How to become a millionaire: the story of a homeless man from San Francisco

Фото: Depositphotos

When Chris Gardner slept with his young son on the floor of a public restroom, he had no idea that, based on his life, they would someday make a popular Hollywood film.

His amazing and inspiring story told agency with the BBC.

At the start of the 1980-s, 27-year-old Gardner and her son, who was not yet three years old, wandered throughout San Francisco, California, without a permanent home. Gardner was an intern at a brokerage firm and received only a nominal fee, which was not enough to rent an apartment.

After a quarrel with his girlfriend, he stayed with the child in her arms, and they spent the night where they had to.

In addition to the toilet at the train station, it could be in a park, in a church shelter, or under a table in his office, when all the other workers went home. They ate in charity canteens for the homeless, and all his father’s earnings went to kindergarten for Chris Jr. so Gardner could go to work.

Despite such difficulties, at work, Chris was doing fine. He had a natural talent for selling stocks and bonds, so after an internship, Dean Witter Reynolds (DWR) offered him a permanent position. He was finally able to rent an apartment for himself and his son, and his career rapidly went up. In 1987, he opened his own investment firm, Gardner Rich.

Hollywood

Today, the state of 62-year-old Gardner is estimated at 60 million dollars. He travels the world with motivational speeches and supports a number of charitable organizations helping the homeless and combating violence against women.

When his autobiography was published, in which Gardner spoke about his difficult childhood, as well as the fact that he served time in prison immediately before his internship at DWR, agents from Hollywood almost immediately approached him with an offer to make a film. And the book “In Search of Happiness” very quickly became a bestseller.

In 2006, a film under the same name was released. Will Smith, who played Chris Gardner, received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

Looking back on his life, Gardner says he "wouldn't change a thing."

“I suffered as a child so that my children would not suffer. At the age of five, I promised myself that my children would know who their father was. The rest of my life turned out the way it did because I did the right thing,” Gardner said.

Mother's inspiration

The future millionaire was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and did not know his real father. He grew up in poverty with his mother Betty Jean and stepfather, who drank and mocked him. He spent some time in a foster family, while his mother was serving a sentence for desperately trying to kill her partner. Despite such a difficult childhood, Gardner says that his mother was an inspiration to him.

"I have one of those old-fashioned moms who says every day, 'Son, you can achieve anything and be anything you want.' And I believed her. I am 100% convinced of this,” Gardner said.

Lucky case

However, the success came to Gardner not immediately. After graduating from high school, he served four years in the US Navy. In the 1974 year, demobilized with distinction, Gardner moved to San Francisco, where he began selling medical equipment. His life turned upside down when one day he saw a man who was parked his red Ferrari next to him, and the guy decided to ask what he does for a living. It turned out to be a stockbroker named Bob Bridges. They talked, and Gardner expressed a desire to try himself in this business.

They agreed to meet again, and it was Bridges who contributed to Gardner being invited to an interview for an internship at DWR.

However, a few days before the interview, Chris was arrested for failure to pay fines for illegal parking. In the end, he managed to show up for the interview, but only in the same clothes he was arrested in - old sneakers and a vest.

Despite his appearance, he amazed his interlocutors with enthusiasm and ambition, and he was accepted for an internship.

Revaluation of life

In 2012, six years after the film's release, Gardner's life changed radically again when his 55-year-old wife died of cancer. This made him re-evaluate how he was spending his time. After thirty successful years in finance, he decided to completely change his career.

“In recent conversations, my wife asked me: “Now that we see how short life can be, what will you do with the days you have left?” After such conversations, everything changes. And now I repeat to everyone: if you are not doing something that your heart is in, then you are compromising with yourself every day.”

He realized that he no longer wanted to work as an investment banker, and found himself in the role of a motivational speaker and writer.

Now he 200 spends days in a year traveling, speaking to listeners in more than 50 countries of the world.

Gardner is convinced that his experience refutes the theory that all people are products of the environment in which they grew up.

“According to this theory, I should have grown up to be another alcoholic, an illiterate loser who beats his wife and children,” he says.

But Gardner is confident that he managed to make the right choice. By this. in his opinion, he owes maternal love and support to other people.

“I saw the light in my mother and in other people with whom I do not have a drop of common blood. I saw the light and accepted it,” said the millionaire.

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