I know, because I’m one too. And you know what they say: birds of a feather.

So here’s the thing: when we think big, we often imagine the life that we are going to lead when our visions turn into reality. This life might include traveling the world, spending time with people who expand our hearts and minds, and giving back in ways that nourish our soul and the souls of the recipients of our gifts.

And often, our imagined futures include becoming well known.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be well known for your contributions.

Here’s the problem, though: a lot of people are chasing fame because they think it’s going to give them the lifestyle they want. But they’re chasing the wrong thing for all the right reasons.

You see:

There’s a big difference between fame and freedom.

For today, I’m talking financial and lifestyle freedom. (Emotional and spiritual freedom are topics I LOVE to tackle too. And it’s all connected. But for today we’re talking money and lifestyle.)

When I say financial freedom I mean the ability to wake up in the morning and do what you want to do with your time. (Click here for my recent post on what financial freedom means and how to get it.)

If the idea of being able to wake up every day and do the things that most speak to your heart without worrying about how the bills are going to get paid doesn’t speak to you, then read no further.

But if you’re like me, and millions, quite possibly billions, of others on the planet, and you want the ultimate freedom, CHOICE, then read on.

There are people making millions, even billions, a year who are not free. And some of these people are household names.

And there are people living in a way that  you and I might see as just scraping by who are totally and completely free.

I see some version of this desire, or marketers marketing to people who have this desire, a lot: “I want to be rich and famous.”

Let’s examine this one for a moment, shall we?

So I have this kind of well-known mother. She’s been on Oprah ten times. She’s written two NY Times Bestsellers. A lot of people know who she is.

I’m super proud of my mom and she deserves all the recognition she’s received because she’s helped millions of women around the world tap into the wisdom of their bodies. My work stands on her shoulders and I’m eternally grateful.

Early on, though, my mom figured out that going from book advance to book advance and speaking gig to speaking gig while waiting for Oprah to call was not the kind of life she wanted. She wanted freedom. So she created a real-live business that sustains her whether she’s doing anything or not. Of course she works on her business a lot because she loves it. But the key distinction here is that she doesn’t HAVE to.

The quality of the work she puts out is far more powerful because it comes from a place of choice instead of from a place of necessity.

I’ve spent a lot of time with people who are considered “famous.” And you know what? They’re human.

I want to inoculate you against thinking that being famous inevitably leads to wealth or freedom (or happiness, for that matter. But that’s a whole other conversation.)

The good news is that we all get to define for ourselves what rich means. Perhaps your version of rich includes lots of time to spend sorting out the mysteries of life with your girlfriends over delicious oolong tea. Maybe it includes unlimited time cuddling with your man and your little ones in the morning. Maybe it includes private aviation and Christian Louboutins.

If you’re like me and so many people I’ve met and worked with, your version of rich has something to do with quality of life. And that lifestyle doesn’t include being on the road 300 days a year, having to sell your next book to pay your mortgage, or having someone else tell you who, where, why, when, how, and how much.

One of the biggest mistakes I see people making as they build businesses is that they’re shooting for fame instead of freedom.

You may want to be recognized for doing great work in the world. That’s awesome. I think you deserve that.

You may want to feel seen. Rock on. You are a divine being worthy of that.

But what if you could get your needs for recognition and being seen met in other ways and build a business that allows you to live the lifestyle you desire?

This is not a what if. You can have this. I know because I help people do it.

The secret ingredient that the vast majority of people miss when building a business is this: Dispensability.

It’s the opposite of fame, my friends.

If you want freedom to live a life that’s deeply nourishing, you have to build systems and assets that pay you whether you’re there or not. You have to make yourself dispensable.

This probably flies in the face of every career preparation seminar you’ve attended and most “how to get ahead” types of advice you’ve ever read.

We’ve been taught that to be “successful” in life, whatever that means, we must make ourselves totally indispensable:

Impress your boss so you won’t get replaced!

Make yourself so necessary to the organization that they’ll keep you forever!

Do what you do so well that nobody could possibly ever do it as well as you!

Build FAME so that you can be rich!

The conventional wisdom has it all wrong.

If you want to make art, do that. The world needs your unique creative voice. The world craves the solutions that only you can offer.

But please stop steering your ship towards fame so that you can have freedom from a financial and lifestyle perspective.

Instead, build your business so that there are systems in place that bring in revenue with or without you. And then enjoy the expansive creativity that comes through when you’re no longer having to be physically present for income to come in.

When you free yourself up financially you can be more present to your purpose on the planet. (Click to tweet.)

Listen, your karma may be to become famous. And you may do some amazing service to your soul and to humanity by living in the spotlight. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Follow your path and shine, baby, shine!

Just don’t confuse fame with freedom. The two are very different.

From a financial perspective, you create freedom to live the life of your dreams through building systems that make you dispensable. That’s it.

Getting famous is not a magic bullet to bring money in the door, or to keep it once you get it. And it certainly doesn’t ensure long-term, sustainable income.

So how do we create these systems or assets that pay us long term whether we’re present or not?

One of the best ways to do it is to leverage the power of the internet.

And the best teacher of leveraging the internet to create a business that pays you whether you’re working or not is Marie Forleo.

My man and I have done tons of research in the internet marketing world and have spent tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, vetting out the best of the best. Marie’s the real deal.

Marie’s third free training video in her B-School launch series drops today. In it, she tackles some of the common concerns that hold many women back from starting or growing a business. Plus, watch through the end of the video for a chance to win a free spot in B-School. Marie’s giving away scholarships and one of them might have your name on it!

Remember, if you’re thinking of doing B-School, keep an eye out next Wednesday morning, February 20th, around 10:30am EST for an email from me revealing the bonus I’m offering to those who sign up through my link. It’s the most valuable bonus I’ve ever given, it’s never been available to anyone before you, and it’s specifically designed to be the perfect compliment to B-School to help you launch your business. We’ve been cooking this one up for months, and really it’s the culmination of everything I’ve learned and created since I started my business when I was 18. And I want YOU to have it. So stay tuned next Wednesday for the details and the link to buy through to get it with B-School.

The take-home message is this:

Most people on earth want to live a life that allows them to choose how they spend their most valuable resource: time.

If you want that, build towards freedom, not fame.

I shall leave you with this final sentence a beautiful young lady said to Leonardo DiCaprio playing J. Edgar in the 2011 film of the same name:

“All the admiration in the world can’t fill the space where love goes.”

Go for the love. Go for the freedom. And trust that the rest will work itself out.

Did this stir you? What do you think of freedom and fame? I’d love to hear it so leave a comment below!

Danielle LaPorte speaking at the World Domination Summit.

I just returned from Portland, OR to Portland, ME. (Despite my home town often being referred to as the “other” Portland, the Oregonians named their fair city after us.) I very enthusiastically attended the World Domination Summit (WDS), author and traveler Chris Guillebeau’s annual conference for bloggers, travelers, change-makers, and others who dub themselves non-conformists. It was a festival of the unconventional.

Here’s what I love about this gathering: its a community where being uncool (aka 100% yourself) is applauded. There were some freak flags flying this weekend and it was breathtaking and life-enhancing.

I sat this morning attempting to write a post digesting the weekend’s events and take-aways, but I find myself at a loss. So much inspiration, so little time.

So instead, I’m sharing the profound words with you via poignant quotes from WDS. And guess what – they’re all Tweet-ready! Just click the quote to Tweet:

The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you say to someone when you’re being uncool. ~Almost Famous via Brené Brown

“The number one barrier to belonging is fitting in.” ~ Brené Brown

“Who you are will always trump who you think people want you to be.” Brené Brown

“Unused creativity is not benign.” ~Brené Brown

“Cool is mostly about self-protection.” ~Brené Brown

“I’m going deeper, not wider.” ~Danielle Vieth in reference to spending most of her WDS time with people she already knew instead of branching out. I did the same and felt guilty about it until she beautifully articulated what we were doing.

“The opposite of fear is not courage or bravery. It’s surrender.” ~Chris Brogan

“The more willing you are to look dumb, the better you look.” ~Chris Brogan

“You will succeed the weirder you get.” ~Chris Brogan

“Whenever your friends and family tell you what you’re doing is crazy, you know it’s good.” ~Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott of UncorneredMarket.com

“Personal accomplishment = great. Shared accomplishment = sublime.” ~ Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott of UncorneredMarket.com

“Love scales.” ~Danielle LaPorte

“There’s a time and purpose for being lost. If you don’t judge the being lost you get through it sooner.” ~Danielle LaPorte

“Your desires will very often be contradictory and so will your strengths. All of our contradictions make us whole.” ~Danielle LaPorte

“You don’t need to be burned out to go on hiatus.” ~Danielle LaPorte

“I don’t have it all. I have what I want. I have my version of it all.” ~Danielle LaPorte

“I would rather get out of the game than stay in the game to change the game.” ~Danielle LaPorte

“Nobody can tell your story the way you can tell your story.” ~Danielle LaPorte

“Keep your eyes on your own paper.” ~Nicole Antoinette, a new and enthusiastic long-distance runner

“Big sexy dreams are accomplished one very unsexy step at a time.” ~Nicole Antoinette

“There’s no cap on the amount of success that’s possible in the world.” ~Nicole Antoinette

So there you have it. WDS in one-liners. Have an unconventional day.

Are you the happiest person you know?

Do you wake up each morning with a smile?

Do you feel absolutely free to be and do what you really want? Would you like to?

Or are you too trapped in the day-to-day grind? Chasing the bigger and better everything? Trapped under a heavy weight of responsibility, or an inability to imagine life any other way—because you’ve been taught that this is what successful people do?

But in reality what you’ve become is burned out, busy and tired of chasing the someday when you’ll have enough of X to be happy, be free and feel successful. You want the day you finally feel like you’ve made it to be today!

Today is your lucky day! Today is the day you can have finally have it all, without having to become emotionally and spiritually bankrupt in the process.

Check out this video and claim your ticket to happy and free.

Christine is former stressed-out achievement junkie and executive workaholic, and  Gabby is a former strung-out NYC party girl/publicist.

Over six years ago, they both cashed in their tickets to Burnout City, turned their ideas about success inside out, and became two of the happiest and freest people I know.

They also happen to be two of the most inspiring and transformational teachers I know.  Christine and Gabby each have written life-changing books, spoken to audiences around the world and have dedicated their lives to showing people how to free themselves from the limitations that keep them from having what they really want. They walk their talk every day. They’re living it.

And no, they didn’t cash it all in and move to a mountaintop or start tie-dying their designer handbags. What they did was stop listening to the wrong people, stop thinking the wrong thoughts, and start learning how real success & happiness happens.

This summer, on June 9th, they are hosting a FREE Transformational Conversation that will blow your mind, open you heart and get your happy & free meter revving on high.

They are coming full out to share the 3 Keys to Having It All! Happiness, Love, Freedom and Success … the same three keys they used.  I’ll be there, and you’ll definitely want to be there too!

Sign up now for the FREE 90-Transformative Call on June 9th.

Signing up takes 10 seconds, and you’ll be so grateful you did.

And no sweat if you can’t make it live. Sign up and Gabby and Christine will shoot you a recording after the call.

Never thought you’d be the happiest person you know? Get ready to change your mind.

P.S. I get a lot of invitations to attend calls like this, but this one is special. Gabby & Christine are powerhouses of inspiration, so I know just being on the call LIVE! with them is going to open me up to a world of freedom and happiness—that definitely will have me waking up with a smile in the morning. Join me! Grab your spot now!

Chris Guillebeau on Glimpse TV from Kate Moller on Vimeo.

I was in Maine. It was a beautiful September day and I was shopping in downtown Portland. I had recently made the decision to leave NYC and move to my home state. I was in Maine sniffing out real estate and telling my nearest and dearest the big news.

What I wasn’t saying out loud, or really admitting to myself, is that the closer I got to moving back to Maine, the more depressed and contracted I felt. My friend Bindu Wiles sent me a text that Chris Guillebeau, author of The Art of Non-Conformity, was in Portland that night doing a book signing and gathering during his 63-stop unconventional book tour. I happened to be a block away from the event so, always a faithful follower of synchronicity, I went.

What I expected was to meet a cool blogger and author who I followed on Twitter. What I got was way bigger than that. I loved what Chris had to say about pursuing big dreams simply for the sake of themselves. I loved what he had to say about being a non-conformist as a way of making the world a better place. He spoke to my unconventional-self.

I read his book on the plane back to NYC with tears in my eyes. I realized that my plan to move to Maine, find a lobsterman to marry, get myself outfitted with a white picket fence, and get settled already was exactly the opposite of what I truly desired.

And so that night over dinner at Employees Only with my dear friend Danielle, The Freedom Tour was hatched. Inspired by Chris’ audacious goal of traveling to every country in the world by his thirty-fifth birthday, I decided to get rid of my stuff, buy a Prius, and go on an indefinite road trip to explore freedom.

I recently had the pleasure of spending several days with Chris in Austin, TX at SXSW in a little house I rented for the interactive, film, and music festival that brings innovative, unconventional, creative types from all over the world to mix, mingle, and inspire for a week.

The biggest risk of really getting to know people you admire from afar either through their writing or other creative work is that they’ll disappoint you in person. I’m grateful to say that Chris exceeded my wildest expectations as a real person and I’m thrilled to report that not only is he brilliant, innovative, as unconventional as advertised, and very funny, he’s also a perfect gentleman.

Chris and I took a moment on the front stoop to chat about what to pack on an adventure, how he defines nonconformity, what the most annoying question he’s ever been asked is, and what he’s most afraid of.

Enjoy this episode of Glimpse TV!

Do you have a big, audacious goal? What is it? Chris and I would love to hear about it!

How do you define nonconformity? Do you practice it? If so, how?

Leave a comment. We want to hear from you.

Today marked the first leg of The Freedom Tour that I’ve done on my own. I drove 441 miles from Boulder, CO to Amarillo, TX. It felt so good to look at so much sky and open space. It’s so much easier to see possibilities for ourselves when there’s so much open space to look at.

Besides stepping in the mud in my new boots during a spontaneous road side photo shoot with myself and getting a $400 speeding ticket (which I am setting the intention will make a big difference in some person’s life in rural Colorado and blessing and releasing), it was a spectacular day. I ended up connecting with a friend who I had no idea lived in Amarillo through Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg deserves every penny of his company’s bazillion dollar valuation) and am now tucked cozily away in her Texas castle.

Since I spent most of the day alone and in silence (there was very little cell coverage so my usual tactic of filling driving time with yakking on the phone was a no-go) I was inspired to chat with you on video as I drove.

Watch the video to find out how you can prevent financial disaster by coming to see me on The Freedom Tour.

Anyone want to host Women & Wealth in their city? What’s your definition of freedom? Any good road trip stories or talking your way out of speeding ticket stories? Leave a comment!

Also, check out my NEW TOUR PAGE where you can see all the places I’ve been and all the places I’m going (so far)!

Women & Wealth – Dallas, Texas

A Live Seminar Where you will…

~ Learn the truth about money and cash flow that no one ever told you ~
~ Uncover the most common myths about women and money-and bust them! ~
~ Delve into today’s financial realities and discover how you can be an exception to the statistics ~
~ Find out how to create optimal wealth and health simultaneously ~

Thursday, March 10, 2011
7:00 pm

Priya Yoga
6337 Prospect Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75214

Space is limited
RSVP to donettemorris@gmail.com

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Women & Wealth – Austin, Texas

with Kate Northrup Moller and Dr. Deb Kern

A Live Seminar Where you will…

~ Learn the truth about money and cash flow that no one ever told you ~
~ Uncover the most common myths about women and money-and bust them! ~
~ Delve into today’s financial realities and discover how you can be an exception to the statistics ~
~ Find out how to create optimal wealth and health simultaneously ~

Tuesday March 22, 2011
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Book People
603 Lamar Blvd (3^rd floor)
Austin, Texas

Space is limited
RSVP here or call 512.771.1149

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Women & Wealth – Denver, Colorado

A Live Seminar Where you will…

~ Learn the truth about money and cash flow that no one ever told you ~
~ Uncover the most common myths about women and money-and bust them! ~
~ Delve into today’s financial realities and discover how you can be an exception to the statistics ~
~ Find out how to create optimal wealth and health simultaneously ~

Wednesday April 5th, 2011
6:45pm Doors Open
7:00 – 8:30pm Seminar

Izakaya Den Restaurant
1518 South Pearl Street
Denver, CO 80210

Space is limited
RSVP to elizabeth@dreamitalia.com
or call 303.504.6151

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Women & Wealth – West Palm Beach, FL