IAM2309 – How to Franchise Successfully: Secrets of Unique Execution

In this special episode, Gresh introduces the journey of starting the Bluestar franchise and highlights the Franchise CEO sub-site within CB Nation.

He shares valuable insights from his training with the Franchise Brokers Association (FBA) founder, emphasizing the importance of documenting the journey for aspiring franchisees or business starters.

Gresh encourages builders to keep building and be their unique selves.

He stresses the need to create space for new ventures and be realistic about fitting them in, emphasizing discipline and intentionality in managing time and tasks.

Gresh also mentions implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) in their digital marketing business for long-term improvements, concluding with the acknowledgment of ongoing efforts and the importance of continual improvement.

• Blue Star Franchise: http://bluestarfranchise.com
• Browse the Franchise Inventory: https://bluestarfranchise.com/franchise/
• Is franchising right for you? Check this out to see: http://bluestarfranchise.com/assessment
• Franchise CEO (A CBNation Site – coming soon) – http://franchiseceo.co

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Transcription:

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Intro 00:00

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast. And this is a special episode of our I AM CEO Podcast. And this is actually going to be a snippet of a snippet, so to speak.

I'm just doing an intro because I've been starting to document my journey into starting what is now called BlueStar franchise.

We're also going to do a kind of sub site within CBNation called Franchise CEO. So you'll see some links in the show, notes related to that.

But just wanted to give you a little bit more insight, give you a little bit more color in some of the aspects of why I'm actually doing this.

Because one of the things I was doing as I was going through training to start up this new business was realizing and hearing from the founder of FBA, the Franchise Brokers Association, that it'd be really cool to document your journey going through and building this out.

I think it's something that would be super helpful, obviously for people that are looking for and thinking about starting franchises.

But frankly, if you're starting anything, any type of business, I think it's really cool to kind of just even see the journey and how it's been going from there.

So I'm going to share a few of those snippets from the, from the first couple of videos that have been created.

But definitely, of course, subscribe to our YouTube, check out a lot more where I figure out exactly where we're going to post this.

So I'll have that information that's available to you. But regardless, if you're a builder, continue to keep building, continue to do your thing.

The world definitely needs exactly what you're trying to build and needs you to be your unique self. So make sure to run your own race, because nobody can run your race like you. This is Gresh signing out. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Gresham Harkless 01:26

And just like that, we are on day 10 of running this Franchise Brokers business. And I'll tell you, it's been a lot already.

I think as there has been more activity in the digital marketing business, it's just, you know, taking a lot more out of me.

But I think one of the big things that I have to remember throughout this process is that I'm moving before I was ready. I started the franchise broker business before I was quote, unquote, ready.

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And one of the things that we always have to remember is as we go through journeys, I am a big proponent of and a big supporter, I guess you could say, of starting things before you're ready.

And if you start things before you're ready, you'll get farther than you would because often you're never ever going to be completely ready.

And I've actually had some opportunities actually come up from Facebook groups. Like I just reached out to a person that posted in Facebook group looking for brokers and he wanted to find out about reselling his franchise.

Now it's very beginning stages. I just sent a message back, but I think one of the big things that I'm taking away is that sometimes when you take a step before you're ready, the opportunities may not come in the way that you see, but they may come in another way.

And as I start to figure out what my day-to-day is going to be, what that's going to look like, I lean heavily on time blocking.

Having dedicated times where I'm doing certain things I believe strongly, especially for me, the first two hours of of usually Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and probably even a little bit Friday.

But definitely Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday is very highly focused on my high priority activities. Like I mentioned in previous video, I'm doing 12 week gear.

So my 12-week gear activities, I usually try to really focus on them there. Of course it doesn't always go the way that I want it to go as things pop up, but unless it's something that's burning down.

I really try not to have that time focused on anything else. One of the big things too is that on Fridays I usually try to have it as like a carry over day.

I do podcast interviews, but also during that first two hours I'm really focused on that too. I'm also like kind of, for lack of a better term, taking it a little bit easier than I am on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, because I know that those days are a little bit slower.

However, this week has just been, you know, very, very busy. But I've been very intentional on making sure that I create time-blocking opportunities.

Those time-blocking opportunities allow me to be a little bit more present. What I haven't done and was one of my struggles is figuring out where I was going to fit in this franchise brokering business.

As my alarm goes off, one of the big things that was important for me is, is creating space for everything that you're trying to do.

And that's the one thing that I think that I would have done a little bit sooner and better is just to be honest and realistic about where this is going to fit.

As I think about different opportunities, like even a networking opportunity, I'm thinking the same thing. Like what might be the place that this is going to fit?

And when I don't have that solid answer, then it becomes a question of like, are you going to be able to do this at a high level? But I'm a big, you know, again, a big proponent of being able to say that, hey, I'm going to figure it out.

I'm just going to have to be even more disciplined and I'm just going to have to be even more intentional on the things that I can be.

And that's really where, you know, those time blocks come in. So I have dedicated times that I usually go through my emails. I have dedicated times that I usually have for client meetings.

I usually have, I'm trying to have dedicated times. Those client meetings are also becoming candidate meetings for the brokerage business.

But it's really focusing on that time blocking because without that, without that discipline, for lack of a better term, I think I would definitely be kind of running around like with a chicken in my head cut off.

And even if I do feel like that way sometimes, I know that a lot of things are kind of being taken care of. But frankly, what I didn't mention and like we're implementing EOS into our digital marketing business.

So we're constantly like working on those things, getting the right people in the right places. And that is a kind of a long-term focus. It's not just something you snap your fingers and make a difference.

So understanding some of the things that I see, understanding the parts of the digital marketing business, it's that it's a, and even understanding the nuances of the clients is a process.

So that's one of the big things that we're continually working on and trying to see like how and what would work best. But that's basically it, you know, a lot of different things and you know, continue to kind of, you know, work on and continue to kind of fight through those things and just get better.

So I think that's going to be basically it for, you know, this episode.

Please let me know if there's anything. I could do to help. And of course, looking forward to give you more and more updates.

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