Elena Cardone: How to Find a Partner, 10X Your Life, and Build a Real Estate Empire | E208
Elena Cardone: How to Find a Partner, 10X Your Life, and Build a Real Estate Empire | E208
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[00:01:35] Elena Cardone: Who's got my money? It's always a who? Who's got your money? Who can you exchange products and services with? How do you network? How do you get on the communication lines of the world? Now's the time to pour it on, not retreat.
[00:01:49] Now's the time to be around a 10x mindset. Now's the time to step away from the news and stop hearing the news. Accept it. Make your battle plan. I have three rules [00:02:00] to money. One, you know how to earn it, right? Number two, you know how to store. It Doesn't mean save. You save it in a bank, the money's going to zero.
[00:02:08] And then number three, you store it so that you can invest it into an income producing asset. Pay the price today so you can pay any price in the future. That's it. Be strict. Be disciplined.
[00:02:24] Hala Taha: What is up, Young and Profiteer.. You are listening to YAP Young and Profiting podcast, where we interview the brightest minds in the world and unpack their wisdom into actionable advice that you can use in your daily life. I'm your host, Hala Taha. Thanks for tuning in and get ready to listen. Learn and profit.
[00:02:55] Elena, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast.
[00:02:59] Elena Cardone: Hello, [00:03:00] Hala. How are you?
[00:03:01] Hala Taha: I'm doing great. I'm super excited for today's episode, Young and Profiteers. Today I'm chatting with former model and actress Elena Cardone, who has starred and shows like Two and a Half Men Saved by the Bell, CSI and Days of Our Lives. These days, Elena is still shining in the spotlight.
[00:03:18] She's a successful entrepreneur, author, speaker, and real estate mogul, and she works alongside her husband, Grant Cardone and her two children. And the Cardones have built a multi-billion dollar empire and have become a model family in business. During today's episode, we're gonna walk through Elena's interesting career journey. Will unpack her philosophy towards life and building an empire.
[00:03:38] And I know we're gonna get a ton of gems in terms of leveling up our career and relationships. Elena, before we dive into your journey, I did wanna get insight from one of your most famous quotes that I found, and you say, That normal is the most dangerous condition you can be because it gives you a false sense of security.
[00:03:56] So drawing on your own life experiences, I thought this would be a great way to open [00:04:00] up. How does normalcy generally hold people back?
[00:04:02] Elena Cardone: It holds people back because you don't strive to go further and to build up an abundance. Either in mindset, finances, resources, when you think you're okay and you make sense of, okay. It's detrimental because it only takes one incident to come in and wipe it all out.
[00:04:19] Whether that is an economic collapse or somebody in the family gets sick or dies or becomes incapacitated. The entire system becomes threatened and can't withstand. So that's why I say normal is so scary because you make sense of barely getting by, but you convince yourself that you're just fine and you have enough.
[00:04:43] You are enough, you've done enough, and then where the blanket can get pulled out from under you.
[00:04:49] Hala Taha: So I'd love to learn more about how you grew up.
[00:04:51] Elena Cardone: I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. Had a really great childhood. I was a tomboy. And [00:05:00] then one day I had an incident occur. My best friend across the street, she perished in a fire that unfortunately I was there.
[00:05:08] I witnessed the whole thing. It was devastating to me. And because I was so young and didn't know how to cope with that, I went down this dark road of self-medicating, to try to just numb it and deal with it. So I feel like I wasted a lot of years trying to cope rather than confronting. But out of that, what got me outta New Orleans was an acting career.
[00:05:36] I saw, okay, I can maybe succeed in an acting and modeling career. So I moved to Los Angeles at 17 years old. I knew no one and just started to make it on my own. I thought anything is better than where I just came from. Even though I love my hometown. It was just more than I could stand having confront, seeing that burned out, empty shell of a house every single [00:06:00] time I went in and out of my home.
[00:06:02] So it just kinda got me to where I am today. I went to Los Angeles. I was an actress and a model for many years there until I met my husband, Grant Cardone, and then we moved to Miami in 2012 and we've continued to build our lives from here. But that's pretty much my childhood.
[00:06:22] Hala Taha: Awesome. And so from my understanding, you came from humble beginnings.
[00:06:26] How has your mindset changed about money? What are some of the things that you had to disprove to yourself so that you could become the super successful person that you are today?
[00:06:35] Elena Cardone: I thought that money was only for a select few. Like I thought you had to be really intelligent. I thought you had to have a college degree.
[00:06:44] I thought people like me just couldn't ever, have wealth because that's not what I was born into. Also, I grew up in my teen years. I joined the punk rock society, and in that [00:07:00] mentality, rich people sucked. They're greedy. They were the anti-Christ, was steal from the rich gift to the poor was my mentality back then.
[00:07:08] So I had to overcome that. No, you can have wealth and not be greedy. You can have wealth and do great things. You're not a bad person if you go out and create wealth. So I had a number of these ideas. I never thought that I could make it this far. I never thought that I could surpass grants in money.
[00:07:28] And I haven't to date, let's be fair. But at least now I've opened my mindset to the possibility that could occur.
[00:07:36] Hala Taha: And what really changed your mind? Was it when you went to LA and you saw how people lived and they had money that kind of opened your eyes or what really flipped that switch for you?
[00:07:46] Elena Cardone: Yes. When I went there, it started to open my eyes. I started to grow up a little. I started to really align with, okay, that's not my beliefs. What are my beliefs? That was the group think back then with that group I was attached to. [00:08:00] What do I really think about money? And then it was when I got with Grant, who really started to have me understand the principles of money. And when once I really started to understand money and how to apply it and not violate the policies on money. I started to really be able to have an abundance of it.
[00:08:22] One of the decoding, the biggest decoders was when I realized, that Money doesn't make you greedy. I realized when I had been thinking money makes me greedy. No matter how high or how successful I would go, something would always knock me back down because I had been having this mindset. If I got above this, I would somehow become greedy or an evil person, so I would never allow myself to break up into here, but I didn't do it intentionally.
[00:08:51] But now looking back. It was because I had already had this barrier of what I thought was the threshold, and once I crossed it. I [00:09:00] would become this evil mean person. So in my life, I just always had a situation come and knock it out. Whether, it was an end of a career, an end of a job, an end of, or a car needing repair, or a house needing repair, or a lawsuit or this or that.
[00:09:14] Something would come in and wack. Where it would build out down the coffer to build back up. And it wasn't until I realized, wow, that's a very limiting belief that's actually holding me down. Can I just be open to the possibility that money could make me more generous? Money could make me actually help more people?
[00:09:34] And I just changing that mindset just a little bit and then all of a sudden I got to a certain amount where I thought, wow, cuz I remember. The day when I had the goal of having $60,000 in the bank, like I thought I was rich. If I had $16,000 in the bank and I could never get to that. Then I opened the viewpoint, then I hit the 60,000, and then I was like, it's a hundred [00:10:00] thousand.
[00:10:00] That's the real number. And then I cracked the hundred thousand and then I just opened it up to. I'm just open to the possibility, money and I don't have to make money mean all these other things. Money is money. Money is a currency. It's supposed to ebb and flow and it's an energy. And I'm supposed to just use it to, exchange in place of time and money, and that's all it means.
[00:10:25] It's just a resource. I started to be able to have a lot of it. And then when I look around and I saw, wow, there's trillions of dollars. We're printing trillions of dollars, there's no shortage of money. Why can't I just go as if I had my bucket in an ocean and scoop up some water? No one's gonna notice if I take a bucket of water from the ocean.
[00:10:46] No one's gonna notice if I scoop a billion dollars. The trillions of dollars that are out there, if I decide to take a billion or a million or a hundred thousand. It's not even gonna register. So why do I have this scarcity [00:11:00] mindset and why do I make it any harder than walking down to the beach and scooping up water?
[00:11:04] It's only because I'm making it harder. But once you actually understand the certain philosophies that go around money and how simple it is, and it's not complex. The more that you can be actually of an abundance mindset and start having and attracting.
[00:11:19] Hala Taha: I love that. I feel like you gave us so much wisdom in terms of how we can break out of this limiting mindset. When it comes to trying to make more money and not being afraid of actually achieving the success that we dream of.
[00:11:32] I think a lot of us are actually afraid of the outcome, and that's why we don't go ahead and do the things that we need to do.
[00:11:38] Elena Cardone: Or you just don't know the right things. You don't have the right information. Knowledge is power, right? So if you have the wrong information, what do you have? The complete opposite.
[00:11:48] So get around the right people, the right mindsets, study the right people. It should be easy. It's not difficult.
[00:11:55] Hala Taha: So you just mentioned knowledge, right? Knowledge is power from my [00:12:00] understanding. You went to California when you were 17 years old. I guess means that you didn't go to college. So I'd love to understand your opinion on higher education.
[00:12:11] Do you think it's necessary? Obviously there's so many entrepreneurs like yourself. Steve Jobs, that didn't go to college that became extremely successful. But for the average person, what are your thoughts in terms of higher education?
[00:12:25] Elena Cardone: Look, if you wanna become a lawyer or a doctor, obviously you need to go to get a higher education and be very. Specified with that particular knowledge.
[00:12:36] But for anybody else, it's hands-on experience. It's getting in the field, it's doing it, it's action. We don't ask anybody here what your qualifications are. We are interested in, can you produce a result? Do you have the resources to self-educate? Figure it out. When Grant does a 200 million deal on an investment property that he's buy.
[00:12:57] This institutional grade property that [00:13:00] Prudential or JP Morgan or Blackstone are also bidding on. They're not asking Grant, what's your college degree? And they're not asking to see his, at what age did you start speaking in, what degree do you have and from where and who do you know?
[00:13:13] It's no, show me the numbers in the account and how can you support this and how are you gonna take care of the asset? And and can you pull this thing off? That's it. They're not looking beyond. And Grant has said this, really, if you're going to go for higher education in a general field. Go for one reason and one reason only meet the people.
[00:13:34] Go there and meet the Obama's, the Trumps, the major pushers and shovers world leaders. Go to meet the contacts that can collaborate with you in the future.
[00:13:46] Hala Taha: I think that's great advice. So let's move on to talking about Grant and your relationship, because I think it's really interesting. Your dynamic together and how you guys met even is an interesting story.
[00:13:57] So why don't we start there. Can you share the [00:14:00] story of how you guys met? Because from my understanding, you weren't actually interested in him at first.
[00:14:06] Elena Cardone: No, I wasn't. Yeah, we met in Los Angeles. I was on a commercial. I was shooting a commercial. It was in downtown Los Angeles, middle of the night. It was a night shoot, and Grant was friends with the director.
[00:14:18] So he showed up on the shoot. I see him in the trailer. It was like, hi, bye. I never thought anything of him, not my type, shorter than me, like just did not register. I was more into actors, musicians at the time. I'm in my twenties, Grants seemed like a businessman, just didn't register.
[00:14:35] Anyway, he guessed my number from the director. He, no, you're not supposed to. Somebody's number from the call sheet out to a random, and the director did. And then Grant calls me and we have this disastrous phone call. It was just horrible. I don't even need to get into it. But it was horrible.
[00:14:52] And I decided, okay, this is the last phone call that I'm gonna have with this guy. What a joke. And I hang up the call with him and he proceeds to [00:15:00] call me twice a month, every month for the next 13 months. With no return phone call, he'd leave a message on my answering machine. But I never thought he was like creepy, scary guy.
[00:15:10] It was just like a non-event, just didn't think anything of it. He wasn't stalking me. It wasn't weird. I wasn't scared. Sometimes his messages were funny. It was just wasn't anything I thought about. And then he eventually, he became friends with one of my best friends at the time, who I was hanging out with.
[00:15:27] So we got in the circle. So then he starts showing. , the clubs and the restaurants that I'm at. And so I'm like, he is not so bad after all, but I still wasn't interested, but I liked that he could be around. I knew that he liked me, but he wasn't pushing himself on me. It was just like, cool.
[00:15:44] I just didn't wanna be put in that awkward situation. And then he finally found out that I like to shoot guns. I was ranked 10th in the nation, or actually the 10th in California for shotguns at the time. Anyway he left a message and and he was [00:16:00] like, Hey, I rented the shooting range, wanna come with me?
[00:16:02] And so I, that was the first call that got me to call him back. And I was like, okay, I'll go to the shooting range with you. And then that's how we developed a quote unquote friendship. But he didn't push me. And we hung out like that for a few months. And then one day I was like, this guy is special.
[00:16:19] He's different. I've never had a guy like this before. And what is he seeing me? The way I behaved and treated him would've made any guy like run away or say screw it to hell with her. But he was just patiently cool, but not in a pathetic way. And one day I just my eyes just opened and I was like, oh my God, something really real is here in front of me.
[00:16:46] And I am, I was at dinner and I was like, oh my God. And he's what? And I said, you're gonna make me fall in love with you, aren't you? And he was like yes I am. And we've been together ever since.
[00:16:56] Hala Taha: That's so sweet. So I wanna dig into something that you said, which [00:17:00] is basically, that Grant was much different than the other guys that you were dating before.
[00:17:04] And I'd love to understand what you mean by that. What kind of men were you dating before and how did Grant stand?
[00:17:10] Elena Cardone: Gosh. I dated artsy guys. I dated actors, musicians, tattoo people. One, one of my, the first big love of my life, unfortunately, was addicted to crystal meth. It led to some problems after we broke, problems while we were together.
[00:17:26] So much so that I had to break it off with him. Not because I wasn't in love with him, but because there was just so many problems and drama that comes with somebody that's addicted to crystal. After I break up with him, he ends up in jail for three years. So that's the type of people I was with. Just drama in that art scene, drugs, alcohol, rock and roll, and Grant was very different.
[00:17:49] He didn't do drugs, he didn't drink. He was a businessman. He had his money together. He was just stable. I just didn't know that [00:18:00] world. I had lived in Los Angeles since I was 17. I never hung out with business people. It was always producers, actors, directors musicians. It was always somebody in the arts.
[00:18:12] Hala Taha: Let's hold that thought and take a quick break with our sponsors.
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[00:21:38] The reason why I ask this question is because there's more single women out there than ever right now. Partially because women are doing better than men right now in general, like more women are starting to graduate college. I think it's for every one man, it's two women graduate college. Women are starting to make more money.
[00:21:57] Women usually marry up, and now women [00:22:00] are starting to have to marry down, so to speak, because they're leveling up. And a lot of women being successful actually emasculate men. And so it doesn't, it's not working out like it used to be. Marriage rates are down. And I guess what I'm trying to say is when you're looking for a partner, obviously nobody's perfect.
[00:22:20] I remember hearing you say like you thought Grant was short. If you not open-minded, you may not have embarked on this amazing journey, that you went on because of something as superficial as height. I have a lot of young listeners, women in their thirties, I've men that listen to me too, and I think a lot of people are fixated on this like perfect partner.
[00:22:39] And I wanna understand from you, given that you guys are like a role model couple. What do you actually need to look for in a partner and how do you understand? Whether or not what you're looking for is either unrealistic or you're looking at the wrong things, basically.
[00:22:56] Elena Cardone: I don't think you should settle.
[00:22:57] I don't think you should compromise. What I would [00:23:00] suggest is somebody write down, right? You wanna come up with perfect. You shouldn't deviate from that. Write the perfect person, and you're talking about trivial. I wrote over a hundred characteristics. This is before I got together with Grant, over a hundred characteristics of what I wanted in the perfect man, and it started with six two and green eyes.
[00:23:20] Every single item on the rest of the list was Grant except for the first 2, 6 2 and green eyes. And I only said six two because I had other guys not want me to wear heels. It really wasn't because I had a consideration and green eyes. I like green eyes. I should have just said charming and accepts me from my height.
[00:23:36] You know what I mean? It wouldn't have pigeonholed me into being blind, right? Because I was looking for 6'2 and green eyes. So what I would say is write it all down, right? You want monogamy, you want ethically ambitious, all the traits, trustworthiness, monogamy, wants a family. Write everything that you want, that's gonna build me up, that's gonna support me.
[00:23:56] Show active interest in the success of me. Likes women and children, [00:24:00] protects women and children. Write everything down. I wrote all of that, has a great relationship, is in drama, is proud to have me with him, blah, blah, blah. Write every single thing on your list, but here's the catcher when you write that list, because after I wrote all the list of what I wanted in a man, because before that I was like, I'm gonna be this dedicated single woman forever.
[00:24:22] I don't need a man for anything. And I really thought that was gonna be my life. I didn't even get married until I was 30 and I wouldn't have until Grant proposed. And then I was like, oh my God. But anyway, so after you write the list of what you want, turn around. If this actually became the man of your dreams.
[00:24:41] When I wrote that list, I said, if this man actually exists. I could be with this man for the rest of my life. I wrote on there like sexually compatible, like adventurous, fun. We fall in love with each other for, all the stuff that I wanted. If he existed, [00:25:00] this man existed. I could be but now, if this man existed from his point of view, from the perfect man, what are his qualities?
[00:25:11] What does he want in a woman? And I wrote them down, he would want monogamy. He would want someone who doesn't excessively drink alcohol, doesn't do drugs, wants to have a family. You see what I'm saying? Is trustworthy, does what they say. Isn't a drama queen takes care of themselves, physically trust me, every man wants that.
[00:25:34] Don't kid yourself. Don't be like, he should love me just the way I am. Write what he would really want on his ideal scene. And when I did that, I realized at the time, this is back in time, right? 20 plus years ago, I saw how off I was. I was excessively drinking alcohol. I was hanging out in the clubs. I didn't want a family, I didn't wanna be married.
[00:25:55] It wasn't until th that list that I even consider it. So then I started to [00:26:00] go work on myself. How can I improve myself rather than thinking I'm entitled to this perfect person? How can you get yourself in your own ethical, moral code? How can you get yourself to be the woman that would, that man would attract?
[00:26:15] Hala Taha: It's like getting on that level.
[00:26:17] Elena Cardone: I did that and that's when we found each other almost immediately, because I became comparable magnitude to the thing that I wanted. Now, I could also speak, the emasculation and the this and the that of the men. And also, let's have the woman take responsibility for her role in that.
[00:26:34] Only because I've been there and I did that. So I used to have, I'm this strong, independent, powerful woman. I never need independent on a man for anything. I had all my own expenses. I dated a couple of these guys, right? They lived with me. I don't need you for anything. I made all my decisions. You don't tell me what to do.
[00:26:53] I'm doing this with or without you. I made more money than them. But guess what? That [00:27:00] attitude of not wanting to be needed or who wants to feel like that? I don't wanna feel not needed. I don't wanna feel in a relationship, that Grant's gonna not include me and go do whatever. And whenever. So that made it so they wanted to go out and cheat because they wanna go be with a woman that does need them or care about them or, is excited by them.
[00:27:20] I made it seem like I could care less, so I don't think. The fact that you make more money that emasculates the man. I feel like it's your attitude toward them and not including them in on the cycle. Not that you need to ask them how you spend your money, but it's a way that you treat them that's inclusive and there's a way that y'all can come together and work out who you are as a couple, not just I am this with or without.
[00:27:48] But how you can come together as a couple and say, who were we as a couple? Who do we represent? Are we the winning couple? What are our goals? What are our dreams? What do we wanna accomplish together? And then figure out [00:28:00] who does what in the relationships based on your strengths and weaknesses, not male, female on how you're gonna get there.
[00:28:06] Because if I'm the big breadwinner in the family and I'm the female, but I have this guy who's supporting me and setting up, and getting me everything that I need to run all the behind the scenes operations, so that we me can get there. He's equally as value valuable. You understand? So it's about figuring it out and not caring about what the outside world is, but how you each contribute to the win and to the success of both of y'all as a couple.
[00:28:34] I've actually talked to couples where the woman is the big breadwinner and the guy is running the whole organization and her follow up and administration. Where she gets to go out and be the artist and they're intertwined with each other going for goals together.
[00:28:49] Hala Taha: I feel like this is such a great segue to talk about your own experience with Grant.
[00:28:54] I learned that you guys had a different dynamic before the 2008 [00:29:00] recession and after, and I think this illustrates exactly what you're saying so perfectly.
[00:29:03] Elena Cardone: We married in 2004. Again, I had it just ingrained in me. I wasn't trying to prove a point. It was just ingrained to me to be this strong, powerful, independent woman.
[00:29:12] Never depend on a man for anything. That was just what was always sitting there. I wasn't spoken. It just lived in me. So for the first four years, Grant and I had my goals, he had his whole goals. We had never come together and said, who are we as a couple? What do we represent and where do we want to go together?
[00:29:30] It was always me, him. So I would go out and produce and he would go out and produce and we'd come home and fight and battle because I was like, you're not gonna tell me what to do, and I've lived on my own this whole time and you don't own me just because you have more money than me. And I'm not gonna make you a meal because you want a meal.
[00:29:46] I'm gonna make you a meal because I wanna make a meal. Just weird psycho stuff. This is the man I am married to and I am having issues with, like making the man a meal. That's messed up, like , how about support? Like just feed somebody who's [00:30:00] hungry. You know what I'm saying? Without making it mean this.
[00:30:02] So we fought each other. So we build and tear apart at night. Cuz we were playing small bickering small. I was fighting. He was fighting tit for tat. Who's gonna get to be the boss? Who's this? Who's that? After 2008, different story. I'm pregnant with our first child. We're under a lawsuit.
[00:30:18] Economic collapse occurs. We're on the verge of losing everything financially. Now what are you gonna do now? I had to say, you know what? Why can't? I depend on the man that I trusted and loved enough to marry. Why can't I depend on him? Why does society wanna say, you're codependent? I am married.
[00:30:37] I am codependent on him. He is codependent on me. I show up for him. He shows up for me. I like that. I don't wanna do this game alone. I want to build with somebody. I want to be able to depend on somebody, who's got my back and vice versa. I had to go through all of this in my. I believe their strengths and numbers.
[00:30:58] I believe in the power [00:31:00] of two and the power of more, so that's after 2008. I was like, okay, this is when I had the idea, who are we? Where are we going? What do we wanna build? What does our empire look like in the future? It was very, this was the vision, but it did not look like that back then. And I took a big risk and I said, I'm betting on you, Grant.
[00:31:19] I'm trading in the acting career. I'm gonna come in and run background support. I'm gonna have your back. I'm gonna make you a meal. I'm gonna do whatever, it takes for us to get ourselves out. You know you need me to this that. I got you. Make connections. Have a vision. Hammer you to get going.
[00:31:35] Not complain when you're out working too hard. Never stay in wins. Enough. Just keep pushing. Let's go. Wins. Celebrate the wins. I'm gonna be your cheerleader. And that's what I did. And that's when everything started to just go boom. We started to make major strides. We were no longer fighting.
[00:31:52] I had a role and he had a role, and he doesn't show up 50. And I show up 50, I show up a hundred and he shows up a hundred. [00:32:00] That's how we do our relationship. Whether we're fighting, we're arguing, we're mad, we hate each other that day. It doesn't matter. I'm showing up in the relationship 100% and so is he, and that's the way we've been able to be so successful.
[00:32:14] And build an empire.
[00:32:16] Hala Taha: And I definitely wanna get into. What it means to build an empire and all that. But before we get into that, there's a recession that everybody says is coming up, and so I'd love to hear your advice in terms of how couples should deal with that. What should they talk about and get aligned with?
[00:32:30] Because a lot of people break apart when the going gets tough.
[00:32:33] Elena Cardone: They should just become very aware. We're in a recession, it's happening. Even if it doesn't just be there. Go there. Okay, what do we need to do, economize? Okay, let's shut out all the excess spending. Which you should anyway, you're violating one of the principles that we know about money.
[00:32:48] Get on the same page on money. Where are we gonna go? How are we gonna use this time to self advance? It's, who's got my money? It's always a who? Who's [00:33:00] got your. Who can you exchange products and services with? It's a who. It's people. How do you network? How do you get on the communication lines in the world?
[00:33:09] How can you do 10 x the amount of work? Now's the time to pour it on, not retreat. Now's the time to be around a 10 x mindset. Now's the time to stay away from toxic people and small-minded people. Now's the time to step away, from the news and stop hearing the news. Accept it. Make your battle.
[00:33:27] Grant and I have three rules to money. One, you know how to earn it, right? Number two, you know how to store it. Doesn't mean save. You save it in a bank, the money's going to zero. It's depreciating in value. Store it. And then number three, you store it so that you can invest it into an income producing passive income.
[00:33:46] Asset. That's what Grant and I have done. We earn income. All earned income either goes to self enhancement, back into myself and my business, not back into Chanel, not back into Gucci, not back into a nice car. It's sacrifice. [00:34:00] Pay the price today, so you can pay any price in the future. That's it. Be strict.
[00:34:04] Be disciplined. This is what Grant and I did for a decade before social media, and you couldn't see us paying the price we paid the price. What are you willing to give up in order to get where you wanted to go? We weren't doing fancy parties, dinners, no loaf time. We were working. Hustling, right? Earned income either goes back into self enhancement business. The rest gets stored, okay, and that's it.
[00:34:28] Storage store. Then you get enough income producing asset. We created a fund, Cardone Capital. Anyone can invest. Accredited, non-accredited. You can invest with us and have a piece of this from day. Income producing asset that either delivers a dividend monthly or quarterly, depending on how you came in as an investor.
[00:34:50] And that money. Okay? And that money. Number three, the passive income is what you spend on your Gucci. In our case [00:35:00] planes, cuz we've amassed such a mass fortune of it or an extra home or a this. But until then, we're in sacrifice phase. So if you can get into alignment on those three things and know how to do your finances and make agreements on. You know what, now's the time we're gonna dig in.
[00:35:15] And even if we don't financially grow in the next year, but we grow spiritually. We grow in awareness, we grow with investing in whatever it is that you do in your business. You invest in your network, that when the floodgates open. You're so far ahead of everybody else because you've had your discipline in for the last year.
[00:35:38] People always ask me, What would you do if you lost all your money? I'm like, it wouldn't take me nearly as long to get it the second time. First time. Why? Because you can't take away what I know. You can't take away my connections. You can't take away my intelligence, my grit, my confidence, my discipline.
[00:35:55] You, that's been earned. So now is the time to get together. You know what? [00:36:00] Now is the time where we can get stronger, where we can fortify. Others are gonna fail. Let's make a commitment to be the winning couple. Let's make a commitment to get on the other side of this so that we can help other people who were just like us.
[00:36:13] Start with a commitment. Reaffirm it every week. Have your little, your meetings to powwow to keep each other energized. Set small goals along the way. Small little targets that you can hit along the way to feel good.
[00:36:27] Hala Taha: We'll be right back after a quick break from our sponsors.
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[00:39:19] So your story is so fascinating because a lot of people would think that you might be upset that you're leaving behind such a great modeling and acting career, but actually you ended up still being in the spotlight. Being very famous and almost it's like you took a different path to get to the same place that you wanted to be.
[00:39:39] And to me, that's such a powerful lesson because a lot of people are so fixated on this one outcome. Of this is what I need to pursue my dream. This is the one outcome. But really there's so many ways you can get to what you really want. Which I think for you is like making an impact, being known. And so I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.
[00:39:59] Elena Cardone: Creativity [00:40:00] follows commitment, and once you make a commitment and you're open to the possibility. And once you know what you want, you know your purpose, all of a sudden you can start to see opportunities everywhere. When you get out of the little tunnel vision, in my case, for me, I thought the only thing I knew how to do was an acting career.
[00:40:20] What else can I do? I never went to college, never thought I was one of those smart chicks. I thought that was the only thing had my whole identity wrapped up into it. It was very hard to make the move and exactly what you said. Now as I just made this commitment. I've used everything along the way.
[00:40:37] I've just used it all. But if I had that closed mindset, I wouldn't even be able to see. I used now that I was able to support Grant and to turn that into my superhero, that is my power. I don't, I'm not ashamed by that other women. In my case, I'm only speaking about my case, so I'm assuming that because I feel it, there have to be other women out there that feel the same [00:41:00] way.
[00:41:00] But in the beginning, I was this power woman. I moved to Los Angeles, I was the actress, I was this, I was not. To come and then take a support role and figure out what all of that means you can wanna shrink and shrivel. I was like, no, I've gotta own this. I am the support. I did do this.
[00:41:15] Own it. And now, I'm on the forefront empowering other women owning, and I'm building a real estate group with EXP, where I have over 730 agents in my organization. I'm helping other powerful people build their empires. How? By doing this same thing that I did for Grant, offering infrastructure, mindset and support.
[00:41:36] Owning it. Stop trying to fight it. These are your assets. Just embrace them and use them.
[00:41:43] Hala Taha: So I'd love to understand, first of all, what is your definition of an empire? And then I wanna understand what your role is and Grant's role in this empire.
[00:41:52] Elena Cardone: So an empire is really a mindset. It's about thinking big enough, abundantly enough, big enough expansion.
[00:41:59] Empires [00:42:00] require people, no one can build an empire alone. So it's a metaphor for your life, right? This isn't the solopreneur, this is the empire. And my role, of course, in every empire that you have, you should be the king and the queen of your empire. And there's empires within the empires. My executive assistant, she gets to be the queen of her empire and as the king and the queen.
[00:42:22] That means our relationship is the most sacred of the entire empire. Meaning I don't go to my friends and I metaphorically call them the chambermaids in this book as an example to say. If you're with the queen and you're with a king and that's the top. How can you go to anyone below you and ask advice about being with the king when they've never been with the king?
[00:42:47] They can't give you the advice. And why are you nattering and criticizing and complaining the king, and why would the king do that for the queen? And when you are allowed to seek your own counsel with each [00:43:00] other and you protect each other. You're able to the rest of the empire filters down and follows suits.
[00:43:06] So now I can work out my disagreements with my husband in private, and I don't have to have dumped onto my friends that now have a negative outlook with him. I make up with him. They still have the negative outlook. Then I get with them, they have the negative outlook. I have to defend them, or they bring up something that I've already hashed out, and then I go home and fight refight all over again.
[00:43:27] Why I don't do that? And Empire is about abundance. It's abundance in confidence. It's abundance in resources, finances, people, it's abundance on the mission. It's about wearing the crown. Something that's greater than yourself. It's about something in your purpose being so important that you can be willing to feel scared or sad.
[00:43:52] Lazy, but you'll still do it anywhere because you have to do it for the crown, for the people, for the purpose, for the cause. It [00:44:00] gets you going. It's being willing to think bigger than just yourself.
[00:44:06] Hala Taha: So one of the things that I'm curious about is how you get your children involved in this empire.
[00:44:11] It's very interesting that you guys bring them up on stage. You don't see many successful couple. Even putting their kids on camera. But you guys have decided that your entire family is going to be this role model family in the limelight. I wanna understand how you get buy-in from your kids to come along this journey.
[00:44:29] Elena Cardone: I've just indoctrinated them from when they're very early, very young. I've always tried to respect them as spiritual beings that are in little bodies. Not that they're adults, not that they've earned adult rights, but that their spiritual beings are not children. They can understand, not like dumb, but like that they can actually understand.
[00:44:49] So I've communicated. Look, Grant and I are superheroes and we wanna make a difference for the better, and we wanna impact lives. And Grant wants to, help financial literacy and help [00:45:00] people take care of their finances and it helps their families. And you know me, I wanna restore the family dynamic to society, and I wanna empower women because I believe we're powerful and we can make a difference and make change on the planet.
[00:45:14] And so do you wanna be a part of that? We asked them. We don't make them. We didn't decide. We invited them to participate. Do you wanna be a part of this team that makes a difference for the better? Yes. Yes. I wanna be a superhero. They're little. Great. This is how you can do this. You can show up with us at events.
[00:45:29] You can dance on the stage. You can pass out the flyer. Sometimes when we have to leave you behind because we have to go do an event when you are okay. When the nanny is watching you and I don't have to worry about you, and I can give to that audience, and then they can take it home, and then they can go make their lives better for their kids.
[00:45:48] You are contributing. Do you realize you're not there, but you're contributing because you let us go distraction free? That is a way you are exchanging with us. I let them see that they can [00:46:00] exchange from a very young age. And now as you can see, they're 13 Sabrina's on a trip with Grant today about meeting with a very big group for apartments and whatnot, and she does the real estate king with them and they do 10 X kids and they're putting together a show mini moguls together.
[00:46:17] And they speak at Grant Cardone Foundation to other children. They've taken an active role because they've been allowed to contribute and exchange with as much as they're willing to do.
[00:46:28] Hala Taha: I feel like that's so beautiful.
[00:46:31] Elena Cardone: They want to help your kids want to help, like it's just understanding that.
[00:46:36] It might not look like in the form that you're used to. So you know, from a very young age. If the kid sees you on the computer all day long, and they come over and they start pounding on your computer, as difficult as it may be to not be like, stop it. What are you doing? You just ruined my document. But being and having the intellect enough to realize the kid is coming over who loves you so much and is [00:47:00] trying to contribute.
[00:47:01] They're trying to help you by pounding on your computer. They want to contribute. From a young age it was, wow, thank you so much. Wow, that was amazing. They're like, yay. They feel all great and you take your computer and undo all the little marks that they made and continue.
[00:47:18] It's about parents recognizing like a even a smile or a performance or a dinner they wanna make you. I remember they made us dinners and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or whatever. It's like it's allowing them to discharge, that debt that they feel. Can you imagine a kid has been given everything, they can't do anything. They wanna feel, even from young ages, that they are self-determined, that they can do things, that they can give back and they can contribute.
[00:47:46] And it's important for parents to recognize and allow their children to contribute.
[00:47:51] Hala Taha: I love. So my last question before we start to close this out is really about you being a role model. It's not easy to be a role model. I know that I've [00:48:00] got a lot of fans on LinkedIn, for example, and sometimes I wanna respond to a mean comment or, but then I remember I'm a role model to so many people that are looking up to me, and you have it. A hundred times X as most people.
[00:48:13] So I'd love to understand how you deal with that.
[00:48:15] Elena Cardone: So that's very easy. You mentioned wanting to respond to somebody. I have all those impulses too. . What helps me in those situations. It isn't really necessarily that, and I should maybe look and say, wait, I'm a role model here, but I don't.
[00:48:28] What I do is I go, look, my purpose is so big. I'm trying to restore the value of family dynamic to the world. I'm trying to empower women to empower themselves, to empower their families, their communities. And I feel like I'm so far from having that goal achieved on this planet. That I can't waste a second. , if that's the goal.
[00:48:52] And then every time somebody says something negative about me, I go chase it down. What am I doing right now? I'm going down this rabbit [00:49:00] hole. That enemy, that hater, has now successfully distracted me, from achieving my target because I'm off my target and I'm onto them. And now I'm flowing power. Somebody like me, somebody like you who has power, who has influence.
[00:49:14] Now I've put my attention. Your attention. Your power on to them, and I'm flowing them power, even if it's a negative comment or whatever. Can you imagine the flow of power you just gave them and how much they receive by pulling you off of your agenda? So I don't engage because I can't afford to engage. I am so busy trying to get my mission accomplished.
[00:49:40] That saves me. Now if somebody tries to, and it's a rare circumstance, the real enemy. Who tries to threaten my family, our staff, our investors. Somebody who's really evil intention, not somebody that's just gonna say, I look like, oh God, what? What do they [00:50:00] call me? A drag queen. They say, I look like a drag queen.
[00:50:02] Whatever. The people they wanna or say that I'm a gold digger, a trophy wife. They try to say these, I'm not talking about comments like that. I'm talking about real threats or those people. I am not afraid to come off of my job. And I'm not afraid to make an example out of them and for all to see, because I want people to know I do fight for my friends.
[00:50:25] I do fight for my group. You're not allowed to harm me, my family, my people. It won't happen on my watch, and it only happens about maybe once every five years. But I'm not afraid to stab those people in a public arena because I don't want, I want people to know. What the threat is for coming after me and my group, but that's rare.
[00:50:47] The haters, they're like barking dogs on the wheel of a firetruck. Is the firetruck who's trying to put out a fire gonna stop to kick the dog away from biting the tire? No, you're gonna keep going and the dog's [00:51:00] gonna tire out and all the haters do because they can't even match your energy. All the energy that they have is to try to bring you down.
[00:51:10] And when that fails, they, peter out.
[00:51:12] Hala Taha: I love what you're saying. You're basically saying, save your energy for when it really matters. And all that little stuff, just let it slide off your back because you don't wanna feed your energy. Give them your good energy, because that's what they want. They wanna bring you down.
[00:51:26] They're jealous.
[00:51:27] Elena Cardone: That's right. And the best revenge is to flourish and prosper. It's the best revenge. It's the best for all involved. The more you succeed, the less hate you have for those people, and it actually heals you from actually wanting revenge and you're doing good for the world. So the solution to everything is to flourish and prosper.
[00:51:49] Just flourish and prosper. Don't pay them any attention. You really wanna get back at them, flourish and prosper. Because what they want for you is they want you to fail. They don't want [00:52:00] you to make a difference for the better on this world. So if you do give in to them. They're winning, don't let them win.
[00:52:05] Hala Taha: Elena, I wanna be respectful of your time. I know we have just a couple minutes left. So I end my interviews with the same couple of questions. What is one actionable thing that our Young and Profiteers can do today to become more profitable tomorrow?
[00:52:19] Elena Cardone: Profitable? Stop studying the self-proclaimed experts and really start getting mentors.
[00:52:26] Study the big guys. What is Elon Musk doing? How do they take on debt? What? How do they use. What are they doing? Model them? What are the greats doing? So find the people and study what they're doing. Study the people that have the statistic in the area of which you want to succeed in, and go deep on everything that they do.
[00:52:49] Learn everything that they do, and stop trying to get pieces here and there, and just study it deep until you master that one thing.
[00:52:57] Hala Taha: I love that. And what is your [00:53:00] secret to profiting in life? And this doesn't have to be related to financially profiting can be profiting in relationships, for example, anything.
[00:53:07] Elena Cardone: The secret to profiting for me is I'm huge on this. I don't live from the past into the present. That's normal. I don't like normal. I live from the future to the present. So I look at where I wanna go. Who I wanna be, who I wanna be around, what do I want in my life, and I reverse engineer and take the actions necessary in order to become that person that I wanna be in the future.
[00:53:32] And so that's where I'm always looking from. I'm living from now, from my future self, not my past. When I disconnected from that, I really started to profit and have gains other. I was looking at the past, I don't wanna buy this program cuz then the last program didn't work and I failed. I'm not the same person.
[00:53:50] Maybe I do the new program in a new unit at a time and this time it works. Every time I compared myself to the pastor. This relationship's not gonna work cuz the last relationship didn't work. [00:54:00] Everything from the past. The past I could never get ahead. Once I finally said, this is who I am. I wanna know about finances, I wanna be a good speaker, I wanna be confident, I wanna be competent.
[00:54:09] Every single course I've done since then has worked because I go, I need to have X, Y, and Z. Once I get through, check check, check, then I get to be that girl that I want. So every single thing that I do has impact meeting. I know it's gonna work because I see who I'm supposed to be. I just have to get through the checklist of all my action items, and then I get to have it is a complete game changer.
[00:54:34] Hala Taha: I love that you're bringing this up. I just had a conversation with Ben Hardy and our whole conversation was about future self, and he told me something, that I wanna just share with my listeners really quick because it's related with what you just said.
[00:54:46] Basically, it's like you're not your future self, yet. You're not your past. We only are who we are in this moment. Your past self is dead. People who hurt you in the past, they're not the same people anymore. They've had new experiences. They think [00:55:00] differently. They're doing different things. They have different jobs.
[00:55:02] It's literally the person who broke your heart. The person who fired you, you can't stay mad at them because they're not the same person. That person doesn't exist anymore, so the past doesn't even matter anymore. And if you spend your time there, you're never gonna get to where you wanna go. So all you can do is be in your presence self.
[00:55:19] And work on your future self.
[00:55:22] Elena Cardone: So true. It's been a game changer for me. I like that advice.
[00:55:27] Hala Taha: Thank you so much, Elena. I really appreciate having you on the show, and thanks for coming on.
[00:55:32] Elena Cardone: It's been an honor. Thank you so much for having me and introducing me to all your amazing audience. Thank you,
[00:55:43] Hala Taha: And that's a wrap on today's episode of Young and Profiting Podcast with Elena Cardone. I hope you all were inspired by her story and how she was able to turn her life around to become one of the most recognizable business women in the world. Her husband, Grant Cardone recently came on the show. If you [00:56:00] guys missed that episode, I highly recommend that you go find it.
[00:56:02] Take a listen. My interview with Grant Cardone was amazing. In fact, so many of the nuggets that he shared in his episode keep repeating in my head. I loved our conversation and he is such a smart man. Both Elena and Grant are truly couple goals for me and even family goals. When I think about what I want my life to be like. I often think about Elena and Grant and wanting to have that type of relationship and that kind of power.
[00:56:27] Honestly, they're true role models, business and personal wise for me. So here's to manifesting that in 2023, and don't forget to follow me, Hala Taha on Instagram @yapwithhala or LinkedIn. And we're also on YouTube if you guys want more career and life advice. If you enjoyed this episode, if you listen, learned and profited, drop us a five star review on Apple Podcast.
[00:56:49] I absolutely love to read your reviews and feedback. It is one of my most favorite things to do in the world is read your reviews. And again, thank you to Elena Cardone for joining us for dropping so [00:57:00] many gems, YAP Fam. I hope you work hard and chase your dreams just like Elena did. Until next time, stay Young and Profit.
Episode Transcription
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