Colonel Harland Sanders (9/9/1890-16/12/1980)
PROFILE Sanders lost his father at six,
was homeless twice (at twelve and at sixty-two), did countless odd jobs,
started a new business at forty (which was razed by fire nine years later),
became broke at sixty-two and started driving around his country, trying to
persuade restaurant owners to pay the franchise fee of his Secret Recipe,
sleeping in his car.
He won his war
against poverty and failure. He represents the symbol of entrepreneurial spirit
as he was an early pioneer of restaurant franchise concept and founded KFC, the
world’s largest chain of fried chicken fast food restaurant and today the
second largest restaurant chain after McDonald’s. All these after he turned
sixty-five.
Whatever are your best (or, worse) reasons for giving up on your dreams
and concluding that you cannot achieve your original visions and dreams, by the
time you are done with the Colonel’s story, you will no longer find any form of
justification(s) for the excuses you have been giving to the world-and to
yourself. You will be inspired by a man who defiled a host of negative
positions and circumstances to give the world the fastest growing chicken joint
in the world. If you are ready, we are ready to take you on a voyage we assure
you will positively turn your world around and give you the impetus to push a
little further and stay positive a while longer till you achieve your heart’s
greatest desires.
Early tragedies Colonel Harland Sanders lost his father when he
was just six. Had to do loads of cooking at that age and took care of his two
younger siblings, while his mother worked in a tomato-canning factory to fend
for the family. You can imagine how hellish life would have been for him
growing up. He dropped out of school at twelve as he was the subject of abuse
and beating from his step-father, for his mother re-married in 1902. Sanders ended up doing loads of odd jobs here
and there and finally opened a service station in 1930, just to ensure that his
life’s story is not concluded on the red page of failure.
Late bloomer Mr. Sanders would not give up on his life; he
kept working hard and sticking to his dreams. At the age of 40, he started
selling his fried chicken recipe from a dining room at his service station. He
called the place The Sanders Court &
Café.
Fighter In 1939, just nine years after he opened The Sanders Court & Café, it burnt
down but Sanders had overcome several worse circumstances in his life. He
merely rebuilt and reopened The Sanders
Court & Café that same year and continued with his business.
Great adapter When he was 62, his business had out-grown his
service station and he had purchased a property opposite it where he was able
to put 142 seats in the dining room. Things were going on well until the
business environment changed suddenly. The
Sanders Court & Café served travellers but a new interstate road was built
which by-passed the location of his business. He sold off the business and
decided to go through the country with the aim of selling the franchise of his
recipe (I am reminded of the morals of the great book Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer
Johnson- Sanders’ cheese was moved but rather than
complain and moan over his ill-luck, he decided to move with the cheese, change
his approach to business and put in place counter plans that would take care of
the changes). He receives his
social security cheque of $105, sold his station, paid his debts and became
virtually broke. He got into his car and drove around the country trying to
convince restaurant owners to buy the franchise of his Secret Recipe. At an age
when most would have gba kamu (accepted
their fate), he showed great resolved by taking his destiny by the horns and
writing his own success story on life’s success pages.
Persistence Sanders offered his expertise in cooking and his
recipe (franchise) to countless restaurants in the U.S. and got more than a
thousand ‘No’s (1009 times, to be precise) before he was accepted by Pete
Harman of Salt Lake City in 1952. Any other person who gets turned down over a
thousand times in an attempt to sell his vision would stop trying, abandon his
vision and give up. Not Sanders, who kept going until he got someone to believe
in his vision at the (over-ripe?) age of 62 years. That was not the end of the
story. He kept on working and selling his ideas until he found someone who was
ready to believe in his dreams to build what is today known as KFC. He was aged
65 years then and the year was 1955. Five years later and there were 190 KFC
franchisees and 400 franchise units in the U.S. and Canada.
Quote- Colonel Harland Sanders
There is no reason to be the richest man in
the cemetery. You can’t do any business from there.
Verdict
If Sanders could make it through the hordes of
challenges he regularly faced, your excuses for failure cannot be tenable.
Brace yourself and be ready to make fearless decisions from time to time. Don’t
stick to a single plan. If there is a change in your (business) environment,
make changes to counter them. In everything you do, ensure that you are always
ready to be on top, to succeed no matter what challenges come your way. Be bold
and fearless. Be tactful and tenacious. Like Sanders, never say ‘never’; give
it all you’ve got and you will be one happy person.
