The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone - Crazy or Brilliant?

[Sadik]

I'm not sure if I can do a good job of quantifying it here, but I'll try (kinda like the fact that I played professional poker for a long time, but it's really tough to explain how I pick up tells from other players)...

Some things I tend to see:

- How much work they've put in before they come to me. If someone wants me to hold their hand starting from the day they decide to try a new endeavor, they probably won't be successful. There are LOTS of resources out there to help you learn the basics of starting and growing a business, investing, real estate or whatever it is you want to do. If you don't have the initiative to learn everything you can on your own before you ask for help, you're probably either too lazy or too undisciplined to make it as an entrepreneur. Those who spend a few months learning absolutely everything they can and only come to me when they hit an insurmountable roadblock are the ones that will often make it.

- The questions they tend to ask. The depth of questions is a big tell in how someone thinks. If someone asks me to lunch and asks a question like, "What's the best tip you have for a new investor?" or "What do you wish you would have known when you started?" I know that this person is unlikely to take much action. If they ask pointed, detailed questions that are actionable and help them overcome issues they're facing, they are much more likely to have the personality where they are willing and able to solve hard problems, and that's an indicator for success.

- How they treat me. If it's all about them, and they are happy to use me for however I can help them, they aren't going to be successful. They'll attempt to use other people as well. If they are more concerned about providing me value than they are about me providing them value, they are more likely to have the mentality of offering value to others, which goes a long way towards entrepreneurial success. It's amazing the number of people who practically beg me to have lunch or coffee with them, and then expect me to drive to where they are or to split the cost of the meal. And no, it's not about the money.

- Their level of empathy. This is a weird one, but I've noticed a tremendous correlation between those who are empathetic (can put themselves in other people's shoes and can understand the thoughts and feelings of others) and those who go on to be successful entrepreneurs. Maybe it's confirmation bias on my part, but in my opinion, this is one of the best predictors of business success.

- Their previous success and dedication. With anything. I like to ask people about their past jobs, hobbies and what they do in their spare time. If someone has had a successful career or has played an instrument for a long time or is a skilled woodworker or has collected stamps for 20 years -- those are traits of someone who has the ability to dedicate themselves to something. Many people just jump from thing to thing and don't have the ability to dedicate themselves to anything. Those are the ones who will do the same with a business or their investments -- they'll abandon ship as soon as a little bit of work is required.

Those are the big things I can quantify. Obviously, there are a lot of things we can glean from people that is harder to quantify -- confidence, intelligence, drive, etc. -- and those things play a huge factor as well.

This is very thoughtfully put and really should be the test before anyone puts their time / money into someone else. Thank you for putting in the time and effort into writing this. It shows that you really do care.

 

[Bekit]

Would Rep this but can’t find the button. I personally agree with Empathy being very important. How can you sell a solution to someone or create a win-win if you can’t put yourself in their shoes?

Wait a minute... there's no rep listed on users, either. @MJ DeMarco did the Rep+ $$$ go away from the site with the new update?

 

[Hyperion]

Honestly, I don't like it...

First off, it's common sense.

If you 10x your actions and the law of averages work in your favor - you'll get more results.

The problem with 10x though, is that I think it can make most people feel anxious and depressed.

Here's why...

When you're starting at the bottom and shooting for the moon - the first couple of weeks following his stuff might feel great!

"Yeah, I'm going to make $1,000,000 this year and buy a lamborghini!"

But after a while - you start noticing that you're not anywhere near your goal...

Suddenly that Lamborghini seems pretty far away and you're not on track to hit your target.

So you start to question yourself and whether you're really cut out for this whole "entrepreneurship thing"

In my opinion, Grant Cardone misses 2 very important aspects: clarity and creating good habits.

In terms of clarity - how can you possibly achieve a 10x goal if you don't know the actions needed to achieve it?

I forgot where I heard this, but someone said that every time you 3x your life - your business and belief system change.

And it makes sense...

If someone makes $3,000 per month suddenly makes $9,000 - they definitely went through some significant changes. Whether that's skillset, mindset, systems, process, whatever - they changed.

Now just imagine someone going from $0 to $10x?

We operate at best looking 3x in front of us.

We need something that's challenging - yet believable.

Because if it seems too far out and hard - it's easy to give into action faking.

Now, in terms of habits, after reading the book atomic habits - I became a big believer in starting small and working your way up.

It makes no sense trying to achieve a big goal if you haven't even covered the basics yet.

You need to take things one step at a time.

Finally, what really "grinds my gears" with Cardone is that his stuff resonates a lot with people who are new to sales and entrepreneurship. A lot of these people take everything he says literally and it can be detrimental to the wrong person.

If his "rah-rah" and "in your face attitude" isn't enough - in his videos, when someone challenges his 10x beliefs, he says things like "that's why you're broke dude!"

So yeah, that's why I tend to stay away from his stuff.

From my experience though, the books that I've gotten the best value out of personal development were:

• The 12 week year
  
  
• The End of procrastination

If anyone reads these 2 books they'll know exactly what to do.

Anyways, that's just my two cents, haha!

Thanks for your insights. I kind of feel the same way about it. When I looked at my goals, and then 10x'd them it was extremely overwhelming and put my into mental paralysis. The idea of 3x or maybe even 2x seems more reasonable/sustainable. I think that if most people were to truly 10x everything in their life, they'd burn out pretty quick and lose all they worked for. I'm all for working my a$$ off, but I've also experienced burn out, and know how defeating it can be.

Thanks for the suggested reads as well.

 

[ProcessPro]

What are some success/not-so-success flags that you tend to notice?

I'm not very good at reading people, so it's always interesting to hear this stuff from folks who are.

How about respectfully asking people what results have they achieved using *insert resource here, e.g. Guru, book, seminar etc*.

There's a resource I'm pretty excited about myself, so much so I want to create a thread to share it with the forum, but I'm putting it to the test first. Only when I get actual results, then I will share it.

 

[Thiago Machado]

Thought about this thread the other day and forgot to post this...

Here's a great article by James Clear on how to keep sustained levels of motivation:

The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Business

This is how to stay motivated, if when your goal takes years.

jamesclear.com

In short, you need something that's not too easy - and not too hard either.

It needs to be just right.

I agree with a lot that was said here. Grant's a good starting point to help you think bigger. In the long-term, I just don't think his style works for me (it does for some people though, so don't be too quick to discredit it.)

 

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[alord]

I found it interesting but neither brilliant or a must read.

 

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[Xeon]

I recently finished listening to The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone audio book. I like his passion and drive, but his advice almost seems reckless to me. He suggests to just take action and worry about the details later. While I agree that taking action is a good thing, it seems like lack of some amount of planning could be a complete detriment. He gives a couple of examples where he took action on a opportunity not knowing what he was doing with the intention of figuring it out along the way. He then proceeds to explain how it all worked out in a way that makes it sound more like luck than skill. It seems like someone with less experience could potentially burn a lot of bridges by making commitments that they can't figure out how to make work and eventually lose credibility, or worse, going bankrupt.

On the other hand, if one were to take the level of action that he is describing, they probably could figure it out along the way. Maybe my thinking is just so far south from what he's describing that I can't wrap my head around it.

What are your guys' thoughts on this? I'd really like to hear from those that have some real successes under their belt (MJ) on whether you think this guys approach is crazy, genius, or somewhere in between.

Grant Cardone lost all credibility the minute he associated himself with Tai Lopez and Fred Lam and many more. It seems he's offering some secret packages for new gurus like Fred to come onto his show, where these new gurus pay $ to him and he talks about them in a credible light on his show that showcases the "strengths" of these unknowns (we have one member here who was in a video with Cardone).

10x? Lol

 

[Bryan James]

I don't know much about Grant Cardone, but I think I remember that his business models involve loads and loads of debt, which isn't necessarily bad, but not ideal either IMO.

 

[Hyperion]

Don't know if the OP's main focus is sales or personal development - but this was a great quote.

I've seen Jordan Belfort's stuff, but I think it's too pushy.

He made most of his money in the 80's - 90's - so his tactics are a bit outdated too.

To me, his stuff just screams "slimy salesman"

The best sales material I've ever stumbled upon was Spin Selling.

It's backed by science and makes sense.

It's much more authentic and empathetic, (I learned this from @Andy Black 's stuff)

You don't need to be super hyped to sell.

Just help people and provide an awesome solution - and the sale usually takes care of itself.

My end goal here was sales, but being successful at that may require a great deal of personal development if one is not a natural in this area. Thanks for your reply and insights.

 

[ShamanKing]

Grant Cardone lost all credibility the minute he associated himself with Tai Lopez and Fred Lam and many more. It seems he's offering some secret packages for new gurus like Fred to come onto his show, where these new gurus pay $ to him and he talks about them in a credible light on his show that showcases the "strengths" of these unknowns (we have one member here who was in a video with Cardone).

10x? Lol

Fred makes me cringe lol

 

[Envious]

I started listening to his audiobook and had to turn it off after an hour.

Doesn't help that the guy is a terrible narrator!

It's a load of motivational fluff with not much depth in my opinion.

We have to take more action, that's pretty much the whole book.

 

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[MHP368]

Brilliant.

If you keep some basic principles in mind like , dont start and run your business on credit cards , just basic responsibility stuff its fine.


Think about the entire range of possible skillsets for an entrepreneur , none of that is book learning , all of its useless until applied. Most of the threads I reply to on this forum is people action faking and overthinking things.

People would get more out of pressfields "do the work" than 50 of these other books thry want to read instead of providing value in exchange for money.

 

[YoungPadawan]

I know people who have been following Cardone for years, and they're in the exact same (or worse) position that they were in when they started following him. I know other people who have been following him for years and have achieved a LOT.

Long story short, I personally believe that all the motivational stuff is pretty much crap. Those who have the intelligence, discipline, drive and resources to succeed are going to succeed regardless of what motivational gurus they listen to or don't listen to. Those who don't have the intelligence, discipline, drive and resources to succeed are not going to succeed, despite what motivational gurus they listen to.

For 10 years, I've talked with literally thousands of people who are looking to start a successful business (many real estate, but many outside of real estate). I've been very good at figuring out -- in the first 10 minutes -- whether someone is going to be successful or not. And what motivational gurus they choose to listen to or not plays no factor in that determination (though I do know people who credit some motivational guru or another for their success).

Listen to him or don't. But, for most people, it's not likely to be a determining factor in their long-term success.

Just my $.02...

What does mostly determine if a person will be successful?

Edit: oops, nevermind. Just read your message further down the page.

 

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[Fastlane Liam]

I've been very good at figuring out -- in the first 10 minutes -- whether someone is going to be successful or not.

What is that? What tells you?

 

[Ramtin]

From my experience though, the books that I've gotten the best value out of personal development were:

• The 12 week year
  
  
• The End of procrastination

If anyone reads these 2 books they'll know exactly what to do.

Anyways, that's just my two cents, haha!

Thanks man! Those were some good two cents! hahah. I agree with your points. Also thanks for the book advice! I was looking for some new titles to listen to during my drives. I will pick these up.

 

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[Fastlane Liam]

See the post I wrote just below that one...

Ah yes sorry, apologies. Didnt read the whole thread

 

[Fassina]

It depends on the scale of what you're trying to do and how big your goals are. If the business you want to open is small and takes little initial investment, you can bootstrap and learn as you go.

If it's something larger with a lot of investment of time and money required you need to be more careful.

But that's not the point of Cardone's stuff, his point is mostly have bigger goals because they'll motivate bigger action and this will make you work harder and take you further. It's mostly motivational stuff.

You can see from his little biography in the book, he was mostly middle class sales trainer for 20 years or so, trying stuff out and trying to grow his sales training business. Until his book was a hit and he exploded. He played the probability game, trying enough times until it worked out.

He's not really a guy you emulate, just a guy to motivate you.

 

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[Adelaide]

I listened to this book a few years ago on Audible. I liked his passion and drive - but that's all I got from it.

I have spend years over-delivering. Yes, it can yield great results - but at what cost?

Much of the time over-delivering is a WASTE of resources.
It's far better to spend time communicating competence and invest the resources elsewhere.

 

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[TheCj]

From my experience though, the books that I've gotten the best value out of personal development were:

• The 12 week year
  
  
• The End of procrastination

If anyone reads these 2 books they'll know exactly what to do.

Thanks for the book suggestion's! Read the 12 week year and the breakdown between are you executing your plan, and then is your plan working has really been great. On my third week using this system Thanks!

 

[Kevin88660]

I started listening to his audiobook and had to turn it off after an hour.

Doesn't help that the guy is a terrible narrator!

It's a load of motivational fluff with not much depth in my opinion.

We have to take more action, that's pretty much the whole book.

Yes. I feel the same issue with Grant. Too much motivation and fluff.

If you want practical advice and strategy go to Dan Lok.

You want specific sales system go to Jordan Belfort.

 

[Raveling]

IMHO, Mostly crazy loudmouth arrogant nonsense. Some decent frames within, but a mostly empty self stroking book.

 

[Raveling]

I agree with your point generally, it's useless if you don't apply it

But from all the guru's, their books and their ideas he's one of the least insightful, and his book has very few useful ideas.

He may be a good guy in person, or after studying everything he's said and done, but IMHO almost every other book I've ever read on success ( dozens at least ) were virtually all better than his.

Take your finite time and money elsewhere for a better ROI.