[Music]
hi I'm Evan Carmichael welcome to
another edition Melina masters I believe
that the fastest and most effective way
to grow a business is to model the
strategies of people who have already
done what you're trying to do so today
we're gonna look at how a high school
dropout became homeless was bathing in
public washrooms and he went from that
turn his life around and became a
multi-millionaire and built one of the
most successful stock brokerage firms in
America this is a story of Chris
gardener and a top three lessons you can
learn from his success Chris Gardner was
the only son of twelve children that was
being raised by a single mother
the single mother was trained as the
schoolteacher but wound up taking on
numerous part-time jobs in order to
provide for her family Gardner and his
siblings were transferred back and forth
between relatives and foster homes his
mother had been in prison twice once for
allegedly receiving welfare while
working and a second time for attempting
to burn down the house of Gardner's
abusive stepfather Gardner's prospects
were narrow coming from an environment
such as this while on a sales call
Gardner met a man who was impeccably
dressed and drove a red Ferrari as fate
would have it the driver of the Ferrari
was a stockbroker a gardener heard the
man was earning over $80,000 a month he
decided that his future lied in
investments he had no education no
experience and no connections but that
was not about to stop Gardner from
achieving his new dream once he decided
to become a stockbroker Gardner
immediately set out to find an
investment firm that would give him a
chance in 1 brokerage firm Gardner
finally found the manager of a training
program who's willing to give him a shot
however when Gardner showed up for his
first day of work the manager who had
hired him had been fired and no one else
had ever heard of Gardner or his new
position he left with his hopes
disappointed nevertheless Gardner didn't
give up on his dreams he continued to
seek out investment firms taking odd
jobs to pay the bills in the meantime
dean witter a SAN francisco-based
brokerage firm was interested in Gardner
but refused to bring him on board before
putting them through ten months of
interviews it would be a grueling 10
months Gardner showed up for his first
interview in a t-shirt and dirty jeans
he could have fabricated some
story to explain his appearance instead
Guardian decided to tell the truth in
plain terms Gardner told the interviewer
that his mother of the son had run off
with his child that he was broken and
they've just gotten out of jail the day
before as luck would have it the
interviewer had recently been through a
nasty divorce and could sympathize with
Gardner he was immediately given a
position in the company's training
program in 1987 Gardner launched his own
brokerage firm in Chicago
Gardner rich garden quickly began to
land major clients for his new company
including the pension fund of the
Chicago Teachers Union since then his
business has continued to take off and
Gardner hasn't looked back by not
letting his past hold him back and by
sticking to his vision Chris garden was
able to go from being a homeless man to
being a multi-millionaire to help you
transform your business here are three
action items and you can learn from
Chris Gardner action item number one get
excited about something rule number one
of entrepreneurship is you have to love
what you do you have to have such a
strong passion for it that you'll break
through any barrier jump over any hurdle
to see your vision through it's gonna be
hard and you'll think of giving up
multiple times only your passion for the
business and knowing that you're helping
people will keep you going
Gardner is the first admit that in the
early days of his career his major
motivating force for finding work was
money needed to pay the rent he needed
to be able to afford food and clothing
and he needed to look after not only
himself but also his young son
nevertheless
it was only by choosing to focus on a
career that truly got him excited
the gardener was able to rise to the top
of his field Gardner had finally found
something that he could get excited
about and he wasn't about to let his
chance of happiness passing by according
to Gardner you have to be committed and
you have to find something that you are
passionate about whatever you're gonna
do is going to be tough enough find
something that gets you so excited that
the Sun can't come up early enough in
the morning because you want to go do
your thing do something that makes you
happy and makes you feel good about
yourself no matter how much money is
involved or no matter how easy it is for
you to do if you're not happy you are
nothing more than a slave to your talent
and
action item number to be the best you
can be as an entrepreneur you don't want
to have regrets for not trying hard
enough if your company doesn't make it
and you give it your absolute very best
then it'll hurt but you'll be able to
live with it but if you didn't give it
everything you had you'll always wonder
what could have been if you just tried
harder never let an excuse hold you back
and being able to say that you did your
best
Gardner tributes his rise to the top to
his mother and her spiritual genetics
which encouraged Gardner to dream big
dreams for himself and strive to become
the best Gardner's mother was a natural
born teacher she loved doing it and she
did it well but after being abandoned by
her husband she found herself in a
position of having to care for 12
children all on her own she sacrificed
her dream of teaching to take numerous
part-time jobs that could better support
the family however she pushed Gardner to
be the best at everything he did this
commitment to be the best was something
he never forgot and continues to be the
best at everything he can be according
to Gardner you get your eyes from your
dad your mom's nose there's nothing you
can do about that but your spiritual
genetics you can choose pick embrace and
commit to that's what I did though my
mom had too many of her own dreams
denied deferred destroyed she instilled
in me that I could have dreams son if
you want to one day you could make a
million dollars we go after the big
deals because it takes just as much
effort to lie in a 500 dollar account as
it does to line a five million dollar
one action item number three remember
your roots giving back to your community
is one of the most rewarding things you
can do as an entrepreneur not only are
you helping customers through your
business but you're able to help people
around you through your contribution
it's never too early to start if you
don't have money give your time you've
been doing something to help others once
per month will help rejuvenate you and
give you additional motivation succeed
with your business so you can help even
more down the line as far as Gardner has
common as much money as he's made what
is perhaps most distinguished him
professionally has been his contribution
is made back into his communities
Gardner has kept his promise and has
striven hard to remain available and
accessible early on he got involved in a
chicago-based program designed to help
young people obtain internships with
financial services companies and learn
the basics of exchanges insurance
banking money management and brokering
gardeners wrote success was a long and
difficult one which made it all the more
easy for him to understand what it takes
to get there that's why he will always
remember his roots and where he came
from everyone deserves a chance to
succeed they just may need a little help
to do it
according the gardener as busy as I am
wherever I am I try to get out and walk
the streets to remember how far I've
come and appreciate every baby step of
the way the coolest thing in the world
is walking up the street in Chicago in
New York or San Francisco and having
someone say hey you may not remember me
but thank you for helping me get into
the business I can't think of a better
way to honor my mom and lift her up than
helping educators the biggest part of
her soul was to teach so remember get
excited about something be the best you
can be and remember your roots to finish
up this video I wanted to share one of
my favorite true stories about Chris
Gardner and some of his best quotes
most people know that Chris Gardner's
life was chronicled in the movie with
The Pursuit of Happyness but most people
don't know is a gardener had it actually
a lot tougher than the movie portrayed
many times he and his sign had to sleep
in the subway and bathrooms because they
needed the money to eat even during his
training to become a broker gardener was
not being paid enough to find a
permanent place to live for him in his
son however after his training he became
a full-time Realty retail broker but was
still lacking funds to find a permanent
home it was not until Gary Shimano of
Bear Sterns offered him a position that
his life changed part of the package was
funds purchased new suits so he would
look more professional but Gardner took
that money and found an apartment for
his son and himself
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
thank you for joining me for another
edition modeling the masters if you
liked the video and you want to see more
please give it a thumbs up below and if
you have a question for your business or
comment if you want to leave please feel
free to leave it below in the comment
section I always read those and try to
respond as quickly as I can so thank you
and we'll see you on the next episode
[Music]
you
[Music]