How would you feel if you found yourself one night sleeping locked in a public bathroom? Chris Gardner was no kid when a series of troubles left him struggling, then homeless as depicted by Will Smith in the 2006 film, The Pursuit of Happyness. It is one thing to be homeless yourself; it is quite another when you have responsibility for a small child.

Public bathroom. ©iStockphoto/JordiDelgado.

What was Gardner’s staircase out of homelessness? Gardner got a break when he was accepted into the Dean Witter Reynolds stock brokerage training program, a San Francisco based program that provided no salary. Gardner passed the licensing exam and his hard work earned him a permanent, salaried position. A few years later, he started his own brokerage firm and through hard work became a financial success.

Who did Gardner help with his hard earned wealth? According to Wikipedia, one recipient was the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church which allowed Gardner and his son to stay at their women’s shelter when they were homeless.