Real estate agents, youve been practicing for this moment for years.

Hear me out. Whether you realize it yet or not, your community needs you. They need your unique leadership right now, more than ever. And many agents have been polishing their video and communication skills through marketing efforts for a long time. They have skills and influence that can now be used to unite the neighborhood.

Agents everywhere have an opportunity a responsibility, even to be the adult in the room; to be a beacon of hope, positivity, honesty and optimism for those in their communities who see them as local experts or local leaders. Furthermore, video is the perfect medium to reach a large number of people quickly and inexpensively.

During tough times, people look to their leaders for reassurance and guidance. At a national level, a state level, all the way down to their local neighborhoods. Leadership is necessary during the best of times, and absolutely crucial during tough times.

Many agents have become leaders in their communities, whether they realized it was happening or not. Additionally, weve learned a thing or two about how to reach our community. We just thought we were marketing: growing our brand and attempting to grow our influence and credibility. But really, weve been practicing.

Weve been practicing for a time just like this. A time where people need clarity and leadership. People need a voice of reason. They especially need it smack-dab in the middle of their newsfeed.

This is why I believe Realtors right now have the opportunity, through video, podcasting, social stories etc. to make a major difference in peoples lives. For those who already follow you and find you credible, you have the chance to calm nerves and provide reassurance for a scared, nervous community.

While you are publishing videos aimed at calming nerves, you can also really grow your market share and name recognition locally as many of your competitors play defense and scale back their marketing dollars.

During times of fear and panic, many professionals and business owners scale back their marketing efforts. Even more, they scale back what they spend on marketing. Playing defense does sound reasonable. I completely understand it. Its the natural response when uncertainty rules the day.

However, the majority of agents pushing pause creates an amazing opportunity for anyone willing to step up and spend more on marketing during this time of decreased competition.

Your competitors are literally sitting on the sidelines until things normalize or until they feel comfortable spending money on marketing again. Should you sit next to them and wait it out? Possibly. Thats 100% for you to decide, and it is a very personal thing to consider.

But if youre in a position where you have a few extra dollars that you can allocate to a Facebook ad campaign, or finally hiring an editor to put together some marketing videos for you do it! This is a huge opportunity.

One of the biggest takeaways I got from Grant Cardones 10X book was that in 2008 and 2009 when most entrepreneurs stopped spending money on advertising he doubled his ad spend! He saw that everyone else was clearing a path for him to be seen by more people, for much less money. So he took it.

Fast forward to now, and everyone knows who Grant Cardone is. Hes become a celebrity and a huge influencer in the entrepreneur space. But would he be had he not taken advantage of the Great Recession? According to him, no!

Were in a very unique time where we can make a huge difference for our neighbors, possibly helping to save lives, while also setting the table for massive business growth and brand recognition six months, a year, two years down the road. The hard part is that its intangible. Whether or not it worked is not something we will know until time has passed. We wont know if we did enough until were looking backward.

A year from today, when the economy is likely recovering, we have a coronavirus vaccine and were making our way back as a society, ask yourself this question when reflecting on these unprecedented times that were in:

Did I do enough?

Did you do everything you could to reach your neighbors and be a positive resource to them? But also, did you put as much as you wanted to into marketing and advertising while everything went on sale, and your competitors took a breather?

Time will tell.

Agents, its time we all step up and guide our neighbors through these incredibly trying times. Well all be better off for it, in more ways than one.

Connect with Dustin on LinkedIn.

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Agents, it's time to be the leaders you claim to be - HousingWire

Who Is Grant Cardone?

At the age of 60 in the year 2019, Grant Cardone is famous as an internationally renowned sales trainer and as the bestselling author of The 10X Rule and If Youre Not First, Youre Last. His primary venture, Cardone Training Technologies, providesFortune 500companies,small businesses, andentrepreneurswith an interactive sales training platform.

Additionally, he has gained popularity for single-handedly building a massivereal estateempire that has a present-day portfolio valuation of around $900 million. Hisinvestment vehicle,Cardone Capital, has been involved in more than $800 million in real estate transactions covering around 4,700 units of multi-familypropertiesthroughout many American states. Here is an overview of how Cardone built his multimillion-dollar real estate empire without raising externalcapitalfrom anyone beyond his close family members.

Cardones interest in real estate as an investment option is owing to several key reasons and features the property market offers. They include better stability in property valuations compared to the high volatility observed in the equity market, regular cash flows in the form of monthly rent from tenants, benefits of amortization as rent from tenants pay down the debt and help create long-term wealth, tax benefits available in the form of depreciation, potential for long term appreciation in property value, and availability of leveragewhich allows one to purchase property worth four times the money they actually have.

Based onthe tagline Making big deals available to everyday investors, Cardone's real estate venture raises money from the public by launching public equity funds in which common investors can purchase units/shares. The collected money is used to purchase existing income-generating properties, and the earnings are shared with the investors as regular monthly distributions. Created through real value and tangible assets, Cardone claims to simplify the real estate investment for the average Joe investor.

For instance, the Cardone Equity Fund IV will use the collected capital to invest in purchasing multi-family properties in the states of Florida, Texas and Alabama. The fund manager may also occasionally invest in single-family and commercial properties, and in other real estate-backed investments in other markets within the Continental U.S.

Cardone manages all the properties and takes care of all operational overheads linked to the real estate dealings as well as property maintenance. It allows the common investors the complete freedom from handling such operational issues. They benefit from a steady flow of monthly income, an appreciation in the property value over the long term, and can focus on their regular jobs and businesses. Essentially, Cardone claims to let investors create a passive income stream that guarantees regular cash flows, the scope of value appreciation, and the opportunity to create long-term wealth as a side business/investment.

Unlike the majority of property emperors, who successfully built their sizableportfoliosas a full-time career, Cardones real estate holdings were slowly expanded as a side business. Cardones real estate venture was not intended to be his primary businessor his mainincome source. Instead, it was created in order for him to have a stable holding place to preserve and grow theearningsfrom his sales consulting company.

During a February 2015 interview with theBiggerPockets Podcast, Cardone said, Every time I get money, I go broke again because I shove it into this real estate thing. He went on to elaborate that I take these three companies that will probably be destroyed in my lifetime, that Ive madea ton of moneyoff of, and I take all that money and I park it over here so I am always broke running these three, or I am having to hustle every day to get new money and then I shove it in over here.

Though at the core he considers himself anentrepreneurand not a real estate investor, Cardone believed that real estate provided a wealth-preservation vehicle that his other business ventures could not offer.

Since the age of 15, Cardone had been actively involved in the real estate market and was studying the intricacies of the deals. During his childhood, he and his father regularly visited different pieces of property as a family outing activity, and over time his interest in buying buildings developed. To this day, shopping for real estate is still something he enjoys doing with his wife and children.

In 1981, Cardone graduated from college with an accounting degree. Despite wanting to immediately acquireproperties, he delayed it for a few years. This allowed him to grow the money that he would later use to makeinvestments.Additionally, it allowed him sufficient time to imbibe as much as he could on the subject of real estate.

In an October 2014 episode of hisreal estate show, Cardone revealed that a lot of his education "understanding different terms such asnet operating income (NOI), what apro formais, and what a good market looks like" came not from academic study but from actually "looking at different deals, and meeting agents." In fact, Cardone has never read anything on real estate investing: He replaced the knowledge that can be found in books with the knowledge that can be attained by actually looking at listings in different markets.

At 29, Cardone finally put his years of real estate studying into practice. He bought a single-family property in Houston that initially did well. However, after a few months, the tenants left, and Cardonescash flowdried up. He hated the fact that he had to lessen the focus on his main business in order to find new tenants. Afraid that this situation would recur, Cardone quickly sold the property for abreak-evenprice and swore that he would never purchase single-familyresidential real estateas an investment ever again.

Cardones second acquisition did not take place until five years later, in 1987.During that time, he continued to accumulatecashas well as increase his property investing knowledge. His first multi-family property deal was a 38-unit complex in San Diego. Cardone acquired the property for $1.9 million, making adown paymentof $350,000. Just over a month later, he acquired another complex.

Cardone continued to purchase more complexes at first, one at a time, though the pace later picked up. In 2012, Cardone Capital made what was dubbed as Florida's largest private party acquisition of multifamily real estate. It consisted of a portfolio of 1,016 apartments spread over five apartment communities for a total of $58 million.

His present-day real estate holdings are based in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, and continue to expand across many other regions with new funds being launched regularly.

Though Grant Cardone is famous as a professional sales trainer, he has successfully built a real estateempire from scratch which is now valued in excess of $740 million and comprises of a diversified portfolio of multi-family properties spanning multiple U.S. states. More people are renting now than at any point in the past 50 years and the number of homeowners has remained relatively unchanged. The market is big, and by offering easy investment options to common investors Cardone is capitalizing on the big potential that is available by purchasing multi-family properties. However, investors should note that such investments come with their own set of sector-specific real estate market risks, and property appreciation needs longer holding periods.

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The Multi-Million Real Estate Empire of Grant Cardone

Grant Cardone's 10X Growth Conference has become an annual event

LAS VEGAS (PRWEB) February 26, 2020

Grant Cardone and an array of A-list celebrity speakers just finished presenting to over 12,000 attendees at the Mandalay Bay for the 4th annual 10X Growth Conference. The massive three-day event for business owners and entrepreneurs brought in NBA legend Magic Johnson, comedian Kevin Hart, record executive Scooter Braun, actor John Travolta, UFCs Dana White, boxer Floyd Mayweather, music performers Snoop Dogg, Usher, and Rick Ross, plus an array of sales and marketing experts who shared strategies and tactics on how to build and scale a business.

The conference was held from February 21-23, 2020 with a private mastermind that followed for top entrepreneurs to bounce business ideas off of sales expert Grant Cardone, who created the 10X movement and the popular annual 10X Growth Conference. The entire event is beginning to blur the lines between entertainment and business.

One of my main objectives with this conference was to erase the line between business and entertainment. Whether you consider yourself an artist and youre into music, painting, drawing, writing, theatre, dance, photography, design, modeling, or whether you consider yourself in the world of business with a title in sales, marketing, IT, management, accounting and finance, human resourcesthe 10X Growth Conference will show you how to improve what you do, but also how to merge art into your business and business into your art. Grant Cardone

The 10X Growth Conference was created not just to be the top business conference in the worldbut an entertaining time with multiple parties and performances. This years event included a private party in Grant Cardones private jet air hangar at McCarran airport for the Premier and Diamond level ticket holders plus multiple VIP networking events that were held throughout the entire weekend on the Strip.

Previously in 2019, the 10X Growth Conference was held in Miami at Marlins Park, where 34,000 entrepreneurs gathered in a baseball stadium to hear speakers such as Steve Harvey, John Maxwell, and Daymond John.

Tickets for 10X Growth Conference 2021 are already on sale at an early-bird discount at https://10xgrowthcon.com/gc5/

About Grant Cardone

CEO of Cardone Capital, international speaker, entrepreneur andauthor ofThe 10X Rule& creator of 21 best-selling business programs, Grant Cardone owns & operates seven privately held companies and a $1.5B portfolio of multifamily properties. Named the #1 marketer to watch by Forbes Magazine, Cardone is also the founder of The 10X Movement & The 10X Growth Conference, the worlds largest business & entrepreneur conference.

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Grant Cardone and the 10X Growth Conference Just Blurred the Lines Between Entertainment and Business - PR Web

I told this storyin my book. Roughly six months before I broke the income barrier I needed to pave the path to quitting my full-time job, I was dead broke. A weekend of buying my kid a few fish and going to Chik Fil aput my account in the negative.

Even though my side hustles were bringing in money, I had bills up the you know what. Dont care if its politically incorrect. For me, as a man, it felt horrible to feel like I couldnt take care of my family.

Throughout the process of building my career from having to live with my pregnant partners parents to having$10,000 months on auto-pilot, I always knew one thing for certain:

I wasnt going to spend the rest of my life being broke.

Id die first. Literally, I knew in my heart I would die before giving up.

I didnt want to live out the statistics you often see:

I dont look down on people for not having money. In many ways, their lot in life isnt their fault at all.

Society is set up for you to fail. Without question, the gameisrigged. Sometimes I think people dont think I agree with them on that. I do.

You have toescapethis fate, make no mistake about it.

Lets take a look at some of the signs you have a fighting chance to do so.

Complaining about your current position in life is worthless. Have a spine and do something about it instead. Robert Kiyosaki

Nobodylikesbeing broke.

But in order to do the work it takes to become financially flexible, you have tohatebeing broke.

The only people who hate being broke but dont find their way out are the truly destitute. Middle-class people? They just dont want it bad enough. They dont hate the stress of living paycheck to paycheck enough to do anything about it.

I cant tell you how many times Ive projected out a future where I didnt have money and it scared me on a visceral level. Honestly, I was more afraid of being broke than I was inspired to make money.

Why? Because being broke isstressful.

Id have fights with my partner about money, stress about situations like the story I started the post with, and I just observed people who were struggling to get by and I couldnt fathom living the rest of my life like that.

You almost have to have a sense that being broke is beneath you, even though, of course, theres nothing wrong with being broke.

I remember working as a manager at a video store for $10/hr. Id go get tacos and Taco Johns. The sign on the door said hiring$11/hr. I put in all this work to make less than someone making god damned tacos. Nope. Not me. Not forever.

I used to listen to the book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, on repeat when I had to put on the signs for the featured movies out in the parking lot. Plotting. Patient. One day, I wouldnt be broke.

Now? Im not rich, but Im no longer broke. And it was worth all the work.

Let everyone else be content. You? Get pissed.Use that frustration to your advantageso you dont quit.

Earn with your mind, not your time. Naval Ravikant

Even if you have a job right now (which is the smart thing to do while you build your side hustle), you know that its impossible to have real financial flexibility and wealth with a job alone.

Youre putting your energy into something you can scale, something with leverage, something that can provide income for you without your direct work:

Having a sole source of income will leave you in a perpetual loop of middle class living at best.

See, its not just the risk,yes risk, of having a sole source of income thats the problem, but also thecounterproductive culturemost wage earners ascribe to:

Its a nasty trap.

If you want wealth, flexibility, whatever you call it, you need your money or effort to go to workfor youat some point.

But how do you put in the work required to build these asset vehicles?

Simple.

The thing about wealth pursuits? Theyre slow. Super slow.

Not only that, but you make little to no money in the beginning.

I talk about this all the time on myYouTube channel. I should just rename it exponential growth.

All the great things in life compound:

Warren Buffet didnt become a billionaireuntil he was in his60s. Those last 30 years or so of compounding took him to insane wealth.

Getting compounding to work is psychologically difficult:

I dont have the exact number, but five years is my educated guess.

If you tinkered around with some form of business, freelancing, or investing for five years without quitting, something good will happen.

Youre Humble Enough to be a Student of Life

Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Day by day, and at the end of the day if you live long enough-like most people, you will get out of life what you deserve. Charlie Munger

Ironically, broke people seem to be the most certain of everything. I recently watched an interview with Munger. What stood out most? Every time he wasnt certain or near certain of an answer, he immediately defaulted to saying I dont know.

Wealthy people are often much more intellectually humble than middle-class people. They have coaches, mentors, advisers, teams. They constantly soak in new information and never think they have everything figured out.

Watch this interview withDiddy and Ray Dalio.

Diddy, who has a net worth in the hundreds of millions, asks Dalio, his mentor, advice with a sincere level of humility. Diddy doesnt have to listen to anybody and he could blow money until the day he dies, yet he treats knowledge with a level of respect most content with what they have types cant fathom.

The only thing between most people and more money is knowledge.

Theres no grand conspiracy keeping you broke. Its definitely not the fault of billionaires. If you dont have money, its because you dont understand money. If you dont understand money, then learn how to understand it. Simple.

Just this week Ive started to devour information about:

Im going to eventually move all of this knowledge into my circle of competence.

I dont know much about any of the above, but Ill learn. Just like I learned to make money on the internet with no prior experience and become a professional writer with no writing degree.

How? I read hundreds of books, watched thousands of hours of video, and practiced every day for five years.

Back to the point of time commitment. Spending a decade learning this stuff isnt a problem for me. Why? Because I like to learn and I know that learningcompounds.

If youre willing to learn books, podcasts, courses, YouTube videos you can figure all of this out.

Free education is abundant, all over the Internet. Its thedesire to learnthatsscarce. Naval Ravikant

I dont understand how people who own smartphones with access to YouTube say they have no access to resources. B.S. YouTube is a goldmine most people use it wrong.

At some point, you just have to admit youre being lazy andstop.

In the information age, there are no excuses.

Wake up! No one is going to save you. No one is going to take care of your family or your retirement. And no one is going to make things work out for you. The only way to do so is to utilize every moment of every day at 10X levels. Grant Cardone

If youre good at math, you just know you need a lot of money. Yes, need.

You need millions of dollars to retire on time and successfully. Add in your kids and their financial future, the ability to have amazing experiences like travel, and the time to enjoy your life without needing to work all the time, and youll understand that making money is the only logical option.

Just look around and the way people live. The stress. You need more money than you have right now. More importantly, you need more flexibility and income-earning assets than you have right now.

If youre young like me (30), dont waste any more of your time. I can only imagine what it would feel like to be middle-aged or old with no money saved.

With a modest salary of $50,000 over a full work-life of say, 50 years (2272),you will have made $2,500,000. To make all of that money and end up with little to none of it seems soul-crushingly sad and insane, but it happens. Thinking about it makes me sick.

See, its these people who claim to not care about money who care about it the most. They fuck up the math. They keep up with the Joneses their whole lives and level up their lifestyle as their income increases, piling up debt along the way.

Be smart.

Look at the math it takes to be successful and create a plan. Earn more money and keep your living expenses low. Thats the recipe. Im greedy, but I drive a $2,500 car and live in a $1,300 two-bedroom while people who make less than me drive BMWs and have giant homes.

Ive done the math. Im fine to appear broke for this decade to be wealthy by the next one.

As Marshawn Lynch, who famously spent none of his NFL contract money and lived only off endorsements, said:

Take care of yo chicken.

Let the content people stay blind to financial literacy. Wait them out. Theyll see soon enough.

Stay humble, grind, reinvest in yourself.

Itll all work out.

Ayodeji is the author ofReal Help: An Honest Guide to Self-Improvement. Want a free copy of my first book?Get it here.

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5 signs you're going to make (a lot) more money in the future - Ladders

By: Lifestyle Desk | New Delhi | Updated: December 13, 2019 9:00:41 am

Regardless of how much you want to earn $10,000, $1 million or $1 billion you start by setting a specific goal and crunching the numbers, thats how millionnaire Grant Cardone, American motivational speaker, sales trainer, author and real estate investor who started his career at 25 as a used cars salesman in Louisiana in the US, sees it.

There is a need to change the target and change it daily. It shouldnt be anything less than 10 million dollars. Think big when you change the target. The second point is to save 40 per cent of your income. If you can do this, I guarantee you, you will be rich. You need to get your income not to what it pays your bills but to where you can save, he reveals in an interesting Goalcast video.

ALSO READ | Not just any change but positive, effective change is needed: Miss Universe 2019 Zozibini Tunzi

Cardone, who was named as Forbes 25 Marketing Influencers to Watch in 2017, adds that from a survival standpoint, one needs to be money-motivated. Just stack cash and wait till you can put it in something where it wont be lost. It just goes away for a while. Inflation, over time, five years, seven years, 10 years, it all withstands. Live broke and invest savings, he said.

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Wish to be a millionaire? Grant Cardone tells you how he did it - The Indian Express

Image of female creative graphic designer working on color selection and drawing on graphics tablet ... [+] at workplace.

As the business world continues to evolve year after year, so does the way companies need to market themselves to be most effective in todays competitive marketplace. This is common knowledge for areas of marketing like social media and digital publishing, where the landscape seems to experience momentous shifts every few months as new platforms are launched and algorithms change.

An aspect of marketing that changes less frequently though, and as a result is often overlooked when it comes to finding new strategies, is branding. But it is critical to stay current on how to evolve your companys brand image to reflect the present needs and expectations of consumers.

As your company develops its 2020 marketing strategy, here are four key shifts in branding to be mindful of.

Branding Impacts Customers, Employees And Potential Hires

With a wider variety of companies now available to candidates than ever before from scrappy startups to established industry giants there are a lot of hoops to jump through to attract top-tier talent. On top of that, with higher transparency than ever before, thanks to platforms like Glassdoor, social media channels and various other websites, your company culture is on full display to potential new hires.

As a result, companies need to begin thinking of branding as a way to not only attract customers, but also as a way to entice qualified job seekers to join their teams. If your company appears unprofessional, whether by having poor design or having few followers on Instagram or limited reviews on Yelp you run the risk of missing out on premier candidates. Additionally, if your company appears not to prioritize employee well-being, candidates may doubt the integrity of your organization.

The numbers back up the importance of company culture quite clearly. In fact, a study by Deloitte found that 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct company culture is important to the success of a business. Another study found that companies with strong work cultures saw a significant increase in revenue growth when compared to companies without performance-enhancing cultures. As you approach branding, keep in mind how much of an impact it has on different aspects of a business and your bottom line.

Affordability Isnt Always The Answer

The race to the bottom when it comes to pricing might not be something your company needs to participate in at all especially if you target millennial buyers. Whether its in the form of a superior customer experience or higher quality materials, younger customers are willing to pay more. In fact, according to PwC, 42% of consumers said they would pay more for a friendly, welcoming customer experience and 52% would pay more for a quick, efficient customer experience. On top of that, Nielsen found that nearly 3 out of 4 millennials are willing to spend more for sustainable products.

The meteoric surge in popularity of premium brands like Equinox and Whole Foods both attest to this increased attention to quality.

"The main goal is to create a consistent customer experience across all touchpoints to exceed your standards and your customers expectations. By keeping an eye on the entire customer journey, youre making sure that the promise of a positive experience is kept and that youre offering a superior service.Creating an experience really impresses purchasers and ensures that they will keep doing business with you in the future. A superior experience becomes a valued and unique asset for any type of business,says Shahin Safai, CEO of Royal Personal Training, a fitness startup focusing on personalized coaching and an elite workout experience.

The fitness company has seen success despite being in a highly crowded space peppered with low cost alternatives like Planet Fitness and LA Fitness by offering patrons a premiere customer experience, partnering with luxury hotels and top-tier Instagram influencers like Sommer Ray.

With so many options available on the market today, consumers arent afraid to shell out extra cash if it means theyll get something extra in return or are helping a good cause.

CEOs Building Personal Brands

Consumers today are pummeled with advertisements at nearly every touchpoint humanly possible: while scrolling through Instagram, on the subway during their morning commutes, while listening to their favorite podcasts, while driving along the freeway, when watching TV, and more the list goes on and on. During each of these interactions, consumers are told over and over again how important or life-changing every one of these brands are. As a result of this excessive exposure, consumers are becoming desensitized to the idea of trusting anything a faceless logo on a billboard is telling them.

This overexposure to traditional advertising might be a direct link to the rise in popularity of an alternative form of marketing for companies: the personal branding of CEOs as thought leaders in their respective spaces given how its much easier to trust a human being than a logo. This approach has become much easier with the proliferation of social media and other digital platforms, where ideas can spread like wildfire. With public figures like Gary Vaynerchuk and Grant Cardone helping forge the path as influencer CEOs, one click over to LinkedIn or Instagram will highlight how popular this approach has become for entrepreneurs as a method for generating brand awareness.

By publishing shareable, valuable content, whether thats in the form of blog posts, Instagram Stories, YouTube videos, LinkedIn posts or something else entirely, you just might create unmatched reach and awareness for your business while also positioning yourself as a though leader in your industry.

The Importance Of Giving Back

Omnicom found that 70% of millennials are willing to spend more for brands that support charitable causes relative to those that dont. If the success of companies like TOMS, Warby Parker, Bombas and more have taught us anything, its that modern-day customers care and support mission-driven brands. Oftentimes, it isnt enough for a business to solely provide top-grade products or services you also may need to care about causes larger than your offerings and put your money where your mouth is to support those initiatives.

Take American Eagle for example the company is donating 100% of profits from a collection they designed with a team of teen advisers. Each piece of the collection is designed with an embedded QR code which allows anyone with a smartphone to scan the code and donate to the nonprofit Delivering Good, helping the homeless and underprivileged young people. Not only are they supporting a good cause with the initial sale, but continue to do so with future donations made through the QR code technology.

The good news is that giving back can take a variety of forms, such as donating a portion of your products to charity, allocating a percentage of your profits to related nonprofits, giving out helpful content for free, or allowing your employees to volunteer a certain number of hours.

Like any other aspect or process within your business, your companys brand image should evolve over time to reflect changing market trends, consumer expectations and collective ideals. In the coming year, applying these strategies just might give you the competitive edge youve been looking for in the marketplace.

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4 Branding Strategies Your Company Should Apply In 2020 - Forbes

December 4, 2019 4 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Growth comes in many shapes and sizes. To you, it might mean growing your team by bringing more developers on board, boosting revenue by overhauling your sales process or growing your interpersonal skills via emotional intelligence training.But theres no need to choose between business and personal growth. These four New Years resolutions can help you grow in both directions.

With entrepreneurs like Grant Cardone claiming that you need to work 14-hour days to earn a million dollars, work-life balance can seem like a pipe dream. While overwork might help your business in the short term, it wont benefit you or your company in the long run.Overwork can lead to burnout, health problems and team dysfunction.

One of the best ways to lighten your load and strengthen your company in the process is through delegation. Payroll platform OnPay found that nearly half of small business owners and managers do their own accounting and finance work. Every minute you spend counting beans is one you cant devote to leader-level prioritieslike product innovation, or personal ones, like self-care.

Related: How the Culture of Overwork Is Damaging Your Productivity and Your Health=

Not all growth can be measured in minutes, money or number of heads. Growing a company also means making it a better place to work. Although your companys culture is unique, your cultural goal is not, i.e. ensuring your work environment encourages everyone on the team to thrive, both personally and professionally.

Start with engagement. According to Gallup, seven in 10 American and Canadian employees aren'tengaged at work. Rather than ask your teammates whether theyre engaged-- a question they may not feel comfortable answering honestly -- ask how you can make them feel more excited to come to work. Approaching your culture on the level of individual preferences helps you understand what motivates each person. Not only does that make you a better manager, but it also gives workers a sense of ownership in your company. Rich, inclusive cultures are built around individual contributors, not company leaders.

When an entrepreneur disrupts an industry, its because he or she combined business and industry-specific insights in a new way. Yet just 9 percentof small business owners have a bachelors degree in business, time-tracking tool TSheets reports, and only 3 percenthold a masters or doctoral-level degree.

If youre a techie by trade, dont spend so much time building your software development skills that you fall behind in general ones like sales and marketing. Even if youre a physician who outsources everything your practice needs except a medical expert, you still have a team to manage.

Fortunately, brushing up on your business skills doesnt require formal education. Carve out time at the start or end of every workday to read relevant guides. Ask a member of your team to show you the ropes. If you need the accountability of a class, take a free one online. Join a mastermind group or an executive networking organization in your area to learn from others's experiences and gain new perspectives.

Related: 5 Ways Employee Engagement Makes Your Company More Competitive

Innovation Growth Lab, a global consortium of entrepreneurs, claims that small business owners can increase short-run profits by an average of 20 percentby working with an experienced mentor. By helping you spot and shore up your own "unknown unknowns,"mentorship gives your business a boost.

When choosing a mentor, find someone as different from you as possible. Although it can be uncomfortable, growing your business is a matter of gaining new perspectives. If youre an American male with a background in marketing, what about a woman tech entrepreneur who grew up in a different country? Just as importantly, be a mentor to someone else. Maximize the benefits to your business by taking an employee under your wing. Not only will mentorship grow his or her skills, but a Robert Half study found that99 percentof surveyed CFOs said being a mentor also benefited them.

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Grow Yourself -- and Your Company -- With These 4 New Year's Resolutions - Entrepreneur

*Seven years ago international motivational speaker, William King Hollis, an aspiring NFL player, put a 45 caliber handgun to his temple and considered taking his own life. He had endured a lot of pain and adversity by the age of 23, having lost his mother to a heroin overdose and his father to many years in prison.

Now, however, he sees the world through a completely different set of eyes. Currently possessing his own brand, William Hollis Motivation, he has amassed millions of views on YouTube, traveled the world to places like Milan, Italy and Sydney, Australia, and garnered praise from some of the worlds top speakers and influencers including Les Brown, Gary Vee, Grant Cardone, Ne-Yo, DC Young Fly and late rapper and entrepreneur Nipsey Hussle. On November 7th, he released a one-of-a-kind album, Pain and Purpose.

Hollis is the rose that grew from concrete. A product of the projects in Pontiac, Michigan, he is an undeniable force that people from all over the globe and from all different backgrounds and age groups tune into for the strength to push harder and to overcome self-limiting beliefs.

Im from the slums, Im not even supposed to be here by most peoples accounts, Hollis said. I couldnt read until I was 16 years old and now I am an international motivational speaker making $20,000 a speech. This album is an album everyone needs to listen to. Its not Hip Hop, its not music. Its proven, great mental development. I put my life into this album.

'Pain and Purpose'William "King" Hollis

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Pain and Purpose By William King Hollis is Motivational Magic VIDEO - Eurweb.com

Cardone Capital fund manager and The 10X Rule author Grant Cardone discusses the Democrats proposed millionaire surtax and his tip for the middle class to learn how to scale their money.

The holy grail of every entrepreneur is taking risks in order to make more time and money, according to the CEO of Cardone Capital,Grant Cardone.

Cardone, the author of "The 10X Rule," creator of multiple business programs and an entrepreneur who owns and operates seven privately held companies, told FOX Business Maria Bartiromothat he is concerned that the Democrats multitude of tax proposals would stifle business.

I would move out of the country, he said on Wednesday.

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It wouldnt be the first time Cardone moved -- he said the "socialist influence" in Californiaforced him to relocate his businesses to Miami where he was able to grow his company 50 times because the tax bill was 13 percent cheaper.As a result, Cardone said he was able to create more jobs and increase wages.

I think that people miss the idea of the concept that when I get a savingsI actually, as a business person, want to reinvest, I don't want to just keep the money, he said.

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Despite Floridas reputation for having low taxes, Cardone pointed out aside from adding to jobs and payroll, he also contributes by paying property taxes.

Property taxes on $1.5 billion is about $30 million a year in property taxes, he said.

Cardone was named the No. 1 marketer to watch by Forbes Magazine.

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Entrepreneur says Democrat tax plans may force him to move out of the country - Fox Business

Weekly Pulse: get caught up ont he latest sports news in this week's episode. This week we ask, does Colin Kaepernick really have a shot in the NFL? USA TODAY

It was an ugly scene in Cleveland on Thursday night, when Myles Garrett ripped off Mason Rudolph's helmet and struck his unprotected headwith it.

But experts in head and brain injuries told USA TODAY Sports it could've been far worse.

"The number one thing youd worry about (when) being hit in the head by a football helmet, when you dont have a football helmet on your head, is a skull fracture," saidRobert Cantu,medical director of the Concussion Legacy Foundation."And a skull fracture, and the associated brain trauma, could have killed him or produced a very serious brain injury."

Mason Rudolph, left, reacts after being hitting in the head with his helmet by Myles Garrett.(Photo: Ken Blaze, USA TODAY Sports)

Cantu and others said there were several factors that prevented that from happening Thursday night in the waning seconds of the Cleveland Browns' 21-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, however.

Rudolph, 24, benefitted from both the velocity and location of the blow, they said. Garrett struck the quarterback with the helmet near the top of his head, where the skull is at its thickest, as opposed to near his ear or temple area, where it's thinner. And he was hit with the open side of the helmet, rather than the top.

"It wasnt just bang, completely direct, at a high velocity,"said sports medicine specliast Dennis Cardone, the co-director of NYU Langones Concussion Center."A high velocity direct hit, with a helmet,on him wouldve been tough. That certainly wouldve caused a significant injury."

Cardone added that while death is ceratinly a possible outcome of a severe head impact, "it certainly wouldn't be typical"in a situation like the one that unfolded Thursday night. He believes injuries like skull fractures, concussions, brain bleeding and even neck injuries would be more common in this instance.

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Garrett, for his part, has been suspended without pay for at least the remainder of the season as a result of the incident the longest suspension in NFL history for a single act on the field. He said in a statement Friday that he "lost my cool" and publicly apologized to Rudolph, who missed one start earlier this year with a concussion.

Gerald Grant, a professor of neurosurgery at Stanford University, said it would be possible to model the potential impact of a helmet-to-head collision like the one that occurred Thursday, but it wasn't something that he had ever tested.

He said he watched video of the incident alongside a group of engineers and helmet manufacturers in Youngstown, Ohio where, coincidentally, the NFL officially kicked off its "Helmet Challenge" on Thursday, in an effort to encourage the development of safer equipment.

"Were all talking about how to make a stronger helmet," Grant said, "but the helmet itself, as a projectile, it could be catastrophic."

The averageNFL helmet weighs between 4 and 6 pounds, according to data from the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab. And while it is designed to protect the head when worn, it is no different than any other 4-pound object when removed and swung toward an unprotected head.

And that's what made the incident so scary to watch, the experts agreed.

"As a neurosurgeon, I was really concerned. I was frightened by it," Grant said."Any exposed head with some projectile like that, youre very worried about that. Because you dont know the possible effects that couldve caused."

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

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Could Myles Garrett have killed Mason Rudolph when he struck QB with helmet? - USA TODAY