“10 Secret Tips on How You Can Stay Famous at Home, Work, or School:
A Beginner’s Guide on How to Stay Famous (The Final Chapter)”
By Michael Aaron Gallagher of StayFamous.Net
If you’ve ever wanted to be the person everyone knows when you walk into a room, then this chapter is for you. In the first two chapters of “A Beginner’s Guide on How to Stay Famous,” we discussed the importance of knowing what makes you popular and sets you apart from everyone else. We also looked at some of the rules you should follow.
If you need a review here are the links:
Chapter 1: A Beginner’s Guide on How to Stay Famous (Part 1)
Chapter 2: 5 Rules for Staying Famous
Now, it’s time for the fun part. What are some tips you can use to become more popular at home, work, or school? To answer that, let’s consider what makes you famous in the first place: your fans.
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve seen the steps to staying famous, and some of the rules you should follow. Now it’s time for some secret tips for keeping the fans you’ve got and for making a whole lot of new ones.
Ten Ways to Stay Famous
1. Love Your Fans
Always remember, no matter who you are, that your fans are the ones supporting your work, building you up, marketing and promoting you to others, and being there for you when things aren’t going so well. They are your cheerleaders, who believe in you when no one else does. And without their love and support, you wouldn’t be as famous as you are.
So of course loving your fans should be a “rule” to staying famous, but for some it isn’t. I’m here to remind you that your fans need your constant thanks and genuine appreciation. After all, they aren’t getting paid to love you. They are doing it because they believe in what you do.
2. Show Them You Care
Being famous is about building relationships with people. If you appreciate the kind words someone says about you, or their emotional support during a stressful time, let them know. It isn’t about pretending to be something you are not, it’s about being the best person you can possibly be. If you’re thankful, show it.
Send a thank you note, buy a small gift that reminds you of the person, or simply take a moment to call or email them, letting them know how much you appreciate their hard work and support. Thank you notes, flowers, and other thoughtful gestures (like buying someone their favorite drink from Dunkin’ Donuts or bringing them lunch when they have to work late) are all great ways you can show them you care.
3. Keep In Touch
If you want to stay famous you have to stay out there. Think of your favorite celebrities. Now go back ten years and think of who your favorite celebrities were back then. How many of those people are still as successful and popular as they used to be? How many have done a project recently?
It isn’t that your old favorite celebrities have suddenly stopped working (although they may have chosen new careers). Instead, it’s that they have stayed out of the spotlight, because they didn’t do a good job of keeping their new “gig” in front of our eyes. You have to adapt over time and find new ways to be a newsmaker. You have to go to social functions and meet new people. Fame is a game of survival of the fittest, and if you aren’t fit, then you need to get back in celebrity shape.
4. Do Something Great
If you want to be famous and then stay famous, you have to be famous for something. Hopefully you already know what you are good at, what things people want more of from you, and you know how to deliver that to them. If you are good at knitting, knit. And continue to knit. But whatever you do don’t stop. Being famous is about being a master of your craft. If you are the best at what you do, people will seek you out, because they know they can trust your work, your reliability, your reputation, and your ability to repeat your success.
5. Repackage Yourself
Even the all-time best brands have to change their packaging to keep your attention. The same holds true for you. Once you know what you are good at, do it and when you notice your popularity slipping, don’t necessarily think you need to change everything you do. Just reinvent the way you promote yourself to others. Slap a new coat of paint on your portfolio and you will look as good as new.
6. Be Your Own Brand Manager
Think of yourself like a company. If you were a company, what would you do to promote your products and services to other people? You would advertise yourself. You would look for opportunities to be on TV, on the radio, or in the newspaper.
Develop your professional image. Sit down and figure out how you want people to view you as a person. If you are an artist, what makes you unique, original, and intriguing? Now capture that essence on paper. Write a description of yourself. Look at it like your own mini-biography. Create your own letterhead that demonstrates your unique personality and style. Have business cards printed up with your contact information and your message.
If you want to stay famous, you have to make it easy for people to remember you. You have to be accessible. When you have business cards, letterhead, a web site, and other promotional materials you are making it easy for people to remember who you are and what you do.
7. Use the Internet to Your Advantage
No matter what your occupation is you can use the internet to promote yourself. Create a web site. Use social networking sites like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube to promote yourself. If you’ve already got a site, keep spreading the word about it. Add a link to your web site in all your email correspondence.
8. Always Stay a Step Ahead of Your Competition
One of the last tips in this series, involves being creative, innovation, and sometimes even a little R&D. Staying famous means you have to be ready for the next big opportunity to come along, and never getting so caught up in the moment that you forget to prepare for the next possibility. Don’t worry about what your competition is doing. It’s like a horse race. You want to run your best race. How many times have you seen a horse neck and neck with another horse, only to lose to one who comes from behind.
If you are concerned with where they are in the pack, you may lose sight of the bigger picture. After all, the people you are comparing yourself to may be far below where you want to be. Forget about all the other horses on the track and run your race. Try to think of new ways to get better, new ways to stay a step ahead of the curve. People will grow tired of the same routine. So make sure you are finding ways to keep their attention.
You have to reinvent yourself, evaluate what you can do to improve your act, and always be ready for more success than you ever dreamed possible. After all, what happens if you actually get what you set out for? Be ready. Be prepared. And embrace it.
9. Be Humble
Remember, anything can happen in life and your moment in the spotlight may not last forever. Don’t pretend to be humble, be humble. There’s no need for arrogance, selfishness, and a big ego. You are who you are, and even though your mommy told you, you were special, don’t let it go to your head.
10. Be Persistent
I will never forget the moment I learned that sometimes the goal is closer than you think. I was a soccer player at the World Scholar-Athlete Games, and following a hard day of practice in the 90-degree summer sun, the athletes were entered in a 5K charity run. Even though I was still recovering from severe dehydration only a few days before, and even though I had bulky clothes on and a heavy pair of basketball shoes, I decided to run in the race anyway.
I had never done a 5K run and I had no idea how long it would take, but I did my best under the circumstances. At least that is until, out of sheer exhaustion, I hunched over and rested my hands on my knees gasping for air. I was at the bottom of a small hill, and I couldn’t see over the top of it to the other side. In my mind, I wasn’t sure where the finish line was, and I just couldn’t keep going in the heat without knowing what to expect. So I stopped and decided to rest before continuing on.
I will never forget the fans on the side cheering the runners along as they passed me. Because, the moment I stopped, I heard a man start yelling at me, “What are you doing? Don’t quit now!” I stood and looked at him, confused. And the words he said stayed with me forever, “The finish line is on the other side of the hill.”
I mustered every ounce of strength I had left in me and charged up the hill, darting past the other runners. I was sprinting full force, and as I came over the crest of the hill, I saw it. The giant finish line, where runners were being counted as they passed through the gate.
I never had any intention of giving up that day, but I knew in my heart that I could have run a much better race if I hadn’t stopped out of discouragement and exhaustion. I had every reason not to even run that day, but when I took on the challenge, I should have given it my all, regardless of where the finish line was.
The lessons I learned there were so important in shaping me into who I am today. Sometimes we give up in life, right before we get what we were working so hard for. We come up against a challenge that seems insurmountable, a hill that we just don’t think we have the strength to climb. But you never know when the finish line is on the other side of that hill. Don’t stop, and don’t give up until you cross the finish line you set out for. If you’ve worked that hard to get where you are, it’s worth the extra effort to see it through to the end.
Good Luck!
Once you’re done following all these steps, chances are you’ll catch my attention in the news. Who knows, maybe someday you’ll be featured on StayFamous.Net!
If you would like to add your own thoughts and advice, please feel free to comment at the end of the article for other readers to enjoy. Until then, “Stay Famous!”
“10 Secret Tips on How You Can Stay Famous at Home, Work, or School”
Copyright © 2008 by Michael Aaron Gallagher
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