He expresses some frustration with the lack of engagement within a BNI chapter he’s considering joining, noting that members’ slow responses and minimal one-to-ones raise concerns about whether referrals would be handled with care.
Gresham highlights the significance of staying outside his comfort zone, citing a recent live session that not only pushed his boundaries but also resulted in new opportunities.
He emphasizes his desire to build his franchise brokerage business in a way that aligns with his values rather than simply following conventional models.
In addition, Gresham acknowledges the challenges of going 244 days without closing a deal but remains committed to experimentation, staying mentally strong, and taking it one step at a time, while being mindful not to overextend himself.
- 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 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 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.
Not done yet. So, I had a little bit of life, just doing some outreach. That's something I really wanted to focus on to see if I can generate some more opportunities.
I just have all these ideas, especially people that are experiencing layoffs and things like that.
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Like, what can I do? I also had a one-to-one with the BNI chapter I want to be a member of, but I've been back and forth just because I haven't been able to kind of connect with as many members as I would have liked.
I also believe that there's some connection opportunities, but you just haven't had people that have replied back, which is interesting.
So, it makes me think that maybe in that chapter, there's not a lot of engagement, not a lot of one-to-ones. and people aren't necessarily doing the things.
And being a member, I don't think necessarily changes that, because what that tells me is that if I was to send somebody as a potential referral, that that wouldn't be taken care of.
I believe that even those referrals and those opportunities you get will be even, should be treated as gold.
And if I'm a visitor, that's the ultimate kind of invitation to the chapter. So, it's just looking at those things and seeing how everything will go from there.
But that's one thing I got invited to do some speaking at the conference. Well, basically, a hold or lead in a roundtable around marketing and advertising, which, when I first got the email, I said, no, this can't be for me.
It's got to be for another Gresh. But I had a conversation with my coach around that imposter syndrome and what that looks like, why that might be coming about.
And so have some exercises to kind of work and do that. And positive syndromes rampant around this.
Entrepreneurship is around, around like everything you do, but especially around entrepreneurship, because you're constantly pushing outside of your boundaries.
And doing things like when I even I mentioned yesterday to the team, to the marketing team that I did my first live and that was out of my comfort zone.
But it brought two potential, well, it finished one opportunity, and it brought some other opportunities there.
So that was definitely like one thing that happened. But I think outside of that, it's just I end up getting somebody I was reaching out to that wants to start his business and maybe wants to franchise the business, found him online.
So, I did a DM, set up a meeting, had that meeting today, set it up yesterday for today. So, we'll see what happens with that.
But some movement, and that's what you want to see. I think from this first week, especially when I'm trying to go with Ian on sales, I think it's just getting in the right mindset and understanding that it's a journey.
I think one of the things I talked about with my coach is that the way that I wanted to approach this franchise brokerage business was not the way that I wanted to.
I don't want to say I don't want to get opportunities, but I don't want to do it in the way that everybody else has done it, just being hard-headed or whatever that is, it's just who I am.
When I approach it like that, I have to understand that it's going to be some cold days and cold opportunities until I figure it out.
And even when I figure it out, I still have to continue to kind of experiment and do those things to try to, I don't want to say get more, but to continue to kind of optimize, continue to kind of test out, continue to kind of see what will work and what will happen.
And I think if I hold space for that and I don't get too over-leveraged, which I might already be, then that's going to allow me the opportunity to experiment truly and try out things that maybe other people haven't or just don't create the space for because they have to stay true to what they're doing.
So, I'm excited about that, excited to see what happens, and just take it, you know, one step at a time.
I think this is definitely, this is definitely the right route that I'm going.
I think it's definitely some struggles, obviously, 244 days and not having closed the deal. It's a big thing, but I want to continue to sharpen the saw, continue to chop at the tree, and then just take things from there.
So, with that being said, I'm going to close everything out, get the little one out, get both little ones up, I guess you could say, the older little one and the younger little one, and then just get moving on the day.
So, we'll see what happens. I have a pretty busy day before the holiday. I'm still going to do some work probably in the morning, and then we'll just ultimately take it from there.
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 06:01
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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