In this episode of Money Talk with Tiff, Tiffany Grant sits down with the inspiring Chrissy Grigoropoulos to discuss her journey from self-doubt to a successful career in real estate. Chrissy shares her insights on overcoming self-doubt, faking it until you make it, and pushing through discomfort to achieve success.

She also dives into the strategies she used to build her financial literacy and the key decisions she made in her real estate ventures. This episode is packed with valuable advice for anyone looking to overcome their insecurities and achieve their financial goals.

About Our Guest

Chrissy Grigoropoulos, Esq. is the founding attorney of The Grigoropoulos Law Group, PLLC, a Personal Injury/Workers’ Compensation, No-Fault Recovery, Criminal defense firm and a Full-Service per diem firm, providing coverage for other New York law firms needing attorney coverage.

Ms. Grigoropoulos is admitted to practice law in New York State. She is also admitted to the United States District Courts for the Southern District and Eastern District of New York. Ms. Grigoropoulos handles legal matters in Federal Courts, State Courts, Appellate Courts and at the Workers’ Compensation Boards in all five (5) boroughs of New York City, as well as Nassau, Suffolk & Westchester counties.

Connect with Chrissy

Website: https://grigorlaw.com/

Instagram: @chrissygofficial

Connect with Tiffany

Website: https://www.moneytalkwitht.com

Facebook: Money Talk With Tiff

Twitter: @moneytalkwitht

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LinkedIn: Tiffany Grant

YouTube: Money Talk With Tiff

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TikTok: @moneytalkwitht

Key Themes

1. Overcoming self doubt
2. Path to real estate
3. Financial literacy basics
4. Fake it till you make it
5. Real estate investments
6. Law versus real estate
7. Mentorship and guidance

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Copyright 2024 Tiffany Grant

You know what it is. That's right. It's time to talk money with your money

nerd and financial coach. Now tighten those purse strings

and open those ears. It's the money talk with Tiff

podcast.

Hey, everyone. I'm so excited because I have Chrissy

Grigoropoulos on the line, and she's here to talk to us about how she

went from self doubt to self made and got into real estate. So,

hey, Christy, how are you today? I'm doing great, Tiff. Thanks so much for having

me. Yes, thank you so much for coming on. So, self doubt.

I think everybody struggles with this at one point or another.

So when it comes to your story, what were the feelings of

self doubt that you were feeling, and how did you overcome

that? Sure, that's a great question. Everyone feels uncomfortable when you first

start doing something, especially in

life, growth. And you're not going to feel 100% comfortable because it's

something new. And the definition of stress has changed. So

you have to push through. You got to believe in yourself first. I made it

through law school. I made it through getting certification to become the

real estate corporate broker that I am today, in addition to other businesses

that I have. And you really have to push through that self doubt. And

can I do this? And really, as I state in my book, why not

you? You really have to take that stance on life

and on your personal growth. And I love that you say that. Why not

you? Because a lot of times, you know, especially in the age of social

media, we look at other people, you know, of course, you see their highlight reels

and things, and you're like, dang. Like, I really want to do this. I really

want to do that. And really, what's holding us back is

our mind. Like, we just don't think that we can do it. You're your worst

enemy. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so when we're

thinking through, okay, let's say, for instance, somebody's

listening right now, they're like, I want to be a Chrissy. Like, I want to

get over this self doubt. What are some tips that you would give

that person on? You know, just getting over that feeling

and going for whatever it is they're trying to do? Sure. I talk about

it on and on. In Lady Shark, how to become a millionaire in your

thirties, it literally tells you how to be a lady shark, how to push

through the self doubt, how to get your path

to financial freedom started or continue it in growth. And my

advice isn't about overnight success. It's about embracing the process

of the personal growth, gaining financial literacy, and

trying to live your life to the fullest of whatever the definition of

you, the definition of happy that you see for yourself.

So you have to push through. You have to believe in yourself. You have to

be your own cheerleader on the inside, even if you're feeling uncomfortable. And it

will feel better. You know, it's repetition, it's all routine. You just have to get

past the first few days, the first week, the first time

that you're trying to do something new and it will get easier.

Gotcha. Gotcha. And before we hit record, you have mentioned something

about faking it until you make it. How does that work out? Or

how would people do that? Or what do you mean by that?

I want to be authentic because it's a double edged sword. Because a lot of

people like, oh, fake, you never want to be fake. And that's very accurate. You

really never want to be fake. But sometimes you have to have this false sense

of success already, even when you're walking on unknown

ground. So you want to fake the confidence. You want to fake, you know what?

I'm doing this. I'm going to be great at it. Because if you don't fake

it till you make it, you're never going to be that successful person. When you

look to your left and you look to your right and you're around other people

that have had gone through the steps and the journey of either owning

a new business, getting your real estate certificate, doing fix and

flips, selling contracts of sales, all different realms

of nuances of how to make money and how to start new

growth to financial freedom. It's always new at some point or

another. So you have to just fake the confidence and get through it.

Gotcha. You know, I had went to this talk a little bit ago. It was

a local business owner and, you know, he had,

you know, now he has like hundreds of employees, but he said when he first

started, one thing that he did was he bought a call tree.

And, you know, it's like, if you like to speak to sales press, blah blah

blah, if you like to speak to da da press, da da da. And he

said for every option it went to him. But it was just

that, fake it until you make it. You know, people thought that it was bigger

than what it was, but it actually helped him to get there. And

really, honestly, I feel like that's a powerful kind of

manifestation tool. It's kind of like you're visualizing, you're acting like you already

have it. So then it brings it to you. So what are

your thought? Or what are some things that you've done to do that? Fake

it till you make it well. You want to manifest always. And the

thoughts that you. That you think about yourself and about your potential and

about a new business or a new venture that you're going on, that's what

will come to fruition. So if you're like, oh, I suck at this, or you're

down on yourself, you know that that's going to be the

foreseeability of where you're going. So, for me, I mean, when I first started my

business, it was me and one other person that I had as a secretary,

per se, and it was, you have to just

put yourself out there. I have my own firm. Okay, firm. What does that even

mean? A firm is more than one person that's doing something

in order to, you know, protect people's rights as an attorney. But when

you hear a law group, you know, it's a group of people. Okay? Two people's

a group in theory. So, you know, my corporation for my first

baby, which is my law firm, I call baby businesses or a new

business, my baby, it was the Gregoropolis law group. It

still is the Gregoropolis law group, even when that group was only two people. Now

we've grown to three offices and so on and so forth. But you got

to put yourself out there and project where you want to be. Yes,

I love that. I love that. Calling it a group when it was

only two of you, but now it really is a group. You have probably

multiple lawyers, multiple offices, things like that. So you kind of spoke it into

existence. So I love how you're using that little

change in how you say things or change in how you do things to

bring in more. That is awesome. So I want to switch gears a

little bit. Let's talk a little bit about the financial literacy piece, because you said

that that was a huge thing for you to

get on the journey to where you're at. So how did you get started

in learning about money? Like, was it when you were younger,

your parents, your family, friends, who inspired that for

you? Great question, tiff. Exactly. I was lucky to have

parents that forced me to understand credit and that, you

know, you can be the richest person in the world, which clearly we were not.

However, if you have no credit, you're really going to cripple

yourself. So I ended up getting a credit card at a very young age, even

just to pay for gas and for your requirements that you

would be paying on a monthly basis anyway, such as, you

know, little items like gas, phone bill, things of that

nature. And you're able to build your credit from a very young age. I know

that some people didn't have that education at such a young age. And you're trying

to even pick up in your twenties, thirties, forties, trying to clean up your

credit. You can start with baby steps, trying to figure out what

your monthly requirements are when it comes to your bills. I know tons

of people that just stack their bills in the corner, don't even open them

and try to juggle with what they're paying for, when and which points of the

month. Financial knowledge and literacy begins

with the understanding of what you need to pay

for already at the status that you are in your life. Yes. And just based

on the title of your book, self made millionaire in your thirties

and you're talking about budgeting, which I talk about all the time on the podcast.

So I love that you mentioned that and kind of

hearing it right, hearing it from the horse's mouth.

So let's also talk about the real estate

portion of your business as well, because I know that's pretty big.

So what got you into real estate? How did you get

started? So my father actually was a

construction worker. You know, when he first, when he first opened up

and when he first came to America and that built, you know, little by

little he was able to buy his first building and he basically, you know,

kind of guided the way with when it came to property management and even

understanding, fixing and flipping things. I know in his own world he

wished that I was a real estate attorney, so I can just be only in

that realm. But in reality, it really came full circle when I was

able to become a broker and really help people

buy, sell rent and really understand

the real estate market a lot better, especially in New York where it's pretty

intense. But it started also

as a hobby. When it comes to the fixing and flipping homes,

try to get a really good deal on house, fix it up and

sell it and try to get a profit. Gotcha. So

when you do real estate, it's more of flipping. Because I was going to ask

you, is it long term rentals, short term rentals, or do you just have some

of everything? I have both. I think that it's

really a niche to try to figure it out and a

skill really to figure out. Is it something that you want to retain in your

portfolio to be able to rent it out, to make income or

to sell it and try to have that short term income to

reinvest into a bigger opportunity. So I think it's good to have both. It

really depends on the investment that you've, that comes across your desk or

comes across your lap. And so let's dive into that just a little bit

more. So what, in your experience, what are

some main things that you look at to determine, oh, I should keep this in

my portfolio or I should just go ahead and sell it? Definitely. That's a good

question. So you want to find out if you can retain something, if

you're okay with losing that liquid that you're putting down as a down payment, if

you're able to get financing in a bigger rate, if you had to buy it

all in cash, and if you can refinance it later and retain that money

back, if you can rent it for a profitable amount,

if you want to deal with rentals, because that's a whole

grueling and intense thing to deal with on your own, especially as

someone without experience. If you have no experience in what it takes

to upkeep, maintain a building or a multifamily

property, that's definitely part of it. If you're

early in the business when it comes to real estate realm and you want

to buy something and sell it, it's a lot easier short term

rather than a long term investment, such as keeping something in your portfolio, being able

to rent it out, trying to recover your investment over

a longer period of time. I know we talked about quite a bit. We talked

about how you are a lawyer and then got into real

estate. I have a question that you probably never got before.

Which one do you like better? Law is always going to

be my baby. It was very difficult to get through law school for me. I

finished high school when I was 16, college when I was 19, and that was

simple. But law school was definitely intense for me. It was like learning a new

language and it was very difficult. But I

enjoy real estate because real estate is. It's

fun. I like to do the hands on work. I like to go to Home

Depot or a stone store or an appliance store and pick out

the actual pieces that we're putting into this fixed and flip. Usually

the, the fixer uppers that I like to get, they're horrible.

They're. They're like bare bones need to be completely gutted and you're

really like painting a new picture. I've converted two bedroom little

cottages to three bedroom homes. I've made one

bathroom, you know, two bedroom homes to two bath, two

full baths, three full beds. And it's really fun being able to

be the creator of this new project and then be able to see the margins

as, of course, fun as well. Of course. Cause you

gotta have the money. Gotta make sense. So, with all of that

being said, you mentioned that you have a book out. Can you tell us

more, the name of the book and then also more about the book? Who is

it for? What would the person get from it? Of course. Of course. So

it's called lady how to become a millionaire in your thirties. It's

not constrained to those aspects,

meaning you don't have to be a lady in order to be a lady shark,

and you don't have to be in your thirties. You can be younger, older.

I just. I've been told that the title was rather provocative, which I liked when

I first heard it. So I'm like, all right, we'll go with it. It basically

gives confidence to either. Anyone from the

college to age to high school age, to

the moms of the world that are in at home mom status,

that need to think outside of the box, that want to still have the

ability to get some financial freedom and added income to their

household. It could be working women or lady

sharks that are looking to get out of the nine to five that want to

think more strength into their.

Their income based on skills, based

on things that they already encompass, such as, you know, if they're

good organizers, if they're good meal preppers, if they're good, you know, there's

an array of different things that you're able to do as little side hustles is

what I call them, and. And create that income, create this new baby

business, maybe grow it enough that you can leave the nine to

five on the side or just have two incomes. So it really shows

that your end goal in life and the financial

freedom and the happiness that everyone defines it is

attainable. So a lot of people think that they're stuck in the realm or in

the chapter or in the day and the moment that they're in right now, but

there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. And I just try to

give ideas and ways to push through the self doubt and try to get to

where you want to be in life and don't think that another person can and

you cannot. Love that. Love that. Well, thank you so much, Christy, for coming on

the show today. And if you all are listening and didn't catch all of those

links, I'll make sure I have them in the show notes. I really appreciate you,

and I can't wait until I become a lady shark as well.

So if you go to theladyshark.com, that's where the

book is going to be. You type in the information. It's going to be sold

on June 11 is when it comes out. I make myself available

personally on Instagram. I am. My

Instagram tag is Chrissy G. Official. I answer

DM's and I try to be a mentor to people if they do reach out.

I had a lot of guidance along the way and I had good mentors. So

I try to give back to anyone that is looking for a couple

questions to be answered and at least have some guidance. Thank you.

Bye. Thank you for listening,

joining and being a part of the Money Talk with TIFF podcast this week. You

can check tiff out every Thursday for a new Money Talk podcast.

But if you just can't wait until next week week you can listen to previous

podcast

episodes@moneytalkwitht.com or

follow TIFF on all social media platforms at

moneytalkwitht. Until next time, spend wise

by spending less than you make a word to the money wise is

always sufficient.