At age 5 his Father died.
At age 16 he left school.
At age 17 he had already lost four jobs.
At age 18 he got married.
Between ages 18 and 22, he was a railroad conductor and failed.
He joined the army and washed out there.
He applied for law school he was rejected.
He became an insurance sales man and failed again.
At age 19 he became a father.
At age 20 his wife left him and took their baby daughter.
He became a cook and dishwasher in a small cafe.
He failed in an attempt to kidnap his own daughter, and eventually he convinced his wife to return home.
At age 65 he retired.
On the 1st day of retirement he received a cheque from the Government for $105.
He felt that the Government was saying that he couldn’t provide for himself.
He was rumored to have considered suicide, it wasn’t worth living anymore; he had failed so much.
He sat under a tree writing his will, but instead, he wrote what he would have accomplished with his life. He realised there was much more that he hadn’t done. There was one thing he could do better than anyone he knew. And that was how to cook.
So he borrowed $87 against his cheque and bought and fried up some chicken using his recipe, and went door to door to sell them to his neighbours in Kentucky.
Remember at age 65 he was ready to give up.
But at age 88, Colonel Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Empire was worth millions (in the 1980s which is a LOT more today with inflation), and went on to become a multi-billion dollar franchise!
Now that is inspiring fellow Steemers! Never give up, it is not how hard you fall, it is how you stand up and persevere.
Picture Credit: John Olson/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
What can we learn ?
We can learn an endless amount from transformational leaders and relentless citizens of the world who are determined in becoming successful. Here is the full bio for Colonel Sanders: http://www.biography.com/people/colonel-harland-sanders-12353545#kentucky-fried-chicken-is-born, there are nuggets of inspiration to extract, but the main ones are: endless pursuit for something more, never giving up in achieving your dreams, taking a risk!
interesting