This is one of my favorite success stories!  At the age of 60 he took his Social Security check, a whopping $105 and took to the road to peddle his world famous chicken recipe.

Harland David Sanders - Perhaps better known as Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, (now KFC) Sanders had a hard time selling his chicken at first. In fact, his famous secret chicken recipe was rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant accepted it.

Recognize this man?

When it comes to success stories in the world of marketing one of the most remarkable would be that of Col. Harlan Sanders the Colonel behind Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). Now, in today’s day and age you will see a multitude of Kentucky Fried Chicken shops on street corners around the world. Most would assume that this means that the founder of the restaurant chain simply came up with a very good tasting recipe, went into business and made a fortune. Hey, the product was a great chicken recipe and the world responded positively. What’s more to know? Well, there is a lot more to know because it provides a lesson as to why one should never, EVER give up when faced with adversity. You see, no one really wanted anything to do with Col Sanders’ recipe when he first debuted it in the late 1960’s.

Col. Sanders was a fellow who really loved to share his fried chicken recipe. He had a lot of positive influence from those who tasted the chicken. Now, the Colonel was retired and up in age and when most people who believed in the sanctimony of retirement the Colonel opted to sell the world on his cool new chicken recipe. With little in terms of means at his disposal Colonel Sanders traveled door to door to restaurants all over his local area. He wanted to partner with someone to help promote his chicken recipe. Needless to say, he was met with little enthusiasm. In fact, most assumed he was little more than a crank! While most would have given up under such circumstances the Colonel did not let it get him down. He persevered until he would hear that magic yes that would skyrocket his business. Of course, as history has shown he found someone who had faith in his recipe and Kentucky Fried Chicken was born.

Most people would have probably gotten extremely discouraged at the first instance of rejection. This would be a common reaction among the average person. Thankfully, the colonel was far from an average person or achiever and he continued on in the face of rejection. This should prove as a wonderful tale to anyone who is contemplating quitting when things are tough because it clearly shows that great things can happen if one persists with one’s dreams and never loses confidence.

Two things about Colonel Sanders:  1) Age did not matter to him. He was 60 years old when KFC became successful proving that it is never too late!!   2)  He never let rejection get him down. He was determined and believed in his product.  

There is still hope for me!  Information for this post was collected from Wikipedia.com, Smilepls.com and From Debt to Success. Thank you.

Dee Ann