10X Growth Con Review: A Year Late, Not a Buck Short

Last February, I attended the 10X Growth Con in Miami with Ben Clyburn, Director of Operations for Condo-World. This 3 day, action-packed business conference was held at an almost sold-out Marlins Stadium (which made it literally the highest attended business conference in history.) It was an incredible opportunity to learn from world-class business, sports and inspirational leaders that were no more than 600 yards in front of us (definitely worth the upgrade to VIP seats!)

Consumed by trying to figure out how to execute on a seemingly endless list of great ideas we could apply to our business, I failed to take the time to post my notes on LinkedIn following the conference, which was something I had planned on doing. But thankfully, as the Super Bowl kicked off in Miami this past weekend, social media reminded me where I was this time last year and I figured, better late than never to share some awesome advice and wisdom we learned in what was most definitely the most epic conference ever, from a content and engagement strandpoint. Happy to report, we have put several of these strategies into use. Anyone who knows me, knows I could not be more proud of Condo-World, our amazing team, the things we've done, the places we've gone and where we're going. I am blessed and amazed by the opportunity this company, and most importantly, our owner Roy Clyburn has provided us.

Side note, for those not connected to our industry: Condo-World is a vacation rental management business in the Myrtle Beach area, with roots that began 35 years ago in one of the nation's most popular family beach vacation destinations. While there are plenty of great trade conferences that keep us up to date on industry trends and best practices, I wanted Ben and I to attend this one for the sole purpose of having time away from working IN the business, to work ON the business. This time spent zooming out, helped us zoom in, on the things we needed to focus on...something I think every business leader needs to allocate time to on a regular basis to not become victim to a biased perspective of their business, culture and relevancy within the industry.

So here it goes....the un-edited notes I took from each speaker. I think the upcoming 10X Conference in Vegas is sold out - but I would recommend buying the live stream if you don't already have tickets. I did this for 2 years prior to attending live. It's worth it.

GRANT CARDONE

Literally, talk about a show-stopping beginning to a conference. Grant performed a solo skydive out of a helicopter into Marlins Stadium to kick things off. He later explained he prepared and trained for this for over a year - talk about dedication! I first discovered Grant Cardone through listening to his books, Be Obsessed or Be Average and the 10X Rule. I highly recommend both!

Takeaways:

It's more important who knows you than who you know. 

Money follows attention. He showed Google trend reports for searches of his name and then income, which both rose in exact proportions from 2008 to 2018. GC's income in 2008 was $3.3M, in 2018 was $55.3M 

"You get paid in direct proportion to the difficulty of the problems you solve." - Elon Musk

Rules of Attention: 

1) Get Attention 

2) Keep Attention 

3) Multiply Attention 

"Hit the list" - you can't email your customer list TOO many times. "One week they love me, the next week they hate me. Both weeks, I get paid." - GC

People you don't sell will never tell others about your company. 

If they don't know you, they can't flow you 

Best known beats best 

Impossible to overspend on marketing and advertising - more people who know your brand always wins

 JESSE ITZLER 

People buy stories and momentum. What makes you different? 

Use small wins and momentum to move you forward.  

If you don't have a seat at the table...MAKE ONE.

Pressure is a privilege. Speed up the process.

Pressure can burst pipes - but it can also create diamonds.

Lack of experience guarantees your offering will be different 

You can't get better doing the same thing every day. The more experience you have the more you have to offer. 

How you do anything is how you do EVERYTHING. Be organized in all you do - your routines, work ethic, personal presentation - everything matters. YOU are the CEO of your brand.

There are 24 hours in a day. Stop putting things that don't move the needle in the bucket you fill up each day. 

I didn't come this far, to only come this far. Start the process. 

SARA BLAKELY 

Stay in your lane - for me personally? This means marketing, sales and business development. Develop leaders around you to handle the other details that they can specialize in.

When meeting with a client keep this in mind: WIIFT - what's in it for them? 

Never assume your customers know something. Always show, don't tell.

DAYMOND JOHN 

Keys to scaling your brand? Strategic relationships and distribution

Collaboration beats competition every time

Repurpose everything - content, video, photography, social - make these investments in time continue to work for you

JOHN MAXWELL 

Everything worthwhile is uphill, all the way 

1) Be intentional in your personal growth and development 

2) Always be somewhere that others are ahead of you. If you're the most successful person in the room, you're in the wrong room. This is how you grow. Have a learning lunch once a month with someone more successful than you. You have to be continually challenged and out of your comfort zone. 

3) Partnerships - Develop relationships with people that can add value to you and you to them. Put their agenda ahead of your own. Never violate the trust. Add value to them every day.  

BETHANY FRANKEL 

Know what you know, and know what you DON'T know 

You'll keep making the same mistake until you learn the lesson 

Be organized in everything you do - how you do anything is how you do everything 

Base your time decisions on these questions: Is it game changing, inspiring, or does it make a lot of money? 

RYAN DEISS 

Convergence of 3 parts of a business: Sales, Marketing and Support. The act of selling is becoming everyone's job. In our industry, this most certainly includes revenue management and IT.

Convergence of sales and marketing is creating the 10X marketer: the sales person that can market. Different positions on the same team.

10X Marketers: 

They're comfortable with data (amateur level) and are behavioral psychologists. 

They focus on what's in front of them, NOT the future. Don't listen to everything people say is important. Listen to your customers. 

They notice "real people" trends, not just marketing trends 

They spot patterns in unrelated industries 

Words are their craft. Design is secondary. 

They think and talk in story. 

They love their customers. 

They're willing to get their hands dirty 

They want their customers to win 

They have empathy 

10X marketers aren't born, they're made, by investing in their own daily self improvement and growth.

They are fast and agile. 

PETE VARGAS 

Signature talk is your single greatest marketing tool. The best presentations use this story braid: 

Heart --> Head --> Hands --> Heart 

Heart: Connect with their hearts, human connection of your story 

Head: Proprietary process. Your framework to move from ordinary to extraordinary. 

Hands: Call to actions 

Heart: Emotional call to action that circles back to beginning of the presentation 

ELENA CARDONE 

You're either building an empire or destryoying one.

You've been thinking too small for too long - its 100/100, not 50/50 in business or personal relationships

Everyone has different roles - most important thing is to respect the value of each 

It doesn’t always feel good to get to greatness 

Sacrificed time leads to big rewards  

GRANT CARDONE - CLOSING

I'd rather have a good plan insistently executed on than a great plan formulated in the future. 

Non- negotiables: 

1) Get everyone on the same page 

2) Find role models 

3) Insistence on target attainment. Never lower the target. Bring energy up or spend more money to hit it. 

4) Use future events to pull you forward 

5) Daily skills training 

6) Take care of yourself - mind, body, spirit

7) Commit first, figure it out later 

8) What to do when you feel overwhelmed? Add a new problem.

9) Have goals so big your problems pale in comparison 

10) Exchange money and time for connections

Grant's closing requests for conference attendees were these 3 things:

1) Change 

2) Be successful  

3) Come back 

 I have changed. I have become more successful. I won't be returning to 10X this year - but I am now sharing these notes, so hopefully this will help others either decide to go to this conference or other events to learn and be inspired.

Most important thing I've learned in the past 4 years: the time you spend investing in yourself, expanding your knowledge, understanding of your industry, networking, making connections...is invaluable. It allows you to connect the dots in ways others can't.

Take a break from the monotony of the day-to-day work chaos - this never ends. But our opportunity to grow is finite. Whether it means listening to podcasts, keeping up with news and aritcles or attending conferences - we all have ways to expand our knowledge base and become specialists, not generalists, in what we do.

#grantcardone #10xgrowthcon #vacationrentals #condoworld

Best of luck to everyone in 2020 - excited to see where this year leads us!