What Colonel Sanders Teaches Us About Resilience Burned Down, Passed Over, But Still Cooking
The road to success is often paved with mistakes and failure. As a business leader, you probably know this all too well. You may have damaged team morale by hiring the wrong people or investing in technology or products that didn’t pan out as well as you had hoped. Mistakes are a part of growth, especially in the business world. Whenever you encounter one, you pick yourself up, try to learn where you went wrong, and develop strategies to ensure you don’t make the same mistake again. Do this repeatedly, and soon, you’ll have a flourishing business. Many of our country's most successful and prominent businesses were started by entrepreneurs who refused to call it quits when things got tough. They pushed through adversity, found ways to improve their industry, and built businesses that have stood the test of time. One of the best examples of this comes from the world’s most famous fried chicken restaurant, Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC. Harland Sanders was born in Indiana in 1890. His father passed away when he was 6 years old, which sent his mother into the working world, leaving him to watch over his two younger siblings. This is where his passion for cooking developed. By age 10, Sanders started working outside the home as a farmhand. Two years later, he dropped out of school to live and work at a farm full time. Sanders landed a job emptying ash pans from train engines in Alabama when he was 16. It didn’t take long for him to move up the ladder and become a fireman for the railroad.
In 1927, Sanders tried another venture. He started a Standard Oil gas station in Nicholasville, Kentucky, which sadly only lasted three years due to the Great Depression. However, he took the business idea to Corbin, Kentucky, where he opened another service station and decided to sell his homemade chicken to truck drivers. Sanders Court and Café was wildly successful, which prompted Kentucky Gov. Ruby Laffoon to commission Sanders as a Kentucky colonel. Unfortunately, bad luck continued to hang over Sanders’ head as the Sanders Court and Café burned down in 1939. But he built it back bigger and started pressure-frying his chicken. However, a new highway opened in 1956 that bypassed his restaurant. He packed up shop, determined to find success, even though he was now in his 60s. Thankfully, in 1952, he secured his first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in Salt Lake City. After Sanders Court and Café shut down, Sanders desperately needed money to fund his retirement, so he began traveling the country, searching for franchising opportunities and selling his secret spice blend.
Restaurants that used his spices and patented pressure cooking technique would pay him 5 cents for every chicken they sold. Within seven years of starting
this venture, Sanders had accumulated 600 locations across multiple countries. He sold the business to investors in 1964 for $2 million, allowing him to retire comfortably. Starting a business is rarely easy, but you can find incredible success if you persist through the challenges, adapt to changes, and remain determined. You may even find your face front-and-center on storefronts across the country, just like Colonel Harland Sanders.
It appeared as if Sanders would have a long, fruitful career with the railroad, but his temper got in the way. He was fired from his firefighter position for alleged insubordination and lost his next job after a fight. He moved throughout various industries over the next few years, even trying a short-lived stint in the legal field that came to a close after a fight with a client. He started exploring the idea of starting his own business. He created a ferry boat service over the Ohio River when he was 30, which became irrelevant when a bridge was built nearby. He also started an oil lamp business that failed once electricity became more mainstream.
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