We’ve all heard the old adage: “it takes money to make money.” For many aspiring entrepreneurs, this single belief is the biggest barrier to getting started. But what if it isn’t true?
This was the premise of the TV show Undercover Billionaire, which put billionaire Grant Cardone to the ultimate test. He was stripped of his name, his assets, and his connections. He was dropped in a new city with nothing but an old vehicle, a cell phone, and a single $100 bill. The challenge: build a business from nothing in just 90 days.
His journey revealed a powerful set of lessons, but the most valuable takeaways weren’t about financial tactics or secret growth hacks. They were about something far more fundamental.
You Don’t Actually Need Money to Start
The most stunning outcome of Cardone’s challenge was his success. In just 90 days, he built a business worth over $5 million dollars.
But the most counter-intuitive and revealing fact was this: he never spent the $100 bill he was given.
This single detail dismantles the most common excuse people have for not pursuing their business ideas—a lack of starting capital. Cardone proved that resourcefulness, strategy, and sheer will are infinitely more valuable than a small amount of cash.
The Hardest Part Isn’t Capital, It’s Belief
Watching his journey, it becomes clear that if money wasn’t the real obstacle, the true challenge had to be something else. The journey from zero to one is not primarily a financial struggle, but an internal one.
The most difficult part of building something from nothing is belief. This includes belief in yourself, belief in what you’re doing, belief that you’re enough, and belief that you’re capable. The confidence required to create something from scratch is immense, yet those same circumstances are what create the most profound doubt.
Belief. Belief is the most difficult part.
Even the Most Successful People Feel Like It’s Impossible
At one of his lowest points in the challenge, a world-famous billionaire spoke to his handheld camera “through tears and heartache.” Despite his immense real-life success, the pressure of starting from absolute zero became overwhelming, leading him to a moment of profound doubt.
In that moment, he voiced the very fear that stops so many others from even trying.
“It’s hard when you got money…it’s impossible when you don’t.”
This admission is incredibly important. It normalizes the feelings of doubt, fear, and struggle that all entrepreneurs face. Feeling like it’s impossible isn’t a sign that you’re going to fail; it’s a universal part of the process, even for those who have already reached the pinnacle of success.
Your Feelings Aren’t a Compass—Your Actions Are
Cardone’s emotional quote about the impossibility of the task was not the end of his story. It was “merely one moment of weakness in his insane 90-day sprint.” His ultimate success proves that while the emotional highs and lows are real, they are not predictive of the outcome.
The final lesson is that you must take action regardless of how you feel. Your feelings of doubt or inspiration are temporary, but your actions create momentum. The author of the original article on Cardone’s journey, Brock Swinson, offers his own daily checklist as a powerful example of what this looks like in practice:
• Publish Medium
• UpWork outreach
• Podcast interview
As Swinson powerfully concludes, the lesson is universal for anyone on a similar path:
If you’re reading this, know it’s normal to feel the highs and lows as you chase the impossible. Those are all just feelings. You’re here to put your purpose to work. You’re here to take action.
What’s Really Holding You Back?
Grant Cardone’s 90-day journey from zero to a multi-million-dollar valuation shows that the greatest battle in entrepreneurship is not an external one for capital, but an internal one against doubt. It’s about maintaining belief and taking relentless action, even when every feeling tells you that it’s impossible.
Cardone proved that $100 was irrelevant. What’s the real barrier you need to overcome today?
