Colonel Sanders was rejected 1009 times before successfully
selling his Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe. He had failed at every job
he’d tried earlier on in his life, lawyer, salesman, you name it.
The Colonel was already married at the young age of 19 to
his wife Josephine, had 3 children, then had frequent affairs and the marriage
ended in divorce.
It’s safe to say that he didn’t have the best of lives
growing up. In fact, he didn’t even successfully sell his company until he was
75 years old!
7 Success Lessons from Colonel Sanders
There’s no doubt that the odds were stacked against the KFC
king. The Colonel’s story is so inspiring, and filled with hope for
others who think it’s too late. Check out the 7 most powerful success lessons
we can all learn from Colonel Sanders.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re 20 years old or 70. This
article has some powerful points to bring to the table.
1. You Have to Go Through Failure to Get to Success
In the intro above, I mentioned that Colonel Sanders was
rejected more than 1000 times before successfully selling his KFC recipe.
…1000 times!
Not only that, but I also mentioned that he’d failed at
every other career he’d tried to get into. Sanders tried and failed miserably
at all the below careers between the ages of 10 and 40:
Farming
Streetcar Conductor
Lawyer
Insurance Salesman
Railroad Fireman
Just goes to show that no matter how much failure you
experience in life, there’s always still time to be successful. For anyone
reading this who thinks it’s too late to make something of your life, start
re-thinking!
2. You’re never too old to Succeed
Colonel Sanders was 75 years old before he finally sold Kentucky
Fried Chicken for a cool $2 million. Which would be around about $15
million in the world of today. He remained as the spokesmen for the company
after the sale.
But 75 years old… the majority of people, at least
95% give up way earlier in life. People stop thinking they can be
successful even in their 30’s! And yet, the Colonel didn’t think this way, and
ended up being the founder and face of a billion dollar brand.
So before you start to think that you can’t achieve your
dreams, because you’re 30, 40, 50 years old… stop. You’re never too old to
achieve success in life.
3. The Past Doesn’t Define Your Success
An awesome success lesson that many people need to hear, is
the lesson that your past doesn’t define your future success. It doesn’t matter
how many times you’ve failed. It doesn’t matter where you were brought up, or
what happened to you earlier on in life.
Your past, does not determine how successful you can become
in the future.
Again, look at Sanders. He’d failed at every other career
he’d tried… a whole bunch of them! He was in an unhappy marriage and
had 3 children at a very young age. For most people that’s when they start to
quit on life, and can’t see a way out.
4. giving up is the Only Sure Way to Fail
You can fail at a lot of things in life, but the KFC story
proves that giving up is the only sure way to fail. If you’re some like the
Colonel, no matter how many times you fail, the possibility of success is still
always on the table.
You’re not a failure until you finally stop trying.
So don’t give up. Even if time is passing, you’re slowly
getting older and you still can’t quite see the end of the tunnel. It’s never
impossible to achieve success.
“HARD WORK BEATS ALL THE TONICS AND VITAMINS IN THE WORLD.”
– COLONEL SANDERS
5. it’s never too late to Start Over
It was clear that cooking was the Colonel’s passion, but it
wasn’t discovered by himself until later on in his life. He went through a
complete range of careers, having to start over from scratch, again, and again.
When you try to succeed at so many different things, it can
become exhausting. The start is always the hardest part, and for most people
starting all over again at the age of 50, or 60 would be unthinkable.
Yet, it’s never too late, and Colonel Sanders showed
this by finally being successful at doing what he loved… in his 70’s!
6. Take a Risk on Doing What You Love
It’s no secret that following your passion is the key
to happiness and success. You know it, I know it, and we’ve heard all the
stories before.
And yet, the majority of us still don’t go after what we
want in life, before age even comes into play. People in their 20’s don’t even pursue
their passions a lot of the time.
Maybe it takes a while for most to realise just how
important passion is; but the hope is that we help as many as possible to
pursue what they want early on.
After all is said and done, a pursued passion will make
anyone a successful individual.
7. Don’t be Afraid to Start Small
Sanders started selling Kentucky Fried Chicken by
the side of the road, on a small scale. After selling the recipe, it vastly
grew, and franchises were being opened all over the world.
The lesson here is not to be afraid to start small. As long
as you get started, and work hard, progression will come.
People often put off starting their own business, website,
and such, simply because they don’t think it’s at a big enough scale to launch.
I see plenty of people in the process of “launching” websites,
stuck in this process for more than 2 years, because they don’t think it’s
quite ready.
Just start! Seriously!
People love progression, and once you start you’ll be able
to do so. Putting things off because of perfection is not going to get you
anywhere.
Summary
Just to recap on these 7 awesome success lessons we can all
learn from Colonel Sanders, and the story of KFC:
You have to go through failure to get to success
You’re never too old to succeed
The past doesn’t define your success
Giving up is the only sure way to fail
It’s never too late to start over
Take a risk on doing what you love
Don’t be afraid to start small
If there’s any one point you could take away from this
article; for me it would be the fact that it’s never too late, and you’re never
too old, to go after your dreams.
No comments:
Post a Comment