FAILURE IS AN OPTION - 

COLONEL SANDERS

The entrepreneurial traits that highly needed and applied to operate the business by the entrepreneurs is failure is an option but fear is not. There are some principles that should applied by every entrepreneurs in their business. Firstly, every entrepreneurs should make room for failure. Nobody wants to fail, but failing is inevitable on your way to success. George Bernad Saw said a life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. So if an entrepreneur never fail then it probably means that he or she do nothing. Failing shows that an entrepreneur actually do something instead of just sitting in comfort zone.

Secondly, learn from each failure is another principle that should applied by every entrepreneurs. Though an entrepreneur need to make room for failure, but shouldn’t just fail. An entrepreneur should need to fail intelligently. That means each failure should teach us something. Don’t just fail and get nothing out of it. Learn something from each failure that make entrepreneurs better and better over time.

Thirdly, the principle that should applied by every entrepreneur is fail fast. Time is precious, so if an entrepreneur failed then he or she better fail fast because it will make us learn and improve faster. It will make us ready for the prime time sooner.

The success story of Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken aka KFC displays a level of persistence and the belief in the power of “ Yes I can’ that few can match. Sanders was born in 1980 in Henryville, Indiana. His father passed away when he was just five and his mother worked in a tomato canning factory. In 1902, Sanders dropped out of school, his mother got married to a second husband and he was beaten by his stepfather, this was when Sanders left home to live with his uncle in Albany, Indiana. At the age of 15, Colonel Sanders enlisted in the army; he completed service as a mule handler in Cuba and then, used his remaining early years to work a variety of jobs including an insurance salesman, boat pilot and farmer. When he was 18, he got marred but his wife left him as a “no-good fellow who can’t hold a job”. Colonel Sanders was 65 years old when he received his first social security cheque of $99. He was broke, and owned a small house and a beat up car. He made a decision that he has got to change. The only idea he had was a chicken recipe, which his friends liked. With that idea in mind, he took massive action. He left his home in Kentucky and travelled to many states in the US to sell his idea. He told the restaurant owners that he had a chicken recipe that people liked and he was giving it to them for free. What he wanted in return was for the restaurant owners to pay him a small percentage on the pieces of chicken sold. He got rejections after rejections, but did not give up. In fact, he got over 1000 rejections. He got 1009 no’s before he got his first yes. With that one success Colonel Hartland Sanders changed eating habits of the whole world with Kentucky Fried Chicken, popularly known as KFC. Today, Kentucky Fried Chicken is a well known restaurant in the world. It is rated at number 60 as the world’s most well known brand by Business Week. Sanders proved that age is no barrier to success, and so is capital. What is needed is an idea put into action and belief in’ Yes I can’, followed with proper planning and persistency.

From this story, it makes you learn that it’s Ok to fail. Entrepreneurs usually are afraid of saying yes because they are scared of what will happen if something goes wrong. They ponder: What if I say yes to start a multi-cuisine restaurant and the foods ends up tasting not up to the mark? What if I say yes to new responsibilities at work and I don’t do well? What if I say yes to a new partnership and it does not work out? Constantly having these thoughts can be toxic. It will pollute your mind with the fear of failure. As an entrepreneur, we need to learn that you are trying the best to be successful, and everything will be ok. Even if you fail, you will have learned a lesson and can move on. It’s better to rather try and fail than fail to try.