Grant Cardone Says Your House Is Not A Place To Run A Business. He Calls It A Prison After Making That Mistake In His 30s. 'It Was Stupid'

Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.

Grant Cardone doesn’t think running a business from home is the smart financial move many people believe it is. In a 2019 video, the entrepreneur and real estate investor reflected on his own early years in business and said trying to keep everything small almost held him back.

“You’ve got to leave your house,” Cardone said. “A house is not a place to run a business. You don’t have employees, you don’t have a business. You got a prison.”

Thinking Small Can Cost You

Cardone said that during his 30s, he operated businesses with almost no staff while working from home because he thought it would save money. Looking back, he believes that mindset was completely wrong.

Don't Miss:

“From about 31 till 45, I would run a business, two businesses, two and a half businesses with one and a half or two people,” he said. “It was stupid and I did it out of my house.”

According to Cardone, many entrepreneurs get trapped doing every job themselves. He described it as being “the warden and the jailor and the doctor,” meaning business owners become stuck handling every responsibility instead of building systems and hiring people.

Cardone argued that a real business should multiply both time and money. In his view, staying small to cut expenses usually results in slower growth.

“I’m gonna office out of my home so I can save 500 bucks. I’m gonna do all the work so I can save three grand,” he said, mocking the mindset he once had. “It’s a suicide right here. Financial suicide.”

His comments reflect a much bigger philosophy he often talks about: scaling aggressively instead of focusing only on saving money.

Trending: Demand for Faster Diagnostics Is Surging — NASA- and NIH-Supported Space-Tested System Targets At-Home Lab-Quality Blood Testing

Build Bigger Instead Of Staying Comfortable

Cardone also connected the issue to what he sees as a broader middle-class mentality centered around comfort and protection instead of expansion.

“Most of the middle class of America is operating their little house, their little gate, their little fence, their couple of cars,” he said, arguing that many families build lifestyles that can quickly fall apart when financial pressure hits.

He said business owners should think much bigger than simply creating a job for themselves. To Cardone, the goal is to build something that can continue operating without depending on one person doing everything.

“You need a real business,” he said. “A real business means what? I got time and money invested. I’m multiplying time and money.”

Cardone praised the idea of building an empire, saying people either build something large and scalable or stay trapped in a small endeavour.

The overall message from the video was to stop thinking so small. Cardone believes entrepreneurs often focus too heavily on avoiding expenses when they should be investing in growth, employees and infrastructure.

Cardone's criticism of working from home also reflects a broader debate about how entrepreneurs structure their time and scale productivity. While some founders choose traditional office environments to separate work from home life, others are exploring new digital workspaces designed to reduce distractions and expand capacity.

Platforms like Immersed are part of a growing shift toward virtual offices where professionals can collaborate and work in immersive environments outside of traditional physical constraints.

**Read Next: **

Building Wealth Across More Than Just the Market

Building a resilient portfolio means thinking beyond a single asset or market trend. Economic cycles shift, sectors rise and fall, and no one investment performs well in every environment. That's why many investors look to diversify with platforms that provide access to real estate, fixed-income opportunities, professional financial guidance, precious metals, and even self-directed retirement accounts. By spreading exposure across multiple asset classes, it becomes easier to manage risk, capture steady returns, and create long-term wealth that isn't tied to the fortunes of just one company or industry.

Connect Invest

Connect Invest is a real estate investment platform that allows investors to access short-term, fixed-income opportunities backed by a diversified portfolio of residential and commercial real estate loans. Through its Short Notes structure, investors can choose defined terms (6, 12, or 24 months) and earn monthly interest payments while gaining exposure to real estate as an asset class. For investors focused on diversification, Connect Invest may serve as one component within a broader portfolio that also includes traditional equities, fixed income, and other alternative assets—helping balance exposure across different risk and return profiles.

Mode Mobile

Mode Mobile is changing the way people interact with their phones by letting users earn money from the same apps and activities they already use every day. Instead of platforms keeping all the advertising revenue, Mode Mobile shares a portion back with users who engage with content, play games, and scroll on their devices. Named one of Deloitte's fastest-growing software companies in North America, the company has built a large beta user base and is scaling a model that turns everyday smartphone usage into a potential income stream. For investors, Mode Mobile offers exposure to the expanding mobile advertising and attention economy through a pre-IPO opportunity tied to a new approach to user monetization.

rHealth

rHealth is building a space-tested diagnostics platform designed to bring lab-quality blood testing closer to patients in minutes rather than weeks. Originally validated in collaboration with NASA for use aboard the International Space Station, the technology is now being adapted for at-home and point-of-care settings to address widespread delays in diagnostic access.

Backed by institutions including NASA and the NIH, rHealth is targeting the large global diagnostics market with a multi-test platform and a model built around devices, consumables, and software. With FDA registration in progress, the company is positioning itself as a potential shift toward faster, more decentralized healthcare testing.

Direxion

Direxion specializes in leveraged and inverse ETFs designed to help active traders express short-term market views during periods of volatility and major market events. Rather than long-term investing, these products are built for tactical use—allowing investors to take magnified bullish or bearish positions across indices, sectors, and single stocks. For experienced traders, Direxion offers a way to respond quickly to changing market conditions and act on high-conviction views with greater flexibility.

Immersed

Immersed is a spatial computing company building immersive productivity software that enables users to work across multiple virtual screens inside VR and mixed-reality environments. Its platform is used by remote workers and enterprises to create virtual workspaces that reduce reliance on traditional physical hardware while improving focus and collaboration. The company is also developing its own lightweight VR headset and AI productivity tools, positioning itself in the future-of-work and spatial computing space. Through its pre-IPO offering, Immersed is opening access to early-stage investors looking to diversify beyond traditional assets and gain exposure to emerging technologies shaping how people work.

Arrived

Backed by Jeff Bezos, Arrived Homes makes real estate investing accessible with a low barrier to entry. Investors can buy fractional shares of single-family rentals and vacation homes starting with as little as $100. This allows everyday investors to diversify into real estate, collect rental income, and build long-term wealth without needing to manage properties directly.

Masterworks

Masterworks enables investors to diversify into blue-chip art, an alternative asset class with historically low correlation to stocks and bonds. Through fractional ownership of museum-quality works by artists like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso, investors gain access without the high costs or complexities of owning art outright. With hundreds of offerings and strong historical exits on select works, Masterworks adds a scarce, globally traded asset to portfolios seeking long-term diversification.

Public

Public is a multi-asset investing platform built for long-term investors who want more control, transparency, and innovation in how they grow wealth. Founded in 2019 as the first broker-dealer to offer commission-free, real-time fractional investing, Public now lets users invest in stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and more—all in one place. Its latest feature, Generated Assets, uses AI to turn a single idea into a fully customized, investable index that can be explained and backtested before committing capital. Combined with AI-powered research tools, clear explanations of market moves, and an uncapped 1% match for transferring an existing portfolio, Public positions itself as a modern platform designed to help serious investors make more informed decisions with context.

AdviserMatch

AdviserMatch is a free online tool that helps individuals connect with financial advisors based on their goals, financial situation, and investment needs. Instead of spending hours researching advisors on your own, the platform asks a few quick questions and matches you with professionals who can assist with areas like retirement planning, investment strategy, and overall financial guidance. Consultations are no-obligation, and services vary by advisor, giving investors a chance to explore whether professional advice could help improve their long-term financial plan.

Accredited Debt Relief

Accredited Debt Relief is a debt consolidation company focused on helping consumers reduce and manage unsecured debt through structured programs and personalized solutions. Having supported more than 1 million clients and helped resolve over $3 billion in debt, the company operates within the growing consumer debt relief industry, where demand continues to rise alongside record household debt levels. Its process includes a quick qualification survey, personalized program matching, and ongoing support, with eligible clients potentially reducing monthly payments by 40% or more. With industry recognition, an A+ BBB rating, and multiple customer service awards, Accredited Debt Relief positions itself as a data-driven, client-focused option for individuals seeking a more manageable path toward becoming debt-free.

Finance Advisors

Finance Advisors helps Americans approach retirement with greater clarity by connecting them to vetted, fiduciary financial advisors who specialize in tax-aware retirement planning. Rather than focusing on products or investment performance alone, the platform emphasizes strategies that account for after-tax income, withdrawal sequencing, and long-term tax efficiency—factors that can materially impact retirement outcomes. Free to use, Finance Advisors gives individuals with meaningful savings access to a level of planning sophistication historically reserved for high-net-worth households, helping reduce hidden tax risk and improve long-term financial confidence.

Image: Shutterstock

This article Grant Cardone Says Your House Is Not A Place To Run A Business. He Calls It A Prison After Making That Mistake In His 30s. 'It Was Stupid' originally appeared on Benzinga.com

© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.