I've always been interested in becoming an "investor," one that should diversify his portfolio like a good little boy that has always done what he is told. While in college I even took a few investment analysis courses and aced them. During the fall 2001 semester we were having a stock challenge in my course. At the time CLX (a major blue chip company that I could never imagine this world without it) was coming off of lows. I don't even remember how I came across these stocks, but I had TYCO and TAYD in my portfolio as well. Maybe I thought I was diversifying my stock portfolio. Well, after 9-11 my portfolio took off (while everyone else's sank) and I won that challenge in my class by the end of the semester. We were allowed to buy and sell as much as we wanted, as long as we did a journal entry for each trade. I didn't sell anything! And with that, it gave my professor the opportunity to use my "winning" portfolio as an example of why you should buy and hold a well diversified portfolio.

Since that class, I didn't buy or sell a single share of stock until 2012. I didn't trade while in college because I had to make my own way by working as a RA, work-study jobs, and studying my butt off to earn scholarships. The idea of having enough money to trade stocks was that of big dreams and a great imagination. Being able to put $50 into a regular savings account was an accomplishment. I didn't come from a wealthy family. I grew up in one of the poorest counties in Virginia. My dad wasn't around for the majority of my childhood (it's an off-topic long story, but he's a good dude) and my mom was incarcerated (she's been out for 10 years and doing well) while I put myself through college. In other words, there were no hand outs. However, my grandparents made sure I didn't need for anything. I was almost solely responsible for myself. Survival and making my life better through any ethical means was the focus according to what I have learned.

Returning to my economically impoverished hometown after earning a BS majoring in business and public administration and economics was a challenge. I worked with my grandfather's small business selling and installing water softening and treatment systems. By that time most homeowners were switching to municipal supplied water and no longer drilling well. Most people couldn't afford to purchase a softener for their municipal water and the business suffered. So, earning a livable income with money to "invest" remained difficult - still a dream.

Over the next couple of years I did some moving around and job hopping trying to find my way. I lived in the Tri-Cities of VA and TN (the closest near-metropolitan area to my hometown), York, PA and Baltimore, MD. I eventually came back to my hometown to give the family business one last hoo-rah in the midst of the housing boom as my grandfather rode off into the sunset of retirement. I began marketing the business in the Bristol/Kingsport/Johnson City area because of the home growth in the area. It took a couple of years and things started becoming good. Really good for me in fact! In June 2008 I had my best month EVER! I profited about $18K. I had put every penny I made back into the business and it was beginning to come back to me. I thought I was on top of it all, that things were going to take off and I would be able to start "investing." I could see the light. Then July 2008 happened - the great recession hit our area in full force. Since I had put everything I earned back into the business, I had no extra capital and little in personal savings. By August - the business and I both were at ZERO! Okay, zero would've been better - I was in deep debt!

At this point I knew I had to make a decision, so I spent a lot of time soul searching and gave up on making phone call after phone call trying to find any bit of sales or service to bring in any income that had been unsuccessful for the previous two months. I landed on wanting to do something that would make a difference in people's lives while earning an income. Healthcare? Sure, what's the quickest route in and most versatile? After much research - nursing! So, I'm once again at a point in life with no money to "invest" and now I'm going back to the local community college taking an anatomy and physiology course to see if I can handle this realm of academia. That fall, I aced A&P and in the spring I was applying for nursing school. I got into the nursing program beginning fall 2009, worked as an online advisor (barely making ends meet) for the college since I do have a BS, and I eventually graduated in the spring of 2011.

Within a month I passed my board exam and I was able to seek gainful employment as a registered nurse. By July 2011, I married my smart, ambitious and beautiful girlfriend that I met as we both went back to school; we moved to central NC (because the healthcare job opportunities are so much better, cheaper cost of living, and we wanted out of the sticks) and I began my job as a RN. A lot of transition in a very short amount of time! I jumped into the emergency department new graduate residency and excelled - quickly! I was oriented and independent within a few months and I didn't looked back for a while. I figured out that I'm really good at this. The physicians I work with want me to go back to school to become a physician assistant or nurse practitioner. Then one day it hits me. Other than my 403(b) retirement account, I can now "invest."

All while working my full-time job as a RN in 2012, my first trade was BAC in the $7s. It was holding gains off it's lows from the recession - at least that's what made logical sense of what I could understand from the bald guys on CNBC. I had paid off most of my debts from my business and was finally beginning to see some fruits from what seemed was a lifetime of labor. Why that little bit of information, to emphasize how small my first position was. I was finally jumping in with real money! I sold that position of BAC over a year later in the $16s. Yeah, I made some money and more than if my money was in a savings account. I was satisfied, but I also realized that in order for me to truly achieve financial freedom that this was not the way. I kept saying to myself and my wife, "there has to be a better way!" I don't want to continue putting in ridiculous hours at the hospital making money for someone else. I want to be free so I can help people in many ways without being worried about my finances. But until I find a better way I would keep buy stocks that I thought would go up, and was right a few times. I just wasn't experiencing any significant account growth.

By August 2014 I grew tired of playing around with these slow moving blue chips and began looking into areas of the markets one was dared to go. **Oh yeah, by this time I'm also in my final semester of working on a BSN that's required by my employer - and I am sick and tired of school as well as the fact that very few aspects of my life do not involve nursing at this point. I don't know why, but I did a hashtag search on Instagram (an app I rarely use) for wallstreet - or #wallstreet. I came across a lot of stuff, most of it was obviously junk. But I landed on some pics from an account called Bulls Make Money. I looked them up and found a website with them trading these stocks priced below 0.01 - I didn't think that was even possible. I was intrigued and impressed that they attempted to do some lessons on their page. I kept following them and began adding more groups and people - heck, I even made a few really horrible trades according to those bulls' recommendations. I wasn't learning anything, I became inundated by the shear amount of information out there. So much so, that I was just looking for someone to give me reliable picks because it seemed like everyone was digging so deep just to get research to make a trade. How much time would I have to put into this to settle on one stock to buy? But the more people I followed, I began seeing a common hashtag - #timsykes. And I kept seeing references to Tim Sykes. I've never heard of this guy. Who the flip is Tim Sykes?

Once I finally decided to Google "Tim Sykes" I felt like I found someone who can actually teach me something useful that will provide me with financial freedom. Something that I can learn without it being too confusing or getting into too many details. With great discretion, I began following Tim Sykes from a distance. I got the 7 free video lessons and watched some YouTube videos. I was impressed (a separate blog post would be needed for all the reasons). So I decided to dive in - I subscribed to TimAlerts. Low risk, high reward potential. After getting the Alerts, getting in the chatroom, being gagged a couple of times, and watching some video lessons my learning really started taking off. But I had that distraction of trying to finish my BSN as required by my employer (which I feel is totally bogus as I already have another BS degree). So, my degree of dedication and learning is low and slow but did improve once I finished that degree in December 2014.

I have since bought H2MM, and Spikeability. My level of knowledge has grown immensely. And I am now at the point that I'm just balancing my weekend night work schedule as emergency department coordinator while learning and trying to trade on my days off. I have to be very selective as I have a small account and fall within the PDT rule - something I didn't know existed until Tim Sykes entered my life.

I want to, but rarely trade on Monday mornings as I have just worked 12 hours over night and all weekend - my brain is shot after all of the traumas, car wrecks, gun shot and other assault victims and various other things that working in the ER on weekend nights provides.

My plan from here: once my wife finishes her doctorate degree in physical therapy this December and begins working again I will cut back on my time at work and dedicate more time in the chat room and studying. It is my goal to become a Tim Challenge student that is dedicated to trading and learning to make a sustainable living by only trading.

To anyone that has read this incredibly long blog post (my first one ever) I hope you take my journey as a lesson of persistence. Also, know that it doesn't matter what your familial background is. I, for example, came from a very poor family in a poor area infested with illegal drugs. My family was involved in illegal drugs while I was a young and impressionable adolescent. Guys that I grew up with have been in jail, hooked on drugs, and have even died from their lifestyle. It could've been easy for me to become one of those statistics due to my surroundings and all of the psychological research suggests that I should've become a product of those surroundings. But I made a conscious decision at a young age that I wanted something better for my life. By all standards, I have achieved, surpassed, and sustained that goal. I earn a livable wage with a gratifying, yet demanding and stressful, job while I live in a nice upper-middle class home. But I am not where I want to be or feel I am capable of being. I want to achieve true financial freedom so my wife and I can travel the world and give time and resources to missions. I'm no where close to where I want to be, but I trust and am certain that I have access to the knowledge and tools that will get me there.

God Bless!