He graduated from the town school in Valga in 1896, and in 1908 he passed the civil service exam.

In the early 1920s, Zimmermann founded a printing house, which operated at Lühike Jalg 4 in Tallinn until 1935.

[3][4] In 1935 he sold the printing house, and in January 1936 he founded the car business J. Zimmermann & J. Mölder (with Johan Mölder as co-owner), which represented and sold Auburn, Willys, and Nash cars, as well as oils, engines, batteries, tires, refrigerators, typewriters, bicycles, radios, and more.

Zimmermann owned the Villa Dombrovka in Karepa, built by the Girard de Soucanton [et] noble family, which Zimmermann named Villa Metsarahu[7][8] (literally, 'forest peace').

Zimmermann's daughter-in-law (his son August's wife) was the singer Milvi Laid [et] (1906–1976).