Some people take time to find super success.
Ideas don’t stop and some of the best arrive after years of experience of living. The later mind knows this.
Regular belief has it that younger people are the ones who have the energy and drive to gain success. Older folks have done more of their living and are slowing down. They have less to want or chase, and live in a past world rather than looking to evolve a newer one. Younger men and women see how things can be plus they are in touch with current trends and interests.
Now, that could be true for some more mature minds, but certainly not all. They are still very much in the game. Older heads, for one, are shrewder. They are more patient, more measured. And they have plenty of previous failures and learning in droves to call on. In short, they carry wisdom and understanding.
Match that with a great idea, and pure gold is what a late starting mind can hold.
Finger Licking Fame.
You are 60 years old and your business has been thrown a curve ball.
Your living has been taken from under your feet, what are you going to do? Well, at that age, most would say to shut up shop and enjoy retirement. Not for one old timer.
Harland had been serving travellers his own brand of food since he was 37. At first it didn’t go down well. Despite losing all his money when his venture folded, he refused to give up and worked on perfecting his own unique recipe. Strife then came again when his next restaurant burnt down. Undaunted he rebuilt it but decided to focus instead on faster cooking time to be able to sell quicker by frying his food.
As he reached his mid-60’s he was doing reasonably well financially. Then came the final big hit. A new highway was built bypassing his service station cafe and all but destroying trade. He was down, but not out. He never lost faith in his own recipe and food. When visiting a friend’s burger joint in Salt Lake City, he cooked his special spiced dish for him. His friend loved it and put it on the menu. It went down a storm.
Buoyed by this Sanders got on the road and starting selling his spicy blend and how to add it into the food. He cut deals where he got a small payment for each one sold. Within 5 years he was represented in over 600 locations including Canada, Mexico, and even Jamaica and the UK.
Harland was Colonel Sanders. That spiced food recipe is the heart of KFC!
Finger licking fame came when an old head wouldn’t quit!!
Older is Golder.
Think of a top entrepreneur and the likes of a young Mark Zuckerberg (19 when FB started) or Bill Gates (23 years old when Microsoft launched) tend to be our first thought.
But, research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that a 50 year old business founder was twice as likely to exit their enterprise a successful person (wealthy, left a legacy etc). This data came from an analysis of 2.7 MILLION founders between 2007 and 2014!
This is true across many fields.
Love superhero comics? Stan Lee created The Fantastic Four on his 39th birthday (hardly a cartoon age) and developed the now stellar Marvel Universe world in his 40’s. Legendary Hollywood actor Samuel L. Jackson was a small time bit part player before landing the award winning role in Jungle Fever at the age of 43. He went on to play his most memorable roles as he neared 50 and beyond.
Most famous of all, Ray Kroc was 52 when he bought the basic McDonalds name and turned in into the global food chain it is today from his own vision way back in 1954. And the first iconic everyday brand of the motoring era was started by a 45 year old….Henry Ford, when cars were viewed as pointless contraptions that would never catch any mass appeal. He sold it to the world.
History holds true for this too. Charles Darwin was 50 when he published The Origin of the Species. An activist in his 40’s Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa at the age of 76. And James Bond never came alive as a character until Ian Fleming created him when he began writing when he was 44.
You see, slower starters can become fast and big finishers!
The Best is Yet to Come.
The best could yet be to come. If you keep your mind alive.
As the years pass ideas don’t die. It’s us that dismiss them and no longer look to have them. Especially long held ones that haven’t come to fruition. But our long standing desires and goals were Colonel Sanders chicken recipe or Nelson Mandela’s wish to lead his nation. One kept losing again and again, the other languished in jail.
Neither gave up. Instead their slow burning minds continued to fan the flames. Mental flames that one day fired up in real life. They were one of many who saw age as no barrier to achieving their vision. They kept the dream burning bright in their heads. Ensure you do the same.
Long and slow is often the lesser known secret to lasting super success.
References – Fleximize.com – The Story of Colonel Sanders.
KFC.co.uk – The Colonel’s Story Timeline.
Developgoodhabits.com – 35 People Who Became Successful Later in Life.
Businessinsider.com – 30 people who became highly successful after age 40.
Photo attribution – Free to use under Pixbay Content License
