Lisa Bloom is a storyteller and author who’s passionate about the art and business of storytelling. She runs a business called The Story Coach and helps entrepreneurs to de-stress their marketing and find their unique success stories. After traveling the world and working a variety of jobs, she settled down in Israel, where she lives with her husband and sons. From there, she built up her Story Coaching business, developed Narrative Based Leadership Programs, and delivered many global conference keynotes and workshops. She is also the manager of Mirasee's ACES (Accountability, Coaching & Community, Expertise, and Service) program.

     In this episode, Lisa shares what making it means to her. She starts by describing her Irish-Jewish background which, she says jokingly, predisposed her to become a storyteller. Lisa then goes on to explain the way her life adventures and storytelling abilities helped her build a successful business that's meaningful, adds value, and is of service to others.  

“I wanted to empower others to be able to understand the power of story and tell their own stories. And that's when it shifted into a business.” – Lisa Bloom

Guest Bio: Following a successful corporate career, Lisa became an entrepreneur, author, speaker and coach. She built a global business Story Coach Ltd., supporting corporates, entrepreneurs and coaches with speaking mastery, leadership capability and marketing impact.  Lisa is the author of the bestsellers, The Story Advantage and Cinderella and the Coach.

     Lisa joined Mirasee to support entrepreneurs in the ACES Program, to achieve outstanding results in the growth of their business through results orientation and student support systems. As the Director of ACES, she is responsible for the ACES student experience — creating the infrastructure and the success team that our students need to accelerate business growth.

     There’s nothing Lisa loves more than to spend time with her partner and their 4 sons, walk her dog, travel, read and share stories.

Resources or websites mentioned in this episode:

• Mirasee 
• The Story-coach  
• Lisa Bloom’s book - The Story Advantage

• Credits:
• Guest – Lisa Bloom
• Associate producer – Danny Bermant
• Producer – Cynthia Lamb
• Executive producer – Danny Iny
• Assembled by – Geoff Govertsen
• Audio Post Supervisor: Evan Miles, Christopher Martin
• Audio Post Production by Post Office Sound
• Music soundscape: Chad Michael Snavely

If you don't want to miss future episodes of Making It, please subscribe to Apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you're listening right now. And if you liked the show, please leave us a starred review. It's the best way to help us get these ideas to more people.

If you have a question for Making It, put the show title in the subject line and send it to [email protected].

Music and SFX credits

1. Track Title: Finnegan's Lament

Artist Name(s): Caleb Etheridge

Writer Name: Caleb Etheridge

Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

2. Track Title: Morning In Belfast

Artist Name(s): Third Age

Writer Name: Stephen Keech

Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

3. Track Title: Sweet Loving Waltz

Artist Name(s): Sounds Like Sander

Writer Name: S.L.J. Kalmeijer

Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

4. Track Title: The Sunniest Kids

Artist Name(s): Rhythm Scott

Writer Name: Scott Roush

Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

• Episode transcript: It’s All About the Story (Lisa Bloom)

 [00:00:03] Lisa Bloom: Some years ago, I was at a conference and a woman came up to me and she started talking to me as if she knew me and I didn't know who she was. And eventually I said, you know, do I know you? And she said oh I'm sorry I'd be on your list for years. And then I said, oh thank you. And we started talking and then she said to me, you know, I have to tell you, she put her hand on my shoulders, that I have to tell you. You're exactly like I imagined you were from hearing the way you write, there's something very real about you and that was something I was very pleased about. You know, I think in some ways my brand is kind of authenticity and being real and and that's what I try to live and so I think I'm proud of having achieved that. I'm Lisa Bloom and you're listening to Making It. I run a business called Story-Coach, working with entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders to build creative yet resilient cultures lead to change and build their businesses with the power of storytelling. 

     When I started, I discovered that there was quite a distinction between the person who was able to do what they do, like the expertise that they had and the person who could talk about it in a way that was compelling and so again and again. And initially I began in the coaching world, I would see these bright, committed, talented people and I would ask them, you know, what do you do or how do you know, what do you do or tell me about your business? And they would just kind of stumble and stutter and just not be at all inspiring in the way they spoke about it and I realized that it's not enough to be good at what you do. You have to be able to talk about it in a way that's compelling.

     You know, I joke often and I say that, you know, I have a genetic predisposition to becoming a storyteller because I'm Irish and Jewish and both of those cultures are so full of stories. My father loved to tell stories, but my father also had, we had a lot of visitors who would come to our home and share meals and one of my father and my parents friends was actually a Carmelite priest and he came to our home and he gave me a gift of bible stories. And then every time he would visit, which was not very often he would come, he would see how I was and he would pull out the book of bible stories and read me stories and I have that book to this day, but he's one of the people that reminded me of, you know, that I think of as my first storyteller and part of why that experience stayed with me was because I felt very special. I felt like he saw me in a way, even though I was the youngest child and even though I was the one that perhaps didn't have the smartest conversation, he chose me to tell these stories to and the stories were very deep, warm, um interesting stories I was captured and I felt special and I felt seen and heard and safe and that's essentially the experience of story that was magical for me and was what I wanted to help others see and experience. 

     And remember when you tell a story, no matter what the situation is, it's it's like this magnet. Suddenly people kind of just our c...