Gresham Harkless expresses his emotional and mental fatigue as he navigates the long ramp-up period, now around day 185, without yet closing his first candidate. He discusses the importance of timing and financing in matching candidates with business opportunities, noting that even when there's interest, external factors can delay progress. Gresham emphasizes his belief in "moving before you're ready," acknowledging that this mindset has propelled him forward, even without tangible results yet. ...
Jun 29, 2025•7 min•Season 8Ep. 2512
In this special episode, Gresham Harkless explores into the challenges of franchise brokerage, particularly the extended sales cycles and the emotional aspects of entrepreneurship. He emphasizes that while immediate feedback is scarce, signs like presentations, brand communications, and candidate interactions indicate movement. Gresham also highlights the importance of recognizing small victories and staying persistent, even when outcomes are not immediately clear. Through his experiences, Gresh...
Jun 28, 2025•6 min•Season 8Ep. 2511
Gresham Harkless shares the challenges he faces in maintaining focus as increasing daily distractions and obligations make it more difficult to keep moving toward his goals. He highlights the exhaustion that comes from constantly juggling priorities — family, business, leadership, and how that often leads people to choose more stable paths like traditional jobs. Gresham reflects on the difficulty of committing to new opportunities, especially when results aren’t guaranteed, and how it requires a...
Jun 27, 2025•6 min•Season 8Ep. 2510
Chuck Salvo is the Chief Happiness Architect and culture strategist behind the R.A.V.E. movement — "Respect and Value Everyone." With over 30 years of leadership experience, including 15 years at Disney Institute, Chuck has dedicated his career to helping organizations design intentional cultures that drive employee engagement, customer loyalty, and sustainable growth. He advocates for moving beyond generic slogans, urging leaders to embed respect, connection, and purpose into their company's DN...
Jun 26, 2025•17 min•Season 8Ep. 2506
John Piester is the President of Red Peg Marketing, a leading experiential marketing agency known for creating dynamic, consumer-driven brand experiences. With over 20 years of experience in operations and management across industries like sports, entertainment, and brand marketing, John has worked with some of the world’s most iconic companies, including Nike, ESPN, Coca-Cola, and Harley-Davidson. Before joining Red Peg, he held senior leadership roles at Momentum Worldwide and Ignition Incorpo...
Jun 25, 2025•16 min•Season 8Ep. 2508
Rob Braiman is the founder and CEO of Cogent Analytics, a business management consulting firm dedicated to helping small and mid-sized businesses achieve sustainable growth and profitability. With over 20 years of experience, Rob has personally engaged with more than 1,700 businesses across the United States, providing tailored strategies to enhance operations, leadership, and financial performance. Under Rob's leadership, Cogent Analytics has grown from a team of six in 2014 to over 220 employe...
Jun 24, 2025•17 min•Season 8Ep. 2507
In this special episode, Gresham Harkless reflects on attending a Discovery Day with Neighborly, a franchisor with a wide range of brands, including standout options like 4 Candidate, an appealing fit for one of his prospects. Gresham discusses refining his process by potentially merging the initial and second calls with prospects to build stronger rapport and qualify leads more efficiently. He admits he hasn’t yet taken anyone through the entire broker process, but recognizes that many in the i...
Jun 23, 2025•7 min•Season 8Ep. 2506
In this special episode, Gresham Harkless discusses the five phases of change: uninformed optimism, informed pessimism, the valley of despair, informed optimism, and success and fulfillment. He identifies with the "informed pessimism" phase, acknowledging the frustrations that arise when initial excitement gives way to challenges. Gresham explains the significance of understanding these phases to maintain perspective and motivation during tough times. He also emphasizes the concept of strategic ...
Jun 22, 2025•7 min•Season 8Ep. 2505
Gresham Harkless shares a deeply personal and reflective update, capturing the balancing act between professional commitments and family life. He expresses the emotional difficulty of traveling for a Discovery Day, especially during a period of transition marked by his wife’s illness, recent travel, and their baby’s sleep regression. Gresham highlights scheduling challenges, including accidentally double-booking a podcast due to receiving the trip itinerary late, and the need to “roll with the p...
Jun 21, 2025•6 min•Season 8Ep. 2504
In this special episode, Gresham Harkless opens up about the mental and emotional weight that comes with building a business from the ground up. Gresham discusses the internal battles — self-doubt, exhaustion, and the fading excitement that often follow the initial momentum of launching a business. Despite investing time, money, and energy, he feels behind where he thought he’d be, especially while juggling personal responsibilities like parenthood, marriage, and managing a 15-person team. Gresh...
Jun 20, 2025•7 min•Season 8Ep. 2503
Laurie Seymour is the founder and CEO of The Baca Institute, a certified Master Trainer, executive mentor, international speaker, and the host of Wisdom Talk Radio. Laurie is the creator of the Quantum Connection Process, a groundbreaking method that guides people in tapping into the quantum field to unlock their unique blueprint for success, joy, and well-being. Laurie is also the steward of Turaya Touch and Turaya Meditation, energetic technologies designed to raise vibration and accelerate tr...
Jun 19, 2025•17 min•Season 8Ep. 2502
Ms. Sharon Lawrence is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Anger Management Specialist, Certified Life Coach, Prepare/Enrich Facilitator and Trainer, and a credentialed Employee Assistance Specialist – Clinician. Ms. Lawrence is also a speaker, author, and the founder of Selah Wellness and Therapeutic Services, based in Largo, Maryland. With over 15 years of clinical experience and multiple certifications, Sharon discusses the moment she realized it was time to launch her own business, ...
Jun 18, 2025•17 min•Season 8Ep. 2501
Danielle Klemm explains that her path to entrepreneurship was profoundly influenced by the early loss of both her biological mother and stepmother, each of whom was an entrepreneur, who passed away from cancer before she completed high school. Danielle specializes in helping service-based entrepreneurs generate leads and convert them into paying clients through her signature PAC Method —Positioning, Attraction, and Conversion. She emphasizes the need to establish clear and compelling messaging b...
Jun 17, 2025•16 min•Season 8Ep. 2500
Gresham Harkless shares a moment of clarity about the difference between planning and moving forward in faith. He reflects on how he frequently gets lost in weighing his options, when in reality, the problem lies in his reluctance to take action. Motivated by a message from Charaiá Rush, he highlights the idea that faith requires action, even when the path isn’t clear. Gresham realizes he’s been postponing certain steps, thinking he needed to achieve a goal first, when in fact, those steps are m...
Jun 16, 2025•6 min•Season 8Ep. 2499
Gresham Harkless discusses missing his day 178 recording due to a disrupted routine caused by his baby’s sleep regression and adjusting to a time zone change, focusing on how life’s unpredictability can impact consistency. Gresham highlights the isolating nature of this work, which can sometimes cause one to lose sight of the purpose and approach. He emphasizes the importance of creating a supportive environment, anchored in faith, and cites 1 Corinthians 3:7 to reinforce that true growth comes ...
Jun 15, 2025•6 min•Season 8Ep. 2498
Gresham Harkless shares a raw and motivating message centered on perseverance through difficult times. He reflects on feeling discouraged, as though life isn’t aligning in his favor, to emphasize the importance of staying consistent and committed to the work, especially in a results-driven business where one franchise sale can completely shift momentum. Gresham recognizes moments in the past when he gave up and how deeply he regrets them, using that experience to encourage listeners not to "thro...
Jun 14, 2025•5 min•Season 8Ep. 2497
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 mind...
Jun 13, 2025•6 min•Season 8Ep. 2496
Susan Heinking is the Senior Vice President of High Performance and Sustainable Construction at Pepper Construction Group, one of the largest contractors in the Midwest and a national leader in sustainable building practices. Susan explains how she helps bridge the gap between design intent and construction execution, making sure sustainable choices, such as energy-efficient systems and healthier building materials, are both practical and aligned with the client’s goals. She emphasizes the impor...
Jun 12, 2025•17 min•Season 8Ep. 2495
Jeff Badu is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA), entrepreneur, and wealth strategist dedicated to helping individuals and businesses build and sustain generational wealth. Jeff founded Badu Enterprises LLC, a global company that owns Badu Tax Services, a top virtual tax firm with clients across the U.S. and five countries. Jeff specializes in tax planning, financial coaching, and real estate investment, particularly focused on revitalizing underserved communities such as Chicago’s Sout...
Jun 11, 2025•17 min•Season 8Ep. 2494
Ron Carucci is the co-founder and managing partner at Navalent, a boutique consulting firm that works with CEOs and senior executives navigating complex change. He is a best-selling author of eight books, a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review and Forbes, and a two-time TEDx speaker. Ron highlights the harsh truths about being a CEO, describing it as a role marked by loneliness, limited actual power, and an unforgiving spotlight. He discusses how Navalent supports leaders, especially ...
Jun 10, 2025•17 min•Season 8Ep. 2493
In this special episode of day 166 of the Franchise Broker journey, Gresham Harkless reflects on a moment of late-night clarity that led him to reassess his direction and strengths. Gresham realizes that his content creation and digital marketing expertise could be the key to transforming how franchise leads are generated and converted. He identifies a major opportunity in improving the quality and conversion of leads, noting that while he has generated around 120 leads, only about 10–20% have t...
Jun 09, 2025•7 min•Season 8Ep. 2492
Gresham Harkless reflects on day 164 of his journey as a franchise broker, centering his thoughts around a recent presentation on a sales mastery program. While the program initially caught his interest, he’s uncertain whether the $3,000 cost would effectively tackle his main challenge—consistently generating high-quality leads. Gresham recognizes a pattern of time constraints interfering with his goals and feels torn between needing more advanced sales training versus simply increasing lead vol...
Jun 08, 2025•7 min•Season 8Ep. 2491
Gresham Harkless shares a transparent and reflective update marked by personal life events and professional roadblocks. After missing the previous day’s video due to his son’s birthday and a long bike ride, he dives into the core issues he’s facing: lead quality, conversion uncertainty, and growing frustration. Gresham highlights the difficulty of identifying which marketing channels or candidate profiles are effective, as the current results lack clear patterns. He reflects on whether his abili...
Jun 07, 2025•7 min•Season 8Ep. 2490
Gresham Harkless takes a moment to reflect on recent progress in his personal life and franchise broker journey while spending time in Austin with his wife’s family. He shares that travel went smoothly with their baby and expressed hopes of reconnecting with a local franchisee candidate who had previously gone silent. From a business standpoint, he's testing various outreach methods, such as cold DMs and Meta ads—efforts that generated strong engagement but ultimately didn’t lead to any conversi...
Jun 06, 2025•7 min•Season 8Ep. 2489
Dr. Keegan Caldwell is the founder and managing partner of Caldwell Law, a leading intellectual property and corporate law firm with a global presence. With a diverse background that includes service in the U.S. Marine Corps, a doctorate in Physical Chemistry, and an unconventional journey to practicing law. Dr. Caldwell discusses how he built a law firm that has developed IP portfolios worth over $24 billion by leveraging data analytics, innovative legal strategies, and a commitment to client R...
Jun 05, 2025•17 min•Season 8Ep. 2488
Stephen Leonard is the President and CEO of the Leonard Group, a multi-million-dollar company that includes brands like Lisa Leonard Designs and the Stephen David Leonard line. Stephen has built a business that not only creates beautiful products but also tells real stories and reflects the imperfect-yet-beautiful nature of life. Stephen discusses how he left full-time pastoral ministry to lead the business, strongly emphasizing storytelling and purpose-driven products. He highlights the importa...
Jun 04, 2025•17 min•Season 8Ep. 2487
Coyetta Mitchell is a dynamic entrepreneur, business coach, and the inspiring voice behind the Being Coco Bee podcast. She founded My Wave Life Hair in response to negative commentary about Black women's hair choices, creating a brand that celebrates self-expression and provides high-quality hair products. Coyetta expands her mission through coaching and content that supports women in building businesses, shifting their mindsets, and embracing holistic growth. Her work is deeply rooted in authen...
Jun 03, 2025•15 min•Season 8Ep. 2486
In this special episode, Gresham Harkless shares an honest and introspective update on Day 161 of his entrepreneurial journey, offering insights into the mental and emotional challenges of building momentum in a niche space. While he admits feeling like he hasn’t moved far from where he started, Gresham acknowledges the unseen growth that’s taken place—improved routines, clearer processes, and a stronger mental game. He emphasizes the importance of mental endurance, recognizing that success ofte...
Jun 02, 2025•7 min•Season 8Ep. 2485
In this special episode, Gresham Harkless addresses the challenges in the franchise consulting industry, such as lengthy sales cycles, difficulties with lead qualification, and the emotional strain of slow progress, especially after learning that it often takes brokers over a year to close their first deal. Gresham shares his experience with shifting lead generation strategies, the decline of organic outreach on Facebook, and the need to refine his sales approach, particularly in understanding a...
Jun 01, 2025•7 min•Season 8Ep. 2484
In this episode, Gresham Harkless reflects on reaching day 159 of his journey as a Franchise Broker, sharing powerful insights about growth, discipline, and staying committed through the long game. He introduces the concept of "polite urgency"—a balanced approach to driving action by being assertive without being aggressive. Gresham discusses how many people lose momentum by being passive or indecisive, and how simply following through, communicating promptly, and honoring commitments can set yo...
May 31, 2025•7 min•Season 8Ep. 2483
