Christopher Gardner

Some success stories are so inspiring and increase people's motivation that even large-budget films are made based on them, not to mention books written on behalf of the author.

Christopher Gardner's story inspired so many people that even Hollywood actor Wil Smith played him in a movie called The Pursuit of Happyness, depicting Gardner's difficult journey in pursuit of his dream of becoming a brokerage broker.

Today, Christopher Gardner is a millionaire and philanthropist who helps people who go through similar difficulties overcome them.

The brokerage company he created catapulted Christopher Gardner to the top and became the embodiment of his decades-long meta.

However, it is not for nothing that a film was made based on Christopher Gardner’s autobiography, because his success story is unique and reflects how a focused person can achieve his goals. Christopher Gardner was born on February 9, 1956 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. If we talk about childhood, Christopher lived in a very dysfunctional and poor family. Right from birth, Christopher Gardner never saw his father, since he left the family when Gardner’s mother was still pregnant.

After his mother remarried, Christopher was constantly abused because his stepfather was strict with him and constantly beat him. Being a successful man, Christopher Gardner repeatedly recalled and quoted the words of his mother at various conferences, claiming that it was she who laid the main spirit in him.

Youth and career ladder

His uncle Henry, who served in the US Navy, had a huge influence on the boy. Constant stories about the adventures of his uncle irritated Christopher, but after graduating from high school, he decided to go to the same place as his uncle.

In fact, Christopher simply had no choice, since no one was going to teach him in decent educational institutions. While serving in the Navy, his main place of work was a hospital, where he worked as an orderly. Christopher Garden was so good at his job that a renowned heart surgeon hired him as an assistant at an innovative clinical research clinic.

While working with the famous doctor, Christopher Gardner became a co-author of many medical works.

Fatherhood and life changes

On June 18, 1977, Christopher got married, and in 1981 a son was born. However, the relationship between the spouses quickly began to fall apart, as Christopher Gardner decided to abandon medical practice with ten years of experience behind him.

The rapid growth of technology in medicine prompted Gardner to start selling innovative equipment. However, after working a little as an agent, Gardner never achieved success in this area, since doctors were not particularly keen to purchase new medical devices.

His child became very interested in seeing his grandfather, so Christopher found his father on the phone and went with his son to meet him. Upon arrival from the trip, Christopher Gardner decided to radically change his life and achieve success in business.

Chance meeting

Returning home from the hospital, where Christopher Gardner worked part-time, he came across a respectable young man in an expensive suit, and his Ferrari stood near the premises. Christopher could not resist and, out of curiosity, asked who he, in turn, worked for and received the answer - a stockbroker.

Christopher Gardner quickly realized in which direction he should move and, having separated from the young man, asked to introduce him to company managers, after which he enrolled in the EF Hutton program.

Since he was absorbed in the world of finance and education, Christopher completely forgot about the work of a sales representative, and his car sat in the parking lot for a month and collected fines. As a result, $1,200 in fines were collected in a month, and the judge sent him to prison for ten days as punishment.  

When Gardner returned from prison, he saw that his wife had collected all the things from the house and, taking even his suits, left with her son in an unknown direction.

The hard way

Under the terms of the internship program, only one person out of twenty interns can get a job. To get ahead of his colleagues, he had to make about 200 calls per day, when his rivals made no more than 30. Difficulties in life were added by his wife, who brought her son and told him to raise him himself.

Since Christopher Gardner had absolutely no money, and the internship lasted more than two months, he and his son had to spend the night in the streets, train stations, and stand in lines for free food.

One day, when there was no place to go yet again, Christopher came with his son to the women’s cathedral and asked the priest for shelter and food, at least for the boy. Naturally, the priest did not refuse, and Christopher, having become a famous person, thanked him more than once with donations.

After completing an internship and passing an internal exam, Christopher is invited to work at Bear Stearns and after five years of work, he establishes his own brokerage firm, Gardner Rich & Co. The company's success was going quite well and already in the fourth year of operation, the company was closing deals with a turnover of millions.

After 19 years of work, Christopher Gardner sells his share of the business for a figure with seven zeros and opens a new company, Christopher Gardner International Holdings, with branches throughout the country.

Having achieved unprecedented heights, Gardner begins to conduct charitable activities, investing in various programs to help the homeless.