(uskings.us) Christopher Paul Gardner (born February 9, 1954) is an American businessman and motivational speaker. During the early 1980s, Gardner struggled with homelessness while raising a toddler son. He became a stock broker and eventually founded his own brokerage firm Gardner Rich & Co in 1987. In 2006, Gardner sold his minority stake in the firm and published a memoir. That book was made into the motion picture The Pursuit of Happiness starring Will Smith.
Christopher Paul Gardner was born on February 9, 1954, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His childhood was far from being a fairy tale; he had an absent father, and his mother, Bettye Jean, married a man named Freddie Triplett, someone who would deeply mark Chris’s life.Triplett was abusive to his wife and children.
Chris left Wisconsin when he entered the US Navy and joined the Medical Corps. There he met Dr. Robert Ellis, who offered him a job as a research assistant at the University of California Medical Center. It was 1974 when he moved to San Francisco. Sometime later, Chris met a woman named Jackie Medina, who got pregnant. This was when Chris separated from his wife to care of Jackie and their son. At the time his son was born, he was working as a research lab assistant, but as his salary wasn’t enough, he became a sales representative for a medical equipment company, but without luxury.
Once he saw a well-dressed man get out of a red Ferrari on the street. That day, his life changed. Impressed, Chris asked, “What do you do, and how do you do it?” The man was Bob Bridges, a stockbroker who made about $80,000 a month.
Driven by the possibility of achieving his long-awaited success, Chris canceled his sales meetings and postponed paying his parking tickets until he was accepted into the training program at another company. Then he quit his old job. But as bad luck would have it, when he showed up at the office on his first day of work, he found out that the person who had hired him had been fired.
With a young son and a deteriorating relationship, Chris was forced to look elsewhere for a new chance and got an interview at Dean Witter Reynolds to train as a stockbroker.
But, once again, luck was not on his side, and, a little over a week before his job interview, he was arrested for $1,200 he had accumulated in fines. He spent 10 days in prison, and when he got out of jail, he realized Jackie had left, taking their son and all of his belongings. A day after his release, Chris had to attend his interview in the same clothes he had used during his time in prison: casual pants, sneakers, and a jacket. Despite that, he was accepted into the internship program. He would receive a salary of $1,000 a month.
4 months later, Jackie returned with little Christopher, and both parents decided that it would be better if he stayed with his father. There was only one small problem, the boarding house where Chris lived didn’t accept children, and he didn’t have enough money to pay rent. It was then that a pilgrimage began for father and son.
Chris’s salary was barely enough for diapers, food, and childcare, so when it came to choose whether the money was spent on food or shelter, the decision was always food. Chris and his little boy spent the night wherever they could; Cheap motels, hostels, parks, under a desk at Chris’ office, and even in a public bathroom at a subway station in Oakland. To earn a few extra bucks, Chris took some random jobs. He mowed lawns, tidied gardens, built roofs, cleaned basements, and even sold his blood, although he was never very proud of the latter.
After going through considerably tough times and standing out as a dedicated and persevering intern, Chris took the exam to obtain his license as a stockbroker in 1982. He passed and managed to get a stable job with a much better salary. Now he was able to pay rent.
Chris had gone from being an apprentice with nowhere to sleep to being a respected stockbroker. He was even offered a chance to work on Wall Street in New York and lived in that city for 2 years before moving to Chicago and starting Gardner Rich & Co., his own company with an initial investment of $10,000 in 1987.
By 2006, Chris had managed to grow his company immensely and sold it in a multi-million dollar deal. He later became the founder of Christopher Gardner International Holdings and placed offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Chris is currently a successful lecturer who travels the world motivating people to pursue their dreams and explaining topics related to business success. This is very fulfilling for him.
According to en.wikipedia and brightside.me. Source of photos: internet
