From newspaper routes to real estate routes, Joel Miller’s journey is one of curiosity, persistence, and entrepreneurial spirit. What began as a spark of interest in junior high—when a new development appeared along his paper route—eventually became a lifelong pursuit of building wealth through real estate. With a background in accounting, decades as a professional DJ, and more than a hundred home flips under his belt, Joel has lived the lessons he now shares.
Through his experience as a landlord, investor, and educator, Joel offers practical, story-driven insights into the world of rental property investing. His unique combination of financial expertise and hands-on real estate experience helps new and seasoned investors alike build sustainable portfolios while actually enjoying the process. Whether he’s teaching a class, mentoring investors, or writing about his journey, Joel brings energy, authenticity, and a teacher’s heart to everything he does.
Episode Highlights Here:
Brett
Before we jump into this episode, I want to invite you to join our community to help you become a better steward scale to billions and ultimately give more or all of it away. All I want you to do is to click the subscribe button right now. I love your support. It’s incredible to see your comments, and we’re just getting started. I can’t wait to go on this journey with you. Thank you so much for subscribing. It meansthe world to me. Welcome to the build the billions podcast, where we got successful entrepreneurs and investors on the journey from millions to billions. We believe the key to scaling compounding wealth starts every single day with a mindset and practice of stewardship, of ownership and applying billionaire biblical principles. My name is Brett Swarts. We’re on a journey with you to scale from millions to billions, so we can give more all of it away, and we’re bringing in on guests to help us do just that. I’m excited about our next guest. He’s out of Pennsylvania, and he became curious about the prospects of investing in rental properties when someone built 16 townhomes on his newspaper route in junior high. And after obtaining his bachelor’s degree in accounting, he opened an accounting practice while also pursuing other passions. And along the way, he began flipping houses. Okay? And he’s done this 100, well over 100 100 flips, and he’s going to be talking with us, don’t just about some real estate stuff, but actually, really about the difference between riches and wealth. And then we’ll build and we’ll talk about his book as well that he has. Please welcome the show with me. Joel Miller, Joel, how we doing?
Joel
Hey, Brett, thanks for having me. Appreciate it. I’m looking forward to this absolutely. So, it’s other than just the nitty gritty of buying and owning. Yes,
Brett
because most of our listeners are, you know, they’ve they know those they know those things, right? And they’ve done it for many years, and they’ve done it in scale on large apartment complexes and big businesses and such. So yeah, they made their millions, and maybe they are now they’re looking at the difference between riches and wealth. So, so Joel, what is, what is the number one secret between, you know, riches and wealth, and what’s the difference between
Joel
the two? Well, I kind of liken the difference between richness and wealth to the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Not knowledge is simply you have the facts and things like that, but wisdom is knowing what to do with the facts, how to make wise decisions and actually apply the knowledge properly. It’s kind of also like the difference between talent and skill. You know, you might be born with some talent, but until you develop talent, you don’t have any skill. You know, so with riches and wealth, it’s, it’s the difference between just having cash and knowing how to do good with the cash.
Brett
yeah, I love the way you put that, right. So, so it’s, it’s not just the knowledge, right? You know, you say riches, it’s the wealth. Is the, is the way that you apply the knowledge and practice it, with your values, with, with, with, with strategic, you know, thought, with discernment, with discipline. Is that? Is that a good way to think about it? When you think, it when you’re thinking about riches and wealth?
Joel
Yeah, right. Yeah. I’ve I teach landlord one on one classes, and I end up speaking in front of a lot of groups and or at least around here, I’m well known for what I’m going to tell you right now making this statement, and that is, if I had a choice of losing all my money and losing all my relationships, I would lose all my money in a heartbeat, because my relationships will help me get my money back. And if I had a pile of money and no relationships left, you know, that would be pretty empty. That’s not really success, you know, from what I can say. So, I would conclude that by saying, you know, don’t make a withdrawal from a good relationship just to make a deposit in your bank account.
Brett
Wow, that’s really powerful. I love the way you put that right. Don’t make a withdrawal from your relationship just to make a deposit in in your in your bank account. The other thing is, don’t trade what’s priceless for what’s profitable, right? I think it’s another way to think about it as well. When people have, when people have a mindset that’s not focused on the things that are going to be lasting impact, or lasting for their, for they’re their character, right? Lasting for making a difference and an impact. It can be really, really, really challenging. So, what would you say the number one mindset, you know, a practice that you practice that helps you to stay, you know, I guess, focused on a wealth mindset versus just a richest mindset?
Joel
Well, you have to understand that you’re just a steward of anything you have in this life, and you want to be a good steward. I believe that God entrusts people with things that make life nice because they because he believes
Brett
that. So, if you like this little, short clip. Of the interview I just did. Click over here to watch the full interview, and please don’t forget to subscribe. Thanks so much, everybody. You
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About Joel Miller
Joel Miller is a seasoned real estate investor, educator, and former professional mobile disc jockey who has blended creativity, business acumen, and financial insight throughout his career. After earning his BA in Accounting, Joel founded his own accounting practice before expanding into real estate and launching one of the first professional DJ services in his area. Over 35 years and 5,051 events later, he retired from the DJ booth—but not from business.
Joel has completed more than 100 house flips, built a successful rental property portfolio, and since 2018 has served as a hard money lender helping other investors grow their wealth. As the lead instructor for northwestern Pennsylvania’s Landlord 101 class and creator of seminars on house flipping and lending, he’s helped countless landlords and investors find their footing.
Now, as the author of Build Real Estate Wealth: Enjoy the Journey of Rental Property Investment, Joel shares the lessons, stories, and mindset that have guided his decades in real estate. His mission is simple: to help others achieve financial freedom while enjoying the journey along the way.
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