How To Weather A Financial Downturn Without It Hurting Your Marriage: Elena Cardone
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Release Date: 05/11/2020
Discussing Holiday Expectations and Visiting In-Laws (To Prevent Chaos and Conflict): Episode 423
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
The holidays are supposed to feel relaxing and joyful. But for many couples, they’re anything but. Between travel plans, family visits, and unspoken expectations, this season can quickly become chaotic, exhausting, and full of tension. One partner often ends up feeling like they’re carrying most of the mental and emotional load, while the other doesn’t realize how unbalanced it feels. In this episode, we’re unpacking the real root of holiday stress in relationships: mismatched and unmet expectations. You’ll hear the kinds of conversations you need to have to prevent disconnection and...
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Accidentally Squashing Your Partner’s Excitement (When You’re on Two Different Wavelengths in a Conversation): Episode 422
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Have you ever shared an idea or dream with your spouse, something that genuinely excited you, only to have the energy immediately flattened by practicality or fear? In this episode, we’re unpacking a dynamic that quietly drains energy and connection in many marriages: when one partner is in enthusiastic, imaginative energy and the other instantly shifts into logic and control mode. We’ll explore why this happens, what it reveals emotionally for each partner, and how to respond in a way that keeps the energy between you alive instead of shutting it down. In this episode you’ll hear: The...
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Can One Spouse Change the Marriage For the Better? Episode 421
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
As the holiday season approaches, many couples find themselves hitting a quiet but undeniable breaking point. Something about this stretch of time—from mid-October through the new year—brings things to the surface. Maybe it’s the reflection that comes with the end of a year. Maybe it’s the pressure of finances, family expectations, or feeling like life is flying by. But without the closeness you hoped to feel by now. For many, it’s a season where the question “Can we really keep going like this?” starts to creep in. In this episode, we unpack a question so many couples wrestle...
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The Science of Stress, Anger & Connection—How to Heal the Family System with Dr. Taz Bhatia: Episode 420
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Have you ever thought about how your own stress affects your kids — or how your parents’ stress might still be affecting you? In this powerful conversation with Dr. Taz Bhatia, integrative medicine physician, author, and founder of Hol+, we explore how the health of the parents — especially the mother — sets the tone for the entire family system. Because wellness isn’t just about self-care… it’s about the legacy you’re creating for the next generation. Together, we unpack how patterns of anger, overwhelm, and chronic stress get passed down in families — and how to...
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When the ‘Needing Space’ and ‘Needing Resolution’ Partners Marry Each Other: Episode 419
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
It seems like the “I need more space” and “I need to talk this out now” partners always find each other! This is the basis of the Pursuer/Withdrawer as well as the Anxious/Avoidant partner dynamics in marriage. When this dynamic happens, it always causes more tension, defensiveness, anxiety, and distance than the initial topic of conversation. If this sounds at all like dynamics you and your partner get into, you certainly are not alone! In today’s episode you will hear more detail about what’s really happening for each partner, whether it is the need for space or resolution....
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The 4 D’s That Create Division in a Marriage: Episode 418
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Division isn’t just a problem in the world—it’s creeping into homes, marriages, and families everywhere. When couples start turning against each other instead of standing together, the bond that once felt safe and secure begins to weaken. In this episode, we’re breaking down The 4 D’s That Create Division in a Marriage: Dismissiveness, Defensiveness, Deflecting, and Divorce Threats. These subtle but destructive patterns slowly undermine connection and emotional safety, often without you even realizing it. We’ll clearly define what each of these behaviors looks and sounds like—and...
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The Difference Between Productive and Unproductive Communication: Episode 417
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Many times in marriage, you can start what you think is a simple conversation and have it turn into a miscommunication or even a conflict. It is frustrating when you are trying to simply communicate something and it isn’t received by your partner. In this episode we talk about the difference between productive and unproductive communication and what makes partners good communicators vs poor communicators. You will be surprised by the simple shift you can make and the massive difference it will make in how you each speak and listen to one another. To dive further into the source...
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Do Spouses Need to Validate Every Feeling or Emotional Upset? Episode 416
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
When emotions run high in marriage, one of the most common traps couples fall into is what to do with each other’s feelings. Should you validate them? Should you challenge them? Or should you just offer a quick solution so you can move on? The truth is when emotional validation is missing or misunderstood, small hurts linger, conflicts spiral, and one or both partners can end up feeling dismissed, forced into solutions, or left unresolved. It’s also one of the biggest complaints we hear from spouses…”you’re not validating my feelings!” In this episode, we unpack: Why...
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Hormones, Sleep, Alcohol & Perimenopause: How to Age Gracefully Together with Dr. Amy Shah: Episode 415
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
After our recent intimacy series, there were dozens of follow up questions from you all asking us to dive further into normal hormonal changes as we age and proactive steps you can take to age gracefully AND stay connected through the changes. In this episode, double board-certified physician Dr. Amy Shah (women’s health & nutrition) joins us to bust the “dad bod/mom bod is just aging” myth—and lay out practical, evidence-informed steps couples can use to sleep better, reduce stress, protect libido, and stay united through perimenopause, menopause, and men’s steady...
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Are Spouses Becoming Too Selfish? What a Healthy Marriage Actually Requires That Media Isn’t Telling You: Episode 414
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Are we getting too self-focused in marriage? In this episode, we unpack the cultural messages that push hyper-individualism (“fill your cup first”) and show why great marriages are actually built on mutual care, not solo self-care. We talk about healthy vs. overcorrected boundaries, why prosocial actions (doing good for your partner) boost your own mood, how to shift from short-term impulses to a long-term family vision, and practical ways to “out-love” each other in daily life. What you’ll learn from this episode: The trap of “me first” and how it quietly erodes...
info_outlineThings have absolutely changed in the world and in your life from this pandemic. You probably experience a change in your relationship roles (including taking on additional roles you never thought you would have to) and the amount of time you are in your home and around your partner. Plus, no matter what type of job, career, or business you are in; you probably have felt an impact in your finances!
Of course this has always been a top stressor on marriages, but now it can be glaring at you in the face, having you feel a lot of fear and uncertainty. This can bring up additional tension and pressure in your relationship together causing you to fight against each other.
So get ready to hear from iconic Elena Cardone, as her and her husband Grant are no strangers to challenges, financial downturns, and crashes. What you are going to know from Elena is that marriage is what makes you a better individual and how you can handle financial downturns. You are going to have the ways to stop fighting about ‘small things’ when you envision, create, and defend your vision and empire together (whatever size it might be). Plus the ways to leverage your individual strengths and weaknesses. So you will feel complete trust, support, and confidence to lay the groundwork to fulfilling your dreams together, no matter what challenges arise.
Questions Asked In This Interview:
- You two had started your relationship 3 years before the 2008 crash. So while many people still feel the impact of that time what was your mindset and belief during those times, that positioned you to be here now?
- What can couples do (including believing) to keep from panicking and weather a financial downturn together without letting money hurt their marriage?
- In your book as well as personally in the media, you talk about “guarding your empire”-- what does that look like for couples right now?
- Many of the pressures on marriages come from forced change in relationship roles. What are some of your strategies for balancing parenting, business, and your vision as a couple?
- Have you and Grant been getting any couples time or huddle together during the quarantine to always be on the same page?
- What are ways that couples can come out stronger after this season?
Quotes:
“When you are attacking your partner, you are playing at a very small level and a small game. You need to have goals and visions that are big enough and exciting enough and know who it is you want to be as a couple.”
“It’s not about male or female, it's about your strengths and weaknesses and who does what best within the relationship. Do what you need to do and have 100% trust in your partner”
“Its vital to be able to change and not be fixed on ideas about the way things are supposed to be.”
- Elena Cardone
Other Resources From The Freemans:
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More About The Guests Elena & Grant Cardone:
They are a truly iconic couple that is building an empire. First for their family as they have been married for 15 years and are loving parents to two children (one of which you will even hear join at the end!)
Then second for other families as they are both best-selling authors, host the 10X Growth Conference, one of the largest for thousands of entrepreneurs, and run one of the largest real-estate empires (Cardone Capital) in the world, valued at $800 M. With this they have been able to raise hundreds of millions for charities. As you will hear from Elena, she passionately wants to empower women partners and help make marriage cool again!
Order Elena’s book Build An Empire HERE