He reflects on the fatigue that goes with juggling multiple responsibilities—personal, volunteer, and business-related—and acknowledges the struggle of managing energy and staying organized, particularly by the end of the week.
Gresham emphasizes the importance of understanding and embracing the discomfort that comes with new ventures.
He mentions the idea of “letting go of the previous rung” when climbing to the next level, a concept introduced to him by coach Art Radke.
Gresham highlights the importance of protecting one's time and energy, recognizing that being overwhelmed is common in new business ventures.
Gresham underscores the necessity of saying “no” without justification as a way of prioritizing and safeguarding one's well-being.
- 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
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.
Gresham Harkless 00:28
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 Blue Star Franchise.
We're also going to do a kind of sub-site within CB Nation 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.
And just like that is day, I believe, 11 of this franchise broker journey. And I'm actually a little fatigued. This is Friday. Last Friday we were actually traveling. So this Friday I'm here.
So I feel the full effects of everything, probably the travel even before, but often, honestly I will get tired around Fridays.
Something that you kind of have to know about yourself and kind of pay attention to because you just know energy-wise what you need to do or not to do.
But there's a lot of outside work, things that are kind of piling on, just personal volunteer commitments that are evident.
And of course, starting a new business exists. Missing business, just all these things that you're having to juggle. And I think anytime that you do start something new, you have to.
And I'll go back to the jungle gym analogy that I heard from a coach years ago, Art Radke, I think, came to a networking group and he talked a lot around that, around going to the next rung, you have to let go of the previous rung.
And I think that's sometimes one of the hardest things as you go about any type of change. If you're starting a new business or anything like that, you have this uncomfortableness, kind of like the baby giraffe, if you've ever seen it walk, it's stumbling, it's not able to get its feet under it.
And really trying to understand, like, how do these things work? That's a lot of what happens in the very beginning of business.
And it's being able or frankly, the beginning of you doing anything. And you have to kind of embrace that, embrace the mistakes, embrace the awkwardness, embrace the lack of fluidity.
All those things that happen with doing anything new or something that are part of the journey. But so many times, especially if you've established something and you've been comfortable.
So let's just say you do have your nine to five and you know your job, you know you're not necessarily challenged, but the job, you know how to do it, you know how to do it in your sleep.
It takes a special person to embrace that awkwardness, to lean into what that new thing is. So I'm in that stumbling baby giraffe stage where I'm still trying to get my feet under me, still trying to understand my flow, my day-to-day, how am I going to juggle all the things?
And that is, in some case exciting, but also it can be a big drain on your energy. And the reason I say that is because it is something new.
So you have all the emotions and feelings and you're unsure of, like, what is going to happen and how it's going to happen.
So I think anytime you're starting a business, you have to understand that that is part of the journey. The baby giraffe doesn't become an adult giraffe until it goes through that baby giraffe state.
And very much similarly, when you're starting something new and you're in business and you're trying to figure out what are the next steps I'm going to take. Am I doing the right steps? Am I testing out the right things?
There's so many things that are happening. So for me, it's Just like a lot of overwhelm around that, doing something new, but also just the sheer setup and the sheer number of obligations that I have as well too.
Things that I'm volunteering for that are popping up. So it's being able to kind of take a step back and be able to kind of recharge.
And I think too, there's this phrase which you often may not be able to do that within your. Your business or if you have personal obligations or you have a family and things like that.
But you might have the ability to be able to think of things differently, think of things more creatively, figure out how you best you can do those things.
But the quote I really love is that no is a full sentence. Because so many times when we say no, we say no because I have to or no.
And we try to justify it. But in reality, if we aren't able to get things done, then it becomes really powerful to be able to just say no to get those things happening.
So I think that that's one of the really big things that we kind of have to lean on and kind of have to do.
And it becomes so important to kind of take those steps and make that happen. And as things get busier, as you start, you have to really prioritize your thing and protect your time.
And frankly, probably even more than that, protect your energy. You want to be aware of the ebbs and flows. For me, Fridays end up being a time where I do get a lot more. I'm exhausted.
I usually do hit, I won't say a wall. I think that's too strong. But I do usually have like a large amount of energy that I've given through the week and I just have to recover for.
And this is no different. I feel like to some degree, I've been kind of playing catch up. Even though I feel like I've been on top of things, I still feel like I'm a little behind.
So one thing that really helps is if you're able to just write down all the responsibilities, the obligations, the things that you're juggling.
Sometimes it could be less than what you seem. Sometimes it can be so much that you say that, hey, maybe I have to get rid of those things.
So I've done that a few times, and it ends up being a really good exercise to make sure that you are staying present and doing the things that you need. So that's it for today.
Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help. And of course, looking forward to giving you more and more updates.
Outro 06:49
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast, powered by CB Nation 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 CBNationCo. 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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