BetterTrades founder Freddie Rick was born and raised in a small town in Louisiana. His hometown of Kentwood, La., is in the northeastern part of the state, not far from the Mississippi border. He was raised by a typical American family that worked hard and passed along a solid belief system that revolved around hard work and personal responsibility.

Freddie Rick's father operated a business that did some welding and built metal buildings. His mother worked at the Walgreens Pharmacy. Freddie helped a lot around the house and spent much of his free time assisting his father in the family business.

The next great influence on his life came when he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. During his time of service, Freddie learned and honed many of the skills that would remain with him forever. He credits many of the lessons taught by the Marines for helping him develop the BetterTrades program into the No. 1 stock market education company in the country.

Freddie Rick credits his stint in the Marine Corp for helping develop the leadership skills that have been so valuable in his life and career. The ability to lead has been evident from the way he's grown BetterTrades and made it such a reliable company.

Perhaps the most influential person in the life of Freddie Rick today is his wife, Mitzi. She met Freddie when he was at a very low point in his life, having gone from a millionaire to living in a friend's one-car garage. Mitzi helped boost Freddie's self confidence and was a constant source of encouragement while he built his business.

Mitzi also influenced Freddie in the area of faith. "Mitzi taught me a lot about giving back, and believing and trusting in God," Freddie says. "We just had to have faith and believe it. It was amazing that every time we needed some money, we had just enough to make it work, even though we were tithing and giving money away that we didn't really have to give away in the first place. To this day we continue to give and it's amazing how the more we give, the more we receive, and that we can never give more than we get back."