business + wealth articles

cake walks + fire walks: beginner’s mind

I walked on hot coals once - barefoot. Across a bed of white hot embers about twenty feet long. When you walk off the fiery path you step into a puddle of water and you can hear your feet sizzle and see steam rise. And lo', thanks to mind over matter, I didn't even blister. Hot damn.

I raced home at midnight, under a full moon, with a note card tucked into my Levi's: "I, Veronica Danielle LaPorte walked on fire. I can do anything."

Would I do it again? Ummm....I....dunno. The evening of that fire walk workshop I asked some of the repeat walkers how it was for them. I was surprised to hear that a lot of them burned their feet on their second walk. "Say whu?! But you already slammed these coals once." The prevailing response: "Yeah, but I got cocky the second time around." Every walk requires a fresh meditation.

Ask any athlete or elite performer. Writers, salesmen, speakers, very big project managers, wide-awake lovers: Success can dull your senses. Each win is a new win, earned with intense focus and an open heart.

Do not take your expertise or natural talent for granted. Stay awake. Hunt. Kill your old material. Listen for new information. Tell a different story in a different way. Crush your gimmicks. Let the page be white. Kiss him like it's your first kiss.

Let your heart race and concentrate. Then and only then, begin.

 

my dominatrix of decisions rides a hedgehog

How do you know when to say yes or no to a project or a client? Which Big Ideas get the green light or the kibosh? What exactly does "right time, right place" mean for you?

Only your Dominatrix of Decisions knows, and she has your best interests at heart. She will love you to the edge of your greatness, and snap her whip when you waffle. She wants you to stay on purpose, on target, and on fire. She wants you to say no to soul-draining gigs and time suckahs. She wants you to keep it pointed to where you want it to go, dammit.

This is how I employ her (remember, your Dominatrix actually works for you.) When a new idea or opportunity comes into view, I picture her in a kimono, with smokey eyes and platforms (yes, she is my altar/alter ego.) She leans over, surveying my potential choices, and whispers one word to me: Hedgehog. And snap! I know just what to do. Every time.

Let me back it up. Jim Collins wrote the mega seller, Good To Great. Good to Great features the Hedgehog Principle. The Hedgehog Principle is one mighty power tool for clarity and purpose-driving. It is deceptively simple. If you don't have a hog, you lose.

Hedgehogs for personalities or service-providers may seem different than that of product makers. But it's the same science. Here's a comparison of My HH vs. that of yoga wear business phenomenon, lululemon athletica's - as told to me by founder Chip Wilson a few years ago. BTW, lululemon is religious about the hog -- it's one of the many things I love about them.

ME vs. lululemon...an illustration of Hedgehogs at work

1. A) I am deeply passionate about: Liberating truth
Freeing the truth and truth that frees. My purpose is to inspire authenticity - freeing talent, ideas, voice, opinions, consciousness. I journey to freedom. It's a cellular-level commitment, and when I've diverged from that path in the past, the cost has been dear. When I stay the course of my truth, and support others in doing the same, I prosper in every possible way.

1. B) lululemon is deeply passionate about: helping people to be better athletes.
It's that simple and grand. Every single thing they produce - from innovative fabric that wicks away sweat, to thumb-hook sleeves - is a means to that end. Period.

2. A) I can be best in the world at: Sharing my journey
Telling my story and inviting other people to relate. I racked my noggin' on this one. But eureka! It came to me...no one can tell my story or share my acumen like I can. My experience is what I sell and the more I show up, the better.

note: the most important word in this Hedgehog sentence is can. It's not what are you the best in the world at (maybe it's not on purpose,) or what do you want to be the best in the world at (could be unrealistic.) Maybe you can only be the best in the world at making widgets that fit widget machines in Scandinavia, or advising females under thirty on investing in ethical funds in North America, or wedding planning in the tri-state area for under $20,000. Or maybe it just one thing you sell, such as...

2. B) lululemon can be best in the world at: women's black yoga pants.

Not very glamorous or all-encompassing, but a undeniably fundamental.

3. A) My economic engine is driven by: Multimedia.

I make money by packaging my wisdom in as many forms as possible, and most of those forms become passive income (ie. books.)

3. B) lululemon's economic engine is driven by vertical markets.

I do not bust a move, say yes, or make new stuff unless it's in sync with my Hedgehog Principle. It's pure, it's powerful and it works good and hard. Snap! Now be a good boy or girl and go get yourself a hog of your own.

 

life is subject to change: what happened when I raised my rates

I announced via Twitter and Facebook last week that my Fire Starter Session fee was moving to $500 (from $300.) And I also mentioned it in my post that went out late last night. And then...

Deluge. Chuck wagon outta control. Four-alarm fire. Standing room only.

I've been wrestling with how to handle the gorgeous demand. And my conclusion is this: I need to handle the demands of my heart and loved ones first, then career (which is an extension of my heart.) The profundity of that statement for me is colossal. It's taken me yearrrrs to be able to say it and mean it. Before I grew up (which is really just in the last few weeks, actually,) I would have tried to fit everyone in, even if it meant weekends, and getting a baby sitter, and apologizing to my man because, once again, "I'll be in my office tonight."

And in this case, I almost went there. I adore my Fire Starter clients and I'm so passionate about entrepreneurs rocking it with integrity, that I was leaning toward booking into spring 2015 at my old rate and "fitting it all in somehow." Why? Because I don't want you to think I'm a discompassionate bitch. Because money is fun. Because I used to think self neglect was cool. (It's not.)

The logic and love of raising my Fire Starter session fee:

a) It's worth it. (Any clients who want to chime in on this, uh, feel free to back me up here.)

"Danielle’s Fire Starter session is invaluable for you at any stage of your career --from early idea to well established rut. She is thorough, quick and intuitive. Her soft spoken style is deceptive. This woman won’t mince words to let you know what you need to hear. And you will be better for the listening. Her questions alone are priceless, but add the brainstorming, cheerleading, taped session and list of resources and you can’t go wrong."
- Ten People to Rock Your Career in 2010
CoachSpotlight.com, Pearl Mattenson

b) 2010 is all about creating content that can serve many thousands of people. I need focused time to do that. I love writing in long, long stretches, getting absorbed, and consumed, and used up by the gods of poetic sound bites and how-to's. I need space to make stuff that will be effectual and lasting ... and sell like white hot cakes!

c) I want to live more. Repeated late nights "catching up" on things leaves you with the feeling that you are always needing to...catch up.

d) I'm keeping it pointed to where I want it to go: creativity, freedom, passive income, wider broadcasting, multimedia. (I'll talk more about how my Hedgehog allows me to stay so focused on this next week.)

All that to say:
My $300 Fire Starter slots are (more than) full, and effective immediately, I'll be booking in at $500. Email me directly to book your session.

Further clarity:
I work exclusively with active and progressive entrepreneurs, or those on the verge of breaking out with their own enterprise. I am not a business or career transition coach (read: I suck at it.) I’m a High Priestess of Practicality and I'm about standing ideas up in the most elegant, kick-ass way possible. Strategy makes me hot.

When in-transition job folk or people who want continual coaching to lift a project off the ground come to me, I steer them to the following coaches. Each of them is amazing.

: Lianne Raymond is a clear-thinking, strong-hearted, Martha Beck-certified coach. Only works with women.

: Ronna Detrick has "renegade conversations." She is spiritually-based and powerful.

: Tanya Geisler is a strong and compassionate...and funny.

: Dyana Valentine is a brilliant force of nature who has kicked my creative butt into shape. She's gifted, I work with her regularly.

: Michelle Ward at When I Grow Up Coach is a high energy Gen Y'r focused on getting people to their best career.

: Hiro Boga is a masterful intuitive. Not a coach or business developer, but gifted at surfacing the issues that may be blocking success. I recently had a session with her and it was stunning.

If you're a coach and you want to say so here in the comments, feel free to do some self-promo. Today, I welcome it.

If it's apropos, take a page from my book. What do you value and what's the value you give? How can your career support your life? Are you pointed in the direction you want to go?

With much Love,
Danielle
xo

 

hatched joy: happy birthday to white hot truth

A divine science preface:
1. The part of a flame that burns the hottest is actually white. At that stage of intensity, fire becomes hot enough to liquefy metal. That's alchemy.
2. A healed broken bone is stronger than before it broke.
3. Legend has it that the Phoenix becomes more majestic with each reincarnation.

White Hot Truth turned one year old last week! Holy smokes! Before we light the candles, let's savour the darkness, where beautiful, messy things happen.

Last January I was tending the funeral pyre of my last business and it's ensuing very messy divorce.

Illusion-nuking-initiation-heat. Phoenix fire licking my soul. Cleansed to naked. Clothed by loved ones.

While an old dream turned ashen, I began to hatch. I'd write posts and map out the new year/me, while listening to Details in The Fabric over and over. (Kisses to Jason Mraz for writing that just for me.) I brought my ipod to my Mr. Buddhist Shrink and played that song for him because I could barely speak the truth of what was going down. I was going down. In flames.

... If it's a broken part, replace it
If it's a broken arm then brace it
If it's a broken heart then face it

And hold your own
Know your name
And go your own way
And everything will be fine...

"So everything's finally falling apart." Mr. Buddhist Shrink said to me, very, very softly. I nodded, just one nod.

That was then. Post hatch. Pre-flight.

This is now. The view is so different from this altitude. It's macro and micro. I can see farther and closer up. My in-box is full of opportunity. We sing in the kitchen more, where every morning there is granola, and Spiderman slippers, and a Fireman who says, "Big day today, babe?"

"Big one, babe. Big." I say. I say that on glam-packed strategy days, and on the mascara-free days when I wear my floppy knit hat, and commune with my Mac to do one thing and one thing only: MAKE STUFF.

Freedom is always big. Wingspan, big, fanning flames. Birthing the day.

So today I'm getting out one virtual birthday candle for every lie I told myself about who I was and what I wasn't; for every time I let crazy pass for "sane"; for every time I kept my mouth shut, for all the birth days I missed, when I could have been making stuff that made me smile. So many candles to be impeccably grateful for.

Oh how very far we humans come, after breakups and break-throughs and broken wings. Just look at us! Banged up and so beautiful. Wiser for the wear and tear. Capacities expanded.

Trace your steps and celebrate.

"Sometimes," David Whyte writes, "everything / has to be / enscribed across / the heavens / so you can find / the one line / already written / inside you."

My one line: White Hot Truth.

And that's the best birthday song I ever done sung. Thank you for coming to the party.

. . . . . . . .

Tune in for my next post which will be devoid of abstract poetic nuances and packed with a highly practical tips from my year's lessons in the blogging business.

Please join the Haiti Blog Challenge.

Heads up: My Fire Starter Sessions are increasing to $500 as of March 1. Supply, demand, and writing desires. It's time. I still have one or two spots left for February.

xo
Danielle

 

juicy mind, happy product: a meditation for self promotion

Click here to read Part 1, The secret to self promotion: radiance and the facts, jack - whereby I expressed little sympathy buts lot's of love for people who shy away from self-promotion.

A MEDITATION FOR SELF PROMOTION

Meditation can take many forms. You can write this out in a journal, talk it out with a friend, or do the traditional sitting meditation. You're the master. Either way you choose to tap in, settle your mind and focus: take three deep breaths. Inhale and exhale. Slowly. Fully. (This is going to be fun, BTW. Avoid dry mind. Choose juicy mind.)

PHASE 1

1. Imagine that you're in an empty room. It's your ideal room, so maybe it's plush and luxy, or austere and Zen. You love it and you're comfortable.
2. Waiting outside the door to that room is your business, product, service, artwork - whatever you call what you offer for your livelihood. How do you feel knowing that it's outside the door? What is the flavour of your anticipation? Anxious? Smiling? Dread? Blessed and blissy?
3. Now, invite your business/product/service/artwork to join you. Do it ceremoniously or simply. Notice how you extend the invitation. (Sheepish, commanding, open, playful, hesitantly.) How does your business/product/service/artwork take form? As a ray of light, blueprint plans, a mighty robot, a peacock, a quivering beggar, a pile of gold, crates of bestselling books? How does your business/product/service/artwork feel to you? Just noticing how you extend the invitation and the form that your business/product/service/artwork took will be useful cosmic data. If you want to stop there, do so. Put the mediation on pause and come back to do phase two another day.

   Or, go further...

   PHASE 2
   
4. Ask your business/product/service/artwork if it has a message or a gift to give you. Receive it. Notice how you receive it.
5. Ask your business/product/service/artwork how it would like to be shared with the world. You may hear or see specific strategies (like, "e-books in the Fall,") or you may just feel the how, like, feelings of integrity, innovation, steadiness.
6. Now, (and this is important) let your business/product/service/artwork enter into you. You can breathe it in, you can imagine opening your heart and it climbing in, you can envision jacking into it and downloading it into your cells like an electrical current. The point here: you and your business/product/service/artwork are entwined and grooving together - unison.
7. Now, just...glow. Radiate. Vibrate. Hum your sonic powah, baby. Envision your creative light making it's way into the world effortlessly and being received with great appreciation.

Allow the ease. Honour the excitement and intensity. Say thank you.

 

the secret to self promotion: radiance and the facts, jack

Dear Danielle,

"Can I ask a question? I love working for myself and don't want it any other way, but it seems that when you work for yourself you have to be a salesperson. I'm not a huge fan of sales people and hate feeling like I'm pushing something on someone. If you have any opinions on that I'd love to hear them!"
- Dani Griffin (via Facebook)

Dear Dani and the leagues of people who hate self promotion:

I never really understood people who are loathe to sell themselves or the stuff they make. But then again, my whole twenties (okay, and thirties) was solar-powered by the rays of my seduction. From boys to gigs to new age notions, I had a deal for you! "I got what you want and you don't even know you want it. And I make house calls."

Now? Meh. I've got what I've got, which is a lot. If that warms your cockles, let's talk. If not, my engine is running, and I trust that your tribe is waiting for you elsewhere. Meep meep.

Do I sell my self? Damn straight I do. Everyday, all day. I'm doing it right now. I'll do it on Twitter, CBC TV, Facebook, this week's speaking gig for the Travel & Media Association of Canada, and when the waiter asks me what I do for a living. But I'm no longer TRYING TO CONVINCE YOU TO BELIEVE AND BUY. Rather, (and this has been one of my most gnarly, redeeming spiritual journeys) I radiate and state the facts. That's it. And it's a helluva lot more efficient than sales.

So, why do you hate self-promotion?

1. Because...it makes you feel like you're pushing something on someone?
Passion is a force - and an essential one at that. If you're not passionate about your service or your product, you shouldn't be selling it in the first place. If you're not passionate you have to fake it, and that'll just make you feel like a sleazeball.

But let's assume you are fully and truly turned on, and you're offering the world something that you wholeheartedly believe in. Repeat: you're anchored with integrity to purpose and meaning. That being the case, and the premise for everything I'm about to say after this, let's proceed:

Don't burn energy trying to assume how people will perceive you. What some people will read as enthusiastic stamina, others will interpret as pushy intruder. It's your job to show up as you, passion and all, and let the right customers make up their mind about you.

2. Because...you're shy?
You have three choices here: a) Get over it. Nothing like motivation to put food on the table or achieve your life dreams to cure shyness. It happens all the time. b) Let someone else do the selling for you - a writer, a rep, an agent, a virtual assistant-type. c) Pray that your good intentions and the high quality or originality of your offering will attract customers and prosperity. This tact, on it's own, never ever works.

3. Because it's not a "strength" of yours?
see #2.

4. Because you're afraid that people will think less of you? That you'll be less of an artist, social steward or true professional if you're hawking your wares or blowing your own horn.

Then I have bad news for you: everything you do is promotion, so you may as well do it with aplomb. The good news? Everything you do is promotion You are always radiating. From the personalized note that you tuck into your product shipment, to what you say at a party when someone asks you what you do, to how you pitch the art gallery or the corporation to get the big account -- to the message you leave on a Facebook page.

HAPPY SELF PROMOTION =
RADIATE your passion + STATE THE FACTS of what that passion generates - the results it brings for you and your customers.

I'll go first: I'm really passionate about the practical applications of love and consciousness in life and entrepreneurship. I write and speak about it in every way possible. I ran a think tank without any formal education, I wrote a book that got the attention of Oprah producers, and now, in my current incarnation, I'm booked four to six weeks in advance with clients - many of them say they got enough love 'n strategy in one hour to blow their circuits. I'm writing my next two books now, and will launch them online this year.

That's the passion, backed by the facts. Sometimes, at the start of your journey, all you may have in your inventory to "sell" is passion. And sometimes, that's enough to open doors.

If you're loving what you do and believing that it's going to make a positive difference in people's lives - whether it's your wedding photography, your coaching methodology, or your zero point energy invention, then, you my friend, are ahead of the game. You're light years down the path from the sorry sods who are grinning and bearing it in soul-sucking j-o-b-s.

So please, don't devalue your currency. I'm so emphatic about this, I'm willing to get all Hallmark on you: a gift isn't a gift until you give it away. Put a bow on it.

With much Love,
Danielle
xo

P.S.

Tune in Tuesday for Part 2: A Meditation for Self Promotion

 

burning questions with jonathan fields: family, leadership, and the passion-drive

Hedgefund lawyer turned yoga teacher.

I could stop there, because that's one impressive conversion that would make me instantly love anyone.

But there's so much more...Author of Career Renegade; featured in USA TODAY, Newsweek, Forbes; founder of Tribal Author - and I can tell you this man knows publishing inside and out, and is riding the edge of it; and the voice behind Awake At the Wheel - one of the most highly read blogs for entrepreneurs.

Jonathan Fields starts most of his days on Twitter with, "Good morning, how can I help today?" I was suspicious at first (but I'm like that,) but the man's plan is to truly be of service, and it rings through all of his work. Must be all that yoga.

1. What are you positively addicted to? (Note: my shrink defines positive addiction as “a healthy high, it makes you stronger. As long as the craving for it doesn’t take you over, then it’s, like totally cool.”)

Learning. I once took the famed Signature Strengths survey run by U Penn professor, Martin Seligman, and it identified "knowledge acquisition" as one of the 5 things that makes me come alive. And, yeah, it was dead on. I devour knowledge and love, love, LOVE to create. Especially things that impact peoples' lives in some positive way.

These healthy addictions have manifested themselves in businesses, books, painting, music and a voracious desire to help others succeed in similar endeavors. I'm also fascinated by the human body and the intersection between the way the East and West look at both the human body and spirituality.

2. What do you know the most about?

How much I don't know. Seriously, I consider myself early into the learning curve of pretty much everything in life. Probably has to do with my love of learning. I always see the body of knowledge to be learned as being vastly larger than the nuggets I've stumbled upon to date.

Beyond that, though, if you look at the lists people add me to on twitter, I guess I've become known for launching, building and marketing passion-driven life-enhancing businesses and books and helping others do the same.

3. What was the dumbest thing that you used to believe in?

Conventional wisdom. (more...)

 

cbc tv: the 8 second rule

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SEGMENT (4 MINUTES TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE, BABY.)

 

the stop doing list via live tv

View the segment: STOP DOING Lists ... Mark Kelley and I talk it up this week.

 

burning questions with naomi dunford, domanatrix of itty biz

A straight-talking female entrepreneurial adviser, SEO cracker jack, with a giving heart who knows her value and has a proclivity for fishnets? How could I not be smitten? What I love about Naomi Dunford's work is that it's a) incredibly practical and logical, and b) it radiates an intention of "I'm really here to help you. Really."

If you feel shitty, Naomi is there for you. If your customers are telling you they're too broke to buy your great stuff, Naomi is there for you. If you're scared that you don't have an ounce of creative great stuff in your marrow, yep, Naomi is there for you. With the real goods - generous intelligence and the crack of her whip. Take that! She knows you need what she's got. Bad.

1. What do you know to be true, unquestionably beyond doubt, certain with every cell of your being, completely, passionately, righteously certain?

You know, it's taken me a week to answer this question and now, finally, I've realized that I can't let you sit there waiting for my answers forever, while I think about what it is that I'm certain about. Perhaps it's best to be honest and say... nothing. I don't think I'm that certain of anything. I have been certain about so many things and the jarring proof of my wrongness has always been immediate and in direct proportion to the level of my certainty.

Maybe I'm most certain that it is wise to avoid certainty.

2. What was the dumbest thing that you used to believe in?

That I had to make lots of money to be happy. (more...)