Grant Cardone: What To Do If You Don’t Have Money
Written by
Cynthia Measom
Edited by
Elizabeth Constantineau
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Grant Cardone is a renowned private equity fund manager, real estate investor and best-selling author. So when it comes to saving money habits and spending money pitfalls, many people look to him for insight and advice on how to better reach their short-term and long-term financial goals.
In one of Cardone’s many seminars based on his famous “10X Rule,” the financial personality fielded a question from an attendee asking for advice on growing her business. Although the woman had money to invest in her business, Cardone suggested that she approach the situation as if she were broke.
Why? Because he believes you can achieve greater success if your mindset is that you have no money. It forces you to hustle, put down your credit card and focus on building your bank account. Here’s what Cardone said you should do if you have no money (or at least if you’re approaching your business that way).
Know That Not Having Money Can Breed Creativity
Here was the question asked by the business owner at the seminar: “I have a roofing company. It was easy to get into that particular business without putting any of my personal money into it, and so now I’m at a point where in order to get out of this stalemate, how do I decide how much money at this point should I be putting into the business to be able to scale?”
In response, Cardone said, “Sometimes it’s a benefit not to have money because when you don’t have money, you have creativity. As long as you’ve got a commitment, you’re like, ‘I got to go get this money from somebody.'”
Go Out and Get the Money From People
Not having money — or “going to zero” as Cardone says — is what can make you rich, he argued. When you don’t have money, Cardone recommends getting out there and doing the legwork to get the money you need as it’s always a good idea to check other resources to grow your personal finances.
“So in the roofing business, I’m just going to go get people to give me money,” he said. “I’m going to start knocking on doors, banging doors … get people to give me money.”
“If I didn’t have any money today, what would I do?” Cardone asked. “I’d go out there and start getting money. I’d sell stuff, ‘Hey, hey these shoes, man, can I sell the shoes? Can I sell the jeans? Can I sell the shirt? Can I sell the watch?’ You just got to be committed, right?”
Ho To Actually Get the Money You Want
Another key thing to do when you don’t have money is to ask yourself what you have to do to get money, Cardone said.
“I don’t want the watch, I want the money,” Cardone said, gesturing at his watch. “I want the money ’cause I want to grow my business. So where you lack creativity, you lack commitment, right? When you’re blocked and you don’t have answers, it’s because you lack commitment to whatever it is you want, to whatever you want to go to. So, I always just ask the big question, ‘Hey, what do I got to do to sell the place out, you know? What do I have to do to replace the money?’
“If you didn’t have any money right now, what you would do is you’d be doing more roofing jobs,” Cardone told the audience member. “You’d be forced to hit your payroll. ‘Who’s got my money?’ is the battle cry.”
Final Take To GO
Cardone’s advice for what to do if you don’t have money is straightforward and evergreen. If you don’t have money, Cardone believes that you need to get out there and hustle to start making money.
For example, if you have a product or service for sale, knock on doors or contact people in other ways to get them to give you money. You need to ask yourself what it is that you need to do to make getting money in your pocket a reality — and then go do it.
Caitlyn Moorhead contributed to the reporting for this article.
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