Hire Charlie to Speak

“Charlie has the brains and the heart to help you map your business and take it to the next level with total integrity.” – Jennifer Louden

If your audience is ready to figure out what to do with all the information they’ve been hearing and start taking action, Charlie Gilkey is an ideal choice to speak at your event. Listeners will walk away from his presentations with at least one insight that opens up their next step, takes their business forward, and all in a way that respects where they are on their journey. Listeners don’t just feel better – they’re armed to do better.

Interested in having Charlie speak at your event? Interviewing him? Contact Angela AT ProductiveFlourishing DOT Com.

Bio

Charlie Gilkey is an in-demand trainer, speaker, and business growth advisor who helps small businesses move beyond bootstrapping. Focusing on strategy, planning, execution, and leadership development, Charlie has worked with hundreds of business owner-executives. He has a keen understanding of what makes individuals, organizations, and the marketplace tick, and he is known for sharing those insights in accessible, actionable ways. His work is regularly featured in places like Inc.com, BNET, MSNBC, Project Domino, Under30CEO, Upmarket, Small Business MO, and Carol Roth’s Unsolicited Business Advice Blog. Charlie’s forthcoming book, Beyond Bootstrapping, helps entrepreneurs and small business owners become better executives and build better businesses from the business they’ve already built.

Keynotes

Charlie prefers to tailor the content of his presentations to meet the goals and needs of the organizations hosting him. He is known for his approachable demeanor, engaging natural storytelling, and his use of interactivity with the audience. Every presentation includes original content, and he excels at synthesizing the insights previous speakers have shared into his talks. He’s particularly suited for being the last presenter since he can tie many threads into a coherent, grounding, and actionable tapestry.

Below, you’ll find a selection of keynotes adaptable to your audience and topic focus.

Beyond Bootstrapping: How To Build A Better Business From the Business You’ve Already Built

Summary: In the signature keynote based on his forthcoming book, Beyond Bootstrapping, Charlie lays the groundwork business owners need to see their business in a greater strategic context. By focusing the talk around several key frameworks he’s developed over the past decade, like the Business Lifecycle, Charlie explains and clarifies why certain problems and successes seem to happen at certain times for businesses.

Participants leave with actionable ideas and steps to take, armed with the knowledge of where they are in the lifecycle. More than anything, this talk reminds entrepreneurs they are not alone in their struggles and that certain problem spots are indicators of where they are in the business lifecycle – and that they can come out of it on top!

This is often a game-changing talk for event participants, and you’ll hear them referring to it for months after.

Embracing No Man’s Land: Why Changemakers Have to Keep Going Where No One Else Is

Summary: Whether you’re an entrepreneur working at your creative edges, a CEO implementing innovative ideas, or an employee working to create positive change at work, you’re going to find inner and outer resistance. As an individual, it’s difficult to keep moving forward when you don’t see anyone else doing what you are. And that’s exactly why you have to.

Charlie proposes that place where we feel lonely and at our edges is where we have to keep pushing through so we can truly succeed. Motivating and compelling, this talk will leave your audience with a renewed sense of purpose and ready to jump the next hurdle towards reaching their finish line.

Why Small Business is the Future of Business

Summary: For as often as you hear about how great Nike, Apple, and Starbucks are in typical business publications, it might be hard to believe that 99% of all businesses have less than 20 employees. Small businesses are here to stay, and they offer a surprising answer to many of America’s current social problems.

Rooted in Charlie’s background as a trained ethicist, logistics officer, and a successful business growth advisor, this talk is a fundamental topic for the 21st century and the future of sustainable socioeconomic growth. Expect your attendees to feel empowered as small business leaders and hopeful that a real work/life balance is possible to achieve.

Go Big or Go Home… Or Go Deep

Summary: Is having a big personality the only way to survive in business? Opening with an engaging story his Native American grandfather passed on to him, Charlie argues that you don’t have to be an extroverted salesperson to have a great business. By choosing to take their tribe further than the average product or service, small business leaders can combine strategy and compassion to create a more holistic, engaging experience for their people.

Also known as the “Small Fire” talk, your introvert participants in particular will thank you for bringing in Charlie to reinvigorate their passion for their businesses. Because why should the charismatic talkers have all the fun?

How to Create a Productive Environment That Doesn’t Suck

Summary: Being more productive doesn’t mean more TPS reports and poorly managed information systems. In fact, you can probably create a more productive work environment just by focusing on empowering your people in the right ways.

As a logistics officer, productivity expert, and small business strategist, there isn’t much Charlie hasn’t seen and done when it comes to creating productive work environments. Charlie focuses on creating better “people machines” by focusing on the people in the machines.

In this interactive, fun, and frank talk, your audience will learn the how’s and why’s to determine what changes they can make in their organization to help their people thrive.

Past Speaking Engagements

• October 2011: “It’s Not About What You Value, It’s About What They Value” for Molly Gordon Self-Employment Telesummit
• September 2011: “How to Find – And Focus On – What Actually Matters In Your Business” for Casey Truffo’s Practice Building Conference
• June 2011: “How to Embrace the No Man’s Land of Authorship” for Book Breakthrough NYC
• May 2011: “How to Grow Your Business, One Stage and Season At A Time” for the Young Women Social Entrepreneur group in Portland, Oregon
• October 2010: “Go Big or Go Home .. or Go Deep,” for Andrea Lee’s Wealthy Thought Leader Event
• October 2010: “Content Creation and Management Strategies” for the Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce’s “Social Media for Sales Success” workshop
• Jan 2009: “Project Management Within Academia,” for the University of Nebraska Draught Mitigation Team

Video Samples

Click here to view the full presentations

Testimonials

Want Charlie to Speak For Your Event?

If you’d like Charlie to speak or present for your event, use the form below and we’ll get in touch with you shortly. We can also send a speaking/media kit to you, upon request.