Chris Gardner: The homeless man who became a multi-

millionaire investor.
By
Group-8
Christopher Paul Gardner is an American successful businessman
and famous philanthropist. During the early 1980s, Gardner
struggled with homelessness while raising a toddler son. After his
lots of struggle with poverty, he became a stockbroker and
eventually founded his own brokerage firm Gardner Rich & Co in
1987. Gardner received many prestigious award like the Father of
the Year Award (2002) from the NFI, 25th Annual Humanitarian
Award, Friends of Africa Award (2006) etc for his philanthropic
activity to the society[1].
Chris Gardner’s early struggles: It was back in the early 1980s
that Mr Gardner, then aged 27, and his toddler son were homeless
for a year in San Francisco. However, in a harsh twist of fate, his
marriage fell apart. Enrolled on a low-paid trainee scheme at a
stock brokerage, he didn't have enough money to raise the deposit
to rent an apartment. So Mr Gardner, who was estranged from his
partner, and Chris Jr would instead sleep wherever they could. In
addition to the toilet at a railway station, they'd bed down in parks,
at a church shelter, or under his desk at work after everyone else
had gone home. They ate in soup kitchens, and what little money
he had was spent on putting his son in day nursery so he could go
to work[2].
Despite this adversity, Mr Gardner thrived in his job. A natural at
selling stocks and shares, at the end of his training period his firm,
Dean Witter Reynolds (DWR), made him a full employee.
Finally able to rent a home for himself and his son, his career then
rapidly ascended into the stratosphere, and in 1987 he opened his
own investment firm, Gardner Rich. Despite the several hurdles
and rejections he faced throughout his journey, his persistence and
hard work have been his greatest assets[3].
Life lessons from Chris Gardner’s life :The most important
lesson from Chris Gardner’s life is to have confidence in oneself
and believe in that ‘all power within you’. Working hard and being
persistent is very much important. We should be easy to take risks
in life and should chase our dreams despite the several hurdles that
come forth. “Still a dreamer, yet more of a realist than ever before,
I knew this was my time to sail. On the horizon, I saw the shining
future, as before. The difference now was that I felt the wind at my
back. I was ready.”- Chris Gardner. Always be ambitious in life
and keep yourself motivated. Success is sure to achieve when your
consistent and passionate[3].
Conclusion: Chris Gardner is inspiration for all of us.He makes
his life as a great father ,philanthropist and successful
businessman with lots of struggle keep believing that you can do
anything and everything in life.Despite the woes of his childhood,
Mr Gardner says his mum was an inspiration."I have one of those
old-fashioned mothers who told me every single day, 'Son, you can
do or be anything that you want to do or be.' "And I believed it, I
bought into it 100%"[2].

Reference:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Gardner
2. www.bbc.com
3. https://failurebeforesuccess.com