marketing

it’s pay what you can day. happy birthday to…us!

It's my birthday on Tuesday May 25. (I'm 41. No need to lie about it because: a) I look great, and b) I feel...41 some days, 111 on others, and usually, about 30.)

You could send: orchids, fine milk chocolate or cashmere. Or some Pinion incense from Taos, or Amber oil from Bali. I'm also partial to gold hoop earrings and mystical poetry.

But if you send some cash - on May 25 - I'll give you a prezzie back, because until midnight Pacific Standard Time, May 25, it's:

PAY WHAT YOU CAN DAY FOR THE FIRE STARTER SESSIONS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

This offer applies to my Fire Starter Sessions digital extravaganza e-book (not my 1-on-1 consults. I'm not that beatific.) This could be a total snafuzzle but what the hey, it worked for Naomi...

Here's how it works: you pay what you truly can. That's it.

1) Leave a comment in the comments box and tell me what price would make your heart smile. Then we'll send you a PayPal invoice. If you're not inclined to publicly declare that your Mastercard (and Visa) are way maxed and you'd like to send me three postdated cheques for $20 each, over the course of ten years, well then, we'll make it happen.
2) Once you pay, we'll zap you the access code to the book. You'll need to download the book within 24 hours of receiving the link.
3) You go light up your life and career.

Some disclaimers and emotionality:
: THE FIRE STARTER SESSIONS retails for $150 USD. A number of people have expressed that they think it's under-priced for the value. I'm cool with that.
: If you already have The Fire Starter Sessions and would like to gift it to someone at a pay-what-you-can rate, let us know who the lucky recipient is.
: This birthday offer is not retroactive.
: I reserve the right to veto ridiculous offers.
: If you feel inclined to pay the full price after you experience The Sessions, feel free.
: If you're independently wealthy and want to pay more than $150 for The Sessions, than that's just brilliant karma.
: I will take multiple payments over time (this works on the honour system. If you want to pay, say $30 in three installments, just let us know what your plan is.)
: For those of you who do not jive with PayPal or credit cards, you can mail a money order or a cheque (that's Canadian for "check") to: Danielle LaPorte, Box 78055, Grandview RPO, Vancouver BC, V5N 5W1

Repeat: this offer expires at midnight PST May 25, just like my birthday does. And I'm serious about it. If you're out of town, if you missed this email in your inbox...then the opportunity will have vanished. I like things, especially money things, elegant and simple (and generous.) So I'm extremely unlikely to do any other gimmicky stunts like this.

Make a wish! And and make me an offer...

With all the love in my heart,

. . . . . . . .

INTERVIEWS

: I'm a big fan of Adam Baker at Man vs. Debt, and after our interview, I'm convinced he needs his own TV show: WATCH HERE

: An interview with Kristin Harad about getting unstuck: LISTEN HERE

 

innovate or die: purification + my work credo

PART 1: INNOVATION

The most erotic word in my vocabulary right now is innovate.

inn.o.vate.

It’s one of my core desired feelings – to feel, be, and live innovate.

I’m not talking about being innovative for the sake of it. (Innovation for the sake of innovation is masturbation.) I’m talking about being on my personal leading edge – where I have to deep bend to reach the fruit. Where the branches are so thin that I have to lighten my load and empty my pockets of ego, greed crumbs and the dirty pennies of mistrust – mistrust in how righteously loving and supportive the universe is.

To innovate, you need to lighten your load. Constantly.

Which brings me to my work credo. (It's up for global adoption. Go ahead. Take it.)

MY WORK (+ SOCIAL MEDIA) CREDO - in order of priority - is:

1. Be USEFUL. If your stuff is not 100% about utility, practicality, or wisdom*, then...
2. Be INSPIRING. If you’re not flush with inspiration, passion, motivation, then at least...
3. Be ENTERTAINING.

And if you can’t at least be amusing then keep to yourself. Otherwise, you’re wasting people’s time. And when you waste people’s time – you’re not only a delusional wanker, you’re disrespectful. Once you disrespect your audience, they’ll walk.

(**Wisdom is information / experience translated into something that is useful + inspiring.)

(You can stop reading here if you got your fill. I understand, the average visitor stays 2.4 minutes on a blog. But if you want to know about some creative/business refining I’m doing, read on.)

PART 2: PURIFICATION

My intention to be useful drives my personal innovation. So, there are going to be a few changes ‘round here - subtle perhaps, but meaningful. I’m announcing this because I think it’s … useful.

As any on-line writer or seller-of-stuff will tell you, “TRAFFIC” is one of the horniest words in the Internet lexicon. Some of us “bloggers” (I put it in quotes because I loath the term) are driven by the numbers. That means amassing more-more-more visitors, users, uniques, followers, “Friends” - idealistically for influence, practically, for cash. Nothing wrong with either motivation, nothing at all. I myself am uh, highly motivated.

Making wisdom products is my living. More traffic = sell more stuff. I'd love to tip 100,000 readers so that when I release my next book (this year! in digital AND print!) a very big bunch of those readers will buy my stuff. And then I can pay my kid’s tuition, help a few friends out, and wear French linen all summer long.

Do I want to be innovative (read: true to my artistic integrity, and reeeally happy) or do I want to make lotsa coinage? Of course, the answer is both, darling. As if I'm not going to have my cake and eat it - with a scoop of Vanilla. On a chaise. In French linen. With enough cake to share with the neighborhood.

In order to innovate, you need to eat right – a diet of integrity and courage. NO FILLER.

The game for traffic (more articles = more traffic) creates a lot of filler out in the blogosphere. Gotta post post post! As my friend Jonathon Mead just put it, "It's a churn, creating content for the sake of it, not due to a burning desire. Quotas = crap." Uh huh.

And sometimes, this is the winning, appropriate most pure strategy. Information aggregation and high-volume content generation can be magnificent when it’s done right. Think: Huffington Post, or Feministe. Even Seth Godin, who is known for not playing the social media popularity game, pubs seven days a week.

UPPING MY GAME BY NARROWING MY FOCUS

The downside of Internet-reality is that you can write a gorgeous piece and it gets buried fast in the flurry. I want each article I compose to feel like a nourishing meal, or at least a midnight snack that sends you to bed smiling. I don't want to just whip something up for hungry search engines.

I also want to give deeper love to the love of my (career) life: making books. Books that you can hold. Books that are compelling enough to spend some quality time with. Books that are useful, inspiring, and entertaining - and so philosophically sexy that they’ll spread like wild fire.

So, I’ve decided to post only twice week...maybe twice and half. That way, I can give each piece my whole heart. I may sprinkle in the odd truism - but only if I really feel that it's genius.

I'll be the sole generator of content on White Hot Truth – which means no more interviews (okay, maybe some.) I can hear some groans already. I know, I know, the Burning Questions Interviews are juicy. We've had some superstars and angels to this banquet. Good news is, I have some beauties lined up over the next few weeks. Obviously my policy of "no thanks, no guest posts" and zero solicited product reviews stays good n' staunch.

The quality vs. quantity model is nothing new. But it remains a rarity. Authenticity is demanding business.

 

ask me about branding

I'm going to liven up my CBC TV, Connect With Mark Kelley segments - and White Hot Truth for that matter, and field some questions from...you, ideally.

This week's theme: BRANDING. The good, the bad and the how-to. Tell me what you need to know to do it right. I'll take basic to high-concept questions. Just ask.

Leave your questions or ideas in the comments and I'll try to refer to them on air and then answer them in a post.

Ever grateful,
Danielle

And while we're on the subject, you might dig these posts:
: 3 keys to un-branding…and why I changed my twitter name
: kissing ass, quantum leaps, and the power of being unqualified
: 4 questions to shine light on your vocation

 

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 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...)

 

 

3 keys to un-branding…and why I changed my twitter name

{my ego implores me to note that this has been re-tweeted 70+ times...the tweet-app re-set to zero for some mysterious reason. I say this because, that's way cool!, and to make known that a lot of people identified with the sentiments of branding from the heart - and actually changed their twitter names! xo Danielle}

In my commitment to live bolder, truer, Me'er, I've got to be clear that I am not "a brand." (Yep, that's rather strange for a "branding expert" to say.) I earn my living by teaching about what I live. And it never fails that the more transparent I am, the more useful I seem to be.

It's tricky shit because I'm also deeply private. I ask more questions than I answer. I struggle with privacy issues and interruptions make me mental. Most of the time, I prefer to be invisible. And yet I'm very upfront about the fact that, vocationally speaking, I'll be thrilled to be a household name someday. I consider contradictions a hobby.

When your persona starts to wag your person, you've got trouble.

So with all that introvert-extrovert creative tension I have to keep my persona in check. And it occurred to me that ever so subtly, I might be setting myself up to hide behind my brand. That I might be creating products and images that hemmed me in in the future. And while good branding makes for good commerce, it can be a real drag for freeing your art.

When I changed my Twitter name last week from @whitehottruth to @daniellelaporte I got some questions. (If you tweet, twit, twitter, then you know that your twitter handle is a very big deal.) @stephendavis02 wanted to know if my name was taken before and just got freed up? @ealvarezgibson wondered if my account had been hijacked. When @chrisguillebeau asked what was up, I told him I just got out of the witness protection program.

Names are hugely important. And yeah baby, White Hot Truth is damn sexy. That's why I named my site that. But I’m not my site. Or my books. Or the stuff I make.

As Paula Cole puts it:

I am not the person who is singing
I am the silent one inside
I am not the one who laughs at people's jokes, I just pacify their egos.
I am not my house, my car, my songs
those are only stops along they way
I am like the winter
I'm a dark cold female
with a golden ring of wisdom in my cave.

Okay, that’s a bit dramatic. But so am I. Stay with me.

3 KEYS TO GENUINE BRANDING...or UN-BRANDING. YOUR CHOICE.

1. Keep it pointed to where you want it to go. What do you want to be known for next year, and for years after that? If Twyla Tharp were on Twitter I think she’d go by twylatharp, not “creativehabit.” @EckhartTolle tweets, and he's not “PowerOfNow". Think like a legend.

2. Live artfully. I couldn’t bare to lock myself into a “brand” that I felt restricted by. I’ve done that and it hurts. A lot. I want to live like as an artist and it's the "designer" kind of business model that works best for me. Donna Karan is "Donna Karan". That leaves her free to do cashmere, fragrances, and Urban Zen. Keep your essence at the helm and you can't go wrong.

3. Walk proud. Take deep breaths when you need to - it's not always easy being authentic. Within a day of changing my Twitter name I got all strange and unsettled about it. Zoinks. Was that a bad move? Are my re-tweets going to plummet? I emailed my assistant and asked her if I'd screw up anything by reversing it...then quickly emailed her back and told her to ignore me.

Learning to trust that you're enough, without a gimmick or a sidekick or a discount offering takes some faith and practice.

If you’re selling widgets or scaling a company that you want to sell off someday, then packaging is paramount. If you're selling your soul - in the best possible way, remember that a little theatre goes a long way, but you still need to show up on stage as the real you. And when you do, applause will follow.

. . . . . . . . .

calling all crazy paper people! cool new stationery line.