10X Growth Conference 2019 Recap

Last week, a few of us from Hook Agency traveled to sunny Miami for a 3-day sales and marketing conference put on by Grant Cardone.

If you’re not familiar with Grant Cardone, he’s an over the top, full throttle, sales coach, who has grown his personal wealth through real estate investing, multi-family housing, and sales training. He has an in-your-face, take no prisoners approach, and can be a divisive personality. It feels like people love him, hate him, or love to hate him.

Before going to Miami, I fell in the middle of the three – appreciating the occasional kick in the butt from his Instagram stories, but also having to mute him on Facebook because his retargeting is so heavy – plus he can just be abrasive in general. I have read 2 of his books, and they’re actually really good. If you’re struggling with the idea of sales, and feel like it’s just something “salespeople” do, get yourself a copy of Sell or Be Sold – I recommend the audiobook version, which you can find here.

If you’re wondering what the hype is behind the “10X” phenomenon, wanting to grow on a personal and professional level, or need something to pull yourself out of the pity hole you’ve dug for yourself – read The 10X Rule  – you won’t regret it.

Needless to say, going into 10X Con, I was pretty lukewarm about what I was getting myself into, but the weekend helped me shift my mindset. I allowed myself to buy into the energy and enthusiasm for expanding my goals and taking massive action in order to build a successful future for myself and family.

Here are my key takeaways from the event:

Grant Cardone

Maybe being immersed in Cardone culture shifted my thinking, but I think for the first time since listening/ following him, I finally understood the statement of “Success is My Duty”. It is my duty to be successful, not just to create an amazing life for myself, but also so I can share the benefits with the ones I love and care about. It’s also my duty to create a successful business that benefits a.) our clients and b.) our employees. One of my personal goals this year is to help determine a growth plan for each employee and the more successful our business is, the more opportunities we can create for our employees.

Sales is a contact sport-

The person who makes the most contact and has the most contacts will always be the most successful.

It’s not about you, it’s about who loses when you don’t 10X –

The idea of 10X is taking your goals, intentions, and implementation and multiplying it by 10. When you take massive action you can achieve massive goals. Asking myself who could lose if I’m not all in  (and 10X) was a good shift in perspective for me. This ties back to the “success is my duty” portion. The more people I think of that could benefit from me taking massive actions on my goals is more motivating than thinking about how nice it could be to buy a nicer car/ go on more trips/ grow my net worth.

Best known always beats best-

“If the public doesn’t know you they can’t flow you” (you can’t help them.) Sometimes I think that marketing and sales get a bad rap and people worry about coming across as pushy and insincere. While that can be a valid concern, I think it’s important to determine if your product or service is something you believe it. If you think it’s something that will improve other’s lives, whether it be a hair product, lead generation service, or construction company, if people don’t know about the product or service you provide, you can never help them achieve the result they likely could benefit from.

It’s your job to get in front of them and show them why you can solve a problem they have. If people don’t know about your product or service, that’s your fault and your responsibility, not the customers.

So many people spend way too much time perfecting, retrying,  and doing “market research” before they even start to distribute their product. Most things aren’t perfect, and the longer you take to get yourself out there, the farther and farther behind you’ll fall. Quality-check things, and ensure there are no glaring issues that will affect user experience drastically, but at a certain point, you just have to – Send it!

Jesse Itzler

Co-founder of Marquis Jet, Zico Coconut Water (now owned by Coca-Cola) and the owner of the Atlanta Hawks. I had no idea who Jesse Itlzer was before this, but the guy has quite the back story. More than his crazy success in business, I found him inspiring and appreciated the actionable tips he gave

As an entrepreneur, you have to do things faster-

Waiting for tons of experience takes way too long- get started! (This hit home as a person who constantly battles imposter syndrome)  

If nobody taught you how to do your job, how would you do it? –

He’s married to Sara Blakely (founder of Spanx) who also spoke at the event, and he said that this was something she asks her employees. I love this expression and think it creates a culture of critical and creative thinking.

How you do anything is how you do everything-

What you do, and how you do things on a daily basis matters. Being intentional about the way you do everything in your life is important. From the way you do the dishes, to how you show up for work.

Remember Tomorrow-

If you quit early on something it might feel good in the moment, but you’ll likely wake up tomorrow and be mad at yourself. Don’t do things that your tomorrow self will regret.

John Maxwell 

Everything worthwhile is uphill-

Anything worth doing is going to be hard and a challenge. Don’t be afraid of challenging things, because they are generally the most rewarding.

Put yourself around people who are better than you-

Learn from people, take people you look up to out for lunch and learn from them. This is similar to the idea of you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. If you’re not spending time with people that inspire you to be better, then reconsider the people you put yourself around.

Bethenny Frankel

I know her best from The Real Housewives of New York but was so impressed by her message and sincerity on stage. Her philanthropy is inspiring, as she was the first plane to arrive in Puerto Rico after the hurricane and has started a charity BStrong, to help those in crisis. She talked about the fact that she had no idea about charity work when she started, but taking action and just going was the best thing she could do. There’s not always a direct road map to how to do something, and sometimes you just have to move.

One of the most simple takeaways from the entire conference, but one that was a good reminder was – although things are changing, and technology is ever evolving and changing the game, the principal is simple, if you work harder than everyone, you’ll be more successful than everyone.

Whatever you’re going to do, be the best at it-

There should be no such thing as a job that is below you, and if you are starting your journey that’s an important thing to remember. Even if the job is temporary, be the best at it. If you’re an assistant, be the best assistant. If you’re making coffee, make the best coffee, etc.

Be Organized-

Keeping your life organized allows you to think clearer and have a better idea of the path you are headed on. From the cabinet under your sink to your business plan, the more organized you are the easier it will be to grow.

Don’t assume anyone knows more than you-

Your gut is the best guide for yourself. Learn from others, yes, but don’t assume that just because someone is older or has more experience than you, that they know more about your unique situation. 

Other Key Takeaways

I don’t have great notes from every speaker, plus some I didn’t attend (Tai Lopez- no thanks)  but some of the final thoughts that resonated with me.

Window Shoppers are your best ambassadors-

Just because someone isn’t ready to make a purchase yet, doesn’t mean that they won’t ever. Never discount someone just because they may not be able to afford your product or service at the time. Maybe it’s a purse that they are waiting to treat themselves with, or a service that once their business reaches a certain benchmark, they can justify. If people have a positive experience with you, they will be the best ambassador for your brand, whether they purchase from you or not.

Ideas are a dime a dozen, execution is not-

The same idea from Gary Vaynerchuk’s quote – “Ideas are shit, execution is key.” Ideas are cool, but if there’s no execution, it’s nothing. Put your ideas into action, even if they aren’t perfect – and tweak when necessary.

TL:DR

Success is my Duty

Set goals so huge, your problems pale in comparison

How would you do your job, if nobody told you how to do your job?

Work harder than everyone in order to be more successful than everyone

It’s not about you, as much as who loses when you don’t succeed (10 X)

See you at 10X 2020? 🎉