Wealthy Way founder Ryan Pineda got to hang with Grant Cardone and a handful of other influencers at a small, intimate meetup at Grant’s office. He says it was the most impactful event he’s ever attended. He asked Grant what was the difference in going from zero to millionaire, as opposed to millionaire to billionaire. Grant had an interesting answer. For him, in the beginning, he was just disgusted with himself. Like that’s what drove him. Just got sick of being a loser.
“I remember being 25 years old, man,” Grant told Ryan, “and I was just on a daily, disgusted regimen. I was disgusted with myself every day I looked at myself. Couldn’t keep a job: had seven jobs, fired from all of ’em. Ended up being a car salesman. Hated that. And so in the beginning, I was just trying to get something together that I was proud of. And I wanted to be proud of me. And the only way I could measure that was, can I get a little money?”
Eventually he did, and that first $1,000 felt like all the money in the world to him. Why? Because that was the moment Grant realized he had control over his life. It was his first victory in like eight years. He began getting his crap together: kicking his drug problem, working on his self-esteem, building his confidence, repairing all kinds of relationships he had messed up along the way, et cetera. And all of it snowballed year after year until Uncle G had made his first million.
“The rest of the move,” he continued to tell Ryan, “it’s different. Going from $1 million to $10 million? It’s different. And the game I’m playing now? It’s different. It doesn’t really get any easier, I’ll tell ya that. It gets a little more complicated, a little more challenging. And it gets a little more fun. But the one consistent thing that hasn’t changed the entire time? Is people. People have made all this possible. The first $1,000 and the first $1 million. It was always people involved.”
So Grant’s emphasis has always been on finding the right people, quality people, who could actually help him. And would. And were qualified to do so. Now, in terms of which revenue source has been the biggest lever to get him to billionaire status? “Real estate,” Grant says without hesitation. “Real estate’s been the most substantial, significant thing I’ve done to separate myself on the internet. It’s taken me from just being this loud personality to a real businessman.”
The problem with the internet, Grant rants, is that it’s too easy to fake it till ya make it. You can get on Instagram and lie and Photoshop and pose all ya want. Everyone’s apparently a 7-figure earner these days, aren’t they? Well, expect for the ones who put “8-figure entrepreneur” in their bios, right? “So I think my success is a combination. I’m healthy, I’m having fun, I have real assets, I have real, everyday people invest with me in real estate; it’s not just me getting rich here.”
“I’m giving back on the internet every day. I’ve got beautiful kids, a beautiful wife and marriage. All that combined makes the meal that you can serve to the public—so that they find value in it and are willing to pay for it.” Not to say he thinks everyone should just drop everything and go all in on real estate; if you’ve got a great business, double down on that, he advises Ryan. Then dump as much of your profit into real estate as possible, to build generational wealth. Can’t argue with that.
