Any traditionally "famous" person will tell you that there is a cost to fame. Every celebrity will tell you there is a learning curve to how much it will cost you, when it will cost you and why it will cost you. FAME costs — and you pay more for it than "sweat" (thank you, Debbie Allen, for the infamous quote).
"FAME" is something every young child desires. It can be as simple as receiving the adoration of parents, teachers and adults we admire, all the way to the roaring crowd in the school auditorium, or even a few claps in front of your Sunday school class. From the first time you hear the sounds of acceptance, you do one of two things:
You clamor for more — you are now the resident class clown, or the star for every role in every play in every scene.
Or, when asked who can dance, you become a two-left-foot outcast who has no clue what dance steps to do or what dance steps even mean.
Not everyone may want fame on a large scale, but those that do know where and how to find it... THE INTERNET. With millennials going live on IG daily, Gen Z TikTok-ing their info every sixty seconds, and Gen X still holding on to Facebook like a scared cat, access to the world wide web and its plethora of social media platforms can turn anyone into an overnight success if they so choose. Who wouldn't want that? More likes, clicks and shares bring revenue, and you never have to leave the comfort of your own "social media studio," built by watching two hours of YouTube and an hour of delivery with Prime. All of the years of technical know-how, jargon and skills have gone out of the window and now you can do it from home. Yep, that will cost you too — and no, that is not the "cost" this piece is focused on.
When a piece of social media goes viral several times and the content creator becomes verified, it is an exciting moment. It means your content is known, you are a recognizable name and people talk about you offline, IRL — in real life. Yet no one ever reads the fine print of fame. That fine print clearly states: "When you choose to become a public figure, your life now belongs to the public — until you learn how to navigate the public so they feel like they know you, while you are only sharing the details of your life that anyone can know." Let that sink in a bit.
That's right: fame requires you to go public and have the public know, trust and like you so they can "buy" whatever it is you are selling... PERIOD. If you want to be rich, you have to sell. If you want to be famous, you have to sell. If you want to be rich and famous, guess what? You have to sell!
You are trading your privacy for money. No matter how much you don't want to believe it, it's just what's so. Remember Princess Diana, Harry's mom? She learned with her life. Once she became famous, the paparazzi would follow her EVERYWHERE. She lost her privacy by becoming famous — and she didn't even want the fame.
For those of you who are still clout-chasing, residual-earning, blue-icon-verifying, here are three things you need to prepare for:
EVERYONE will have an opinion about you. That's just how it is. Even those folks who say "I don't care about them" — that, too, is an opinion. TIP: Recognize it. Understand it. Move on!
Opinions will change over time; they're like the weather, always changing. ACCEPT that this may be your life for a minute, and you can change it at any time. Famous today, irrelevant tomorrow — such is the ebb and flow of fame. TIP: Discover who YOU are. The more time you spend discovering who you are, the less time you have to worry about what is living in someone else's head.
COURTESY is still the best currency. A well-placed "please" and "thank you" opens many doors, especially ones you were not expecting. TIP: Think of how you would like to be treated and do the same for your followers. Make them feel special and wanted. Your fans will follow up with warm smiley faces, hearts, and sharing your content. The more transparent you are, the more connected you are to your fans.
I'm not famous, and I do know famous people. The sooner you accept that your public face becomes the only face people "see," the sooner you can navigate this time called "Stardom" with some level of sanity. Or you may recognize this game is not for you. No matter what you choose, live your best life and do it on purpose every day.
That's D.O.P.E.!
