I got an email today announcing his death. I couldn’t believe it, so I pulled up the yahoo home page.

There, in one of the lead stories was this headline:  Wrestler Eki “Umaga” Fatu dies

Amazing that a relatively obscure WWE star gets top billing on yahoo.  A man who did nothing more than entertain some people by bashing other peoples’ heads in.

There’s no mention of Jim Rohn’s death – a man who has impacted and improved the lives of millions, not with silly entertainment, but with rich, deep, serious ideas articulated in a way anyone can understand, grab hold of and use to enrich themselves.

What a shame – our media is more focused on pop culture style over substance.

Yes, Jim Rohn died today of Pulmonary Fibrosis.

God bless you Jim – you will be missed…by so many of us who appreciated and valued the way you distilled personal development into simple (but not simplistic) axioms we could apply to our lives to be better, do and be more.

Here’s a video that shares some of Jim Rohn’s quotes. Watch it.

For those of you participating in Pushups For Charity, this sort of summarizes where we are coming from and how we are moving forward.

Jim has a bunch of videos on youtube that I suggest you watch. And buy his products at www.JimRohn.com – where you can also read more about this remarkable man and his passing.

You probably remember the William Wallace quote from Braveheart, “Every man dies, not every man truly lives.”

Jim’s life work was geared towards showing us how to truly live.

He inspired me to do and be more, and for that I will be eternally grateful.

In 1998, I had just started Fitness Marketing Systems in my “spare” time while I was working full time as a copywriter.

I was doing nothing but work. Non-stop work. I’d come home from my day job writing copy, maybe get in a workout, eat dinner, then sit down at my desk to write newsletters, write sales letters, do follow-up conversion mailings, create advertising, respond to customer emails, develop product, schedule teleseminars, stuff envelopes, prepare mailings, handle finances…hustle.

I did everything, without help, which I couldn’t afford. And I did it all while my friends were partying, wondering why I wasn’t out with them having fun.

And I did that for almost three full years with no break, fueled only by words from Jim Rohn, Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham, Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar and anyone else who would feed me what I needed to survive and keep on grinding.

I figured out how to make the internet work for me, long before there were simple solutions like there are now. I scrambled, hustled and scraped out every dollar I could. And reinvested those dollars back into my business. I didn’t buy cars or houses or go on vacation. I worked, hard, and built my business on sweat equity day-in and day-out for years.

I paid the price, but I couldn’t have done it without nurturing and constant, daily feeding from Jim Rohn and others like him.

So if you’re feeling tired, over-worked, under-paid, maybe even scared about what lies ahead for you, I urge you to listen to this man, let him feed you inspiration, let him direct you, guide you and lead you just like he did for me.

You won’t go wrong heeding his words. I promise you that.

I came from nothing, with no advantage and no skills. Everything I have today, I earned. That makes me proud. But I did it all by standing on the shoulders of giants like Jim Rohn. God bless you, Jim. Rest in peace.

Here’s another fitness marketing post you may enjoy.