It's up to you to make yourself famous

By Vicky Phipps, a graduate of The Ohio State University.

It doesn't matter if your field is music, skateboarding, acting, modeling, gaming, MMA, screenwriting or any professional field... Your challenge is the same:

• You must outwork others who are trying to do the same thing as you!
• You also must be unique from everyone else. (College guys who Create a Campus Men profile find they they stick out from other students on campus.)
• You must keep trying to meet professionals in your industry all the time. But don't expect one person will make you into a success.

Often young people do not know how to become famous. Being clueless is a normal part of getting started in an industry or hobby. The mistake beginners often make is when they look for someone else to do all their work for them. Surprisingly, there is no person who will make you famous or "get your career started" for you. You must do the work required to make yourself famous or successful.

Lazy Students Who Avoid Promoting Themselves Never Become Famous

It is common for young people to think "I want to be "X" therefore, I need to find someone who will make me into "X" because I do not know how to do it. They hook up with the first professional they find and think "OK, now I will wait for this person to do all my work. Then I will hear from him when this person has something for me."

The idea that a powerful man or woman can step in and allow you skip all the hard work involved in starting a career is a foolish - and lazy. And if you are lazy, there absolutely will be someone else who will outwork you. They want success more than you and know being lazy won't get them to where they want to be.

While you are waiting for your magic person to make you into a success, your competition will be progressing past you - by doing their own work.

Networking With Professionals in Your Industry Is Key

Yes, meeting industry professionals face-to-face is important for success. That is called networking. But, you do not network for the purpose of finding one particular person. Also, do not expect for a professional to directly offer you an opportunity. The person of networking is to learn and keep lines of communication open.

The more professionals you meet in your industry, the better. You never stop meeting and connecting with new professionals.

It is OK to not know how to become successful at first. However, you need to network to find out information about tricks of the trade and to learn about available opportunities from professionals you met a week ago, a month go, or sometimes last year. Once again, you do not network wiht professionals to receive directly something from them or to find one person who will do your work for you.

No Shortcuts: Don't Pay for Others to Do Your Work

Spending large amounts of money as a shortcut is equally foolish. Just because mommy or daddy can write a check does not mean you will become famous. For example, someone who is tone deaf cannot simply write a check to a professional and become a successful singer. If it could be done this way, then everyone with extra cash would become famous.

Money can help you buy things (such as clothes to fit a style) and offers you independence (to travel and not be bound to a job), but paying money to someone to make you famous quickly is not the road to success. It is highly likely you will get tricked out of your money and waste your time instead of spending time and effort needed for a plan that really works.

Burning money is also a good way to get labeled as a "tool" or "naive" by professionals. Your reputation among professionals in your industry is important.

You Must Pay for Your Own Travel Cost

If you do not live in a city that has ample opportunities in your industry, you must work even harder than people who reside in a big city. There is no magic person or company who is going to send you an airline ticket to swoop you out of your small town. Professionals in big cities have ample numbers of people available to them in their own big city.

As long as you wait for someone to send an airfare ticket to you, you will not be saving your extra funds to pay for your own airfare and hotel. As long as you play it safe buy waiting for an opportunity to come to you in your hometown, you waste time. Instead, you could be planning your academic schedule so you can spend summer pursuing your dream in a big city.

If you take your dream seriously, it will be easier to relocate temporairily or permanently to a big city. Being in the same city in which opportunities exist helps simply because you will be easily available to accept offers.

As long as you continue to believe that your roadblock is finding someone else to "start" your career -- you won't be spending enough time and mental energy doing the crucial things you need to build your career. If you don't concentrate on doing your part it's unlikely that you will ever build your career into something big enough to entice professionals.

Counting on one person or paying a lot of money for a shortcut is a very bad tactic which results in frustration, wasted time and, ultimately, failure to achieve what you want.

Taking that first step of Promoting Yourself Gives You Confidence

Sometimes people lack the confidence of taking that first step - and starting to "toot their own horn" and promoting themselves. Ironically, starting to promote yourself gives you confidence to know that you should continue to promote yourself. Your friends and family begin to see examples of your hard work. People see you in person and remark "I saw you on..." They give you feedback!

One easy way for a male college student to start in promoting himself is by Creating a Campus Men profile. Creating a Campus Man profile allows you to take control of your career and build name recognition for yourself and start building a fanbase on the Internet. You also are given the opportunity to get paid for adding tips to our site using our incredibly easy Self-Publishing Tool. Six minutes filling out a form describing super-easy concepts and you get a check in the mail!

What You Need to Do to Make Yourself Famous

From day one and until the point you can say you have achieved your dreams, do the following:

• Constantly network with professionals and peers in your industry
• Constantly be curious and learn the inside details of the industry. Read a book about your industry. Ask professionals advice about their industry.
• Register to become a Campus Man - and add yourself to a "category," etailing your experience in your industry.
• Constantly brainstorm new and unique ways to promote yourself. Then ask professionals what they think of your ideas. Then pursue the best ideas.

Two College Students Who Tell Their Stories

		Shane discusses how he learned that he needed to promote himself - instead of relaying on other people.
		Nick tells how promoting is not fun work - but necessary for success.

Comments