If you have a passion, you really shouldn’t be working for the man. Seriously! It’s 2009 almost 2010 and times have changed. People are making money wearing tshirts for a living! There is no reason you should not put yourself out there as a “expert” in a field and not make money.
Full disclosure, I was sent the book, “Celebritize Yourself” by Friedman, and asked to post a review. I have done a number of these in the past and I don’t get any compensation other then a free copy of the book. I have been putting off reviewing this book because I was pretty disappointing or maybe I have just so much knowledge in this field, that it’s old. Either way, it was not an exciting read for someone who wants to become a e-celebrity (online celebrity?) online. Similar to @garyvee, although I love him, his book, “Why now is the time to Crush it! Cash in on your passion”, which is similar in context, was also a bit of a disappointment for myself as well. Sorry Gary, I still love you man! I think it’s just that I am a huge Garyvee fan and have heard all of this over and over again and know that it IS time to cash in! So although I wasn’t to excited about the book, there are still some great takeaways. I wanted to provide and post up some of the cream of the crop content from Celebritize Yourself, let’s dive into some exercises that were covered in the book that I HIGHLY recommend.
1. 5 Reasons why I want to be a celebrity in your field. If you remember my book publishing 2.0 post you will realize that you NEED to put yourself out there. Are you ready? Can you handle it? Do you realize you are ALREADY out there? Okay, this last one hit me hard recently as no matter what you do, you are already OUT there. A simple Google search will bring up information or not, and both outcomes say something. So be true, honest, and yourself.
2. Do you want to write a book? It seems books are the new business cards of self proclaimed e-lebrities. Do you have a fan base of 100,000? Are you willing to spend time to learn technology and interact with people to build a following of 100,000 fans?
3. Outsourcing your book (at least the first draft?) – I find it amazing that most of the book discusses how you can leverage having a book and how you can write one quickly with the help of editors, ghostwriters, and co-authors. I am all for outsourcing, but if you are going to use your book as your business card, really put yourself into it.
4. Bold Aggressive Action – It didn’t say that exactly, but it did cover taking action and just waiting for it, won’t help. I have found that even a little action is more then enough, you don’t need to build a top 1000 website the first go around, just something to start with and keep going. Most people fail because they give up to early. I know for myself I have started to lose interests in a number of passions, but I think that is because I have been changing how I want to make an impact and how my current values of changed.
5. The Best way to Be is Entertaining, Informative, and Motivated. I have attended a number of motivating seminars and panels and I must say that some people (like @garyvee) are so uplifting that you can’t but help get you started on your next idea.
This book is not for everyone and I would tend to think that it’s for someone who has no understanding of the internet and looking to make a name for themselves in a small niche without technology. So if you are one of those people take a look or order a copy. I for one don’t recommend or encourage my readers to check it out. If you are serious, checkout the Problogger Book, I highly recommend it.
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“cewebrity”. Good job on being honest in your book review.