Start Finishing Promotion Kit

START FINISHING

Promotion Kit

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by and for your support in promoting the book.

Start Finishing published on September 24th, 2019. 

Please link to or use startfinishingbook.com when linking to the book unless you’re sending them to your preferred retailer.

Thank you for being on this journey with me. The community of Creative Giants at Productive Flourishing, as well as the wider online and offline community, that I have come to know and love over the last 12 years of this work have been a key part of me both Starting and Finishing this book. Here’s to finishing together! Ubuntu (in honor of the humanity that bonds each of us together).

This page is a jumping off point; hopefully providing you with anything you might need to help spread the word about Start Finishing. We’ve included bios, fun facts, social media assets, Q&As, and much more. If there’s something you’re looking for to help in promotions and you’re not finding it here please reach out to us at charlie@productiveflourishing.com. We appreciate your support and want to make this as easy as possible for you.

Lastly, please send Charlie (charlie@productiveflourishing.com) links to anything you do related to promoting Start Finishing. We want to honor and give lots of love back to you in our newsletters, press pages, and social media.

Share the Book

Essential Info

Social Accounts + Hashtags

Twitter: @CharlieGilkey
Facebook: Charlie Gilkey or Productive Flourishing
Instagram: @MomentumPlanner and @ProductiveFlourishing
LinkedIn: Charlie Gilkey

PLUS! Make sure to link back to: http://startfinishingbook.com

Include some of the following hashtags (plus any others that fit for you):
#startfinishing
#charliegilkey
#ideatodone
#standtall

Sample Social Shares

We all need @CharlieGilkey in our pocket, cheering us on. FINALLY, the time has come! Charlie’s new book #StartFinishing is OUT NOW. Check it out & download your free chapter: startfinishingbook.com (Tweet this.)

If you have big ideas but struggle with execution (hello, everyone)  – @CharlieGilkey’s book is gonna rock your world. Download your free sample chapter of #StartFinishing to see what I mean >>> startfinishingbook.com #productivity #notjustanotherproductivitybook (Tweet this.)

Take your latest genius plan from #IdeaToDone. I promise @CharlieGilkey’s new book, #StartFinishing, is way more than just another “morning routine”. See for yourself: startfinishingbook.com (Tweet this.)

Ready to go from #ideatodone? @CharlieGilkey’s new book “Start Finishing” is available NOW! Head to the website today to download a free chapter and grab your copy: startfinishingbook.com (Tweet this.)

If #StartFinishing isn’t on your reading list for 2019… get it on there! @CharlieGilkey’s new book “Start Finishing: How to Go from #IdeatoDone” is out NOW. Head to the site to learn more and get a FREE chapter: startfinishingbook.com (Tweet this.)

Have big ideas but don’t know where to start? Start with #StartFinishing. Grab your FREE chapter + learn more about @CharlieGilkey’s new book over on the website: startfinishingbook.com (Tweet this.)

Start living the life you imagined, and #StartFinishing the projects that matter most to you. @CharlieGilkey’s new book is OUT NOW – head to the website to learn more, download a free chapter, and grab your copy! startfinishingbook.com (Tweet this.)

Did you know @CharlieGilkey has a new book out? “#StartFinishing: How to go from #IdeatoDone” is available RIGHT NOW! Head to the site to learn more + download your free chapter: startfinishingbook.com (Tweet this.)

Check out some other social examples:

Sample Blurb

Writing about the book? Feel free to copy & paste this readymade blurb.

I’m excited to share Charlie Gilkey’s new book, Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done! Charlie has a knack for cutting through the BS that stands in our way of getting our best work out… and he does it with deep love and soul, which makes this book truly “not just another productivity book”.

This book is gentle yet practical, human yet firm. It’s like Charlie’s holding your hand and helping you get to the heart of what really matters to make your mark on the world.

This book is for you if you often find yourself at the end of your week wondering what you really got done. And then upon further reflection, you realize you DID get stuff done – it just wasn’t the stuff that matters most to you. What’s more, you realize that it was other people’s priorities steering your week and energy. It happens to all of us.

Thankfully, Start Finishing: How to Go From Idea to Done will guide you through the process of identifying what matters most to you, help you hop the hurdles that get in your way, and leave you sprinting toward the finish line of getting your best work out in the world.

Book Descriptions

LONG-FORM

How much of your time and attention lately has been focused on things that truly matter to you?

Most people’s honest answer is: Not enough. Everyone is buried by busywork, responsibility, distraction, and fatigue.

The joy-producing, difference-making ideas are waiting for when the time is right, when the current project is over, when they have a little more money, when the kids are grown, or when they get a more understanding boss. They are waiting for someday.

The trouble is someday never comes on its own.

Start Finishing presents a 9-step method for converting an idea into a project by addressing the challenges you’ll face and getting the project on a reality-based schedule.

The book will teach you how to:

  • Practice the Five Keys that lead to self-mastery
  • Build your Success Pack of people to help you be successful
  • Keep working through the thrashing that comes with any project that matters to you
  • Chunk, Link, and Sequence your ideas down to doable parts
  • Use the 5 Projects Rule to prioritize your daily schedule and be at peace with the work you choose not to do
  • Fly through Drag Points-how to deal with head trash, no-win scenarios, and other people’s priorities
  • Heatmap your schedule so you do the right work at the right time
  • Overcome Cascades, Logjams, and Tarpits – the three ways projects routinely get stuck
  • Finish Strong – celebrate, review, and ride the momentum to your next goal

You are not incapable, wired to struggle, or fated to be unable to get your act together. With a few key steps, you can change the way you show up, how you plan, and how you respond when things get tough.

You can Start Finishing the work that matters most to you.*

*Start Finishing also features original contributions from Seth Godin, Susan Piver, Jonathan Fields, James Clear, and many other teachers.

SHORT-FORM

Too often we look back at the end of the week and are frustrated that we didn’t make progress on our soul-deep dreams and goals that seem to remain eternally out of reach. Start Finishing presents a 9-step method for success – including identifying your genius, building a success pack of supporters, navigating multiple projects, and overcoming the challenges that come with doing the work that matters. Start Finishing features contributions from Seth Godin, Susan Piver, Jonathan Fields, James Clear, and more.

Facts About the Book & Charlie

Publishing Facts

  • I started writing the book in January of 2018 and finished in October of 2018. That said, so much of the content was repurposed and seeded from the blog, so, in many ways, I’ve been writing it for 12 years.
  • I wrote a majority of this book on an Alpha Neo (a portable word processing keyboard) in a coffee shop. I really tried to write on my laptop and desktop, but there were just too many distractions and the Neo helped me stay in flow.
  • I consider this book our book rather than my book, meaning that this book would not have happened if it weren’t for the amazing connections I’ve made with the Productive Flourishing community over the last 12 years.
  • It is not your standard paperback – it’s 7.5×9 with flaps
  • Two-color printing – bright green headings throughout the book with orange accents

Serious Charlie Facts

  • Before I got into writing, thinking, coaching, and teaching about meaningful action back in 2007, I was teaching philosophy at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, while I was completing my Ph.D. (in Philosophy) while simultaneously managing a career as a logistics officer in the Army National Guard.
  • Some people have a hard time understanding who I am because I seem to be a mixture of contradictory traits. I’m philosophical yet pragmatic; compassionate yet disciplined; creative yet analytical; driven yet laid back; happy but calm.
  • My philosophical specialties are ethics and social/political philosophy. I’ve also done a lot of reading in American pragmatism, process thought, existentialism, classical philosophy, and Taoist philosophy.
  • I was a joint force logistics coordinator in the Army National Guard and exited as a Captain. As my career progressed, I spent more time making sure the Air Force and Army were on the same sheet of operational music. But, of course, that’s like conducting two symphonies at once. Ah, the good ole days.
  • I deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in ’04-’05. I was a transportation platoon leader for part of the tour and a plans officer for the other part. It was one of the best and worst times of my life.

Fun Charlie Facts

  • I grew up in Fort Smith, Arkansas (in case you’ve ever wondered about the accent that pops up sometimes).
  • I love tabletop and role-playing games. On the nerds-vs.-normal spectrum, I pass as a normal unless other game nerds are around, in which case I start failing my charisma checks.
  • I’m a self-taught singer-songwriter who plays acoustic guitar. My style is like a combination of Jack Johnson, Amos Lee, David Gray, Mat Kearney, Michael Franti, and Jason Mraz – with some Lupe Fiasco, Smashing Pumpkins, and Radiohead thrown in.
  • I was a cheerleader in high school. Were it not for pictures on Facebook, I might not have told you.
  • I like to think I’m in charge, but the truth is that I am ruled over by a 21-year-old cat, Petie, who has very clear directions for me about how I spend my time outside of work. Wake up. Give me your lap, human. No, I really mean treats. Why aren’t you giving me your lap? And, treats. Come to bed now.
  • Strengths from Strengths Finder: Strategic, Relator, Connectedness, Individualization, and Learner. Enneagram 9w8. ENTP, but pretty mid-line on all of them.

Interview Questions

  • How can I get better at prioritizing projects and pushing them to done?
  • How can I get my project unstuck and going again?
  • What should I do if I’m carrying the baggage of previous failures with me and can’t shake it when I think about my next idea?
  • How do I get motivated to do work that I’m dreading?
  • Why is there such a big gap between the way we want to live our lives and our day-to-day reality?
  • What’s the point of planning if what happens is never even close to what I planned?
  • What is it about “first things first” that we often confuse?
  • Are there any pivotal experiences that led you to write this book?
  • How did growing up poor and Black in the South inform your work?
  • Are there any insights or practices from the book that you personally find challenging?
  • You wrote a book called Start Finishing but you still haven’t finished your PhD in Philosophy. How do you reconcile the two?

Want more interview questions? Check out the full Interview Questions list here!