IAM1400 – Founder Creates Business Relationship through Content-Based Networking

In this special episode, Gresh is going to talk about connections and how this podcast has helped numerous entrepreneurs and business owners improve their visibility and build connections.

Gresh is the host of this podcast and the CEO of Blue16 Media and CBNation.

• CEO Story: Gresh is focused on helping CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners to succeed. Visibility + Resources + Connections = Success. Leveraging resources through connections built by relationships.
• Business Service: Digital Marketing, digital content, people/business connection, building a community.
• Secret Sauce: Content. Community connections. Help clients build the media that they have as the means to connect.
• CEO Hack: Producing and creating consistent content that builds relationships and connections with others. Event mention: 1 million cups – engage and connect with entrepreneurs.
• CEO Nugget: App mention: Google Home – Routine setup. Sometimes your journey is not perfect, but you need to let go of the past, in order to go forth.
• CEO Defined: Point guard role, player-coach role – having the knowledge of what’s going on, putting the right people in the right place.

Website: cbnation. co, iamceo.co

LinkedIn: @greshamh

Facebook: @iamgresh

Episode mentioned – https://iamceo.co/2020/05/04/iam630-founder-shows-people-how-to-create-business-relationships/

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Transcription

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00:24 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share precisely the information you're searching for. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

00:51 – Gresham Harkless Jr.

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. And this is episode number 1400 of the I AM CEO podcast. It's hard to believe that I went to do 1400 episodes of this podcast. If you add up that with the CEO Chat podcast, you're looking at about 1500 podcasts or so, which is definitely, you know, no small feat. And a lot of moving parts just to kind of do the math. There's 365 days in a year you take that divided by 1500.

I've been doing this for about four years, which is kind of insane even before that, doing the interviews and the podcast and the blogs and lots and lots of content. But I. When you start to count the numbers, then you start to see how many, hopefully, connections, impact, and opportunities I've had. But as with most episodes, this is a special episode. So this would just be me that you're listening to. I wanted to talk a little bit more about some of the things that we're working on, some of the things that we're doing, some of the things that are in the works, and some things that are a little bit more permanent. But as with everything, if you don't know me, I just want to introduce you to me.

My name's Gresham Harkley's junior. You can call me Gresh. And really focused on helping CEO entrepreneurs and business owners, aka enterprising individuals, to succeed. Our focus overall at CB Nation is that visibility plus resources times connections equals success. That's the equation that has kind of evolved over the years. And that's really where we try to hit each of those pillars with every piece of content if not more than one. And the Imco podcast is actually a combination of all the above in a laser-focused interview, 16 minutes of audio. We repurposed it via video to be a longer-form podcast. But the goal of every piece of content is really hitting that visibility or opportunity to hear about somebody's background, their story, what they do, what makes them unique, or also getting the opportunity to learn about resources. And we're kind of broad in how we define resources.

Resources could be hacks, like the apps, the books, and the habits that people are using and leveraging. I also think resources are those communities, those connections. It's just when we really drill down and think about resources, it could be numerous things that kind of help you to be more resourceful, to help you to impact, and to hit whatever goal there might be. Often it could be looked at as time, or money. Those are usually the biggest resources that we think about. But I also think that there's a spirit of being resourceful. Sometimes you hear the quotation or the spirit of we don't need more resources, we need more resourcefulness. And I think that in and of itself is also a resource.

And being able to kind of understand the things that you already have in place and maybe look at them differently. But this episode is going to focus more on that connection piece I'm going to touch on each of the things that you would find out during every episode, but one of the things that we're really drilling down is that connection piece. And what I really wanted to do is call back to an episode that you should definitely check out. Episode number 630 with James Carberry of Sweet Fish Media. We talked a lot about content-based networking. Content-based networking, again, is the idea, and he has a book, talked about it on his podcast, and has lots of information. I loved it just because I created and had the opportunity to do a lot of content.

So I wanted to take that and work on building some connections with the community. So won't go as much in-depth about everything that we're building. But definitely stay tuned. As of the publishing of this episode, I'm actually in the midst of moving myself physically from not too far down, but still, any move is a move nevertheless. So getting used to new routines. Recently got engaged. So many moving parts are happening in my life and just a little bit of change that's happening. But in the midst of this, really wanted to work on how can we really fulfill and how we serve our clients and really look at the connection in a little bit more of a unique way that's in alignment with who we are.

We create a lot of content. I also have a digital marketing company called Blue 16 Media, and it's right in alignment with what we talked about, which is building your own media company. You build your own media company so you can connect, impact, and provide value to your target market. That's essentially what we're trying to do. So what we try to do is kind of meld a lot of these things together. The idea of content-based networking, the idea of content and content being digital content, like blogs, podcasts, and videos, and how do you mold all those things together to really create an opportunity for people to connect? So what we basically want to do is think about all the different podcasts where I mentioned, like the 1400 I AM CEO podcast, the 100 plus other CEO chat podcasts, the roundup features, the profiles, the guest posts, the email interviews, all that.

How do we start to build a stronger and deeper connection with the people who have been in the community? Being very aware that we might not be in the same kind of physical geography some of us might be, but also kind of understanding that there are other things that people do to kind of look, to try to connect. So physical, um, geography is definitely one of them. If you are physical, you know, connected to somebody, it could be industry, you know, focused stage of your business. It could be demographics, whether we're talking about sex, race, age, or so many ways there are for people to kind of build a stronger connection with people that are within that community.

So with that being said, we're hoping to really tap into that with this community that we're building. So stay tuned for more information. And I really believe that is ultimately like the secret sauce. I'll talk about a hack in a little bit, but one of the things that people should really lean into is the thing that they feel is like the superpower that sets them apart and makes them unique. Ours being content. When I presented fairly recently about this new project, one of the things that came up was what kind of sets you apart, what makes you unique?

And I think the secret sauce for us has always been, how do we meld that content with that relationship? Because I think as James talked about in the episode and in his book, all the content that he's put out is so important that today we have a more creative and innovative way, I think, to connect with each other. So while we had the opportunity to pass a business card, you had the opportunity to provide a book and ways to go from there. I think what we're starting to see is that we're all creative in some form, shape, or fashion. The whole spirit of Blue 16 Media and helping you to build your media company is essential so that you can take the media that you have and use it as a way to connect.

So whether that be a podcast, whether that be getting guest posters on your blog, or having guests on your podcast, or potentially doing a vlog and having a YouTube channel that's going live once a week or once a month or whatever it might be, this is a very unique, and I think, creative time to really use networking to go to another level. So I was really excited about the book and everything that he's talked about and kind of touched on during the podcast. What we're trying to do is build a community with that same spirit because we're very content and we're hoping to provide those community connections and have opportunities to collaborate.

So with that being said, that's kind of like our secret sauce with SCB Nation that sets us apart it and makes this unique. And now I want to go a lot more into the lightning round, as I like to call it, the pay it forward section of the hacks nuggets and the definition of being a CEO. So with that being said, the CEO hack that I really think that you should check out is something I have talked about a few different times, which is 1 million cups. 1 million cups is a way that you can kind of kick around business ideas you can hear from other prospective people.

As of this recording, a few weeks before, a week or two before, I had actually presented this idea, and I got a lot of great insight, and feedback, things that I hadn't thought about. It's my third time presenting at 1 Million Cups, and largely because of that, I was able to really go in with the awareness of just getting and asking questions, getting as much information as possible, not necessarily trying to speak as much as I would like, even if somebody had some ideas, rather than to push back and to take up the time or it's not necessarily like shark tank in the sense that you have to defend your idea.

The idea is really to just get that person's insight, into their information, and then potentially follow up with them. So that was one of the, you know, the exciting things about going through this the third time, I'm so much better, as with most things as you do it over and over again. But I thought that was one of the really great kinds of, you know, things that you can kind of lean on just to be, you know, more effective and efficient and really, you know, build that opportunity to learn from the perspectives and the ideas that other people have.

But I'd be naive, I guess, or I wouldn't be doing you justice if I didn't mention the power of content as probably one of the bigger hacks that I have as well, too. We asked in the community that we're building to just the basic ways that people are using content to be able to connect with CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners, to connect with like-minded people, to collaborate, to do all those things.

And content is a really big part of that. You can use blogs, you can use podcasts, vlogs, you can go live on social media, can just tag somebody in a post and have them respond back and have a back and forth all as a way to build relationships and connections in kind of a unique and innovative way. So pretty excited about that. And just the way by which I think that that is evolving and it's something that hasn't been scratched as of yet.

It's so we've been so much in the mindset of just producing and creating content. And of course, as we do SEO, that's a big part of being able to kind of rank well, is being able to kind of create consistent, value-based content that can actually be found when people are searching. But that's not the only reason to create content. It's not to just have something that's published, but it's to actually have that opportunity to build those relationships and connections with others. So that's why I really loved everything that I wanted to talk about in this episode.

And I think it's one of the hacks that are so underutilized because I've gotten referrals for my digital marketing company, gotten direct clients, largely because I've had them on my show, on the podcast, or been referred to them, and I've built strong relationships as a result of that. So something that's definitely exciting, and I think it's an underutilized second hack that I wanted to give you. And then I want to really go into what I call the CEO nugget. CEO Nugget is a little bit more word of wisdom, a piece of advice, something that if you were to highlight into a time machine, you would tell your younger business self.

And this is something that I have playing, actually on my Google Home every single night. So I always do. I have basically routines set up where I will say blank Google and I'll just say blank so it doesn't go off behind me, good morning or good night. And the reason that I like to do that is because it gives me regular programming, for lack of a better term, things that I'm going to hear on a regular basis. So it's Bible verses, it's things that I want to have focus for me this year.

But one of the things that I really, really wanted to hammer home is this. Remember and respect the evolutionary process and the journey that we're all going through. I understand that it's not always sunshine and rainbows. It's rarely, if ever, perfect. You're going to fall. You're going to fall from the jungle gym, you're probably going to fall on your face. You might even, you know, hurt your knee. But in order to go forward, you have to let go. You have to feel that fear, that unknowingness of what's going to happen if you have to swing to the next rung.

So that's something without a question I would tell my younger business self. And really getting back to the essence of the podcast, which is understanding, like what being a CEO means, I always look at it in so many different ways and perspectives. I'm a big sportsperson. So often, I always go back to the analogy I used to. If you talk to me long enough, I'll tell you that I used to play basketball. That was my sport of choice. The reason that I like the point guard analogy is that often the traditional sense, the point guard, the quarterback, a lot of times you hear player-coach, is a person that is kind of like the floor general.

A person that's in charge of all the moving parts, is not necessarily doing all of the things. And as you start to grow, as the team starts to grow, you want to have the ability and the knowledge to know that, okay, if I'm hiring this person, they can do x, y, and z, but you also have to allow people to flourish, to motivate them, to check on them, to understand that every person is not going to require the same kind of maybe help support, service, nourishment, whatever it might be. You have to kind of approach it in a union unique way.

So as we're bringing on more people on the team, we're leaning on more technologies, assistance, and things like that. It's important for me to kind of step more into that point guard role, that player-coach, the person that does have the knowledge of things that are going on, but it's still not trying to do everything but put the people in the right place so that they may, you know, succeed. And by them succeeding, you get to just succeed as well, too. So trying to find a win-win rather than a win-lose or a lose-win is so important.

So that's my, you know, perspective on being a CEO is being like that point guard or that quarterback, or that player-coach and having an understanding of what's going on, but at the same time, hopefully being able to kind of be that floor general. So with that being said, this is Gresh signing out episode number 1400. Super excited about all the things that we have on the horizon. Again, you know, please, you know, connect with us CBNation Co. Newsletter. You can go to CBNation Co.

You can go to so many different, you know, aspects of our site if you end up on one of those sites. But know that you can always sign up here on some of the things that we're going on, some of the things that are a little bit behind the scenes potentially, but looking forward to, you know, enjoying this journey with you. Please let us know if there's anything that we can do to help. Always email us at supportive nation co or support Nation Co. And we'll be of service as best as we can. So thank you so much again and looking forward to connecting and talking with you soon.

16:19 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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