: depression vs. sadness: the power of mincing words. Sadness strips you raw. Depression muffles and muddles. When you respect the difference, you're closer to the cure. SHARPEN YOUR LEXICON, READ HERE.

: making space for creative credo. My decision to close the comments on WhiteHotTruth stirred a few pots and sparked a few dialogues. READ MY CREDO, and find out why I chose to keep it lean and clean.

: your permission slip from the universe. I've got the Goddess of Permission on speed-dial, and she's got a message for you. AND YOU. AND YOU. CLICK HERE FOR FULL PERMISSION.

sightings + soul merch

: business week, baby. Remember that righteous "pay what you can" for the FIRE STARTER SESSIONS birthday party? Business Week thought it was pretty groovy, too! READ the Business Week article from Chris Guillebeau HERE.

: save the dates. I've got a bevy of upcoming events in Vancouver, New York City, and Seattle. Find out where I'm gonna ROCK THE MIC and get your RSVP on.

: true strengths + the metrics of ease. Now you can own a mini-spark of THE FIRE STARTER SESSIONS: True Strengths + the Metrics of Ease.

This chapter is a dense collection of musings, action steps, worksheets, videos and resources...all for $20. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. Yes, you can.

"This chapter is a BEAUTY — such a kick start.
Your words give me permission to be awesome."
- Sas Lockey

"This chapter is a BEAUTY — such a kick start.
Your words give me permission to be awesome."
- Sas Lockey

True Strengths + The Metrics of Ease is Session 3 in THE FIRE STARTER SESSIONS. One of the most popular chapters, you can get it now as a mini-media sparklet, a warm up for the mondo inferno. It explores:

: clarifying your intrinsic strengths vs. weaknesses
: the dangers of being "competent." Being well-rounded is highly overrated.
: the game-changing practice of getting better at what you’re best at
: passion as your growth point
: the brilliance of approving of your weaknesses
: enthusiasm as a state of higher consciousness
: using grace as data in your decision making
: a list of personality tests and reading resources
: ...and a word on life purpose
: VIDEO: The Metrics of Ease with Danielle
: VIDEO: The Merits of Self-Centered with Danielle + Dyana Valentine
: WORKSHEET 4: Passion Play
: WORKSHEET 5: Very Strong Priorities

"[this] chapter...is blowing my mind. Amazing.
This chapter alone is worth way more than $150."
- Tim Murphy

All this for $20 bucks, baby. And when you're hot for more, you can put the cost of this chapter toward the full-tilt FIRE STARTER SESSIONS program. And! By owning the True Strengths chapter, you're able to become an affiliate.

** click here to purchase true strengths + the metrics of ease **

rave reviews

"Danielle LaPorte's passion for her mission leaps off the page, and reading a few chapters of this book will ignite you into action."
– Gretchen Rubin | Author, The Happiness Project

"The Fire Starter Sessions is the revolution you’ve been waiting for. It will shake-up and wake-up every aspect of your life."
– Kris Carr | Award-winning Author and Documentarian, Crazy, Sexy, Cancer

"The Fire Starter Sessions is the new, bad-ass Artist’s Way.”
– Linda Sivertsen | Co-Author, Harmonic Wealth and Generation Green

"The Fire Starter Sessions...is so good that I’m taking it slow. All meat, no filler."
– Nathan Hangen | Author, Beyond Blogging and the Webrepreneur's Guide to Funding Your Business

"No entrepreneur should make another decision about the direction of his or her future without reading this book and doing the exercises Danielle has included."
– Alexis Martin Neely | Founder, Family Wealth Planning Institute and The LIFT Foundation System

"I'm savoring my way through FSS and loving it. I've scheduled a standing weekly appointment to work through Danielle's ass-kicking, fire-lighting, stakes-raising worksheets until. I'm. done. I'm admitting, forgiving, clarifying, imagining, and (most importantly) becoming – and I've needed this for a long time."
– Dave Navarro | TheLaunchCoach.com

"Money, failure, power, appreciation – this doesn't leave anything out of the mix."
– Barbara Stanny | Author, Overcoming Underearning

"You know the acronym TABO? True And Bleedingly Obvious. The Fire Starter Sessions are the opposite of that. They're fresh, compassionate, practical, sassy, designed (and design is one crucial way that content becomes useful), wise, engaging and, above all, different."
– Michael Bungay Stanier | Author, Do More Great Work and Senior Partner, Box of Crayons

Or of course, you could just go for the mondo inferno right this minute and invest in the full FIRE STARTERS SESSIONS program. Click the orange icon:

$150 for the full-tilt love. And! $5 from every copy goes to the charity you choose:The Acumen Fund or Women for Women International

or...

click here and warm up for $20 with a sample Session.

With Love,

Marie Forelo and I jammed last week on her Rich, Happy & Hot B-School. I've seen the course plan and it's just the kind of work that makes me think, "I'm so glad someone is doing this the smart way."

I'm giving B-School a double thumbs up because:

: B-school materials are logical and uber practical, (like this Instant Money Maker campaign - yep - it's that simple, if you understand the psychology behind it.)
: Marie is a love-driven entrepreneur with stellar intentions.
: The emphasis is on making money online (and every business is about making money online) and MARKETING.
: Marie and her B-School partner, Laura Roeder actually make lotsa of money online. They have a track record.
: B-School is the ideal support system after working with me as a “1-on-1 client or a FIRE STARTER SESSION reader.
: (yep, I'm an affiliate, but I'm not an e-ho', my rep's on the line with every recommendation and I refer sparingly - hope you've noticed.)

: ... and Marie + Laura, win the prize for most innovative and sexy product launch. Check out their Give Me the Funk VIDEO HERE.

Enrollment is CLOSING this Thursday, August 19 at midnight PST - it will sell out, because these ladies make stuff happen.

**** CLICK HERE for B-School pricing and enrollment info. ****

part 2
whereby we set NYC on fire

Marie is hosting her annual Rich, Happy and Hot LIVE Event:
November 12 - 14
New York City
at Donna Karan's Urban Zen Foundation

I'll be rocking the stage (yeah!!!) for one of the days with Marie and one of our favourite wellness mavericks, Kris Carr of Crazy Sexy Cancer/Oprah-sweetheart, founder of CrazySexyLife.com renown.

This will be a really special event...Marie has built so many layers of love into the weekend. I'm deeply excited and honoured. (And to speak at DKNY's Urban Zen Foundation has been a dream of mine!)

THE SPECIAL OFFER The next 25 people to register for B-School, will get a $300 event voucher toward the Rich, Happy & Hot LIVE November Event. So if the Rich, Happy & Hot LIVE in November sounds like something you want to do, register for B-School now and lock-in the $300 savings.

Follow your heart...

LifeDev.net with @Glen Stansberry

Glen: Money and Art seem to always be at odds. This is a massive deal for MANY wanting to stay true to themselves, but still make money. Good money, even.So here’s the Million Dollar Question: How do you create a personal brand, without selling out?

Danielle:...If you create a personal brand that isn’t deeply personal, you’ve already sold out.

The vast majority of artists I know (from writers and craftspeople, to software developers and designers) don’t have any quams with making money – and lot’s of it if possible. What makes them all weird is the marketing of their stuff, they don’t want to sell out and become an infomercial. It understandable, because we live in a culture of false advertising and the slick, hard sell. It’s dangerous turf for sure. But this is where you need to diligently carry your personality forward. It’s not enough to have an authentic, integrity-driven offering, you need to sell it in a way that is true for you. If you’re slick, be slick. If you’re subtle, be subtle. Just be consistent. And above all, be passionately proud of what you’re bringing to the world.

>> READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE

AuthenticatiKate.com with @katenorthrup

Kate: I find that, often, people (meaning myself) are unaccustomed to telling the truth. And my question is, what do you suggest for those of us who’ve been raised to be afraid of the truth, if we want to start to peel back the layers and start telling it like it is?

Danielle: Hang out with people who do tell the truth. Learn from example. Get interviewed. Start telling the truth to yourself.

Here’s a formula: Start telling the truth to yourself in as many ways as possible. And then start telling the truth to a few more people. Extend. I see it as concentric circles. So, you can tell yourself the truth when you look in the mirror. You can tell yourself the truth when you’re journaling. You can tell yourself the truth when you’re getting dressed, when you’re dancing, when you’re getting yourself off, when you’re going shopping. There’s lots of ways to tell yourself the truth. You can tell yourself the truth by drawing it out. Yeah, it’s about expression. And then tell one good friend, and then tell two good friends. And then start telling the people you work with, and then start telling strangers.

>> READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE

PurposefulProduct.com with @samrosen

Integrity branding, stripping it down to your truth, and as Sam calls it, "the mystical fog of creating product."

>> LISTEN TO THE RECORDING HERE

So I did this Pay What You Can Day (hereto referred to as PWYCD) for THE FIRE STARTER SESSIONS. On my birthday. Recently. Many people cheered me on for "clever marketing!" And hey, I did come out of the womb with my own press release, but, you know, this wasn't solely driven by a marketing impulse. I love the sentiment of giving gifts on your birthday. Giving feels good on any day. The PWYCD notion came to me just a few days before May 25 and, truly, I thought, Hey, what the hell? If, like 70 people get in on the deal, that'd be sweet. Ha! SEVEN HUNDRED+ e-books later, we lit up the sky with crazy delight and motivation.

What happened behind the scenes:
I went for a salt scrub that morning and when I came up for air to check my iPhone I almost fell off my lounger. Gobsmacked, as the Londoners say. My VA, Dawn and I just about keeled from the comments and the emails. (It took Dawn nearly two weeks to sort out the messages, PayPal invoices, currency exchanges, cheques, and special requests.) I got in my car and had to have a boo-happy-hoo. The stories sent to my personal email address were heart-stretching, sobering, inspiring. The outpouring of love and appreciation was stunning, and (and this is what moved me so deeply,) the spontaneous generosity sparked amongst White Hot visitors, well, that just about did me in. Between the spa steam, chocolate cake, and the PWYCD affection, I was a stun bunny.

It was a life-affirming, wisdom-bolstering, humbling event that ranks in the Top 3 highlights of my career (and birthdays!) Here's what it confirmed:

11 Wisdoms That You Can Convert to Cash + Crazy Love

1. Creativity + Aspiration = INGENUITY. And ingenuity wins, every time.

Make up your mind to make an effort and then make it up as you go.

"Here is a promise and my offer. 1) I will pay this gift forward. 2) I will hold you in the Light with an intention for abundant blessings on you, your family, your ventures, and your efforts to make the world a better place. 3) I'll send you 10% of every payment I receive from every client until the entire $150 is paid off."
- Eydie

"If I sell a painting this week, I'll send you $100. If I don't sell anything, will $41 do?"
- Lisa

2. Initiative and specificity are sexy.

"I've got $37.80 in my PayPal account. It's yours. Right now. (I wish it were so much more.) I will Tweet your praises and send you a full testimonial within two weeks of receiving the book."
- Andi

3. Humility is the inroad to conviction.

The stories of hardship, and resiliency, and exceptional wealth that were so open-heartedly shared with me from women and men in four different countries...well, be still my heart. I had flashbacks to my own days in the New Mexico welfare office after I'd lost three clients in two weeks. I had flash-forwards to my intentions for sweeping financial freedom.

"I am a broke, unfunded graduate student & I work part time and a children's bookstore to feed my belly while I stoke my soul. I'd like to offer $30, a multiple of three, a great fairy tale number. And when my first book is published, you'll be in the Acknowledgments.
- Natasha

"My situation: I am currently unemployed - but am stirred up, expectant, and on purpose. I hope to use your vook to successfully launch a blog of my own. I am most humbled by your generosity and am offering to pay $75 USD."
- Rah

"I'm a single mom of two, getting food stamps, with plenty of ambition and smarts and vision. I'm good for $30 this month."
- Sasha

Sharing your story is the surest way to create a unified field of empathy. And empathy moves mountains.

4. Generous people have more to give.

"Danielle, I'd like to offer $150 but in a spread-the-love way. I'd like to:
1. give $50 directly to you,
2. give $50 to whichever of these (http://u.nu/366pa) Gulf oil spill rescue & cleanup initiatives you'd like me donate to, &
3. give a final $50 on behalf of someone who can't afford to pay anything at all for the sessions because they've done something very brave (like for instance, a woman leaving an abusive relationship with her young kids)"
- Kye

(This gesture of Kye's started a domino affect. We gave out about a dozen Fire Starter Sessions "scholarships" and paired up the donor with the recipient.)

"I would like to humbly offer you $28.44. I know this is not a lot and does not do justice to the work that you have put in to your Fire Starter Sessions. I am offering you this amount because it is the entire amount of extra money that have outside of the finances that I have put aside for rent and other similar things. If you accept my offer, I promise that I will pay it forward and make sure to share both my experience with the Fire Starter Sessions and the generosity that you have shown. I can also send some vegan baked goods your way."
- Lexi

"I would like to offer you $25 for the FSS. In addition, here is my deal to you:
~ Within the next 6 months, I will pay the remaining $125 to pay the full amount.
~ By your 42nd birthday, I will not only book an actual Fire Starter Session with you, but I will also pay another $150 so that someone who either cannot swing today's offer or does not know about it can enjoy FSS, too."
- Mary

"Offering $75 for FSS and $75 for the Gulf clean up efforts - just let me know which one of those charities you prefer."
- CJ

"I can pay $50 for Fire Starter Sessions and in a month or two give another $50 to my friends organization in Haiti on your behalf." Check http://www.fida-pch.org "
- Bronwyn

"I love this idea so much that I'm offering $200. I've had a tab open on your site since you launched, planning to buy when the moment was right. I'd say this is it."
- Oroboros

5. Giving begets giving.

This flipped me right 'round:

"I'd like to gift a copy to my fabulous friend Jo Hanlon-Moores. She is brilliant and funny and talented. And her business is growing from a little acorn. I want to bring her some fire :)"
- Sas Lockey

"I can pay the full amount and am going to because your amazingly generous offer reminded me of just how very lucky we are and we live our lives by these three words - dignity, integrity and love. I hope that by paying in full I can help subsidize a copy for someone else."
- Sophie

"I'd like to give you $100 directly for the Fire Starter Sessions, and $50 to a charity of your choice."
- Melissa

6. You must heed the impulse to give. Generosity is a core muscle that your whole being can move on.

"Today has been full of unexpected gifts and I am now able to increase my offer to $100. Reading the comments in response to your generous offer I am struck by the power of sharing our gifts. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity within my own work, and you've inspired in me a grand vision for an annual pay-as-you-can gift to my extended community."
- Sarah Juliusson

7. When you give people a break, they want to -- and usually will -- go the distance for you.

"I wanted to ask for FSS for $50, but I can actually afford the full price if I'm honest. But your generosity forces me to either pay in full or not at all. Sigh. Stupid freakin integrity..."
- Andrew Lightheart

"I only have about $50 extra bucks a month, but I want to pay the full price because I know it's worth it."
- Sam

"I'd love to pay the full $150, but with the tight spot I'm in, $40 would make my heart smile. I hope that works for you. I'd be honored to pay the balance, or make a donation to charity in your name, once my business is up and running."
- Brian

"I sold three memberships to my small site today, so that's $60. I'd like to offer that as payment for the course right now."
- Magpie Girl

8. Scarcity creates anxiety.

(This fact alone gives me cause to never do another time-sensitive event like this. I'm not saying that I won't but...whoa.) We were bowled over by dozens of emails to this affect: "Did you accept my offer?" Some people left their price offer as a blog comment, then emailed me AND my VA, and also messaged me on Twitter, and in some cases, also left a message on Facebook. The sense of urgency was...urgent! I was shocked, because, in my mind (which of course I expected thousands of people to read), I intended to honour a huge range of offers. Need + want + restriction = urgency. And the tighter the restriction, the more likely that urgency will turn into anxiety.

9. Money makes people get all weird n' stuff.

Money is like a chemical. Some chemicals mix nicely with other chemicals, some don't. With my PWYCD experiment, some folks got downright demando, "I left my comment/offer this morning and I STILL haven't heard back from you." Chill. And I'm not saying to back off just 'cause you got a hot deal (tho' that is a factor,) I'm saying chill because "chill" is generally better for world peace and your complexion. When money and trust occupy the same space, things move forward.

10. Generosity + healthy boundaries clearly communicated = ahhhh.

It's fair to say that in the (now distant) past, I may have had some uh, boundary issues with my giving nature. So although I very clearly stated in the PWYCD announcement: "This offer expires at midnight PST May 25, just like my birthday does. And I'm serious about it." I was still fretting about the possibilities of pleading, after-the-fact requests. But I only got a couple of such requests and they were so gracious and dignified and sincere, that it was a total (healthy) pleasure to honour them.

11. Humanity is, on the whole, generous, loving and kind. People want to give.

And when you operate on that foundational premise, you are actively allowing amazing things to happen.

QUESTIONS?
I'm opening up this conversation to answer any questions about the behind the scenes happenings, technological do's and snafus, emotions, and outcomes of the PWYCD extravaganza. Let 'em fly!

And...thank you.

Ever true,

. . . . . . . . .

$150 for the full-tilt FIRE STARTERS SESSIONS love.

And! $5 from every copy goes to the charity you choose:
The Acumen Fund or Women for Women International

Click here to view the full
Table of Contents!