Reclaiming Time, Freedom, and Family Through Commercial Real Estate with Dr. Graves Fromang

🎙️ Welcome back to another powerful episode of The Physicians and Properties Podcast with your host, Dr. Alex Schloe!

Today’s guest, Dr. Graves Fromang, is an emergency medicine physician, commercial real estate investor, and Action Academy member who has intentionally designed his life around time freedom and family first.

After years of working grueling ER shifts, missing priceless moments, and experiencing personal loss, Dr. Fromang realized that something had to change. Determined to take back control of his time, he dove into real estate, partnering with trusted friends to build a portfolio of over $15 million in commercial properties — including government buildings and medical office spaces that offer stable, long-term cash flow.

Dr. Fromang shares his journey from burnout to business ownership, revealing tactical lessons physicians can apply to start investing. He breaks down how to find great partners, why having a trusted operator is essential, and how commercial properties provide the scale and stability many doctors are seeking.

💡 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ Why controlling your schedule is the most important freedom for physicians
 ✔️ How Graves scaled from his first deal to $15M+ in commercial assets
 ✔️ The critical role of partnerships and operators in successful investing
 ✔️ How government leases create stability and reduce management headaches
 ✔️ What single, double, and triple net leases mean for owners
 ✔️ Why joining Action Academy expanded his thinking and opened new doors
 ✔️ How he’s now pivoting into healthcare business acquisitions to diversify further

🔥 Key Takeaways:

✔️ Physicians no longer need to stay trapped in the clinical grind — commercial real estate can offer true freedom
 ✔️ Partnering with experienced operators makes investing achievable while still practicing
 ✔️ Government and medical office leases create predictable, low-maintenance cash flow
 ✔️ Masterminds and peer groups help expand your mindset and accelerate growth
 ✔️ Owning your time allows you to be more present with your family and design life on your terms

Packed with both deeply personal reflections and practical real estate strategies, this episode is a must-listen for physicians ready to escape the rat race and build lasting freedom through smart investing.

If you're ready to take back your time, invest intentionally, and start living on your terms — this conversation will light the way.

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Transcript

Dr. Graves Fromang: And we ended up buying we were up to 11 properties now, but our first property was back at 2019.  The three of us did a quick  it was just a commercial property. We bought for in the mid threes and sold for the  almost 700,  you know, five years later. So  that was our big win that we had.   Just from  getting dividends, you know, from that paying down debt and just learning how to negotiate deals.  From there we formed different LLCs and we're up to about. 15 million under assets under management right now for commercial buildings. And that's kind of our focus.  We we lucked out.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Welcome to the Physicians and Properties Podcast, the show where we teach you how investing in real estate can give you the freedom to practice medicine and live life how you want. Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor. Now here's your host, Dr. Alex Schloe.

 Hello everyone. Welcome to the Physicians and Properties Podcast.  Thank you for listening to another episode. I'm so glad you're here. And as always, I'm your host, Dr. Alex Schloe.  Today's episode of the podcast was another great one.  Dr. Graves Fromang joined us on the podcast.  He is an ER physician in Florida  who has recently been able  to cut back to  only working 32 hours per week and now cut back part-time, all because of his willingness to take action.

 He  Is an investor in commercial real estate buying his first commercial real estate property in 2019, and now him and his partners have $15 million of commercial properties  and they use an operator who is fantastic, who helps him run the day-to-day,  allowing him to practice medicine  when he wants and how he wants.

 This was a really cool episode. graves is a awesome dad, awesome husband. We talk a lot about the flexibility to be there to. Coach your kids' games, and to just be more present  and to do what you want, with who you want, when you want. So without any further ado, let's get started with today's episode  with Dr. Graves Roaming.

 Welcome to the Physicians and Properties podcast. So good to have you on the podcast, man. It's been really cool following your journey in Action Academy and it's been awesome getting to know you, man. How are things going?

Dr. Graves Fromang: It is going well me on.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Absolutely, man. Me too. Yeah, we were just talking before the podcast about  how we wish that more doctors would be  understanding and willing to take the leap to get into real estate and entrepreneurship and how  if you can graduate residency and graduate med school, you can absolutely succeed in business and in real estate as well.

So, excited to hear your journey as an  ER doc. But before we get started, do you mind telling folks a little bit about yourself?

 Dr. Graves Fromang: Yeah, no problem. My name is Graves Fromang, I'm a Florida native born and raised down here in South Florida in Vero Beach, Florida. My grandfather and my uncle were physicians, so I got started on that track early in college and then headed down to South Florida, Nova Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine down there, and then found my way towards residency up at the University of Mississippi in Jackson, Mississippi.

Spent four year, three years up there after I did my internship and then moved back home. My wife's from just south of here in Fort Pierce, Florida,  so we're both Florida natives. Moved back home to be closer to family after residency and being gone so long between med school and residency.  So that's just a little bit about myself.

Been practicing about 12 years now. Some of with cash to  do as Brian says, in Action Academy to do what you want.

That's kind of been my, for the past year, year and a half as I've taken a different to. I'm going part-time in the emergency room, investing in real estate, and just looking at different nonclinical jobs to, to kind of replace that income. But controlling my schedule, which has been the biggest part of that journey.

And the  one thing that I've found that, you know, I really want to take hold of is just having control of that schedule.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome, man. Yeah, a lot. Of people listening to that feel the frustration with not having any control of their schedule and being told to do more with less and see more patients and less time, and  just that lack of control. I think the lack of control leads is so much burnout in medicine. I mean, we  we're, we're supposed to.

Like, quote unquote, be the top dogs, you know? And we should have that control because we're the ones who know how to take care of patients best.  And a lot of times that control is stripped from us. And I think that leads to a whole lot of burnout. Was, was there a specific moment in time where you were like, Hey, it's time to cut back?

Or was it just as you started getting further along in your investing journey that you like, Hey, it's, it's time to, to dial back the hours a little bit here in the er.

Dr. Graves Fromang: It kind of started early on right.  Residency and graduation when ire. You know, back home and finally getting that first job and  making some real, real money, not residency money for those who would understand. And working 20 something shifts, covering six ERs, traveling all the time and missing this and missing that with my kids.

And my mom passed when I was 47, year when she was 47, when I was in college, my senior year in college. I started just dialing back, like, what's more important? And you know, you read a lot of these self-help books and the one commodity you can't buy back is time. Right? So from then on, after about two years out, I really started dialing it back from, you know, 15 to 20 shifts a month down to the minimum hours, which was 120 hours.

And just figuring out there and now.  Using real estate, getting, investing with different  people that friends of mine and, and different groups, you know, trying to, like I said, replace some of that income so I can dial it back even more.  And  luckily just through, you know, good luck in investing and  some,  you know,  pace hits that I've had with different projects that we've done,  you know, I've been able to dial it back even more now.

So that was, that was the impetus going forward was just,  it's fleeting. The time is fleeting. I'm 44 now. My mom  died when she was 47. So it's just always in the back of my mind, like what would happen in the next three years if something happened to me. Like,  you know,  my kids,  you know, if I'm sitting in the hospital taking care of other people and not really focused on  what's important,  you know, then what's it,  what's  it for?

 So.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, I mean that's, that's a, a good perspective. I'm sorry that it took, you know, your mom passing at, at such a young age to,  to have that insight. But I think you probably. Got that insight so much sooner than a lot of folks who just wait until they're 65, like traditional retirement and then  something happens or they're like so,  you know, arthritic or you know, immobile that they can't even enjoy their retirement and enjoy all that work that they put in to get to that point.

So  I'm really sorry of, of the circumstances, but I'm glad you realized that early on and realized the power of controlling your own time and  the importance of, you know,  spending time with the folks that matter most.

 Dr. Graves Fromang: Yeah, and it's, it's something that's always weighed in the back of my mind. I've,  in the past five,  since Covid, I've lost grand, my grandparents, my uncle, two uncles, and my dad. So it's just been one thing after the other, over the past five years, to the point where. Not that I don't love medicine, I love it, but  the control of your schedule  from an emergency standpoint when you're working day shifts to mid shifts to night shifts, and the flip and flop and the nights, the holidays and weekends, it just gotta be  where you could only schedule off so much and you would miss more than that.

 And so I just, you had to put it, it just put it into perspective.

Dr. Alex Schloe: For sure.  Yeah, it's, it's tough to, to miss those things and you know, the er like, you know, is always open and  it's gotta, it's gotta be open on the holidays and stuff too. And so that makes it tricky.  To hear about, you know, the, all the loss that you've had the last five years, man, that's that's rough and  I'm sure has been challenging for you.

 How's it been from a, a family perspective, how has it been as you've cut back your hours? Have you, have you  been able to spend more time with family or  have you kind of struggled with, okay,  I need, I know I want to build this cash flow and  build this business up. Have you struggled with like how to still balance despite having more time out of the er?

Dr. Graves Fromang: I mean,  well I've taken on coaching.  I mean, that's been one of the biggest things that I've  wanted to. My oldest is 17, gonna be a senior next year, and so she'll be leaving, going to,  you know, college. And so, you know me making sure I'm at her karate tournaments and I'm at her volleyball games and her flag football games, coaching my son's middle school football and basketball and baseball.

 And then my youngest being able to take her to her horseback riding lessons, piano lessons, like just things that, you know,  you get to do here and there, but not on a consistent basis.  And so being able to just do the things that I enjoy, that they enjoy doing and doing those with them has been a huge,  it's just, it's, it's, it's just changed everything.

I mean,  just not flipping from nights to days has changed my whole lifestyle, you know? And being able to sleep  soundly and  wake up at the same time. And,  you know, I do, I do work shifts. I'm not saying I went completely  out of the er, but it's not been the,  I control the schedule now.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, it sounds like you're practicing medicine when you want to, how you want to,  and that alone is huge. And I think that's where a lot of folks want to get to is like just some control over the schedule.  Like we're, we're not saying

Dr. Graves Fromang: Right.

Dr. Alex Schloe: should just  quit your W2 completely.  But figure out, hey,

 do I love medicine?

How often do I wanna practice medicine? And how can I control that schedule and control that time  so I can practice medicine and how, how you want to and live life how you want to.

 Right.  Yeah.

that's so cool that you're getting to spend more time with your kids, get to,  you know, join them on all their hobbies.

I'm sure they love that. And I'm sure they feel like your, your presence a lot more.  And with, you know, having those  regular sleep schedules, you're probably more present just in general 'cause you're not flip flopping all around. I,  I don't know how folks in the er do do it, man. I, I love the er, I couldn't do it just 'cause the shift's flipping around like that, man, I need my, I need my regular sleep. But.

Dr. Graves Fromang: It.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, for sure man.  Well, what did it look like as you started to figure out, you know, like, Hey,  it's time to start working on some, some passive income.  What did that look like for you? What did that journey look like at the beginning when you decided, hey, you're gonna take this leap and,  you know, maybe take on some risks to get started?

Dr. Graves Fromang: Yep. So it was,  I can remember it was back in 2019. My,  my good friend  who's he's  another ER physician, him and  Hus, and he,  I.  Coincidentally meet  people that  one guy was in Alabama and another I.

And then he, from that area in Florence, Alabama, and then he actually moves to that area, somehow meets this other guy that my guy in Florida knows. And then we all figured out, we know each other  and we ended up buying we were up to 11 properties now, but our first property was back at 2019.  The three of us did a quick  it was just a commercial property.

 We bought for in the mid threes and sold for the  almost 700,  you know, five years later. So  that was our big win that we had.  Just,  just from the get go, getting dividends, you know, from that paying down debt and just learning how to negotiate deals.  From there we formed different LLCs and we're up to about.

 15 million under assets under management right now for commercial buildings. And that's kind of our focus.  We we lucked out. I mean, we have a good operator. I mean, we have somebody that we can trust. He's not a physician. He, he  but he manages it the day to day. He manages  the rents, he manages the,  you know, the crises that come up with owning commercial.

 The roof is leaking or that toilet's broken or, you know, we need new asphalt. So he's our day-to-day guy and we just, we really lucked out finding somebody who  can be that operator  for us. And yeah, it's been,  it's been fun because we've, we've,  we've acquired  several different  asset types within the commercial buildings.

 We've got government buildings, we've got small,  we've got offices.  Offices.  It's been.

 You know,  doing these deals with.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome, man.  How, how did you kind of vet your partners before you guys got started? Or, you know, did you already have a, a great friendship and realize like, Hey, let's just jump into this, see where things shake out? I.

Dr. Graves Fromang: So my best friend, he met  this guy up in Florence, Alabama, and then I know this, the other ER doctor I work with, you know, all the time here in Florida.  Those two  just happened to know each other and had been doing real estate for,  I mean, for years. I mean, he's got  projects going and.  Huntsville, you know, huge condominium projects.

He's got huge condominium product all over, all over the Southeast and some in Pennsylvania. So  those two had already been partners together, had had successes and were looking for partners to do on other deals as other partners, you know, kind of came and went through their other deals. So,  you know, that's when my, my buddy Hammond and I jumped on  and we're like, yeah, sure.

You know,  let's, we'll take a. And  we're working in the er, we gotta put our money. It's either in the stock market or  you know, invest in the real estate.  So

Dr. Alex Schloe: Awesome. Well, it sounds like it, you know, it paid

Dr. Graves Fromang: yeah,

Dr. Alex Schloe: you for sure in 2019

Dr. Graves Fromang: we've lucked out.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Hey,  hey, Luxe, when preparation meets opportunity,

Yeah, you took the leap to, to join them and, you know,  took the chance and took the risk that a lot of people wouldn't otherwise. So I, I wouldn't say you looked out too much.  Sure. Maybe market dynamics were in your favor. I.  But yeah. Well, hey, that's awesome. So, 2019, that first property, what, what did that look like for you in terms of  what type of commercial property was it or who was the tenant  and what, what was kind of due diligence like, or,  or I guess maybe even, what were your thoughts as you guys were purchasing that first property together?

Dr. Graves Fromang: You know, just like anything, is it overpriced? Are we, you know, how's the building? Where's it located? What's the, you know,  looking at what's the lease terms? How long have they signed for? How long have they been there?  One of 'em was a, like a,  like a convenience store  owner who had been in there for  10 plus years, always signed, resigned his contracts.

 And then the other one was like a loan office or like a loans.  Office or something  and had been there again, but same timeframe, always, you know, re Title Max, it was a title Max and had you know, this, the stability in the leases always paid their rent on time.  You know, and we're going by the, what the previous owners  you know, what they said and then he went down and vetted them, made sure, you know,  we went through all the documents, made sure that the money looked well, you know, right from a cap standpoint and, we all invested my,  my part, my buddy Hammond and I invested a little bit more, but  our other partner has skin in the game as well, you know, but invested a little less 'cause he, he manages it from the day to day and handles the lawyers and the contracts and things like that. So  he's the boots on the ground, which, you know, there's value in that for sure.

And having somebody who can,  who can do that.  And then, and  just like you said, it's just like, well, he's done these other deals with a,  you know, partner of mine,  er, partner of mine down here, and he trusts them. So,  like you said, it's a leap of faith, but,  you know, it looked good on paper and we were,  we were  needed, wanted to put  start investing so we figured a small,  you know, two tenant building would be the way to start.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, it's a great way to start, man. What did it look like from there in terms of the, the stack? Did you go from two to 40 units or did you just jump from there into larger commercial properties?

Dr. Graves Fromang: As, as we started to, so when  we, we started with one separate company, then we created a different LLC, which bought  a couple more properties. So, you know, two.  And then once the word started getting out and he started meeting other people, he actually met a gentleman who's, was just looking to,  you know,  he was  retiring, he wanted to sell some of his properties, just stagger the sales.

 And this was just somebody my,  our friend knew. And so as he staggered his sales, we, you know, he gave us first right of refusal and so we picked him up before they went on market.  And so that's how we ended up with the majority of our.  And then just word of mouth, you know, and getting on LoopNet and sending deals in and just, you know, grinding it and,  you know, just underwriting 'em and seeing if they make sense.

 I mean, a lot of phone calls, a lot of underwriting, a lot of back and forth, you know, to see if it just makes sense for our numbers and, you know, what we could afford to as a.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's great, man.  Yeah. The there's still some deal opportunities on LoopNet. People say LoopNet's, where deals go to die, but you know, if you, if you've just make, keep making. Those offers. You just gotta keep making offers that are reasonable and work for you and something might stick. So  that's awesome.  What what is your favorite niche or niche, however you wanna say that, within commercial real estate?  What's your, what's your favorite? I know you had mentioned some, you know, medical office spaces, dental offices con, convenience stores, title Max, all those sorts of things. What's your favorite, if you had to pick one?

Dr. Graves Fromang: Right now we've really  our, my favorite personally, as long as Trump doesn't come in and doge us out, it'll be our government buildings that we have.  We've got four right now that are pretty solid contracts with the state of Alabama.  And so,  you know.  They've always voted reds for Republicans, so hopefully he won't come down, but no.

 These the, the government contracts have done really well. We've been able to negotiate pretty significant increases in the rent  10 year contracts, you know, and they've I mean, the bills are paid on time. They have very little asks on our side, and they've, that's just been a small niche.  Within  commercial buildings that  now our name  slowly getting out there, that we have these four buildings.

Dr. Alex Schloe: For sure. Yeah.  What so it sounds like, you know, like the dependability of the government buildings,  like the ability to raise, you know, raise rents to be market are a little bit better  in the 10 year lease. Is there anything else you guys look for in terms of a  lease that makes it favorable for you?


Dr. Graves Fromang: How, you know, just how much longer they have on the lease and you know, how many,  how, how often they, how long have they been in that particular property?  Or the, or just, you know, key,  key signs for us,  you know, because  these, they're big properties and so for us to lose that tenant,  would be really difficult.

 So,  you know, the stability of those leases and just the length of time has been,  and then, you know, and then you, through your inspections, you're just making sure,  you know,  the  buildings are up to code and,  you know, there's been no major catastrophes. You know,  roofs are not,  not leaking. Asphalt in the,  you know, parking lot looks good, gutters paint something, you know, things like that.

So.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Nice.  Are these typically triple net leases that you all are, are getting for these properties?

Dr. Graves Fromang: A couple of them are, not all of them, no.

Dr. Alex Schloe: I'm double net as well.  Okay.  For folks who have no idea what we're talking about when we say like single net, double net, triple net, do you mind explaining that to 'em?

 Dr. Graves Fromang: Yeah, it's just a matter of how much that the tenant is willing to take on for payment that's not out of the owner's bank account, so to speak. So things that they would be, you know. They would commit so much money to the HVAC  up to a certain amount.  You know, are they responsible for roof repairs or asphalt repairs or painting, or, you know, how much inside are they paying the, you know, the taxes and, and utility bills, things like that.

So it vari, it just varies from property to property that we have.

Dr. Alex Schloe: For sure.  That's awesome, man.  Why, why commercial for you? What do you guys like as a whole about commercial? Why didn't you start in  short term rentals or single family or any other asset class? What, what drew you to commercial besides maybe your partners?

 Dr. Graves Fromang: So I'd owned some condos in the past and rented them out just to college students, you know,  down where I lived in south Florida. I, I had a,  a townhouse down there and rented it out, and  my partners had been in the  single, multi single  home  rentals.  Been in  small multifamily like.

From a commercial standpoint, it was a lot less maintenance the way he explained it to recently.

Yeah, it lot less, lot less hassle and  you gonna after one.  You know, you're gonna go after a single unit  multifamily, or a multifamily or something like that. The same way you're gonna attack a larger commercial building. Plus the caps were,  were higher. You have multiple rents. You lose one tenant  in one small, you know,  shop or whatever.

You just got five or six more to, you know,  keep that going. You lose one.  Where I'm running into with my single family condo right now,  I lose both my med students that graduated and  I haven't picked up anymore. So I'm vacant now and have to get on Airbnb and V rbo, so I'm gonna lose out on income.

Whereas,  you know,  and that's the way reason multifamily sit. Nice. You lose a, you know, same in commercial, you lose one, but you just got four or five others who are  helping you foot the bills, so

Dr. Alex Schloe: Economies of scale. Super helpful in that

Dr. Graves Fromang: Right.

Dr. Alex Schloe: man.  Yeah. Do you, do you feel like  well, I guess, let me back up. I, I would love to know more about what it. Looks like owning medical offices  especially from your perspective as as a doc.  Any, any difference to that compared to owning any other commercial property?

Or is it just still kind of set up double net lease or triple net lease?  You're not, not, nothing's really changed from that perspective.

Dr. Graves Fromang: No, the only change we had, it's a, the medical office we own is a dental, it's a dentist that owns it and he owned  the  he was renting out the one half  and the tenant on the other half was ready to leave. So.  He was like, lemme, I'll take the other one. So he paid for all the renovation and everything on the inside  and now we've got, you know,  this huge de Now if he leaves, you know, we've got a huge dental office we've gotta replace.

But  you know, this, he's a young guy, just moved to the area,  was expanding his practice. So we know he is gonna be there, you know, he is not gonna invest that kind of money and, you know, leave the next year.  So that, that really, that's the one we do that own, that's medical. And so we we you go, gave him it.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Sweet. Yeah. That's awesome. What's the typical lease term that folks could expect if they're  looking to purchase, you know, small commercial  building like this? What's a typical lease duration? You mentioned 10 years for the government leases or government contracts. Is that normal 10 years or is it typically less?

Dr. Graves Fromang: So the ones I think we had in the past were up were seven. We were able to negotiate these to 10. Generally we're at five year leases with our tenants, which have been pretty consistent across the board for us.  We've got a couple other government buildings that  they renew every five years, but.

 They the,  it's a, it's a  army, air Force, Navy,  I think coast Guard. Anyway, it's a commercial building, so where all the recruits can come and you just can go from door to door to door and talk to each,  each sector of the, of the military.  That's a five year and, but they've renewed it for the pa you know, every,  every five years.

They renewed it for, I think it was like 15 years or something that we, when we bought it. So we knew  stable, not going.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, I don't think the military.  Is going anywhere. Hopefully we get some more recruitment for for the, all the branches, but the Air Force as well, it's been a bit of a problem. But yeah, my time is, is wrapping up in the military here soon. So if anyone's listening, they want to take my spot and be an Air Force doc.

 Reach out to me.  But yeah. Thanks, man.  It's been fun.  That's awesome.  Yeah. Well, really cool.  Is there any,  you know, if, if someone's just getting started, they're thinking, Hey, I want to go after some of these commercial properties,  what are some tips that you'd give 'em, or maybe what are some potential pitfalls to look out for that you guys have noticed as you've analyzed a bunch of deals and now, you know, have 15 million of  assets under management?

What would you, what would you say to someone getting started?

Dr. Graves Fromang: For me, I mean, if you're in the medical field and you've got a busy practice, for us it was having an operator who was somebody that we could trust to, to go out, look at the properties for us, that the, that the owners look at the documents  who had.  We, like I said, we just, this, this gentleman been doing it for, you know, 10,  I'd say about five or six years prior to US  involved.

 Could you do it on your, of course you can. I mean, absolutely. You know, but then it's just making the phone calls, doing your own due diligence, getting your own  inspectors over there,  you know,  and yeah, some you're gonna buy and you're gonna go, oh, look what I bought. You know, and have to redo it some.

You're gonna win. We've had, you know, several, we've had to replace the roof.  We've had to replace the asphalt. We've had to,  you know,  luckily. For us,  the money that we haven't taken a lot of distribution. So we usually,  the first two years of any money coming in, we keep that  set aside in our  accounts so that we don't have, you know, these huge capital calls should,  you know, something come up.

 Luckily no tornadoes have taken out those either in those areas, so  I, it's just a matter of just grinding the same thing Brian says in Action Academy. It.

Building or not  just looking at, you know, what people are offering. Does that make sense?  You know, underwrite.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, that's a, that's a great answer. What would you say is important to look for in an operator? What makes your operator  so fantastic?

Dr. Graves Fromang: I mean, it's just in the details. I mean, he looks at deals that I'll send and he is like, Nope, sorry. And I'm,  why would you, well, it's this, this.

 Which is great, you know,  and  I have an Alabama license, so when he gets sick, he calls me and I help him out. So it it works out both ways. So,  no, it's but  just somebody you can talk to who is got, who's levelheaded,  who is not gonna get emotional over it,  and they, you know, whether you agree with him or not, he, sometimes he, you know, there's.

You know, decision made. He has to be the one, you know,  to, you know, make that decision. And he's,  he's always been on time, he is always been honest with us. He's always been willing to put skin in the game. He is not asking, you know, more than what his fair share is.  And he, he's just,  he is, had the experience of it and the deals he's brought us have just all.

 Made sense. Like the, he, she lays out the money, lays out his spreadsheet for us. I mean, he  basically spoon feeds us.  You know,  here it is in layman's terms, you know,  what the, what the deal looks like, how the money's gonna look, you know,  aside from no major catastrophes,  you know, and this, you know, and here's what we  potentially will have once we pay down this amount of debt and lays it all,  which has.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome. Yeah. It sounds like your, your integrator, which is definitely important, you know, and it's, it's hard. I feel like.  You have the visionary and the integrator and all those sorts of things. And so  I'm definitely the visionary and we're working now on like, trying to figure out, okay, we, we need help with the operation side of things.

We need help with the systems. And luckily Charlie, one of my partners, he's an engineer and he is,  he's a, he's a integrator, but  doesn't want to be an integrator, if that makes sense in terms of,  he's,

 would say he is an integrator in denial. Like he knows that's what he needs to do.  But but he is  kind of, doesn't want to, sometimes he has, he's got those visionary tendencies. So he is definitely  a blend there. But it is important to have someone on your team who can like, just look at the facts,  look at the numbers,  you know, not be emotional about it, and just lay things out. I mean, Charlie, I.  He's, he's built out like this incredible residential assisted living calculator that's all these tabs and all these variables and all these things.  And like legitimately I, it took me like 20 minutes to figure out how to just add two cells together in Excel. So I'm like,  know how  these people can do it.

So it's definitely important to have.  Someone on your team who can handle the operations for sure.  That's awesome.  Well, I want to pivot and ask Graves about action Academy or just kind of  what your experience has been being surrounded by like-minded people who are crushing it in real estate and in entrepreneurship.

What's that been like for you? I.

Dr. Graves Fromang: It's been, it's a, it's  motivation,  you know,  that it's a we meet our group, our pod meets every Thursday morning at 7:00 AM Eastern time.  And Webb e Webb Jones and I have been in there since the beginning, since it started the, we've had a lot of people with a lot of turnover just come and go, whether they  continue in action or change.

 He and I started with multifamily, but we're kind of  pivoting. But he and I have been together  from the beginning and we're,  it's just fun  for me. It's just.  Brainstorming with people and hearing other ideas from people who are outside the medical field,  because with the medical field and the blinders that are put on,  you know, I just wanna think outside the box  differently.

Wake up call that there's just, there's more ways to do it than just the narrow-minded, focused way I was taught and met from med school through residency.  You know, they don't teach you much about the business side of medicine. They don't teach you much about the business side of life.  You know, it's focused on, you know, the healthcare, which, you know, you gotta be,  you know, at the top of your game for that.

I understand.  But just to brainstorm with people every week and hear their views, hear what. And  here the, you know, the wins, the losses, right? Even the losses are important just to, you know,  figure out what it went wrong or why it did, or why it fell through,  you know, that's been,  it's just, it's just been neat to actually see that  side of  you know, society, so to speak.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, there's a bunch of studs in, in Action Academy and it's such a great community.  I think, you know, regardless of what community people join or  mastermind, I think it's just really important to, to get in the rooms with those people and realize that your environment, who you surround yourself with is really gonna change.

Your life and, and, and you said it perfectly graves with like,  Hey, I just wanted to get around people who didn't have the medicine blinders on and see that hey, there are other options and opportunities out here.  And you know, hopefully folks that are listening to this podcast understand that already.

But  it is really important to get around those people who maybe see things a little bit differently and invest differently, are willing to take a little bit more risk  and are really. Willing to hold each other accountable. I think that's a big thing with Action Academy I've seen is that  folks just not only take action, which is great 'cause that's the, the name, but they also hold each other accountable and lift everyone up with them.  And so it's just it's been a really cool  journey and experience to be part of that community. So thanks for sharing that.

 Yeah.

 Awesome. Graves, what's next for you?

 Dr. Graves Fromang: Well,  as I, we,  you know, we've got this piece where we've got these commercial properties and  slowly,  the guy I was telling you about earlier, Hammond and I are looking at buying small business you know, healthcare business, you know, and start to be chief medical officer directors of  said medical business.

So there's several of 'em that we're starting to look into.  As you dig through Action Academy, it's  not just real estate, but they also talk about, you know, buying small businesses. And as the,  you know,  the silver tsunami starts to retire, so, you know,  the there's a lot of small businesses that are gonna come for sale and healthcare is what we know.

 That's just, you know, we understand it. We can ask the questions that, you know, pertain to the healthcare side of it. We have a good friend who's in finance and he helps us with the looking at it from the financial standpoint and does this make sense from a numbers. And then  we have another a CEO of a different company, actually one.

 It's almost like placement for docs and helping them with, with different locums  and stuff.  Anyway, he, the CEO there help  with the operations. So  anyway, we're starting underwrite some small healthcare business  are.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Man. Are there any  particular businesses that get you excited in the healthcare space?

 Dr. Graves Fromang: This one does just because of the way it is tailored for  chronic care and the systems that they have in place is very interesting and  just gets me out, gets you outta the grind of the emergency room, but you're still helping people.  And so they've got a strong base of,  of nurses and doctors and nurse practitioners, and it's yeah, it's,  we're just, we're that  we're, we're kind of just looking at all different types of,  you know, healthcare businesses.

I really don't want to own as med spa. I have no intentions of  injecting Botox and  all these other things. Con you times had people who are interested in.

Running emergency rooms.  So our group has taken some contracts and so  I'm a regional director for,  and director for a couple of small ERs  in South Alabama where they reside and where the company is. So  yeah, it's just  little, little bit thing, little things here and there just to keep the day busy and,  you know, keep things.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Sounds good, man. That's exciting. Yeah.  Yeah. You got a lot of things that you're working on, but you're crushing it and excited to see where things go and  it, it's, it's so cool to see on the other side for you of  now you're practicing medicine when you want to, how you want to, and that's 'cause you, you put in the time, you put in the work and you took action.  If folks wanna reach out to you,  connect with you,  learn more, how can they do that?

 Dr. Graves Fromang: I am on Instagram, grace Ro, or I actually have a Facebook group if there's any physicians listening to this that are interested in phishing.  There's a Facebook group called Real Docs, R-E-E-L-D-O-C-X. That's our Facebook group. Got about 700 something members in there  that are just sharing their, their winds on the water.

That's the way I phrase it. Their wind on the water, hanging out with their family and just, you know,  re release, relax, recharge,  release, relax, recharge. That's my that's my mantra for the, our

Dr. Alex Schloe: Nice.

Dr. Graves Fromang: Facebook,  Instagram.

Dr. Alex Schloe: I love that, man. I love fishing. What's a good fishing story you have for us to wrap things up?

Dr. Graves Fromang: Goes back to 2008. A buddy of mine wanted to his wife got him a charter out of Miami  to go sword fishing night charter to go sword fishing off of the off the Atlantic coast. They're out of Miami  and we left around  6:00 PM Then around 1:00 AM  the captain's like.  This is a, you know, we're not having much luck, so to speak.

 He's like, we're gonna wrap this up in about an hour. So we're like, that's fine. You know, we're just  bobbing in the waves. This point  in the line  goes.  Which is the top line, like the one that the  high closest to the surface of the water and it just  starts peeling line off.  And for the next three hours, my three buddies and I were passing the rock around.

 And  as we start to bring this fish up over the over the gunnel,  it's a.  Huge swordfish. I mean, huge.  The, the, the bill is, you know, 10 feet long. It's just the  biggest fish I've ever seen in my life come across  the gun of a boat.  And the captain's screaming. He's, he's just,  you know, crazy excited.

Obviously he is on the radio. I'm like, who would you radio at two in the morning?  You know? And actually this time it's like three or. It's like four or five in the morning,  but there was a tournament in Fort Lauderdale just north of us.  And so we ran from Miami all the way to Fort Lauderdale so they could hoist this fish up on a crane.

 And it was a 404 20 pound sore fish

Dr. Alex Schloe: Wow,  that's amazing.

Dr. Graves Fromang: that we fought. Yeah, we fought for three hours and  I've got the bill hanging in my hanging in my, our kids playroom and I've got  you know, pictures. We took home these huge chunks of with  chainsaw. This thing,  it,  it crazy. One time it a and done. I'll never  it better.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, that's true man. That is tough to beat.  Did you guys win the tournament, I'm assuming?

Dr. Graves Fromang: We weren't even in the tournament. Would've won the tournament. We weren't even in it.

Dr. Alex Schloe: man. That's awesome. Yeah.

Dr. Graves Fromang: is a birthday charter.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's cool. Yeah, I I've got,

Dr. Graves Fromang: Yeah.

 good fishing. When I was stationed down in Eglin Air Force Base over there in Dustin and,  and we caught a lot of good red snapper and grouper and all kinds of

Oh yeah.

Dr. Alex Schloe: And the  man, the fish was just so good.  That was definitely one of the biggest perks of living down there and Dustin and just  eating all that fresh seafood all the time. And, oh man,  it's tough.

Dr. Graves Fromang: All.

Dr. Alex Schloe: to beat red snapper. Yeah.  Oh man. That's awesome. Well, we'll have to do some fishing sometime.

Dr. Graves Fromang: Yeah, man.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome, graves. Well, awesome.  Was there anything else you want hit on before we wrap things up?

Dr. Graves Fromang: No, I just, you know, to the, to the people out there that are, you know, grinding away,  you know, just,  you know, make sure you just  spend time with the family,  control your schedule.  I mean, that's just, that's been my biggest thing.  Control the schedule,  the way you want to do it, when you want to do it with who you wanna do it.

So.

Dr. Alex Schloe: man.  That's awesome. That's a perfect way to wrap things up. Well, with that, it's been Dr. Graves Fromang and Dr. Alex Schloe with another episode of the Physicians and Properties Podcast. Signing off. 

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