IAM2595 – Always Another Level: Embrace the Journey

In this special episode, Gresham Harkless shares insights from top leaders and announces a new “Franchise CEO” series that will chronicle his own launch of Blue Star Franchise, offering a real‑time case study for aspiring entrepreneurs.

He uses a grueling Peloton push‑up ladder workout as a metaphor for growth, stressing that waiting for others to catch up keeps you stuck. Instead, he embraces the mindset that there’s always “another level” to reach—whether in business, fitness, or personal development—and commits to pushing past comfort zones.

Gresham addresses a team member’s lack of focus, declaring a clear “in‑or‑out” stance to enforce accountability.

• 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 IAMCEO Podcast, and this is a special episode of our IAMCEO 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 subsite 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 who 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, 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.

There's always another level. So I think one of the things that has been really frustrating for me is that I've been kind of stuck on this level.

And I've been trying to take the next level, and I've been trying to invest in people to get them to kind of do that next level and trying to wait for them to do that before I try to level up.

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And I think that's a mistake that I've made in understanding that there's always another level, there's another place to go.

I mean, I think what I have to hold faith with is that when I improve, when I level up and do the things I need to do, there will be people that will stay, there will be people that won't stay.

There are people that will go with me, there are people that won't go with me. And I think that's just the challenge that I have upon myself.

Instead of waiting until something happens, it's just on me to kind of make sure I do that. I did that because I was going through a workout and I got winded.

More winded, not more winded than I've ever been. Winded, but it's just, it was, I think, during the workout I did with Rad, it was a bike bootcamp, 30 minutes, so it's on the Peloton, working out, and back on the Peloton.

And I got to a point where I was starting the workout, It was basically a ladder, you're doing a push-up ladder.

So you do 10 push-ups, then you go to the other side, you do nine push-ups, go to the other side, do eight push-ups, and you go back and forth until you get to one.

And then he said, you know, while you get started doing that, if you're really a beast, then when you get to the bottom, you can go back up. And while I'm doing it, I'm like, I don't know if I'm gonna make it all the way down, let alone all the way up.

And I did, fortunately, make it down. It was definitely a struggle doing that. I definitely even, you know, tapped out with one of the push-ups, I think the second rep that I did. But I was definitely struggling during the whole thing.

But it's not to say that I'm not an abyss, but it just told me that there's another level, and I've been in that other level, and there's always something more that you can do.

And for me, there's nothing more, there's nothing better, there's nothing better, and being able to kind of say, like, you're at this stage and you can do more.

You have done more. And you've gotten to this place where you start to appreciate the comfort of where you're at.

And it becomes a challenge physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. to be able to kind of go to that next level and all those things are very much still in tandem and there's always another level there's always something more that you can do there's always something more that's inside of you that you're capable of but if you allow yourself to be that same person if you allow yourself to be that then you know, you're not doing what I think you're called in order to do. And that could be literally anything.

It could be like running a franchise. It could be, you know, motivation. It could be your workouts. It could be your walk with God.

It could be whatever it is. There's always another level that you can kind of get to.

And I think it's upon ourselves to challenge ourselves to get out of our comfort zone and start doing those things. And so for me, it's a combination of all those things.

And I think that I'm challenging myself to level up. I'm not going to be comfortable with where I'm at because I know I can do and I've been called for so much more.

So I think when I'm looking at this, you know, this business or my digital marketing business or even the CEO hacks and affiliates, I'm going to challenge myself to be better. And I'm not going to wait for those around me to get better.

It's either you're there or you're not. Let's get with the program. And I think part of it is, well, too, I had a teammate send a message that wasn't meant for me, but got to me, and it questioned some of the things that I was doing and why I was doing it.

And I think my frustration is that I wanted that person to focus and lock in on the things that they're supposed to do, but they're not locking in on the things they're supposed to do.

And I feel like because they're not locking in on the things they're supposed to do, I can't lock in on the things I'm supposed to do.

The best thing that I could do as a leader is just have a flat-out conversation about that. But frankly, too, I can say that, hey, you're either in or you're out.

And it's not to say that, you know, you're not, you're telling somebody to either fit in or stand out, but it's like, this is the program, this is what we're executing on.

I can't do what I can do unless you do what you're supposed to do. You can either choose to do it or you don't choose to do it. Either way, I'm going to that next level.

I think when you say that, it changes things, so that's the challenge and that's what I'm going to do and we'll see what happens from here.

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 06:27

Thank you for listening to the IAMCEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue16Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. IAMCEO is not just a phrase; it's a community.

Check out the latest and greatest apps, books, and habits to level up your business at ceohacks.co. This has been the IMCEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

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