Welcome to the Productive Flourishing Academy
Where Big Hearts, Big Dreams, and Big Results Meet
The Productive Flourishing Academy is a growth-catalyzing community for creators, solopreneurs, and creative professionals who want to thrive in their work, businesses, and lives. It’s a hybrid of one-on-one coaching, group coaching, hands-on workshops, and office hours with coaches and subject matter experts.
Is the Productive Flourishing Academy Right for You?
Let’s be real: the reality of being a creator, solopreneur, founder, or ambitious creative professional is much different than what’s being sold or shared on Insta.
It comes with a lot of challenges, like …
- Feeling like you have too many priorities and not enough time to get to what really matters
- Uncertainty about how to get the eyes you want on your business and not the trolls
- Growing your business when you don’t know how or where to hire or if you even want to
- Pricing your offers and the self doubts that can come with that
- Stupidly long days and weeks, even though you started the thing to have more free time
- Knowing what to pay yourself -- or, let’s be honest, not being able to pay yourself
- Being lonely and not sure if you are making the right moves at the right time in your business
- Hearing a gazillion “experts” spout off the things you absolutely must do but very little of it actually resonates with you
- Needing to buy additional hard drive storage for courses and information that you bought but know damn well you won’t get to
When you compare the dream that’s sold and your reality, it’s easy to feel like there’s something wrong with you and that you just can’t get right. Or that to be successful, you’ll need to do things that are out of integrity with who you are, what you want, and what matters to you.
Yet you know in your bones that your work, ideas, contributions, perspectives, and gumption matter. You know, deep down, that there’s a way to do more than survive and get through.
You can thrive … in your craft, in your business and career, and in your life.
We know because we’ve guided thousands of people on this journey over the decades we’ve been doing this.
Here’s the thing: no one’s self-made and no one’s picture is as perfect as it looks in social spaces. It takes a community to thrive.
We’ve created one of those communities with the Productive Flourishing Academy.
How Can the Productive Flourishing Academy Help You?
By joining us you will:
- Find and focus on growing from the scalepoints in your business
- Build products, services, and other offers faster and at better prices - our members are often surprised at how quickly they're going to market and hitting their business goals
- Learn how to hire and integrate your first teammates OR how to work with team leaders and managers for the first time
- Get out of the burnout/stuck cycles in your business faster
- Avoid being on the workaholic, lonely, no-time-for-anything-but-business road that's all too easy to fall into walking
And you’ll discover that it’s possible to succeed on your own terms without nearly the amount of struggle and grind that you’re dreading it’ll take.
The Productive Flourishing Academy integrates decades of experience working with people just like you. Read on to see how the Academy experience creates lasting success and results for our members.
The Productive Flourishing Academy Experience
There’s a lot to the Productive Flourishing Academy and the sum is definitely greater than its parts. While we have a few souls who show up for everything, most people work with their coach to focus on the elements of the Academy that work best for them.
It’s hard to read the label when you’re stuck inside the jar. We can walk around for years, replaying the same mental and behavioral loops and getting the same thing.
A common belief is that the only people hiring coaches are under performers. The reality is that top performers hire coaches because there’s no better way to up your game.
As an Academy member, you get multiple modes of coaching:
- In your first roadmapping session, you’ll get paired with a coach who’ll help you get the most out of your Academy experience.
- Within the first six months, you’ll have another 1:1 coaching session* that will focus on a challenge keeping you from your goals or that’ll help you find your next best opportunity.
- Every workshop, planning session, guest expert session, and office hour will give you an opportunity to sit in the support seat to get some individualized coaching in front of the group.
- Our Academy members have become adept at coaching and supporting each other, largely from what they’re learning in the Academy.
Many Academy members share that they learn so much and feel coached and seen when someone else is in the support seat. If you’ve never worked with a coach before, observing someone being coached in the support seat is a great way to ease your way into it.
*This second 1:1 coaching session is available to members who pay in full
If you’ve been around Productive Flourishing for a while, you know how prolific we are at creating tools, frameworks, models, and practices to help people do their best work.
But the reality is that you’ve only seen the very tip of the iceberg. There’s only so much you can put in blog posts, articles, books, and courses.
Our workshops in PFA share the transformational resources that we use in our private coaching, training, and teaching. They’re not just about MORE IDEAS though -- they focus on how you’ll implement the ideas to do better work and thrive.
Here’s a sample of some of our previous workshops:
- Where are YOU in your business?: How to identify and bring your own "secret sauce" to your business
- How to Create Your Best Customer: The difference between tactical marketing and strategic customer development
- The Wheel of Life: Exploring the multiple dimensions of a well-rounded existence
- Creating Boundaries for Success: How boundaries create space for our best selves and our best work
For 2023, here are some of the upcoming workshops:
- Scoping Your Project & Capacity: How to set yourself up for a smooth and sustainable launch
- Who’s Got Your Back (And What Are They Doing There?): How to build and activate your success pack
- Creating Relationships Between Your Offers: How to build a product ecosystem
Don’t worry, you'll have access to all the previous workshops, too. More importantly, by becoming an Academy member, you’ll have a say in what we create going forward since we’re always keeping a pulse on community needs.
You probably know that having a practice of planning and reviewing every quarter would be a good thing to do. CoolCoolCool.
Are you doing it, though?
No judgment there. We all know practices that would be good for us to do that we’re not doing.
Imagine having a quarterly plan that was strategic enough to make sure you’re focusing on what matters most, concrete enough to guide your months and weeks, and flexible enough to not be obsolete before you finished it? That’s exactly what we help you create during our quarterly planning sessions.
Rather than merely knowing that it’s important to do your quarterly planning and review or meaning to get around to it, we hold the space for you to do it with the community.
Don’t worry if you don’t exactly know how to do it, too. We’ve got you covered there, as we teach how to do it every time we have a planning session because we always have new members and it’s helpful for existing members to re-hear it, too. After all, you only do it four times a year — it’s hard to get good at doing it by yourself. (Charlie does and teaches it multiple times a week, so he’s got the mastery reps in that you’ll get to borrow when it’s time to do your planning.)
Charlie, Angela, and our community coaches are polymaths that know a lot, but we don’t know everything. And even when we do know something, we’d rather bring in a guest expert to share their expertise and perspective.
For this, we tap into the high-caliber network of advisors, consultants, teachers, and subject matter experts that we rely on to guide us. You’ve probably seen some of them on the interwebs, too.
Previous guest experts and topics include:
Permission to GLOW with Kristoffer Carter ("KC")
The creator of The 4 Permissions™ framework talked to us about spiritual leadership, team dynamics, self-confidence, self-compassion, and redefining leadership.
The Missing Pieces of the Money with Jacquette M. Timmons
The three pillars of money (transparency, power, and intimacy) show up at home and at work as "the money elephant" in ALL relationships - whether you acknowledge the pillars or not.
About Face: What Does Your About Page Say About You? with Lianna Patch
About pages. What purpose do they serve, what info should they present, and who’s reading them, anyway?
Much like our workshops, we’re continually polling our members’ needs to determine who we should invite in to teach, guide, and unlock our members. Want to learn from someone but don’t know how to reach them? Join us and let us know -- you’d be surprised what we can make happen.
True story: we started offering community co-working sessions back in 2014. Well before it was a Thing, we knew that it’s a powerful way to finish your best work and have fun while doing it.
Luckily for us, we don’t need to explain the value of co-working sessions as much as we used to in 2014. Working alongside supportive peers bakes in soft accountability, fun, and community in a way that just works for a lot of people. You either get to celebrate the work you’ve done or get supported with what had you stuck or distracted.
Either way, you win. But, more importantly, you win with others.
These (mostly) member-led sessions can be open, but our members will also give them a special purpose if enough people need to do the same things. For instance, we’ve seen co-working sessions around:
- Editing or publishing your social media profiles
- Writing your email newsletter
- Finally(!) hitting publish on the website you’ve been tweaking forever
- Dedicating time and space for your creative practice (whatever that might be!)
- Getting the bookkeeping done
- Organizing your office or workspace
- Doing the worksheets from the last workshop that you missed
We currently have six co-working sessions available at time zones that work for wherever you live.
Don’t struggle to get it done alone; join us and get it done while you’re having fun with others.
The co-working Sessions in the Academy have made a big difference for me in getting my projects and small tasks done, the things I would normally avoid. I really appreciate having that support structure as a part of the PF Community. - Jeremie Miller, Director of Operations at RAFT
The co-working days have turned out to be an unexpected delight. No matter what it is I want to do--whether it's knock out some administrative tasks, go deep on a project, or just be part of the community--it's all available on the co-working days. - Sarah G.B. Guthrie, Artist/Founder (and host of a Creative Practice co-work)
Because we have a lot of learning opportunities in the Academy, we carve out Office Hours so that members can get the coaching, advice, and feedback on whatever they need.
We are full-spectrum coaches, meaning that we know that there’s no clean division between your work, your business, and/or your life. We also know that as you work on one of those areas, you’ll bump into aspects of the other areas.
Office Hours give our members a free space to bring up the “off topic” issues or questions they have. So many of our members are social processors and need to talk out what they’re thinking through. Where do you work through how you’re going to sequence your work so you can take some time off? How do you figure out what to pay yourself or to give yourself a raise? How do you figure out what your best schedule looks like?
Not sure where to ask your question? Slide on into Office Hours. If it matters to you, it matters to us. And 95% of the time, someone else will have your same question but just didn’t have the words to express it.
About Productive Flourishing
Productive Flourishing was founded by Charlie Gilkey and Angela Wheeler. We are a Black-, woman-, and veteran-owned business. As people who lead from our hearts, we embrace the following values.
Reinvest in the Community
When one of us thrives we all thrive. Productive Flourishing reinvests a portion of all profits into BIPOC-owned businesses and nonprofit organizations. We make a proactive effort to hire women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ people to our team.
Anti-racism, Pro-feminism
We not only reject racism in our own lives and team, but actively work to dismantle structures and practices that disadvantage people based on their race, gender, sexual identity, or other inherent traits.
Hustle Culture is Toxic
The form of capitalism that exploits workers and refuses to compensate them well for their time and energy is toxic to our society. We actively engage in a fulfilling, wealthy life that is balanced with family, friends, rest and joy, and strive to enable the folks we work with to do the same.
Leadership Should Be Inclusive
Our culture tends to define leadership exclusively. The word itself conjures up a certain series of traits: bold, decisive, action-oriented, white and male. We strive to expand that default image to include great leaders from all kinds of backgrounds who might be quiet, humble, and lead from their heart while still holding people accountable.
Meet Your Hosts
Charlie and Angela have been entrepreneurs for more than 15 years and both have more than 20 years of experience in leading, coaching, consulting, teaching, facilitation, and training. They have helped many entrepreneurs grow their businesses in ways that center their best work and keep alignment at the heart of it all, while bypassing years of struggle and doing it someone else’s way that doesn’t fit for the kind of business you want.
Charlie Gilkey. I am the lead consultant, coach, and strategist at Productive Flourishing. I have nearly 20 years of fieldwork that incorporates systems thinking, strategy execution, leadership and organizational development, practical innovation, and communication.
Besides the technical expertise, I possess a passionate drive to help business owners and leaders achieve more than they could have ever imagined. My experience includes leading 200+ soldiers in the U.S. Army, 14 years consulting leaders in various industries in for-profit and nonprofit industries, writing award-winning books, and serving on various boards. My forthcoming book, Team Habits, is a guide to creating practices in teams that create great results and belonging.
Angela Wheeler. I am the co-founder and chief community builder at Productive Flourishing. With a passion for facilitation and an unparalleled ability to get to the heart of what drives leaders and change makers, I consider it an honor to hold space for and be a mirror for others to do their best work.
I have more than 20 years of experience teaching, coaching, facilitating, and leading in different sectors, including in academia, for-profit and non-profit industries, and spiritual communities. With my broad knowledge and experience, and a unique lens of rooted leadership that focuses on strengths and development, not deficiencies, I help leaders create dynamic, authentic, trustworthy, and high-growth environments.
Meet Your Community of World-Changers
Our members come from diverse backgrounds and fields and bring with them big hearts, lots of smarts, and a penchant for changing the world through #GoodTrouble. We are always learning from each other and the inspiration and insights we gain through our work together are life and business-changing.
Our members start as strangers, become success pack members, and later become colleagues and deep friends. You’ll hear us refer to the community as our PFAmily, because this crew truly has your back and helps you grow.
Below are just a few of our members and some of their success stories from their work in the Academy.
The Productive Flourishing Academy integrates decades of experience working with people just like you. Read on to see how the Academy experience creates lasting success and results for our members.
Join the Academy: Invest in Yourself and Your Business Growth for a Better Tomorrow
With the Academy's annual membership fee of $3,000, you can gain access to world-class coaching, workshops, and community co-working for less than $8 a day. And with our no-cost discovery and roadmapping session, you can be sure that you're making a worthwhile investment in yourself and your business.
Our expectation is that each member gets at least a 3x return on their investment and participation in the program. But for most of our members, it's not just about meeting that minimum threshold - they're seeing far better returns than that. In fact, our retention rate is over 80%, which speaks volumes to the value our members are getting from the program.
So what kind of outcomes can you expect as a member of the Academy? Here are just a few common Academy member outcomes:
- More clients, faster, because of our workshops and coaching on sales and client management
- Higher-end customers and clients for your offers because we can see how you’re undercharging and under-valuing your work
- Cost-savings as we guide you to work with your VAs and independent contractors more effectively
- Better returns on your revenue, as we show you how to use it wisely and strategically rather than sitting on it because you’re waiting for the shoe to drop
- Shaving months or quarters off your trajectory as you ship your best work sooner and therefore earn from it sooner
Any one of those (or a combination of those) will add up to at least $10k for a 3x return.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you found yourself saying “Yes, that’s me!” or “Are they in my brain right now?” as you read the Who It’s For section, this is probably the right place for you. If you embrace the values we outlined above, then absolutely, yes, this is the right place for you! If you’re still not sure, fill out our application to schedule a no-cost discovery and roadmapping session with us to make sure you’re a fit.
It’s a no-pressure call to help you and us make sure you’re a good fit for the Academy. We'll talk about your goals and whether the Academy is right for you and how it can help you get where you want to go. The session is specifically focused on you and your journey, so that you know where to invest your time and energy to get what you need and to feel fully integrated into the community from the start.
When you join the Academy you are committing to a full year membership.
The amount of time you spend is totally up to you and we want to make sure you understand that the time you put into the Academy is not extra time on top of the work you are already doing. It is time better spent and will save you precious time, energy, and money by helping you focus.
During your discovery and roadmapping session we'll identify the specific events, resources, and activities that will help you on your journey (especially during your first few months).
A good plan to make sure you get the best benefit from your time with us is to expect to spend 2 - 4 hours/quarter on your quarterly planning and review and another 2 - 4 hours per month in either hands-on workshops or coaching sessions.
If you are someone who thrives with having buddies and accountability that will help you get your work done faster you can spend even more time in the community every week doing hands-on work with an accountability team and/or in co-working sessions.
We want to make sure you know that you are making a year-long commitment by joining us in the Academy. We take the time to have a discovery and roadmapping session with you before you join to make sure we are a fit for one another and that you can grow within the container we have created for our phenomenal community. We do not give refunds. This is a commitment that requires dedication and work and we are committed to being accountable to you for the commitment you have made. Our hope is that this will be more than a year-long commitment and that you will want to stay with us and this community for the long term as you continue to grow.
When you join the Academy it is a full year commitment but we understanding committing the funds up front can be challenging so we do offer quarterly and monthly payment plans should you need the option to pay over time.
Quarterly: $750 payment every 3 months over the course of the year
Monthly: $300 payment each month for 12 months
If you choose to pay in full for the annual membership ($3,000), in addition to the initial discovery and roadmapping session you will also get a 1:1 coaching session sometime in the first two quarters to make sure you are using the roadmap we created in the beginning and fine tuning things for you based on where you are at on your journey.
Absolutely! We know that cool people attract cool people 😉 and we want our community to continue to grow. For existing members, we have a referral bonus if someone joins based on your recommendation. Have them apply and let us know in the application that you sent them. We also need you to enroll in our referral program. Click here to enroll with us.