Grant Cardone: 5 Principles for Building a Successful Real Estate Business

For our second-ever episode of the HyperFast Podcast, we talked with renowned real estate, business, and sales expert Grant Cardone in his podcast studio outside of Miami.

During our free-spoken and often blunt conversation, Grant discussed mentorship, leadership, and his thoughts on why “doing what you love” is a bad idea.

On Why Most Real Estate Agents Are Subpar at Best

“If you’re gonna list my house, my #1 question is: ‘What’d you sell last year?’”

Grant observes that real estate agents seem to dislike being called salespeople.

“Most real estate agents I’ve met are subpar at best and I wonder whether they’re even committed,” Grant says. He also notes that most real estate agents don’t even know the inventory in their town. 

“If you don’t know your game, if you’re not all-in and fully committed, you’re gonna make $28,000 a year, and you’re going to hate your job.

“You need to be in the right place, at the right time, in the right industry, with the right skills.

“Your real estate license is the entry level. You got through the doors; now can you become a member?

“I’m still recruiting constantly, I’m looking at my leadership skills, I’m confronting my own weaknesses, and I’m continuing to educate myself on how to do things.”

Keep educating yourself on the game. The game is always changing, especially now with social media. Where are your customers spending time? Be there. Learn how it works, and recruit people who can help you leverage it.

How Grant Cardone Deals with Self-Doubt

“Everything I’ve done in my life, somebody told me to beware of it… 99% of the advice you get on this planet is garbage advice from people who quit.”

We asked Grant whether he ever experienced self-doubt.

“Every deal I’ve ever bought. The doubt’s around me all the time.

“Did I spend enough time with my kids? Should I have pursued that deal harder?

“Did I buy the right plane?”

Grant went on to talk about what he says “Yes” to.

“If I get an invitation to anything, I’m trying to show up.

“I’m trying to say yes to everything. If something good comes out of it, great. If it doesn’t, at least I showed up. But nothing good happens for me if I don’t show up.

“I don’t use drugs or alcohol, I don’t walk on fire. I don’t medicate, I stay active. I just keep showing up. 

“I’m just trying to stay in the game all the time. Move on and keep your mind occupied. I’m not in doubt when I’m doing.”

How to Get Mentored by Top-of-the-Food-Chain Titans

Here’s the real problem of not having a mentor: If you think you have no mentors, you actually have many mentors. Endless mentors. You get tiny pieces of data from everyone you meet. These bits of data are often incomplete, lacking context, or even just incorrect.

If you’re serious about climbing to the top, go deep studying the top experts in your field.

Here’s one indirect way to get mentored by top-of-the-food-chain titans – without asking anyone directly to be your mentor.

Early on, Grant learned how to maximize mentors from a distance. This means going deep with one person you want to imitate. Study everything they’ve said, every interview they’ve given. See if their opinions changed depending on what stage of their career they were in when they were interviewed. For example, Grant’s gone deep studying everything that Warren Buffet says and does.

“Mentors aren’t gods; what they believe and discover changes with time.”

Never study everybody. Study 1-3 top performers and go deep. Go all the way to the top of the food chain. Even industry leaders who are long dead can be your mentors.

EDITOR’S NOTE: HyperFast Agent offers several levels of coaching from billion-dollar agents Dan and Keri, from the affordable Inner Circle membership program to exclusive, private coaching.

On Recruiting and Building a Successful Real Estate Business

“Having a job is a good thing: having a purpose, having someplace to go, being around other people. Being by your damn self? THAT is a bad thing.”

Nobody ever built anything great entirely by themselves.

Be a leader. Keep learning and honing and being the best at your game.

 “If you have a great product, if you have a great service, if you’re committed to your business… grow it!”

If you really want to create a great business, recruit good people and build it out. Being around people who are pushing through doubt and taking action is essential, and the sense of shared purpose on a team is inspiring.

“You can’t network from home. Facebook is not a network. It’s a spectator event.” 

Does the idea of starting to hire team members scare you from ever taking that first step? Do you have difficulty hiring the right person? See ourRecruitment Done Right course on HyperFast Academy!

Grant Cardone on Why Doing What You Love is Selfish

During our conversation, Grant also weighed in on Gary Vee’s comment that you should do what you love regardless of money. “That shit’s easy to say when you’ve already banked your money,” Grant says.

“Get your skills to where you can earn $250k a year, and then you will love what you do.

“I don’t do what I love. I do what I need to do to fund my activities so that I can make a difference on this planet. ‘What you love’ is about you. It’s very selfish. I love to sleep in… But every great or charitable thing that you want to do on this planet will take money.”