DNP Ep. 53: The Journey of the Tax Deed Wolf

TaxDeed Wolf

Sandra Pagenta: Hi, Joseph, welcome to the doctor nurse podcast. Thanks for coming on today.

Joseph Griffin: Hey Sandra, how you doing? Pleasure to be here. Loving it.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah. So excited. And I can’t wait to dive into what you’re doing. It just sounds so cool. And just again, my family’s in real estate. We love real estate. Once I saw your profile, I was like more nurses need to hear about what he is doing over here.

So we have got to get the word out.

Joseph Griffin: Yes, let’s get it. It’s some life changing stuff.

Sandra Pagenta: Definitely. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about what your job title is exactly. Kind of how you view what you do for a living.

Joseph Griffin: Okay. Awesome. So, hi everyone. I’m Joseph Griffin. I’m known as the tax deed Wolf. No, I don’t do taxes.

All right. A lot of people are like, oh, can you do my taxes? They’re my inbox. And I’m like, look, we don’t do taxes. We specialize in tax need investing. So what taxed investing. Is in the us whenever you own a property, right? Whenever you own a property, you have to pay your property taxes. A lot of people don’t know this for some reason, right?

But if you don’t pay your property taxes, the [00:01:00] county is gonna take your property and they’re gonna give it to someone else that will pay property taxes right now, depending on what type of state you live in. We have tax lie, states, tax de states and tax redemption de states. So a lot of people were familiar with redemption periods, but with a tax deed auction, there’s no redemption period.

When you win the property, it’s yours immediate. So it’s it’s yeah, it’s a, it’s a game changer it’s been going on for a long time. If you have a mortgage, a bank owns your property technically. Right. So that will go to foreclosure option. It’s completely different. So and a lot of people are like, oh wait, what about mortgages?

And Hey, what about this? What do I need to have? Do I need a license? Do I need a good credit score? You literally only need. Life changing stuff, life changing stuff. Okay.

Sandra Pagenta: So the reason why most people probably don’t know about the taxes part. And I learned this from your podcast is that it’s wrapped up in your mortgage payment, your taxes, like the bank takes that over, cuz they’re not gonna let you not pay your yeah.

They’re not gonna let you pay your taxes cuz they know they could lose the property. If you don’t do [00:02:00] your part. So the bank’s like, I ain’t gonna let that happen. Let me take it over. Correct.

Joseph Griffin: Yep. They’re gonna foreclose. So your taxes and your insurance is, is known as escrow in your mortgage.

So you’re paying your, you’re paying your taxes if you’re paying your mortgage. Yeah. People don’t know that you’re paying more taxes and and insurance and interest than principal that’s true in the very beginning.

Sandra Pagenta: What I’m really interested in is.

How do you help people? So what’s your business model that you’re involved in right now? Like kind of what’s how are you making money?

Joseph Griffin: Good, good question. So we’re making how are you making money? Right? This is met. We are making money. So we do tax investing. Right? So at any point in time, I may have two to three tax D properties that I’m actively.

Right now, other than that, we are doing short term rentals. We have some Airbnbs properties that we own and arbitrage. Right. So then on top of that multi, we do multi-family investing as [00:03:00] well. So we purchase when I say multi-family, I’m not even talking. Yeah. I have a, I have one duplex, but we’re talking 10 plus units typically.

So for example, we’re closing on a 17 unit in Daytona beach, current. Right. We’re supposed to close on that one this week. So we, we make money from real estate, right? Monthly cash flows. Now how we help others is when I started doing this, people start asking me questions, right? How’d you get a property for $1,900.

How’d you get a property for $3,000. And I’m like, oh, you know, tax deduct auction. And as I was getting more and more questions, my social media’s kind of blowing up. Then I was like, you know what? Somebody was like, you should just make a course. And, and I never thought people would wanna know this stuff.

And then, and the numbers just kept coming in like, Hey, can I just pay you? And you show me. And I was just doing one on one mentorships. And then now we have this academy and, you know, people are, you know, they sign up, we have the online curriculum, we’re teaching not only taxed investing, but you know, there’s so much more to be a real estate investor, proper business structure, asset protection how to understand [00:04:00] loans, right?

Using OPM taxes. Like literally there’s so much more to just buying property. So we kind of show, show ’em all that.

Sandra Pagenta: Wow. You said two things that I think people need explained. For my listeners out there, could you explain what arbitrage is?

And then are you involved in syndication deals or these are just deals that you’re putting together or you pulling people together to. Real estate invest investments, definitely for two questions.

Joseph Griffin: So first question arbitrage Arbi, the, the technical definition of arbitrage is taking something that’s from someone and selling it to another someone.

Now this can be different markets, like literally understanding that. In this market, something’s priced very low. So I take it and sell it in another market. This can be another country. This can be another, you know, just another person, whatever. So with Airbnb arbitrage, what we do is we rent a property from a, a landlord.

Because we understand the landlords asking for a little bit of money compared to what we can make off of that property. [00:05:00] So while we’re renting under contract with that landlord under a corporate lease, we’re putting that property on short term rental platforms, such as Airbnb, V B O booking.com. And we’re making two to three times more than what the landlord is is charging for rent.

Sandra Pagenta: That is crazy. So, and of course you’ve got systems in place to figure out how to increase the value of that property. Putting in things that make people wanna spend a little bit more or just marketing it better than the actual people that own the property or marketing it. So it’s a really good budget strategy.

And then they also are getting the money that they need for the property. And you’re just managing, making sure. And I’m sure there’s some. Legal issues with that. People have to work out and, and, and all that. But yeah, that’s a really cool way to, to turn a profit on something that you. C might be undervalued.

And then for the syndication part, or are you involved in syndications or just, just you investing in a single property by yourself.

Joseph Griffin: So yes, syndications the same way that, that Savannah does it, we find a deal and that’s for now, [00:06:00] eventually we may, you know, we might do some on our own. We may do some that’s like have, may have like three other partners in one.

Yeah. So yeah, we get these apartment complexes. We syndicate the deal get the attorney, get all the paperwork done. Raise the funds get the loan and. Close on the property.

Sandra Pagenta: You didn’t wake up one day and have all this stuff and understand real estate and investing and taxed liens and deeds and all the things that you know now, like this has been a journey to this spot.

Right. And your journey’s pretty interesting. It doesn’t start with you coming out of college with, you know, into nursing school. Like it’s not that same maybe basic cookie cutter type. You know, track, you kind of went on a different track, which I find really interesting. Could you share with my listeners kind of that moment and, and kind of going back to when you served in the army and then how you ended up getting into nursing and then how, yeah, like you said, you’ve gotten out of nursing now through how you’ve developed this other in developing your investing company.[00:07:00]

Joseph Griffin: Definitely. So it’s funny because they say success, isn’t a straight line, right? Success is like a real, like a whole bunch of loops and, and that’s definitely what happened. So originally I’m from new Orleans Louisiana, the sixth ward. And after hurricane Katrina

Sandra Pagenta: What is it? Go saints. Is it Go saints? Wait, what, what you guys say?

Joseph Griffin: Yeah, yeah. Go saints. Who dat.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah whatever you guys say. That’s the one I was thinking of who dat.

Joseph Griffin: Hurricane Katrina. You know, that kind of sent me all over the place I was in North Carolina. I was in Georgia. I was like a freshman in high school when this happened. Right. So when, when I finally ended up in Atlanta, Georgia living with an aunt, it was almost like the fresh prince.

Like I was the cousin that moved in with the kind of better off family. They had both been prior air force. They kind of like structured me, you know, taught me. And I was just like, you know what, I’m gonna go to the army because the Army’s gonna pay for college. And I was playing basketball, running across the country and I didn’t want a chance, a full ride.

So I was just like, you know what, I’m gonna join the army. So I joined the army, [00:08:00] sent me to me school. And then I literally took every step to get to RN. I went to, I was an EMT first. Then the army sent me to LPN school. And then after LPN school, I, I finally went you know, bridge bridge from LPN to RN and got my BSN.

And then, you know, after two deployments, you know, doing whatever uncle Sam wanted me to do. Oh, they called you. They, I went to Afghanistan in 2013, 14 O F. .

Sandra Pagenta: Thank, thank you for your service by the way. Appreciate you.

Joseph Griffin: So then we did a private, I did a private tour working with the army, not really for them 2015, right after her could make good money doing that.

Definitely. We were, you know, I was over, I was in Kuwait, you know, we were taking trips to Dubai and Egypt and like doing all sorts of fun stuff, you know? So there was definitely some good in that. But after doing this so long we were talking about this earlier Sandra, like at some point, working in the, in the hospital, working in the ICU listening to, you know, people are like, Hey, do this, Hey, [00:09:00] do this.

And when COVID came, we saw Hey, do this this day. And then the next day, Hey, do this instead. And then the next day, Hey, this mask instead, you know, and it it’s tiresome. And after, after a while, it was just like, you know, I’m smarter than this. Like I’m literally running this ICU and people are telling me what to do that are not here running this ICU, that probably can’t even keep these patients alive.

And I was like, that’s just not how I wanna, you know, how I want to help by being told what to do. And so, you know, put that time into my own business and. Started taking over .

Sandra Pagenta: So how did you know that you wanted to get into this business? Because one of the things I find is that our nursing skills translate into so many things because we’ve got to assess and we’ve gotta monitor and we’ve gotta then change the plan and we’ve gotta delegate. And we’ve got all these skills that we learn in our nursing career. It translates so nicely into so many areas.

So how did you know. You wanted to get into tax deed investing because it’s kind of [00:10:00] random. I mean, most people aren’t like thinking I’m gonna learn how to take over people’s taxes and buy their properties. that’s not where most people are. How did you figure that this was what sung to your soul?

Joseph Griffin: Right. So you, you, you made a very good point, how you, the real thing is how you do anything is how you do everything, right? So if come on, if you were an awesome soldier, whatever you, really, whatever field you jump into, you’re gonna do good at. If that’s just the type of person you are, you Excel, you exceed in anything you do.

So what really happened. I didn’t have, or what I thought was I didn’t have enough money to be an actual real estate investor. That that’s what I thought. And so, you know, I was travel nursing and I had some, I had a little bit of money saved up and was like $8,000 at the time. And I was like, you know, what, how can I become an investor for eight, with $8,000?

And the first thing I did was leverage my VA loan. Right. Got a house. No, no money down, got a house. I was like, All right. Then it was had seed investing and there weren’t [00:11:00] any instructors for this stuff. It was a lot of trial and error, a lot of phone calls going to the county and, you know, really figuring this stuff out.

And I dove in my first property, I got three for $3,000. And then my second one, I got for $1,900 and I was like, wow. Now granted, these were just empty lots, but you know, still, it was like, man, this is awesome. Because the first one I sold for 10,000, I made seven grand and I was like, wow. And then got another one for, for 3000 that we sold for 18,000.

I was just like, you know what? This is it. And here I was just flipping lots selling ’em to. Right. Getting ’em for really cheap selling ’em to builders. I did that for about a year or two. And during that process, just, connections and learning and growing. And then now here we. Doing it all, you know, you really need to have three acquisition strategies, not just one.

So tax deed investing is a good entry point, right. But then you do, you start doing the burn method, right? Then you start syndicating multifamily deals. You’re doing [00:12:00] single family homes, whatever, whatever it might be. There’s just so many strategies out there. Wholesale. Yeah. So.

Sandra Pagenta: It’s just like being diversified in the stock market.

Right? You don’t just buy one stock. Well, maybe you do, but if you get really lucky, you can buy Amazon and like, you’re fine. But if you don’t end up buying that, they say, be diverse. And I think that’s kind of what you’re describing is that same diversity in your real estate investing that kind of protects you against, Hey, some things might not go as well in this area for this period of time, but that’s okay. Cause I’ve got this other thing. That’s generating income as well. It’s an algorithm right?

Joseph Griffin: Success loves speed. So first, if you sitting in there watching the stock and everyone else is buying it, but you’re sitting back second guessing your. You’re late, right? Success loves Steve, same with real estate. And it’s the same with nursing. When a patient comes in, especially if you’re an ER, nurse patient comes in, you have to assess, you have to, you know, you have to triage same with real estate.

When, when something comes across your front desk, you have to determine which route you’re gonna go, who, which lender you’re gonna [00:13:00] call, you know, which gonna be your exit strategy. Like how you do anything is literally how you doing everything. It’s the same system, the same algorithm. I just took it from healthcare and, and put it into real estate

Sandra Pagenta: And you’re killing the game, man. That’s so awesome. Your Instagram count is blowing up. And how many I believe you’ve taught. Was it 400? At least 400 students. So you’ve had go through your academy that you’ve taught

Joseph Griffin: we’re probably at four 50 to 500 right now.

Sandra Pagenta: Okay, cool. Yeah. I think when I read on your thing, you had said 400, so you’ve even got more from the time that you wrote that.

That’s crazy. That’s incredible.

Joseph Griffin: Yeah. It’s nuts. It’s amazing too. You know, I love it. I, I just cuz cuz it’s the testimonies for me. You know, somebody comes in that didn’t know anything suddenly has business credit and, and can turn that business credit into cash to go get their first property or buy their first duplex.

It’s just, it’s it’s a good feeling. It’s definitely a good feeling. Yeah.

Sandra Pagenta: So Joseph, tell me about. [00:14:00] One of the things that I like to highlight on the podcast is that not every deal you walked into was a great deal. Not everything that you did. You were just like, all I do is win, win, win, win, win.

I mean, this isn’t DJ Kelly, right? You’re not just gonna continue to just win. Right. So what I, what I say is there’s been moments of highs and lows throughout your career, and you have just continued to persist. Right? We learned that it’s not so much. Motivation it’s about the discipline. Like what you said when you show up and you’re an excellent person.

You’re just gonna continue that discipline into everything you go into. I think a lot of the world is so fixated on like, oh, well you just had it handed to you. You just got lucky. And you’re like, I didn’t just get lucky. Like I’ve been up until 2, 3, 4 o’clock in the morning working on stuff.

I’ve been here by myself and people are out doing other things. I was scrimping. I was saving. I was trying to get money for that deal. I wanna hear about a time where you had a challenge that you. Joseph. I, I, ain’t glad of this [00:15:00] one. This is it. I’m done for it. And you were like, no, I rose above because I think that’s the stuff that’s inspiring to people that are like, man, I, I can’t do it.

Sandra Pagenta: Joseph Joseph is special that you’re just like, I ain’t special. This is, this is what I had to overcome. But I just keep coming. I don’t stop. So could you tell me a situation like that? You got what?

Joseph Griffin: There’s so many, right? That’s the thing, like we said, success is just a big old you’re looping, you’re looping.

You’re you’re, you know, you fall down, you get back up recently. Well, one of the biggest things that that was hard [00:17:00] for me was to get in that shift were always taught that like credit is bad. Right. Mm-hmm and would never actually taught how to use credit, how to leverage it the right way. So yeah. Debt is.

Sandra Pagenta: They say debt is bad.

Joseph Griffin: Yeah, it’s bad. Right. So then when I finally started, it was a big mindset shift for me to understand debt and, and which debts are good, which ones are, are bad. So in the beginning I was asset rich and I was cash poor because I was using my own cash to buy everything. So, you know, yeah.

I might have had $30,000 and then once I spent 25,000. I was at 5k trying to make sure I could make it through until the next flow. Right. You know what I mean? it’s like, man, you know, this guy out here, he just bought his fifth property. Not understanding that I was, I bought it with my own money. Right.

And to give you a prime example, even just last year I spent, I spent almost a, I spent about $150,000. On a, on [00:18:00] a property, on a duplex. Right. And I was just like, man, you know what, whatever I need this house. I, I, I bought it $150,000, my own money. And, and then looking back, I was just like, why the heck did I do that?

Sandra Pagenta: so really, so you should have borrowed more from the bank.

Joseph Griffin: Could have definitely borrowed more. And, and I was, you know, at the time I was just like, you know, I, you have a certain budget. And it’s like, you know, I make this month a month, a month. It’s fine. I can do it. Yeah. This month, this month, a month.

But then suddenly I had five properties that were not cash flowing. I had to put tenants out and I had to cover renovations. So one property alone, I put $22,000 to rehab and it wasn’t making any money. Then I had three other properties that are, are still undergoing rehab. So then it was just all this money pushed out and I, my cash flow.

Dropped tremendously, right? Yeah. And yeah, this was my first year, like as a fulltime full-time [00:19:00] entrepreneur, entrepreneur, I was still nursing and doing stuff on the side. That was fine. But when you were a full-time entrepreneur, there’s no guaranteed checks coming every Friday. Right. Or every other Friday.

So that’s when it was like really, you know, okay. You have to game plan the power of. The power of saying no, I didn’t understand that. Like some deals will come across your desk and you have to understand that, Hey. You have to let this deal slide for now. Right. And what I started doing is I started passing off deals to other people, people in my network like, Hey, look, this is an awesome deal, but I’m tied up in five deals right now.

Do you want this deal? And what that did was that started changing other people’s lives. Right. So it was just like, then we’re just passing off deals. Hey, look, I can’t do it, but I know someone that could do it. So now you’re helping your energy’s just spreading. You’re helping out everyone. And, and what that did for me was just crazy.

Then, you know, I’m getting so many more testimonies, so many more people saying what everyone else gets legit. Yeah. [00:20:00] Yeah. And it was just, it was an amazing feeling. But the thing, the thing I wanna highlight you said is not. One of my mentors said Justin Owens, he, he told a story about driving through a storm and how a lot of people want to pull over on the side of the road and, and, and just, you know, put their hazard lights on and just wait for the storm to, to pass.

The worst thing you can do is stop. In the middle of a storm. And so he’s saying how, you know, the guy kept telling him, keep driving, keep driving. And you, you know, it’s, it’s rough, right? Your windshield wipers are going fast as possible. You’re still, you can see. So then you’re going, you’re going 10 miles an hour.

But, but guess what, you finally, eventually you see the light, like the rain starts slowing down and then you’re out the storm. But if you look back, everyone that stopped and pulled over are still in their storm. Right. So the worst thing that you can do is stop. This is something that, you know, we kept going.

It was like, Hey look, all right, what else can we do? All right, what else can we do? What else can we do now? And then that, you know, that time, beginning of last year, when we [00:21:00] were going through those struggles, that’s history, I told my wife, write this down, write this moment down, because this is, this is gonna be the lowest of our, our low and on.

We literally put it on our calendar. And we’re like, Hey, look, this is, this will never happen again. And we learned from that and it was, it’s just amazing. but you just gotta keep going. ,

Sandra Pagenta: it sounds like, again, we all have these moments where you kind of get tested. You’re resolve. For what you want gets tested.

And it always happens. I remember when I first went part-time, I don’t know if I’ve shared this on the podcast yet, but when I first went part-time at my job, I felt like such strong conviction that I needed to be home more. And so I said, you know what, I’m going part-time, that’s it. And I didn’t even know how much

I was gonna make as a nurse practitioner working part-time at the hospital. And so I was like, I don’t friend care. I can make $10 an hour. I can make 15. I’m just, I cannot do this anymore. Like, this is draining my life source. So. I went and again, I [00:22:00] cut my paycheck almost 70%. So it was like a huge drop.

I was like, wait, how does 50% cut you? 75? I don’t understand the math on that, but let’s just keep going. And then my husband lost his job and I remember being like, oh my gosh, like my husband’s lost his job. so I went part-time in March. COVID hit. My husband got laid off March.

It was all like March was just like, COVID, husband’s losing his job. I’m part-time. And so we were like, am I going back? And I was like, no, I’m not going back. I refused to go back. Right. I’m not going back into that storm. And it ended up working itself out. My husband just got a lateral transfer someplace else and it ended up all being okay.

Now again, he applied to like 150 jobs. I’m pretty sure when he was like, he was just hustling. Right. So, but I just say that to say, like, in each moment you do remember that testing of like, okay, I’m about to be an entrepreneur. I’m about to leave my nursing job. Which how long did you [00:23:00] work as a nurse?

Joseph Griffin: Total. It was like 9, 8, 9 years. If you count the LPN stuff and all the stuff we did at the army, but as an RN, it was like three years. Like three years as an RN. Wow. Yeah. And, and yeah, it’s not long at all. Yeah. We excelled so quick. Because when I graduated from RN school, I had a job waiting for me.

Right. And I, I ran right into it. It was the progressive care unit and six months in, I was like, what do we, what do we say? If anybody takes anything from this call, it’s how you do anything. It’s how you do everything. Six months in working in a progressive care unit stepped down from the ICU. I was like, okay.

What’s next, like I’ve, I’ve, I’ve mastered this what’s next. So then went to the ICU in like six in six months of working right. Jumped to the ICU and, and guess what? A year, less than a year later, I was traveling and they actually had me be assistant manager because I was just doing so much better than the other nurses.

I’m I’m like what? 27, [00:24:00] 28 at the time. And to less than two years to go to traveling to assistant manager, that’s kind of not normal. Right. Kind of not normal, but guess what? No one. no one would even know, like I was literally running that, running this, like not to sound cocky or anything, but I’m yeah.

Some nurses show up for a paycheck. Some nurses are literally watching YouTube videos, reading books, still years after graduation. I was that nurse constantly studying medications. I wasn’t just giving meds. I knew the structural, like why this med works, why I was gonna give you Vare. Over you know, over something else to, to get your blood pressure up.

Like, literally it was just, it took effort in the beginning, but it was life changing. The doctors seen it, like then it got to the point like, Hey, where’s Joey at? That’s what they call me in the hospital. Like where’s Joey, we wanna talk to Joey. You know, you please watch this patient, blah, blah, blah. So it, wow.

Sandra Pagenta: You can do it. Yeah. I remember [00:25:00] I listened to you on, I think it was your podcast or something else when I was looking you up. And I saw that, like you said, you looked up certain medications and you were like, this is gonna affect their kidneys and this isn’t good. So like, you would tell the, the doctor or the other nurses, like, we can’t give this because of whatever, whatever.

And you were like, I made an intentional. To know why I was giving something and what it would do. And I was impressed just hearing you say that I was like, dang, cuz that takes extra work. Like yes, nurses are trained to fill in the orders of the doctors, and what we should be focusing on is the fact that we’re that last line.

Of protection for those patients. And so if you have a good nurse at your bedside, you can make the difference in someone’s life. Because doctors don’t know everything. They’re sometimes residents, they’re tired, they’re overworked, they’re doing the best they can. And if they have a nurse at the bedside that is protecting just not only the patient, but also them.

Then they are way more careful when you raise a red flag and you’re like, wait, wait, wait, do you sure you wanna give this? And they’re like, Nope, I’m not sure I [00:26:00] wanna do this. Why don’t you think I need to do this? like, because you’ve spent the time.

Joseph Griffin: I knew it was a game changer when the person who was orienting me a doctor was asking him a question.

And then he was like, he was like, Joey, do you know? And the question was we were talking about the difference between like vasopressin and Levo fed or something like that. And a lot of people don’t understand all blood pressure medications don’t work the same. Right. So you know, I broke down to ’em.

I was like, well, look, this one’s gonna actually close your close your vessels a little bit more to. Pressure while this one is, is gonna give you some beta one and, and, you know, contract ability with the, and I was just breaking down something. I don’t even remember what it was at the time. And they were like, and he, and he’s training you.

But I had been watching YouTube videos on the way to work. Like literally, you know, some people just show up for a paycheck. You.

Sandra Pagenta: What I love about this story is that you are learning for life. [00:27:00] You are learning at every single moment. And that hunger for knowledge is something that I think school personally takes out of you.

You’ve gotta be hungry to learn for you, not for a grade, not to show that you know it on the test, but because what you, what you hear from all these people grant Cardon, mark Cuban. All these super successful entrepreneurs is just to stay hungry, to learn, know that you don’t know everything. And as long as you stay in that space of, I don’t know, I don’t know.

I need to go figure out and close those gaps. As you begin to do that, you will begin to change your life. As everybody around you is not doing that. They’re just, again, like you said, collecting a paycheck, going home and living their life, but you were making that. That hunger for knowledge, just something that was a staple that you were like using your moments instead of Netflix and chilling, you were tubing it and learning.

Right. I actually have a sign in my, in my BA in my closet. Which is where I [00:28:00] record my podcast where it says replace Netflix with podcast, replace influencers with creators, replace overthinking with action. I like to replace these things at the world, or people tell you, oh, it’s fine. Netflix and chill.

It’s like, no, you’re wasting time. So I actually took Netflix off my phone cause I. Nah, I don’t need to waste time. This is gonna suck time for me. And that’s my time. Give it to me. Like I want my time back. And so now that’s what I do every time. I’m like, man, I want a little Netflix. I’m like put on a podcast, go learn about something.

I’m like, Ugh. I hate that girl. Who’s that girl? It’s you?

Joseph Griffin: What you tune into? You turn into

Sandra Pagenta: a hundred percent, man. That’s so good. So you talked a little bit about your mentors. Anybody else you wanna shout out and say, Hey man, I nobody’s a self-made man. Nobody is I’m sorry. I don’t care who you are. You didn’t make it there by yourself.

So. Somebody’s been either reaching back or, or somebody has helped you turn into the person that you are today. And I’ve heard a couple sounds like those people that you stayed with when you were in west Philadelphia, born and [00:29:00] raised on the playground you spent most of your days, they sound like there was people where your mentors, but have you had anybody else that’s just come along and mentored.

Joseph Griffin: It’s it’s crazy. So this is, this is actually a good lesson because you’re not gonna have just one mentor right there. You might need a mentor in different areas. So my first mentor I paid for I paid for this consultation, right? This, this guy’s name is Jayden, Jayden. And he was, he literally, I had this course and I didn’t know what the heck I was doing.

Right. I knew what I, I knew the subject, but I didn’t even know how to make a course how to set up a curriculum, this and that. Sure. He broke it down for me. Hey, you need this, you need the copyright because somebody’s gonna steal your stuff and blah, blah, blah. He, it was $250 for like a 30 minute call and I almost didn’t do it.

Right. But when I did it, it was like, oh my goodness, this was like a life training attend call then jumped into Markel. Who who had a program where he showed you literally how to set up your coach, how your, your program Facebook ads like everything. So [00:30:00] then I finally had this thing and we, it took me weeks.

I shut down. I was like, nobody talked to me. I’m getting this done. Right. Put this program together because it’s one thing to have the knowledge, but you have to know how to present the knowledge too. And that’s something that I, I didn’t understand at the time, like people will sign up for your course, but if they don’t get value and it’s not delivered in a, a clean cut way, then you’re gonna get a lot of chargebacks.

You’re gonna get a lot of complaints. So that was, that was huge in the course. Now, as far as real estate goes, I don’t want to tell you how much money that I’ve spent on mentorship. The first program about $18,000 where I started learning, I, I learned least options. Learning, just various things, the multifamily investing, how to, how to purchase and syndicate.

You know, multifamily bills, 20 plus units, $38,000 for that, for that program. Right. And now there’s a, there’s, there’s more programs like you gotta be [00:31:00] kidding me, Nehemiah Davis, his, I joined his mastermind. He, you know, he, he shows you a whole bunch of things on, you know, how to, how to grow your social media, how to really, you know, grow your following this and that, and that his mentorship, $75,000.

Right. It’s nuts. So you, you have to pay to play, right? mm-hmm I was, I spent so much time on YouTube university and it was just, I was all over here, every, like, you know, all over everywhere. And when you actually pay to take a course, right. I spent more than all this. What I just told you, I spent more on school.

So, so someone could show me how to work till I was 65 and then retire, like literally alone. I paid more to be a part of a system. So I just put a little bit of money to, for somebody to show me how to break that system. And it literally changed my life.

Sandra Pagenta: Literally changing. I was actually thinking that as you were talking was, I was like, I spent that amount on my D N P, which again, as [00:32:00] we spoke before the podcast, Made me a slave to the hospital.

Right? Like it didn’t do anything for me as far as freedom, flexibility, time, flexibility. And I’m not saying that I want to just sit at home and drink mimosa and chill and do nothing like, no, I know that I wanna be busy doing something because our bodies crave goals, they crave, you know, things to do. We are built to work.

We’re built to create. And so. I don’t believe that that’s what I was after, but I was after the, I don’t have to be here every single moment of the day and I don’t have to work when you say I have to work. I can work in those pockets of time between raising and taking care of my family. And I began to realize that I had made a costly investment error and yes, I’m happy.

I have my doctorate and yes, I think it’s great that, you know, I spent that time and I learned all that extra stuff, but again, If that’s what you’re chasing fine, that will get you there. But if you’re chasing something else, which is [00:33:00] what I really am trying to bring light to in this podcast, then that might not be the best place to invest.

$30,000. It might be in one of these things that you’re describing here of how to grow your Instagram account, if that’s what you want to do or how to grow your personal business or how to create a course or whatever, like maybe don’t go get the MBA, maybe go spend the time, learning how to go do this so that you can.

Create that flexibility, cuz an MBA necessarily. Won’t fulfill that for you and get you on the path if that’s what you’re wanting in your life. So super great advice. And again, yes, a hundred percent agree with you. Well said it’s scary.

Joseph Griffin: What was that said? It’s it’s, it’s scary. A lot of people won’t you know, they won’t think like that and they won’t do it, but I was, I was going to school for NP and I dropped out after realizing.

I think I was sitting at the nurses, the nursing station, and that very weekend after, you know, selling a property after getting my course and everything going that weekend I had made like [00:34:00] $20,000 in a, in a weekend. And I was just like, man, What am I doing? And I was talking to all the nurse practitioners and they were just so stressed out.

They’re like, I’m always here. I have to do all this work and I’m here. Then I have to go to never gonna be a doctor,

Joseph Griffin:  more patients and this and that. And and then I found out that I was making more, more money, literally. One of the travel assignments I did. I think I made more money than. Nurse practitioners.

And she was like, I, I should have just stayed a nurse. . She was like, I should have just stayed a RN and went travel nursing. And so that’s, that’s when it really hit me. I was like, you know, I love this knowledge, but you know, the time freedom, like you said, the time freedom to just, I, I can be a real estate investor anywhere and, and that’s, that’s powerful.

Sandra Pagenta: Yes. I agree. I agree. That’s way more powerful than the stuff that they feed you in school that they tell you is important. I’m I’m just, sorry, I’m gonna say it. I’m gonna be the person to say it. Because I think a lot of people [00:35:00] are afraid. They’re afraid to say things and I’m like, you know what? Like if that’s what you want, good for you go for that.

But I am just trying to inspire nurses because what I’m hearing is that they are burned out and tired and you’re seeing it. I mean, nurse practitioners have all this extra responsibility. We don’t, we’re not respected on our colleague staff team and we’re, they, they look at us as, you know, again, like this nurse role where it’s like, you’re a mid-level provider.

It’s like, what’s, mid-level like, am I in purgatory? Am I a full level? Like, how do I level up? It’s just all these things that it’s just, the system is designed not to support you. And so I wanna showcase nurse practitioners and nurses that have been able to go. I’m breaking free from the system. I work the system to help me get to these spots in my life, but I don’t wanna retire at 65.

Like I wanna be retired at 29 years old. Like you were able to just step away at 29 and leave nursing. I just think that’s incredible. And again, I. You’re not, not working. That’s not what I’m advocating for here is that [00:36:00] people just sit on, you know, and if that’s what you get to do great and Bali and set my ties and like chill, like, great, that’s good for you.

But like, again, you are working, it’s just life on your terms. And I think that that is the most beautiful thing that you can do with your working career is to be able to have that time and that flexibility. And so last question of the podcast. And I like to ask everyone, if you could go back to Joseph And he’s just, he’s working through his LPN.

He’s, he’s working through his RN. He’s about to go back, get that BSN. If you could tell him one thing to go, Hey brother, this is a piece of advice I want you to hold onto and ride it to the wheels fall off. And this is a piece of advice that when you hear it’s garbage, don’t listen to it. What would you tell yourself?

Joseph Griffin: Wow. It, it would be a straightforward you’re worth more. You’re like, literally you’re, you’re worth more than the hourly paycheck. You’re worth more than I remember times where I was, I literally [00:37:00] was gonna go get like a certification to, to get an extra freaking $1 an hour. Are you kidding me? And, and we’ve all like, had these times, we’ve all thought about.

$1 an hour, like, man, I’m gonna go get my stroke certification and turn this thing so I can get an extra or I’m gonna teach EMT so I can work on a weekend and make an extra 300 bucks, you know? So I would literally tell myself, like, listen, you’re, you’re worth more. And once you, I think it was rich dad, poor dad Robert Kiosaki was explaining how, you know, this dad was, was doing one thing, but then this dad was constantly hustling to get this raise every six months or a year.

And every time he was still disappointed, right? The Christmas bonus, the $50, $100 bonus that I got at the hospital. I think I gave one of my employees, like almost a thousand dollars as a, as a Christmas bonus. And I, to me, it was like, man, that’s. That’s better. That’s a way better lifestyle. I’d rather get a thousand bucks than, than 50, but no, you’re worth more.

You’re worth [00:38:00] so much more.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah. That’s what you would tell him to hold onto. But what about to toss?

Joseph Griffin: Oh, to toss. Woo. I would, I would have probably tell him to toss his whole circle. Everyone that he was hanging around with. I would just go hang around some millionaires. That’s what, that’s what really did it.

If, if I was surrounded by millionaires a lot sooner, I probably would’ve been a millionaire a lot sooner.

Sandra Pagenta: no, Seth. That is, that’s probably the best response I’ve ever had to that, to that question. No, I’m serious because yeah. I mean like you, like you said earlier, Who you are around affects who you, who you are.

And again, when you’re around people that are in that same system, that the system of all right, get, get you, get you that stroke certification girl, get you that dollar. If you’re around somebody that’s like, nah, a dollar, are you kidding me? Let me show you how to make 20,000. Excuse me. Like, yeah, I don’t need to hang out with [00:39:00] you dollar stroke person.

I need to go hang out with this guy over here, because again, these conversations and I want people just to feel like when they’re here listening that they are in that same, you’re talking to Joseph, like you’re getting to spend that time with someone who is doing exactly what it is that we all want.

And I just think that was probably the best answer I’ve ever heard of. Just get around people. Are doing the things you wanna do. And you can’t, you can’t put in the same input expecting a different output. You gotta change it up and so change out your circle. Yes. Yes. All right. For the last part of the interview, it’s the rapid fire questions and these you cannot prepare for, I do not give ’em ahead of time.

I literally just fly by the shooter. Fly, fly by the seat of your pants. Answer. ’em are you ready? Let’s go. Let’s do it. I didn’t give you time to answer. That’s really messed up. There you go. Name a person who inspires you

Joseph Griffin: near mine Davis. Cool.

Sandra Pagenta: And what are you most grateful for in the whole wide world?

Joseph Griffin: My family.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah. I knew you were gonna say that. And what’s your favorite game of all time. And like, that could be a board game. [00:40:00] It could also be like a sports game. Cause you look like a sports guy. So like gimme either one

Joseph Griffin: monopoly of course,

Sandra Pagenta: monopoly Savannah told me that was her favorite game too.

I’m not surprised you guys are in at all.

Joseph Griffin: monopoly, sport basketball, but yes

Sandra Pagenta: monopoly. Got it. Very cool. Well, just, it was so nice to talk to you. Thank you for coming on the podcast today and where can people. I’ll put all your stuff in the show

Joseph Griffin: notes, but definitely on every platform, Instagram, TikTok, whatever tax deed, Wolf, T a X, D E E D w O L F.

I had to think how to spell it for a sec. How do you spell one? Yeah.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah. and do you guys have like a, like a mascot? Like who, like, do you like cuz my little one, he, when I say Wolf, he goes, goes, Ooh. So do you guys like have like. Like a chance or something,

Joseph Griffin: or we don’t have a chance, but we, we definitely, we do have the Wolf of course, on our logo.

Yeah. I logo, it’s got like a Wolf hauling, [00:41:00] but the background is like a house. It’s, it’s pretty cool.

Sandra Pagenta: Oh that’s cool. Yeah. Instead of the moon. . Yeah, that’s cool. Well, Joseph again, thank you for your time today. Thank you for, yeah. Coming on and sharing your wisdom with nurses. We, we need it. We need some inspiration.

So thank you.

Joseph Griffin: Definitely. Thank you, Dr. Sandra.