Persistence

THERE IS NO AGE FOR SUCCESS : Colonel Sanders Success Story
Article By: Success Story Daily – Published on: Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The success story of Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken is not a very famous one, however it displays a level of persistence that few can match.

Born in 1890, in Henryville, Indiana, his father passed away when he was just five and his mother worked in a tomato-canning factory. In 1902, Sanders dropped out of school, his mother got married to a second husband and he was beaten by his stepfather, this was when Sanders left home to live with his uncle in Albany, Indiana.

At the age of 15, Colonel Sanders enlisted in the army, he completed service as a mule handler in Cuba and then, used his remaining early years to work a variety of jobs including an insurance salesman, boat pilot and farmer.

When he was 18, he got married but his wife later left him as a “no-good fellow who can’t hold a job”.

Colonel Sanders’ chicken story begun in 1930, aged 40, he opened a service station in Kentucky where he served chicken, country ham and steak dishes, however he served people in his living quarters as he didn’t have a restaurant. As he became more popular, he moved into a 142 seat restaurant.

Within the next nine years, this is where the famous recipe was being developed, he discovered that cooking chicken in a pressure fryer was much faster than pan frying.

Around 1950, Colonel Sanders began making a name for himself with the distinctive goatee, mustache, white suit and string tie, he wore nothing different in the last 20 years of his life. At aged 65, his restaurant failed as the interstate reduced his passing trade, he took his first Social Security payment of $105 and began visiting potential franchisees. This is when Colonel Sanders displayed his level of persistence, where he went to, and was rejected by 1008 restaurants until restaurant number 1009 accepted his franchise in 1952.

In the first year of selling the product, restaurant sales more than trebled with 75% coming from fried chicken, it was the ultimate differentiation tool. The franchise operation expanded hugely and the corporation eventually sold for $2 million and Sanders, now aged 74 launched various charitable organizations to be able to give back.

So how many of us can take 1008 ‘no’s’ and still keep going?

Source – Internet