Andy Carlsen is a trading trainer and mentor, and a partner at the Advanced Trading Workshop.

In his own words:

My name is Andy Carlsen. I am 35 years old and have been a full-time trader for almost eight years. I have loved the markets for as long as I can remember. When I was 6 or 7, I asked my dad what a ‘stock’ was, and he explained it to me in terms of the lemonade stand I was thinking about setting up in the front yard. I was hooked! Early in high school I was picking stocks from the Wall Street Journal and following them. By the time I was 17, I opened up an IRA account and bought some mutual funds with money I earned mowing lawns.

I was taking care of 20 lawns, and I figured if I could get to 50 or 60 it would be a nice business. I did it—by the time my older brother finished college there were 55 accounts. When I went to college, my brother and one employee tended the lawn business. After I graduated with honors and a B.S. in business, we grew and ran the business together for about 5 more years before we sold it.

At the time I was a part-time youth pastor at a local church (I have always had a heart for high school kids—and still do!). It was at this time that I married my beautiful wife, Jennifer. We have since added two amazing children.

I took a job as a sales manager and did quite well at it for about three years. I knew it was time to work for myself again, as I have always had a STRONG entrepreneurial spirit! Anyway, the decision to move on led me to trading!

I believe trading is the BEST business option available today—because of incredibly low overhead, no employees, time freedom (you trade when you want to trade)—and all this with unlimited earning potential! I jumped in with both feet, but honestly, I went about it ALL WRONG. I wanted to learn RIGHT NOW and making a living at it NEXT WEEK!

I started trading with too little capital and pretty much no experience. Believe me, I was VERY fortunate to have found my mentor (and now my good friend and business partner) very early in this experience. I would not be a trader NOW if I did not find Jerry Simmons so early in my learning process. What I paid Jerry to be trained seemed expensive at the time, but it was worth every penny! It cost me over half of my starting capital to go to Jerry’s house and receive my crash course training, but now here I am. I am not a multi-millionaire YET, but I support my family doing what I LOVE.

Having a mentor is the KEY to trading success. As much as you may think you can learn from books and seminars and by the seat-of-your-pants, the odds of being successful in this business increase dramatically when you have a mentor. Nine out of ten successful traders will tell you they had a mentor. Knowing this, why would you try to learn any other way?!?

About 5 years ago I began to mentor and train other traders. I really had no credentials at the time, but I believed there were traders who would be interested in learning from an average guy who passionately loves trading and truly cares about helping others achieve their goals. I pride myself on my honesty and hard work and I hoped that both of those characteristics would shine through.

In 2004, I was contacted by a new trading software company named TradeGuider, whose CEO had been a client of mine a few years earlier. He asked me to run their internet trading room. Which I did for about 9 months. It worked out well for all concerned, and it gave me the experience and confidence to venture on my own . I ran my own trading room and mentorship service until the end of 2005 when Jerry Simmons and I decided it was time for us to join forces. I believe Jerry Simmons is the best kept secret in the trading community and I am excited to be partnered with him. Our intention is to help as many traders as possible achieve their goals and be consistently profitable traders.

Jerry and I have been working together a year and a half now, and I can honestly say things could not be better. The ATW is flourishing. We have had over 75 traders join our Mentorship Program and many more are involved in our Trade Room 101A. The greatest reward is all the positive feed back we receive from so many of our clients. To see them finally achieving their goals after working so hard is the real payoff for both Jerry and me!