Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joette Trinh. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Joette , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

Most lawyers fall into their area of practice based on the first job they obtain out of law school. I specifically went to law school to practice real estate law. I have now been in practice for 12 years, but I do not just focus on general real estate transactions like purchases, sales, or refinances. My focus is on Creative Finance, which there are very few attorneys who offer these services in my area. Creative Finance involves how to buy and sell real estate creatively, while using as little of your own money as possible. This focus has kept my firm busy while other general real estate practitioners in my market struggle for business.

Joette , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Right before I graduated college, my mom took me to a one day seminar for real estate. At the seminar, the ‘guru’ pitched a 3 day real estate course for $3000. At the time, there was no such thing as Google, YouTube, or ChatGPT, so using the Internet to gain knowledge was not a widely used resource. I wanted to attend the course but did not have the money. So I asked the ‘guru’ if I could work for him for free in exchange for attending the course. I offered to run errands for him, get his coffee, pick up his groceries and dry-cleaning etc. The ‘guru’ blew me off as expected. But I obtained his cell phone number and called him again the next month….and the next month…and the next month…and the next month. He finally got the picture that I wasn’t going anywhere. To stop me from continuing to nag him, he finally gave me a shot as one of the sales people on his team who sold that $3000 course that I couldn’t afford to attend. I ended up working for him for 5 years and in exchange for working for him, I was able to sit in the back of the classroom, learn the information he was teaching on real estate investing, and I was getting paid to do it! During that time period, I learned how to invest in residential and commercial real estate, mobile homes, and bank notes. Then the financial crisis of 2008 occurred. Seeing other real estate investors lose their investments in that market motivated me to go to law school, specifically for real estate. My goal was to learn how to legally protect the future real estate investments that I wanted to make and those of any clients I would serve.

During the first year of law school, my law school did not allow students to work. However, I needed money so I decided to implement what I had learned during those five years of working for the ‘guru’. While other students were partying, I fixed and flipped mobile homes, sold them on an installment payment plan to buyers, and then used those installment payments to pay for law school. From there, my husband and I began investing in bank owned real estate (REOs) and buying property from foreclosure auctions. I now use my experience as both an investor and an attorney to help real estate investors with their real estate investments, typically through creative strategies like the ones I implemented as a law student. I have been told by clients that the reason they use my services, besides the fact that I am one of the only attorneys in my state focusing on this niche, is that I am able to analyze a transaction from not just the perspective of an attorney, but also as an investor. Consequently, I am able to help my client extract the most amount of return for their investment. I believe it is my experience as an investor myself, who worked from the ground up, that sets me apart from other attorneys. I am the most proud of my work ethic and my ability to creatively solve a problem that helps my clients profit as much as possible from their investments. The main thing I would like others to know is that real estate is a powerful tool that can help change a person’s legacy, improving their lives and those of their children/heirs for generations to come. The traditional way of buying real estate (save for a downpayment, obtain a bank loan, purchase the home, and pay the mortgage for 30 years) is not the only way to financial freedom. There’s a whole world of creative finance that most people don’t know about and it can change a person’s financial life.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

On the day that I gave birth to my oldest daughter, I was attending a closing for a client. While at the closing, my water broke and I went into labor. Instead of leaving my client or calling in another attorney who could have finished the closing for me, I stayed and did the closing. Then, and only then, did I go to the hospital to give birth to my daughter.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Google reviews and lots of social media posting. Each time that a client has independently expressed their satisfaction with my services, I have asked them to leave me a google review. I now have over 100 five star google reviews. I now get new clients based off those reviews. I also have clients who call because they have seen my content on social media or because they’ve seen my name posted in different forums as a recommended attorney.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.trinh.law
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trinhlawfirm/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trinhlawfirmllc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/trinhlawfirm