The 10x rule ffirs indd I 3/14/11 10: 22: 47 AM ffirs indd II 3/14/11 10: 22: 47 am the 10x rule The Only Difference Between Success and Failure Grant Cardone John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Not First, You’re Last, I realized that although I had habitually 
been taking massive action in my life, I had yet to really think 
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THE 10X RULE
in 10X magnitudes. So I decided to test out my 10X Rule as 
I wrote this book. As I reset my targets to match 10X thinking, 
I realized that one of my goals was to become the name that is 
synonymous with sales training. I wanted to become the person 
who people think of fi rst when they consider sales training, 
sales motivation, strategies—anything to do with selling. This 
was the concept of domination that I had in mind as I wrote 
If You’re Not First, You’re Last. I had my new, considerable goal 
in place—but no clue as to how to accomplish it. I know, how-
ever, that had I stopped and tried to fi gure out “how” to do 
this before I committed to making it my goal, I never would 
have gotten started. I probably would have decided immedi-
ately that it was impossible.
Once I clarifi ed the right-sized target and avoided over-
whelming myself with technicalities and “how” minutiae, I then 
allowed the target to determine which actions would be most 
consistent with its size. It seemed as though a big enough goal 
would automatically move me to the right actions. A little 
trick I used was to ask myself quality questions like “What 
do I have to do to become the name people think of when it 
comes to the topic of sales?” I immediately began writing 
down answers and ideas: (a) Get 6 billion people to know 
who I am. (b) Get a TV show. (c) Get a radio show. (d) Get 
my books into every book store and library. (e) Get on all the 
major talk shows and news shows. (f ) Make If You’re Not First, 
You’re Last a New York Times best-seller. (g) Make a major push 
using social media to have people around the world become 
acquainted with my name. Again, I didn’t know how to do 
any of this at this point—nor did I want to fi gure it out dur-
ing these early steps. I know I would only become derailed by 
the “how tos” and the “cannots,” and I just wanted to focus on 
hitting my target.
As I considered my goal of becoming synonymous with 
selling, I knew I was setting a target big enough to keep me inter-
ested. I was inspired to do anything consistent with the answers 
we developed to our quality questions. Every single action my 
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Getting Started with 10X 
191
company and I took was aimed at getting my name out there. 
We didn’t know anything or have any connections to television. 
I had written two self-published books but didn’t even know 
how to get a book published, much less sold in book stores. At 
this time, I hadn’t done any TV/news or media interviews and 
assumed that sites like Facebook and Twitter were for people 
who didn’t have anything better to do. Yet of all the goals I had 
listed, I fi rmly believed that getting a TV show would have the 
biggest bang. I know that all the actions I took were somehow 
connected and were going to be vital. 
I immediately went to my wife and informed her that I was 
somehow going to get a TV show where I could demonstrate 
my ability to enter any company anywhere and sell anything in 
any economy—and increase that company’s sales. I knew that 
this would help me avoid any potential obscurity among sales 
organizations worldwide. Without reservation, she responded, 
“That would make an incredible TV show! You’d be great—
let’s do it! How can I help?” No questions asked—just full 
support. 
I was extremely excited, but I did everything I could not 
to share my new idea with anyone who might tell me it was 
impossible. I realized this was a big and exciting enough chal-
lenge to get all my resources behind. I also knew it wouldn’t 
take place overnight. 
My fi rst move was to inform my team—and emphasize 
that any project that moved us in the direction of our target 
had to get done. I made it clear that I didn’t want to hear “I 
can’t, we can’t, it’s too hard, it can’t be done.” We started mak-
ing 10X moves by making calls to anyone we knew who could 
put me in touch with someone involved in the media, tele-
vision, and book industries. This was somewhat of a painful 
step. People who work in the book and television industries 
have seen more than their share of failures and have there-
fore come to view projects like this in a fairly pessimistic light. 
They didn’t hesitate to let me know—multiple times—how 
long something like this would take and that I couldn’t set my 
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THE 10X RULE
expectations too high. I was hammered by the average kind 
of thinking ingrained in so many people—the very kind that 
keeps them from accomplishing what they want. I repeatedly 
received comments like “300 shows are pitched for every sin-
gle show that gets picked up,” “The networks aren’t spend-
ing money,” “A sales show is not a topic people care about,” 
“There are over 750,000 books written a year,” “When you 
don’t have a well-known name, getting on TV is very diffi cult,” 
and on and on. 
Although this might be about the time when many people 
consider giving up, I didn’t—and you can’t either. Realize that 
everyone who’s trying to get their “break” is going through 
the same thing. I had to continually disregard the naysayers 
and refocus on my goals. I would look again at what I had 
to do to accomplish that goal and then do it—regardless of 
whether I was scared or comfortable. Remember: Successful 
people embrace fear and discomfort! 
I don’t know if it was because of what we were doing or 
because we kept our focus on what we wanted, but I think it 
had to be a combination of both. I hired my fi rst PR fi rm, 
and even though it was a complete disappointment, I didn’t 
give up, because I knew it was important. When the second 
one didn’t work out, I hired another one. We were undertak-
ing a lot of projects simultaneously; they all took time, energy, 
money, and creativity, and they were all new to us. I had no 
way to gauge whether it was going to work or not. Addition-
ally, I was doing this at a time when the economy was terrible. 
Everyone was contracting. My company—and the economy 
at large—was experiencing the greatest economic reduction 
I’d seen in my lifetime. My clients were reducing employees by 
up to 40 percent. My best competitor cut his staff in half, and 
countless others literally shut their doors. Entire companies 
were collapsing—and even complete industries were at risk. 
Everyone was scared, but I kept one important point in mind: 
that the most successful expand while others get smaller. They 
take risks while others conserve. So rather than cut my staff or 
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cut our expansion, I eliminated my own salary—and took the 
money I normally paid myself and used it to fund 10X. 
Even as I was challenged like never before on every front 
imaginable, I did everything I could just to keep the target in 
focus. It wasn’t easy, and there was no guaranteed outcome, but 
I did everything I could to remind myself that we could make 
it happen. The more committed I became, the more challenges 
I faced. I almost felt as though the universe was just trying to 
see how strong I was and whether I could stick to it. My PR 
fi rms would get me one measly interview in three months, the 
banks were asking for more and more money, and my income 
had been cut off (by me, of course—but it still hurt!). The only 
thing I had going for me was my marriage, a new baby com-
ing into the world, and my fi erce belief in my capacity to per-
sist and work. I was in love with my 10X goal. I knew it wasn’t 
just good for me but that the world needed to know a new way 
of doing things. To me, it wasn’t just an issue of personal suc-
cess; it was about being on a mission to help. The entire world 
was suffering economically. I felt that my goal was substantial 
enough to move the bar in a big way—and not just for me. I felt 
that the risk of expansion was worth more than the money or 
the energy I was expending. The goal has to be more valuable than