IAM2686 – Running Your Own Race: Three Essential Tools for Every New Founder

Documenting the New Venture

Gresham Harkless introduces this special episode as a “snippet of a snippet” focused on documenting his journey into starting Blue Star Franchise. This initiative includes the creation of a sub-site within CB Nation called Franchise CEO to provide resources for those exploring the franchise model. Inspired by the founder of the Franchise Brokers Association, Gresh believes that sharing the raw building process is valuable for anyone starting a business who wants to see the authentic journey of a builder.

Essential Tools for Launching

For founders feeling overwhelmed by subscriptions, Gresh recommends focusing on a “bare minimum” of tools that facilitate fast creation and connection. He identifies three essentials: a manageable website builder to serve as a digital home base, a CRM or email tool to build the business’s “heartbeat” through an audience list, and a content tool to ensure consistent visibility. The emphasis is on using a few tools effectively and building habits around them rather than simply stacking technology.

Visibility Over Perfection

A central theme of the episode is that the “name of the game” for new businesses is visibility and being found, not achieving perfection. Gresh encourages entrepreneurs to adopt an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) mindset—launching fast and optimizing as they grow. By leaning into their unique selves and running their own race, builders can focus on getting their name out there and providing what the world needs without being sidelined by the pressure of being perfect.

Previous Episode: https://iamceo.co/iam2685-running-your-own-race-the-power-of-self-discovery-in-business/

• Blue Star Franchise: bluestarfranchise.com
• Browse the Franchise Inventory: bluestarfranchise.com/franchise
• Is franchising right for you? Check this out to see: bluestarfranchise.com/assessment
• Franchise CEO (A CBNation Site – coming soon) – franchiseceo.co

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Transcription:

Gresham Harkless 00:00

The goal is to have visibility and get your name out there. The name of the game is all around being found, not at all about perfection. So understand visibility is the name of the game, not perfection.

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast and this is a special episode, episode number 2287 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'll 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 Herald Glennard Post is, 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 grass signing out. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of day.

Gresham Harkless 01:46

If you're starting your business and you feel overwhelmed by all the tools people say you need, take a breath. You don't need 100,azillion subscriptions to get going. What you need is focus. Focus comes from building with the best bare minimum that helps you create, communicate and connect fast. Now, I'm gonna give you three tools that every new founder actually needs to launch. First, you need a website builder that you can actually manage. Think WordPress, Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, Shopify. There's lots of them out there. But it doesn't have to be fancy, it just has to live online. And your site is your digital home base. Think of your digital business card, your validation signal to the rest of the world that you exist, what you do, how you do it, and how you make the that you want to. Number two, you need a CRM or an email tool that keeps you close to your audience. Think things like mailchimp, Constant Contact, pipedrive, salesforce. Even if you start out with a free version, collect those first names, last names, email address, phone numbers early and often. That list is going to ultimately become your business's heartbeat. Number three, you need a content tool that helps you show up consistently. Whether it's a social media scheduler, it could be a podcast microphone, an AI writing tool. The goal is to have visibility and get your name out there. The name of the game is all around being found, not and all about perfection. So understand visibility is the name of the game, not perfection. And now keep in mind, you don't have to build a business by stacking tools. You build it by using a few tools very well and executing on them, and then building the habits around them so that you can use them again and again and again. Start small, think mvp, launch fast, and then optimize as you grow. That's the real hack.