Ready to take your business to the next level but don’t know how?

If so, join us – Pam Slim of Escape from Cubicle Nation and Charlie Gilkey of Productive Flourishing – for a relaxed but extremely constructive retreat at Still Meadow Retreat Center near Portland, Oregon from August 5-8, 2010.

The Lift Off Retreat will then be followed by four implementation calls where we help you stay on course by helping you celebrate your accomplishments, brainstorm new options, and get the maximum value out of the opportunities you build.

We only have 15 13 12 11 8 7 seats left – please contact us while there’s still room!

Who Lift Off! is For:

You’re smart. You’re creative. You’ve got a business that has some traction, but you have more ideas than you do time – and it’s not at all clear what your next step should be.

You’ve tried all the generic advice about growing a business but none of it has really stuck in a way that works for you and your business.

You are juggling so many projects at the same time that you often feel like you never give your best effort to any one of them, or get the results you are capable of.

You know that you’ve got what it takes, but you also know that you need to make some serious changes to how you run your business so you don’t drive yourself or everyone around you crazy.

You’re ready to do this – you could just use someone to help you decide what to commit to and what to let go of so you can rock 2011.

We get you, and we’re here to help.

LiftOff2 Overview from Pamela Slim on Vimeo.

What You’ll Be Doing

We want you to come to the retreat with every idea you’ve got. Seriously. You’ll leave with the ones that count.

We’ll be helping you organize your projects, make decisions, assess values, and clarify your priorities – all the stuff that isn’t fun on your own, but can turn into a total blast in a group of creative, compassionate people. Our tag-team approach will help you come up with easier ways to visualize your growth so that it doesn’t feel like it’s such a month-to-month crap shoot.

Once we come up with the Big Ideas for your business, we’ll jump in the weeds to help you figure out how you’re going to do it. A great idea doesn’t pay your bills, but a great idea with a doable, actionable plan that’s implemented is something to take to the bank.

Though this retreat will be exhilarating, it’ll also be laid back. There will be plenty of time where you can connect with us, your fellow participants, and, most importantly, yourself. The no-stress zone that is Still Meadows will help you see possibilities that might otherwise elude you, and you’ll have the time and space to work with those possibilities.

Instead of thinking about this as a seminar or a conference, think about it as a turbo-charged coaching session. You will make more progress in three and a half days than in many months of individual coaching with either Pam or Charlie. This is due to the intensive, face-to-face nature of the event, participation by 15 other smart, supportive entrepreneurs, and the tag-team effect of Pam and Charlie working with you.

To say that the LiftOff retreat was a transformative experience for me would be a gross understatement. I attended the retreat when I was at a crossroads in my career: I had a growing side business, but a job that required me to travel so much that growing my business any more would be next to impossible.

I left the retreat armed with the confidence that I could really do it and spent the flight back on fire with ideas, sketches, and diagrams. Not only did I build up the confidence to finally ditch my job, I didn’t work a single day for my previous company after attending.

The community that developed at the LiftOff retreat allowed me to lend my expertise to some, lean on others, grow my business, and connect with people who are crazy and creative just like me. Few feelings are more gratifying than being encouraged and motivated by a group of people who challenge and support you. And that’s what I enjoy every week now that I’m a LiftOff Alum. I can’t wait for the next one!

~Willie Jackson, WillieJackson.com.

What You’ll Learn At Lift Off:

We’ve limited the amount of participants of this retreat to 15. This gives us plenty of ideas and voices to share, but it’s small enough that we can work on your stuff individually.

There are four phases to Lift Off:

1. Dream – This is the first day of Lift Off, where we’ll reconnect with why you’re in business in the first place and what your unique gifts are. This phase is all about the heart and why of your business.
2. Design – During the design phase, we’ll look at your business model and how it connects to the vision and heart of your business. We’ll discuss the resonant strategies and business practices that will bring your ideas to life. We’ll also drop the dud ideas and dead weight that has you wheel-spinning and confused. This phase is about the head and what of your business.
3. Plan – During this phase, we’ll take those strategies and distill them into actionable steps so you can make them happen. We’ll build a clear path for you to follow once you’re on your own. This phase is all about the hands and how of your business.
4. Implement – The first three phases will happen at the retreat, but this critical phase is where you’ll actually put your dreams, designs, and plans into play. The implementation calls support you while you’re doing the work of your business. This phase is all about the hands and doing of your business.

The first three phases of Lift Off will have a good mix of discussion, interaction, group work, thinktank sessions, and individual assignments. We mix things up to keep you learning, engaged, energized, and connected – and we’ll slow down and speed up to match the group’s desired pace.

So, there’s a lot to learn and talk about, but we do the best we can to get the content and community overload to a minimum.

This is More Than a Retreat!

Ever leave a conference or retreat with a ton of great ideas only to forget all about it in three weeks? Been there, done that.

The real value of this kind of retreat comes from implementing all the great ideas and plans you get, which is why we’re including four coaching calls after the retreat. We’ll be checking in at the one month, three month, six month, and nine month mark, and during each call we’ll discuss what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what changes to make to keep building momentum.

At Lift-Off in Arizona what was so remarkable was the safe space created by Pam Slim and Charlie Gilkey.  This along with the open-heartedness of the participants made for a really awesome experience.  I was able to honestly share my ideas, fears and dreams for my small biz in a truly caring, supportive environment.  Personally, this really strengthened me as I continue on the solopreneur path with its ups and downs.  We created a real community that has continued to thrive online and for this I am so very grateful.

~Karen Yaeger, OpenSkyVideo.com

We’re offering two different packages so that you can choose the package that’s right for you.

Both packages include three nights lodging and all meals from Thursday dinner – Sunday lunch. Here’s how they’re different:

1. The Standard Lift Off Package: The Standard Package includes the retreat and four 90 minute group calls.
2. The Premium Lift Off Package: The Premium Package includes the retreat, the 90 minute group calls, and four hour-long individual calls with both Pam and Charlie on each call.

Where We’ll Be:

Still Meadows is located in the middle of a beautiful natural area 40 minutes from the Portland, Oregon airport. It is a magical  location with just the right combination of physical beauty, open space, and creature comforts to have a totally productive getaway.

Look at Charlie’s videos in the right sidebar to see some footage of the main rooms, casitas and outdoor scenery.

Who We Are:

Pamela Slim

Pamela Slim is a seasoned coach and writer who helps frustrated employees in corporate jobs break out and start their own business. Her blog, Escape from Cubicle Nation, is one of the top career and marketing blogs on the web. A former corporate manager and entrepreneur herself for more than a decade, she deeply understands the questions and concerns faced by first-time entrepreneurs. Her expertise in personal and business change was developed through many years consulting inside corporations such as Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Charles Schwab, where she coached thousands of executives, managers and employees.

“Entrepreneurship at its heart is aligning your purpose for being on earth with a business idea so compelling that you simply must do it, despite the fears that hold you back,” says Pam. Her experience teaching martial arts for 10 years to thousands of students including former gang members has helped her clients deal with fear head-on. A world traveler, Pam speaks four languages and has lived and worked in Europe and South America.

Pam is certified as a master life coach and has been a successful business owner for 14 years. She has appeared in numerous national publications such as Psychology Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Money Magazine and U.S. News & World Report. Her book Escape from Cubicle Nation was published by Penguin/Portfolio in May, 2009, and was named Best Small Business/Entrepreneur Book of 2009 by 800 CEO Read. Pam is married with three kids and lives in Mesa, Arizona.

Charlie Gilkey

Charlie is a writer, designer, and coach who helps creative people change the world. His blog, Productive Flourishing, is one of the top blogs for productivity, creativity, and personal development on the web. His ideas are strongly guided by his background as an Army logistics planner and a graduate training in Philosophy. This unusual blend of perspectives make for a unique but surprisingly effective integration of theory and practice. After all, philosophy, military science, and entrepreneurship share a common goal at their core: they are each trying to solve the problems we face, albeit with wildly different approaches.

One of the things Charlie is known for is his ability to help creative people make systems and plans that work for them. While there’s a whole army of productivity gurus telling people how they should work, Charlie’s main goal is to help people use all the resources they have in the way that works best for them. Though he’s known as a systems guy, he’d much rather help you learn self-mastery than systems-mastery.

Charlie is currently rocking his own multi-faceted business that has a mix of coaching, consulting, product development, workshops, teleclasses, books, and however else he can get the message out. He is married and lives in Portland, Oregon.

Will Being A Part of Lift Off Help You Make More Money?

Here’s where we almost wish we could tell you that you’ll make a gazillion bucks if you come to Lift Off and learn our Patented Lift Off Secret (TM). Alas, there’s no real secret.

Here’s what we can tell you: yes, you will make more money by being a part of Lift Off.

Here’s what else we can tell you:

1. Instead of getting a packaged program that’s made for (almost) anyone, you’re getting the attention of two industry-tested coaches and entrepreneurs who help people figure out how they’re going to make money.
2. Instead of learning all the ways you can make money, you’re going to have people who help people build businesses that help them live the life they want live.
3. Instead of learning a bunch of stuff and then being left to your own devices to figure it all out, you’re going to have us – Pam, Charlie, and the other participants – in your corner helping you figure it out and implement it.

If you want the Secret to Entrepreneurial Riches, we’re sure you can find somebody else to sell it to you. If you want to learn how to augment or streamline your current business model, implement effective, brand-resonant streams of income, find your market and nurture relationships with your potential buyers and clients, and do all of this in a way that doesn’t mean you have to give up the non-business things that you value, then please join us.

We help creative entrepreneurs make money every single day. That’s who we are and what we do. You’ll be getting the same attention, insights, ideas, and plans of action that it normally takes weeks or months for our clients to learn, and the synergy of Pam, Charlie, and the other participants stands to make this a unique business opportunity that you won’t find anywhere else.

The Lift Off experience while filled with amazingly smart and supportive people in an absolutely beautiful location – really has become the framework for my business plans. Pam and Charlie pushed us with provocative questions that made us think and articulate our vision for the future. Most other retreats end where Lift Off began. We left with plans,strategies and outcomes for moving our plans forward.

If you have no idea what your super powers are, this is the place to be.
~Desiree Adaway, DesireeAdaway.com.

Payment Plans

Want to be there but aren’t sure how you can swing it? Would a payment plan help? It’s made the difference to us before, so we want to make sure you can get there, too, without breaking the bank right now.

Both packages have payment plans available. After we receive your $500 deposit and determine that you’re a good fit, you’ll be billed for the remainder of your package in four payments on July 15th, August 15th, September 15th, and October 15th..

You might notice that the second payment comes after the workshop component. We know that Lift Off will be worth every penny you spend, and we’re willing to back it up.

Are you willing to show up and set the stage for an awesome 2011?

What Happens Now?

Ready to grab your seat? Great!

Here’s how this will work:

1. Check the table below to choose the package that’s right for you.

When you make your selection, you’ll be directed to a payment link where you will pay a $500 deposit to reserve your seat. You will receive a monthly invoice for the 1/4th the amount of your remaining bill on July 15th, August 15th, September 15th, and October 15th. If you have any questions about payment plans, just shoot us an email to support@pamelaslim.com. We will make it work for you.

2. We’ll send you to the application page.

We want to make sure we’re a good fit, so we’ll ask you a few questions up front. Once we have those answers…

3. One of us will schedule a 10-20 minute individual call with you fill out your application.
   

We’d like to know a bit more about you, how you want to grow your business, and what you’d like to learn during the retreat. If it turns out that we’re not the right fit for you, we’ll refund your deposit.

Sign up here

	Retreat (Room and Board included)	Four-90 Minute Group Calls	4 Individual Calls w/Pam & Charlie	Sign Up
Standard Lift Off Package				$2500
Premium Lift Off Package				$3200

Frequently Asked Questions

• Do I get my own room?

We have 5 individual rooms that are reserved on a first-come, first served basis. The other accomodations are shared. We will talk about the best fit for you once you submit your application. If you are really clear that you want your own room, we suggest you don’t wait to register.

• How do I get to Still Meadows?

We will provide specific directions and transportation options to the Portland airport once you sign up.

• Are the seats for the Standard or Premium packages limited?

No. We want you to pick the package that’s right for you. Let us know if we can help you make the decision that fits you.

• When should I plan on being there and leaving?

Dinner will start at 5pm on Thursday and will be followed by a light evening program. The content portion of the Retreat ends Sunday at 3pm, so you can leave after that if you wish – we’ll be hanging out afterward to chill and chat, though.

Do you have any questions we didn’t address? Is something unclear? Please let us know by emailing Pam at Pam AT PamelaSlim DOT com or Charlie at Charlie AT ProductiveFlourishing DOT Com.

What Lift Off Was For Them…In Their Own Words

We’ve told you a lot of what Lift Off was about, but what we say may not be doing it justice. We’d rather let you read what past participants have said, in their own words, on their own websites:

What will your Lift Off story be? We hope you come join us to find out.