There was a time where I knew the absolute least about investing and the stock market among my social circle. I was always good with money, but it seemed that I was all but ignorant when it came to how the macro of everything works. I was focused on my kids, my husband, my life. But, as we got older, I decided it was important that I not only play catch up to my savvy friends, I work to get ahead of them. It wasn’t always easy, but here’s how I blew my friends away with my newly attained stock market knowledge in about 6 months. The first step, of course, was research. Since I didn’t have time to go to the community college or attend online classes, it was up to me to find resources that were engaging and, more importantly, were things I would continue to commit to. There’s no point in finding a learning resource if it bores you out of your brain. To get the bare bones essentials, I turned to Investopedia. They have a very clean and easy summary of how everything works. It’s a great resource for all of those questions I felt were too stupid to ask someone—things as basic as what is a stock exchange, exactly? I then looked at Investopedia’s list of books that are essential to investing. I won’t lie and say I read them all, but I did check out a few from the library, which deepened my understanding of things. But what happened next was what really made the difference. I discovered two essential resources that I still use to this day. Try2BFunded and Score Priority. Why did these make such a difference? Try2BFunded allowed me to at first simulate what it was really like to trade on thee market. At first, I treated it like a game. I built different portfolios, traded, and tried to balance taking risks with keeping steady numbers. If I made a mistake, I could start over. If I lost too much, I could try a new tactic. But then, as I learned more and more, I realized that with Try2BFunded I could actually make money. I just had to get past their qualifying round. The qualifying round wasn’t difficult but it also wasn’t easy. I had to prove that I could steadily earn and trade smartly. But once I’d done that, something I never thought was possible happened. I was given access to $100,000. With a 60/40 split going my way, I was able to use Try2BFunded's money to invest with. The profits went to my bank account. It took about 6 weeks to get my funding, but during that time I went from below average to someone who was actively making money. I bolstered what I was learning from Try2BFunded with the community offered by Score Priority. The two are connected— Score Priority gave me a chance to talk to other traders from all around the world about how to earn money. In about 6 months, I went from knowing nothing to making money. That would impress just about anybody.