Napoleon Hill is best known as the author of Think and Grow Rich, published in 1937. The book is arguably the #1 best-selling and repeatedly shared and mentioned self-help books of all time. It has been available for free in the public domain for over fifty years yet continues to be a best seller. As of this post, Think And Grow Rich has sold more than 15 million copies and is currently ranked #6 on The Bloomberg and BusinessWeek Best Seller's list. It is currently #4 on John Maxwell's Lifetime List of Must-Read Books. That says a lot about the author, his book, his research, and sacrifice to others think and grow rich.  

 

Napoleon Hill was born in a one-room cabin near the Appalachian hills of Pound, Virginia. His parents were James Monroe and Sarah Hill. He was the grandson of James Madison Hill, who came to the United States as an immigrant in 1847. His mother died when he was nine years old, and his father married his stepmother two years later. His stepmother Martha Hill was an inspirational force in life. She civilized him, made him go to school, mind his manners, and attend church. 

 

At 13, Hill began writing as a novice reporter for his father's newspaper. At 15, he married a local girl who accused him of fathering her child. The girl recanted the claim, and the marriage was later annulled. In 1902, at age 17, Napoleon left home. He secured a job working for the former Attorney General of Virginia, Mr. Rufus Ayers. While there, in Tazwell, Virginia, he allegedly witnessed the disputed shooting of a colored man and decided to flee. He moved from Tazwell, Virginia, to Washington DC  and enrolled in law school at Georgetown University. After burning through his savings, he was forced to drop out and began working again as a writer. It was right about this time in 1908 that Hill was tasked with traveling north to interview Mr. Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie was one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world.  

 

Carnegie took a liking to Napoleon Hill and allowed Hill to stay at his personal home for three days. On the final day of their interview, Carnegie proposed that Hill invest, possibly the next 25 years of his life, toward the study and exploration of wealthy people. He challenged Hill to prove the soundness of the philosophy he had shared with him over the last three days. And he wanted Hill to do it largely on his own accord, without any compensation from him, and only a few valuable introductions.

 

This challenge took Hill by surprise. He was already struggling financially and scarcely had the money for his return trip to DC. He was struggling, but he accepted the challenge. Over the next several decades, Hill would research and interview many of the most successful men and women of his time. Men and women like Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, and Wallis Simpson.

 

In 1928 he shared his story and published 16 booklets called The Law of Success. The booklets were later consolidated into a single-tome book and shared with 118 of America's most successful individuals, all of whom had contributed to its content. Orne Publishing used one of these original copies to create a reprinted version in 2010. However, Hill's most popular book continues to be Think And Grow Rich.

 

And while the book's title and much of the writings concern income, Napoleon hill taught that his philosophy can help people succeed in any line of work. It can help them be, do, and achieve anything they put their mind to, anything they can imagine.

 

Helping men and women adopt and implement the principles outlined in Napoleon Hill's work is the basis of our Think And Grow Rich Coaching Programs and Mastermind Groups. If you are ready to be, do, and achieve all that you can imagine, schedule an interview here and see if this program is right for you.