Lisa’s Clients

One of the unique privileges of being a business owner is the ability to develop meaningful relationships with my clients. It is an honor to be such an integral part of my clients’ evolution, whether on a personal or professional level. 

“Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.” ~ Mark Twain

Through my work, I have the opportunity to assist clients with life and career transitions, improve business productivity, enhance workplaces, and to teach, motivate, and inspire.

As any business owner knows, clients are the heart and soul of a service business. Therefore, it is with respect and admiration that I share my clients’ testimonials.

Business Coaching

 

I’ve coached with Lisa Montanaro over the course of several years. Last year, after much thought, I began the challenging process of totally re-branding my business with her help. With her concise, informative, and supportive advice, I was able to figure out what I was looking for, what I needed to do, and how to get where I wanted to be. In only a short time, I’ve been able to reach a new clientele and achieve goals in my business that I’ve been dreaming about for several years. Down-to-earth, practical, yet inspiring, Lisa always has the answers I’m looking for when searching for the solution to a new dilemma. She has helped me shaped a plan to deal with new opportunities and guided me in a way that respects my capabilities, life experience, strengths, and weaknesses. While I’ve had the pleasure of working with a few very capable coaches over the past twelve years, Lisa is the person I return to again and again. In my experience, there’s nothing she can’t handle and no dilemma I’ve encountered that she hasn’t been able to help me through. A treasure trove of knowledge and experience, she has enabled me to create the productivity consulting business I’ve been working towards for many years. I recommend her often and enthusiastically to any business owner who needs guidance, expert advice, and a kick in the pants to achieve the goals they need to succeed! ~ Lisa S. Griffith, CPO®, Griffith Productivity Solutions

Lisa is so dynamic and inspirational, as a speaker and coach. Hiring her as my business coach was worth every penny. Her coaching style is warm and persistently encouraging. She really goes above and beyond and truly cares about her clients’ goals. I found her legal background to be incredibly beneficial to my coaching experience. I learned so much from the authentic sales techniques she uses in her own business. I really think the value she provides is unbeatable. I feel like I’ve gotten an MBA in just a few months! ~ Miranda Wise, Wisely Organized

Career Coaching

 

I hardly know where to begin to describe my respect and deep admiration for Lisa Montanaro and her tremendous array of skills and talent. I first met her as a presenter at a lawyers’ relaunching group, where she spoke to us about organizing and managing our lives for success. I was so uplifted by her energy, smile and excellent advice that I introduced myself immediately after. I complimented her on the wonderful presentation and asked for her card. Since that time, 11 years ago, she has been a thoughtful and engaged listener, advisor and strategist for my arts consulting business and my union campaign. She has also been my most trusted resource for any career transition advice that I have needed. There is nothing that I consider doing without imagining that Lisa is right behind me, guiding me through to the next stage of my career. She is focused, but flexible; open to ideas but grounded in her vast knowledge and experience; and, most importantly, kind and generous in her approach. I recommend working with her in any of her roles or hiring her to inspire your team. She is an extraordinary speaker as well as a dedicated one-on-one counselor. Her accolades are many and well-deserved. ~ Cecelia Hobbs Gardner, Health Benefits Specialist, The Actors Fund

Speaking & Training 

We love Lisa’s trainings and the feedback from the CalPERS LEADER cohort has once again confirmed her effectiveness connecting with the audience and engaging them in the content. I was blown away by the one participant that said ‘This is the first training where I lost track of time due to how fun the instructor made the subject matter.’ And even already being a full day, another participant mentioned they would’ve loved it if the training was longer. Wow! That’s not one we hear very often. And many of the participants mentioned how much they loved the instructor. We appreciate Lisa’s effort and enthusiasm and the value she brings to CalPERS’ LEADER program! ~ Crystal Eidanizadeh | Leadership Development Consultant, CalPERS (California Public Employment Retirement System)

“I had the pleasure of collaborating with Lisa on a shared client request for a workshop on Dynamic Public Speaking. She was extremely attentive to customizing her content for the lawyer audience and was wide open to my suggestions of areas to cover in more depth, particularly how to excel as a panel moderator. The workshop was interactive and fun while striking the right tone for the attendees. I hope we get to do it again someday!” ~ Jennifer Forester, Growth Play and C-Suite Solutions, Sacramento, CA

I wanted to thank you for the time management presentation you did for Gonzaga University Law School. I have to say, in all honesty, when I remembered we had a presentation that day, I literally thought, “I do not have time for a time management presentation.” As I started to listen though, I heard some tips and was like, “I’m gonna try that.” I tried the Pomodoro Method which, by the way, is amazing. I had several big projects to work on the last few weeks and I used it and finished on time or before. I also tried the ’25 emails at a time strategy’ and so far since implementing it this week, I leave the office every day with 0 emails in my inbox—the peace of mind that comes with that has been priceless. I scheduled in time for organizing, and even added in new tasks I’ve been putting off forever and have been checking off my to do list right and left. Not only have many of the tips helped me manage school, but they have also helped me in my work life. By far one of the best seminars I have ever been to! ~ Stephanie N. Whaley, Title IX Director, Office of Equity and Inclusion, Gonzaga University

Thank you for presenting at our supervisors retreat last week. I found your presentation to be very engaging and quite helpful for our supervisors. In addition, I’ve heard really great feedback from the group. Again, thanks for investing your time and expertise with the DEVAR team. I truly appreciate your partnership. ~ Shaun Keister, Ph.D., Vice Chancellor, Development & Alumni Relations, UC Davis

I attended Lisa’s productivity presentation “Crazy Busy Isn’t a Badge of Honor” at the National Association of Law Placement (NALP) Annual Education Conference. She is an incredibly skilled presenter — completely on-top of her material and fully engaged with her audience. An outstanding session in every respect. ~ Michael Ende, Associate Dean for Career Services, William & Mary Law School

Thanks for the thoughtfulness and care you put into the training with our staff. I valued especially the information you shared on conflict resolution styles and found your personal examples throughout the training especially helpful. It’s wonderful to have your positive and engaging energy be part of our All Staff meetings for the year. Thank you! ~ Lissa Joy Geiken, Ph.D., Director of Training and Continued Education, UC Davis, Student Health and Counseling Services

Lisa Montanaro was excellent and entertaining as our keynote speaker. She provided sound and useful tips that many of our members indicated they could use right away! She was also very easy to work with and made our Annual Meeting a great success. I would recommend Ms. Montanaro to any association looking for expertise in time management. ~ Tony J. Weiler, Executive Director, State Bar Association of North Dakota

Lisa is a dynamic, entertaining and insightful presenter. She spoke about the need for delegation and the tools that you may need to get that done, but it is clear that she would be a fantastic speaker for a law school or law firm that wanted to increase productivity as well as a wonderful choice for anyone that needs a business coach or strategist. ~ Charles Hill, Director of Career and Professional Development at Maurice A. Deane School of Law, Hofstra University

Lisa’s personal branding training during our 2019 CAPIO Board Retreat was fantastic.  Board members walked away with a deeper understanding of how to strategically develop their personal brands and how that connects to other brands they represent as well such as the company they work for, or the association they represent.  It was a great personal growth opportunity for our board members and provided them an opportunity to build connections with one another. ~ Amy Orr, Association Manager, CAPIO (California Association of Public Information Officials)

We are grateful for Lisa’s partnership with UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education to deliver leadership development workshops to both public and private sector organizations. Lisa is continuously rated highly by our learners in evaluation scores and praised for her excellent delivery style, subject matter expertise, energetic presence, experience, and providing great resources and relevant examples in her content. Lisa is also organized, responsive, and a great partner! ~ Jennifer Keller, Associate Director Management & Leadership, UC Davis Continuing & Professional Education

Lisa Montanaro brings an abundance of enthusiasm and ready-to-use content to all her speaking engagements. She is one of our organization’s go-to presenters for any size group, and she consistently receives stellar evaluations. If you want to infuse your learning and development program with energy, invite Lisa as a presenter! ~ Carina Celesia Moore, Director, Talent Management and Development, UC Davis

Thanks for the incredible information and for the time you spent with us! We enjoyed and appreciated the workshop you conducted for our all-staff retreat. I received several compliments from staff after your presentation and have been having follow-up conversations with the rest of the management team about how to utilize the tools that you provided to better build our organizational brand. The timing of your workshop couldn’t have been more perfect! Our organization has been going through a significant amount of change and we are now ready to position ourselves as a very knowledgeable and effective state agency. What makes us unique from other agencies doing similar work is our staff, and the real on-the-ground knowledge that we have about how to get good environmental work done in the Sierra Nevada region. Giving our team the tools to talk effectively about who they are and what we do is going to help us put our best foot forward. Thank you! ~ Brittany Covich, Policy & Outreach Branch Manager, Sierra Nevada Conservancy

Writer/Author Coaching

I want to give a shout out to the wonderful and amazing Lisa Montanaro! We just had our first business coaching session and it was SO great! I’m not a very business-savvy person. Funny to say that after running my own law firm for years, and now running my own book coaching business for the past 9 months, but client work is my forte, and business stuff is something I never know quite how to tackle. Thanks to Lisa, it doesn’t feel so overwhelming anymore! From our session, I got a clear understanding of the direction I want to take my business, the kind of entrepreneur I want to be, and she even threw in brilliant marketing strategies and advice. If you’re like me and struggle with processes and the business side of entrepreneurship and authorship, Lisa is THE PERSON to call. Thanks so much Lisa, I can’t wait for our next session. ~ Lidija Hilje, Book Coach and Writer (Zadar, Croatia), LidiJahilje.com

After years of struggling to finish my book, I knew I needed a new strategy. During my session with Lisa, I was able to come up with a plan that included serious accountability and a schedule I could live with. Five months later, I finished the book and have rediscovered the joy of writing. Lisa’s flexible approach and proven productivity strategies are especially suitable to authors. I highly recommend her services! ~ Kathryn Barrett, KathrynBarrett.com

Lisa’s coaching helped me find a way to brand myself as a writer and a psychologist in a way that made sense for me personally and professionally. She is knowledgeable, smart, professional, and very efficient in providing you with top advice no matter what you need. ~ Dr. Elena Mikalsen, Psychologist and Author, ElenaMikalsen.com

As a debut author, I could handle the writing. But as my novel neared publication, I was going to have to start marketing both my book and myself—and that prospect felt overwhelming.  My coaching session with Lisa was pivotal in giving me focus and direction. How do you develop a personal brand? What marketing possibilities are out there—and which of those match your personality, budget, and interest level? In a highly supportive discussion, Lisa helped me zero in on my strengths and develop an action plan. As a veteran productivity consultant and success coach, who is also an author herself, Lisa can provide strong support for authors at any stage of their writing career. ~ Rebecca Hodge, RebeccaHodgeFiction.com

As a debut author, I never thought of myself as a brand, or that I needed one. That was for non-fiction writers and breakfast cereals. Lisa opened my eyes! After just one very supportive session with her, I met the novelist that I am. With her intuition and understanding, Lisa zeroed in on my strengths. She helped me develop a totally new focus for my website, as well as for myself as a writer. She is a joy to work with — professional, efficient, extremely creative — and the best cheerleader. ~ Linda Rosen

I interviewed a few writer coaches and felt like Lisa and I clicked during our initial Cappuccino Chat. I signed up for the 3-month Pronto Package and then added on an extra month to continue. Lisa helped me to see the focus of my fiction — my unique position of life experience to write exactly this, and my branding words. It was liberating – this is what I do, this is who I am, only I can write this.

I was amazed by not only Lisa’s generosity and kindness, but also floored by her willingness to go into the ugly closet of issues I didn’t think would come up (because I hide them so well), and how well she handled them when they did raise their ugly heads. I’m not sure other coaches would have wanted, or been able, to go “there” with me. It was so much more than productivity and branding for my writer career! It was the mental game, the issues that were holding me back. The chance to exorcise them with a kind, understanding, and capable writer coach was beyond helpful. It was, pretty much, either life-changing or game-changing- or both! ~ LuLu Johnson, Southern Writer, Woman of the World, https://lu2johnson.com.

Freelance Writing

I love the articles Lisa writes for the Bike Campaign. She amazes me in her ability to get all the important information into the story, while still maintaining a friendly and conversational style. ~ Maria Contreras Tebbutt, Director, The Bike Campaign

If you’re committed to achieving Center Stage Success,

I’ll help get you there.