For most of my adult life, I have been financially frustrated. I spent my nights and weekends Dj-ing weddings, working stagehand for a local production company, and picked up random Craigslist gigs— all the while holding down a full-time job during the week.

Yet, somehow I still found myself living paycheck to paycheck.

I wasn’t going out to eat often or spending my money on other night life activities. It seemed as if I was just handing money over to groceries, phone bill, car insurance, and rent. I lived modestly.

Meanwhile, many of my friends were buying tickets to expensive music festivals and regularly taking time off work for lavish vacations.

I was tired, overworked, and unhappy.

Finally, I reached out for help from the pros. I began listening to audio books from authors like Bryan Tracy, Tony Robbins and Jim Rohn in hopes to seek the answer to financial freedom.

I realized those great life coaches taught very similar lessons and gave nearly identical advice, which made the path to success refreshingly obvious—Invest.

The Importance of Investing…

I spent hours researching on how to get involved in stocks, but the information was all very overwhelming and seemed incredibly complicated.

One day, a friend told me about a free stock trading app called Robinhood that allows you to make trades at the push of a button. Since I still knew absolutely nothing about the stock market, I was hesitant to try it, but he assured me a 5-year-old could figure it out.

I said, “Okay, what the heck”, and downloaded the app.

Right off the bat, you get a free mystery stock upon setting up your account. I was lucky enough to receive a Facebook stock worth $250.

Here’s where it gets interesting…

In the app’s handy search bar, I first typed in companies I was familiar with, such as Apple, ($176 per share), Chipotle, ($319 per share), and Amazon ($1,502 per share).

I couldn’t afford them.

Even if I could, I was not able to buy enough shares in order to make a large enough return on investment. So, I Googled the cheapest stocks I could find.

Bingo…err, Benzinga!

Each day, Benzinga.com automatically updates their “Stocks Under $1” list and organizes them in two columns—Biggest Earners and Biggest Losers.

I wrote down the top five earning stocks for that day and entered them into another Google search, where I found my second most important tool, called StockTwits— a social network for investors and traders.

On StockTwits, thousands of people openly share news and research on stocks that have caught their eye. Many users even give play-by-play updates of their personal buying and selling choices. As someone coming in with no market knowledge whatsoever, this was like hitting the jackpot.

After scrolling through a few posts, it appeared there was supposed to be big news released by one of the top-earning penny stocks, called BioPharmX, (BPMX).

BPMX was at $0.11 per share at the time. I thought, “All right, let's do it”. I bought 100 shares at $11 total.

Before I knew it, BPMX had jumped to $0.14 per share. “Cool! I just made an easy three bucks!”

I kept reading the message board. It seemed that more good news was on the way for BPMX. I wanted to capitalize but knew the only way to do so was to invest a higher dollar amount.

I bit the bullet and went in for 5,200 more shares at $728 total. This was just about all the savings I had in my bank account, but the confidence other investors had in BPMX gave me all the confidence I needed.

The Next Morning…

I woke up the next morning and immediately had an “oh no, what have I done!?” moment. I logged into Robinhood with intention of retracting my purchase, fearing I may have lost it all. I opened the app, then saw the most beautiful surprise.

I had doubled my money.

BPMX had announced they had received an official patent on one of their products, rocketing their shares to $0.30 each and bringing my account from $728 to $1,590 overnight!

At this point, I’d had Robinhood for less than 5 days, earning money simply by listening to others and copying their investment decisions.

Now, experienced investors will say this is very basic information, as it absolutely is. My goal is to educate those who have very little, to no knowledge at all, like I did, and give people like you an opportunity to start building a future.

Regardless, whether you’re a beginner investor or a veteran, looking to play the short game or the long, Robinhood is a must-have. If done correctly, this process will give you the chance to finally eliminate debt and take control of your finances.

The Best Part…

Robinhood has a great referral program. If you invite your friends to start investing, you and your friend will each receive a free mystery stock.

1 in 100 chance of getting Facebook, Apple or Microsoft, 1 in 90 chance in getting GE, Ford, or AMD, and of course, 100% chance of getting a free stock!

That night, I made a Facebook post about my experience with the app and encouraged my friends to join. The free stocks my friends and I received from them signing up rounded out my thousand dollar total earning for the day.

Keep in mind, penny stocks are known to be highly volatile — meaning extreme fluctuation is common, so look for advice not only on the right time to buy but also when to sell. But don’t worry, the StockTwits community has your back.

Recap…

Download Robinhood. Look at the top 5 highest earning penny stocks under $1. See what people are saying about those stocks on StockTwits. Invest in a stock based on user’s research and advice. Make money!

As for BPMX, they keep saying it’s supposed to hit $1.00 by June of this year, so I’m going to ride it out and see where it takes me.

Don’t be a stranger. Let me know what stocks you think look promising!