John Earl Shoaff

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John Earl Shoaff was an American entrepreneur who attained wealth as the leader of a direct sales organization. He was deeply influential in the early life of Jim Rohn, an American motivational speaker and writer whose work helped launch or further the career of many others in the personal development industry, including Anthony Robbins, Mark Victor Hansen, Brian Tracy, and Jack Canfield. Mr. Shoaff also had direct influence on the early lives of Zig Ziglar and Mary Kay Ash.

Born with a heart condition to a family of humble means, he left school after the ninth grade in order to help make ends meet during the Great Depression. During World War II, he was rejected by the military because of his heart condition. In order to serve, he joined the American Field Service Overseas and worked as a medical volunteer. After the war, he was told that this combat duty had caused further heart complications. Faced with a pessimistic prognosis of his mortality, Mr. Shoaff was determined to live life to its fullest and proceeded to become a millionaire in only four years as the head of a direct sales organization called Nutri-Bio.