A must read story of Success - The Chris Gardner Story..... About fighting the odds positively and achieving the pursuit of Happiness. (Reference - chrisgardnermedia.com)

Read this article about the life history of Chris Gardner, a stock broker and now a millionaire.....

Chris Gardner with son Chris Gardner Jr.

 Chris was a person who used to sell a medical bone density scanner to earn his living in America. Times became hard for him and he was not able to sell even one scanner at a point of time in his life. He was broke and meeting the daily ends seemed impossible for him. his wife left him and he was left with worst circumstances and a kid to take care of. In the meantime he decided to become a stock broker and applied with Dean Witter Reynolds a brokerage firm in America that carried out a trainee program for six months without salary. Followed by the training the applicants had to give a board exam and then only one out of a batch of twenty was selected as a broker.

Chris joined the program with no earning in hand. This time was the toughest as he had no money and even was thrown out of his house for not paying taxes. He was compelled to stay at a church with his child and prepare for his program. At the end with all his hard work and positive determination as well as the pursuit of happiness he was selected at the program and became a stock broker. He went to found his own firm called the Gardner Rich firm and sold a minor stake in 2006 to become a millionaire.

The story tells us about his grit and determination to fight all the odds. He never gave up and continued to follow his dream. He wrote a book about his life called the "Pursuit of Happyness" and a movie with same name is also released in 2006 starring Will Smith. The movie is on the list of top hollywood movies. If you want an inspiration then kindly watch that movie.

Some line from his own website...

Biography

Chris Gardner is the owner and CEO of Gardner Rich LLC with offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Conquering grave challenges to become a successful entrepreneur, Gardner is an avid motivational and aspirational speaker, addressing the keys to overcoming obstacles and breaking cycles. Gardner is also a passionate philanthropist whose work has been recognized by many esteemed organizations.

The amazing story of Gardner’s life was published as an autobiography, The Pursuit of Happyness, in May 2006, and became a New York Times and Washington Post #1 bestseller. In paperback, the book spent over twenty weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into more than thirty languages. Gardner was also the inspiration for the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness,” released by Columbia Pictures in December 2006. Will Smith starred as Gardner and received Academy Award, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for his performance. Gardner was an associate producer on the film.

In his second New York Times bestselling book, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, published in May 2009, Gardner shared his philosophies on, and the crucial steps behind, creating a fulfilling, successful life. The book provided a much-needed blueprint for navigating tumultuous times with positivity, courage, tenacity, discipline and common sense. The book was released in paperback in May 2010.

In the fall of 2010, Gardner was named the Ambassador of Pursuit and Happyness for AARP, which has nearly 40 million members worldwide. His mission is to share his hard-won wisdom to encourage the 50+ audience to pursue new challenges, search for fulfillment at any stage of life, or craft the legacy they want to leave behind.

The Movie

Born February 9, 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Christopher Paul Gardner’s childhood was marked by poverty, domestic violence, alcoholism, sexual abuse and family illiteracy. Gardner published his autobiography out of a desire to shed light on these universal issues and show they do not have to define you. Gardner never knew his father, and lived with his beloved mother, Bettye Jean Triplett (nee Gardner), when not in foster homes. Gardner is indebted to Bettye Jean for his success as she provided him with strong “spiritual genetics” and taught him that in spite of where he came from, he could chart another path and attain whatever goals he set for himself.

Gardner joined the Navy out of high school and after discharge moved to San Francisco where he worked as a medical research associate and for a scientific supply distributor. In 1981, as a new father to son Christopher Gardner Jr., he was determined to find a career that would be both lucrative and fulfilling. Fascinated by finance, but without connections, an MBA or even a college degree, Gardner applied for training programs at brokerages, willing to live on next to nothing while he learned a new trade. Chris Jr.‘s mother left and Gardner, despite his circumstances, fought to keep his son because, as he says, “I made up my mind as a young kid that when I had children they were going to know who their father is, and that he isn’t going anywhere.”

Gardner earned a spot in the Dean Witter Reynolds training program but became homeless when he could not make ends meet on his meager trainee salary. Today, Gardner is involved with homelessness initiatives assisting families to stay intact, and assisting homeless men and women who are employed but still cannot get by. It is estimated that 12% of the homeless population in the United States is employed; in some communities that estimate is as high as 30%.

Gardner worked at Bear Stearns & Co from 1983-1987 where he became a top earner. In 1987 he founded the brokerage firm Gardner Rich in Chicago from his home with just $10,000. Gardner Rich LLC is a FINRA registered broker-dealer specializing in servicing public pension funds and Taft-Hartley plans for some of the nation’s largest institutions and unions. In addition to expanding its core business as an institutional securities broker, Gardner Rich has increased its participation in corporate underwriting and has expanded its brokerage services to include trading in global markets through both ordinary and ADR form.

Dedicated to improving the well-being of children through positive paternal involvement, Gardner is a board member of the National Fatherhood Initiative, and received the group’s Father of the Year Award in 2002. He served on the board of the National Education Foundation and sponsors two annual awards: the National Education Association’s National Educational Support Personnel Award and the American Federation of Teachers’ Paraprofessionals and School-Related Personnel (PSRP) Award. He also serves on the board of the International Rescue Committee, which works to provide access to safety, sanctuary, and sustainable change for millions of people whose lives have been shattered by violence and oppression. Gardner is still very committed to Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco, where he and his son received assistance in the early 1980’s. He has helped fund a project that creates low-income housing and opportunities for employment in the notoriously poor Tenderloin area of the city.

Gardner has also been honored by the NAACP Image Awards with awards for both the book and movie versions of The Pursuit of Happyness; Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women’s (LACAAW) 2006 Humanitarian Award; The Continental Africa Chamber of Commerce’s 2006 Friends of Africa Award; The Glaucoma Foundation’s Kitty Carlisle Hart Lifetime Achievement Award; The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA); Covenant House, Common Ground and other organizations committed to combating violence against women, homelessness, and financial illiteracy – issues of the utmost importance to Gardner.

Chris Gardner’s aim, through his speaking engagements and media projects, is to help others achieve their full potential. His practical guidance and inspirational story have made him a frequent guest on CNN, CNBC and the Fox News Channel. He has been featured on “The CBSEvening News,” “20/20,” “Oprah,” “Today Show,” “The View,” “Entertainment Tonight,” as well as in People, USA Today, Associated Press, New York Times, Fortune, Entrepreneur, Jet, Reader’s Digest, Trader Monthly, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Post and theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel, amongst other publications.

Gardner has two children and resides in Chicago and New York.

What does pursuing happiness means.... (Article reference wikipedia and health.howstuffswork.com)

If there's one thing that can be said about happiness, it's that it's wholly and utterly subjective. What makes one person happy -- picking flowers on a sunny day, perhaps -- may make another person decidedly unhappy. John Locke, however, believed that happiness is the natural state of humanity. As Locke wrote on the subject, humans "are drawn by the forces of pleasure and repulsed by pain" [source: McMahon].

Owing a mansion gives happiness then pursue it.

Exactly what gives that pleasure, again, varies widely. Researchers believe that the accumulation of wealth is a major source of pleasure for Americans. For instance, a January 2007 Gallup poll showed that 72 percent of people who made $75,000 a year or more said they were happy [source: WebMD]. Material gain in the forms of money, property and personal possessions isn't the only way Americans pursue happiness, however. In the same poll, people who were married -- no matter what their income level was -- were happier than single people.

Things like new cars, large houses and extensive portfolios, along with having a family and friends make us happy to varying degrees. It's up to the individual, as far as Jefferson was concerned, to determine what makes him or her happy [source: McMahon]. The pursuit part, however, is a different story.

Because happiness was widely considered a natural state for humans in the Jeffersonian era, it was believed to be what God intended and therefore deserved protection. The word's proximity to two other natural rights -- liberty and life -- demonstrates that Jefferson found happiness just as important. The legal and social frameworks provided by the Declaration and the Constitution are meant to create that protection. If a large house makes you happy, for example, then another person shouldn't be able to set it on fire; there are laws against that. What's more, an individual shouldn't legally be kept from pursuing that large house.

When he wrote the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson avoided defining happiness, choosing to leave it to the individual to determine his or her own meaning of the word. He also may have realized that it's not enough to want to be happy: The path to happiness must be unobstructed, as long as it doesn't interfere with another's happiness, of course.