Chris Gardner

Chris Gardner – From Homless To Millionaire

Chris Gardner

Chris Gardner was an ordinary guy, working as a salesman of medical supplies. He had been struggling to earn enough for a living and taking care of his kid and girlfriend. One day he saw a very well dressed man in a nice red Ferrari, trying to find a parking place in a crowded parking. Chris offered the guy his parking spot, in exchange he had to answer two simple questions – “What do you do for a living, and how,”… The Ferrari guy delightfully said, that he was just a stockbroker, trading stocks for his clients. He was earning around 70 thousand dollars per month, a lot more than Gardner’s annual income.

Without wasting more time, Chris started looking for a brokerage company, which would like to hire a man like him. It was not an easy task, but after a while, Gardner found a job like this and quit his career of a medical supplies salesman immediately. But there was a little surprise, when he appeared in the office for the first time, he found out that the man who hired him was fired on that day. Gardner was left empty handed and unemployed. But that was not all…, few days later the police came at his home, after a fight between him and his girlfriend. After checking his identity, the men of law established, that Chris had unpaid parking tickets for more than a thousand dollars. They asked him to pay … Having no money, Gardner was sent in jail for several days. After he was out, he found out that his girlfriend had left him. This was not the best time of his life, having no money, no home, no family and living in a boarding house.

When Gardner was looking for a brokerage firm, he had managed to arrange an interview with a manager of such a company. It was after a couple of days. This was the last chance for him. He had to persuade the manager to hire him. Having no clothes, he had to appear dressed in jeans and sporting shoes, which wouldn’t help much. May be luck was on his side at that time, or he just was very persuasive, but he got the job.

Nice so far, but after a while, his ex-girlfriend came to him and told him, that she didn’t want the baby anymore. Children were not allowed in the boarding house where he was and he found himself homeless with a little kid. Gardner was in a nightmare. He and his little boy had to sleep in the cheapest hotels they could find. But spending more time with his son, left him with less time to work, which reflected on his salary. The father had to move into a homeless hotel with his son, because they couldn’t afford anything else. They lived there for a year. Everyday, they had to carry all of their stuff with them, because there were no keys in the building.

After a while, Gardner managed to save enough money, to return to his previous home with his son. His colleges never understood anything for his extreme life. Slowly he managed to step bag on his legs and return to a normal living. In 1982, Chris passed a broker licensing exam and became a full employee of the company. He didn’t stop elevating in his career and continued ahead. Everything went well and he founded his own brokerage company in Chicago a few years later with $10 000 initial capital. Hi office was in his apartment, where his working desk was a dining table in the evening.

Today Chris Gardner is a famous investor, entrepreneur, publisher and philanthropist. In a few words – a very successful man, who has achieved everything in his life starting from scratch. He gives nice amounts to charity, helping poor an unemployed people not only with money, but also with clothes and education.

In 2006, Gardner issued a book about his life called “The Pursuit of Happyness”, in which you can see some life lessons in getting from where you are to where you want to be.