IAM2497 – Don’t Throw in the Towel – Here’s Why

Gresham Harkless shares a raw and motivating message centered on perseverance through difficult times. He reflects on feeling discouraged, as though life isn’t aligning in his favor, to emphasize the importance of staying consistent and committed to the work, especially in a results-driven business where one franchise sale can completely shift momentum.

Gresham recognizes moments in the past when he gave up and how deeply he regrets them, using that experience to encourage listeners not to “throw in the towel” now.

In addition, he points out that enduring hard moments builds the resilience and strength needed for future challenges, and reminds us all that we’re closer to our goals than when we began.

Check out our CEO Hack Buzz Newsletter–our premium newsletter with hacks and nuggets to level up your organization. Sign up HERE. 

I AM CEO Handbook Volume 3 is HERE and it's FREE. Get your copy here: http://cbnation.co/iamceo3. Get the 100+ things that you can learn from 1600 business podcasts we recorded. Hear Gresh's story, learn the 16 business pillars from the podcast, find out about CBNation Architects and why you might be one and so much more. Did we mention it was FREE? Download it today!

Transcription:

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

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 alo 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.

Day 177 of the Franchise Broker journey. And I just did my workout. I grabbed my towel.

And it's funny because I titled the message not to throw in the towel, largely because I talked about yesterday, like, man, it feels like life is life and being hit.

And I talked about it a couple of times, but I feel like right now it just feels like there's not a lot of good, not a lot of things that are happening in my favor, honestly.

But a lot of times you find that people that are right and doing the work, doing the consistent things and knocking at the door towards the opportunity to be able to kind of get over the hump.

[restrict paid=”true”]

I think that's been the big thing is just understanding that and starting to kind of adjust and tweak what that is and what that looks like.

So don't throw in the towel. I do have a candidate that is knocking at the door.

Frankly, in this business, like the way that I've looked at it is that sometimes you get one sale and it ends up being, if you get one franchise sales, then it ends up being a game changer.

But it's just so important to kind of do that work and to put that time in and do those things to make it happen.

As you hear my lovely ghost in the background with his music, I think the big thing to kind of keep in mind is that You're not done until you quit.

And no matter how challenging it might be, you're closer than you were when you started.

And I think that's the hard thing to kind of keep in mind because you're like, how much further do I have to go?

I've told the story a couple of times where I went to work out with my cousins and we went, just to spend time with them, but they were working out, trying to get ready to go to NFL, train, do all those things.

Bigger, six foot, six one, six two. So I remember I was doing the sled. You extend your arms and you're pushing, right?

So the workout sled and just kind of going through that. And I remember I looked up and I said, how much further do I have to go?

And I went back and I told my cousins because I went back and I stopped. So I went back and talked to my cousin, and they were like, you never, ever, ever look up.

You do not look up. You just keep going until you get towards the end. And it's the same thing that we're seeing here, where you want to persevere through the hard things, the challenges.

These hard things are setting you up for other hard things in the future.

Once you get through this moment, you have that opportunity to say, hey, I did that.

I didn't know if I was going to be able to do it. I didn't think it was possible, but I was challenged and I stood up to the challenge.

And there's times in my life that I have thrown in the towel. I regret that more than anything else.

So today is not a day if you're going through challenges to feel like you do need to throw in a towel.

So I'm not doing that today. I don't think you need to do that now, but I am going to stop the video because a little one needs me.

But just remember to keep going to persevere. It's only going to make you stronger and make you more resilient.

So that's the message for me. That's a message for you. And I hope you have a great rest of the day.

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 04:45

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.

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.

[/restrict]