Gresham Harkless is the founder of Blue 16 Media and the editor-in-chief of the extremely popular CEOBlogNation. At Blue 16 Media, he offers a suite of web services including design, SEO, and digital marketing consulting.
Few notes:
- Gresh's experience while working for Patch
- Introvert vs extrovert – The energy you spend while running a business
- “Don’t tell me the sky’s the limit when there’s footprints on the moon.”
Episode Link: https://progreshion.com/2019/02/02/gresh-featured-on-liz-on-biz-podcast/
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Transcription
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00:00 – 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 Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.
00:18 – Gresham Harkless
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast formerly the CEO Chat Podcast. So doing something a little bit different as we ease into the fall from the summer and you know, everybody's traveling a lot more, you know, life is obviously a lot different than it has been in the last four years, definitely since I started this, let alone the last two years or so. But I had a podcast called the CEO Chat Podcast, which is a lot more of a long-form podcast. I didn't really reach the 1400-plus episodes that we did with the IMCO podcast. So there's a lot more long-flowing, a lot more conversational, but might be dusting off the CEO Chat podcast and bringing that back out.
So with that being said, while considering that what I wanted to do is go through some of the interviews that I had that were some of my favorites and share those, it's not going to obviously be the full entire interview. We're going to have links in the show notes so that you can go and listen to the full interview. But I wanted to do some snippets that you can get. You're going to hear, of course, you know, the visibility, either the resources or the connections in each of these different snippets.
So it's going to be one of those things that are really going to help you to hopefully learn more about the guests that are on the show, what they do, how they do it, why they do it, but also get that opportunity to really learn about some resources that can make you more effective and efficient. So sit back and enjoy this special throwback CEO Chat episode.
[restrict paid=”true”]
01:27 – Liz Theresa
I created what eventually became a family newspaper. So I would put all this news from everything that was going on with the family, or also I would put sports news, health tips, and quotes because I'm addicted to quotes. Always have been, always will be, probably. I would put all of that into a family newspaper and then we would be able to send it to my dad each month. And then I would also be able to kind of sell those subscriptions to my family members so that they could learn everything that was going on. So even though that's not the exact same thing that I do today, at the same time, that's kind of like where this media company kind of mindset kind of came in where, you know, trying to create content for the entrepreneurs and business owners.
So I did this leadership program called Leadership Center for Excellence and then I did the Young Professional Track, but it's kind of like it's in Arlington. I'm based out of. Right outside of Washington D.C. in Alexandria. But I did this leadership program in Arlington and went through it for about four months or so. But every year they have like this quote, unquote TED talks. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say that they call it lead talks, but it's essentially a TED talk. But it's only eight minutes. So probably for the last, I want to say two months or so, been prepping for that and been figuring out like what story I would tell, you know, what kind of information I would leave people with. So getting all that information together, that's kind of like where I had that realization and everything that's. When is it? Did you do it yet then?
02:48 – Gresham Harkless
No, I did it Friday. So I literally did it this past Friday. Yep.
02:51 – Liz Theresa
Wow. How do you feel?
02:54 – Gresham Harkless
I feel good. I feel good because I had an idea of exactly what I wanted to talk about as far as content, like how I wanted to help out people, but I didn't have the story piece. So I think the clarity came when I really started to. And it just hit me one day where it was like, okay. A lot of times when I tried to make difficult decisions, I would look at what I did when I was a kid because I felt what I did as a kid wasn't about making money, wasn't about getting prestige, or any of that stuff. You just did stuff as a kid just because you were interested in it. So a lot of times when I was trying to make difficult decisions, I would go back to what I did as a kid. So that didn't all come together though, until I did this presentation. So I definitely love doing the presentation, definitely, obviously. But I think the preparation and actually coming up with the idea and actually having it with clarity kind of helped out a ton and being.
03:43 – Liz Theresa
And also when you say looking at things like as if or like when you were a kid, is that also kind of like. Because when you're a kid you have a more open-minded mindset, kind of like. And you're more playful about it.
03:57 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. That's a great point. And yeah, I mean, I think that you don't get somewhat jaded sometimes by the world and you start to think that you have to do this because of X, Y, and Z. You definitely just want to do stuff just because it's fun, whether that be sports or whatever a lot of times. And I think that specifically for me, that was something that, I don't know a lot of people that created a family newspaper and sold subscriptions So I felt like it wasn't just me doing it because I was influenced by anybody somehow, some way it came and then it just kind of happened. So I felt like that probably dialed a little bit into the essence of who I was.
04:35 – Liz Theresa
I love it, and I think it's great, and thank you for sharing that. And then you said, too, that you tore your Achilles tendon playing basketball, and that was what led to CEO Blog Nation. Is that true?
04:49 – Gresham Harkless
Yes. I should probably clarify and say trying to play basketball because obviously I didn't do a good job.
04:55 – Liz Theresa
Well, wait, where were you? Were you, like, in college? How old were you?
04:58 – Gresham Harkless
No, I was actually. I had graduated. I want to say it was probably in, like, 2011 or so. So I had already graduated. And I was actually in Arlington. Go figure. I was actually at a church. There was pickup basketball, and I think I had left a job, actually, and I was going to. I wanted to make sure that I stayed in shape. So I hadn't been playing basketball in a while, and I went there and I played pickup basketball, and I remember the pain still to this day. I don't know if you've ever, like, torn any tendons or anything, but it literally feels like somebody takes a hammer and slams it in the back of your leg.
And when it happened, my initial thought was, like, you know, who stepped in the back of my leg? And I tried to walk. I couldn't walk. And I was like, I hope that I just kind of rolled my ankle or something. But lo and behold, a couple of weeks or so later, I found out, yeah, I definitely tore it. I didn't tear it completely, which I guess was good or bad. I hear mixed results about whether or not it's better to tear it completely or not. But, yeah, I definitely tore it a little bit.
05:59 – Liz Theresa
How do you feel about it now? Is it a thing for you?
06:03 – Gresham Harkless
Interesting enough, it's. I've had any issues, I tore it in my left leg. Any issues I've had, I've had in my left leg. So I've had, like, knee tendonitis. Cause, you know, I play a lot of sports. I stay pretty active. So I was playing flag football, and I would have knee tendonitis. It was all in my left leg. So it doesn't hurt me that bad anymore. I still think about it a little bit. And I tell you honestly, one of the most painful things for me to see is when somebody tears it. So if I'm watching a sports game or something, I see somebody tear their Achilles. I feel like I can still feel it, which is weird, but. Oh, the pain never goes away.
06:35 – Liz Theresa
Well, it was also like. I mean, it must have been. I mean, the most monumental, traumatic amount of pain. Like, it must have been just like, I can't even. I'm glad. I can't imagine. Knock on wood. That sounds awful. So how did that lead to a website?
06:50 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, so I literally. Before that, I was doing a lot of freelance writing, so I worked for this publication called Patch, and basically I had an Entrepreneurial Spotlight column. So that's kind of probably maybe the second or so thing that kind of got me in that entrepreneurial realm, where I didn't necessarily. I had the entrepreneurial tendencies I spoke about, but I don't necessarily know that. I grew up in, like, an entrepreneurial household. Like, my parents weren't, you know, business owners at that time. So basically, for me, I would go around and I would interview, you know, business owners, find out why they started their business, what things and pieces of advice they would have for other business owners.
And these were, like, local businesses in this, you know, Northern Virginia area. But that happened that I tore my Achilles. And when I tore my Achilles, I wasn't able to kind of go around to do that anymore. So while I was rehabbing, while I was kind of, like, upset about everything, I started to, like, work on what eventually became CEO Blog Nation. It started out as the first site was called ecopreneur.
So the idea was to Hear from entrepreneurs, and that's still part of CEO Blog Nation. But I started to realize that, you know, entrepreneurs kind of don't just want to hear stories. Some of them do. Other people want to know. Other people want to know how to, you know, build up a Facebook page or all these different things that entrepreneurial entrepreneurs want and kind of look for. So I started to look at all those things, and that's what eventually became CEO Blog Nation. But it largely probably never would have started if I hadn't torn my Achilles tendon because I had, again, way too much time on my hands where I was trying to stay, keep my mind off the pain, and kind of stay in a zone, I guess you can say. And I just started to work on that.
08:25 – Liz Theresa
Well, it takes forever to heal from that, right?
08:28 – Gresham Harkless
Because I didn't tear it completely. It took me about six months, I believe. Like, I had a cast. I didn't have to have surgery, which was good. But the funny thing, not funny thing, but the interesting thing is that you know, you forget how to. That you forget, like, you take everything for Granted, like, how to walk. I literally had to learn how to walk again. And every time I got a different cast or I started or I completed a different milestone, I guess you can say I had to learn something over. So, like it was six months. But at the same time, you have to get over the mental part. You have to learn how to walk. A lot of those things that kind of make you that you take for granted on, you know, being able to step on your feet or get on your feet and just walk around. You forget that it's a process in order to do that.
09:13 – Liz Theresa
Wow. That is. Yeah. And you know what? I wouldn't have even thought that through. Like, that is. That's so. I mean, I thought of how physically taxing. That was mentally exhausting.
09:23 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, it still is to this day.
09:25 – Liz Theresa
Yeah. Seriously. So you worked for Patch, which was owned by AOL. Are they still a thing? I remember them.
09:31 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, you do? Okay. Yeah. They are not owned by AOL anymore. So I worked for Patch twice. So actually that was my last job before I got laid off. And then I went to Patch and I was going to get laid off again. That was around the time that they cut a lot of the funding and they ended up getting sold to another company. I believe it's HERF Global. I believe that's the name of the company. And I follow it a lot just because again, it's in the journalism industry. But I worked for them as a freelance writer and then I eventually worked as an outside. I think I was a local advertising manager. That was my title. So I ended up working for them later on. But in the beginning, you know, there was a lot. It was a lot better environment than when I got there. And it was kind of like, I think the end coming soon, right?
10:17 – Liz Theresa
Yeah. And I don't even know, are they still? They are still around, though.
10:21 – Gresham Harkless
The site's still there. It's not what it was.
10:24 – Liz Theresa
Yeah, it used to be big. I remember when it was something. Yeah. Because when you said that, I was like, oh, that's interesting. So what do you think? So when you started CEO Blog Nation, what year was that? That was a while ago, right?
10:37 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, I think. I can't remember exactly when. I guess it was quote, unquote, branded SEO Blog Nation. But it might have been in 2012 or so, something like that, the official time. It's funny, like I mentioned, you know, it started out as more of a hobby, so, you know, it wasn't ever a business. I have to go and actually look and see when I registered the domain name and got everything started. That would probably be the exact answer. But I know that it started out as a hobby. It's just, again, because I couldn't get around. So I was like, okay, well, I'll just interview some people some way that I can. And then it kind of just blossomed from there.
11:11 – Liz Theresa
And why do you think it did? Like, why do you think it took off?
11:15 – Gresham Harkless
Good question. I think a lot of it just has to do with. It's funny, somebody asked me, like, why, you know, why it's, like, so important, why I think it's relevant. I think because largely I always say, like, if you can visualize, I'm the kid that kind of sits in class and I have all these questions. I actually am bold enough to, like, raise my hand. I feel like I only asked questions that I thought were relevant. So I wanted to start a business. I wanted to know what. How people started their business. I wanted to know what advice they would give to young business owners or people who are starting businesses. I want to know what mistakes that you made when you started your business.
So I asked those questions to these business owners, and I felt like a lot of other people wanted to ask the exact same things. But again, like the kid in class, I was just somebody that wanted to raise their hand. So I felt like by creating something that was of interest to me, that helped me to kind of build and grow as an entrepreneur and business owner, I also was providing something that other people wanted to learn from. So I felt like that was a lot of it, that I think the interest wasn't just mine. It just was something that I scratched my own itch, so to speak. And then all of a sudden, other people wanted to read about it, too.
12:23 – Liz Theresa
And I think I feel that way about this show, is that it gives me so much. Like Liz on Biz, I meet so many. You must meet so many people through CEO Blog Nation and through your other podcast. You know, but like, I think it's like, by listening, you know, to where other. What other people did in their path and, like, what they did. Right. Wrong. I've learned so much.
12:47 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah. And it's funny that you say that because, you know, listening to your previous episodes, too, I was super excited to come on here and. But just because, you know, obviously you make it your own. Cause your show is your show. But at the same time, you learn so much. I always joke that you know, Seal, Blog Nation, the podcast, and everything. I always say I didn't go to, quote, unquote, Business School, but I felt like I am going through business school because I'm actually learning from entrepreneurs and business owners because I get to ask questions, learn from them, you know, borrow a little bit of their expertise so that I can, you know, learn a little bit more myself so that I can be more successful, and that's huge.
13:23 – Liz Theresa
And I will say I also do not have a degree in business. I went to the theater, which probably doesn't surprise you. I went for theater in English, and then I have a master's in lit, so. English, like, literature.
13:35 – Gresham Harkless
Oh, really? I'm an English major as well. Oh, really? Bachelor. I have my master's in. In sports industry management. But yes, I have my bachelor's in English.
13:43 – Liz Theresa
Yeah. And I almost went into journalism, but I'm never objective because I have so many opinions. And so, like, my brother is a journalist, and he's very successful. Like, he works for MUR in New Hampshire, so he's like, yeah, he's really cool. And he tried to help me, like, learn the journalistic stuff. So, like, here's how you write a press release, and here's how you write a story. And, like, he was trying to help me do it, and I would write stuff, and I'd be like, but I want to say it this way. And he's like, that's not. Not being objective. Like, that's giving, like, kind of an opinion. And I was like, yeah, but I have one.
And he's like, Liz, that's not journalism. He was like, that's not what this is. So that I was. Of course, now with the rise of podcasting, I mean, I'm like, thank goodness I have a platform to just be how I am, but still get to be curious, because I was always curious, like, Right. Like, do you feel you're. Are you a naturally curious person? You are, like, based on what you said, you know.
14:34 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah. Well, no, it's funny that you say that. It sounds like we're cut from the same cloth, because I always felt that about journalism, because I never really, I guess, truly loved, like, the pure journalism. Like, okay, you sit down. You have to write by, you know, I think it's APA standards. You have to do this. You have to do that. I never really liked the regimen aspect of it. I just probably been just like you, you know, somebody that's creative and super curious and, like, creating content, but doesn't necessarily like to say you have to do it this way. And I think it's funny because, you know, I read a lot about the journalism industry and always have, because I never understood where it was going to go. But I think because of podcasts, because of blogging, because of all these platforms out there, everybody now does have a voice.
So it's disrupting the entire industry, where you do respect the journalists, the people that are the people that you can trust, not just people that are tweeting random things that may or may not be true. But I think that it also has given a voice to people who can create journalism in the way that they desire, which has been the most exciting thing for me.
15:34 – Liz Theresa
Oh, I totally. I think you're absolutely right.
15:37 – Gresham Harkless
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and the CEO Chat Podcast and I hope you enjoyed this special episode, give us an opportunity to kind of take some of the snippets from some of the longer-form podcasts that we have and repurpose them here. And we might be dusting off the CEO Chad podcast and talking a little bit more about some of those longer form episodes and hopefully some of the people that have been on the I AM CEO podcast on the longer form episodes. But I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you enjoyed this little snapshot. Of course, you can go, go to CEOchat Co, and have the opportunity to listen to the full, complete version of the episode. But also you can maybe see that it's very important to create content but also to be able to listen to and take in the hacks, the nuggets, the stories, just all the things that make these interviews so unique and so special. So I hope you enjoyed this episode and be sure to follow up with the guests, and follow up with the CO.
16:36 – Gresham Harkless
Chat podcast and hear about all the. Awesome things we're working on.
15:15 – 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.
00:00 - 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 Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.
00:18 - Gresham Harkless
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast formerly the CEO Chat Podcast. So doing something a little bit different as we ease into the fall from the summer and you know, everybody's traveling a lot more, you know, life is obviously a lot different than it has been in the last four years, definitely since I started this, let alone the last two years or so. But I had a podcast called the CEO Chat Podcast, which is a lot more of a long-form podcast. I didn't really reach the 1400-plus episodes that we did with the IMCO podcast. So there's a lot more long-flowing, a lot more conversational, but might be dusting off the CEO Chat podcast and bringing that back out.
So with that being said, while considering that what I wanted to do is go through some of the interviews that I had that were some of my favorites and share those, it's not going to obviously be the full entire interview. We're going to have links in the show notes so that you can go and listen to the full interview. But I wanted to do some snippets that you can get. You're going to hear, of course, you know, the visibility, either the resources or the connections in each of these different snippets.
So it's going to be one of those things that are really going to help you to hopefully learn more about the guests that are on the show, what they do, how they do it, why they do it, but also get that opportunity to really learn about some resources that can make you more effective and efficient. So sit back and enjoy this special throwback CEO Chat episode.
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01:27 - Liz Theresa
I created what eventually became a family newspaper. So I would put all this news from everything that was going on with the family, or also I would put sports news, health tips, and quotes because I'm addicted to quotes. Always have been, always will be, probably. I would put all of that into a family newspaper and then we would be able to send it to my dad each month. And then I would also be able to kind of sell those subscriptions to my family members so that they could learn everything that was going on. So even though that's not the exact same thing that I do today, at the same time, that's kind of like where this media company kind of mindset kind of came in where, you know, trying to create content for the entrepreneurs and business owners.
So I did this leadership program called Leadership Center for Excellence and then I did the Young Professional Track, but it's kind of like it's in Arlington. I'm based out of. Right outside of Washington D.C. in Alexandria. But I did this leadership program in Arlington and went through it for about four months or so. But every year they have like this quote, unquote TED talks. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say that they call it lead talks, but it's essentially a TED talk. But it's only eight minutes. So probably for the last, I want to say two months or so, been prepping for that and been figuring out like what story I would tell, you know, what kind of information I would leave people with. So getting all that information together, that's kind of like where I had that realization and everything that's. When is it? Did you do it yet then?
02:48 - Gresham Harkless
No, I did it Friday. So I literally did it this past Friday. Yep.
02:51 - Liz Theresa
Wow. How do you feel?
02:54 - Gresham Harkless
I feel good. I feel good because I had an idea of exactly what I wanted to talk about as far as content, like how I wanted to help out people, but I didn't have the story piece. So I think the clarity came when I really started to. And it just hit me one day where it was like, okay. A lot of times when I tried to make difficult decisions, I would look at what I did when I was a kid because I felt what I did as a kid wasn't about making money, wasn't about getting prestige, or any of that stuff. You just did stuff as a kid just because you were interested in it. So a lot of times when I was trying to make difficult decisions, I would go back to what I did as a kid. So that didn't all come together though, until I did this presentation. So I definitely love doing the presentation, definitely, obviously. But I think the preparation and actually coming up with the idea and actually having it with clarity kind of helped out a ton and being.
03:43 - Liz Theresa
And also when you say looking at things like as if or like when you were a kid, is that also kind of like. Because when you're a kid you have a more open-minded mindset, kind of like. And you're more playful about it.
03:57 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. That's a great point. And yeah, I mean, I think that you don't get somewhat jaded sometimes by the world and you start to think that you have to do this because of X, Y, and Z. You definitely just want to do stuff just because it's fun, whether that be sports or whatever a lot of times. And I think that specifically for me, that was something that, I don't know a lot of people that created a family newspaper and sold subscriptions So I felt like it wasn't just me doing it because I was influenced by anybody somehow, some way it came and then it just kind of happened. So I felt like that probably dialed a little bit into the essence of who I was.
04:35 - Liz Theresa
I love it, and I think it's great, and thank you for sharing that. And then you said, too, that you tore your Achilles tendon playing basketball, and that was what led to CEO Blog Nation. Is that true?
04:49 - Gresham Harkless
Yes. I should probably clarify and say trying to play basketball because obviously I didn't do a good job.
04:55 - Liz Theresa
Well, wait, where were you? Were you, like, in college? How old were you?
04:58 - Gresham Harkless
No, I was actually. I had graduated. I want to say it was probably in, like, 2011 or so. So I had already graduated. And I was actually in Arlington. Go figure. I was actually at a church. There was pickup basketball, and I think I had left a job, actually, and I was going to. I wanted to make sure that I stayed in shape. So I hadn't been playing basketball in a while, and I went there and I played pickup basketball, and I remember the pain still to this day. I don't know if you've ever, like, torn any tendons or anything, but it literally feels like somebody takes a hammer and slams it in the back of your leg.
And when it happened, my initial thought was, like, you know, who stepped in the back of my leg? And I tried to walk. I couldn't walk. And I was like, I hope that I just kind of rolled my ankle or something. But lo and behold, a couple of weeks or so later, I found out, yeah, I definitely tore it. I didn't tear it completely, which I guess was good or bad. I hear mixed results about whether or not it's better to tear it completely or not. But, yeah, I definitely tore it a little bit.
05:59 - Liz Theresa
How do you feel about it now? Is it a thing for you?
06:03 - Gresham Harkless
Interesting enough, it's. I've had any issues, I tore it in my left leg. Any issues I've had, I've had in my left leg. So I've had, like, knee tendonitis. Cause, you know, I play a lot of sports. I stay pretty active. So I was playing flag football, and I would have knee tendonitis. It was all in my left leg. So it doesn't hurt me that bad anymore. I still think about it a little bit. And I tell you honestly, one of the most painful things for me to see is when somebody tears it. So if I'm watching a sports game or something, I see somebody tear their Achilles. I feel like I can still feel it, which is weird, but. Oh, the pain never goes away.
06:35 - Liz Theresa
Well, it was also like. I mean, it must have been. I mean, the most monumental, traumatic amount of pain. Like, it must have been just like, I can't even. I'm glad. I can't imagine. Knock on wood. That sounds awful. So how did that lead to a website?
06:50 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah, so I literally. Before that, I was doing a lot of freelance writing, so I worked for this publication called Patch, and basically I had an Entrepreneurial Spotlight column. So that's kind of probably maybe the second or so thing that kind of got me in that entrepreneurial realm, where I didn't necessarily. I had the entrepreneurial tendencies I spoke about, but I don't necessarily know that. I grew up in, like, an entrepreneurial household. Like, my parents weren't, you know, business owners at that time. So basically, for me, I would go around and I would interview, you know, business owners, find out why they started their business, what things and pieces of advice they would have for other business owners.
And these were, like, local businesses in this, you know, Northern Virginia area. But that happened that I tore my Achilles. And when I tore my Achilles, I wasn't able to kind of go around to do that anymore. So while I was rehabbing, while I was kind of, like, upset about everything, I started to, like, work on what eventually became CEO Blog Nation. It started out as the first site was called ecopreneur.
So the idea was to Hear from entrepreneurs, and that's still part of CEO Blog Nation. But I started to realize that, you know, entrepreneurs kind of don't just want to hear stories. Some of them do. Other people want to know. Other people want to know how to, you know, build up a Facebook page or all these different things that entrepreneurial entrepreneurs want and kind of look for. So I started to look at all those things, and that's what eventually became CEO Blog Nation. But it largely probably never would have started if I hadn't torn my Achilles tendon because I had, again, way too much time on my hands where I was trying to stay, keep my mind off the pain, and kind of stay in a zone, I guess you can say. And I just started to work on that.
08:25 - Liz Theresa
Well, it takes forever to heal from that, right?
08:28 - Gresham Harkless
Because I didn't tear it completely. It took me about six months, I believe. Like, I had a cast. I didn't have to have surgery, which was good. But the funny thing, not funny thing, but the interesting thing is that you know, you forget how to. That you forget, like, you take everything for Granted, like, how to walk. I literally had to learn how to walk again. And every time I got a different cast or I started or I completed a different milestone, I guess you can say I had to learn something over. So, like it was six months. But at the same time, you have to get over the mental part. You have to learn how to walk. A lot of those things that kind of make you that you take for granted on, you know, being able to step on your feet or get on your feet and just walk around. You forget that it's a process in order to do that.
09:13 - Liz Theresa
Wow. That is. Yeah. And you know what? I wouldn't have even thought that through. Like, that is. That's so. I mean, I thought of how physically taxing. That was mentally exhausting.
09:23 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah, it still is to this day.
09:25 - Liz Theresa
Yeah. Seriously. So you worked for Patch, which was owned by AOL. Are they still a thing? I remember them.
09:31 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah, you do? Okay. Yeah. They are not owned by AOL anymore. So I worked for Patch twice. So actually that was my last job before I got laid off. And then I went to Patch and I was going to get laid off again. That was around the time that they cut a lot of the funding and they ended up getting sold to another company. I believe it's HERF Global. I believe that's the name of the company. And I follow it a lot just because again, it's in the journalism industry. But I worked for them as a freelance writer and then I eventually worked as an outside. I think I was a local advertising manager. That was my title. So I ended up working for them later on. But in the beginning, you know, there was a lot. It was a lot better environment than when I got there. And it was kind of like, I think the end coming soon, right?
10:17 - Liz Theresa
Yeah. And I don't even know, are they still? They are still around, though.
10:21 - Gresham Harkless
The site's still there. It's not what it was.
10:24 - Liz Theresa
Yeah, it used to be big. I remember when it was something. Yeah. Because when you said that, I was like, oh, that's interesting. So what do you think? So when you started CEO Blog Nation, what year was that? That was a while ago, right?
10:37 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah, I think. I can't remember exactly when. I guess it was quote, unquote, branded SEO Blog Nation. But it might have been in 2012 or so, something like that, the official time. It's funny, like I mentioned, you know, it started out as more of a hobby, so, you know, it wasn't ever a business. I have to go and actually look and see when I registered the domain name and got everything started. That would probably be the exact answer. But I know that it started out as a hobby. It's just, again, because I couldn't get around. So I was like, okay, well, I'll just interview some people some way that I can. And then it kind of just blossomed from there.
11:11 - Liz Theresa
And why do you think it did? Like, why do you think it took off?
11:15 - Gresham Harkless
Good question. I think a lot of it just has to do with. It's funny, somebody asked me, like, why, you know, why it's, like, so important, why I think it's relevant. I think because largely I always say, like, if you can visualize, I'm the kid that kind of sits in class and I have all these questions. I actually am bold enough to, like, raise my hand. I feel like I only asked questions that I thought were relevant. So I wanted to start a business. I wanted to know what. How people started their business. I wanted to know what advice they would give to young business owners or people who are starting businesses. I want to know what mistakes that you made when you started your business.
So I asked those questions to these business owners, and I felt like a lot of other people wanted to ask the exact same things. But again, like the kid in class, I was just somebody that wanted to raise their hand. So I felt like by creating something that was of interest to me, that helped me to kind of build and grow as an entrepreneur and business owner, I also was providing something that other people wanted to learn from. So I felt like that was a lot of it, that I think the interest wasn't just mine. It just was something that I scratched my own itch, so to speak. And then all of a sudden, other people wanted to read about it, too.
12:23 - Liz Theresa
And I think I feel that way about this show, is that it gives me so much. Like Liz on Biz, I meet so many. You must meet so many people through CEO Blog Nation and through your other podcast. You know, but like, I think it's like, by listening, you know, to where other. What other people did in their path and, like, what they did. Right. Wrong. I've learned so much.
12:47 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah. And it's funny that you say that because, you know, listening to your previous episodes, too, I was super excited to come on here and. But just because, you know, obviously you make it your own. Cause your show is your show. But at the same time, you learn so much. I always joke that you know, Seal, Blog Nation, the podcast, and everything. I always say I didn't go to, quote, unquote, Business School, but I felt like I am going through business school because I'm actually learning from entrepreneurs and business owners because I get to ask questions, learn from them, you know, borrow a little bit of their expertise so that I can, you know, learn a little bit more myself so that I can be more successful, and that's huge.
13:23 - Liz Theresa
And I will say I also do not have a degree in business. I went to the theater, which probably doesn't surprise you. I went for theater in English, and then I have a master's in lit, so. English, like, literature.
13:35 - Gresham Harkless
Oh, really? I'm an English major as well. Oh, really? Bachelor. I have my master's in. In sports industry management. But yes, I have my bachelor's in English.
13:43 - Liz Theresa
Yeah. And I almost went into journalism, but I'm never objective because I have so many opinions. And so, like, my brother is a journalist, and he's very successful. Like, he works for MUR in New Hampshire, so he's like, yeah, he's really cool. And he tried to help me, like, learn the journalistic stuff. So, like, here's how you write a press release, and here's how you write a story. And, like, he was trying to help me do it, and I would write stuff, and I'd be like, but I want to say it this way. And he's like, that's not. Not being objective. Like, that's giving, like, kind of an opinion. And I was like, yeah, but I have one.
And he's like, Liz, that's not journalism. He was like, that's not what this is. So that I was. Of course, now with the rise of podcasting, I mean, I'm like, thank goodness I have a platform to just be how I am, but still get to be curious, because I was always curious, like, Right. Like, do you feel you're. Are you a naturally curious person? You are, like, based on what you said, you know.
14:34 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah. Well, no, it's funny that you say that. It sounds like we're cut from the same cloth, because I always felt that about journalism, because I never really, I guess, truly loved, like, the pure journalism. Like, okay, you sit down. You have to write by, you know, I think it's APA standards. You have to do this. You have to do that. I never really liked the regimen aspect of it. I just probably been just like you, you know, somebody that's creative and super curious and, like, creating content, but doesn't necessarily like to say you have to do it this way. And I think it's funny because, you know, I read a lot about the journalism industry and always have, because I never understood where it was going to go. But I think because of podcasts, because of blogging, because of all these platforms out there, everybody now does have a voice.
So it's disrupting the entire industry, where you do respect the journalists, the people that are the people that you can trust, not just people that are tweeting random things that may or may not be true. But I think that it also has given a voice to people who can create journalism in the way that they desire, which has been the most exciting thing for me.
15:34 - Liz Theresa
Oh, I totally. I think you're absolutely right.
15:37 - Gresham Harkless
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and the CEO Chat Podcast and I hope you enjoyed this special episode, give us an opportunity to kind of take some of the snippets from some of the longer-form podcasts that we have and repurpose them here. And we might be dusting off the CEO Chad podcast and talking a little bit more about some of those longer form episodes and hopefully some of the people that have been on the I AM CEO podcast on the longer form episodes. But I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you enjoyed this little snapshot. Of course, you can go, go to CEOchat Co, and have the opportunity to listen to the full, complete version of the episode. But also you can maybe see that it's very important to create content but also to be able to listen to and take in the hacks, the nuggets, the stories, just all the things that make these interviews so unique and so special. So I hope you enjoyed this episode and be sure to follow up with the guests, and follow up with the CO.
16:36 - Gresham Harkless
Chat podcast and hear about all the. Awesome things we're working on.
15:15 - 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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