IAM2519 – Chasing Opportunities: The Art of Asking

Gresham Harkless reflects on reaching day 193 of his franchise broker journey, expressing a mix of disbelief at how far he's come and a sense that he's still at the beginning.

He shares the challenges of juggling multiple responsibilities, especially the operational struggles with his main venture, Blue Star, where getting the team to perform without his constant involvement has been difficult.

He emphasizes the importance of systems like the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System), acknowledging that real change takes time, the right people, and cultural alignment.

Gresham also acknowledges that he's running the brokerage on a part-time basis and may need to shift toward a more pragmatic and strategic model, much like a part-time real estate agent.

He highlights the need for pivoting rather than giving up, accepting the struggles as opportunities to build resilience.

In addition, Gresham’s faith gives him strength, guiding him to grow through challenges and stay adaptable, honest, and hopeful as he moves forward.

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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 is day 193 of the franchise broker journey. It's hard to believe I'm knocking on the door to 200 days.

Every time I feel like I do a recording, it's like it's hard to believe it's this day.

It's hard to believe it's been that many days. I feel like I'm honestly just getting started in some degrees.

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Some degree I am. When you talk with a lot of people that have been doing what they're doing for a long period of time, you see that, there's a tremendous opportunity to kind of just be in the present and realize that you're just getting 1% better every single day.

I think for me, because I have so many different, like, irons in the fire, and my main one is not going as well as I want it to go, operationally more than anything else.

It's just getting the people to do the right things without having me needing to be so involved.

I think that's been the big challenge is really honing in on that and really honing in on, what that's going to look like and what that's going to be.

It's something that's been evolving, but I know when I've heard about EOS, like it takes time.

It takes time to change the minds and the hearts of people. It takes time to find the right people that can, be a culture fit.

EOS is a system that does require you have the people. It's not something you do without the people, something you do kind of with the people.

So that's a really big thing. And how that has affected Blue Star is, any time that you're spent anywhere else is going to affect this.

I think that I understand that I am to some degree doing this franchise brokerage part time.

I didn't want to admit it and I talked with, we were talking with some of my classmates.

I was saying, I think I need to just approach this more like a part-time realtor.

I think I used a phrase and he was like, you don't need to throw in the towel.

And it's like, I'm not necessarily throwing in the towel, but maybe I'm being more honest about what it takes to be good and great, but also frankly, like what I'm able to contribute.

So part of me is just like, this is a time to like change your strategy, change your focus, be a lot more content-focused, help people to really understand the nuances of franchising.

Understand like it's part of entrepreneurship and business and that those two things can kind of ultimately kind of come together.

So it's interesting times. I feel like there's so many things that are shifting and changing.

I don't want to lose hope, don't want to lose focus, but I still want to continue to kind of, move through the process and the steps as best as I can. I don't know.

I think that hearing to some degree that there's a lot of people in the industry that are struggling, a lot of people in a lot of different industries that are struggling.

It makes you, it makes you just look at things differently and give yourself a little bit more grace.

I think when you're going through challenging and hard times, but I think even, biblically it talks around, counting the trials and tribulations as blessings.

Because it helps you to build that endurance, helps you to build the resilience that you need, some form of that.

And I think that's ultimately like what's happening. So you just keep on keeping on.

You don't throw in a towel. You adjust and change, though. You have to pivot.

You have to pivot. You have to make decisions, but understand that it is a challenging time.

So even the pivots may not necessarily result in what you want, but you want to make sure that you're very, very nimble.

So with that being said, that's ultimately kind of where we're at, what we're hoping to try to do.

And we'll just kind of take it one step in front of another, and we'll also kind of go from there.

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 05:30

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.

Check out the latest and greatest apps, books, and habits to level up your business at CEOhacks.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

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