Human CapitalI AM CEO PODCASTOperations
IAM2238 – Focusing on Building Relationships, Generating Sales, and Scalability for Business Longevity
Special Episode with Dr. Lunide
In this episode, Gresham Harkless explains the necessity of market research before launching new initiatives and the importance of messaging strategies.He discusses the importance of conserving energy, and preventing burnout, and shares the morning routine and its evolution over time.
Gresham highlights the significance of building habits, their impact on success, and the importance of hydration and energy management for entrepreneurs.
Business Pillar: Operations / Human
Podcast link: boost-your-visibility-and-resources-b2b-strategies-for-ceos-entrepreneurs-and-business-owners-w-gresham
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Transcription:
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Intro 00:01
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview?
If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.
Dr. Lunide Louis 00:28
You're working with B2B. And so why is that important for longevity of a business life?
Gresham Harkless 00:35
Yeah, I think that and I feel like most people that are those entrepreneurs and then going on that journey, because it is definitely a journey, you have a place that you want to try to go to.
And I think that I've learned and seen that goal and where do you want to go to always kind of depends on the person.
And I think one of the most powerful things is that you get the opportunity to decide for yourself and for your organization, exactly where you want to go as an organization.
But often that where scalability comes up, you're trying to figure out how can you potentially leverage the opportunity to do what you always wanted to do, which is make a bigger impact to more people, whether you're a person that's creating the latest widget to a person that is maybe, the local business owner that's trying to reach more and more people.
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So the beauty of, I think everything that we're seeing now with technology and the internet and especially marketing and advertising in so many different ways is you have the opportunity to kind of replicate yourself in many different ways.
You can be visible when you're sleeping, when you're eating, when you're doing all the things where you aren't able to quote-unquote, like promote your business, for example.
So I think when we're talking about scalability is so important because we have so many different tools at our fingertips.
But a lot of what I do is really try to kind of reverse engineer for lack of a better term so people can understand. These are the tools. I like to call them ingredients to the recipe to your success.
So if scalability is a big part of your recipe, then you want to figure out what ingredients and tools are going to help you to scale to the people that can, you can help make an impact with as much as possible.
So that's a lot of like the opportunity that's there. And I think the gift and sometimes the curse as well too, is that there's not necessarily one size fits all when we're talking about scalability.
But there's usually different practices, principles and things that you can implement to have a more scalable brand and business.
Dr. Lunide Louis 02:26
And that visibility, getting in front of the right people, the front of the right corporations.
And I think about the big companies, Pepsi, McDonald's, when they started out, it was a different era, right?
It was a different time of age. The marketing tactics were different. There was a lot of TV ads.
Let's talk about how the game has changed and how today is it easier or is it a little j- is it congested with social media making it seem so accessible?
Gresham Harkless 02:57
Yeah, funny enough, it's a mix of a little bit of both. And, there's this word that everybody sometimes loves when you know it and hates when you don't know it, which is algorithm.
So just about every different social media platform, SEO, Google, they have their algorithms of how they try to feed what they think is relevant to you.
So I think what's happening is that there is definitely more and more content, more and more things.
So it's making the world a lot noisier, but on the flip side, these tech companies, what they're doing is they're leveraging algorithms a lot of times to help to kind of reach their goals from a business standpoint, but also to feed to the people that they're trying to serve exactly what they're looking for.
So like if you log in, you have the same exact friends as somebody else, you log into your Facebook, you're going to see a different set of posts and feeds than somebody else would.
And that's basically related to that algorithm. So I think it's a combination of both where it definitely is noisier.
But I think it also is a great opportunity because if you are able to truly understand who you're targeting, truly understand how to serve them.
Then you get the opportunity to really kind of cut through that noise and really be a brand and an organization that people could stand behind.
Dr. Lunide Louis 04:13
Yeah, you know how to penetrate through directly to the individuals. First kind of like ads with TV ads, you kind of spray the water and hopefully it lands on someone type of thing.
With this, it's more niche, it's more direct to them. And to do that, the messaging has to be right. Let's talk about the messaging and how do we get clarity on that?
Gresham Harkless 04:33
Yeah, absolutely. And it's so funny. I love what you said before we hopped on and you said it's definitely going to be like a conversation.
And I think that when we think of all the things that we're doing, the, the TikToks, the Instagrams, the LinkedIn's, the fate, all these different ways that we could communicate on our blog and podcasts and just there's so many different ways.
But I think if we get down to talking about messaging and maybe even simplifying it enough to say it's a conversation.
And a lot of times people have considered your brand to be a promise. And when you start to look at your brand, what you do and how you do it as a promise, it starts to humanize it.
But I think it also helps it to be more of a conversation. So of course, each of these different social media platforms, each of the different ways that you can market your business has their own nuances, their best practices, tips and tidbits.
But I think if we can kind of demystify it and understand and look at it more as a conversation, I think that's always going to set ourselves up for success.
And it's going to help us to distinguish ourselves and our voice so that we can ultimately have that conversation and hopefully get those clients and customers.
Dr. Lunide Louis 05:39
Yeah, it's like getting in the conversation that's happening in their heads, right? Being able to find out what that pinpoint is and identify how crucial is that to do it on set on in the beginning that market research piece of it to actually get that problem before you begin creating a solution.
Gresham Harkless 05:59
Yeah, Absolutely. And I always kind of butcher the quote, but there is a quote, I think it was by Abraham Lincoln or something is that if I was trying to cut something, I would measure 7 times before I cut once.
And I think that gets back to that market research and understanding that sometimes the most impactful thing you could do is before you hop into whatever it is that you're doing.
And a lot of times when I give a talk and I feel like I say everybody is in the media business, you are a media company, you should approach it that way.
And I kind of analogize that to go into the grocery store to figure out what's the dish that you want to make.
And you figure out what those ingredients are that you're going to put into your cart. A lot of times the most impactful thing you can do is before you go to the grocery store, it's before you hop on whatever new platform there is before you start to figure out, should I start a blog or a podcast or whatever that might be?
Because it's going to help you to make the strategic decisions that filter through the things that you should do or shouldn't do because you know that your target market isn't there, or you know that your target market might dislike that platform tremendously.
So you start to be a lot more strategic and it's just going to drill down when you're having those conversations, the messaging.
So I think it's so overlooked and such a big misconception that you don't do the market research because it's only going to set you up for success. So you don't have to cut over and over and over again.
Dr. Lunide Louis 07:21
Yeah, absolutely. Because just cause the platforms are available doesn't mean you should hop on it because it may not be your avatar is not hanging out there or doesn't care for it much.
Like, so you may just be killing it on IG and not so much Facebook and that's okay. There's a need to get on all platforms because that's where people are. Let's reach the masses.
And that's a misconception that really does eat away at your time and energy. So let's talk about energy in terms of as in the bub as a business owner.
You have a got to automate delegate there's another one. There's a third one, but you conserving your energy and your time, cause you have your time is money at this at this point.
Gresham Harkless 08:00
Yeah, absolutely And it's so huge to be able to do that. I think one of the things that I tell myself over and over again, and you can hear that so many times from people that I've even had on my show, that burnout is real.
And a lot of times that happens because you aren't filling up your cup. You're putting your oxygen mask on first.
You aren't doing these things to make sure that you are able to lead. You are able to make the impact.
And sometimes we can, especially because entrepreneur people, I think are so much givers and they want to give of everything that they can to be able to help impact people that we have to make sure that we are, replenishing our energy, mental, physical, emotional.
There's just so many different things that you can do. But I think that that's why, I love everything that you're doing because it brings the highlights of like how important that is, especially in the beginning of the day, to make sure you are filling up your cup because you know you are gonna be giving so much of yourself.
And I think if we don't prioritize that or realize that that is something that is not negotiable, it's a have to, it's a priority, it's a requirement, then we're just going to not realize that we can't run the marathon that we're ultimately setting out to run.
Dr. Lunide Louis 09:08
You will not fail, you will not survive. You know how they say 95% of small businesses don't survive. 95% of entrepreneurs don't survive if they don't have these disciplines or they don't have a morning routine, something to actually feed themselves, as you say, right?
Fill your cup so that you can kind of pour out on not just your team, but the partners, the clients, the people that you're working with.
So it's really necessary for your business to thrive. So I'm curious to get a little more personal. Let's find out about yours. How do you get up, dress up and show up? What's your morning routine like?
Gresham Harkless 09:41
Yeah, absolutely. So for me, my alarm clock usually goes out, it goes off at about 4.45 now.
And I usually get up and I start out by reading my Bible. I brush my teeth to do all the things, but I start out by reading my Bible.
And then I have my dog. So I end up taking my dog out usually 30 to 45 minutes.
Often I'm also listening to a Bible sermon or something along those lines, but related to the Bible verse that I read, I come back in, usually I try to get a workout in super quick workout just to kind of get me going.
And then from there, I have a morning meeting with my wife. I'm usually drinking like a shake or something like that.
And then, I wake up our son and then, go and take him to school and do all the things.
And then I come back and I'm ready to kind of go for the day. But that's what it is now, but I'm always kind of tweaking it and changing.
I'm always listening to podcasts like yours and saying, OK, maybe I want to try to incorporate that.
And I think the the thing that I've loved most and, learn so much about my morning routine is that It doesn't have to be set in stone.
I get to experiment. I get to try out different things. And sometimes,there's a season for everything.
So sometimes that season is not for me to do this specific thing. And that's okay.
So I think when I've given myself the kind of levity and permission to change, adjust and improve, That's when it's gotten for me to be a lot more exciting.
Dr. Lunide Louis 11:04
Yeah, definitely have to have grace. It's just like the journey, the entrepreneurial journey.
So does your morning routine will change depending on the season? And I'm sure it was different for you when your son was younger, a newborn.
So it varies as depending on what's going on in your life. So I like that you highlighted the need to be graceful so that you can be better at it and get better.
But you don't stop. You just tweak one thing here and there to make it happen.
For your naturally early riser then, almost 4:45.
Gresham Harkless 11:38
I'm not this is something that and that's part of the journey as well. So like, I started to realize that, the more family gets older and things like that, I realize how much I can get done probably in the morning.
I'm definitely more of a night owl, but I've been able to kind of gradually adjust.
And that in and of itself has been a process because it didn't just happen where I said, okay, let me get up at 4.
It was like 5 minutes, then I would hit the alarm, I would sleep a little bit more. And then, you just start to gradually do that week by week by week.
And then now I'm at 4:45. So hopefully next time we talk, I'll be even earlier.
Dr. Lunide Louis 12:12
The principle of setting up habits, and you just highlighted It's starting small, starting small and rewarding yourself along the way for the small wins, the small gradual progress that we made.
That goes a long way. Before you know it, a new habit is built. Habits are powerful.
We have them. We have morning routines, whether we intentionally set them or not, right?
We have habits, our brain puts them in place so that they can solve a problem for us.
So if you wanna break a habit, you need to replace it. It's not so much break it because it's solving a problem and that when I found that out it was just like oh, this is just powerful.
We're going about it all wrong yeah any you're feeding your soul you got the spiritual going on in there.
How are you hydrating? I know people say glass of water first thing in the morning to kind of replenish, detox first thing in the morning. Is that something you partake in?
Gresham Harkless 13:10
So I do a little bit, but if you can see, I have this huge gallon of water as well too. So I try to drink that in, within the day, especially from working out and doing all those things.
So I do try to make sure that I am gradually hydrating, as much as possible, because I know how important, getting your intake of water is, to your overall health.
So it's not something I necessarily have set in stone, but I do have this big, huge jug, the gallon jug that I'm, I know that, okay, if it's a little bit heavy now, I'm a little bit behind time.
So let me try to get more water into my day and my body.
Dr. Lunide Louis 13:44
Yeah. Why is it important that we keep our energy up to mom. We stay up. Why is that important as an entrepreneur?
Gresham Harkless 13:50
I appreciate you asking that so much because a lot of what happened to me like in the very beginning when I first started my business, which is about 10 years ago, I was super excited, had all the energy I wanted to take over the world, but I didn't fill up my cup.
So one thing I didn't do was I didn't eat breakfast. I didn't drink enough water and I often would skip lunch.
So usually around 2 or 03:00, I would start to get headaches largely because I didn't have anything for my body to kind of pull from.
So I started to really adjust a lot of things for me and starting to get that energy early on, paying attention to what I'm eating, eating, eating at all was important.
So for me, one of the biggest things was making sure I get my morning shake largely because I didn't do that before.
And then even to this day, I still have lunch blocked out on my calendar because that's a reminder that you need to eat.
And I know the kind of the pitfalls of not doing that. So it's a great reminder for me.
And I definitely see as night and day, just my energy, just me being able to kind of work out, later on, all that is a result of me kind of doing those things early on. So I've seen the benefits of doing it.
Dr. Lunide Louis 14:57
Yeah, I agree 100% because we get so caught up because work never stop as an entrepreneur, right?
It doesn't end. Our brain doesn't shut off. We have to intentionally take the time to shut it off.
I like that you have the lunch carve out your day because you're like, you need to refuel because we'll just keep going until we burn and run ourselves to the ground.
And then we can't show up the next day because what did Zig Ziglar say? Motivation doesn't last, just like taking a shower.
You can be on this high the first like month or 2 weeks of like starting out, but don't think longevity. This is what the morning routine gives you.
It gives you longevity, but it makes the process really fun because then you, you are present.
You show up for your client and you're present. You show up for your team members, you're present.
You show up for your wife, you're present. You show up for your son, you're present.
And same here, I'm spitting it out, but I'm receiving it as well. It's just, it's beautiful the way it kind of sets the tone for the rest of a day.
And you have a great day, you have a great week, you have a great month, you have a great year.
And you know, you can rent and repeat because you know it works. Yeah, absolutely.
Outro 16:02
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by CBNation and 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.
Want to level up your business even more? Read blogs, listen to podcasts, and watch videos at CBNation.co. Also, check out our I am CEO Facebook group. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.
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