Grant Cardone

Who is Grant Cardone? 

Grant is a business leader’s business leader. As the owner/operator of a vast business empire, his privately-held companies have a collective portfolio worth more than $1.5 billion globally.

He’s written more than 20 of the world’s best-selling business courses, giving budding business leaders the tools they need to increase their income to astronomical levels, and an astonishing seven books on how to transform your life into living the way YOU want.

Grant’s first best-seller, “The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure,” has transformed countless lives through the power of entrepreneurship. The seminar it spawned, The 10X Growth Conference, is currently in its third year, and expects to draw 35,000 people to Las Vegas for a three-day event early next month.

Additionally, Grant is a highly sought-after speaker on the lecture and motivational circuit, renowned venture capitalist, frequent contributor to Fox Business, CNBC, Huffington Post and Forbes, international philanthropist, founder of 50-million-member strong online sales training outlet Cardone University, AND has more than 10 million combined followers on various social media platforms.

Oh, and no less an authority than Forbes Magazine named him the “#1 Marketer to Watch” in 2017.

To say that I’m flattered he still makes time to stop by and visit The School of Greatness would be a massive understatement. But make time for us he does, and I will always have gratitude for that.

This visit turned out to be another show-stopper. He and I go really deep into not just how he continues to grow his incredible empire, but also the pervasive nature of insecurity, and how it can still bite you no matter how successful you are. It’s revealing, it’s vulnerable, and it’s raw.

Pushing Past Insecurity  

To say that Grant has “made it” is an understatement. He’s making tons of money, doing all these incredible events, and raising a beautiful family with his wife Elena. What does a man like Grant have to be insecure about? How does a man like Grant still struggle with insecurity?

For Grant, a lot of his insecurity stems from the pressure of living up to his name. He does these crazy big conferences, expecting to draw in at least 35,000 people, and there’s that voice telling him, “There’s no way, all these people aren’t gonna show up. This place is gonna be half empty.” Or maybe, “it’ll be full but then people will start to leave because it’s not worth their time.”

The brain can come up with a thousand different scenarios in which you lose and your greatest fears are realized. Even if they are crazy irrational.

According to Grant, insecurity is not something you can fully defeat. You can’t just get rid of it. If you stop being insecure about one thing, chances are you’ll start to become insecure about another.

“I think [insecurity is] just a human condition. I think it’s part of the game. I think it’s part of being a human being. [I can’t get rid of it] any more than I want to get rid of my arms, or my legs, my arms and my legs, my body. My body is a limitation.” – Grant Cardone

Grant said that insecurity has been “the great thief” of his life. It’s a thief of everyone’s life at some point. How many risks would you have taken if your insecurity had only been quiet for a couple seconds? Of course, there’s risks not worth taking – those ill-informed, foolish risks – but there’s also risks that are profitable and exciting. But the fear of failure can shut you down if you let it.

I asked Grant if he thought his insecurities somehow fueled him to push harder, but he said not at all. Insecurities are not a resource – they’re a handicap. If he didn’t have any insecurities, Grant said he would be doing bigger and better things.

If we could abandon our insecurities, we would be unstoppable.

But Grant doesn’t let his insecurities slow him down. All of his life experiences have propelled him forward, and in the midst of the fear, there’s a drive to finish the game.

“Moving through fear gives you experience, and you’re not gonna have the experience if you don’t move through the fear.” – Grant Cardone

Relationships and the Importance of Individual Growth

Insecurity often touches every aspect of our lives: our jobs, our values, and even our relationships. Relationships can get really rocky really fast if both parties aren’t honest and patient with one another.

Grant has a lot to say about making relationships work.

First, each person has to be somehow working on themselves. That means that they are committed to making sure they are growing as an individual. Maybe you want to work on your patience, your work ethic – it could be anything! But if you have one person who doesn’t care to grow and another who is bending over backwards to better themselves, that relationship is going to be really difficult. There’s an imbalance of values there.

Before meeting his wife Elena, Grant struggled to find a partner who was committed to personal growth like he was. But she was different. She was willing to grow.

In the willingness to grow, there’s always potential. This goes for professional relationships as well! If you’re going to do business with someone, you want to make sure that person is investing in themselves too. You want to see that drive for greatness. Because if it’s not there, neither one of you is benefited.

Taking Responsibility and Letting Go 

Grant likes to take responsibility for his actions and circumstances, whether it be in his relationships, business, or health. If there’s a problem, you have to tackle it head on. When Grant saw his health declining, he decided he had to do something:

“My body was weak. I wasn’t using my body. I didn’t use it and it started to abandon me. I wasn’t paying attention to it. And I said, ‘You know what? I need to take responsibility for this.’ If I want to fix something, that’s the code of my life. Do you want to fix something? Take responsibility.” – Grant Cardone.

And that’s what he did. Grant started working out consistently, and he recently went on a plant-based diet. It’s given him so much more energy – and he needs all the energy he can get with all the crazy stuff he’s been doing. Having a healthy body has helped him have a healthy business.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a relationship, a career, or your health – if you’ve neglected something important in your life, it’s your responsibility to take care of that. You can always ask people for help, but change starts with YOU.

Sometimes, taking responsibility means letting something go – letting go of that thing that has been weighing you down.

“You got to give something up. I’m always giving stuff up. My life changed when I gave stuff up [like] when I was 25 and I gave drugs up.” -Grant Cardone

It could be drugs. It could be unhealthy eating habits. It could be toxic relationships. It could be past mistakes. Any of these things (and much more) can slow you down. They ultimately make you insecure, and you could lose your potential. One way to take ownership and responsibility over your life is to let these things go.

It’s not easy, but we all have to do it at some point. And it always pays off.

Know Where Your Money Is

Grant has created extraordinary results that no one can deny (hundreds of millions in sales annually, incredible wealth, massive impact, bestselling books and courses, the list goes on). But in 2008, the financial crisis hit Grant hard. No money was coming in. He was almost 50 years old at the time and was basically broke. He was so disappointed in himself.

But Grant works harder than almost anyone I know. It took a couple years, but he hustled and pulled himself back up. He started to pay even more attention to where his money was going.

Whether you’re a college student or a business executive, it’s always a good idea to know where your money is. Pay attention to the money you’re making and where it’s going. It’s honestly surprising how many people care about making money but are unconscious about where it’s going.

“This is the scam on this planet. You get money, you work your ass off, and then you give it to an institution, and you forget that it’s there…You send it to the mutual fund, you don’t even know what it’s invested in. It’s invested in stuff you don’t even believe in. It’s invested in war stocks, tobacco stocks, drug companies. That’s not things you even believe in… So, pay attention to where the money is. What is it paying you? Where is it? Look at it every day. It takes literally two minutes or less.” – Grant Cardone

When you pay attention to your money, you are inevitably going to make smarter decisions and investments.

And if you have the means, it’s always okay to spend your money on, what Grant calls, “stupid stuff.” Whether it be VIP tickets to a concert, a fancy watch, or an island vacation! It’s good to treat yourself! Just put some rules in place. Create some guidelines – like, “this year, I can spend ‘this amount’ on myself.” If you don’t, then you risk spending too much too fast, and we all know how that ends.

Secondly, Grant says to do business only with people that you feel good about – people that you feel like you can trust.

“Never do business with somebody you don’t feel good about. Deal’s never gonna be good.

Can’t get a good deal from a bad guy. It’s impossible. If I don’t feel good, there’s no way [that] I will not give a person a penny. I don’t care how good the deal is. Deal will never be good if the guy is bad.” – Grant Cardone

It could be tempting – someone might have a great deal that looks like it has a lot of potential. But you don’t feel right about the person, then most likely, the deal isn’t right either. There will always be another person to do business with – someone who shares your values and has good intentions.

Why You Should Listen Right Now…

Grant is a guest I keep having on the podcast who is unlike any other.

He always says exactly what he thinks. He talks about money in a real, relatable way, and he’s got so much wisdom to share about pushing through insecurity. I love pushing Grant to think bigger about his already huge goals. At the end of this interview, he shared that he wants to hit a 3 billion deal by the time he’s on my podcast next. 3 billion!

I said, “Why are you thinking so small, Grant?” I told him he should make that deal in six months. He said he’d make some calls. I love having him on my show. There’s so much energy every time he’s here, and I’m so grateful he continues to join us on The School of Greatness.

If you’re ready to expand your mindset and face your biggest fears, this conversation will take you there in Episode 905. 

 

To greatness,