That seems like not much funding! Looking at Wikipedia:
>Sanders believed that his North Corbin restaurant would remain successful indefinitely; however, he sold it at age 65 after the new Interstate 75 reduced customer traffic.[29][30][5] Left only with his savings and US$105 a month from Social Security (equivalent to $1,147 in 2022),[5] Sanders decided to begin to franchise his chicken concept in earnest, and traveled the US looking for suitable restaurants. After closing the North Corbin site, Sanders and Claudia opened a new restaurant and company headquarters in Shelbyville in 1959.[31] Often sleeping in the back of his car, Sanders visited restaurants, offered to cook his chicken, and if workers liked it negotiated franchise rights.[5]
I don't think anyone could fund a business on $1,147 a month. Then again Wikipedia talks about unspecified savings. Those should be substantial after selling a restaurant?
Your money just goes a lot less further as a business owner and as a result it’s harder to have a small business, such an environment heavily favors large corporations that have the funds and man hours to throw at the problem and come out on top.
The Corbin KFC/museum draws tons of tourists-- especially from China (I think they have more locations there than in the US.) If anyone happens to go there, Corbin also has a pretty good pinball arcade with ~60 tables and a redemption game section.
“Accomplished nothing”
"Before becoming the founder of Walmart, Sam Walton owned a small chain of variety stores"
My favorite life motto that I stole from who knows where: Do things that, if they succeed, make the rest of your life/career look like a footnote.
- He successfully raised money, but he was then fired because he was doing yoga and fashion stuff all the time instead of working.
- He returned to be CEO of Twitter and wasn't successful at it. Accounts from people working for him at the time described him as infuriatingly indecisive, naive, and easy to influence. He held tons of meetings about decisions instead of actually making them[1]. This was especially bad when Twitter was supposed to be deciding its stance on free speech during the 2020 election. He was eventually ousted after pressure by activist investors.
- He thought Elon Musk was the right person to run Twitter, which was obviously idiotic at the time[2] and has become (in hindsight) even more laughable. No "intelligent" businessperson has an excuse to be tricked into thinking Musk is smart, ethical, or good at running businesses.
- He falls for a lot of New Age, pseudo-science bullshit. Case in point: he endorsed RFK, Jr., a conspiracy nut, for president of the United States. That might be one of the dumbest thing he's publicly done. Tulsi Gabbard was another of his favorite candidates.
- He's a blockchain/Bitcoin enthusiast.
- His Twitter/X feed reads like a hippie stoner, not like a sharp observer of the world. I suspect he and Musk bonded over enjoying being high most of the time.
1. https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/17/17706256/twitter-alex-jon...
We don’t hear about the failures because it’s a tragedy. But I’ve worked with a lot of failed entrepreneurs in their 40s. It’s clear they aren’t happy in their jobs but also have no choice now.
