A Famous Self-Help Author and the Original Sales Influencer.
Author of the day
It’s no secret that we like to poke fun at the fast-talking sales influencers and self-styled sales gurus who clog up our news feeds with their half-baked advice.
But long before social media (or the internet, for that matter), Dale Carnegie pioneered the art of the self-help and salesmanship seminar, culminating in the publishing of his most famous book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, which, still to this day, makes nearly every list of recommended sales books in the world.
Dale Carnegie was born Dale Carnagey, which is just one example of his belief in the power of self-reinvention.
His parents were impoverished farmers who lived in Missouri; Dale said he had to get up at 3 a.m. to feed the pigs and milk his parents’ cows before going to school.
At a young age, he became interested in public speaking, joining the school’s debate team and attending Chautauqua assemblies. These events entertained rural communities and featured popular speakers, musicians, and preachers.
After high school, Dale attended State Teacher’s College in Warrensburg. After graduating, he got his first sales job, selling correspondence courses to ranchers.
He then moved on to selling bacon, soap, and lard for Armour & Company and was so successful that his sales territory of South Omaha, Nebraska, became the firm’s national leader.
Once he’d saved up $500, Carnegie quit sales in 1911 and moved to New York to try to make it as an actor. He quickly decided that theater life wasn’t for him.
Once the travelling show he was working on wrapped, he found himself down and out, living in a YMCA in New York City, short on money and opportunities but still possessing his self-belief, dreaming of how he would make his mark on the world.
It was then that he had an idea. He recalled how his fellow students had offered to pay him to teach them public speaking, so he persuaded the YMCA manager to allow him to instruct a public speaking class in return for 80% of the net proceeds.
In the middle of his first session, he ran out of material. Improvising, he suggested that students speak about “something that made them angry” and discovered that the technique made speakers unafraid to address a public audience.
The classes were an instant hit!
Within two years, he had left the YMCA and opened up his own academy, making about $500 (equivalent to about $12,900 today) every week.
In 1913, he published his first book, Public Speaking and Influencing Men of Business, using it as a textbook for his courses.
After the book came out, Carnegie changed his name from its original spelling, “Carnagey,” to “Carnegie,” undoubtedly a marketing ploy to associate himself with steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, one of the wealthiest men in the world.
In 1936, Carnegie published How to Win Friends and Influence People. Despite its modest initial print run of 5,000 copies, the book became a mammoth best-seller, selling nearly 5 million copies during his lifetime while being translated into every primary language.
Carnegie’s influence can still be felt today, from the impact of his most famous book and his influence on the world of self-help and non-fiction book publishing.
By his death in 1955, an estimated 450,000 people had taken his classes across the globe.
It makes us wonder: if Carnegie had an Instagram account and a Facebook ads budget, how popular would he be today?
Thank you for reading!
