hey,

so there's this guy.

no money.
no investors.
no fancy degree.
no business backing.

just a recipe.

and an absolute refusal to sit down and accept that it was over.

at 65 years old — when most people are winding down, booking cruises, arguing about the thermostat — Colonel Harland Sanders was driving around America in his car.

sleeping in the back of it sometimes.

pitching his fried chicken recipe to restaurant after restaurant after restaurant.

and getting told no.

not once.

not ten times.

not even a hundred times.

one thousand and nine times.

1,009 rejections.

can you imagine that? most people quit after 3. after 5 they're writing sad tweets about how "the market isn't ready." after 10 they've already pivoted to selling crystals online.

but Sanders?

next restaurant.
next pitch.
next no.

until finally...

yes.

and that yes became KFC.

one of the most recognised food brands on the planet.

built by a 65-year-old man who people probably told to go home and enjoy retirement.

nahhh fam. not him.

the lesson here isn't "work harder"

or "grind more"

or some motivational poster nonsense your gym teacher would've put on the wall.

the lesson is this:

most people stop RIGHT before the thing works.

not because they ran out of talent.
not because the idea was bad.

But because the rejection felt like a verdict.

It wasn't.

It was just the queue.

Sanders stood in the queue for YEARS.
and then walked straight to the front.

if you've been building something and it feels like nothing's moving...

if you've launched and the sales didn't come...

if you've tried and felt invisible...

you're probably closer than you think.

don't let the silence trick you into thinking it's over.