as best sellers and those that have been translated to more than 36 languages all over the world and have been distributed through Ziglar's official website as well as Amazon.com and the infamous Nightingale-Conant. Ziglar has also been a great feature in the enterprise system of America.