When Colonel Harland Sanders retired at the age of sixty-five, he had little to show for himself, except an old Caddie roadster, a hundred and five dollars monthly pension check and a recipe for chicken.
Knowing he couldn't live on his pension, he took his chicken recipe in hand, got behind the wheel of his van and set out to make his fortune. His first plan was to sell his chicken recipe to restaurant owners, who would in turn give him a residual for every piece of chicken they sold - five cents per chicken. The first restaurateur he called on turned him down.
So did the second.
So did the third.
In fact, the first one thousand and eight sales calls Colonel Sanders made ended in rejection. Still, he continued to call on owners as he travelled across the U.S.A., sleeping in his car to save money. Prospect number one thousand and nine gave him his first "yes."
After two years of making daily sales, he had signed up a total of five restaurants. Still the Colonel pressed on, knowing that he had a great chicken recipe and that someday the idea would catch on.
Naturally, you know how the story ends. The idea Did catch on. By 1963, the Colonel had six hundred restaurants across the country selling his secret recipe of Kentucky Fried Chicken (with eleven herbs and spices).
In 1964, he was bought out by the future Kentucky governor, John Brown. Even though the sale made him a multi-millionaire, he continued to represent and promote Kentucky Fried Chicken until his death in 1990.
Colonel Sanders' story teaches an important lesson - it’s never too late to decide to never give up.
Earlier in his life, the Colonel was involved in other business ventures but they weren't successful. He had a gas station in the thirties, a restaurant in the forties and he gave up on both of them. However, at the age of sixty-five, Harland Sanders decided his chicken idea was the right idea and he refused to give up, even in spite of repeated rejection.
He knew that if he kept on knocking on doors, eventually someone would say "yes."
