“Lisa transformed my speech and as result exponentially grew my speaking business. She knows what it takes to get you to the next level and to speak on the biggest stages. Lisa is worth the investment!”
Chris Norton
Speaker | Featured in the 7 Yards Documentary Film | Co-founder of the SCI CAN Foundation | Recipient of the CBS Courage in Sports Award | Author of The Seven Longest Yards and The Power of Faith When Tragedy Strikes
https://chrisnorton.org/
“Lisa Yakobi has made a tremendous impact on my speaking career. Her expertise has taken my speech from good to great. She understands what will capture your audience’s attention. I have felt she is there for me every step of the way. Whatever you need from the beginning to the end of your speaking career, Lisa is the person that will help you get there.”
Terry Sidford
TEDx Speaker | TV Host | Coach | Podcast Host | Author of Voices of the 21st Century and One Hundred Hearts
www.terrysidford.com
“The speech looks great! It is so awesome. I love the counter-intuitive message and intrigue!”
Holly Flanders
Speaker | Olympian | 3-time World Cup Ski Racing Champion | TV Host for Flanders Afield | Author of Going Downhill Fast
https://hollyflanders.com/
“Lisa has been an integral part of my success through many, and often difficult, stages in my professional career. Lisa consistently challenges my comfort zone to push me to achieve greatness. Our organization implemented a coaching culture to planning, problem solving, and growth as well as implemented a DISC training for everyone in the organization thanks to Lisa’s determination and desire to help elevate our organization. Thanks to Lisa’s mentorship, I am coach to my colleagues, a DISC trainer for organizations and teams, and a public speaker with an expertise in healthcare.”
Matt Staub
CEO of SC House Calls in Columbus, South Carolina
“Lisa is a very skilled and talented coach, and she coaches with the highest level of care and love. She poured her heart into the work. She consistently put in a lot of time and energy beyond the coaching sessions I booked with her, and I’m not exaggerating to say that her clients are on her mind 24×7.
Lisa is also very driven and masterful in challenging me to be my best. She set a great example of how as a coach you walk your talk. When you have a coach who has more confidence in and is more committed to your success, how can you not get there? When you have Lisa on your side, you can trust that whatever you dream for can come true!”
Lei Wang
Speaker | First Asian American to complete the Explorer’s Grand Slam | On the Committee of the Next 100 Leaders | Journey With Lei Podcast | Author of After the Summit
journeywithlei.com
“Thank you so much, Lisa, for pulling out the golden nuggets from my speech. I have since done my first TEDx talk and published my first book on the same topic! Thank you for your guidance and going above and beyond!”
Jan Spence
TEDx Speaker | Trainer | Consultant | Author of Cheer on Your Team
http://www.janspence.com
“Your intuition brought clarity to my stories and saw more in me than I could see in myself. I am deeply grateful to have ‘accidentally’ found you.
As I told another speaker recently – “I could not be where I am today without the extraordinary coaching I’ve received from Lisa Yakobi.”
Elisa Hays
Speaker | Actor | Director | Author of Letters to My Daughter
elisahays.com
“Without Lisa Yakobi, my coach of the last 8 years, my company would be only 1/4 the size it is today.”
Scott Middleton
Founder of SC House Calls in Columbia, South Carolina
“Over the last 10 years I have worked on a concept that I believe is so essential for any and all to hear that I would drive any distance for no pay to share it. I did my best to get the message across, and even when the standing ovations occurred and large fees were given it was often because of my ability to entertain rather than bring the point home in an intellectual way. I literally left every successful speech I had given, and my core message to the world, with a heavy heart and frustrated mind.
And then I began working with Lisa Yakobi.
She had never seen me perform. She had never heard me speak. We never met in person, just over the phone, and we began by chopping away at the stone that would become a very polished, beautiful piece of art. My Speech!
Lisa is a miner. She can see there is potential in the back story of any surface. Her ability to see the jewel, with X-Ray vision of sorts, where even the person that lived the story can’t comprehend it, is truly one of her great abilities. She is the great question-asker.
Lisa is an artist. Her crafting of language, her grasping of the beauty of telling a story, of piecing together a complex idea and spoon feeding it to the feeble mind while stimulating the intellectual is one of the most astounding gifts I’ve ever seen in a speech writer and coach.
Lisa is a believer. She believes in you. She helps you through the challenging layers that seem to have no end in sight, oftentimes no quality in the mix. She is a great editor, able to sift through the silt and muck and eventually, there you stand, holding proudly the jewel that is your core message. And all the while, as you suffer to chop out details and ideas from your stories, she helps you believe you can do it!
Lisa is a great coach. She took something I had presented in a good way over years and years and made it better. Not only did she mangle it until it was unrecognizable and present it back to me better than it ever was before, but she helped me see there was so much more to it than I was sharing. She has helped me tremendously in my confidence to give a message that is thought provoking, inspiring, content rich, and maintains the entertainment value I need to share. Instead of revealing my tricks right away to win over the audience I now bring them into a world that can change their own lives, take them on a journey unlike anything they’ve experienced through laughter, tears, stories and music, and when it’s over not only are they as an audience standing in ovation, but inviting me to return next year.
Lisa helped me greatly as a speaker, I appreciate her efforts and highly recommend her talents and skills to anyone seeking to take what they’ve already got and make it go from good to great to something that can’t be topped. Thank you Lisa for helping me get there.”
Jason Hewlett
Speaker | Speaker Hall of Fame | Star Award Recipient | Performer | Master Impressionist Entertainer Reward Recipient | Author of The Promise to the One
www.jasonhewlett.com
“Lisa helped me move from being generally dissatisfied and somewhat bored with my work to specifically identifying what I wanted my work to look like – how to overcome obstacles to getting there – and helping me create solutions and opportunities that I never would have thought of on my own.
I would recommend Lisa for this reason: results. Meaningful results. It is not an overstatement to say that working with Lisa has significantly changed my life for the better. My career has taken a new path that is exactly what I had wanted for years, but had never been willing or able to create.
Lisa did much more than just encourage me. Lisa helped me see things about myself and the nature of my work in a completely new way. She helped me translate a vague feeling of dissatisfaction into very specific, identifiable challenges and then we created solutions. Lisa has been relentless in the pursuit of my success.
One of the most powerful things I accomplished with Lisa was to finally identify very specifically what I wanted my career and work to look like. She helped me go from vague ideas to very actionable strategies and plans.
Lisa helped me see strengths in myself that I had never thought of before. We then worked to utilize those strengths to achieve the results that I wanted in transforming my career.
For me, the most important thing we achieved was that I am now willing to take reasonable risks in order to achieve my goals. Lisa not only helped me stretch – she pretty much made me stretch. She would refuse to give up on a goal or dream even when I wanted to give up myself. Lisa just kept looking for the solution until we found it. It’s almost as if Lisa would look at my goal, and, even if I had pretty much given up on how to achieve it, would say “Look, I’m going. You can come if you want to or stay where you are.” Lisa’s ability to see aspects of me, my work, my life – in ways that I never had – was nothing short of remarkable. Having her perspective of the challenges and opportunities in my life was of immense value to me in helping formulate and execute strategies that created success beyond what I had ever achieved before.
Lisa’s approach is unique and distinctive. She listens to me and processes what I tell her in a way that gives her truly amazing insights into who I really am and what I really want. That was always one of my biggest challenges – to get in touch with what I REALLY wanted in my life. Lisa got me there.”
Joe Calloway
Speaker | Wall Street Journal & NYT Best Selling Author | Consultant | Speaker Hall of Fame | Author of Becoming a Category of One
http://joecalloway.com
“As a former NBA player, I have had the opportunity to work with many coaches, and experienced first-hand the value of a great mentor. As a professional speaker, I needed real help to build my business. After a chance meeting with Lisa Yakobi in 2007, my business traveled to new heights. Lisa’s insight and guidance was exactly what I needed to truly become a “professional.”
I met Lisa at a speakers’ conference when she stood on a chair so she could speak with me eye to eye, and asked me what my presentation was about. After a few more questions, it was clear to me that Lisa’s knowledge and understanding of the speaking business far exceeded anyone I had met in the speaking world. Over a cup of coffee, she explained to me the key fundamentals essential to a successful speaking career. I was immediately intrigued and agreed to do a few coaching sessions with her.
That meeting was the beginning of what has become an incredible partnership and friendship that has taken my career to new heights. In fact, my income has quadrupled in the five years I have been working with Lisa. She took my elementary sports stories and hand crafted them into beautiful works of art that touch, move and inspire audiences. More importantly, she assisted me in finding MY truth and MY message. Gone were the old worn out motivational clichés, replaced by bright, transformative language that enables others to take their life and business to the next level.
Her commitment to excellence and loyalty to her clients truly sets her apart from any coach or business person I have ever met. She has held my hand, walked step by step with me, and yes, sometimes dragged me across the finish line. It has been a lot of hard work, but the results are clearly visible every time I receive a standing ovation.
Most of us can count on one hand the people we encounter, who are truly committed to our success and well-being. Lisa is one of those rare people who lives for her clients’ success.”
Mark Eaton
Speaker | NBA All-Star | Speaker Hall of Fame | Author of The Four Commitments of a Winning Team
“Lisa Yakobi is a master coach. If you need a fresh perspective, quality insights and new found clarity, she’s the first person you must call.”
Vince Poscente
Speaker | Olympian | USA and Canada’s Speaker Hall of Fame | NYT Best Selling Author of The Ant and the Elephant
www.vinceposcente.com
“Working with you was such a privilege. Really. I’ve been describing the process of newsletters in the way I do for several years now. Working together with you, I now have a completely different way to describe the process, and judging from the response I got, it was really successful. The more I delved into learning the speech, the more I realized how skillfully crafted it is. And I think you’ll love some of the stories I added since we finished it! Having a speech I love and that I know is almost poetic in its structure — yet sooooo accessible — made such a huge difference to me. I really enjoyed giving it! It allowed me to bring my whole self to it, not just the expository teacher part.”
Linda Claire Puig
Marketing Expert | Award-Winning Journalist | Writer | Podcast Host of Living Your Best Life with Linda Claire Puig
“Lisa is an artist at what she does. She is about to paint the picture of what you see in your mind but often times we as speakers just don’t know how to bring our vision to reality. It takes a Lisa who can image, and put meat on the bones so to speak. She is a perfectionist in the most positive sense. Her work is impeccable. If you will allow her to paint the picture she will craft a Mona Lisa. There is patience involved, there is a wonderment on your part, well when is this going to come together, is this going to come together, but all the while the master painter is painting the next great Mona Lisa.
Lisa I thank you for your work of art, in helping me to craft a speech that can be given and adapted to any audience, you are the best. May God continue to bless you in your quest to be a beacon of light to touch the lives of people who want to get better but just don’t know how.”
Coach Winston Bennett
Speaker | NBA Player | College Basketball Coach | Parade Magazine’s All-American | Author of Fight for Your Life
www.winstonbennett.net
“Lisa Yakobi is a true professional coach. She immerses herself in your information and takes an intense interest in you.
Then, like any great coach, she holds your feet to the fire till you do what you said you wanted to do. Her objective view is refreshing and important. She sees you as others do, not as you tell her to. Give her a call. You’ll be impressed as I am.”
Jim Cathcart
Speaker | Past President of the National Speaker Association | Sales & Marketing Hall of Fame in London | Author of 23 books Wall Street Journal & NYT Best Selling books
www.cathcart.com
“Lisa Yakobi is a brilliant guide and navigator for new and veteran speakers. She has a process for evoking and harnessing creativity that results in unique and deeply powerful stories and lessons. I have learned more about myself working with Lisa than with many life coaches and spiritual guides and I know this will be felt by my clients and audiences. Lisa is a fearless artist and will challenge and engage the most capable communicators out there.”
Brian Gast
Speaker | Coach | President of Quadrant Corp | Author of The Business of Wanting More
www.briangast.com
“Lisa has been my business coach for the past eleven years. In that time, she has helped reposition me as a leader in my field. At the same time, she encouraged me to up my price by a whopping ten-fold. For any writer, coach, speaker, or artist with a humongous goal and a willingness to take direction, Lisa Yakobi will turn your one-man shop into a money-making business empire.”
Latham Shinder
America’s # 1 Memoir Ghostwriter | Author of The Graffiti Sculptor
www.LathamShinder.com
“Lisa Yakobi has a skill set that not every life coach can provide. I was looking for someone who could really call me out on any self-deception or mistaken interpretations. As a strong and articulate executive, I’d argued my “story” to successfully to coaches in the past, preventing breakthroughs on persistent issues. Lisa’s combination of authoritativeness, sometimes nearly-psychic perceptiveness, and ability to communicate her contrasting view while never belittling you, gives me a level of partnership no one else in my life can provide. This yields tangible, positive results in my life.”
Beatrice Blatteis
Speaker | Chief Customer Evangelist at the MarTechTeam | Founder of The Blatteis Group
www.blatteis.com
“Lisa Yakobi has a special gift for making someone see their own potential and the steps necessary to visualize their destiny. After just a few coaching sessions with her, I had clarity, which led to enthusiasm which led to productivity. She believed in me, endured my excuses and gave me the vision to believe in myself.”
Greg Smith
Speaker | Coach | Author of On A Roll
http://thestrengthcoach.wordpress.com/
“As a consultant, it’s important to bill your clients at a rate that reflects your value. When I was just starting out as a consultant, and began my work with Lisa, I had a difficult time understanding my value. My rates undervalued my work. With Lisa’s guidance, I was able to see my value and bill my clients more appropriately. As a result, I’ve made a great deal more money, in less time, than I otherwise would have because of her coaching.
Personally, Lisa helped me realize that the most exciting and motivating interest that I currently have is to become a wife and mother. With her help I came to understand that I needed to focus on making this a reality, and therefore, prioritizing it in my life. By understanding that becoming a wife and mother was a valid life’s purpose I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to substitute that desire for a successful business. As a result, I’ve been in a serious relationship for over a year that has endured the typical challenges that come with it. Lisa has helped me position myself as a confident, loving, and successful partner to the man in my life.
I have recommended Lisa to handfuls of friends, clients, and colleagues. I strongly believe that Lisa is gifted in her abilities to hear where I am in any given situation, personally or professionally, and is able to help me determine where I want to be. Through her coaching, I am able to identify attainable goals that inspire and excite me to get where I want to be. At the end of my coaching sessions with Lisa, I always feel as though I am in control of my life and the challenging situations that present themselves.
Whenever I am feeling stuck, unproductive, or uninspired in my work or personal life, I use Lisa’s vision sharing techniques. In doing so, I’m able to quickly identify the essence of what I need or want in order to be happy and successful. I now have a mantra that says “if I can see it, I can achieve it, and if I achieve it, I know I will be happy.” This has deeply empowered me. My continuous practice of and success with this technique is consistently noticed by my friends and business partners.
The personal and professional development techniques that Lisa utilizes have opened up an infinite realm of possibility for me. She has consistently encouraged me to think bigger and with more detail. I learned that when you allow yourself to do this, bigger and more fulfilling things come into your life.”
Words to describe Lisa would include: Personalized, Impactful, Empowering, Fantastical, Maternal, Results Oriented, Realistic, Eerily insightful, Enthusiastic, Firm, Unpredictable, Effective
Sheena Brown
Director of Research Mobilization at Decolonizing Wealth Project
“What can I say? In over 30 years as a paid professional speaker I have discovered that the true professional is never out of school. In my attempt to learn I have quite literally hired dozens of coaches and attended as many trainings or “boot camps.” To tell the truth some were not worth the investment and some were not even worth the time invested. However working with Lisa Yakobi has helped me dramatically. Her counsel has led me to think outside my box or at least make my box a lot larger. Her shrewd observations has led me to realize quite dramatically what was keeping me from my next natural step in this ongoing evolution. I can say that our coaching relationship has dramatically effected my impact and my income. Perhaps most dramatic was the deep change in the way I looked at myself and my product. PRICELESS! If you can handle a dramatic shift in your speaking business I urge you to contact Lisa and if you want to get the most out of your sessions I also recommend that you record every session so you can process it again and again and again. There is too much value to grasp it all when you first hear it.”
Michael Scott Karpovich
Speaker | Executive Director at Consumer Choice Marketing
“Lisa Yakobi has been my coach for over two years. She is compassionate and truly appreciates my gifts. Her insight and ideas always help me see what is possible and the sessions are highly productive. With Lisa’s coaching, I was able to raise my fees and capture my essence, and with her help, write my website and polish my speeches. I strongly recommend Lisa Yakobi to anyone who wants to transform the world from the heart, grow a profitable business, and leave a legacy through their art.”
Claude Stein
Multi-platinum Award Winning Coach and Speaker | Trainer | Founder of Voice Leader and the Natural Singer
www.claudestein.com
“Lisa is very astute about human nature. Her insights into my subconscious, inner dialogs were really on target. She quickly built a lot of trust. I’ve worked with several excellent coaches and mentors and have some basis for comparison. I don’t know how else to say it. Lisa’s skill in healing and clearing emotional blocks is unsurpassed.”
Walter Sargent
Chief Information Officer
“One of the qualities that makes Lisa an outstanding coach is her ability to ask the critical question that cuts through my fuzzy thinking and gets to the heart of my problem. She is direct and results oriented, both in dealing with immediate issues and setting long-term goals. With her guidance, I developed a personal mission statement that guides me in making decisions every day.”
Andrew J. Morrow, Jr.
Attorney | Shareholder at Lane Powell PC | Author of Cancer Grabbed me by the Throat
“Lisa is incredibly motivating and positive, yet extremely realistic.
She brings out the best in you…and helps you see your USP. Not only that, she then creates a roadmap to success.
I wish I could move in with her.”
Susan Sommers
Personal Style Coach
“I have had the incredible privilege of working with Lisa over the past 6 months. When she started coaching me, my work structure was almost non-existent and therefore very chaotic. I had turned over my entire sales staff over the first year in my current position and I was trying desperately to create structure and a positive work environment with very limited resources. In less than three months I had effective systems in place, accountability for myself and my sales team and we hit our monthly goal for the first time since I had started in this position. Lisa has a very natural ability to pull out your strengths and build upon your weaknesses in a manner that is not demeaning or defeatist, but inspiring!”
Carla Wyrick
Director of Sales
“I refer as many people as I can to Lisa Yokobi’s coaching. I think she is an awesome coach that has helped me focus and find my true passion. I was trying to do it alone and alone only works to a certain point. After that we need the help of someone who wants to see us succeed as much as we do and will point us in the best direction. A good coach is not going to just agree with what I want but will push me out of my comfort zone. She holds her ground while I resist and I discover new truths about myself. She is my best fan. Lisa is the kind of a coach that moves you forward and I have seriously moved forward since I have been working with her.”
Annette Fazio
Speaker | Trainer | Author of Finding the Leader Within
“Lisa’s coaching is unique because she follows up with you when necessary and takes the time to look over important documents or articles for you. The most valuable thing about her coaching is the way she immerses herself into your business and knows just how to challenge you, just how to motivate you and which direction to send you in next. Lisa gives you plenty of homework, and that was a surprise, but it is all for my benefit. As a result, I’ve got a better website, better articles and lots of new clients. I expect my business to continue to grow at a much faster pace thanks to Lisa. I would recommend her to anyone who is already successful but wants to grow at a faster pace.”
Sandy Dumont
CEO of The Image Architect | Author of 7 Days to a More Powerful and Magnetic Image
http://www.theimagearchitect.com/
“I have worked with a couple of different coaches over the years for various personal and professional reasons and I find Lisa to be the most caring, thoughtful, insightful, and generous with her time. She keeps me focused on my goals and takes the time necessary to help me reach them. I really appreciate the way she works toward meeting my needs in terms of communication style and the way I process difficult situations. Lisa really takes the time to understand the different questions that I’m grappling with and has a deep understanding of what it takes to work through (and past) those questions in order for me to develop greater clarity on how to reach my life goals. I can’t recommend Lisa highly enough.”
Monique Mehta
Senior Director at Arabella Advisors | Consultant
“My first session with Lisa re-set my career path. For the first time, I was able to articulate what I truly wanted, and more importantly, Lisa made me believe that I could reach my goals. Be prepared to work hard- her approach to finding a fulfilling job centers on knowing yourself, knowing how to push yourself, and knowing how to expect more from others. Although I first contacted Lisa with professional concerns, working with Lisa has had profoundly positive impacts on my personal life as well. I also credit her with helping me make big decisions to change my job and my outlook on my capabilities, resulting in a new job within four months of working together. I can say with confidence that Lisa will help you discover what’s best about yourself.”
Jennifer Kim
Lisa Yakobi 