IAM2615 – What They Threw Away, I Built with Story

In this special episode, Gresham then shifts to a personal story that led to his current drive: being laid off after years of “purpose‑filled” work running sports camps for young children in Northern Virginia.

Despite his dedication—early arrivals, late stays, driving across the region, and filling in whenever needed—he felt discarded, which forced him to confront the deeper frustration of never being given a real chance to build his own business.

That painful turning point ignited a long‑standing entrepreneurial spark. Gresham recalls early side‑hustles—selling potato chips on a playground, publishing a family newsletter, and taking sales jobs solely to learn how to launch something of his own. Now, with the layoff acting as a catalyst, he’s committed to turning his vision into reality.

• 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 00:29
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 a franchise CEO.

So you'll see some links in the show notes related to that. But I just want 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 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. It 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. Getting laid off changed everything for me, not just my job, not just my income, everything. The truth is, every time I hear about someone else getting laid off, I still feel it like a punch to the gut.

And I think I'm only now just starting to understand why. Maybe it's because it was me. If I'm honest, I don't think I ever fully processed it. I never regained the same level of trust in companies, leadership, and maybe even myself.

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And honestly, it hurts. Because these aren't just numbers. These are real people. Wives, fathers, sisters, sons, families being handed a pink slip.

And my heart sinks every time that I see it. I used to run sports camps all across Northern Virginia. I was the Disneyland dad coming in with a big, huge inflatable Mr. Football, teaching the two to five year olds how to have fun and how to be safe. Now picture this, I was Mr. G at the time because kids would butcher my name.

But I would basically clap them on as they took the football, held it up high, and threw it right into Mr. Football. Even the two-year-olds who weren't able to stand up straight, I would help them to get the football through to Mr. Football, and I would give them a high five, I would stamp their hands, and really just get them to enjoy being active and enjoy sports and all the things that could come about. It was hands down my favorite job.

I even got the opportunity to teach them Stranger Danger, where if someone wasn't their mommy or wasn't their daddy, they would rip away and say, you're not my mommy or you're not my daddy, and would teach them about safety and teach them about how they can use their voice to protect themselves. We were building something special. It felt like purpose-filled work.

Then I left that job for what I felt was a better opportunity, more growth, more potential, but it was unstable, honestly, probably from day one. I had one manager that left while I was in training, had three-week training, and that one manager left, I interviewed with. And a day or two after I finished training, I got back to the office, my other manager left. And that was just a day or two after I finished training.

No direction, no mentorship, what I desperately wanted and needed, especially as a young kid that was graduating from school, the guidance, I didn't have it. I wasn't sure of what anybody was telling me because it seemed like as soon as I got to a position, that person was leaving. Eventually, I was convinced to go back to the job with the kids. I still believed in the mission.

I said, hey, if it's going to be unstable, at least let me enjoy being with the kids. And for a few months, it was that, but it didn't feel right when I went back. And eventually, a few months later, my hours were reduced and I was eventually laid off. But this time it cut a lot deeper.

It felt like I'd done all the things I was supposed to do. I did all the right things. I got my master's degree. I had my bachelor's.

I did all these things. I showed up early. I stayed late. Filled in.

Drove all across northern Virginia. Filled in when instructors didn't come. And still, it felt like a punch in the stomach. Like none of it mattered.

But it wasn't just the layoff itself that really influenced me. It was a buildup. I thought back to graduating and being promised job after job after job that never came to fruition. I remember being told I'd get raises as a young employee, raises that never showed up or they would be a percentage of what you felt like you put in and what you did.

I'd be lying if I said it was just being laid off. It was years of being treated like I was less than. I really, really rolled up my sleeves and I put in a lot of work and time and energy into everything that I did. But when you don't get the raise or the raise that you get is a small percentage of what you feel like you should get, Or you look up to somebody, you want to be trained, and you want to learn, and that person leaves.

All those things start to build up a compound to this point where you're just like, what am I really doing? And all of it hit in that moment. I felt like I'd done all the things right, showed up early, stayed late, filled in, drove around everywhere. And still, it felt like a punch in the gut.

Like none of it mattered. I had shown up and gone the extra mile. driven all around Northern Virginia, filled in when instructors didn't show up, and in the end, I felt tossed aside like I didn't matter. That moment also revealed something powerful.

I had always wanted to start something. Even as a kid, I sold potato chips on this playground. I started a family newsletter and sold a subscription to it. I took sales jobs out of college, not because I loved sales, but because I knew one day I did ultimately want to build something of my own.

But I never had that environment that truly cultivated it. It was okay to have side hustles, but it wasn't okay to be full-time into your business. And I was told directly and indirectly by those that I loved, and frankly, those I didn't love as much, that I didn't have what it took. And honestly, I believed it.

Until I got laid off. It was probably hitting that rock bottom moment that was ultimately the spark that led me to everything that happened. Now, I didn't take a string of all these additional jobs. 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 06:50
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.

Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at Blue16media.com. This has been the I Am CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

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