IAM2541 – My Surprise Birthday Secret

In this special episode, Gresham Harkless showed appreciation for his development so far, even if results haven’t matched his initial goals, recognizing that unpredictable market conditions and widespread hesitation have added complexity to the path.

A recent coaching session prompted him to recalibrate his target client profile and shift focus toward building referral relationships, particularly through rejoining a BNI networking group and leveraging his podcast as a platform to connect with potential partners.

He recognizes the importance of using digital marketing not just for direct leads but as a tool to foster strategic connections and enhance credibility.

Gresham admits he wasn’t in the right place to begin his journey this way—balancing fatherhood and a steep learning curve—but he’s now more equipped to move forward with clarity and a focus on building meaningful relationships.

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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 203 of the franchise broker journey. And today happens to also be my birthday.

So, I was woken up very amazingly by a crying baby boy that went to, I think, sing me happy birthday, but who knows, might've wanted food as well too.

But all jokes aside, I'm very happy, grateful to kind of be where I'm at, to have the opportunities that I do have at my fingertips.

Like I've mentioned many times, like I'm shocked that it's been 203 days. I'm even more shocked that I haven't had the success that I hoped to have in the very beginning, but I don't think I'm by myself in this year.

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I think it's been a tumultuous economy, so I think that definitely has not helped, and I think that a lot of times people are unsure of what to do, how to do where to do it.

But with that being said, I had a kind of a coaching session yesterday where we kind of recalibrated what might be my ideal clients and targets.

And I started to like execute on that, like right there, right then, and right there. I really want to see what I can do to try to maybe build those referral partners and relationships and look at my podcast as a way to kind of make that happen.

So, I actually put in an application to rejoin the networking group that was a part of the BNI chapter, different BNI chapter.

We'll see how that goes. I'm going to start to connect with people, build relationships, see what ultimately happens.

But I want to try to connect with as many people as I can to see like where these things go. And then, after that, I really want to look into what are going to be my next steps.

I really think that scaling back on the Google ads and maybe, you know, using some other platforms are going to be a way that I start to figure out what's going to be my target client.

I think by having conversations and relationships and seeing who I get referrals to and how those referrals work out, or connections with and how the podcast works, I think I have a lot more at my fingertips than I did.

Honestly, I probably would not have been able to do this route from day one. So, there's also that.

But like I usually try to say, like if I was going to start today, which I've been comparing myself against myself.

Like if I was starting in April, May, June timeframe, which is where I think I would have started after, the little one got a little bit better, wife went back to work, things like that.

So that May, June timeframe, I think would have been where I would have started at least doing training and then going down the line from there.

But I really do feel like I learned a lot, humbled a lot, but I am not done. I'm just recalibrating, shifting, changing, and pivoting in what I'm doing.

And I think that one of the things that I really have to do, one of the things that I have not done as great a job at with digital marketing that I could do better that I know that is an opportunity is using digital marketing not to necessarily get direct referrals, but using digital marketing to connect with potential referral partners and opportunities. and build your esteem that way.

And that's the way that it does take longer, but I think it's absolutely in flow.

I think being able to kind of leverage and use the podcast to be able to create connections and relationships is exactly like right in par with who I am and what I want to ultimately be with that connection broker, mindset that I was talking about.

I'm looking forward to this because I thought this was going to be the next step of the thing that I was going to do, but maybe it should have been the first step.

But frankly, who knows within those first five months or so if I would have had the bandwidth to do that.

So, needless to say, I'm here now. I'm looking a lot more into what this process looks like, where I'm going to be really thinking strategically as much as I can around my next steps.

And yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to everything that's going to happen, what it looks like, and then just taking it from there.

So, I've got to go hop on a podcast, do some birthday things later on, hopefully catch a nap or some good sleep somewhere in between.

That's really the best thing that I would like for my birthday gift. As much as I love my son singing, I think he was singing to me at like 3 AM in the morning. 2 AM, 3 AM into 4 AM.

Because he didn't go to sleep for like an hour. I'd much rather have gotten a little bit more sleep. So we'll see what happens.

I'm blessed. I'm extremely grateful. And then looking forward to, you know, this opportunity. I'm 38 today.

So, looking at two years into being 40. So, I'm on the sprint to see like what I can make out of these two years and beyond. So, looking forward to everything, and we'll see where everything takes us.

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 06:22

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.

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