IAM2512 – Finding Your Conversation Spark

Gresham Harkless expresses his emotional and mental fatigue as he navigates the long ramp-up period, now around day 185, without yet closing his first candidate.

He discusses the importance of timing and financing in matching candidates with business opportunities, noting that even when there's interest, external factors can delay progress.

Gresham emphasizes his belief in “moving before you're ready,” acknowledging that this mindset has propelled him forward, even without tangible results yet.

Despite challenges, including a rainy day disrupting his routine and emotional exhaustion from the process, Gresham remains hopeful and committed, recognizing that persistence and preparation will pay off once the first deal is finalized.

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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.

And just like that. I don't know what day it is, like day 185. I don't even know what to honestly talk about today.

So I'll just kind of do a free flow about some of the different feelings, emotions, things that I'm kind of working through.

As some candidate, potential candidate I should say, DME said that he had vending machines and he wanted to hear more around financing.

So I think that's one of the things that I've learned, throughout this process. It's not just the connection between person, candidate, and concept.

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It's also the financing of it. There's a timing that plays a really big part. So there's a lot of moving parts, when you're trying to find something for somebody, you try to time out that process and that thing.

So that's been sometimes the difficult thing where I feel like at least some of the candidates that I've talked to It hasn't just been the right timing, and that is playing a really big part.

But I'm a big move before you're ready. As I started all of this, I was moving before I was ready.

I do feel like I'm further along than I would have been, but I also feel like I'm not further along because I haven't gotten open with a candidate.

I definitely understand, like, you know, there's a place to always say that I want to do something.

I want to start something. And I think that one of the consistent things that I've seen and known is that there's people that are already entrepreneurial and exhibiting that.

So they might have started something, business or something, and they might have also It might even be a side hustle.

They might have a vending machine already or they have a franchise or a business, or they have a business that's not a franchise.

But those people typically have those entrepreneurial tendencies and they've shown that and exhibited that.

And that just means that we can potentially, fill in that gap because you don't have to teach that entrepreneurship part.

I think that even the two candidates that I have, one is an existing franchisee. The other one had a business in the past.

So again, it's not teaching how to be an entrepreneur in that sense. It's being able to kind of take people that have that tendency and add on certain things or replace certain things or whatever that might be, depending on where they are in their journey.

So I think that's one of the interesting things that I've started to notice around the candidates that I have.

It's like that DNA is like I am entrepreneur. I've shown that I'm entrepreneur because I've done something.

This is not my first rodeo, but this is maybe something new that I'm looking to do.

Maybe it's a new concept. Maybe it's a new type of business, whatever it might be.

So I think it's very interesting to kind of see that evolution and see what that looks like, because I think ultimately, ultimately, that's what you kind of look for in a process is be able to say, this is the profile of who we're targeting, and then let's kind of move from there.

So existing franchises, franchisees, former business owners, existing business owners, those combinations of people end up being people that end up being a really great fit, I think, for something like this.

So unfortunately, it's raining too, so I don't get to go for my run today. I really wanted to, but it's not going to stop till around 10 or 11, so I could potentially try to go later or we'll see, I have to meet a friend later on for a birthday party, for a surprise birthday party.

So, those processes are just kind of ultimately happening. And then we'll just see where everything kind of takes us from here.

Like, I'm really, really, really excited. I don't know what I am. I have all these like feelings and emotions about where I'm at.

I feel like, I think that everything, I don't think everything even changes. Like when you get that first sale, I'm the first person that goes over the finish line, the first candidate that starts a business.

I think it, I think it, it'll take some time. I think, the mental, emotional, kind of drain of this has been way longer than I thought it would be.

You hear the, you always hear the six month and, it takes time to ramp up. And that's part of like where I'm actually happy that I did start early.

But the thing that I have to remember is not to take the foot off the pedal to the metal.

You don't have to continue on with it and then just kind of move forward from there. So we'll see ultimately what happens and then, take it from there.

Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help. And of course, I look forward to giving you more and more updates.

Outro 06:14

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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