Elena Cardone - Building an Empire
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Mr. Biz Radio: Building an Empire!
Unedited transcription of the show is included below:
Welcome to Mr. Biz Radio Biz Talk for Biz Owners during the next half hour, Mr. Biz, Ken Wentworth, a leading business advisor, and two time bestselling author will cover topics that'll help business owners run their companies more profitably and more efficiently. If you're ready to stop faking the funk and take your business onward and upward, this show is for you.
And now here's Mr. Biz, Ken Wentworth.
All right. Welcome back to another episode of Mr. Biz Radio with me, Mr. Biz, Ken Wentworth. And when I say this week, we have a special guest, those of you not watching on YouTube, uh, or watching the video of this, um, you don't know who it is yet. Obviously you're watching. You can see. Um, but, uh, she, I look, I'll tell you I've been working on getting her on the show for at least a year. I feel like, I think as I recall this, the story of the courtship of her and her husband, her husband took about a year to get her to return his phone calls. Uh, and so we finally got it done and, uh, I'm really happy to welcome to this week, Mrs. Elena Cardone.
Elena started her career in Hollywood and soon became a successful model and actress of TV and film fame. She is the author of the bestselling book, “Build an Empire: How to Have It All”, boom, right there, my own copy. Uh, she's executive producer of massively successful events that include 10X ladies got my 10X tie on, Operation 10X bad-ass, Build an Empire Mastermind and her own show, “Women in Power”. And her most recent endeavor has been to partner with exp Realty. And we are going to absolutely talk about that as well. So without further ado, welcome to the show, Elena,
Uh, Ken, thanks for having me what an awesome introduction. And I am sorry. It took so long. I'm embarrassed,
Embarrassed at all. You're busy and obviously the last year has been crazy, uh, overall anyway, but, um, so I guess I want to kind of get started kind of going back a little ways. Um, so you grew up in Louisiana around New Orleans, correct. And so I guess, what did you learn as a little girl growing up in Louisiana that you think has helped you be as successful as you are now?
I think that I learned, um, how to not give up to forge forward, how to develop a thick, outer skin, um, and how to go after the dreams and the goals. If I wanted to have something come to fruition, it wasn't going to just happen. It was something that I would have to make happen.
Well, it sounds like that's what happened. So as far as you went to Hollywood, you left Louisiana and went to Hollywood sorta. What, what prompted you? What w why did you want to go down that career path at least initially?
Well, I was always a visionary. I've always just, I've always kind of have this artistic side. I've always been interested in acting. And so New Orleans, I kind of went down a wrong path during my teen years. I had sort of a traumatic trauma trauma occur when I was around 13 and I kind of went off the rails. And then finally I decided I couldn't live that lifestyle anymore. And really the only thing I had to kind of fall on or, or whatever I saw was my vehicle was the acting and the modeling route. That was kind of the easy, like, made sense route. I was never really great at school. I don't love math. I don't love, you know, there was no lawyer doctor, like none of no more school, uh, was my motto. So I went to the actress and model route, and that was the vehicle to get me out of New Orleans. And, um, give me the, put me on the path to creating a life that I really needed in order to escape that.
Well, I mean, imagine going from Louisiana to California, right. You probably were able to separate from a lot of those ties and some of those things that you were having going on that were throwing you off the rails, as you said, and kind of, uh, leading down a wrong path to kind of start over in California, right? Oh
Yeah, I did. I mean, I went there with the intention of cleaning up my life and getting a target and a purpose and a plan and making something of myself. I was just, I had been wallowing a lot in, uh, the depression and being kind of the victim of what happened and occurred. You know, I lost my, my best friend in a fire. I witnessed the whole thing as, you know, as her best friend living across the street from her. So I had, I had used that as an excuse to just like really destroy my life. And, and so when I made the decision at 17 to go to Los Angeles, knowing no one, it was really to stop using that as an excuse to keep myself held back in life and stop using that as an excuse to, to experience massive depression. So I decided, you know, um, it didn't end right away, but at least I w I, I put my feet on the ground and put myself on a path that said, no more excuses. You lived, you go make a life for yourself. You make this life worth something.
And how difficult was that? Right. You're starting out. And you're, you're really just trying to get your feet on the ground, put some stakes in the ground, so to speak. I can't imagine how difficult it is in Hollywood. And trying to break into that, you know, what kind of trials and tribulations did you go through with that?
Well, there were many highs and lows. There were some times you were making money and sometimes when I couldn't even afford a Starbucks. So, um, but you know, fortunately New Orleans kind of another thing that I kind of got from New Orleans is being able to gauge and read people really well. And I've because I've always been interested in acting I've had an acute, um, ability observe people. So I think that being able to observe an unknown helped me too, even though I didn't still hang out with the best of crowds in Los Angeles, I think I was able to gauge my way. So nothing horrible happened except for, you know, it was difficult. You're, you're going on three to five auditions a day. You're having to prepare for that. You're having to keep your body in a certain condition. Uh, you're not getting picked your, you know, there's a lot of blows.
Like you, you aren't getting picked you aren't good enough. You aren't right. You're too tall. You're too, this you're too, that your skin's not a good year. Your body's not skinny enough. A lot of, um, you know, a lot of factors involve external means that you can't always control, like on a moment's notice. So that can kind of mess with your head a little bit at times. But, um, you know, I constantly was trying to improve and better myself and, and be strong enough to take a hit and a tough enough to deliver a blow.
Yeah. Yes. I love, I hear you say that all the time. I love that. Um, so, and I'm sure that that experience in trying to break into Hollywood, like you said, with a lot of those ups and downs and some in taking those body blows, that's probably helped you tremendously, as you become, you've been dealing with Grant Cardone. That's what being an entrepreneur. I mean, entrepreneur, that's the entrepreneurship game. I mean, there's a lot of what you take a lot of losses, you know, no matter how successful smart, you know, uh, pretty, uh, you are, you're going to take losses in the entrepreneurship space. And so I think that's what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the unsuccessful ones, the people who just have that relentless pursuit, I call it consistent perseverance. They just keep getting up. And so you had to, you know, that's probably set, there you go. There you go. That's
The only reason really for the success is I just keep getting up, you know, and you're right. Like, I see so many similarities between all three worlds. I see the similarities between the acting modeling world and the amount of rejection and what comes with that as well as the entrepreneurial space, which has highs and lows and ups and downs, and a lot of nos and a lot of it's not going to work. Um, and also to the MMA space, you know, I play around, I tinker around in that space. And so much of it in that world is like a chess game, just like the entrepreneurial game. And so much is like, um, you know, being able to keep standing back up and, um, preparing for the next, you know, counter or, or, or, or offensive move.
Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. Good stuff. We're going to hit a break here again, and we're talking this week with Mrs. Elena Cardone. You can find out more at elenacardone.com and come back out to the break and we'll talk about her exp venture business
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All right. Welcome back to the show. And we'll talk to you again this week, but this is Elena Cardone, and I would definitely encourage you to go out. Um, I've got my own copy. You can see it's, well-worn, uh, it's been opened in and, uh, I've been through it about one and a half times now, but her books called “Build an Empire”. Um, very good book, uh, for guys and girls a really good book. I highly recommend it.
So let's, let's start with that in this segment, Elena, why was it important for you to write “Build an Empire”?
It was important because my husband made me know because, um, but that is the truth. You know, Grant really pushed me to write the book. He said, you have information that other people aren't operating in their relationships with, and you could help people. And I had a whole bunch of excuses why I shouldn't do that. I hate school, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And, you know, eventually he called me lazy and a coward for not producing the book. It made me angry. I stayed home. I finished the book and in the long run, he told me, you know, I never, for one second thought you were lazy in a cower. Uh, but congratulations on the book.
And that's when I had an another, yet another epiphany that, you know, that is what love is to us. It's helping each other achieve our goals and our dreams. And so, you know, it wasn't pretty how we got there, but that is something that I take a lot of pride in. And I wrote the book to, uh, fast track other people's way to success from the do's and the don'ts of my path and what we've kind of how we, how we operate our infrastructure. I wanted other people to see that, so that if it works for me, perhaps it could work for you. And it won't take you 10 years to do what it took us in. Maybe you can do it in five.
Yeah. So, I mean, along those lines in, in the empire building, as you said, the two of you pushing each other to be successful. Um, tell us this story. I love the story about how originally, when they approached Grant about “Undercover Billionaire”, and he didn't want to do it, but you provided that moment for him. Right? Tell us that story, Elena.
So yeah, they wanted Grant to do “Undercover Billionaire” and he was adamant, this was not something he could do. We run 15 businesses, he had all of his excuses. And so I just said, look, you know, this is an opportunity. One of our goals as a couple is to reach 7 billion people on planet earth. So it's an impossible goal, right? We, we can't afford, um, to say no to things that are gonna put us in reach of reaching more people. So I just explained that to him and, and said, look, you, you need to be known by the people that watch TV that don't necessarily watch social media outlets. So, uh, go do this, you know, this was pre COVID when it started. And I said, look, it's, it's, it's an opportunity to teach the, the quote unquote, everyday man, how to take a business from nothing to something you can help people.
And so I was able to convince him, I said, look, that's it. It's like, you're, you're doing this. It's not open for negotiations. What if I fail? I'm 10X. This is it. I'm like, like that ain't part of the equation. Like that's not what happens to us. We always land on our feet. We're we're, you know, not that we, not that we, uh, we don't fail, uh, not that we don't get our heads, but we always land on our feet, you know? Like we'll always figure it out. And so I just reminded him, you are Grant Cardone, you, this is who you are. And so he agreed finally. And, and then of course it was a massive success
And along the way, so yeah, for those who haven't seen it yet, um, obviously the show has been over, but they're, they're re showing it on discovery, but along the way, you also provided some support along the way. Right. So,
Yeah. Yeah. So, so along the way, yes. So he, so he, you know, he kept calling and it was really hard and really difficult. He doesn't have his team or, you know, people that he can just have help him. And, and, and, and, you know, he's a, he's a wuss when it comes to his family and kids. And, and I am, I am not complaining. I'm, I'm definitely bragging on that one, but, you know, but, but he, so it was very difficult for him and he would call me and I was trying to be the best wife and the cheerleader and think of all the lives you're helping and dah, dah, dah, dah. And he hang up on me and he was furious. Why did you make me do this? And I started to doubt myself. I'm like, did I make a mistake? And you, you know, and then he tries to guilt trip me, you took me away from the kids and dah, dah, dah.
And I was like, oh my God, the kids are like, and so I had to like, hold it all together amongst old life. I had all about other stuff to deal with. Um, but I, I finally got smart and I was like, okay, how can I approach this from another angle? Because clearly that cheerleading angle wasn't working.
So I made a list of all the people who want us to fail, wanted him to fail, um, all the haters, all the, you know, just the, the backstabbers. And I made a list of several people, but by the time I got to, like, I would say person, number three, number four, he was like, all right. All right. All right. All right. All right. I got it. I know what I have to do. And he, like I said, he hung up on me again, but that time it was more out of, okay, I got to go get the job done now. And he stopped all the crying and the, you know, the, whatever that was. Um, and he went and got an executed on the Mission.
Yeah. Well, and as I was watching the show, I found that interesting. Um, and I'll just be honest with you. I th I felt like, especially considering the end result, how successful he was, I felt like for TV, they couldn't allow you to see how well it was going because, well, honestly, because the other two were having some troubles as well. The other two, uh, Undercover Billionaire, the two ladies were having some. And so I felt like they didn't want to like make it, so, oh my gosh, Grant is way up here. And these, these others are struggling a little bit. So especially, um, having the end result Grant was on, on the show a couple of months ago, uh, when it had just showed first started on Discovery. So, um, offline, we had talked about the end result. I knew kind of what, what it was everything.
And so I was watching alone. I'm like, man, they're just downplaying the heck out of this. But so the reason I brought those up as though I think that plays right into your build an empire, right? I mean, you know, Grant kicking you in the butt to actually write the book. You kicking him in the butt to do Undercover Billionaire, you grabbing him by the bootstraps and, and, and finding a new way to motivate him on the show in order for him to be successful. I think that just really is a sort of a microcosm of what Build an Empire is about.
Uh, so I thought that was really interesting, um, and in a good time, so I want to play, uh, I to play a little bit of word association with you. Okay. I'm going to give you a word or phrase, and I want you to tell me the first thing that comes in your mind. Doesn't have to be one word. It could be 10X massive action. Okay. Success, abundance. Okay. I like that. I like that. About empire
Empire, um, people, expansion, security, strength, honor, integrity, grit, um, and fortitude and purpose.
Awesome. Awesome. Uh, well, sticking with the work, sort of like a word association. Um, give me three words, uh, on what it's like being married to Mr. Cardone
And adventure. Difficult. No, not difficult. Challenging. Okay. So adventure challenging and
Heightened levels of success. I like it. I like it. I like it.
Um, so very interesting. Again, we've been talking this week with Elena Cardone. You can find out more at elenacardone.com. Definitely. Again, as I mentioned, check out her book, Build an Empire, she's got all kinds of things going on. You can see wait up here. Where am I at? Oh, here. I don't even know. Uh, we're going to talk about her newest venture with exp Realty. You can find out more about that at www.join10xempire.com. She's got the 10X ladies event she's got, uh, operation 10X bad-ass. She's got all kinds of stuff going on. Again. You can find out about all of that on www.elenacardone.com or as I mentioned, especially, and we're going to talk about exp here. Uh, I know I said it was, was talking about this when we got kind of carried away. I got carried away with some other stuff, but we're going to start off the next segment, talking about that. Like definitely go out, check out. And of course, follow her on social media. I'll tell you it is hilarious watching their stories, Instagram stories between her and Grant. And one of the things they've got going on with the kids is great.
So come back after the break on Mr. Biz Radio!
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All right.
Welcome back to the show and I keep saying it, and also I promised, and so I want to get into your latest venture. Um, so first of all, I liked it. I love the back story on how it all came to fruition, right. Uh, as I recall, Grant was on the phone with Glenn and you're kind of overhearing some of this. So if you would walk us through that, how they all came to fruition.
Okay. So, uh, Glenn Sanford is the founder of the eXp Realty and Grant Cardone. We're on a phone call. Well, Grant, I could tell, I could hear in his voice, he was really excited about this possible, um, um, collaboration, uh, with Glenn Sanford. And so they were trying to work something out and you got to understand, like I hear Grant, or I hear at least 50 people wanting to do business with Grant on a daily basis. But it's very rare that I hear Grant be excited about something. So I knew this was an important call. And so I hear Glen say, oh, this is going to be great. I can't wait. And they're all excited. And he said, but I don't know how it's going to work because you don't have your realtor license and everyone, any eXP for the model to work. Dah, dah, dah, dah.
So I'm in the background. And I, you know, in the book, as you know, I have a chapter, uh, become an asset. Yeah. So I'm, I'm always like looking, how can I become an asset, not only to myself, but to grant to the community, whatever. So I raised my hand in the background. I'm like, God, I think I'll know realtor, you know, whisper, can I become the realtor? And Grant says to Glenn, can, can my wife become the realtor? Will Glenn gets all excited? Yes. Because an exp Realty, husband and wife teams, and they're 62% women in the real real estate and, you know, as realtors. So anyway, at that point for them to do their deal, I was just going to get my realtor license. So I thought, which I did in 28 days. It took me a lot of like studying to make that happen.
But in the meantime, I learned all about exp and basically it's a, it's a model that allows realtors to not only make a commission, uh, and the standard way, but it also allows for this whole other, um, rev share organization where they can get paid from seven layers, deep of people that they bring in, that they bring in, that they bring in because yada, yada, yada, there's no overhead. They can, you know, afford to pass on the commissions. It's a beautiful model. And it's something that I have been looking for. It technically is not an MLM, but it's structured like one. And I have been looking for this model for about two years, secretly behind Grant's back. This is normally what I do. Like I visualize and I strategize and I think of things. And only when I figure that thing out, do I then go to grant and be like, oh, this is my idea.
Did it dah, dah up. So what I had found in the MLM space is, look, I can't, and I don't want to sound like arrogant or whatever, it's. It just is what it is, but I can't step, uh, sideways and, and walk away from a multi-billion dollar organization being over here to go then work for an MLM. Like it didn't make sense, right? But now I learned that this all worked together with this collaboration and it was everything that I love. I love real estate. And I have been dying as my legacy play, um, to not only facilitate and run the behind the scenes op operations and infrastructure so that everyone can get grants products. But my legacy, my superhero is, um, is that I do the, that support and that structure. I help people build empires who want and have the willingness to build them themselves.
I'm the person that takes them from where they're the highest level that they can reach to that heightened level of success. I go, boom, that's my superpower. I'm only good at the upper level. I am not good at helping you do all of this stuff that you need to do on your own this level. So anyway, that was the vehicle that exp that I had been looking for. It was like, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I have been more excited now than ever before. I can't wait to create on this, um, aspect of things I already am. I already have over a hundred people in my organization over 52 people in my front line. And I get to do what I want to do, which is help other people build their empires because I know that the only way to wealth and stability and abundance and empires is that passive income. It does not come from earned income. You can get rich from earned income. You can't get wealthy. And I want to see other people get wealthy because I understand what wealth provides, um, for people and for the condition of their family, their community and the globe. If so, if they so choose. So I want to help all those empire builders, I want to do the woman behind them, not just the woman behind Grant, which I'm very proud of, but I want to be the woman behind millions.
Yeah, absolutely. And look, you glossed over this. I want to go back. You guys got to realize that. So she mentioned it, but she just kind of glossed over like, oh, not that big a deal. She did this all in 28 days because they were trying to make this all happen before growth con. And so, and even that, going back to a recurring theme, we keep talking about that, that continuing to get up, right. You take some body blows and you keep getting up. You know, I heard you tell a story about when you started taking the exam, you get to like question number four and you're like, I can't do this. Right. Uh, so, so good stuff. I mean, again, so I guess sticking with the empire theme as well. So by the way, I should, I should mention if you want to find out more and you want to consider joining her team, go to www.join10Xempire.com, www.join10Xempire.com. You can find out more about exactly what you just mentioned.
What has been the biggest mistake that you have made so far in building your own empire?
Hands down. I know what that is. It's not collaborating with enough people sooner Grant. And I made that a horrible mistake. It cost us years and years. It costs us five years. I sh we should be a lot further ahead than we are because we thought we had to do everything ourselves. And it's the common mistake that most people make with the believer in the solo preneur and, um, and whatnot. It's, it's, it's not real. That's a lie. It's a myth. No one's ever built an empire alone. You might start as one, but you don't build an empire is one, it takes a team. So Grant and I tried to, you know, crush the competition and do everything on our own. And it, and it was like, we were a hamster in a wheel. It wasn't until I can collaborate with a Glenn Sanford or, you know, all the other businesses, Cardone Ventures, the list goes on and on of all the collaborations that we have, and, and that just helps you go bigger and bigger and, you know, so we don't need to crush anymore. We need to collaborate and grow together.
Yeah. Yeah. And you mentioned Cardone Ventures that Brent, Brandon Dawson has been on the show as well. Um, and we talked about, you know, the Cardone Ventures. This was, gosh, he's, it's probably been a good year since Brandon was on the show..
Oh, so he's not, he's not as a difficult, he's easy.
Yeah. Well, that's one way of putting it, I guess. Uh, so we've only got, we've only got about a minute and a half left, but I want to, I got to ask what is of your accomplishments. You guys have done so much that you've accomplished so much together and individually as well. What accomplishment are you most proud of so far?
Uh, this, this might not be the, what you were looking for, but the biggest accomplishment that I've done so far is birthing two children at home, uh, without any means of medication. And I cannot tell you like that was the proudest moment of my life. Not just, I mean, obviously delivering a child and I, I, I, I don't even want to go off on how beautiful and gorgeous that is, but just how much I can depend on myself. I, I know myself in a new way. I know who I am and what I'm willing and can do when I need to get something done. Like I deliver literally. So I show up and there's something that nobody knew people say, oh, what if you lost it all? Like, there are certain things in certain moments in my life that have given me something that you can take all of my money away. You can't take that moment away from me. You can't take me meeting myself and me showing up and delivering, like, I have that forever. So you take my money. I still show up. I still get up. I still have honor integrity, grit, soul ethics, purpose. I will get it faster the second time. Then it sent me the first time. But yeah, that was one moment that like, nobody can ever take away from me. I love
It. I love it. Yeah. And you can, as you said, you can lean back on that and times get tough and say, gosh, I've done this
Exactly so many times. I'm like, yeah, I can do this. This is nothing. This is nothing compared to that. Exactly.
Exactly. Well, Elena, unfortunately, we're out of time. I really appreciate you coming on the show again and go to Elenacardone.com. www.Join10Xempire.com. Definitely appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Oh, absolutely. Thank you so much.
All right. Thanks everyone. We'll see you next weekend. As always cash flow is king.
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