12. Elena Cardone: Author of Build an Empire

Hello, Book Thinkers family, and welcome to episode number 12 of our brand new podcast, Book Thinkers: Life-Changing Books. During each episode, I interview some of the world's top authors, and as a listener, you can expect to discover new books, new mentors, and new resources that you can now use to achieve more and to live better. In this episode, I have the pleasure to interview the author Elena Cardone, a lifelong competitive sports shooter and now author, businesswoman, public speaker, empire builder, and visionary. Elena hosts her own show, Women in Power, and co-hosts the G&E Show with her husband, Grant Cardone, who's been on the podcast as well. So definitely make sure you check out that conversation after you listen to this one. Today we talk about her book, Build an Empire, but we also talk about what it takes to be in a successful relationship and why we need to put in the time and hustle now. So without further ado, please enjoy my conversation with the wonderful Elena Cardone. Elena, thank you so much for joining the Book Thinkers Life-Changing Books podcast. I just finished actually listening to your book, and so I'm used to your voice now. But for anybody in the audience that doesn't know who you are, can you tell everybody who is Mrs. Elena Cardone?

Well, yes, thanks for having me on your show. My name is Elena Cardone. Maybe some of your audience may know Grant That's my husband. And we've created an empire of almost $2 billion at this point. And we also have 2 beautiful, amazing girls. So we're doing it all and you can have it all. And, you know, there's a lot of back history and all of that, which I'm sure we'll get to at some point on this. But in a nutshell, that's who I am.

I am the woman Behind the man, the woman behind the great Grant Cardone.

And the only one strong enough to be the woman behind, beside, whatever you want to call it. That's right.

I love it. And so that's why when I saw that you had the book out, and I learned while listening to the book that you weren't 100% sure if you had enough valuable content to put into a book, but then you did it. And you found that your role was how to be, you know, basically how to build and maintain and set up this brilliant empire. And that's exactly what you're doing. And so what is the premise of the book? Can you tell everybody what, what does it mean to build an empire?

Well, first of all, it's about thinking. And I see your 10X Rule book back there that was written by Grant Cardone. And, and both books are really about a mindset and how to get you challenged enough to start thinking so big and on such extraordinary levels that if you fall short of that goal, you've still so surpassed anything that you thought you were capable of in the first place. So I wrote the book Build an Empire: How to Have It All because we basically started from, not from nothing, but in 2008, we were on the verge of losing it all. And we had a number of factors that, a barrage of blows delivered to us, not just economically of the impact of 2008. But it was at that point where our livelihood was completely threatened. And at that point is when I had the realization that we had been playing too small, allowing normal to think we were okay until, you know, something major happened. And it was a real slap in the face to realize, you know, all it took was a— and the house of cards fell down. So At that point, I realized how to— I had to make some really hard decisions and I was willing to trade in an acting career in order to trade up for this idea and this concept of an empire. And could we two— we both happen to be from Louisiana, but could two Louisiana middle-class people who were never supposed to be in the class bracket or wealth bracket that we're in now, but could we achieve that? And so So we did it by figuring some things out and breaking the system, which I'm convinced is a conspiracy against us, but being able to break that mold. And so we vowed to ourselves back then, if we ever did figure this thing out, we were not going to close the curtains like people in our level, would you say, tend to often do, which I completely understand, like completely understand why they do that. But we vowed that we weren't going to do that because we wanted to expose and be transparent, right or wrong. And I'm not perfect and neither is he. And we've made mistakes. But we wanted you and all the people just like us who weren't supposed to... We wanted to be that open for other people so that they could use us for the mistakes and for the rightnesses that we've done and be able to fast track their way to success, which is why I have a course, the Build an Empire course. I have the book. I really want to get the information that we have discovered into the hands of other people that are interested in really playing at higher levels and are interested in reaching heightened levels of success. That's what interests me in life. That's the game I play. That's, that's the level I play on. And for anyone else interested in that band, Then you should check out the book or the course.

I'm excited because all of that is exactly why I have this podcast. I'm somebody who comes right from the middle class, who has big dreams and aspirations. And I love consuming books because books are the opening of the curtain for the people that have made it. And that, you know, for every good book written by somebody who's made it, there are dozens of books that weren't written because the curtain is closed. And so when you define your purpose, and this is what I love about you, When you define your purpose, you need to put ego aside sometimes and be vulnerable and transparent and share some of the bad stuff. So one of the questions I had for you was, why is it important to put your ego aside and why is it important to share some of the most vulnerable and intimate things about your journey for other people to get exposed to?

Well, I think it's important to be real and transparent, and I don't want— look, personally, I believe in magic. I believe in rainbows and unicorns, but I don't live in a fairy tale and you are never going to catch me pretending that I live in this perfectly happy, balanced, whatever the world is trying to pitch everybody they are supposed to have. If that is what you want, go find some other, you know, body that has got that figured out. I don't. I have real life. I have making it work. I have become successful with somebody else based on being real and, and, and, and making it happen. And, and, and there is real no place for an ego in that. Like, if you want to achieve success, you have to be real, like real, and, and knock off thinking that you're in a freaking fairy tale. And, and, and that means like really looking at who you are. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? And working in a coordinated effort together to be beneficial to both. So, you know, I'm not— as much as I want to be equal to my husband in business, even though we're equal in marriage, like, like, like, like, what planet would I be from if I said we're equal in business? I mean, there's not many men, women, doesn't matter who, that can equal Grant in business. The guy is beyond a professional. He is, he's a master. Like, for me to try to go compete with him in business would be like a white belt. I'd have to take years to become a triple, quadruple black belt or whatever the heck he is. So why would I do that when I have him? Like, let him do that and make all of, you know, those executive decisions with business because that's what he's good at, whether I like it or not. You know, male, female, whatever. It doesn't matter. But in the beginning of our relationship, I wasn't thinking like that. It took 2008. It took, it took a real blow to, to get me to really look and see honestly what the real deal was. But because prior to that, I had been raised and ingrained with I have to be the strong, independent woman. You know, before Grant, I had always supported the guys, the loser guys that I dated. Like nobody was taking care of me, nothing. I don't need nobody. And so now I find myself in a marriage and for the first 4 years I'm vying for this like, you know, power woman position. We ended up sort of fighting each other for the first 4 years, you know, vying for, you know, I'm— And what happened was I would build in my thing all day long. He would build in his thing all day. We'd come home and try to kind of tear it apart. We could never hit that level together. And it wasn't until, you know, I really looked at like what I could do, what my assets were, what I could contribute, how I could really, you know, make this thing work in my way that he lacks. And that's the moment from 2008 forward where all of a sudden that one little thing, it wasn't a fricking mountain. It was a tweak like this. And it was that one little thing that was the one thing that just skyrocketed us to, to the success that we have today.

There are so many different things that I want to touch on that you just said, but I think the underlying message— you have a great metaphor in the book where you say a Clydesdale by itself can pull 8,000 pounds, but when you put 2 Clydesdales next to each other and they pull in tandem, they could pull 24,000 pounds. So it's really a 1+ 1= 3 scenario. You say 1+ 1= 10x.

Wait, you know what? Since I wrote that book, I went deeper into the research of the Clydesdale. Are you ready for the next level?

Yes, I'd love to hear it.

Okay, so you said 2 can pull 24,000 pounds. Guess how much those same 2 horses that have been trained to work in a collaborated coordinated effort together. Those same 2 horses, after they have been trained, can pull 32,000 pounds. Wow.

That speaks volumes.

And those, and those, that blows my mind. And those are horses. They are not like humans with spiritual capacity or whatever it is you believe in that makes you so much more than just a body.

That is amazing. And so how can 2 people when properly coordinated, like how can they impact community and family and friendships and relationships and business? Like, cause I know that's exactly what you and Grant have done. And so when you are aligned, like how does it feel being as somebody who's in a relationship like that?

You know, that those are the rewards and those are the successes, you know, to, to, to be able to accomplish the dreams and the goals that, that you've made for each other and that you did it, you know, before we were a quote unquote power couple, which still like gives Grant the heebie-jeebies even hearing that. But before we were a model couple, a power couple, that was on my goals list, like our couple's goals before anyone saw it. But this is back in 2008 where we were on the verge of losing everything. There was no staff. You know, if there was a staff, there was like 3 people. It was us doing everything. And I wrote, I want to be a model couple. What does that look like? I have to have integrity. I can't cheat on my husband. I want to support him. We want to levels of success. I want to, I want to be the stable couple where others can look to and say, I want to be like them. So then I had to work on myself and us on how do I become that person? Because that is not what we were prior to that. We were arguing and I was trying to be something and bossy and not, you know, prove that I can't cook him a meal because I am not some subservient woman, you know, like I had issues. So I had to figure out how to rework myself, you know? But that was That was a goal that I had written down. So how does it feel? It feels freaking amazing because, you know, it's not easy. You know, life just doesn't get great once you hit a number in a bank account that's not even real. I'm never going to see that money. It's made up. It's not real to me. So my life doesn't just change overnight because, oh, all of a sudden we're, you know, hectomillionaires and, you know, whatever. No, it's, it's, you know, when we achieve the goals together is when it feels good. But along the way, you don't just hit this fairy tale land when you've hit that first goal where everything's perfect and no one stabs you in the back anymore and life is cool. No, it even gets bigger and more multiplied and more problems. And there's a lot of blood, sweat and tears. You know, if you want to win a gold medal or a Super Bowl ring, you got to work and you got to You know, it's not pretty practice. I'm sure, you know, there's injuries, they're soaking in ice, you know, they're, you know, it's painful. And so it's relationships of this magnitude can be painful at times. But, you know, when you hit and you get that trophy and you win that Super Bowl ring and other people in your world are having success and they're winning, it makes it all worth it. And it gives me the motivation to To continue to be transparent.

The Book Thinkers audience is very diverse, but the biggest group is men in the 18 to 35 age range in the United States. And in that specific demographic, I think there's a list-based exercise that you went through back when you were single that your friend forced you to sort of go through, which was to write out all of the ideal characteristics of the man that you wanted to be with. Or the partner that you wanted to be with. And then the interesting second half of that is that then you went back and said, well, what are the ideal characteristics of the woman that that man wants to be with? And so that's a very valuable thing for the younger people to experience. If we want that feeling that you just described, which is amazing, it's a beautiful, fulfilling lifestyle. Can you touch on why that was so important to you and sort of give it more structure? Like, what does it look like and what kind of actions did it cause you to go through back when you were single?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you know, like, okay, so like you said, I wrote the list. I wrote over 100 things on the list. I still have the list. And, you know, I was in this like ladies group at the time that made me do it. And back then I was in my 20s, okay? I was literally, I worked on cars and shot shotguns. I hung out with nothing but guys. I kind of rolled my eyes. And I did write from his point of view what, after I wrote the list, I thought, wow, if this guy really did exist, I could be with one person for the rest of my life. Now, I know I'm not supposed to say that because I'm a woman, but I never wanted to be married and I never wanted kids. I thought I was just going to be an actress my whole life and I didn't need a man. Okay? I didn't need nobody. So, but the epiphany was, well, if that guy really did exist, then I mean, that would be amazing. But clearly that guy does not exist. But if he did, Who would his woman look like? And then I wrote a list because if I was going to get that guy, he would write he would want a serious woman who wanted to be married, who wanted to have kids, who wanted to make him feel loved, not needed, who wasn't going to go out to the clubs drinking all the time and didn't excessively drink alcohol. And, you know, like, but I put, you know, all those characteristics of what I thought he would want, takes care of herself, the this, the that. I wrote this whole entire list. And even though I was a lot of the things on the list, there was some major out points, which was that I didn't want to be married, that I didn't want to have kids, that I liked a single lifestyle, that I liked to drink and party in clubs. And that was, that was where I was at. And so I realized if I wanted that guy to show up, he was never going to show up in my universe because I would never register on his radar because we were living in alternate universes. Even though we both live on planet Earth. But so I had to go to work on myself. I stopped drinking. I stopped doing like excessive, you know, partying. I cut out all drugs. I stopped going to clubs. I started working on myself, like self-enhancement courses. And all of a sudden, I just started to feel better about myself, more confident. I started to be open to the idea that there were good men out there. I had to confront all of the the thoughts about relationships that I had and about men and be willing to be open to a more positive viewpoint. Because prior to that, I had thought all men were going to hold me back. They were all cheaters. And, you know, if I was in a long-term relationship, the sex would get bad. So I was just open to the fact that maybe there was a guy out there that was like an amazing human being instead. And, and, and turns out there was.

I love that. I think everybody listening, if you're single, or even if you're in a bad relationship, you should go through that exercise so that you can become the person that matches up with who you'd like to be with. And so once you and Grant were together and 2008 hit, I talked to him a little bit about 2008. Now I want to talk to you a little bit about 2008. You guys had to sacrifice You had to cut everything out and you needed to focus on the business. And now I know that you've added some travel in and we can get to that in a minute, but what was it like and why did you decide to basically cut all spending and focus all of your time on the business?

Because, um, well, A, unless it was going to go into self-enhancement, um, or it was going to go into a product or service that could increase our, our bottom line. Everything got cut out. It was just, I mean, we were on the verge of losing it all. There was no excess money. So all of that had to stop. And we put it all into the business, into growing the business. And we were determined at that point to create an empire that no matter what the economy was, it could withstand any blow and continue to to thrive and maintain and flourish and prosper even beyond anything. I mean, that is what an empire is. It's power. It's, you know, every big empire through history, you know, what makes it so extraordinary is that it has power. And so we put that in us and so that we could determine where we go and what we do. And for me, it was very liberating and it made it an easier decision, at least for me, to trade in the acting career so I never had to trust my destiny on some, you know, producer, director, studio ever again. So in that terms, it was very liberating and it's paid off. And now I get to really have my voice. And, you know, in Hollywood, you don't really get to have your voice. You know, you have to fit into a very slender box and don't dare to veer out of your lane.

And then now you've gotten out of that. You've built this $2 billion empire with Grant, and your family's doing really well. Everything looks great, and you can actually travel. And I remember in the book you're talking about, like, Grant actually asked for a vacation, and it was a work vacation, as it probably— as it should be, you know, and as mine always are. So what's that feel like now that the two of you can travel and have fun and still build at the same time.

For me, it's a dream into reality because, you know, as I also said in the book, there's this game that I had him play called the Lotto Game. And every time we would play the Lotto Game, I would, the number one thing I say is we go on a global world tour. I would take, if I won the lotto, what would you do? And I'd say, I would take $2 million or whatever I thought was an extraordinary amount of money, which it is. But I said, I would take $2 million off the the top and we would go on a global world tour. And I said it over and over and over and over again. And at the, you know, it just seemed so unreal at the time. And at that time, I wasn't even thinking with us having our own plane. And if I did, it was totally in imagination land. And so the fact that it's happening today, that's a trophy. It's very important to collect trophies in life. The plane is a trophy. The plane is a symbol. I mean, not only does it give us access to the world and to be able to have access to people and communication lines from around the world of all races and mankind, which is a beautiful thing in and of itself, but the symbol of the plane is we made so many right decisions, so many sacrifices and right decisions, and right decisions even on all the decisions that we avoided, not no matter how tempting they looked with the dangling carrot, but being able to walk away from something that didn't smell right, even though you didn't really have evidence or proof. It was just, it was just a red flag and you said no. And who knows? You know, people can't graph that statistic. They can only graph your right decisions and what you've done right. But I wonder how many lawsuits did we avoid? How many blah, blah, blah, whatever, stealing thieves, I mean, whatever you can imagine that's out there. But we did avoid those by making all those right decisions. So the plane feels incredible. It's a dream into reality. It's a trophy. You need those along the way. They're a sign that you're hitting your targets and that you're winning and to continue and keep going. So may you all one day own your own plane. It's incredible.

As somebody who is—

A plane owner, another plane owner, this multibillion-dollar guy who has like, I don't know, 5 or 6 planes in his fleet, way bigger than ours. And he told Grant, he said, you know, there's an inside joke amongst plane owners. And that is that it's easier to give up crack than it is your plane.

It's like giving up— in sales, people always talk about like the puppy close, you know, the free trial, like you give a puppy to a family and try taking it back, you give a plane to a family, Yeah, I can only imagine. And as, as somebody who loves to travel the world, and I love to get out there and meet other people and experience new cultures, that's something that I would love to have— a plane that can fly internationally and bring my family wherever I want to go, and the money to help support that location independence.

It is, it is a very amazing, amazing feeling, and we've had some amazing experiences. And I mean, Singapore and Thailand and Greece. I mean, we went to 19 countries last year. So—

I'm jealous.

But we were on the road for 2 solid months.

Do you have any— once COVID is over, what's the dream next destination to go to?

Well, we had had 50 states lined up for this year. So, I mean, as soon as we can, we are. gonna just get back on the road. We are very, you know, you know, of course, we'll abide by the code.

As somebody in my 20s who's looking to build this empire and is on his way to building this empire and learning from wonderful people just like you and your husband, I am very excited for my plane in the future, you know, and I've got those big goals. And part of what Grant talked to me about on the podcast was that his biggest regret was not setting big enough goals. And so you kind of mentioned that earlier in 2008, you realize that you're playing too small. And so what do you have on the docket?

I was playing the ego game. That was my game. I gave up that game for a bigger game. But what was the question? I'm sorry, I missed it.

Well, now, now on the ego piece, I've struggled with that a lot. Because you want, you know, in your 20s, especially like you want to go out every time somebody asks you and you want to go have fun. And you don't want to sacrifice your weekend nights to work and to build your empire, but it's important to have a good balance to stay healthy, but also to get there, you know, to get out and have fun, but to build your empire. And so, uh, what was my question? Oh, what does the Cardone, you know, the perfect couple, what do you guys have on the docket for the rest of 2020 and for 2021 in the future now that you've readjusted your goals and they are 10x again?

Like, what are we gonna do in the future?

Yeah. What, like, I know when Grant was on, he said $10 billion in real estate.

Yeah. Yeah. That is the, that's the next target. That's exactly what I was gonna say. And then there's all the sub-things like GrowthCon and, you know, I have my 10X Ladies thing that I want to do and blah, blah, blah. And there's all the sub-targets and all the other stuff. But, but the, the real goal and mission and, and prize for us is, uh, is the $10 billion in real estate, and we can get there. And it's, you know, it's an opportunity of a lifetime from this that we will be taking advantage of. Yet no one, no, no one will be taken advantage of, but we will take advantage of this situation. And I'm sure there are my haters who are gonna hate that, but we're gonna help a lot of people along the way. We're opening up what's called the Opportunity Fund at Cardone Capital, where we're allowing accredited investors in. I'm not allowing the non-accredited on this one because it's an opportunity fund. There is more risk involved, and I don't want that. I have to have an experienced investor that, you know, that understands the opportunity right now. But we're going for it. We're going to take advantage, and there's going to be a lot of people along the way that we're going to help. And it's going to be amazing. And when my dreams, which come to fruition, and they're so big, it's going to be a huge party day for all of us.

All of that is very inspiring, and I love to hear it directly from you. And I know that we need to wrap up. So, my final question is, back when you decided to write that list and you said, oh, what's up, Grant?

What's up?

How you doing, man?

Good, man.

I was gonna say, back when you, back when you were going through the personal development grind, is there a book or a specific personal development seminar area of your life that sticks out as like, wow, that was a huge inflection point for me and pointed me in the right direction?

You know, there were so, there was many. I did a lot of courses, overcoming ups and downs in life, personal values and integrity, integrity, a communication course. I did 4 finance courses. I wrote that on the list too. I was like, he would probably want me financially responsible. So, I mean, I just, I did numerous, I did a parenting course. I've done a marriage course. I've done, because no one taught me. I mean, did you learn that in school? I never, I never, I thought, I honestly thought a marriage was if you are monogamous, and I'm sorry to sound so ignorant, but I really thought if you're monogamous, that's a relationship. And then you just, you're best friends and lovers, and that was a relationship. Like, nobody taught me what is the real purpose of a relationship. Like, I didn't learn that. So I had to educate myself on all of this. And now, of course, I realize that yes, of course, monogamy is is crucial in a committed relationship, but it's also about being 100% for not only yourself, but for your partner in a coordinated effort to hit that heightened level of success. Like, that's the reason to be in a relationship. I can get so far on my own. I can do that. I did that. But who, when with the right person, then how high can I go? And that's why you have the partner. Find the one you trust and build an empire. Of course you love them, but you got to trust them. Because when you've been married for 16 years, there's going to be a day when you doubt, like, oh my God, I don't even know if I love this man. You know, you're in a fight and you get crazy thoughts sometimes. Maybe it doesn't happen to anybody else. Does to me. But even on those days, I can be trusted to fulfill my role in the relationship and my commitment. And I, and, and still have his back, even on the days when I doubt that, because I found the one I trust and I built an empire.

Well, even if it freaks him out a little bit, you guys are a power couple and it's a, it's, it's inspirational. And I really enjoy that. And so we'll wrap up here. Where's the best place for somebody to learn more about you?

Um, you can go to elainacardone.biz. I have a lot of my content there or elainacardone.com. If any of your guy listeners are out there right now, I wrote an instruction manual that is specifically geared for awesome men who want awesome women and to be in a very powerful relationship because they're interested in that Vayn I'm talking about, heightened levels of success. Imagine who you could be if you had the right partner fueling your fire at 100%. Imagine if you were occupying You know, if you were running on 200%, who would you be? And if you're interested in that girl and finding out how to have that relationship, go to empiremensbook.com, empiremensbook.com. It's on the preorder price right now because I only have the first 5 chapters up, but I'm about to download more and the finished product will be out soon. It was really written for my love and respect For all the awesome guys out there, keep one thing in mind, okay?

Yeah.

You're 20. I was 20. I was hitting the bars. I know it's fun. I know it's tempting. But you make a decision what's more important for you. Maybe it is the bars. Maybe you do need that balance. But where do you want to be and when do you want to have that plane? And when's— when is a timeline that you think is real? And is it 10 years? Is it 5 years? Is it 15 years? Okay, and just know that with every decision that you're either creating or destroying your empire. So you can reach it ahead of that target, or you can make certain mistakes that are going to make you go beyond that target.

Yeah, that was a question.

You got to make a choice. And let me tell you, life gets— it doesn't, it doesn't not get fun when you're, you know, in your 40s. You're not like some old person, you know. My life is easier and happier today at the age I am now than the age I was at 20. And you can enjoy life even more when you've earned it and you have real friends around you that support you, that really want to see you do well. And when you're having champagne, jumping off of the top deck of a yacht, you know, when you're 40, it feels fucking amazing. So keep that in mind. It's never too late to party.

Ah, that's the, that's the kind of energy that I need. And that's the, that's the support and the message that I want to hear. So I'm going to listen to that back all the time because you said it directly to me. So I need that, you know, and it doesn't come from external. I think I just need that little bit of a check, like a little bit of a nudge in the right direction. I'm working like a dog. You know, I'm working 15 hours a day a lot of the time, but, uh, I need to, I need to stay on that final goal, which is I want to jump off my yacht and drink champagne all day in my 40s.

And I know it's possible. You can rent a yacht, you can rent a yacht. That's a liability. Okay. Or you can just have the friends that have a yacht and you keep the plane. That's a smart decision.

I love it.

Okay.

Beautiful. We'll end it there. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Absolutely. Thank you.

Thank you. And that's a wrap. Thank you so much for listening to my conversation with Elena. And because I really believe that we're the average of the 5 people that we spend the most time with, it could benefit you to share this episode with someone in your network that needs to be elevated. Elena is the perfect person to do that for your friend or loved one. And it only takes 60 seconds and it could change their life. So before I go, I want to remind everyone that BookThinkers is both an online community, but we're also an educational technology company that enables readers to achieve more and to live better. We believe that every single person in this audience is a nonfiction superhero. So for more information on our mobile application, our shop, our social pages, or our mission, please check out www.bookthinkers.com. And as always, remember that real learning requires education and behavior change. So with that, I'm signing off, and I can't wait for you to listen to another episode of Book Thinkers Life-Changing Books.