Updated: March 9th, 2019
Growth Conference 3 took place over the first weekend of February 2019.
It was a 3-day event that had a big influence on the direction of my business and personal life.
Now, I know what you’re thinking…
Everyone thinks business conferences are cheesy sales pitch fests.
But I’ve always resonated with Grant Cardone’s message on a deep level. He is a genuine believer in the potential of human beings.
Plus, the information shared at this year’s Growth Con was authentic and applicable to scaling a multi-million dollar business (online or physical).
In other words, I picked up plenty of valuable insights at Growth Con that I paid over $1000 for.
Best of all, I’m going to share my biggest and best takeaways from the conference with you right here.
Here are my biggest and best takeaways from Growth Con…
Takeaway #1. Jeff Bezos lays in bed and imagines for 2 hours every morning
Speaker: Tai Lopez
Lesson:
Jeff Bezos is one of the richest men in the Universe.
Bezos earns an estimated $11 million per hour.
This means Bezos values his imagination time at roughly $22 million per day.
If imagination is that valuable to one of the richest men alive, you should probably value your imagination time too.
While Bezos is at a point in his business cycle where he can afford to lay in bed and imagine for 2 hours if he wants to, you should spend at least 15 minutes per day brainstorming creative new ways to grow your business empire.
Takeaway #2. Sales is the best form of “OPM” or Other People’s Money
Speaker: Grant Cardone
Lesson:
While there’s nothing wrong with borrowing “good debt,” direct sales is still the best form of Other People’s Money (OPM) available.
This is because you can use direct sales to finance the growth of your company.
Think about it like this:
You sell 1 product that nets you $50. Then you sell 20 more of those same products.
Your customers just financed the growth of your company with $1050 in capital.
So you reinvest that $1050 into buying more products, creating more marketing materials, and ultimately selling more products.
Rinse and repeat.
This is a beautiful cycle.
Direct sales is how you leverage OPM to grow a business from scratch.
This is also called bootstrapping a business.
Takeaway #3. “Welcome to the jungle baby”
Speaker: Tai Lopez
Lesson:
Tai Lopez opened his speech by sharing a brief story and then dropping 5 little words that stuck in my mind ever since…
“Welcome to the jungle baby.”
When Lopez said “welcome to the jungle baby,” there was something about the tone of his voice that I’ll never forget.
He was more or less saying:
If you really want to win at this business thing, you’d better get ready to roll with the laws of the jungle.
Because it’s a real-life jungle out here.
To put it simply, we’re all still living in the Wild Wild West, where the laws of the jungle prevail.
Between Tai Lopez speaking about the jungle-like nature of the business climate today, and the bright and shiny Miami skyline in the background, this was a moment I’ll never forget.
Takeaway #4. Use people’s attention to monetize your freedom
Speaker: Grant Cardone
Lesson:
Grant Cardone is the king of using people’s attention to monetize his freedom.
The man is in his 60’s, and he monetizes people’s attention better than almost anyone else online.
Between social media platforms, community events, organic search engine traffic, or even door-to-door sales – there are a million different 100% free methods for grabbing people’s attention, and converting that attention into revenue.
Takeaway #5. You need an audience
Speaker: Grant Cardone
Lesson:
If you’ve studied any of Grant Cardone’s material, you probably know Cardone emphasizes the need to create your own economy.
The more relationships you build, and the more people you serve, the bigger your audience will be.
Once you have a large audience of your own, you’ll have your own economy too.
This ensures your online business always remains profitable.
Takeaway #6. The top funnel on Clickbank is generating over $100K+ per day
Speaker: Russell Brunson
Lesson:
The vast majority of business people still have no clue what Clickbank is (unless you’re an affiliate).
Yet Clickbank is responsible for more digital product sales than just about any other platform on the internet.
If you like creating or promoting digital products, you might want to check out Clickbank.
Takeaway #7. The 40% rule means when your brain says you’re done, you’re only 40% done
Speaker: Jesse Itzler
Lesson:
Jesse Itzler once lived with now-legendary Navy SEAL David Goggins.
So I have to assume Goggins drilled the 40% rule into Itzler’s brain.
This is a great rule to keep in mind whenever you feel like you’re mentally drained or tired.
Because the reality is you can always push yourself to exert 60% more energy into whatever you’re doing.
Next time your brain tries to trick you, remember the 40% rule:
When your brain says you’re done, you’re only 40% done.
Takeaway #8. To succeed in business, you must aim higher than everyone else
Speaker: Sara Blakely
Lesson:
Sara Blakely was one of my absolute favorite speakers at Growth Con.
She sold fax machines door-to-door for 7 years before becoming a self-made billionaire.
Blakely explained that she succeeded in business because she aimed higher than everyone else.
Since Blakely is a self-made billionaire, and she sets bigger goals than just about everyone else, you have to assume she initially aimed to become a trillionaire.
There’s a big lesson for you to takeaway here.
Takeaway #9. Personal Service Brand (PSB) + Infinitely Scalable Product (ISP) = Freedom
Speaker: Tai Lopez
Lesson:
Tai Lopez is against personal branding.
Rather, he recommends starting a Personal Service Brand (PSB), which means that you provide business owners with some sort of profit-maximizing service.
His basic example of a PSB involves becoming a Website Consultant.
For example, Lopez recommends visiting business owners in your local area, and offering to fix their websites for a few thousand bucks.
This is a pretty smart hustle.
Most importantly, Lopez recommends funneling the profits from your PSB into an Infinitely Scalable Product (ISP), which would be something like an e-commerce company or information product business.
Like the name implies, any product that has infinite scale is considered an ISP.
When you funnel some profits from your PSB into an ISP, you’re pretty much limitless.
Takeaway #10. You always want to control or own the assets, don’t let people take them off you
Speaker: Tai Lopez
Lesson:
During a time when I’ve been receiving multiple acquisition offers to buy out one of my affiliate websites, this was extremely important for me to hear.
Because in the past, I’d always been open to the idea of prematurely selling off assets.
But after hearing this point that Tai Lopez made, I’m now more resistant to selling off assets like profitable websites.
After all, why would you build a cash-flowing online business and then sell it off immediately? This rarely makes sense from a long-term perspective.
If you’re going to sell off assets, it’s usually best to go for a 7 or 8 figure exit.
Takeaway #11. Have a motivation that eats at you every day
Speaker: Grant Cardone
Lesson:
All of the painful problems that eat away at you every day should be leveraged as motivation.
Whether you’re broke, in debt, or dealing with an extremely painful situation in your life, you can and should use your problems as motivation.
This is especially true if you still consider yourself an “underdog.”
If you haven’t made a name for yourself in the business world yet, you actually have a nice little advantage, because you’re probably still hungry to make your mark on the world.
But you won’t be an underdog forever.
People will eventually stop cheering for you.
So make sure to convert your problems into motivation as soon as possible.
This is a limited-time window of opportunity that won’t be available forever.
Takeaway #12. There will be a mass exodus from houses to apartments
Speaker: Grant Cardone
Lesson:
I’ve been interested in real estate lately.
But real estate is a subject I don’t know very well.
I specialize in building “digital real estate” – not physical real estate.
So I made sure to stick around for Grant Cardone’s real estate briefings at Growth Con.
His message was clear:
Baby boomers will eventually have to leave their homes behind, mainly because nature is brutal, and no one on this planet can escape death.
It’s just a matter of time until baby boomers have to leave their homes for good.
Meanwhile, the children of baby boomers will be forced to fight over the leftover houses.
But the tricky thing is that young people generally prefer renting apartments rather than owning homes in the suburbs.
This is why Cardone predicts a mass exodus from houses to apartments in the near future.
Above all else, transferring some profits from your business into stabilized (cash-flow positive) apartments could make for a smart real estate investment going forward.
Takeaway #13. Measure criticism, hate and unsubscriptions as viable metrics for growing your brand
Speaker: Grant Cardone
Lesson:
Grant Cardone measures criticism, hate and unsubscriptions as viable metrics for growing a healthy business.
If you aren’t pissing some people off, you aren’t making a big enough impact yet.
You need to have haters, because having haters probably means you’re effective.
Takeaway #14. Steve Harvey’s name was Googled 4 billion times after his infamous Miss Universe pageant moment
Speaker: Steve Harvey
Lesson:
Steve Harvey experienced one of the most infamous moments in all of television history when he announced the “wrong” Miss Universe (Miss Colombia) rather than the actual Pageant winner Miss Philippines.
People assumed Harvey’s career was finished.
Instead, Harvey’s name was Googled over 4 billion times as a result of the mishap.
He gained many millions of dollars worth of free brand exposure.
All attention is good attention. Good or bad.
Harvey still flies private, hosts TV shows, and is filthy rich.
Takeaway #15. Grant Cardone wrote his best-selling book Sell Or Be Sold in 3 hours on a Sunday afternoon
Speaker: Grant Cardone
Lesson:
You need to speed up your process.
Grant Cardone wrote a best-selling business book in 3 hours on a Sunday afternoon.
If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you severely underestimate what you’re capable of accomplishing in a single business day.
How would your life change if you produced a best-selling book or similar product today?
Don’t wait.
Find out what you’re truly capable of accomplishing.
Takeaway #16. Every problem you have can be solved by getting more attention
Speaker: Grant Cardone
Lesson:
We live in an attention economy.
If people don’t know who you are, you’re going to have a difficult time building trust and scaling a big cash-flowing business.
Grabbing more attention will help you generate more revenue for your business, and essentially solve all of your financial problems.
Takeaway #17. Social media is the new TV
Speaker: Grant Cardone
Lesson:
While this is a common theme that Gary Vaynerchuk often promotes, this time, it was Grant Cardone speaking about how social media is the new TV.
Yes, social media is the new TV.
You now have the opportunity to launch your own TV shows on Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, YouTube, Snapchat and many other social networks. 100% free of charge.
Takeaway #18. Repurpose each piece of information into 5+ different units
Speaker: Grant Cardone
Lesson:
This was a big one for me.
For example, if you have a big archive of prior emails that you’ve sent out, each of those emails can be repurposed into YouTube videos.
Or, if you check out your Twitter account analytics, you can see your most popular tweets, and repurpose your best tweets into Periscope live stream discussions or Instagram stories.
Each asset you create can and should be repurposed, if you want to build businesses with maximum leverage.
Takeaway #20. Most entrepreneurs don’t know how to share information quickly and concisely to prove they’re solving a problem
Speaker: Daymond John
Lesson:
Daymond John spoke about the biggest reason why a lot of entrepreneurs don’t come across as persuasive when they present their business pitches on Shark Tank.
John says most entrepreneurs don’t know how to communicate with investors.
If you’re pitching an investor, you have to keep in mind investors have heard hundreds or thousands of pitches before.
So you have to be quick, concise and solution-oriented when you’re pitching potential investors.
Takeaway #21. Energy and infectiousness always needs to be there
Speaker: Daymond John
Lesson:
Energy and infectiousness are the two intangibles that give entrepreneurs that “magnetic” vibe.
Steve Jobs is the famous example of an entrepreneur who had extreme energy and infectiousness that you could feel.
If you’d like to attract money to your company, you’ll want to maintain freakish levels of energy and infectiousness.
Takeaway #22. The internet is dangerous for new business owners
Speaker: Daymond John
Lesson:
This is something you may have noticed over the last few years, especially with the rise of personal branding and easy access to status symbols
Anyone can rent a lambo or live out of multiple AirBnBs in different countries (like me).
The internet is becoming downright dangerous for new business owners.
Nowadays, you have to carefully filter who you get your information from.
Takeaway #23. Sales, marketing and customer service are converging
Speaker: Ryan Deiss
Lesson:
Ryan Deiss, the founder of Digital Marketer, gave an incredibly helpful presentation about the convergence of sales, marketing and customer service.
Everyone in your organization is now a salesperson, marketer and customer service representative.
Deiss was also big on the importance of having empathy for customers.
He explained how many of the best marketers have backgrounds in service-based industries like restaurants and hospitality, because service-based roles typically force people to have empathy.
I spent multiple years working in restaurants and hotels, and I definitely agree with Deiss here.
Takeaway #24. Wake up somewhere you feel excited
Speaker: John Maxwell
Lesson:
I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d like John Maxwell or not.
I guess I assumed Maxwell would have a bunch of generic “thought leader” advice like a TEDx guru.
This was a very wrong assumption on my part.
Maxwell’s advice was actually incredibly useful.
Side note: Maxwell is now in his 70’s, and he worked the crowd better than every other speaker except for Tai Lopez.
“Wake up somewhere you feel excited” was Maxwell’s best bit of advice, because I believe it’s the piece of advice that’s most useful for rapidly changing your life.
Changing your environment is one of the quickest and most impactful decisions you can make.
Maybe Maxwell’s advice resonated with me so much because I was already excited to wake up in Miami every morning while I was in town for Growth Con.
Either way, you absolutely need to wake up wherever you feel most excited every day.
Waking up somewhere exciting will motivate you to get up early, dress sharp and produce big revenue for your company.
Takeaway #25. “How far can I go?” is the #1 question you need to ask yourself
Speaker: John Maxwell
Lesson:
Another great bit of advice from John Maxwell revolved around asking yourself the simple question:
“How far can I go?”
At first, this might sound like one of those lame cliche questions.
But if you actually spend a few minutes thinking about this question, it just might change the course of your life.
How far can you go?
Spend some time thinking about your answer to this question. Write it down. Send me an email at stef@onlineheaven.com if you’re interested in sharing your answer with me.
Takeaway #26. Trust is the most important asset a leader has
Speaker: John Maxwell
Lesson:
While this is self-explanatory, it’s an important bit of information to always keep in the back of your mind.
Because once broken, trust is almost impossible to be regained.
This is why trust is the #1 most important asset a leader has.
Never sacrifice your trust for anything.
Takeaway #27. Work with people who are hungry, resentful and ready to make their hit
Speaker: Bethany Frankel
Lesson:
Bethany Frankel achieved big success with her Skinnygirl product lineup largely because she partnered with the right person who helped bring her idea to fruition.
She found a guy who was hungry, resentful and ready to make his hit on the world.
This turned out to be a winning move on her end.
You need to work with people who are hungry, resentful and ready to make their mark on the world.
Takeaway #28. A “gut feeling” will lead you to your biggest business breakthrough
Speaker: Bethany Frankel
Lesson:
Bethany Frankel launched her Skinnygirl brand based off a gut feeling.
She immediately knew her Skinnygirl brand was going to be her “ace in the hole” because of the sensation she felt in her gut.
Do you follow or ignore your gut instincts?
Make sure to choose wisely.
Takeaway #29. The biggest mistake an entrepreneur can make is thinking too small
Speaker: Elena Cardone
Lesson:
Elena Cardone delivered what I considered to be the very best speech at Growth Con.
She spoke about how Grant and herself only changed their lives after thinking in terms of achieving enormous “planetary success” rather than a little bit of success.
After listening to Elena and Grant speak all weekend, I noticed they think bigger than anyone else I’ve met, and they follow up with more action than 99% of people on this planet.
You need big think and big action to make a massive impact on this planet.
Takeaway #30. You need to monetize today, and you need to monetize this month
Speaker: Grant Cardone
Lesson:
I genuinely believe this planet would not be the same without Grant Cardone.
Cardone gives people the “permission” they feel they need in order to sell millions of dollars worth of products and services, while helping other people in the process.
You need to monetize today.
You need to monetize this month.
You need to monetize all the time.
Monetization is your path to freedom.
In summary
Overall, I had the time of my life at Growth Conference 3 in Miami.
Even though people love to make fun of business conferences, I’ll continue to attend the great conferences (like Growth Con) in the future.
The truth is most entrepreneurs are secretly dying for a reason to come together and connect with people in real life.
Especially if you run an online business.
Hell, I might even host a conference of my own in the future.
Overall, there’s something special that happens when ambitious entrepreneurs come together to learn and share valuable insights with one another in an incredible city.
I’d like to give a big shout out to Grant Cardone, who is a true believer in the potential of the human spirit.
Without him, I doubt there would be anything like Growth Conference out there today.
He built the perfect platform for unlimited sharing of knowledge and explosive business growth.
Long live the Cardone’s and Growth Conference.
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