Clickbait to Jailbait — When 10X Goes Too Far
While I am a huge proponent of taking lots of action and doing whatever it takes, there is a point where it is too far. As the founder of The 10X Movement and author of The 10X Rule and Be Obsessed or Be Average I have built a worldwide audience of die-hard, obsessed, extraordinary, and over the top action takers committed to success.
I am sharing this with you because there is a point where a person can go too far with 10X and you need to know that it exists and there is a penalty when you go too far.
A real estate agent in California was somehow convinced to attack others in his space with followings in order to try to bring attention to himself. He trolled celebrities with big followings like Dave Ramsey, Kevin O’Leary, and myself in an attempt to bring attention to his brand and name.
The headlines and content were almost always negative and demeaning about the person he was attacking. This is called click-baiting and while you may grow your followers you have to have yourself, what is the point? Is it simply to have views on Youtube?
And when that didn’t get him the results he wanted, Kevin Pathrath took it so far that the State of Florida convicted him of committing two misdemeanor crimes; disorderly conduct and trespassing. Before you say, “no big deal” it is a big deal. When you are a licensed real estate agent with a wife and kids depending on you and you make your living selling real estate, committing crimes to get a prospects attention is a problem.
Getting attention to simply get attention for your YouTube channel is stupid.
Look I am all far “over the top”, hell, I am the one who straddled the jet engines of my plane for the cover of Be Obsessed or Be Average.
I will go as far as I can but I won’t break the law!
In 35 years of being in business, I have NEVER taken it so far that I could potentially be arrested. I have spent 35 years of building a brand without every trying to tear others down.
Building a great brand is never accomplished by trying to tear others down, ridicule others, use others, or force yourself on others. You simply can’t build your brand by trying to tear someone else’s down. When you try to get attention by hurting someone else you will hurt yourself. I have seen a number of people attempt to do this on social media unsuccessfully.
You simply can’t build your brand up by trying to tear someone else’s down.
Being great doesn’t require you to be stupid
Because of my message and delivery, I have crazies coming to my office on an almost daily basis. Grant said, “do whatever it takes!” Yeah, but Grant, also said, keep a full pipeline so you never have to depend on one of anything for your success.
Take, for example, Meet Kevin, aka Kevin Paffrath, now convicted Kevin Paffrath of two misdemeanors for trespassing and disorderly conduct who terrorized 125 of my employees by forcing himself into my offices last December. If that wasn’t enough he then went on to claim I was suing him for these crimes when in truth it was the State of Florida, not me.
Kevin Paffrath, real estate agent in California thought it so important to build his youtube following he left his wife and two kids in California and used his family’s money to fly from Los Angeles to Miami for two days before Christmas 2018, gathered a group of young adults and forced himself onto private properties at my offices in Miami.
Even after being asked to leave repeatedly by security, real estate agent Kevin Paffrath, who is trusted to show homes, wildly forced himself through Cardone Headquarters flailing his arms demanding to see Grant Cardone until he was restrained by security again and cuffed.
He was later arrested and charged by the State of Florida for Disorderly Conduct and Trespassing, as shown below:
Soon after, he was removed from the property, Kevin posted a video on YouTube claiming Grant Cardone was suing him, which was a LIE. To make matters worse he later announced on Instagram he won a lawsuit against me, also false.
The real story behind this Instagram post and all this dumbness is when Kevin Paffrath, who should be showing homes to take care of his family, will be wearing orange picking up trash on the side of the highway. So stupid!
Moral of the story, there are no shortcuts to building your own brand. Never get so obsessed the success of another you lose sight that the goal is to create your own success. Also never try to build yourself up by taking others down. Pranks, gimmicks, and short cuts are never going to work long term.
There are no shortcuts when building your own brand.
And getting attention should never involve the possibility of a criminal record or restraining order. The best sure-fire way to get attention for yourself and your brand is success.
Successful people don’t focus or obsess on the actions of others, they create success for themselves. I didn’t force my way into the lives of the people you see me working with at our conferences and in my offices in Miami; Shark Tank’s Daymond John, TV star Steve Harvey, leadership guru John Maxwell, Snoop Dog, Lil John, billionaire Sara Blakely, Cleveland coach Hugh Jackson, NFL Safety Ricardo Allen, Miami linebacker Sylvestor Williams, rapper and author Jesse Itzler, UFC fighter Uriah Faber, Mike Taylor professional skateboarder or celebrities and business successes you see me hanging with.
3 simple things to remember when growing your brand:
#1 Never try to grow your brand by tearing someone else’s down.
Stupid trying to make others wrong. Making me wrong doesn’t make you right.
#2 Click Bait, Not Jail Bait
Using Clickbait titles is great but don’t go to jail.
#3 Act Like a Professional Never Take Shortcuts
If you have to force your way into any person’s life you simply don’t have enough in your pipeline. Never depend on one target for anything and learn how to be a professional, not a crook. Crooks take shortcuts professionals never do. Learn how to prospect, sell and close and you won’t have to force your way into people’s lives.
If Kevin Paffrath would have invested in Cardone University rather than stunts and click-baiting he wouldn’t have gotten himself in trouble with the State of Florida.
Get attention the right way — -Click HERE to see what has made real millionaires.
— Grant
Grant Cardone is the author of eight business books, thirteen business programs, and is the CEO of seven privately held companies. Forbes calls him one of the top social media business influencers in the world. Cardone founded and manages a real estate investment firm, Cardone Capital, with $1.2Billion assets under management. He also travels the world consulting Fortune 500 companies, small business owners, startups and governments on business expansion.
One of his enterprises recently hosted The 10X Growth Conference at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida with over 34,000 business people and entrepreneurs in attendance from over fifty countries. Mr. Cardone resides in Miami with his wife, Elena Cardone and their two children, Sabrina and Scarlett.
