Elena Cardone: The Mindset Shift That Built a Billion-Dollar Business | Entrepreneurship | YAPClassic

Elena Cardone grew up believing that wealth and entrepreneurship were only for the privileged. Her fierce independence made her resistant to building with anyone. But when the 2008 recession threatened their finances while she was pregnant, she abandoned her lone-wolf mentality, stepped back from acting, and bet everything on a shared vision with her husband, Grant Cardone. That decision laid the foundation for their multi-billion-dollar business empire. In this episode, Elena shares how to break free from limiting beliefs, align with your partner on your goals, and develop the mindset needed to grow a thriving business and family legacy. In this episode, Hala and Elena will discuss: (00:00) Introduction (00:55) Why “Normal” Keeps Entrepreneurs Small (03:43) Breaking Limiting Beliefs About Money (11:18) How Elena Met Grant Cardone (16:06) Choosing the Right Life Partner (27:32) Three Money Rules for Building Wealth (34:15) What It Means to Build an Empire (40:48) Handling Hate While Staying Focused (45:12) Living and Leading From Your Future Self Elena Cardone is a successful entrepreneur, real estate mogul, and visionary co-founder of the Cardone empire, which manages a multi-billion-dollar portfolio. She is the author of the bestselling book Build an Empire, a guide to achieving extraordinary success in both entrepreneurship and marriage. Elena is a renowned speaker and mentor who empowers thousands of individuals to level up their business, mindset, and relationships. Sponsored By: Huel - Get over $50 in savings with the Discovery Bundle from Huel. Use my exclusive code YAP15 for 15% off at huel.com/yap15. Indeed - Get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job's visibility at Indeed.com/profiting Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at Shopify.com/profiting. Quo - Run your business communications the smart way. Try Quo for free, plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/profiting Fabric - Protect your family with term life insurance from Fabric by Gerber Life. Apply today in just minutes at meetfabric.com/profiting ZocDoc - Stop putting off those doctors’ appointments. Find and instantly book a doctor you love today at Zocdoc.com/PROFITING Blinkist - Turn the world’s best nonfiction books into quick 15-minute reads or listens. Grab your free trial plus an exclusive 30% discount at blinkist.com/profiting Remitly - Transfer money internationally with Remitly, with no hidden fees. Use code BUSINESS to get a $100 bonus after you send $300 or more. New customers only. Prolon - Reset and rejuvenate your body with Prolon’s five-day plant-based fasting mimicking program. Go to ProlonLife.com/PROFITING for 15% off sitewide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-Day Program. Resources Mentioned: Elena’s Book, Build an Empire: bit.ly/EC-BAE Elena’s Website: elenacardone.com Elena’s Instagram: instagram.com/elenacardone Active Deals - youngandprofiting.com/deals Key YAP Links Reviews - ratethispodcast.com/yap YouTube - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting Newsletter - youngandprofiting.co/newsletter LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala/ Social + Podcast Services: yapmedia.com Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com/episodes-new Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Podcast, Business, Business Podcast, Self Improvement, Self-Improvement, Personal Development, Starting a Business, Strategy, Investing, Sales, Selling, Psychology, Productivity, Entrepreneurs, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Marketing, Negotiation, Money, Finance, Side Hustle, Startup, Mental Health, Career, Leadership, Mindset, Health, Growth Mindset, Passive Income, Online Business, Solopreneur, Networking

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Hala Taha?

  Today's episode is sponsored in part by HeyGen, Shopify, Life at the Speed of Play, and Indeed. HeyGen helps you create AI avatar videos without constantly being behind the camera. Get your first three videos free at heygen.com/profitting. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you grow your business. Start your $1 per month trial at Shopify.com/profitting. Life at the Speed of Play by Mark Pincus helps entrepreneurs quickly test ideas and find the ones worth pursuing. Get two books for the price of one at GetMark'sBook.com/Yap. Indeed helps you attract, interview, and hire all in one place. Get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job's visibility at Indeed.com/podcast.

• 0:45Hala Taha?

  As always, you can find all of our incredible deals in the show notes or at YoungAndProfiting.com/deals. Yap gang, most people out here are playing safe, and that's exactly the problem. When you settle for normal, you're one bad day away from losing everything you thought you had. Today's guest is Elena Cardone, entrepreneur, author, real estate mogul, and the powerhouse behind one of the most influential family empires in the world. Elena built her success along her husband Grant Cardone, and she's here to share exactly how. In this Yap Classic episode, Elena gets real about overcoming a turbulent past, breaking through her limiting money beliefs, and stepping into her role as the queen of a multi-billion dollar empire. You'll walk away knowing how to build wealth, protect your most important relationships,

• 1:30Hala Taha?

  and start thinking bigger than you ever have. And if you're new here, take a moment to hit that follow button so you never miss a drop of value on Young and Profiting Podcast. Let's get right into it with Elena Cardone. Elena, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast.

• 1:46Speaker 01

  Hello, Holla. How are you?

• 1:49Hala Taha?

  I'm doing great. I'm super excited for today's episode. Elena, before we dive into your journey, I did want to 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. So drawing on your own life experiences, I thought this would be a great way to open up. How does normalcy generally hold people back?

• 2:12Speaker 01

  Well, 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. 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, you are enough,

• 2:56Speaker 01

  you've done enough, and then, whoop, the blanket can get pulled out from under you.

• 3:00Hala Taha?

  Yeah, so I'd love to learn more about how you grew up.

• 3:05Speaker 01

  Well, I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. You know, I had a really great childhood. I was kind of a tomboy.

• 3:15Speaker 01

  And then, one day, my best friend across the street, she perished in a fire that unfortunately, I was there, I witnessed the whole thing. It was devastating to me. And because I was so young and didn't know how to kind of 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, rather than confronting. But out of that, what got me out of New Orleans was an acting career. I saw, okay, I can maybe succeed in an acting and modeling career. So I moved to Los Angeles at 17 years old.

• 3:58Speaker 01

  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 to confront seeing that burned-out, empty shell of a house every single time I went in and out of my home. 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 in a nutshell.

• 4:39Hala Taha?

  From my understanding, you came from humble beginnings. How has your mindset changed about money? What are some of the things that you had to kind of disprove to yourself so that you could become the super successful person that you are today?

• 4:52Speaker 01

  Well, 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. 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 kind of the punk rock society, you know? And in that mentality, rich people suck. They're greedy. So I had to overcome that. No, you can have wealth and not be greedy. You can have wealth and do great things. You, you know, 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.

• 5:37Speaker 01

  I never thought that I could surpass grants in money. Well, and I haven't to date, let's be fair. But at least now I've opened my mindset to the possibility that that could occur.

• 5:51Hala Taha?

  Yeah, and what really changed your mind? Was it when you went to LA and you saw how people lived and they had money and that kind of opened your eyes? Or what really flipped that switch for you?

• 6:02Speaker 01

  You know, really, yes. When I went there, it started to open my eyes. I started to kind of 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. What do I really think about money? And then it was when I got with grants, who really started to have me understand the principles of. Money and 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, you know. When I realized that, um, you know, money doesn't make you greedy. I realized when I had been thinking money makes me greedy.

• 6:47Speaker 01

  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 greedier and evil person. You know, like money makes you evil or so I would never allow myself to break up into here. But I didn't do it intentionally. But now, looking back, it was because I had already had this this barrier of what I thought was the threshold. And once I crossed it, I would become this evil, mean person. So in my life, I just always had a situation come and knock it out. Whether, you know, it was an end of a career, an end of a job, an end of, you know, or a car needing repair,

• 7:32Speaker 01

  or a house needing repair, or a lawsuit, or this, or that. Something would come in and whack, whack, whack, where it would build out down the coffer to build back up. And it wasn't until I realized, wow, um, 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? And I just changed that mindset just a little bit. And then all of a sudden, I got to a certain amount where I thought, wow. Cause I remember the day when I I had the goal of having sixty thousand dollars in the bank. Like I thought I was rich if I had sixty thousand dollars in the bank. And I could never get to that. Then I opened the viewpoint, then I hit the sixty thousand.

• 8:16Speaker 01

  And then I was like, oh, it's a hundred thousand, that's the real number. And then I cracked a hundred thousand and then I just opened it up to, I'm just open to the possibility of.

• 8:29Speaker 01

  You know, 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 and how can I grow and multiply it? And that's all it means. 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, some water? You know, like no one's going to notice if I take a bucket of water from the ocean. No one's going to notice if I scoop a billion dollars out of the trillions of dollars that are out there. If I decide to take a billion or a million or a hundred thousand,

• 9:14Speaker 01

  it's not even going to register. So why do I have this scarcity mindset? And why do I make it any harder than walking down to the beach and scooping up water? 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 it.

• 9:37Hala 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. 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.

• 9:55Speaker 01

  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. So get around the right people, the right mindset, study the right people. It should be easy. It's not difficult.

• 10:12Hala Taha?

  So you just mentioned knowledge, right? Knowledge is power. From my understanding, you went to California when you were 17 years old, which I guess means that you didn't go to college, right? So I'd love to understand your opinion on higher education. Do you think it's necessary? Obviously, there's so many entrepreneurs like yourself, you know, Steve Jobs, that didn't go to college that became extremely successful. But for the average person, like what are your thoughts in terms of higher education?

• 10:42Speaker 01

  Look, if you want to become a lawyer or a doctor, obviously you need to go to get a higher education and be very specified with that particular knowledge. 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're interested in can you produce a result? Can, do you have the resources to self-educate? Figure it out. You know, when Grant does a $200 million deal on an investment property that he's buying, this institutional-grade property that Prudential or JP Morgan or Blackstone are also bidding on, they're not asking Grant, "What's your college degree?"

• 11:24Speaker 01

  And they're not asking to see his, you know, "What age did you start speaking?" And, you know, "What degree do you have and from where and who do you know?" It's, "No, show me the numbers in the account and how can you support this? And how are you going to take care of the asset? And, you know, and can you pull this thing off?"

• 11:42Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 11:43Speaker 01

  That's it. They're not looking beyond that. So, you know, 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. Go there and meet the Obamas, the Trumps, the world leaders. You know, go to meet the contacts that can collaborate with you in the future.

• 12:08Hala Taha?

  Yeah, 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. So, why don't we start there? Can you guys, can you share the story of how you guys met? Because from my understanding, you weren't actually interested in him at first.

• 12:29Speaker 01

  No, I wasn't. Yeah, we met in Los Angeles. I was on a commercial. I was shooting a commercial in downtown Los Angeles, middle of the night. It was a night shoot. And Grant was friends with the director, so he showed up on the shoot. I see him in the trailer. It was like high by, I never thought anything of him. You know, not my type, short, shorter than me, like, just did not register. I was more into actors, musicians at the time. I'm in my twenties. Grant seemed like kind of a businessman, just didn't register. Anyway, he guessed my number from the director. No, you're not supposed to give 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.

• 13:14Speaker 01

  He's like, oh, it was just horrible. I don't even need to get into it, but it was horrible. 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 call me twice a month, every month for the next thirteen 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. 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. It's just, just wasn't anything I thought about, you know? And then eventually he became friends with one of my best friends at the time who I was hanging out with. So we kinda got in the circle. So then he starts showing up at,

• 13:56Speaker 01

  you know, the clubs and the restaurants that I'm at. And so I'm like, oh, well, he's not so bad after all, you know, 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. Like, I just, I just didn't want to be put in that awkward situation, you know? And then he finally found out that I like to shoot guns. I was tenth in California for shotguns at the time. Anyway, he, he left a message and, and he was like, hey, I rented the, the shooting range. You wanna come with me? 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, and then that's how we kinda developed a quote unquote friendship.

• 14:40Speaker 01

  And, 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. He's different. I've never had a guy like this before. And what is he seeing me?

• 14:54Speaker 01

  Like, the way I behaved and kind of treated him would have made any guy like run away or say, oh, screw it, to hell with her. But he was just patiently cool, but not in a pathetic way.

• 15:08Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 15:08Speaker 01

  One day, I just like, my eyes just kind of opened and I was like, oh, my God, like, something really real is here in front of me.

• 15:17Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 15:17Speaker 01

  And I'm, you know, I was at dinner and I was like, oh, my God. And he's like, what? And I said, you're gonna make me fall in love with you, aren't you? And he was like, yes, yes, I am. And we've been together ever since.

• 15:29Hala Taha?

  That's so sweet. So I want to dig into something that you said, which is basically that Grant was much different than the other guys that you were dating before. And I'd love to understand what you mean by that. What kind of men were you dating before? And how did Grant stand out?

• 15:44Speaker 01

  Um, oh, gosh. Well, I dated art, artsy guys. I dated actors, musicians, um, so tattoo people. One, one of my, you know, the first big love of my life, unfortunately, was addicted to crystal meth. It led to some problems after we broke, I mean, problems while we were together. 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 meth.

• 16:16Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 16:16Speaker 01

  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. He didn't do drugs. He didn't drink. He was a businessman. He had his money together. He was just stable. Um, and I just, I just didn't know that world. I'm, I had lived in Los Angeles since I was 17, you know? By the time I met him, I was in my late 20s. I never, I never hung out with business people. It was always producers, actors, directors, musicians. It was always somebody in the arts.

• 16:57Hala Taha?

  Yeah. So the reason why I asked 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. Women usually marry up. And now women 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,

• 17:38Hala Taha?

  obviously, nobody's perfect, right? I remember hearing you say like you thought Grant was short, right? And that might have, if you were, you know, not open minded, you may not have embarked on this amazing journey that you went on because of something as, you know, superficial as height, right? Yeah. So I just want your guidance on that because I think, you know, I have a lot of young listeners, women in their 30s, I have men that listen to me too. And I think a lot of people are fixated on this like perfect partner. And I want to understand from you, given that you guys are sort of like a role model couple, what do you actually need to look for in a partner? And how do you understand whether or not, you know, what you're looking for is either unrealistic or you're looking at the wrong things, basically?

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• 21:39Speaker 01

  Well, I don't think you should settle. I don't think you should compromise. What I would suggest is somebody write down, right? You want to come up with perfect? You shouldn't deviate from that. Write the perfect person. You know, and you're talking about trivial. I wrote over 100 characteristics. This is before I got together with Grant. Over 100 characteristics of what I wanted in the perfect man. And it started with 6'2 and green eyes. Every single item on the rest of the list was Grant, except for the first two, 6'2 and green eyes. And I only said 6'2 because I had 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 for my height.

• 22:21Speaker 01

  You know, I 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, you know, that's going to build me up, that's going to support me, show active interest in the success of me, likes women and children, protects women and children, write everything down. I wrote all of that. Has a great relationship, isn't drama, is proud to have me with him, you know, 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,

• 23:03Speaker 01

  because before that I was like, I'm going to be this dedicated, single woman forever. I don't need a man for anything. And, you know, I really thought that was going to be my life. I didn't even get married until I was 30. So, you know, and I wouldn't have until Grant sort of 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, I saw, 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, you know, adventurous, fun, we fall in love with each other for, you know, all the stuff that I wanted. If he existed,

• 23:49Speaker 01

  this man existed, I could be with him. But now, if this man existed, from his point of view, from the perfect man, what are his qualities? 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? Like is trustworthy, does what they say, isn't a drama queen, takes care of themselves physically. Trust me, every man wants that. Don't kid yourself. Don't be like, oh, he should love me just the way I am. Right 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?

• 24:34Speaker 01

  20 plus years ago?

• 24:37Speaker 01

  I saw how off I was. I was, you know, excessively drinking alcohol. I was hanging out in the clubs. I didn't want a family. I didn't want to be married. It wasn't until that list that I even considered it. So then I started to 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, you know, ethical, moral code? How can you get yourself to be the woman that would, that man would attract? Do you know what I'm saying? Totally. I did that, and that's when we kind of found each other almost immediately because I became comparable magnitude to the thing that I wanted. Now, I could also speak on, you know, the emasculation and the this and the that of the men.

• 25:21Speaker 01

  And also, let's have the woman take responsibility for her role in that only because I've been there and I did that. So I used to have, I'm this strong, independent, powerful woman. I don't, I never needed to depend 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. I'm doing this with or without you. I made more money than them. But guess what that did? That attitude of not wanting to be needed, or who wants to feel like that? I don't want to feel not needed. I don't want to feel in a relationship that Grant's gonna not include me and go do whatever and whenever.

• 26:04Speaker 01

  So that made it so they wanted to go out and like cheat. Because they want to go be with a woman that does need them, or care about them, or you know, is excited by them. They, I made it seem like I could care less. So I don't think that it's 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 you. Who are we as a couple? Who do we represent? Are we the winning couple? What are our goals? What are our dreams?

• 26:48Speaker 01

  What do we want to accomplish together? And then figure out who does what in the relationships based on your strengths and weaknesses, not male, female, on how you're gonna get there. Because if, 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 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.

• 27:26Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 27:26Speaker 01

  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, you know, she's a sculptor, she's a famous person, whatever, blah, blah, blah. But you know what I'm saying? They don't have inner conflict because they have their thing worked out and so grooved in. They're, they're, they're intertwined with each other, going for goals together.

• 27:51Hala Taha?

  Yeah. I feel like this is such a great segue to talk about your own experience with Grant. Um, I learned that you guys had a different dynamic before the 2008 recession and after. And I think this illustrates exactly what you're saying so perfectly.

• 28:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, 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 the strong, powerful, independent woman, never depend on a man for anything. That was just what was always sitting there. It wasn't spoken. It just lived in me. So for the first four years, I mean, Grant and I had, 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? 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.

• 28:49Speaker 01

  And I'm not gonna make you a meal because you want a meal. I'm gonna make you a meal because I wanna make a meal. You know, just weird psycho stuff. I mean, this is the man I'm married to. And I am having issues with like making the man a meal. Like that's, that's messed up. Like, how about support? Like, just feed somebody who's hungry. You know what I'm saying? Without making it meaningless. So we fought each other. So we'd build, build, build and kind of tear it apart at night. Cause 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. Economic collapse occurs. We're on the verge of losing everything financially.

• 29:32Speaker 01

  Now what are you gonna do? Now I had to take on the big gulp and say, wow, 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, oh, you're codependent? Well, I am married. 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 head. You know, I believe there's strengths in numbers. You know, I believe in the power of two, in the power of more, you know? So, so that's after 2000.

• 30:17Speaker 01

  2008, I was like, okay, this is when I had the idea, who are we? Where are we going? What do we want to 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. 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 of this. You know, you need me to this, that, boom, boom, boom. I got you. Make connections, have a vision, hammer you to get going. Not complain when you're out working too hard. Never saying wins enough, enough. Just keep pushing. Let's go, let's go, let's go. Wins, celebrate the wins. Like, I'm gonna be your cheerleader. And that's what I did.

• 31:01Speaker 01

  And that's when everything started to just go zoom, zoom. We started to make major strides. We were no longer fighting. I had a role and he had a role. And he doesn't show up 50 and I show up 50. I show up 100 and he shows up 100. 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.

• 31:30Hala Taha?

  Yeah, and I definitely want to get into, you know, 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 and like should deal with that. What should they talk about and get aligned with? Because a lot of people break apart when the going gets tough.

• 31:48Speaker 01

  Right, you know, 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, we know about money. You know, get on the same page on money. Where, where are we gonna go? It's who's got my money?

• 32:11Speaker 01

  It's always a who. Who's got your money? Who's gonna? 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 of the world? What can y'all do to meet? How can you do 10x the amount of work? You know, now's the time to pour it on, not retreat. Now's the time to be around a 10x 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 plan. 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.

• 32:57Speaker 01

  And then, number three, you store it so that you can invest it into a passive income 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. Pay the price today so you can pay any price in the future. That's it. Be strict, 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, self-enhancement business.

• 33:42Speaker 01

  The rest gets stored, okay? And that's it. Boom, boom, boom. Stored, stored. Then you get enough income-producing asset. We created a fund, card-owned capital. Anyone can invest, accredited, non-accredited. You can invest with us and have a piece of this from day one, income-producing asset that either delivers a dividend monthly or quarterly, depending on how you came in as an investor. And that money, okay? And that money, number three, the passive income is what you spend on your Gucci, in our case, planes, because we've amassed such a mass fortune of it, or an extra home. More of this or that, that's what, but until then we're in sacrifice phase.

• 34:25Speaker 01

  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. 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. You know, people always ask me, what would you do if you lost all your money? I'm like, yeah, so it wouldn't take me nearly as long to get it the second time as it did the first time.

• 35:07Speaker 01

  Why? Because you can't take away what I know, you can't take away my connections, you can't take away my, my intelligence, my, my grit, my confidence, my discipline, you, you know, that's been earned. So now is the time to get together and say, you know what, 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 are just like us. Start with a commitment, reaffirm it, every week have your little, your meetings to pow wow, to keep each other energized, set small goals along the way, small little targets that you can hit along the way to feel good.

• 35:48Hala Taha?

  Yeah, 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. 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.

• 36:26Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 36:26Hala Taha?

  Being known.

• 36:27Speaker 01

  Right.

• 36:28Hala Taha?

  And so I'd love to hear you about some of that.

• 36:29Speaker 01

  Creativity follows commitment, you know, and once you make a commitment. And you're open to the possibility. And once you know what you want, you know your purpose, you, 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. What else can I do? I never went to college, never thought I was one of those smart chicks, you know? I thought that was the only thing. I 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. I've just used it all. But if I had that closed mindset, I wouldn't even be able to see. You know?

• 37:13Speaker 01

  I use 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 have, 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 way. But in the beginning, you know, I was this power woman. I moved to Los Angeles. I was the actress. I was this, I was that. To come and then take a support role and figure out what all of that means, like, ah, you can kind of want to shrink and shrivel. I was like, no, I've got to own this. I am the support. I did do this, own it. And now I'm on the forefront empowering other women, owning and, you know,

• 37:54Speaker 01

  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 the same thing that I did for Grant, offering infrastructure, mindset, and support. Stop trying to fight it. These are your assets. Just embrace them and use them.

• 38:15Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 38:19Hala Taha?

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• 39:04Hala Taha?

  go to Shopify.com/profitting to start your free trial. That's Shopify.com/profitting. Go to Shopify.com/profitting today to hear your first.

• 39:19Hala Taha?

  What's up, Yap fam? You guys know we love reading on this show, so I'm always excited when I find a book I genuinely think is worth sharing. Life at the Speed of Play: Launch Products People Love by Mark Pincus is one of those books. Mark is a legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor, and this fast-paced 170-page book is his playbook for testing ideas quickly, navigating uncertainty, and figuring out what's actually worth pursuing. One of my favorite concepts is what he calls "the abyss", those moments when you feel stuck or unsure of what's next. Instead of fearing uncertainty, he shows you how to use it as a tool for discovery. Right now, Mark is doing a buy-one-get-one offer for Yap listeners.

• 40:03Hala Taha?

  Go to GetMark'sBook.com/Yap, buy one copy for $32 and get a second copy free, so you can keep one for yourself and give the second to a friend, future co-founder, or someone who needs a little push. What's up, Yap fam? If you're building a personal brand, you already know how hard it is to stay consistent with content when you're also trying to actually run your business. I love creating content, but realistically, I'm not trying to sit in front of the camera every single day. I need time to work on my business. But the problem is, consistency matters. The more people see your face and hear your voice, the more familiar you become. That's why HeyGen has been such a great tool for me. You can record just 15 seconds of footage, create an AI avatar of yourself, and use it to make videos on demand.

• 40:49Hala Taha?

  So instead of constantly filming from scratch, you can create more content, stay visible, and keep showing up without making your entire life be about generating content. And you guys know I'm always looking for tools that give entrepreneurs more leverage. HeyGen is definitely one of those tools. Thirty million people already use it, from solo founders to 85% of the Fortune 100. Your first three videos are free at heygen.com/profitting. That's H-E-Y-G-E-N dot com slash P-R-O-F-I-T-I-N-G. Heygen.com/profitting. So I'd love to understand, first of all, what is your definition of an empire? And then I want to understand what your role is and Grant's role in this empire.

• 41:34Speaker 01

  So an empire is really a mindset. It's about thinking big enough, abundantly enough, big enough expansion. Empires 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, you know? My executive assistant, she gets to be the queen of her empire. And as the king and the queen, like 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

• 42:19Speaker 01

  to say, if you're with the queen and you're with a king and that's the top, how could you go to anyone below you and ask advice about being with the king? When they've never been with the king, 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 other and you protect each other, you're able to, the rest of the empire filters down and follows suit. 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.

• 43:04Speaker 01

  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 refight all over again. Why? I don't do that. So, an 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, it's about something in your purpose being so important that you can be willing to feel scared or sad or 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.

• 43:46Speaker 01

  It gets you going. It's being willing to think bigger than just yourself.

• 43:53Hala Taha?

  Yeah. So, one of the things that I'm curious about is how you get your children involved in this empire. It's, it's very interesting that you guys bring them up on stage. You don't see many successful couples 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 want to understand how you get buy-in from your kids to come along this journey.

• 44:17Speaker 01

  Well, I've just indoctrinated them from when they're very early, very young. You know, 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 they're spiritual beings, they're not children, they can understand. Not like dumb, you know, but like that they can actually understand. So, I've communicated, "Look, Grant and I are superheroes and we want to make a difference for the better and we want to impact lives. And, and Grant wants to, you know, help financial literacy and help people take care of their finances and it helps their families. And, you know, me, I want to restore the family dynamic to society and I want to empower women because I believe we're powerful

• 45:01Speaker 01

  and we can make a difference and make change on the planet. And so, do you want to be a part of that? We ask them, we don't make them, we didn't decide. We invited them to participate. Do you want to be a part of this team that makes a difference for the better? "Yes, yes, I want to be a superhero." You know, they're little, right? Great. This is- How you can do this, you can show up with us at events, you can dance on the stage, you can pass out the flyers, you can, you know, sometimes when we have to leave you behind because we have to go do an event, when you're 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.

• 45:41Speaker 01

  You're 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. So I under, I let them see that they can exchange from a very young age. And now, as you can see, you know, they're 13, Sabrina's on a trip with Grant today about meeting with a very big group of uh, for apartments and whatnot, and she does the real estate thing with them and they do 10x kids and they're putting together a show, Mini Moguls together and, you know, they speak at Grant Cardone Foundation to other children, like, you know, they're they've taken an active role because they've been allowed to contribute and exchange with as much as they're willing to do.

• 46:25Hala Taha?

  Hmm, I feel like that's so beautiful.

• 46:28Speaker 01

  You want to help, your kids want to help, you know, like, it's just understanding that you know, 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 trying to contribute. They're trying to help you by pounding on your computer, they want to contribute, so you know, from a young age, it was, oh wow, thank you so much, wow, that was amazing, they're like, yay, you know,

• 47:12Speaker 01

  they feel all great and you take your computer and undo all the little marks that they made and, you know, continue, but It's allowing, it's about parents recognizing, like even a smile or a performance or a dinner they want to 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 want to feel, even from young ages, that they are self-determined, that they can do things, that they can give back and they can contribute. And it's important for parents to recognize and allow their children to contribute.

• 47:55Hala Taha?

  I love that. So my last question before we start to close this out is really about you being a role model. You know, people think it's easy to just get on camera every day, to always sort of make the right decisions, to always, you know, hold yourself with a certain amount of honor and grace, but it's not easy to be a role model. I know that I've got a lot of fans on LinkedIn, for example, and sometimes I want to respond to a mean comment, but then I remember I'm a role model to so many people that are looking up to me. And you have it, you know, 100 times as most people. So I'd love to understand how you deal with that.

• 48:31Speaker 01

  Oh, so that's very easy. Like, you know, 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. 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. Like, 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. And then every time somebody

• 49:14Speaker 01

  says something negative about me, I go chase it down. What am I doing right now? I'm going down this rabbit hole. That enemy, that hater, has now successfully distracted me from achieving my target, because I'm off my target and I'm on to them. I'm flowing power, somebody like me, somebody like you who has power, who has influence. Now I've put my attention, your attention, your power onto them and I'm flowing them power, even if it's a negative comment or whatever. Like, like 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.

• 49:57Speaker 01

  I am so busy trying to get my mission accomplished, that saves me. Now, if somebody tries to, and it's a rare circumstance. The real enemy who, 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 do, what do they call me? A drag queen? They say I look like a drag queen? Whatever, the people they want, or, or, or say that I'm a gold digger or a trophy wife. They try to say these, which all of which I use to my benefit in the end. But, you know, I'm not talking about comments like that, I'm talking about real threats or

• 50:38Speaker 01

  those, those people I am not afraid to come off of my post, you know, 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, 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, the haters, they're like barking dogs on a, on a, on, on the wheel of a fire truck.

• 51:21Speaker 01

  Like, is the fire truck 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 gonna tire out. And all the haters do, because they can't even match your energy. They don't, all the energy that they have is to try to bring you down.

• 51:40Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 51:40Speaker 01

  You know, and when that fails, they peter out.

• 51:43Hala Taha?

  Yeah, 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 want to feed your energy. Give them your good energy.

• 51:55Speaker 01

  Right.

• 51:55Hala Taha?

  Because that's what they want. They want to bring you down.

• 51:57Speaker 01

  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. You know, and it actually heals you from actually wanting revenge. You know, and you're doing good for the world. So the solution to everything is to flourish and prosper.

• 52:21Hala Taha?

  So, Elena, I want to be respectful of your time. I know we have just a couple of minutes left. So I end my interviews with the same couple of questions. The first one is, what is one actionable thing that our young improfitters can do today to become more profitable tomorrow?

• 52:36Speaker 01

  Profitable. You know, stop studying the self-proclaimed experts and really start getting mentors. Study the big guys, the big guys. Study, what is Elon Musk doing? How do they take on debt? How do they use debt? How do they, what are they, what are they doing? Like, 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, 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.

• 53:19Hala Taha?

  I love that advice. And what is your secret to profiting in life? And this doesn't have to be related to financially profiting. It can be profiting in relationships, for example, anything.

• 53:29Speaker 01

  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 want to go, who I want to be, who I want to be around, what I want in my life, and I reverse engineer and take the actions necessary in order to become that person that I want to be in the future. And so that's where I'm always looking from. I'm, I'm, I'm living from now from my future self, not my past. Um, when I disconnected from that, I really started to profit and have gains. Otherwise, you know, I, I was looking at the past. I don't want to buy this program because the last program didn't work and I failed.

• 54:14Speaker 01

  Well, I'm not the same person. Maybe I do the new program and a new unit of time and this time it works. Every time I compared myself to the past or this relationship's not going to work because the last relationship didn't work, everything from the past, the past I could never get ahead. Once I finally said, this is who I am. I want to know about finances. I want to be a good speaker. I want to be confident. I want to be competent. 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, check, then I get to be that girl, that girl that I want. So every single thing that I do has impact, meaning I know it's going to work because I see who I'm supposed to be. I just have to get through the checklist of all my

• 54:54Speaker 01

  action items and then I get to have. It is a complete game changer.

• 55:00Hala 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 want to just share with my listeners really quick because it's, it's related with what you just said. Basically, it's like you're not your future self yet. You're not your past self. 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 differently. They're doing different things. They have different jobs. 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 going to get to where you want

• 55:42Hala Taha?

  to go. So all you can do is be in your present self and work on your future self.

• 55:48Speaker 01

  So true. It's been a game changer for me. I like that advice.

• 55:52Hala Taha?

  Thank you so much, Elena. I really appreciate having you on the show and uh, thanks for coming on.

• 55:58Speaker 01

  Oh, it's been an honor. Thank you so much for having me and introducing me to all your amazing audience. Thank you.