When James Cash Penney's father told him that he would have to start buying his own clothing, the eight year old boy acted quickly. He ran errands, sold junk, and invested in a pig. He soon had purchased a dozen of pigs but then the neighbours began to complaint. His father called a halt to the enterprise, saying , "we can't take advantage of our neighbours." His words became part of Penney's life - long business philosophy.


After high school Penney worked as a clerk in a store and then moved to Colorado , where he opened a butcher shop. That venture failed when he refused to supply a bottle of bourbon each week to the Chef of a local hotel. The owner of a Wyoming dry goods store gave Penney his next chance by helping him open his own store in Kemmerer. Penney called it, " The Golden Rule Store." Five years later, he added two more stores and introduced profit-sharing for his employees.


By 1912, he owned thirty-four stores. Two years later, he incorporated and moved his headquarters to New York City. By 1917, at age thirty-nine, he resigned as President and became Chairman of the board. During the next twelve years, the chain of stores grew to 1,400 stores nationwide.


Along the way Penney's personal life was marked by tragedy. His first wife died in 1910, and then his second wife died in childbirth in 1923. He said later that he experienced an intense desire to drink after his first wife's death - a desire that was persistent and terrible, lasting not only through weeks and months, but even years. He had similar feelings after the stock market crash in 1929, when J.C. Penney stock plunged from 120 points to only 13 points. He was virtually broke by 1932, and he had to drop many of his philanthropic work. He eventually wound up in a Battle Creek, Michigan sanitation. While there, he regained his faith and hope. His health and spirit renewed, he began the long climb back to the financial top at the age of 56years.


By 1951, there was a J.C. Penney store in every state, and for the first time sales surpassed $1 billion. During the 1950s, Penney expanded the merchandise lines to include major appliances, home electronics, furniture and sporting goods. The chain added J.C. Penney Financial Services in 1967 and purchased the Thrift Drug Company in 1969. Penney remained the company's premier goodwill ambassador long after retirement. He attended 51 Store openings, participated in 27 TV and Radio programmes, gave 105 speeches, and travelled 62,000 miles at age 84.


There are a lot of lessons to learn in J.C. Penney's story, but the greatest of all is that, "World Changers may be knocked down but they refuse to stay down"!