Fred DeLuca, Sarah Breedlove and Zig Ziglar: Three Business Icons

Remember when Subway was one small sandwich shop on an unknown street in New York? The owner was a college student and his only investor was a friend of the family.

Remember Sarah Breedlove? She was an African American woman with typical African American hair issues who created a concoction in her kitchen to help her own hair straighten and grow. Her homemade products worked so good she started selling door to door.

How about Hilary H. Ziglar? Remember when he was a young unknown salesman, newly married, not very good in sales, went to demonstrate a product to one woman? He ended up demonstrating and selling vacuum cleaners to a whole neighborhood that day. His fate changed that day.

Of course you don't remember. We weren't there when Fred DeLuca decided to pay for his college education by starting a sandwich shop, unless you knew him personally. Today, we see the fruits of his bravery and vision: a successful Subway franchise, and the most successful franchise system in the world.

You didn't know Sarah Breedlove, better known as Madame C.J. Walker. She built a successful cosmetic and hair care product industry and sales empire with a door to door work force. Madame Walker was the first black female millionaire.

Who hasn't heard of author, salesman and motivational speaker Hilary Hinton "Zig" Ziglar? Who could look at him today and tell that he was ever intimidated by anything?

These three - DeLuca, Madame Walker and Ziglar all had one, well two things in common. 1). They had vision. 2). They started small.

I've learned that even when your business is small (minute, imperceptible), you have to talk like it's big. If you don't, you will remain little. You've heard the term fake it 'til you make it. And some folks think that's being insincere.

You think DeLuca, Walker and Ziglar would have done as well if their attitudes had stayed small?

"I'm just a little ole po'ly sandwich maker/hair grease maker/vacuum cleaner salesman. Won't you help a brother/sister/friend out?"

One more thing they had in common. Not one of them remained small. You may not have heard DeLuca's name before. We see the restaurant franchise he created in every state. Madame Walker is dead, and I have no idea what happened to her empire. But that woman is still inspiring young African American women because she was an icon of strength, perseverance, and ingenuity. Zig Ziglar is one of the most sought after motivational speakers in the world.

The three of them are icons for the rest of us who start small.

http://www.ltbn.com/hall_of_fame/Deluca.html
http://www.zigziglarstory.com/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/walker_hi.html

This article is reprinted from the author's blog on www.praize.com"The Other Side of the Boat."