Today’s Camelot: Lori Palm & Lori L. Lorenz :: Edge Life Expo Guest speakers
"Secrets of Today’s Camelot: Turn Burning Desire into Gold"
Room 101BC | 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, November 11, 2006
$20 in Advance through Uptowntix.com or (651) 209-6799, $25 at the Door
Lori Palm is a modern-day muse inspiring passion, purpose and possibilities. An entrepreneur for more than 35 years, she sees the unseen business opportunities everywhere. In 2003 Lori co-founded the Passion Office, a company dedicated to personal and professional development for the 21st century. Connecting to her core passion and working in collaboration with her husband, Wes Hamilton, Lori created the Passion Portal Assessment Tool. This validated online self-assessment tool and training programs are at PasssionOffice.com. Applying all her life experiences, Lori weaves the seen with the unseen to guide people and businesses in developing a plan for themselves and their future
Lori Palm spoke with Edge Life from her office in the Twin Cities.
Where were you born and where have you lived longest in your life?
LP: I was born in Minneapolis and I’ve been here pretty much my whole life.
What is the most unusual job that you’ve ever had?
LP: I’ve had a lot of them, but I lived in Princeton, Minn., for three years and was a co-founder of an ostrich farm.
What is your favorite word?
LP: Passion
Mine, too! Too many people are walking around like zombies and need to be reconnected to their passion. Lori, what turns you on emotionally, spiritually and creatively?
LP: Working with people really excites me. I also love working in the yard in summer with my flowers. That energizes me.
What is the main idea that you’re presenting at the Edge Life Expo?
LP: Lori Lorenz and I will be doing a talk on Saturday afternoon. We’re going to talk about how people can create what we call a "win-win" – how can you not only find your passion, but how can you turn that into what you are feeling called to do in life. In other words, how can you make money doing that? And how can you do it using the internet? The internet is a whole affiliate marketing. We’re going to be looking at what the secret is of turning that passion, that burning desire into gold, or into a business.
Is the internet the main vehicle that you work through?
LP: It is a new one that we are moving into, because of what has happened very recently. The technology is now such that many people can get in and do it easily. It takes work of course, but it’s much easier than it used to be. For instance, take publishing. How many people feel like they have a book in them? I mean, and how many people actually get picked up by a publisher?
That whole business has and is changing all the time.
LP: Yes, but now with technology, you can now create an e-book. You can do print-on-demand books. You don’t have to have all that up-front cost. What we’ve discovered and created the process for is a way to market it on the internet, where you have a lot of other people helping you market it. It’s a whole new way to look at how you can get the word out about whatever it is that you do. So for all those people that feel like they have something, but don’t know where to start or how to do it, we’ll be talking about that.
I hate trying to understand how to use the computer!
LP: But it’s a way to reach a much broader audience.
How did you gain your expertise?
LP: Well, my business partner, Lori Lorenz, and I are going to Orlando this weekend to another conference. We’ve been traveling a lot, gathering all the best of the best from all these gurus. What we’ve discovered is that they’ve figured out their system, which makes them a lot of money. But most people can’t do it because of the technology they were using. What we’ve found and we’re going to share with people is that there is now a new technology in which you can create your website and it’s like working in a Word document. You can edit it yourself. We help you. And to do this affiliate marketing, you have to be able to do it yourself or it will cost you a fortune. So we’ve gone to a lot of seminars to learn all of this information, and we tried it all out. We got a lot of good information and a lot of the secrets, but there was also a lot that didn’t work.
Explain your positions as you and Lori work together.
LP: My business partner is the technology expert. And so we’ve combined that with my piece of the passion, which is first finding out who you are and what is it you’re feeling called to do. We figure out how to turn that into a product and market it. People feel like they have a message to bring to the world. We’re here for a reason.
So in essence, your work is really about improving the quality of people’s lives by giving people practical knowledge and tools to make their dreams come true, once you’ve helped them understand what their dreams are.
LP: We’ve created an online assessment that measures the passion, that puts words to it. I’ve been doing this work intuitively for years. Lori came into my life three years ago and helped develop this work.
How would you recommend that beginners start to integrate your ideas into their lives?
LP: I would say first go online and take the passion assessment. We have a free intuitive assessment.
What do people get out of taking this?
LP: They find out what it is that drives them. Our greatest gift is our greatest challenge. It shows you what your gifts, your challenges and your lessons are.
Who would benefit most from this?
LP: Most people start to look at this when they’re at the crossroads of their lives, either personally or professionally. They’re feeling stuck.
To me this sounds like something that would be very beneficial to high school and college people.
LP: Absolutely. In fact we just finished a pilot program with one of the largest high schools here in Minneapolis.
Who was your greatest inspiration in leading you to your purpose?
LP: I would say my husband, Wes Hamilton, because he helped me see who I was. For the first time in my life I thought, "Here’s another human being who sees who I am."
If you were coming to hear your own talk, what question would you have for the speaker on the topic, and how might you answer it?
LP: How do I find the burning desire? And I would answer that by saying there are different ways to find it. One of them of course is to take our assessment, which will put words around what it is that drives you to do what you do. Then the question is, "So I know what drives me. What do I do next?" We’ll be talking about that.
Why did you choose to be part of the Edge Life Expo?
LP: I have been part of the Edge Life Expo since its inception. I want to support this community.
What are the big questions that we as human beings should be asking ourselves at this time?
LP: Well, I always say the major three, whether they’re voicing them consciously or not, are: Who am I? Why am I here? What am I really supposed to be doing?
What is the most rewarding aspect of what you do?
LP: Seeing people become all that they can be.
We’d like to get to know you as a person, Lori, so I’m going to move away from your career a bit. What is your favorite movie and why?
LP: We just saw a great movie called Take the Lead. It’s a true story about a guy who was a ballroom dance instructor. He went into the schools in New York City, to the toughest kids, and he helped them change their lives by teaching them to dance. At first, of course, they resisted it. And the teachers also saw no value in it, because it wasn’t academic. But he said some profound things to the teachers, like, "When a boy and girl come together in a ballroom-dance setting, the woman has to learn to trust the man who is leading. If that girl can learn to have trust in her partner, she will become strong and confident. She will then make wiser choices for herself. And in the ballroom-dance setting, the male will learn to honor and respect the woman and to lead her. If they can learn those lessons, don’t you think that’s valuable?" That absolutely touched my heart.
What is your favorite song?
LP: I’m a musician. I play piano and trumpet. It used to be part of my business, but not anymore. I don’t know if I have one favorite song, but I’m very touched by some of the New Age music, even though I was classically trained.
Is there a particular ritual you use to get into that space that allows you to create or imagine or do your very best work?
LP: I meditate.
Do you use music when you meditate?
LP: Yes. I also practice a meditation called "Awakening Your Light Body."
If you could recommend a few things people could do in their lives that would help them become more fully realized human beings, what would they be?
LP: Trust your intuition. I do believe we all have everything we need to know inside of us. It just gets stuck. Look at new perspectives of what you already know, to help you see from different points of view.
What is the most extreme thing you’ve done in your life?
LP: Probably get a black belt in Karate. I didn’t start out thinking I would get one. I was taking Karate to learn self-defense. It took me seven years. In the fifth year, my instructor said, "You know, you could get a black belt." It was never even in my realm of reality that I could do that. So I really looked at that and then I did it.
See how that opened you up? When someone plants a seed, it allows us to see our own potential. This can be and often is life altering. What signs do you see in our world that make you hopeful for our future?
LP: This goes back to the marketing stuff, but the only way things can work is if people work together. I see the internet as a web of connecting people.
Describe what you felt when you were in the most memorable place you have visited on the planet?
LP: One of my favorite places is Sedona, Ariz. I just feel very connected there.
There’s a book called "The Princess Principles" in which you contributed a story. Can you talk a bit about that?
LP: It’s about my journey. It’s the story of how I had to basically leave everything in order to find me.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
LP: I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the Expo.
For more information on Lori Palm and Today’s Camelot, visit www.passionoffice.com.
