Spirituality + Heart-Centered Business with Danielle LaPorte | EP 39

This is where spirit meets business. When I get pricing objections, some people saying, you're doing this $12,000 thing.
Yep, I am. And you know what? I hear you.
And you know, I have $144 thing. Because heart centered is about inclusive.
I want everybody and I want to meet you. I got you.
And I feel that the ego will have us play small, the wound itself will have us play small. That is a fact.
Also, I think it's a fact that not everybody can manifest anything they want. These are new age platitudes.
We have restrictions of culture, of gender, of race, of ideology. We also have karma.
So when I really want to go big with people, I say, do you want to do whatever it takes to live on behalf of goodwill, even if you don't reap the benefits in this lifetime? And ideally, the answer is yes. Welcome.
I'm Alyssa Nobrega, your host of the Healing and Human Potential podcast, a place for you to discover the multidimensionality of what it means to be human. Over the past 20 years, I've trained thousands of coaches in my methodology, leveraging my experience as a former psychotherapist, and I'm here to share with you all the wisdom and insights that I've learned along the way.
Each week, I'll share with you life-changing tools to support you in awakening and manifesting your dream life from the inside out. We'll be exploring the intersection between ancient wisdom and modern everyday life, really diving deep into the art of human potential through the lens of psychology, spirituality, and coaching.
Let's let the magic unfold. chaotic times.
Our guest today, Danielle Laporte, is a podcast host, bestselling author, and Oprah recognized her in her Super Soul Sunday Top 100 group. Danielle and I talk about how to have an authentic voice and lead with your heart in an age where it's so driven by metrics and what's trending.
We share real, authentic, vulnerable stories in our own businesses and lives, so you have a behind the scenes, but we go pretty deep and we talk about how to really nurture creativity and self-expression in your life and in your business. Let's dive in.
I'm so happy that you're here. I just, I want to share years ago, I, you were launching your book, Desire Map and a mutual friend, I think you and Chris Carr were maybe launching books at the same time, but a mutual friend of ours, Eric Handler, had you guys at his home.
And there was a small group of us. And it was the first time I got introduced to your work.
And I have to tell you, Danielle, like what stood out to me the most was your heart and your ability just to drop strangers into a room and make them feel like they've known you for years. Like you have this way of just making people feel comfortable.
And my story of why that is, is because you're so comfortable in yourself that you just translate that. But I'm curious, because I have a lot of people, coaches, people that want to speak.
How do you captivate a room? Like what are some of the ingredients that help people feel so,

like they don't have to put on a show, but they can be real. They can have a genuine connection because I experienced you do this so naturally.
Wow. That's a great question.
Never been asked in all this time. Well, I'm not focused on captivation.
I'm focused on like expansion. Like, I really feel like I like this is part of my visualization process of just I always say a quick little prayer.

Like, may I shine so that other people can shine?

That was my old prayer.

Now it's more like I do this dedication of merit.

I dedicate the merits of our togetherness today to the awakening of all beings and the healing of mother Gaia. So like, I just kind of set, I set that intention, not kinda, I really, I still feel a lot of modesty.
Like people heard about me. They sometimes spent the money.
They found parking. They got a babysitter.
They came and, you know, part of this is like, I barely leave my neighborhood. It's got to be a big deal.
So I'm just like, I feel like super honored. I also feel like there is this really like in love with humanity part of me where I'm just like, oh my gosh, can you believe we're all born at the same time? We're all planet.
We're here in this room. I'm genuinely legit excited to connect.
And then I really own my intention. And I have the gift to back up that intention.
We're here to heal. And I want to have a real conversation.
And then there's some experience behind it. So i've bombed in rooms i've bombed on on in auditoriums full of people i've said things and i can trace those dips which is like the times when i got i don't know if performative is the right word um the bomb you know uh the wincy moments were all my kind of bravado I was being like a little bit saucy which is all underneath that is just fear yeah so like it would happen a lot with um when I speak at business conferences and it would be just men in the front row, I'd get like a little edgy and that would lead to not a good gig.
Yeah. Not get the best reviews for that gig.
And that's just me, um, being scared. Yeah.
Yeah. I think anytime, I think safety is the foundation for authenticity and for self-expression.
And so what I hear is that when you are in your heart and you're grateful to connect and in touch with the magic of life, it just naturally comes through. And if there's some part of you that doesn't feel safe, then it can't come through.
But you also have space for the bombs, for the failures. And I think we can learn from that.
And I think that's really wise. And I think it's really helpful to hear because so many people can pedestal, we can pedestal each other rather than just saying yes to all of our humanity.
And so that's beautiful. Another thing that I want to share, connect with you about is spirituality and business.
Because I think you and I are both such a stand for using

business as a spiritual practice, using all of life as a spiritual practice. I remember when

you started following my spiritual teacher, Adi Ashanti, I saw you online, like engaging. I'm like,

okay, because Adi is not the type of teacher who people follow just that are just getting into

Thank you. teacher Adi Ashanti.
I saw you online, like engaging. I'm like, okay.
Cause Adi is not the type of teacher who, um, people follow just that are just getting into spirituality. He's for real seekers.
Like he's, he's like, I'm not interested in telling you a better story. I'm here to wake you up from your story, from who you think you are.
So I have a lot, I was like, okay, Danielle, like I had a lot more respect for the depth of work and the practice for people that follow such a committed, he's like the teacher for real spiritual meditators, people that are really sincerely interested in awakening. And so I would just love to hear from you because back in the day, I think it's getting more popular now, but back in the day, it was like spirituality and then all of life, which I know it's not separate, but I would love to hear how you integrate the two because I think everyday life triggers can be invitations for awakening.
They show us where we're not free. And so I just would love to hear how you hold these.
well let me lean on adyashanti for a minute who i sure you know, retired recently and his whole humanity story around that was actually, I consider like one of my greatest gifts from a spiritual teacher was, let me just go off on this tangent for a second. So for anybody who doesn't know Adyashanti, his, he was born Stephen Gray.
He was a cyclist, athlete, got into Zen Buddhism, had a number of awakening experience. And he's just this really normal enlightened master from California in his 50s, 60s, now white guy and taught for many years.
And what his community was not fully aware of was that he was in extreme physical pain for almost two decades and it was a nerve condition. And recently he retired from public life, although he said he's going to write some books, continue to teach.
Okay. And that's a big deal because multiple books in a community.
This was my moment with Adyashanti was when he gave his kind of farewell talk, you know, I was sitting in the, you know, the virtual sangha with everybody.

I was there. Yeah.

And he talked about the PTSD that he has from his physical pain.

And then I was like, oh, my gosh, he's human.

And then he did it with such love for himself.

And then this is where he really tipped me over he said that he is on anti-anxiety meds because of the ptsd from the physical trauma and that and i loved this distinction um one he said it he said i you know of those who have you been in, who've been in the community and this has been your situation, I, I extra get it now. And that being on those meds didn't interrupt with his spiritual practice.
And he just wanted to verify that for everybody. Oh my gosh.
There's like so many beautiful layers in that. And that's what I'm always looking for

in a teacher is their humanity. Yeah.
And who knew that was the gift? I mean, it really set me free in so many ways. Okay.
So that brings me around to your question, which I forget your question, but that's okay. That's okay.
And now I want to riff a little bit on that, on just even spirituality and humanity, because we're human and being, human and being, both. And I love Adi.
I've been maybe 18 to 20 silent retreats over the last 20 years with him. Like, I love this human and this teaching.
Eckhart Tolle, Adi Ashanti, Byron Katie, these are like core teachers of mine. And when I saw him go on Oprah, was the first time I saw his humanity in his story.
So, because I think for a while there was like a waking and Locke Kelly, who's one of his students who Adia asked to teach, talks about waking up, waking down and waking out. So waking up out of identity and so into vast awareness, but then also waking back down into, I have a body, but I'm more than a body.
So more embodiment work. And then really living in a very integrated, grounded, clear way.
How do I live this realization? And I think that's the mastery level. And I was always waiting for Eckhart Tolle to write a book about awake and doing.
And I feel like I've been apprenticed in life school through that, through business, through team. And so part of my curiosity is like how you hold spirituality and business, how you navigate and dance with these within yourself so that we can give people an orientation.
Because I, again, I think people, and I, and I love that you spoke to his humanity was one of the greatest teachings, Adia, because he's such a clear teacher. He talks a lot about the cul-de-sacs of awakening, but bringing in our humanity is so important and honoring both equally, not one better than the other.
And they're also then seeing that they're not separate. So many gems in, so many gems in what you're sharing, but yeah.
How do you hold spirituality and business? This is for me, what it gets down to that awakening out is ego. You spend all this time.
So first you realize you have an ego. Oh my gosh, I have an ego.
And then you think you need to berate your ego and get rid of the ego. Yeah.
You realize, no, I'm going to integrate my ego. And and then you go i have an ego so what and i'm going to love my ego so to the the specific point of your question of spirituality and business this is so perfect for today just before we got on together i just got a message from someone who felt that they had a right to say to me, you haven't been posting enough about freeing Palestine and your focus is on capitalism.
Well, so this is my approach. What I hear in that is a woundedness, that there's this righteousness to come to me and tell me, this is so ironic, right? Tell me what I should be saying, how I should be using my voice, and that I should restrict my way of being.
So that's a wound. That's some shadow stuff.
My job as love, as a sister, as a person, as a leader, is to meet that, be bigger, be bigger. Of course, I'm human.

So I go, you can suck it.

And then I take a breath and I go, okay, I get it.

How can I meet this person?

How can I like have this expanded moment?

So I go back and I go, dear so-and-so, hi, love, exclamation point.

I've been posting about freeing Palestine on a daily basis, but that that comes with shadow banning so you might not be seeing my stuff we got this and i i seal it this isn't even intentional this is very natural but it's like and i seal with it like we are so in this together we're bless up bless all of it and so that is just like a small, this is where spirit meets business. And also when I get pricing objections, some people saying you're doing this $12,000 thing.
Yep, I am. And you know what? I hear you.
And you know, I have $144 thing because heart centered is about inclusive. I want everybody in.
I to meet you i got you and i feel that so much um the ego will have us play small the wound itself will have us play small that is a fact also i think it's a fact that not everybody can manifest anything they want.

Yeah.

These are new age platitudes.

We have restrictions of culture, of gender, of race, of ideology.

We also have karma.

So when I really want to go big with people, I say,

do you want to do whatever it takes to live on behalf of goodwill,

even if you don't reap the benefits in this lifetime?

And ideally, the answer is yes.

Like I'm in this for the long game.

Maybe everything I'm doing this lifetime should just be good,

to be kind, to be loving.

I won't get that until the next round. But it all counts.
It all counts. It all counts.
And, you know, back to the broader wakefulness, like, I don't know if it's about time. I don't know if it's about, you've got to do this for 15 years and you'll get it.

Yeah.

Or if it's about purity,

because I think purity balances out time restrictions.

But if you set your intention to be a seeker,

you want to know truth,

you want to bake goodwill into your system,

your ecosystem,

I think you get rewarded. Yeah.
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Just go to alissanobriga.com forward slash sales retreat to save your space. Yeah, there's quite a few things that you mentioned that I just want to highlight.
I think the first one is just that when people start on a path, they think the ego is the enemy, that this is bad, that's something to get rid of. And then they'll judge the ego, but it's really just ego judging ego and that ego's doing the best it knows how to make sure that you survive so that you're liked so that then you survive.
It always comes back to survival. So that which in us that sees the ego is not the ego.
And the moment you can see it, you are what sees it and you're free. That's the moment to celebrate, not get caught down the rabbit hole of there's more to get rid of.
That's just giving the ego a job and then it consistently moves forward. So realizing that.
And I think psychologically, one of the things I heard in what you shared was seeing there's wounding in the trigger and yes, having our own human experience, like, you know, having our own defensiveness, a reaction, not responding from that place or reacting from that place, but seeing that like, oh, there's a wound within them and that triggered something in me. And how can I pull on a higher love to integrate that part of me that feels defensive? Because that defense oftentimes, Byron Katie would say, is the first act of war is defense.
And so, okay, if I respond with that way, then there's a war happening. And to help stop the war in the world, we do that within ourselves first, and we can be a loving voice in the world.
And I also think identity is a big piece. I think identity is the foundation to everything.
So whether people want on a spiritual plane, so there's the psychological and the spiritual, and I think if, you know, identity, if people either want to wake up from their sense of self or just increase and improve their sense of self, everything else improves as a result. So whether they feel more worthy, whether they feel like they can create more opportunities in their life, co-create a better quality of life, or even in spiritual awakening, like deeply questioning, who do I think I am? and not to try to find an answer, but just to slow it down to notice the space and the silence and the awareness that is there prior to an answer, prior to anything being filled.
So the psychological and the spiritual and, and it's tricky, you know, it's tricky that psychological, the things can come in, especially when it feels so triggering or feels so real. But I think those triggers are the breadcrumbs to our freedom.
So I love that you, you live that both in an integrated human and being way, you know, that's, that's so beautiful. And I think that's, that's everything.
I couldn't think of a life that I would rather spend time combing through and really realizing my true nature in all aspects of life. I think I did it for a while with relationships.
I know you're getting married. So I'm so excited for you.
And like, I really focused on that for a while, having been a licensed psychotherapist, specifically working with couples and relationship. And then now it feels like business.
So I feel like we're writing the book around spiritual awakening. So we get to share our nuggets and insights to help further evolve our species by sharing the insights.
So thank you for that. I'd be curious to hear if there was a challenge that you, like a bigger challenge that you may have overcome in your business and how you did that.
I have so many. But if there was one that you're like, yeah, that was really challenging for me.
And it actually, I took that and it shaped who I am and how I am or how I do business now. Well, first of all, I just want to hit pause and say you are such a clear teacher.
Thank you. You got it.
Thank you. Yeah, you got the gift you got the teaching gift uh well I'm at the end and the beginning of a really intense year like there's no there's no heaviness to it but like almost a year ago to the week I woke up it was about to be my birthday I was so I thought, I don't want to live and work this way.
I'm tired of being in a sauna. I feel like I am working for my team.
There's a there's a lack of alignment, there's a lack of bigness around the vision. And I just declared like, I want to be a creative eccentric I want to have this more spiritually prioritized lifestyle like you know my practice is central but there's always a stress around doing my practice and I'm just like no like let's build the business so I'm not feeling guilty about my hour meditation and sun salutations morning, all those things.
And as it turned out between myself and the team and the, and the divine, the house got cleaned. Like we took it down to the studs and people and systems and new people and new systems and hired 13 people and overhired.
And now we're like this tiny, mighty team. And I haven't had a holiday in a year.
Like my honeymoon, which will be happening soon, is going to be my first break. And we've just turned the corner to like, wow, we are gliding, we're gliding through the launches, the prosperity is there, the quality of people, the connections are deeper.
And this is all because this is all because I said, this has got to be about my spiritual commitment. And I really just want to nurture people.
And it doesn't mean you want to have sell, like at this moment in time, I have some sales exhaustion. You know, you launch something, you get tired of talking about online, but we don't take ads out in newspapers anymore.
We use the technology. Yeah.
And, um, but now I'm just like, what does a business model based on nourishing the humans and oneself look like? Like, you know, one practice we do a lot in our heart center community is metabavana prayer. May you be happy, healthy, free of suffering, free of mental anxiety.
May you live in peace. May your life be blessed with ease.
And you do that. May I be all of that.
May you be all of that. May we be all of that.
And after, it took me months of practicing that prayer to realize that I was included in that prayer. Do you know? I do know.
I'm just like everything you're sharing right now, I think you're sharing it for me. And so I'm so grateful and I'll share more, but yes, that we are included in the nourishment.
There's not, we're not depleted and everyone else is served, but we're included in this. Yes.
Amen. And so some of us who identify like we're on the path and all those things.
And I'm like, I'm just going to serve humanity. We forget that.
Like I can think of all these ways we can nurture our membership from like birthdays to the content to I'm going to do everything in audiobooks and my experience is you pray to be the nourisher of other people you will think different thoughts about your own lifestyle and it's not an either or and it's not a it's not a woe is me and a leader and all, you know, all this stuff. It's like, Oh, everybody, this is what I'm doing to heal.
Let me package it up for you. Yeah.
I know everything you're sharing is there's levels of knowing there's mentally knowing. Then there's like the heart-based, okay, feel that.
And then there's the gut living it. And I, my dad's a shaman and we did a ceremony two years ago.
And I really got this message that you're sharing. Like I'm included in the nourishment because I had built a business where I was serving.
I was so service oriented, but I forgot to include me in it. And I was bending over backwards to serve.
And my students would have never. They told me they didn't know, but I was dying inside.
I was disconnected from nourishment. And so I started getting it.
And just now I just got back from a retreat with my team in Bali and I'm like, oh, we get to restructure everything on the team so that there's nourishment. I still, I just got back.
So I'm still integrating what you're saying of like shifting the business model, but I pushed back a launch to next year. I would rather have, you know, it's interesting though, Danielle, as I'm saying it, I pushed it back because I didn't want to put stress on my team, but I really also need to push it back so that I make sure that I have spaciousness in my day-to-day and I'm not in our project management system all day or feeling like

it's dependent on me. We should talk.
Yeah. Yes, we should talk because I had this shadowy conversation.
I tell you, like the depths of this, and this is really the beginning of the transition for me, was my most wounded, gnarly, dark self.

She's almost like this kind of character I can see in me.

Would say, who wants to work for you?

What?

This is, I am rad to work for.

Now, you can talk to 50% of the people who have worked for me over 15 years and half of them will say, she is nuts. And that was not a heart centered environment.
And the other 50% will say it's life changing. Set me on my path.
What an environment it's like, it's karma. It's all the things.
But I did have that belief of like, well, who wants to serve this vision? And I had to integrate that and really work with the shame of that. And that didn't take long.
I mean, I'm sure I've been carrying that around for lifetimes. But once I got clear on like, listen, I'm on team love.
I work on behalf of Christ consciousness. And I really just step into, it's not even about leadership at that stage.
It's that's about devotion. And my devotion is magnetic.
And my devotion is so clear and radiant. It will hold this container called a business and team and vision.
And so when I say, I need you to give me my deliverables every morning and tell me what's on the plate and be really specific. And I need to not work on Fridays so that I can wander.
And I need to not be involved in these things. When I make a request that we're going to operate

on the 10, 80, 10 process,

which is I come in at the beginning 10% of the project.

The team takes the 80%.

I come in at the last 10% to Danielify and polish it.

Yes.

That is not ego.

That is, this is on behalf of devotion to Buddha nature. This is what's going to be work best.
If I'm fed and watered and directed and get me the fuck out of a sauna. Yes.
Amen. We can go to some people.
Yes. Everything you're sharing feels like a divine intervention and, and just further confirmation of where I'm going.
I, I did this

water. Yes.
Everything you're sharing feels like a divine intervention and just further confirmation of where I'm going. I did this water temple blessing with my team and it was like, A&I, Alyssa and Brie International 1.0 and 2.0, things are different now that we're back.
And this is the first work conversation I've really had since coming back. So it's just further clarifying.
I can see that some of my over-responsibility has played out with my team the same way that it played out with my family structure. So feeling over-responsible for my mom, I really healed a lot of that mother-daughter wound, did a podcast on it.
And then now I'm like, oh, I got to clean it up with team because I self-appointed, I'll be the glue. I'll make sure everyone's happy and okay.
And that worked when I had a small team, but not with a team of 40. I can't.
And so I love this 10, I think you said 80-10. I think that's exactly how I want to orient.
I've never heard that. Well, can I- Please.
Can we do some business therapy right now? Yeah. This would be my question to you if we were just hanging out and having tea.
Yeah. Is I would ask you, so there's some self-betrayal in that.
Yes. Yeah.
You got to do an inventory to see if, let's just hold space for if, that kind of betrayal is manifesting on your team. Yes.
Because... Just to be more direct, how I am doing that or if the team is doing that? If the team is doing that, like it might not even be intentional.
It's not a conscious thing, but that energy could play out sort of on the astral, let's say, and you know, the basement of everybody's psyche where you might notice things like there's some good copying, bad copying going on. There's some fawning going on towards you, but some kvetching in the background.
There's some systems that aren't actually set up to support you. Maybe there's some resentment around lack of whatever the team has, but there's no, I mean, it's just metaphysical law that that's going to play out somehow.
And that was my experience. Yeah.
And I don't know if you also experienced this, like whatever, however, I'm also leading the team. I have a CEO now, but how, you know, it kind of trickles down from the top.
I try not to do hierarchical leadership. Like I want to do, we're doing things differently.
And I hear that from people and yet still being the founder, people, if I share one thing that's highlighted, right? It's exaggerated. So yes, I think we just started, I love clearing conversations.
I love heart-centered, honest, radical. So I just, as I got back, yesterday was my first day, I started messaging everyone on my team to have a heart to heart, to be like, is there anything you want to share? I want you to feel safe, like just to reestablish where we are.
But yes, everything in my life, I just thought business was different for some reason. Everything is about, is a reflection of me, everything.
And it's all an inner game. And so I thought business, you know, back in the day when I was hiring people was like, oh, but hiring is different.
I just have to find one person that's good at hiring. I'm like, no, it's still a reflection.
And so 80% of the work is still inner. And at least, right, at least there's practical things.
Like I love teaching sales. I love, you know, I think having now a CEO that's super good with hiring and I've been able to delegate more, but yeah, I have to look at the parts inside of me that think if I want it at a high bar of excellence, I need to be the one that does it.
And am I okay with 80% and making mistakes like where I'm starting to let go and be okay with that. But as I'm nourished, it's a lot easier to do that.
And so really taking the nourishment as the foundation is where I'm reorienting. And another thing that I just recently discovered is when I try to get into a quote unquote efficiency mode, this is the same for my husband, my marriage and my team.
When I think I'm just trying to get to the point and like save time, actually it's not very efficient. Like I have to go back and clean up the repair in the, in the relationship or clearly communicate what I meant if I'm moving fast.
And so I know that a big part of your work is also like finding the magic and slowing down and knowing that like trying to move fast is not productive. I'm curious if you have a story that you can share about how slowing down was way more nourishing, but also productive.

This is why it's productive because the things we did where I just like, okay, I can come up with that offering, that practice, that thing in three days. We've got three days.
You need it because it's got to go to graphic design, et cetera. We always end up having to redo those things because I don't feel baked into it.
And because it's not optimized, I really like optimizing things like, is this as deep as it can be? Is this as word economical as it can be? Is there a practice we can pull out of this? Does this turn into a lead magnet? Can this be used for couples and for children? Like that takes some time. And I know that like I can feel really, really clear and divinely inspired.
And I'll get the idea. I don't even talk about this in terms of like, you know, it comes to me.
But like I am my thing is I can create rapidly. It doesn't mean we need to get to the finish line rapidly.
I need to let things, you know, like your spaghetti sauce is better the day after. I got to look at it and go, oh, I can make that clearer.
I'm so into clarity. When you allow for more time, you get your own clarity.
You get to polish the gold. And then, oh my gosh, I really love working with with people like it's the age of Aquarius you have to be collaborating you get three other people and they go oh we could do something we could turn that into a three-day thing or that would be better an audio and you're just like where have you been my whole life like all the ideas so you gotta leave space it's the thing that's service leave space yeah and this is the thing that I the layer of patience that I think gets left out in the business conversation is we don't talk about patience as a virtue as a soul quality.
We talk patience more as an in a pedestrian productive way like if you be patient you're going to get this that's not patient that's waiting patience is the space of non-waiting patience is i'm i'm dwelling in completeness It's a done deal. That's patience.
That's a powerful place to be. So when we decide, and this is not easy for me because obviously, I mean,

you can even tell by the cadence of my speech and how I talk, I'm a doer. The dopamine hit I get

from accomplishment, from seeing how to pull it off i love it me too um so the times when i say okay not now and usually not now how i get to not now is to go wow i have the awareness right now to go i'm tired or i full, or I really want to nourish these people over here. I have to be in my soul quality of, listen, team.
Usually it's them telling me, by the way, to just be really real. They're like, Danielle, just back off.
But I go, it's a done deal that we're going to have 7,000 members. It's a done deal that this cohort is going to be full.
I operate in that patience and faith zone. And from that place, I can go, okay, well, let's launch it next year.
Yeah. Yeah.
I love the distinction of the wholeness of the completeness, because otherwise we get caught into society's trance of bigger, better, faster, more, and from the place of I'm not enough versus dropping into a deeper dimension of our being, the wholeness, the perfection, the everythingness that is here already before we try to go look for it. So I love what you're speaking to.
It's a completely different place. And as you were speaking, I'm also just, the more I feel nourished, the more I want to give to my team, to my students.
Even in Bali, I mean, I woke, I love coaching. Like I love creating.
And in Bali, I woke up for a coaching call because we've got 350 students in a year-long certification program. And I didn't want to change the time because we're in like the heart of the shadow work.
And it's like the juiciest, most profound part of the program. So I woke up from one to three and from eight to 10 to have coaching sessions.
And then I do demos and we unpack it. And those were some of the most profound coaching sessions I've ever had because I was nourished.
And I feel like I can take my work to a whole nother level when I have that spaciousness. So when I'm and I'm my best use is not project managing and our ClickUp system.
And it's not that's just not where my zone of genius is really. And so really wanting to change the team so that we're all operating in our zone of genius.
It's a great concept, but I'm in the nitty gritty of like shifting that. So it really happens and learning along the way and letting myself, you know, let go a bit more knowing that they're going to be more mistakes and being okay with that.
But the nourishment I think is everything. So I'm, I'm just grateful that you speak to that.
I feel like I can be a better leader. I can be a better coach.
I can be a better everything when I am filled up. And so I'm grateful that you shared that.
I know that you also talk about balance being a myth. Can you share with us a bit about that? Yeah, I've gone back and forth on that.
I mean, that's good. That's some irony there.
You know, in my fire starter sessions days, I would say that I've never launched anything and not been burned out. Or, you know, life is like a symphony.
Sometimes your personal life is in the driver's seat. Sometimes it's your work life and your kids and your person have to wait and those things.
And that's still kind of true, but I'm more into balance than I used to be. I can tell you that.
I think, I think it is about nourishment and knowing that, you know, like there's a lot of people in our space right now are just like we're done with grind culture well of course we're done with grind culture but there's times when you still have to grind yeah yeah like that's just that's it there's exertion there's times to exert so you have to bake rest into your plans. Um, you know, I'm listening to your leadership questions that you're living right now.
And like the first thing I want to say is do you really need a team of 40? Yeah, no, we're, yeah, no, we don't. We don't.
And, um, we've been a certification program because we're certifying and we're grading, there's like a whole coaching team. So it's a different level of a business.
It's not level, but it's a different business because there's a lot of hands-on looking through their videos, grading the exams and things. But apart from that, I would say the teaching team is about half and the facilitators and things.
my, I just transparently when my team was like, I'm overwhelmed, I'm like, hire more people, hire more people, but that wasn't really the problem. And now I see that.
And so we're, we're, we're redoing a reorg. We're really getting everybody to be in the right seat and make sure that they're clear now that I have my CEO.
And so yes, we're in this transition plan.

Yeah, that CEO will change everything because we've moved towards, we've really created a self-managing team. Yeah.
I want to hear about this. I saw that, that you're sharing about that in your membership site.
Tell me what that means, self-managing team. Yeah.
So this is a concept inspired by the book ben hardy 10x is easier than 2x so i went almost a decade without reading any business books because i just you know was reading the yoga sutras of patanjali yeah and i pushed a murdi and i just like i don't want i don't need to be with the baller boys you know and then this year i just like i have consciousness dialed. How are the ballers doing it? And I'll tell you how we got to self-managing.
Well, I'll give you the quick definition. Self-managing is people who know what needs to be done and they do it.
They need to be managed less. Right? So one of the things we did, I recently created a headline in a mastermind group where, let me tell you, this is the one thing I would put on a reel.
We halved our project management and we doubled our productivity. So, you know, that would get you in if I were selling something, be like, how did you do that? Tell me more.
We stopped telling everybody what to do via a project management system.

So we thought the best thing to do was like, you know, give everybody their 20 tasks to wake up to every day. And it is not.
One, because they should know. And it's our job as leaders, as directors to be like, this is what we're doing.
This is what success looks like. This is when we want to get there.
Everybody clear? It's your job to actually get clear if you're not clear. And it's your job to do it the way you want.
If you are a pen and paper person and you want to write out your deliverables that way, and that's your learning system. Great.
If you want to work in Asana, we still use Asana and we need timelines for sure. It was dramatic.
Wow. The difference in the team.
Cause as you're saying this, I, there are some people that I've hired and they have that. They're just, they're experts.
They run with it. They don't need somebody managing them.
And then there are other people where I feel like that they do need somebody to manage them. Is that my assumption? Is it clearly articulating, like communicating to them? I trust that you're able to step into this and manage your own schedule.
I guess I'm like, how do you make that shift? Do you want an A team or do you want a B team? I want an A team. Right? So it's like, and how long do you want to be raising your, teaching your children how to do certain things? so um i think our jobs are to see where somewhere where someone is at yeah to have and to and to hold space like i've held on to some people in the past for a long time and i'm glad i did i mean there was one woman we kept having conversation we gotta let her go we gotta let her go and we and got her to a place.
I'm so glad we didn't let her go. There's other people, like there's no hard and fast rules.
Like, you know, good to great, which was a biblical business book for me for a long time. Jim Collins would say, you hire slowly.
You really interview, really get to know, and you fire quickly. It's not a fit.
Let's just move on. You know what? I used to really think that was gospel.
I don't think that's gospel anymore. I never thought that.
I was like, how? There are so many, it's going to put more stress on the rest of the team if you do things like that, right? So it's like thinking through like the whole of the team and how it all affects people. Also, my CEO is very good at training people up,

right? She's really good at seeing that. She's like, she helped me be a better leader from the beginning.
She's like, are they willing? And are they competent? If they are, I can train them to get there. I'm like, okay.
And she has so much of a track record to do that. And people want to grow in an organization.
They want to be the best versions of themselves. So the people that are willing and capable, her model is like, give them a chance.
Let's let them really step into it. But it takes a lot of mentorship and guidance and time.
So yeah, I feel like I'm being schooled. Both ways are true.
That's the thing. Both ways are true.
Sometimes you do have to hire slowly, but, but for me, my definition of slowly is hold it, hold it, hold it. Wait till you find, found the right fit.
How many interviews do you need to have with someone to know they're the right fit? Yeah. And even then it's 50, 50.
Yeah. There's karma.
There's mat leave. There's world events.
Culture. And then sometimes you get in and you go, row, row.
I've interviews with you and this is not a fit. We hired you.
And I know it's only been two weeks, but you got to go. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
And I use, I mean, just having my background in psychology and coaching, I love using the Enneagram for different roles. I love using human design.
I love Colby. It helps me understand some of their strengths or questions to ask people in the hiring process.
All of that I find really helpful and fun. um I I want to just ask you also because you talked about this self-leading um self-managing

teams but you also talked about like project management style that is agile and that you

clearly communicate to your team self-managing teams, but you also talked about like project management style that is agile and

that you clearly communicate to your team so that they stay on track. Will you share with us about

that? Well, we've been in startup mode now for a year after me doing this for about 15 years and

having taken down to the studs. So we're acting like acting like everything is new so what's the system for this let's document it let's have a standard operating procedure in sop it's a it's just a ddoc with a table that says what the steps are yeah okay and everybody knows their job and we create all this repetition and and then you know the part of me that you know in strength finder speak is the maximizer or in planetary speak has four planets in virgo oh i just totally get off on this i'm just like yeah that button needs to say this and this color needs to say that and we need to optimize this little thing and then i relax that left part of my brain that real kind of warrior energy and then i get to go back and just be yin creative goddessy writer person um so it's like everything is getting systematized everybody if we all got abducted by aliens someone could come into tomorrow and know like if i give you 20 minutes of audio, you could turn this into a podcast that gets optimized.
System, system, systems. So I feel like the beginning of all things comes with this, the divine feminine principle.
I am surrendering. I mean, I'll just speak in the meta, right? Like I am being receptive to the God principle.
I am going to follow my orders. Tell me what to do.
Make this so easy on me. I just need to keep my vessel clean enough to hear clearly.
And then it needs to have a masculine Yang structure. So like, you know, flow without direction is just a flood.
It's a mess. Yeah.
And I resisted structure for a long time. And now I'm just like, what's the SOP for this? I want to talk about it once and never again.
I remember when I first started, I'm like SOP, standard operating procedure for anyone that doesn't know. We have SOP'd everything, but probably with too many perfectionists on the team, ones in the Enneagram, our SOPs are so detailed and long that it takes anyone new starting about six months to not feel overwhelmed by them.
So simple SOPs would be my gift to anybody. So it's not so detailed that it's overwhelming, simple to scale.
But I love that you're speaking of this balance and integration of the masculine and feminine energies within all of us so this is a big part of my coaching methodology which is about really first awareness and then acceptance the heart of the feminine saying yes to all of it the thoughts the emotions the behaviors every level of what is saying yes and embracing it and then moving into aligned action from there, integrating that masculine, that focus. And so I love how that shows up both in the facilitation, but also the backend of the business.
It's beautiful. And I'm curious because I know creativity and self-expression are a big part of how you do life.
And I'm curious, how do you nurture that in your business? I think I heard you talk about like, yes, you know, the metrics of the head, but you also balance it with the heart, right? So you'll know when to share your podcast on certain days, and then you'll still follow maybe astrology or your intuition on sharing it on another day. Talk to us a little bit about this because I think most of the dude bro marketing, and I want to have other ways of running a successful business that's more in alignment.
Because dude bro could be alignment for one person, but it's not the only way. I remember when I was first starting, in 2017, I brought my business online and I was hearing all the dude bro marketing, bless, I won't name any names.
And I was like, no. It was like, yes, and let's modify it.
And then later they came around and they were like, oh, that's actually working better. I was like, cause in the beginning I was like, I don't know online marketing.
And then I just took my power back and I said, but I know people and I'm very good at sales and I'm taking them through a journey. So I'm just translating that online.
So anybody that says I'm not good at online marketing, I'm not good at sales, re-script that, reframe that because there are gifts that you have that you can utilize and maybe even show the industry a different way of doing it. Or later they'll come around to be like, that's way more authentic and it converts better.
So share with us a little bit about how you nurture that. Well, more than the strategy and you knowing people, you got to know yourself.
Yeah, that's right. So it's like strategy and your people could say, I want your podcast on Monday, but do you want to really put your podcast on a Monday? You keep doing this.
You keep doing this. This is good.
Yeah. Back to yourself.
Okay. Back to yourself.
I don't want, no, then the team works on Sunday nights and all the things. For me, the planetary guidance is pretty fundamental.

It's very fundamental.

Like we will never launch a week before, during, or after Mercury retrograde.

I can tell you the launches we did and regretted in those time periods.

I actually, I'm going to start tracking the data with my masterminds that I'm in, the mastermind that I'm leading.

I'm just like, tell you people, doesn't work.

It doesn't work.

And I can tell you all the reasons it doesn't work.

But so there's that.

We operate more seasonally.

We feel like we actually move with the seasons.

Like at the end of the year, when it's winter mode, we put things on sale. We clean up, we rest.
We don't launch new things. We don't promote January, new year, new you kind of stuff.
I feel really in sync with the lunar new year. There's all sorts of data and science and ancient mythology around actually the new year starting in February.
Can you not feel it? You can survey people and they'll be like, yeah, I actually don't want to go to the gym in January, but you will want to go to the gym in February because everything is actually shifting in the cosmos. Hits your wagon to universal energy.
Does that answer the question? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Just like really trusting a deeper intelligence than just the metrics, which I think head and heart balance and then make a decision.
What's in tune with you? And also having that nourishment, then we have more of that creativity. When we have also the safety, we have that more self-expression and we can be innovative and create something that's fresh.
Yes. And then you go.
Like we're in integrity. We're here to serve.
I feel I've received something luminous. Okay.
How do we rock the algorithm with this? Yeah. Yeah.
Yes. And yeah.
Inside out a hundred percent. And I'm curious because I'm sure you have different rituals or practices that are game changers for you for your own mental clarity, your emotional well-being, especially in chaotic times.
Because of course, most people do launches with online business. In any business, there's going to be push time.
And I love that you were talking about the seasons because as we follow the seasons, there's that natural rest time whenever you feel like that fits for your business. But what are some of your practices or your go-to rituals that really change the game for you, that nourish you? I pray for my team every day.
Oh, wow. Yeah.
So I do a manifesting meditation five to seven days a week, always in the morning, sometimes still seated in lotus position, facing the east, sometimes walk in and get some tea. I've done it while getting a dental cleaning.
Sometimes that's fantastic. And I have the full names of all of my team and I have an order and I bless them.

And then, and this is really recent. And this is because of Elizabeth, our production and marketing director.

You know, with launching our mastermind with Inner Circle, she said, could we get a playlist?

Could we get like a set of power words? Because that's the stuff we do. And our membership was like, oh, well, yeah.
So we have a playlist? Could we get like a set of power words? Because that's the stuff we do

in our membership. I was like, oh, well, yeah.
So we have a playlist. We have our power words, which currently are nourishing, nurturing, generosity, harmony, and high touch.
So these are the words as a team that you guys chose collectively. Beautiful.
Here, do this. Just look at them.
Put them on a post-it note in your office space.

And then I've given them a visual, like an image. This is, it could be anything you want.
It could be sacred geometry. It could be a flower.
Just like, this is one thing we're all going to look at every day that is infused, that symbolizes. And then maybe we could have some goals.
I don't, concerned. Yeah, that's the game changer.
And me trusting the team. Did you did that? Tell me just about your how did you get to a place of trusting your team? Did you start with it? Did it get built? um I have a team now who is for me is for my lifestyle and I've gone from um you're not in a sauna enough being kind of told that oh wow kind of like you need to meet these deadlines no questioning about why am i not meeting deadlines if your leader is not meeting deadlines there's a problem that needs to be discussed and that's my i need to really bring that up to a team of just like hey we'd love to get you down to working 16 days a month and for sure fridays off and how can you take every august off because not because they're kissing ass or they're fawning or they want me out of their hair but they get that that is how a creative person works and i need that kind of space I need that kind of space.
Yeah. One thing I will share, having just come back from Bali doing a team retreat, anyone that has a virtual company, I can't emphasize enough meeting offline.
I'm going to have a commitment now once a year. even if there are people, different departments that don't connect, there is a level of connection.
And my team, I've never heard them laugh so much. Like they were laughing most of the time.
There's a playfulness, like their, their inner child, like their kids were out and it was nourishing for me. We also had a lot of, I wasn't on the computer at all, but we had so many high level strategic conversations, getting massages, going to healers.
I, it's a, wherever you do it, even if it's in your own hometown, I highly recommend investing in yourself and in your team that way. I think it creates such a tight bond and, and it holds you through.
Cause I think there's a lot of misunderstandings that can happen on Slack or your project management system.

And if people are always working,

it just, it's helpful.

And I can't emphasize it enough.

Every time I've met people that work with me in person,

it just 10X'd the connection.

And I'm curious how much more productive

we become because of it.

I could see that it saved lots of misunderstandings

by connecting

in person and also everyone just feeling nourished, myself included, which is part of my- Agreed. In person equals quantum.
Yes, that's right. That was my experience.
And I will either, we're going to do an annual trip to Bali or we'll do something in LA, but I will invest in that every year. It was profound for me.
Danielle I I could connect with you forever. I just love your heart.
I'm like, yes, sister. Yes.
I knew that I would love you. I want to know everything now.
I know. And thank you for your guidance.
I know my audience is going to want to stay connected. Tell them what you're up to, how they can stay connected.
Oh, all the things. um i do like hanging out on Instagram but really danielleport.com so I can get to you so my extra fun thing is every two Fridays a month I put out something called sacred weekends it's also known as a free newsletter but it's like deep and sweet and very kind of lifestyle-y and girlfriend and then I have the heart center membership.
I have a life track for body, mind, spirit support. I have a business track and, oh, and I have a podcast.
My podcast is pretty rad. It's called With Love, Danielle.
So good. So many gems.
I just appreciate the way that you live and your heart and commitment to truth. So thank you for being an example in the world.
I appreciate it. So great hanging out with you.
I'm going to go find out everything about you now. I love it.
So good. Thank you so much for doing this work that changes the world, starting with yourself.
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