IAM2496 – When Nothing Goes Right: Finding Your Path Forward

Gresham Harkless shares a deeply personal moment in his entrepreneurial path, expressing the emotional weight of a season where nothing seems to be going right, professionally or personally.

He discusses the cumulative toll of losing loved ones, the underperformance of his digital marketing business despite team growth, and the stagnation of CB Nation, all of which have left him questioning his progress.

Despite these challenges, he emphasizes the importance of maintaining faith, practicing mindfulness, and reframing struggles as opportunities for resilience and growth.

Gresham highlights the importance of acknowledging small victories, facing challenges with mindful resilience rather than bottling them up, and staying rooted in the belief that obstacles can lay the groundwork for a strong comeback.

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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.

What to do when you feel like nothing's going right. I think it's really hard when you're in this kind of space.

I was day 176, I believe, this franchise broker journey. It seemed like I feel like I'm taking L after L after L, whether we're talking about business, personal, any of the businesses, or it just really feels that way.

So this is really going to be the probably the biggest test of my mental, my emotional, and then probably even just, it's just gonna be the biggest test, one of the bigger tests that I've had.

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I think over the last couple of years, I've had loss, lots of loss, and family members, including Star.

And it just seems like everything is not going the way that I want it to go.

I know that's not true because I know that a lot of times when you get in that headspace and you feel like, why is everything working against me?

Sometimes it requires you to look at things in a different way and see what things are working for you, what things have been wins, even the losses, what things you've been able to kind of get from them.

So I'm looking forward and I want to record this just because it has absolutely been a challenge.

I want to say over this last couple of years and the challenge is definitely coming to a head I think more now.

But I really am a man of faith, so I really do feel like those things will work out.

It's just really exhausting when you feel like you're taking L after L after L, and things are not going the way that you want them to go.

But I think it's just a challenge, the opportunity to persevere, the opportunity to build that resilience, that strength that's needed in life overall.

And you're holding your breath. And I think when you're holding your breath, you're not allowing yourself to be as present as you can be and to really breathe through the things, through the challenges and things that are happening.

But furthermore, I think you sometimes miss out on the wins or the things that end up being positive.

So I think when we go through, life and go through these things and we make these things happen, it just can be really challenging because sometimes we forget, can't forget the challenging times.

I wanted to make sure to record this as I mentioned that things are not all sunshine and rainbows. I have not closed a deal.

I think my digital marketing business is even less, bringing in less revenue than it was before with more people.

And then CBNation has not taken the term that I wanted it to take.

So when you have those things just from a business standpoint and have that onto professional triggers or personal triggers that you're having, it makes you wonder like, what's happening here? Why is this happening?

And things like that. You know, I think that there's a quote that talks around the, when everything seems to be going against you.

Just remember that the plane takes off with the wind against it, not the wind, you know, pushing, pushing in the back of it, something like that.

King of the Butcher in quotes. So I think it's just a reminder to continue to kind of fight through those things.

And the takeoff can definitely happen and it will definitely happen. I'm a strong believer in that, but it's just dang, it's just. really challenging right now because those things are happening.

But I want to continue to kind of work through those things, get stronger, get better.

And I know that by keeping my faith, keeping that strong, continue to kind of breathe to stress relief, to get as much rest as I can to try to mind my thoughts.

Those are going to be the best things that I can do. But dang, if it ain't if it ain't if it ain't a challenge right now.

So I'm working through that and we'll see what kind of happens and go from there.

And yeah, just count it as a, you know, opportunity to kind of have a phenomenal comeback story.

That's the way I look at it. And hopefully I'll continue to kind of keep that mindset 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 05:49

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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