IAM2364 – A Day of Homecoming Reflections
Special Episode by Gresham Harkless Jr.
Gresham Harkless reflects on his 17th day in his franchise broker journey, returning home after attending a training conference.
Despite enjoying the conference and the beautiful setting, Gresham emphasizes that home is where his heart is.
He shares that the conference provided a wealth of information from various brands and training sessions, which he plans to review and reflect on more thoroughly over the weekend.
Gresh also mentions that top brokers follow the same processes learned in training, dispelling the idea of “secret strategies.”
Furthermore, he reflects on his growth, including meeting new people, forming a potential collaboration for a podcast, and being recognized for his efforts by others.
- 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 00:01
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.
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.
Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh here and I am back at home as day, I believe, 17 on this franchise broker journey and I'm back from training.
Super excited to be back at this new life. My son on the way as well too. It just feels good to be back home, to be honest with you. I loved getting at the conference. Definitely beautiful place.
But they say home is where the heart is. That's definitely where my heart is. So I come back with a lot of information.
So hopefully planning out may not get a chance today or tomorrow to be able to kind of decompress but I hope to do that on Saturday.
One of the things that I did is I took all my notes that I compiled and I put them into a little bit more of, I basically put them into ChatGPT how to clean up my notes and then I had a kind of summary of everything I should know and remember from training.
So I hope to of do that a little bit more of a decompress of like all the things because there's so many different brands that we met, there's so much tips.
But some of the things that I really, they made me feel a lot more confident. I think going into this is like I spoke with Amanda Vargas who's one of the trainers, one of the million dollar brokers for issues with FBA.
She basically said that, it really comes down to just kind of working those things and doing the things that you need to to successful.
And one of the consistent things I heard from the two top brokers who are on the same brokerage, one, that they really do the same process that we all learned, which I thought was really empowering to know.
[restrict paid=”true”]
Because I think so many times you're like there's some secrets, there's some trade secrets and of course there are things that people will test out and people will do that you start to hear in these side conversations a little bit more that aren't really a part of the training per se.
But you start to test out and figure out. But the biggest thing I remember when I was going through validation, one of the big things that someone told me was that he wished that he would have tested out more things in the six months.
So I think I'm just going to really, really fanatically test out things. That's when I'm going to have like a bunch of different ideas.
And I feel like a lot of my overwhelm came not so much from. It was definitely the information. Don't get me wrong, I meant like 40 to 50 brands at least.
We took classes of courses and met people and trying to remember people's names and where they're from and just all those things, it's just like overwhelming.
But I think what became very apparent to me is that there's a tremendous opportunity around franchising, around content creation, around that being a media company, of course it is.
There's so much opportunity that I think that's here and with technology, with AI and things like that, that it's. It's pretty remarkable, I think, to see those things are going to come about.
So just like I told my classmate, like, I'm going to be really focused on content creation. I think everything that seems like it's an opportunity, like, even the two top brokers, one of the things that they said that they wanted to focus on was doing a lot more marketing themselves.
So that was really cool. One sidebar is they had raffles throughout the entire day. So everybody was winning something.
One of the things that was really touching because, like, you always want to leave with, like, a win, and you always want to celebrate that win, no matter how small that win might.
So my win was going to just be going to conference. You're getting to meet a few people. I have, maybe a co-collaborator with a podcast that I've met while working out and playing pickleball, which is something else that I learned and I had never done before.
So you get to do all these different experiences, but even just getting a chance to win the raffle and from authority brands, and they also mentioned that I had impressed some of the people on the team, so.
And even, some people had say, hey, you've impressed some people. So I've heard that a few times.
So that gives you that confidence, that gives you that win. My old self is really hard on myself. And don't get me wrong, I'm still hard on myself.
I would just say, hey, but I haven't sold anything, I haven't done anything. And even, like, going on the stage, I didn't feel like I had earned the right to go on the stage, so to speak.
So I wanted to make sure that I earned that right. Even as they took the group picture, I said, hey, as much as I want to take this group picture and everybody come on stage, I want to come on stage because I have earned in some form, shape or fashion capacity the ability to come on that stage.
I'm not looking for a free ride. I'm not looking for handouts. I'm actually looking to roll up my sleeves and do the work.
So I'm excited about getting the opportunity to do the work. I'm even more excited that the opportunity I see is, I think, in alignment with the opportunity that a lot of people are really seizing.
So, look forward to continuing to kind of work. Looking forward to getting this information out and then hopefully helping people to start businesses. That's ultimately what I want to do.
Please let me know if there's anything I could do to help. And of course, looking forward to giving you more and more updates.
Outro 06:50
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast, powered by CBNation and Blue16 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 Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five star rating. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.
Title: Transcript - Sun, 19 Jan 2025 15:05:05 GMT
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2025 15:05:05 GMT, Duration: [00:07:30.43]
[00:00:01.52] - Intro
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.
[00:00:28.96] - Gresham Harkless
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gretch from the IM CEO Podcast and this is a special episode of our IM 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 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 Grass signing out. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of day.
[00:01:54.73] - Gresham Harkless
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh here and I am back at home as day, I believe, 17 on this franchise broker journey and I'm back from training. Super excited to be back at this new life. My son, son on the way as well too. It just feels good to be back home, to be Honest with you. I loved, you know, getting at the conference. Definitely beautiful place. But they say home is where the heart is. That's definitely where my heart is. So I come back with a lot of information. So hopefully planning out may not get a chance today or tomorrow to be able to kind of decompress but I hope to do that on Saturday. One of the things that I did is I took all my notes that I compiled and I put them into a little bit more of a. I basically put them into a, a into chatgpt how to clean up my notes and then I had a kind of summary of everything I should know and remember from training. So I hope to of do that a little bit more of a decompress of like all the things because there's so many different brands that we met, there's so much tips. But some of the things that I really, they made me feel a lot more confident. I think going into this is like I spoke with Amanda Vargas who's one of the trainers, one of the million dollar brokers for issues with fba. She basically said that, you know, it really comes down to, you know, you just kind of working those things and doing the things that you need to to successful. And one of the consistent things I heard from the two top brokers who are on the same brokerage, one, you know, that they, they really, they really do the same process that we all learned, which I thought was really empowering to know because I think so many times you're like there's some secrets, there's some trade secrets and of course there are things that people will test out and people will do that you start to hear in these side conversations a little bit more that aren't really a part of the training per se, but you start to test out and figure out. But the biggest thing I remember when I was going through validation, one of the big things that someone told me was that he wished that he would have tested out more things in the six in the six months. So I think I'm just going to really, really fanatically test out things. That's when I'm going to have like a bunch of different ideas. And I feel like a lot of my overwhelm came not so much from. It was definitely the information. Don't get me wrong, I meant like 40 to 50 brands at least. We took classes of courses and met people and trying to remember people's names and where they're from and just all those things, it's just like overwhelming. But I think what became very Apparent to me is that there's a tremendous opportunity around franchising, around content creation, around that being a media company, you know, of course it is. There's so much opportunity that I think that's here and with technology, with AI and things like that, that it's. It's pretty remarkable, I think, to see those things are going to come about. So just like I told my classmate, like, I'm going to be really focused on content creation. I think everything that seems like it's an opportunity, like, even the two top brokers, one of the things that they said that they wanted to focus on was doing a lot more marketing themselves. So that was really cool. One sidebar is they had raffles throughout the entire day. So everybody was winning something. One of the things that was really touching because, like, you always want to leave with, like, a win, and you always want to celebrate that win, no matter how small that win might. So my win was going to just be going to conference. You're getting to meet a few people. I have, you know, maybe a co collaborator with a podcast that I've met while working out and playing pickleball, which is something else that I learned and I had never done before. So you get to do all these different experiences, but even just getting a chance to win the raffle and from authority brands, and they also mentioned that I had impressed some of the people on the team, so. And even, you know, some people had say, hey, you've impressed some people. So I've heard that a few times. So that gives you that confidence, that gives you that win. My old self is really hard on myself. And don't get me wrong, I'm still hard on myself. I would just say, hey, but I haven't sold anything, I haven't done anything. And even, like, going on the stage, I didn't feel like I had earned the right to go on the stage, so to speak. So I wanted to make sure that I earned that right. Even as they took the group picture, I said, hey, you know, as much as I want to take this group picture and everybody come on stage, I want to come on stage because I have earned in some form, shape or fashion capacity the ability to come on that stage. I'm not looking for a free ride. I'm not looking for handouts. I'm actually looking to roll up my sleeves and do the work. So I'm excited about getting the opportunity to do the work. I'm even more excited that the opportunity I see is, I think, in alignment with the opportunity that a lot of people are really seizing. So, you know, look forward to continuing to kind of work. Looking forward to getting this information out and then hopefully helping people to start businesses. That's ultimately what I want to do.
[00:06:45.49] - Gresham Harkless
Please let me know if there's anything I could do to help. And of course, looking forward to giving you more and more updates.
[00:06:50.05] - Intro
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 IMCEO CO. IMCEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five star rating. This has been the I Am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.
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