Staying Fit
Though this year has been tough for many, it's ending on a high note for Michael Phillips, who has gone from being homeless to living in an apartment, landing a job and finding a mentor.
That good luck is due, in part, to a chance meeting with one man: Scot Johnston.
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The two first met this fall when Johnston, 53, and his wife interviewed potential real estate agents to help sell their large Erie, Pennsylvania, home as they downsize.
Phillips, 22, was one of those agents. Johnston told him he was looking to work with someone with “hustle."
"I said, ‘If you want hustle, you're looking at it,’ “ Phillips says. “I told him I was homeless when I was studying for my [real estate] license."
Living out of his car
The young Phillips moved from his hometown of Philadelphia to Erie about 18 months ago to study accounting and finance at Gannon University. But he dropped out after a year. “I just felt that college was moving a little too slow for me,” Phillips says. “I realized that real estate was the life for me."
In the spring, Phillips decided to study for his real estate license. He took the exam in July and passed. In the interim, however, he lost his school housing. “I didn't have anywhere to stay, but I had a car,” Phillips says. So, he lived in his 2003 Chevrolet Tracker from late May through early August. He also worked, delivering pizzas to pay for gas, food and about $350 in real estate-course and related fees — and to save for a down payment on rent.
"I knew being homeless was temporary,” recalls Phillips, who is a first-generation American. “I planned to do it for a week or two, but that turned into a month or two. What I had to go through was better than what my family lived through in Liberia before coming here."
Meeting a generous friend
Impressed by Michael Phillips (left), who lived out of his car to save money and pay for his real estate license, Scot Johnston bought him a more professional wardrobe.
Courtesy Scot Johnston
Then, life began to improve for Phillips. He saved enough money to rent an apartment in August and he began working as an independent contractor for Keller Williams Realty Inc. in September, but he still couldn't afford to look professional. He wore sneakers to Johnston's home for the interview.
"I asked him, ‘Do you have a suit?’ and he said, ‘No, I can't afford a suit,'” says Johnston, a health systems director for pharmaceutical company Indivior. “He was such a nice kid. There was something about him that touched us."
The next day, Johnston asked Phillips to meet him at the Men's Warehouse store. While trying on a suit there, Phillips teared up when he overheard Johnston tell the sales associate to make it two suits. “I was actually crying,” Phillips says. “One, he spent a lot of money. Two, he was a complete stranger. Nobody outside of my family had done anything to that extent."
