51 IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED,
CHEW AND CHEW AGAIN

What Milton S. Hershey lacked in formal education, he more than made up for in perseverance.

Born in 1857 in rural Pennsylvania, Milton quickly learnt that there was always work to be done. With his work on the family farm and time spent looking after his mother while his father was away for long periods, Milton had a very limited education. He had no schooling after the fourth grade, but grew up with a belief in the value of hard work.

As a teenager, he took a four-year apprenticeship with a candy maker in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and in 1876 attempted to start his own candy business. Despite six years of hard work, it failed.

So he dusted himself down and moved to Denver where he found work with a confectioner who taught him how to make caramels using fresh milk. He used his knowledge to start a second candy business in New York City, which was also ultimately unsuccessful.

Returning to Lancaster in 1886, Hershey wasn’t ready to give up. He established the Lancaster Caramel Company, which quickly became an outstanding success. Soon the company was shipping its caramels all over the US and Europe, employing 1,400 people.

Milton was not done yet. At the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, he became fascinated with the art of chocolate making. He purchased some German machinery at the exposition, had it shipped to Lancaster and began producing chocolate coatings for his caramels. Aware of the growing demand for chocolate, he also started the Hershey Chocolate Company.

It took time and patience before success arrived. Most milk chocolate at the time was produced by a process that was kept a closely guarded secret by the Swiss. After a number of years and through repeated trial and error, however, Milton finally hit upon the right formula of milk, sugar and cocoa. It enabled him to realize his dream of cost-effectively massproducing milk chocolate candy and turned what had once been a luxury for the rich into an enjoyment that anyone could afford – the Hershey bar.

And the moral is that if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. Are you in danger of giving up on something too soon?