I just came across a story about Colonel Sanders, and it really moved me. His life experience is basically a textbook example of a comeback.

Can you imagine it? At 65 years old, with only a $105 Social Security check in his pocket, he could still decide to start over. Most people at that age would have already given up, but Colonel Sanders was different. He didn’t choose to accept his fate—instead, he took out his cherished fried chicken secret recipe and began knocking on doors one after another.

His first half of life was also pretty rough. He lost his father when he was 6, had to take care of his younger siblings from an early age, and dropped out of the seventh grade to start working. Over the next several decades, he worked as a farmer, a streetcar driver, a train conductor, and an insurance salesman—almost every job ended in failure. It wasn’t until he was in his 40s that he found a little sense of accomplishment at a gas station, where his fried chicken started to gain fame. But good times didn’t last long. When the government built a new highway, his business was completely wiped out.

At this point, most people would have just given up, right? But Colonel Sanders chose another path. He drove around to different restaurants to pitch his recipe, and he was willing to give it away without charging a fee—he only asked for a small share of the sales. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? The key is that he was rejected 1,009 times. Yes, you read that right—over a thousand rejections.

It was only on the 1,010th time that someone finally said, “Yes.” Just that one “Yes” changed everything. That’s how KFC was born. By the time he was in his 70s, KFC was already all over the United States. In 1964, he sold the company for $2 million, but his face and name would forever become symbols of the brand. Today, KFC has more than 25,000 stores in 145 countries.

So what does Colonel Sanders’ story teach us? Nothing is too late. Failure isn’t the end—it’s just feedback. Real success is often hidden in the 1,010th attempt, not the first. If someone who started at 65, had only $105, and went through countless rejections could build a multi-billion-dollar empire, what reason do we have to give up halfway? The next time you feel like quitting, think of Colonel Sanders.