Coaching

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 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 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.

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 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.

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:

1. 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.
2. Some excellent joint venture opportunities were being neglected.
3. 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 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.