Episode 92: Finding Your Story – An interview with Leah Komaiko

In this episode of Lean the F*ck Out, we talk with Leah Komaiko brand storyteller and author of 20 bestselling books for children, about how she found her way into the corporate world as a consultant among a family of artists. She also shares how she built her business helping brands (companies and individuals) find their story. In the episode, Leah offers advice on how you as a fempreneur can find your unique story and pave your own way.

Finding Your Story Episode Highlights:

• If a story is good for a child’s heart, it is good for a business client’s heart.
• What has been your motivating energy and force, and your personality and brand? Stories help us to understand these things, see who we are and remember who we were.
• Allow yourself to understand what stuck with you and never left you. That’s the art of a brand.
• Genius is simple.
• We all strive to stand out and the only way I think to stand out and not mimic or copy someone else is to understand the major events/challenges in your life. Your story is then built upon the characteristics and actions you took after those events. What you did with what happened is what matters most.
• When trying to discover “what is my why?” start with WHAT questions instead.
• Your story is not just the icing on the cake, it’s the cake, the everything.
• You only have so many hours in the day, who do you want to give your time to? Why do they need it? Why do they care? This is how you discover your audience.
• Your brand comes before marketing, not the other way around.
• Realize what your greatest story is. What makes you unique? Make that your brand.
• When you’re on your right track, the right people show up.
• Start off with a little bit of money.
• The information you need is in your heart. You already have it.
• Don’t hop from one shiny object to the next.
• “Nobody doesn’t want to buy joy.”

Leah Komaiko

At her core, Leah Komaiko is a writer and author of 20 bestselling books for children including a modern classic. She got her first branding client, a Fortune 100 company, because she loved business and discovered a valuable connection between a loved bedtime story and a brand that sticks:  That thing that gets a child to pick the same book down off a shelf every time when she’s got 50 others to choose from? It’s the same instinct that makes a customer choose you today above all others as their brand. There’s surprise, delight, and connection at every turn.

Leah works in a mix of business categories and  with authors and speakers. Her clients include start-ups, Fortune 500’s, an Olympic champion, nonfiction authors and an acclaimed rapper. She watched clients get a big deal on Shark Tank and was a Marketing Director for a beloved skincare company. She authored a memoir for grown-ups that was bought by Hollywood.

Leah’s come to learn that if you believe you have more genius in you than you’re letting on, you’re probably right.  She is well known for helping to bring that out of her clients. At all stages of their projects, businesses and even just brainstorming to determine what’s next.

You can find Leah online at:

www.LeahKomaiko.com
Twitter: @LeahKBranding

Download the FREE Lean the F*ck Out Launch Kit

If you are thinking about starting a business or side hustle, check out our Lean the F*ck Out Launch Kit. The kit gives you tools and inspiration to start thinking like a fempreneur and start designing the life you want! You’ll receive a guided meditation to help you figure out your vision, a budget worksheet to see what you need financially to make a go of it, daily practices including printable worksheets and daily affirmations to help you keep your head up when your confidence is waning. Again, it’s free and it’s available at leanthef-ckout.com/launchkit.

Music: Sunshine by The Icicles