Coaching

Momentum Coaching: $200 per session or $720 for 4 sessions

Update 8/31: I’m all booked up and won’t be taking on new clients for a few weeks. If you’d like to be notified when I have some availability, click here to join the waitlist. Thanks for your interest!

What’s Momentum Coaching?

The short version: You are here. You want to go there but don’t know how to do it. I can help you get there in a meaningful, sustainable way.

The longer version: Momentum Coaching is my own style of coaching that helps people build and grow smart, creative, and sustainable businesses or ventures. I have a diverse skillset and can help with effectiveness, strategic planning and thinking, personal challenges, business and organizational development, career navigation, and becoming more creatively prolific; if you’ve got a problem or challenge, I can either help you solve it or figure out who can.

Who do I work with?

My ideal clients are change-makers, thought-leaders, linchpins, hyper-mavens, and people who a) see better possibilities in the world and b) have decided that they’re going to do something about it.

My ideal business client is someone who has a service-based component to their business who wants to learn how to grow it in a smart, solid, and sustainable way without working 24/7 to put food on the table. This includes coaches, consultants, web designers and developers, writers, programmers, graphic artists…in short, if individual clients hire you to do something with your creative energy, expertise, and experience, we’ll probably make a great fit.

I’ve also worked with non-profit planners, executives, and workers to help them get their message and service out their in a way that helps them grow their organizations, too. It turns out that many of the general principles of business growth and maintenance applies to non-profit organizations. (We’ll change a few terms like “profit” and get down to some change-making right away.)

Some of my clients have hired and retained me as their career, executive, or life coach, too, so if you’d like to step into your own potentiality and make a positive difference within an organization, I can help with that.

The particular way you rock this world doesn’t matter as much to me as your desire to rock it. If that’s the game you’re playing, first, welcome to the party, and second, I can share what I’ve learned about doing it and help you figure out how you’re going to start or continue doing it.

How I can help you:

There are four broad areas of help I can give you:

I can help you make stuff

I’ve helped clients brainstorm, develop, launch, and support books, blogs, information products, software, web applications, workshops, membership sites, training programs, and live events.

I can help you help others

I’ve helped clients grow their service-based businesses in a scalable way by helping them with their branding, marketing, lead-generation, and client-landing techniques.

I can help you figure out how your business works

It’s okay if you slept through business class or if thinking about it makes you want to stab your eyes out. But now you’re in business, and there are some things you have to learn on the fly. I’m particularly good at helping people strategic plans that marry up nicely with the small steps needed to implement them.

I can help you grow your business with less stress

You probably started your business to do what you love and be happy, but the reality of entrepreneurship is that it can be overwhelming and it’s easy to lose sight of why you’re doing what you’re doing. I’ll be honest with you here: your well-being is more important to me than more business, but I can help you grow your business in ways that’s conducive to your holistic well-being.

So, yes, I can help you grow your business and make more money, but I also make sure you’re better off for having done so.

Five More Things You Should Know

These points are hard to fit in somewhere, but I want to put them on the table:

Our work together is all about you

One size does not fit all when it comes to the help I give. You’re unique, so we’ll have to figure out what makes you tick. Even though you are unique, there are common trends between those who continually succeed and those who remain Stuck or see setback after setback. We will develop the solutions, plans, and habits that help you build the path to your consistent success.

We hit the ground running

From the very first second of our first call, we will be getting into the thick of things. I don’t do “feeler” calls to determine whether we’re a good fit or not – you’re calling on me to help you, and the best way for me to figure out if I can help you is to try to help you. You will walk away with Action Steps, plans, and a much clearer idea of what you need to be doing on the first call.

You don’t need to have your shit together to get started

During the first session, many of my clients say something along the lines of “I’ve been wanting to work with you, but I didn’t feel ready or I didn’t know what I needed.” I help people fix their plane while they’re flying it, so you don’t need to clean your house, clear your Inbox, and put up your hair – come as you are. Or, more accurately, I’ll come to you.

You will learn to fish

My goal is to teach you how to use your resources, so one of the things you’ll get from working with me is confidence, self-reliance, and empowerment. You will grow and face new challenges, but you won’t need me to help you with the old challenges. So, though we might continue to work together to help you catch more fish, they’re different kinds of fish.

You and your well-being are important to me

My clients become my friends and I become part of your team, with all that entails. The only person that will probably want you to succeed more than me is you.

Why Me, Why Now

Here’s the part where I’m supposed to tell you that I’m a certified by Really Well-Known Coach. I can’t tell you that because I haven’t been. I respect those programs and coaches, but that hasn’t been my path.

Here’s what I can tell you: I’ve been helping people harness their creativity to build and grow thriving, sustainable service-oriented and product-creation businesses since the summer of 2008. Some of them were starting from scratch and some of them needed to make significant changes to get their businesses where they wanted them to be, but the end result is that they had a better life and business after working with me than when they started.

I’ve picked up a lot of skills over the years, and I’ve been in a leadership, mentorship, or teacher role for the last couple of decades. I grew up leading, teaching, and helping people – it’s now an innate orientation for me, but I continue to develop and hone myself in this capacity.

I coach because it’s who I am and I do business development because I’m fascinated with and passionate about it. I also happen to be very, very good at what I do, and I strive to get better every day. If you’re ready to have someone help you develop a business that gets you up early because you’re excited about what the day will bring, I’d love to help.

Why now? Because every day is a chance to build a better future for yourself.

Please Don’t Hire Me If…

We can’t be all things to all people, and there are times in which a coach/consultant and her client just don’t work out. Here are some possible ways in which we might not be a good fit:

The world is all about you.

I believe that our highest purpose is to leave things better than what we found them, and sometimes that means leaving value on the table. If you’re doing what you’re doing solely for your own benefit, it’ll make for some awkward moments because I won’t be able to understand your vision.

You’re not willing to embrace discomfort.

Change-making ain’t easy, and there will be times in which the situation demands that you embrace some discomfort to work through a growth-point. If you’re unwilling to do that and stick with it when it’s hard, I can’t help you. Please use your money and time in different ways.

You’re not in this for the long-term.

The other thing about change-making is that it takes time. Meaningful success doesn’t happen overnight for 98% of the cases, and while I will do everything I can to accelerate your success and path, if you expect it to happen tomorrow, we’ll have a hard time working together.

You’re not really ready to hear a different perspective and try something different.

A lot of people think that if they do the same thing harder and better, it’ll make a difference, when really they need to do something different than what they’re already doing. If I see that we can streamline what you’re doing and help you be more effective, then of course we’ll do it, but my job is to help you achieve your goals even if that means changing the way you go about doing it. You can teach an old dog new tricks, but only if the dog wants to learn.

You’re not willing to think on your feet. Sometimes we’ll talk about frameworks for how to think and you’ll have to apply them on your own. The point of learning these frameworks is so that you can master the general principles of success rather than depending on someone else to tell you exactly what to do. The best skill I can help you learn is self-empowerment, but that requires you to learn to use your own resources.

How To Get Started

If this sounds like something that will help you and you’re ready to get started, then:

Purchase your sessions using the buttons below.
I’ll contact you within 24 hours and send you the link to my online calendar so you can choose the time that works best for you.
During our first call, we’ll talk about your goals, projects, motivation, and accountability/support needs.

We’ll also talk about how you want to schedule future sessions. Most people prefer to meet once weekly at first, but some people would rather meet twice a month, twice per week, or once every new moon. We can tailor our schedule to fit your needs.

Each session includes an hour or so of correspondence and check-ups throughout the next week or two. Basically, I’m lurking in the background cheering on your weekly victories and helping you when you fall down.

If you don’t think we’re a good fit within the first 30 minutes of our call, I will immediately refund your payment. No questions asked, no hurt feelings.

Ready to Get Started?!

Great! There are two ways to pay:

Pay As You Go – $200

Dig In, Make Some Serious Progress, and save 10% while you’re at it! Buy 4 Sessions At Once. $720

I prefer this route - it saves time, creates one less thing for both of us to think about, and helps us both commit to your long term success.

Questions??

In case you’d like to contact me about coaching, there are three easy ways to contact me. They are listed in order of preference:

Use the form below.
Email me at Charlie AT ProductiveFlourishing DOT Com.
Call me at 402-427-0692.

Please allow 2-3 days for me to get back to you, although it may be sooner.

Testimonials

I could tell you that I deliver, but that’s expected. So, don’t believe me – believe my satisfied clients. (You might also want to check my recommendations on LinkedIn.)

DSC_0008_bigger Naomi Dunford from IttyBiz.com says:

Charlie has been instrumental in the creation of every product IttyBiz sells. He made it possible for me to launch my first information product, and has been more and more helpful with every additional avenue we have pursued. I can honestly say I would still be trading time for money as a primary business model if it weren’t for him. (He also made it possible to multiply my hourly rate by ten. When I started working with him, I charged $50 an hour. Now I charge $500. That’s a pretty good recommendation in and of itself, when you think about it.)

Clay Collins from ProjectMojave.com says:

I hired Charlie because I was drowning in email, I had trouble keeping track of my business finances, and I was chasing too many ideas and not getting anywhere on any of them. Charlie helped me focus in on what I needed to do and work out the concrete steps I needed to take, all the while providing me the accountability I needed to follow through with the commitments I had made. It dawned on me that Charlie was helping me actually do something meaningful with the freedom I had earned – and that was worth every penny I paid him.

Havi+Selma1008_white Havi Brooks (& Selma) from FluentSelf.com says:

Working with Charlie was very helpful because he was wonderfully calm, broke everything down into manageable parts, and gave me this really logical and doable plan that showed how I could manage everything I was trying to do. It was absolutely brilliant how he had such a grasp of the big picture and, at the same time, was willing to dig in with me about the details or step in there and hang out with me whenever I was freaking out about something in the moment.

I loved his structured take on things – it’s very methodical, calm, and steady, and was the perfect kind of foil to my chicken-with-a-head-caught-off way of trying to figure out what I was doing. He helped me start believing in the Kitchen Table way sooner than I thought I would.

If you’ve bitten off something that’s bigger than you can chew and need someone to have a holistic approach to you and your project, then you need to get in touch with Charlie.

Jonathan Fields | IlluminatedMind.net Jonathan Mead from IlluminatedMind.net says:

Charlie helped me get organized, on track and develop a plan that I could stick with and implement. He helped me identify the “drag points” (areas that could potentially stall development) and overcome them. He also really helped me in the way of using metaphors and creative problem solving. Without Charlie, I may have not launched my product, and it definitely wouldn’t have been as good as it is now.

Charlie will help you… a) kick ass, b) get focused and c) get incredible results. Not to mention, he’s a FUN person to work with. It’s a hard combination to find.

profilepic Marissa Bracke from MarissaBracke.com says:

When I first started working with Charlie, I wasn’t even sure exactly how I wanted him to help me–my webpage was stalled and stagnant, my workflow was more “lurch forward then suddenly halt” than flow, and I was having difficulty connecting with potential clients that “fit” what I was looking for. I knew I wanted things to change, but wasn’t sure how to make it happen.

Within my first hour of talking to Charlie, he’d not only listened to me fully but had also started putting structure to my thoughts and goals, and offering very un-scary ideas for steps I could take toward change. Charlie has a knack for nudging me beyond my comfort zones without it seeming intimidating or un-doable. His approach to what seems from my perspective to be a chaotic jumble of issues and concerns is unwaveringly centered, reassuringly structured, and stop-me-in-my-tracks insightful.

Thanks to Charlie’s help, my webpage is live and drawing traffic (and business inquiries!), my workflow has a noticeable pattern and flow that lets me actually get stuff done in a painless and sometimes even fun way, and I’m connecting with new clients on a regular basis. Because of Charlie’s help, my working life is finally beginning to resemble the dream I had for it but was never quite sure I could achieve. I’m not sure how to put a price to that, but I can confidently say that my investment with Charlie has already paid off in spades!

mynde_brand Mynde Mayfield from MyndeMayfield.com says:

Being a small biz owner is sometimes overwhelming since we wear so many hats. I felt stuck and totally “in my stuff” (What am I doing here? Can I really do this? What was I thinking?) And I felt really alone in the “how-do-I-make-this-work?!” part of it.

Charlie met me right where I was and helped me get back into the place (within myself) where I could be most productive (the cool, fun productive; not the drill sergeanty, ass-whooping kind.) He also helped me organize a plan and introduce processes that made my biz life work better. I can always count on Charlie to help me get things moving. Every time we talk, I get so much good stuff.

My bizes (and I) just plain do more stuff on a day-to-day basis so that at the end of the week, I feel really good and that I’ve accomplished important things that have moved me forward with doing that cool thing I do.

1268416709_6261e38943 Megan Morris from IdeaSchema.com says:

Charlie Gilkey continually surprises me with insights that fundamentally change the quality of my thinking — always in ways that allow me to ACT. This is so valuable to me.

What’s more, Charlie really, truly cares about people. He says and does things that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s interested in the lives and successes of his clients, that they’re important to him as individuals, and that he really, really gives a shit about what happens to them. I have been so impressed with his thoughtfulness and conscientious mindset. When added to his seriously fantastic coaching skills and first rate brain, this has ensured him (at least) one client who will shout his praises early and often –and probably buy anything he sells. Charlie is a Really Good Dude, and his services are on my short list of things I know will always, always be worth it.

If you need to get something done, if you’re blocked or confused about how to proceed, if reduced productivity is the symptom and you need to root out the real problem and solve it before the men in white coats come to take you away — talk to Charlie. The man is a superhero powerhouse of creativity mojo, and I suggest you quickly hire him before he’s booked up solid the next eight years. Thank God I got in early!

Fabeku Fatunmise from SankofaSong.com says:

Before I hired Charlie to help me with the launch of Sankofa Song, I had this HUGE project on my plate. And no idea how to start. So I didn’t. It just sat there doing nothing. And I was completely freaking out because I had to get this project done, but I was lost.

Charlie took a gigantic thing and broke it down into totally doable pieces. And he gave me a clear sense of how much time to spend on each thing, what sequence to do it all in and a deeper structure that supported it all. And it worked!

Beyond that, his encouragement to do the site in WordPress was a big thing. I totally doubted my ability to manage the site once it was up. So I was going to piece it together in some kooky way. He said something like, “You’re obviously a smart guy. So you can easily handle WordPress.”

Not only did that make me feel better about WordPress, but the underlying I-believe-in-you support was at least as important as the actual WordPress advice. It came at a time when I was having serious doubts in my ability to pull all of this off. That deeper support also gave me some momentum, which made all the difference in getting started.

In one session, Charlie didn’t just show me how to make this dream happen. He made me believe that I could to it. His follow-up support and check-ins helped me to remember that I wasn’t alone, and that help was available if I needed it. Plus he kept reminding me that the hard stuff was only temporary, which kept me moving forward instead of getting stuck in the ack.

Charlie is totally my go-to guy for stuff like this, and he’s the first person I recommend to other people, too. One hour with Charlie totally rocked! I will never launch another big project without getting Charlie’s help.

If you’re lost, overwhelmed, and freaking out, take a deep breath and then call Charlie.

Johnny B Truant from JohnnyBTruant.com says:

Before my coaching session with Charlie, I was stressed out and my systems (or lack thereof) were a mess:

I was totally bogged down with emails that I hadn’t answered, bids that I hadn’t created, and projects that I frankly didn’t know where to begin with.
Some excellent joint venture opportunities were being neglected.
I wasn’t keeping up on my guest posting, which is my primary traffic- and lead-generation strategy.

Charlie made a few suggestions on my workflow, my mental attitude, and my positioning, as well as urging me to move some stuff around on my website to optimize my traffic — i.e. to get people to go to the products and services that I wanted them to go to, and to paint myself in the best and most authentic light.

Because I’m an excellent and attractive student, I did a bunch of stuff immediately following our discussion and have already made most of the changes Charlie suggested. In just a week, the results have been great:

I am a lot less overwhelmed.
I have a really clear grasp on who I am, what I do, and hence what I should do with each lead or opportunity that comes to me, and can sort them pretty fast accordingly.
I’m finding myself with more time, an appropriate amount of work, and as much or more income as before.
I’ve started work on a few of those joint ventures.
I now see where I want to end up, and know I’m moving quickly toward it.

I can’t recommend Charlie highly enough to anyone who wants to de-stress and improve their business’s effectiveness. I was shocked at how a “productivity guy” could have given me such implementable strategies with such definite immediate benefits, rather than fluff ideas about color-coding and prioritizing tasks — and to nudge me constantly to make sure that I actually implemented those strategies.

Some people look at the price of consulting and say arbitrarily, “Do I want to pay that?” but the right way to look at it is to consider whether you’ll gain your value back in opportunities you can seize, work you can get, and stress you can eliminate. I got that value in spades.

I’m absolutely going to work with Charlie again. I just hope he’ll let me pay him this time.

Jo VanEvery from JoVanEvery.ca says:

Charlie is great at helping me turn my crazy ideas into actual workable plans. When I’m too focused on the big stuff, he points out the small steps that will get me there. And he helps me see what others might value in my work. As an extrovert decision maker and big picture thinker, I particularly value having Charlie to bounce ideas off and help figure out the details that will fill out that big picture.

Rebecca Leigh | Smart Fresh Writing Rebecca Leigh from SmartFreshWriting.com says:

In just four weekly sessions, Charlie gave me the support I needed to finally trust my own knowledge and intuition – to basically get out of my own way. Together we gently shifted deeply ingrained habits that were wearing me down and preventing me from experiencing real joy in my work. For the first time I’ve found flow in my writing and, even more importantly, I’m calmly confident that I can continue on this path.

I know there will be challenging days, and old habits don’t disappear overnight, but Charlie, with his own very special approach, has shown me how I can always find my way back to where I want to be.