Can You Think of Ways to Convert Celebrity into Cash?

June 17, 2009 3:36 PM

here's your chance to advise someone famous :) I'm trying to think outside the box, and so looking for ideas from you MeFites to brainstorm my options...

So, I'm a winner of a famous distinction. (think "Nobel prize for business" kind of award.)

so, as smart as I might be, I realize that I am thinking within the boundaries of my own (however large) box, and am looking for anonymous strangers on MeFi to advise me on new opportunity.

I am a public speaker; I have not (yet) written a book by a major publisher (self published, I have.)

Someone advised me that there are people out there that have created a product, for example, a course on how to start a small business, that while the product itself is good, would give me a equity portion or profit sharing arraignment in the business in exchange for the step up that such an attached recognition adds to the product.

in short, I'm looking for ways to capitalize on my (positive!) notoriety, that would have me lend my name and credibility, as well as creative input into an existing or-close-to-being-launched item or service in exchange for my endorsement and adding of credibility instead of the person trying to do that on his own.

In a nutshell:
How do I translate this national award to business opportunity in unusual ways, or usual ways I just may not have considered?

you can reply to me privately at [e-mail] if you do not wish to post your comment here.

posted by anonymous to work & money (18 comments total)

Often celebrities that appear in pornographic movies are able to command huge sales, despite not being established pornographic brands or experts in pornographic acting.

If you're famous enough to be casually recognized by a community, like say the business community, you'll probably get multiple bidders to appear in a pornographic film, the making of which itself will require very little time and effort on your part in respect to the amount of compensation you'll receive.
posted by ignignokt at 3:44 PM on June 17 [40 favorites]

I don't mean to be rude, but are you actually a celebrity? If so, you should have no problem getting people to beat down your door with opportunities. Just wait for them to come calling and consult with your manager. The ball will soon be in your court, if it's not there already.
posted by dhammond at 3:48 PM on June 17

I hate to even mention this to you because it's really business 101, but I would aim to normalize your income stream. Think Dr. Angstrom and southbeachdiet.com - some type of subscription service. So the "how to start a business" course - which I think is a great idea - ideally would be more than just a single course but ongoing services to which businesses could subscribe.
posted by txvtchick at 3:50 PM on June 17

George Foreman made a ton of money from endorsing cheap stuff on TV. Maybe you could appear in infomercials on CNBC. (How about those folks that want you to send them your gold? Or the guy with the question-mark suit who tells you how to get free money from the government--is he still around?)

Actually, appearing on CNBC itself is probably doable.
posted by equalpants at 3:57 PM on June 17

I'd have assumed that if you're a famous and accomplished businessguy, you'd already have the know-how and connections to create these sort of deals yourself. However, I have no awards to my name, so I could be wrong.

At any rate, I'd imagine that what you're looking for is the sort of thing that people hire publicists for.
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:03 PM on June 17

Cult leaders are often able to extract arbitrary amounts of wealth from their adherents. You could start a business cult; something along the lines of the Psi Seminars or Landmark Forum. Hold multiday events in which you isolate your attendees from contact with the outside world, featuring hours and hours of lectures and "group-bonding" experiences. At the end, do a hard-sell for a membership program at a couple hundred dollars a pop. The membership gets them into the next "level": same deal, but now they'll need to pay a couple thousand dollars to keep going. Escalate from there...

Very lucrative.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:05 PM on June 17 [2 favorites]

How do I translate this national award to business opportunity in unusual ways, or usual ways I just may not have considered?

Get an agent who specializes in endorsements. If you're actually "famous" you shouldn't have any difficulty securing an agent.
posted by dersins at 4:05 PM on June 17 [1 favorite]

Commission (or find a company to produce) a documentary film following you around to your speaking engagements. Or make a video you could market to business people.
posted by starman at 4:09 PM on June 17 [1 favorite]

Seconding dersins, and why have you not been approached already or even thought of this already, if you are as you say you are?
posted by jgirl at 4:31 PM on June 17

Nthing the agent or business manager. That's what they're for.

Maybe also a ghost writer.
posted by rokusan at 4:33 PM on June 17 [5 favorites]

There are companies that manage and recommend "experts" to those talking-head talk shows - you know, where something happens in the economy, so the one guy from the news network talks to the guy with the business blog, the woman who wrote a career book in the late 90s, and the guy who once worked for the big investment company but took the buy-out at the right time. With an Award of Distinction, you could easily fit into that mold, especially if you think quick on your feet and have a good sense of humor about being asked questions for which you have no real expertise but must give an opinion anyway. I believe this pays really well compared to the time devoted to the task, although it probably isn't an entire income unto itself. It also works well if you're trying to market yourself as your identity.
posted by AzraelBrown at 4:49 PM on June 17

[few comments removed - cut that shit out, you're embarassing everyone.]
posted by jessamyn at 5:52 PM on June 17 [4 favorites]

I'd consider bottling and selling the Nobel-quality snark from this thread (on preview, jessamyn just cut off your source, sorry).

Seriously though, it's tough to give business advice to a "Nobel prize for business" award-winner. If you're looking for long-term, there are plenty of firms who do brand-building, which is probably what you're after. They'll give you less shit than the mefi userbase, but will cost more than $5 - you've gotta spend money to make money. Don't go endorsing some random product which will end up diluting your brand. If this is a prestigious award for a particular community, they should already know about it. If they don't, consider sending out a press release. Make yourself available for some non-exclusive consulting-type work (for both money and networking), and from that an opportunity should jump into your lap. Or so I'm told.
posted by antonymous at 5:58 PM on June 17

A fair number of commenters here have implied that fame automatically leads to fortune. I'm not convinced that's the case - sure you get a lot of contacts but there are probably so many people crawling out of the woodwork it's hard to sift the good stuff from the cruft. So yeah, an agent or manager might be helpful for this.

One other thing you might do for ideas is contact a business school (making a plug for the Syracuse Whitman entrepreneur program here). Business plan competitions, connections to alumni, etc. might generate some ideas for you.
posted by txvtchick at 6:58 PM on June 17

Huh, my politics suggestion seems to have been removed. Seemed like a legitimate way to me to turn recognition to cash.

Anyway, I thought of a better idea: Set up a personal blog, and use your fame to drive visitors. Monetize with Google ads or by recommending books/products on Amazon and using referral links. It's the hip new way to put your name on something and collect a cut.
posted by losvedir at 7:22 PM on June 17

I would look at recent fame-for-fame's-sake celebrities and see how they have turned their fame into cash across the board. Yes, I mean the gutter celebs -- Octomom, Jon & Kate, Heidi Montag. Then I would think about self-branding gurus like Seth Godin.

I'm assuming you have some type of award that is not really "wow, you created a business" but more along the lines of "wow, within this narrow domain you had at least one really good idea so accept this lucite for your mantel". That's not exactly fame, but it is potentially quite useful.

The book is probably a necessity. Some type of website, probably with a forum devoted to being like anonymous, would help. Social networking presence -- Facebook, Myspace, Twitter -- is necessary today. Get that book out, and then logroll like crazy. That is, get yourself on the back cover of as many books as possible, with a vague testimonial about the book that is signed "anonymous, author of the best-selling anonymous Tells You How to Start a Business". Get on Oprah and The View, or Donny Deutsch if it's more your speed. Exposure, exposure, exposure. For this you need an agent. Get trained to be a reliable "go-to" for TV producers. "For our GM bankruptcy story tonight, we turn to business expert anonymous". Then when the TV appearances start, always have something to plug, perhaps an e-book on the website.

The licensing of the business course does seem like it could work out, but make sure about the restrictions they may place on you versus doing other endorsements. Make sure the license term rolls over soon enough that you can get out of it if it's cramping your style, but not so soon that they will decide to ditch you because you're still not well-enough known.
posted by dhartung at 11:12 PM on June 17 [1 favorite]

if i was you, i would write a book/create a tv show about how other people made their money.

a chapter/episode per person, ranging from famous ones (but everybody can find their stories somewhere) from your average joe who started his/her own business (or else) and made their fortune.

everybody dreams of making money, everybody looks for real life advice. but your "fame" could actually give more credibility to a project like this (you might include yourself as a first or last chapter) and your unique (as recognised by peers and others) business insights can give interesting, critical extra point of view to their stories (or comments on how this is/isn't applicable to our current business environment).

of course you can back everything up with a website.
posted by madeinitaly at 5:36 AM on June 18

What is most important is that you have something to offer, you've been recognized over your peers for it..and now you want to be able to reach even more people than you have in the past.
The award certainly helps in your ability to reach new people.

In order to really "parlay" the effect of the prize you need to make appearances and talk up your product/service. You definitely should have PR people on this sending out press releases, doing their job drumming up buzz. This is very hard to do on your own -- you absolutely need professional advice. I am thinking of that MacKay guy who wrote "Swim with the Sharks" --he definitely had a PR machine cranking out his publicity. Same with Stephen Covey --come on, you know they both have lots of staff helping to put them on the map.

How have the previous winners of the prize handled it? Did their careers take off (even more so) because of it? Sometimes a prize is a death knell-- (like the Heisman Trophy).

The best advice is to keep doing what you are doing as well as you are doing it. You won this major prize because of the diligence..find PR people who are as good at what they do as you are at what you do and let them do their jobs.
posted by naplesyellow at 8:28 AM on June 18