Chris Gardner wears a $10,000 watch on each wrist. On the right hand is a Cartier set to Chicago time, and on the left is a Roger Dubuis set to South African time. “I was late once and it cost me $50,000,” explains Gardner. “I figure it was cheaper to wear two watches.” For a man who not too long ago had only two suits to his name and could not even afford to pay rent, Gardner has come a long way. From living on the streets and bathing in public restrooms to owning a successful multi-million dollar stock brokerage firm, Gardner is living out the American dream.
“One of the things young people always ask me about is what is the secret to success,” says Gardner. “The secret is there is no secret. It’s the basics. Blocking and tackling.” Gardner has gone from homeless to Hollywood, rising from the depths and despair of poverty to become not only a millionaire stockbroker and successful entrepreneur and author, but also the star of a major motion picture. How did he do it?
My first ambition in life was to be Miles Davis. I didn’t want to be a trumpet player, an artist or a jazz musician – I literally wanted to be Miles. My mom said to me, ‘Baby, you can’t be Miles. There ain’t but one, and he got that job.’ But I made a commitment at an early age that I wanted to be world class at something. At 18, Miles Davis was in New York playing with Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. At the same age, I was playing with some cats named Pookie and Ray Ray. It wasn’t going to happen. But I made a commitment to be world class at something.
The truth is, I was homeless before Chris came, I just didn’t know. I was just functionally homeless – living with friends, staying a night over here, a couple of days over there. Now, with Chris, I had to face it. I was homeless, but I wasn’t hopeless. I knew a better day was coming.
It’s not just my story. It’s the story of a lot of people who grew up and took a lot of crap – and decided, ‘I’m going the other way.’
One of the things young people always ask me about is what is the secret to success. The secret is there is no secret. It’s the basics. Blocking and tackling. Stay in school. It’s what will give you options. You don’t want to try to do this thing the way that I did.
Baby steps count, as long as you are going forward. You add them all up, and one day you look back and you’ll be surprised at where you might get to.
Find something that you love. Something that gets you so excited you can’t wait to get out of bed in the morning. Whatever you’re going to 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. Forget about money. Be happy.
The money thing will come. I know so many people who have so much more money than I. They are miserable. It is so important to be happy. I went to some very successful business people when I was trying to open the doors of my company, and none of them would give me the time of day. I made a promise to myself and to God. I said, ‘God, if you ever let me get to a certain level, I am not going to be like that.’
The cavalry ain’t coming. You’ve got to do this yourself.
Evan Carmichael
