Jordan Zimmerman

The grandson of a Russian immigrant, Jordan Zimmerman was born in 1956 in Newark, New Jersey. "My grandfather sold newspapers when he first arrived in America," says Zimmerman. "Eventually, he saved enough money to start a business called Castle Products, which bottled cherries, syrups, toppings, and cola. The company didn't make a lot of money, but it gave us the basics."

Zimmerman's father was a gifted athlete who was drafted by the New York Yankees. But when a knee injury in his first year of training ended his professional baseball aspirations, he joined the family business as an accountant. Zimmerman's mother, who had a high school education, stayed home to take care of their two sons.

Zimmerman describes his younger self as "fiercely independent." At eight years old, he saw an ad in his Boys' Life magazine for selling greeting cards. The ad promised that successful salesmen could earn prizes, but prizes did not interest Zimmerman. He called the magazine's publisher and asked if there was a way he could earn money rather than prizes. A commission structure was agreed upon, and Zimmerman set about the task of selling cards door to door.

At this point, a young entrepreneur was born. Even though his immediate area had more than 4,000 homes, Zimmerman was not fazed. He knew that if he knocked on enough doors, sooner or later someone was going to say yes, and the first person that said yes was Mrs. Relling. "My grandfather was a driven man, and I believe I inherited his ambition," he says. "I was out for hours alone, knocking on doors and taking orders."

At the age of eight, Zimmerman opened a bank account so he could operate his business. The young entrepreneur saved nearly everything he earned. This experience taught him the fundamentals of running a business, making sales, fulfilling orders, meeting deadlines, and developing financial acumen.

Two years later, Zimmerman sold his greeting-card business and took on a paper route. At first, he delivered the Newark Star-Ledger to 65 houses, but he soon expanded to 460 homes. He was sneaking out of his house at 2:00 a.m. to make all his deliveries before school. His mother finally discovered what he was doing and forbade him from going out so early in the morning. Zimmerman solved his dilemma by hiring two friends to help with his route.

"I was probably more serious about life at a young age than my friends," he says. "I listened to adults around me, and I heard a lot of them complaining about their jobs and complaining about money. I asked my father about this one day, and he told me a couple of things that were life lessons to me. He said they were unfulfilled because they didn't value education in their youth, nor did they find a career for which they had a passion. They married too young, and they simply took jobs that paid the bills. This was an invaluable lesson to me. I decided then that I needed to find my passion so that I would be happy in my life's work."

Not long after this conversation, Zimmerman was collecting payment from a customer, Mr. Dazzo, who was playing his piano when Zimmerman arrived. Zimmerman listened to the piano while waiting, and when Mr. Dazzo finished, Zimmerman asked him about the music. Mr. Dazzo, who worked in advertising, told the youth he was composing a jingle for an ad. He explained to Zimmerman about ad campaigns, and soon the two struck up a friendship.

Upon entering ninth grade, Zimmerman's father reminded the teen about the importance of finding his passion, and to start looking for it while in high school so that he would know what to focus on in college. "I know what I want to do," Zimmerman recalls telling his father. "I want to go into advertising and marketing." His parents thought this was a whim, something that would come and go. But Zimmerman never wavered from his interest in advertising.

Zimmerman's work ethic in his greeting-card business and paper route carried through to the classroom. His father had also taught him that even if he was not always the smartest person in the room, he could be the most successful if he worked the hardest. Zimmerman applied that to all aspects of his life. In the classroom, he studied diligently and earned good grades; on the track and on the field, he pushed himself to be bigger and faster than his teammates; and in the office, he worked tirelessly to build a company from the ground up.

When Zimmerman was about to enter the 11th grade, his family moved to Florida. "I was very reluctant to make this move," he recalls. "New Jersey has a good public school education system, and I wasn't certain I would get as good of an educational experience in Florida." The move, however, was not that traumatic.

Zimmerman graduated at the top of his high school class and turned his attention to college. His first choice was the University of Pennsylvania, but he could not afford it. Instead, he selected the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa for its communications program. He accepted a little money from his parents, applied for an educational grant, and worked for the first two years of school to pay his tuition.

In his junior year, Zimmerman worked in the advertising department at Purex Corp. During his senior year, he entered a national college contest to come up with a winning campaign for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Zimmerman's team won with the slogan "Just Say No", which was later adopted by First Lady Nancy Reagan in her national campaign against drug abuse.

After earning a bachelor's degree in communications and advertising with a minor in business, Zimmerman became focused on finding a job. His dream was to work on Madison Avenue, and he sent 46 letters to New York advertising firms. He lined up 10 interviews, went to stay with his aunt and uncle in New Jersey, and eagerly took the 90-minute bus ride every day to his meetings. At the end of the week, he had not received a single job offer. Over and over, he was told he needed either more experience or more education.

Zimmerman returned to Florida and enrolled in the MBA program at USF. He realized that he did not like how ad agencies were doing business. "I had discovered that the important thing wasn't the output of the work, but rather it was the outcome of the work," he says. "I knew then that I wanted to prove my point, and the only way I could do that was to open my own advertising agency."

While still in graduate school, Zimmerman put together a business plan. He finished his degree, moved to Fort Lauderdale, and, with $10,000, rented an office in a strip mall in a rough neighborhood and opened his company, the Zimmerman Agency, for business. To save money, he lived on a pullout sofa in his parents' house for six years. "My business didn't make much money in the beginning," he says, "but whatever I did earn, I poured back into the agency. I sacrificed so that I could invest in technology and people."

As his agency grew, Zimmerman relocated his agency. Through perseverance, hard work, leadership, creativity, and team-building ability, he grew his company to become the 14th largest in the world, with billings in excess of $3 billion. "I believe that when you dream big, dare to fail, and learn the value of sacrifice, that anything is possible," says Zimmerman.

In 2014, Zimmerman wrote Leading Fearlessly, which teaches his philosophy of how to transform one's life, achieve dreams, and attain success. He says his formula is simple: "Everything begins with insane commitment and plenty of it."

"Education is very important," he says when asked about advice for young people. "Trying to succeed without an education is like trying to fly a jet without a flight plan. But an education without a goal is a life without a goal. I believe that you will never get anywhere if you don't have a plan and if you don't know where you are going."

Zimmerman admits he was not an overnight success. "Success is not a destination," he says. "It is a process and a way of behaving. It's what you choose to do every day. Excellence is not something you put out once in a while, when it's convenient or momentarily helpful. Excellence is a habit, a way of life."

Asked about his Horatio Alger Award, he says, "It is such an honor to be recognized for my accomplishments and the success my business has had, but I believe it is a bigger honor to be able to give back." To that end, Zimmerman generously supports education. Through the Jordan Zimmerman Family Foundation, he gave $10 million to create USF's Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications. His company also offers internships at Zimmerman Advertising for students hoping to pursue careers in the field.

As a member of the USF board of trustees, Zimmerman has worked to implement and maintain quality education programs at Florida's public universities. He has also served as a trustee of Pine Crest School. Zimmerman has also been affiliated with the Cleveland Clinic Florida Campaign, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Jack & Jill Children's Center, Take Stock in Children, Boca Raton Regional Hospital, Kids in Distress, Boys and Girls Clubs of Broward County, and Junior Achievement of South Florida.

In 2008, Nova Southeastern University's H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship bestowed upon Zimmerman its Entrepreneur Hall of Fame Award. In 2012, he received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Corporate Innovator Category. Zimmerman was also honored as the 2013 Florida Atlantic University Business Leader of the Year.

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