From Sixth Grade Dropout to Global Icon :A tale to Recall from Time to Time

The story is of a boy who grew up in Henryville, Indiana. Unfortunately, his father passed away when he was just six years old, leaving his mother to take care of the family. To make ends meet, his mother started working at a tomato cannery, which left the boy to take on responsibilities such as cooking and caring for his siblings.

This was a challenging time for him, as he had to face life's difficulties at a very young age. Consequently, he had to work as a farmhand when he turned ten.

During his time in sixth grade, the boy made the difficult decision to drop out of high school and leave home. He began working as a horse carriage painter to make a living. Eventually, when he turned 16, he lied about his age and joined the US Army.

After spending a year in service, he was discharged with honor. He then took a job as a railway laborer and enrolled in a nearby university to study law. However, he lost his chance at a legal career when he was involved in a fight and had to return home to live with his mother.

After returning home, the boy had to find a new job to support himself and his family. He started selling life insurance, but unfortunately, he was fired from the job for not following orders.

He established a successful ferryboat company several years after that. However, when he attempted to use the profits from the ferryboat business to create a chemical lamp manufacturing company, he discovered that another company was already making superior electric lamps.

Despite this setback, he did not give up. He worked as a tire company salesman, only to lose his job when the company closed its manufacturing plant. By the age of 40, he was given the opportunity to run a service station for an oil company, but due to the Great Depression, the station had to close down.

In the same year, Shell Oil Company offered him a rent-free service station in exchange for a percentage of sales. He began serving simple meals such as pan-fried chicken to customers at the station, and his chicken dishes quickly became a local favorite, bringing him regional recognition. After a few years, he converted the station into a proper restaurant.

Once his restaurant business was thriving, he started to advertise his food. Unexpectedly, he became involved in an argument with a local competitor that escalated into a fatal shootout, resulting in the death of one of his employees.

After four years, he purchased a motel near his chicken restaurant, hoping it would boost his business. However, both the motel and the restaurant were destroyed in a fire. Despite this setback, he was determined to rebuild and succeeded in running a new motel with a 140-seat restaurant.

Unfortunately, he was forced to close down once again due to the onset of World War II. Following the end of the war, he attempted to sell his recipe to other restaurants, but it was rejected a staggering 1009 times. Eventually, in 1952, he sold his secret recipe, now known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, to the operator of a major city restaurant. The dish became an instant hit, leading other restaurant owners to franchise the concept and pay him four cents per chicken.

However, his fortunes took a turn for the worse when a new highway diverted customer traffic away from his restaurant. With no other options, he sold the restaurant and was left with only his savings and a monthly social security check of 105 dollars.

Nevertheless, he remained committed to his dream of franchising his chicken concept on a national scale. He embarked on a journey across the United States, looking for suitable restaurants to franchise his idea. During this time, he established a new restaurant and company headquarters in 1959. He often slept in the back of his car, visiting restaurants and offering to cook his chicken. If the owners liked it, he negotiated a franchise agreement.

In 1965, when he was 75 years old, he had just begun his journey after experiencing a prolonged period of disappointment, setbacks, and bad luck.

By the mid-1960s, KFC had expanded globally, with outlets in Canada, the UK, Mexico, and Jamaica, making it one of the first fast-food chains to do so. The Colonel himself continued to represent the company even after selling it, traveling extensively and visiting KFC restaurants worldwide, covering over 400,000 kilometers each year.

When Colonel Sanders passed away at the age of 90, KFC had established around 6,000 locations across 48 countries. As of 2018, there were 22,621 KFC restaurants worldwide, a testament to the Colonel's enduring legacy.

The story of Colonel Sanders is an inspiration for those who are facing rejection and setbacks. Despite being a sixth-grade dropout and facing multiple job losses, a ruined legal career, and setbacks caused by the Great Depression, fire, and World War II, he became the world's most famous cook. His success story demonstrates that with hard work and dedication, success can be achieved at any age, regardless of the number of rejections or misfortunes faced.