The Pursuit of Happyness

My significant other and I rented (via Netflix) The Pursuit of Happyness this weekend. Here's a very quick synopsis in case you don't recall:

The movie is based on a true story of a single father who essentially loses all his money in a business transaction and ends up homeless. He applies for and gets a stock broker internship position (unpaid) and works for them for six months while also taking care of his son and trying to find space for the two of them at shelters on a nightly basis. At the end of the six months only one of the twenty interns is offered a posistion and, (I don't think I'm giving anything away here), it is offered to this guy. Turns out that this guy later goes on to open up his own firm and then in 200X? sold his stake in the firm for several million dollars.

Not only is the story itself impressive (and very well played by Will Smith) - but as an entrepreneur it struck me on two levels. The first was watching how his original entrepreneural desire got his family into financial straits to begin with (and eroded his marriage). It was a firm reminder that nothing is a given.

The second, and more compelling message, was how incredibly emotionally strong Chris (the main character) had to be to not only overcome everything he did but to do it with a son in tow. In talking to other small business owners, I know that many of us rely heavily on a network of friends, family, and spouse/significant other to help us emotionally when times are rough. Chris had no one as it doesn't appear that he let on to any of the other interns or his superiors at the firm what his true situation was.

I'm honestly not sure I could have done and continue to do this without that support network.

Long story short - I recommend the movie.