This is the 3rd article in a series reviewing Grant Cardone’s 10X Growth Conference. If you’re interested in hearing about my first experience at 10X GrowthCon, check out this article from 2018.
BOOM, BOOM, Clap. BOOM, BOOM, Clap. “WE WILL, WE WILL, ROCK YOU!”
The bass from the multi-million dollar sound system reverberated through our bodies as Queen’s “We Will Rock You” played in Marlins Park. It was partly cloudy in Miami that morning and the mid-70s air temperature was a welcomed break from the sub-zero New England temperatures I had traveled from.
The dome in the baseball park was retracted and all eyes scanned the air as a yellow 10X parachute came into view. Grant Cardone was arriving in style by skydiving into the stadium. Bet you’ve never seen a business conference start like that!
The 10X Growth Conference was officially underway. Having attended my first conference last year, I felt like a seasoned pro coming to this one. I also brought a pretty big crew along with me this time. This year my business partner Peter who writes here at JPCashFlow was in attendance. Many of my e-commerce friends attended as well.
The size of GrowthCon 3 was probably about 20 to 30 thousand people. It’s hard to tell, because not every seat was filled, but that didn’t mean that people hadn’t bought a ticket. Some were arriving late. Cardone joked after arriving that he could see the highway was jammed up from his bird’s eye view while parachuting.
At GrowthCon, you’re pretty much free to come and go as you please. With the marathon of speakers and networking, this is something of a necessity. I would highly recommend arriving early at the event so that you don’t miss anything. There were surprises every morning; performances by Snoop Dog and Lil Jon opened up the other two days of the conference. Arriving early also gives you time to network with the people sitting near you.
The Venue
Marlin’s Park was a pretty cool venue. Once the opening show was done, they closed the retractable dome to shade people from the Miami sun and cut out some of that South Florida humidity.
Food options were pretty much standard concession type offerings and that was similar to the previous event I attended at Mandalay Bay. My only problem with this is that there wasn’t a ton of healthy food options and lines were very long during peak hours. On Day 1, Peter and I left the stadium to try to find something healthy within walking distance. There were only a couple fast food places and they were also swamped. On Day 2, we brought some Atkins meal bars with us and there was no hassle from security about it. On Day 3, I was out of the meal bars and just made sure I beat everyone to the concession line. Timing is everything on that and you could hear the speakers in the stadium hallways, so I didn’t miss anything.
Registration
They changed up how registration worked this year. For an additional $25 you were able to request your access badge be mailed to you ahead of time. Peter and I received our badges about 2 or 3 weeks prior to the event. My friend Ryan also signed up for this, but his pass never showed. Ryan had to go to the stadium the day before the event to get his badge. According to him, the line was very quick and it wasn’t too much of a hassle since he had arrived in Miami two days prior to the start of the conference. I believe they gave him a refund for the Fast Pass service since he did not receive his before coming to Florida. I stayed on top of emailing Cardone customer service, so maybe that’s why Peter and I got ours.
Lodging
Unlike GrowthCon 2, there was no conference specific hotel for GrowthCon 3. That is one aspect I didn’t like this time around. If you read my review about last year in Vegas, the Mandalay Bay and Luxor hotels were a hotspot for 10Xers. This year, attendees were spread out all over Miami and we literally caused traffic jams with the many Uber rides descending on the conference every day.
I am hoping that 10X Growth Conference 4 is held somewhere that allows attendees to walk to the conference. If you want to get notified where 10X Growth Conference 4 is being held, be sure to sign up on our notification list.
As for our lodging in Miami, Peter and I split a beautiful 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment at the Doubletree Grand Hotel Biscayne Bay. The condo style room included a large kitchenette and big living room area. Our balcony had a great view of the bay separating downtown Miami and South Beach. We could see the cruise ships docked at the Port of Miami too, which was cool.
If you’re coming to GrowthCon 4 with a big group of people, I think getting a large space like we did is useful for after-hours networking. The event often runs late and by time we got back to our hotel we were pretty tired. One night, being too exhausted to call an Uber to go out to dinner somewhere, we opted to stay in for a small group mastermind. Peter, my buddy Ryan, and I ordered food and drink up to the apartment while we looked at our respective websites to see how we could implement lessons learned from the Tai Lopez presentation that day.
The event was also held on Super Bowl weekend, so our large apartment served as the perfect venue to have friends over for an impromptu viewing party. My New England Patriots won their 6th ring in case any of you haters forgot!
The Speakers
The 10X Growth Conference includes a great variety of speakers. Both this year and last, I learned so much about business, as well as personal development. Some speakers give you tactical tips that you can implement immediately in your business and some speakers inspire you to have a stronger mindset.
While I have taken away some tactics to help my business, for me it’s all about the mindset. When you leave 10X Growth Conference you are going to feel more pumped and determined than you have ever felt in your entire life. My habits improved after leaving the event. My morning routine changed. During the conference I signed up for Cardone University and have incorporated its modules into the first hour of my day. At some point I’ll write a separate review of that educational training program.
Like last year, there was just too much content to tell you about all the speakers in a single article. Some of my favorites were Jesse Itzler, Sara Blakely, Tai Lopez (I learned the most tactics from him), Steve Harvey (most inspirational), and obviously the Cardone family.
Grant made the event a family affair. He spoke at different times all three days. His wife Elena spoke and she is incredible. I love her insights on dealing with relationships and “building your empire”. One of her often repeated lines is that, “you are always building or destroying your empire”.
Perhaps one of my favorite moments was when Grant and Elena’s little girls spoke.
It’s amazing that sometimes the best insights come from kids blessed with the innocence of youth. One of his daughters made the point that kids have to go to school every day and learn something. She asked the audience, “Why is that not true of parents?” She implored the audience to just “get a little better every day”. It was such a simple message, but I’ve thought about those statements a lot since returning home from the conference.
Her sister told a cute story about failing to climb a rock wall and how she went back the next day to triumphantly conquer it. Most adults fail and give up, creating a pattern of failure that follows them to new endeavors. Building resilience requires us to get up, dust ourselves off, and try again on all our undertakings.
Final Thoughts
If you’re on the fence about coming to one of these events, let me tell you that it was worth every penny for me. My business grew so much in 2018 and I think it was because 10X Growth Conference 2 upgraded my mindset and gave me the strength to do what needed to be done. I think Growth Conference 3 has already started to propel me towards my 2019 goals.
In 2020, assuming that’s when 10X Growth Conference 4 is, I plan to attend for my third time. Peter loved his first GrowthCon and I expect he’ll join me again. If you want to be notified when and where 10X Growth Conference 4 is then click here to sign up on our dedicated notification list. We’ll let you know as soon as the dates and location are released.
If you plan on coming to GrowthCon 4, let me know! We’d love to hear from you. If you have questions about the event that weren’t answered in my review, leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.
5/23/2019 Update: The location and dates for the 2020 10X GrowthCon 4 has been announced! The event will be in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay February 21st to the 23rd. Tickets are available here. Get them quick because this smaller venue will sell out quickly!
3/8/2021 Update: This year’s conference is both in-person and virtual. There is still time grab a virtual seat at GrantCardone.com
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