Fame Does not Always Equal Great Wealth

I have noticed over the past year, with the rising fame of some "reality tv" folks, that even though many of these shows garner avid fans and followers and happily glean millions of views for the benefit of the networks that own the shows.....the stars who fuel the shows' success do not always earn very much for their fame.

If you are curious, do a few google searches of those who star in shows such as
"Life Below Zero"....you will be surprised by what you see.
The website may tout the $500,000 net worth of a star of this show, as if that is a large amount.
But that is a mere pittance compared the millions of dollars these shows earn from the hard work of these stars who expose their personal lives to the intrusion of cameras and camera crews for years.

I also think back to one of my wacky fave shows from several years ago, which was
TLC network's "Extreme Cheapskates". I recall one of the most compelling guest stars of that series, who was an American named Victoria Hunt. Her cheapskate antics garnered millions of views. However, I don't feel like she has been able to truly cash in from the fame of her popular episode which catapulted her to nationwide recognition. Perhaps she was uncomfortable with the attention?
But she sure was great with saving money. Perhaps she could have hired someone to help her more effectively monetize her new found fame.

Do you know of someone famous who wound up with less than a million in net worth? Did it surprise you, because you were a big fan and mistakenly thought that "star" was fabulously wealthy???

With the proliferation of the internet over the past decade, airing so many "home grown" net stars, there are untold millions of humans across the globe who have  millions of fans and viewers, but little cash to show for their hard work.

If you happen to get famous, be a smart cookie ....... hire a good agent, marketing manager, and at least sign a grrrrreat book deal ok???

In peaceful productivity,
Carla.



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Hill's Notion of Setting for Ideas

For those who have read, perhaps more than once, the legendary paperback
"Think and Grow Rich" by  Napoleon Hill, perhaps you recall him explaining the process of
"setting for ideas".

It is a profound respect for the process and value of simply being still, and solitary and thinking productively..

I have been enjoying my read of Edward O. Thorpe's book "A Man for All Markets"....which is available btw in both print and audio format.

One of Mr. Thorpe's remarkable discoveries when he began to conquer some gambling games successfully, was illustrated in this one statement of his:

"What intrigued me.....it was the possibility that merely by sitting in a room and thinking.....I could figure out how to win".    (found in Chapter 5: first page, of his book "A Man for All Markets".)

I want to ask you today. What incredible ideas could you create if you gave your mind the credit and space and time to work that it requires?

Perhaps you live and/or work in noisy places. Noise can clutter your thinking power, unless of  course it is predictable white noise which your mind may find comforting and conducive to concentration.

But if you find you are chronically distracted and unable to focus, you may need to carve out for yourself an authentic "thinking spot". It may be a picnic table isolated by the creek  or lakeside so that yu can look out on some moving water. Or perhaps you may find yourself able to think simply by downloading some white noise onto your smart phone so that you can listen to it, as you walk solemnly around the block.

Everyone is different. But we are all the same in that we are much more productive when we have access to the space and time and place that is conducive to thinking in solitude.


Be blessed, my smart friends and colleagues. You have unlimited potential.

Peace,
Carla





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On the Hunt to Audio-Ize

Over the years perhaps you have noticed that  I have a particular fondness for soaking in nonfiction books via audio recordings.

It has become a passion to hunt down the most cost effective format in which to locate an audio  version of my current book of obsession.

So today I went to go  see some computer nerds. I brought in my fave crisp new book,ready for them to magically transform into an audio format for me....only to be shocked by their retort. Perhaps the dude had just spent an all-nighter coding, because his reply was rather chalky.
He stated that it would cost  thousands of dollars for him to manually feed my book   into a scanner which would then be turned into a text file which would then be fed into a software that could transform text into a computerized voice file. He said the computerized voice would suck....why would anyone want to listen to that......and would most  likely contain errors from either the paper to text file conversion, or from the text to computerized voice conversion process.

He seemed  to be quite adamant that my request was not ideal....nor reasonable. What a waste of a treacherous drive up our slippery newly snow covered streets.

Sigh..... But alas,  i am not one to give up too easily! I considered briefly the idea of contacting our  local CNIB to see if perhaps they had more user friendly methods for their visually impaired clients when transforming some written works into audio formats.

Instead I called our local book  store. The clerk did a search for me, to see if there was any kind of audio version for sale globally for my current book obsession. Woot woot! They found one. And guess what .....it was very easy to purchase on my phone via Kobo.

I had thought that Kobo was only an e-reader type of gadget.....like an ipad  for e-books.

But lo and behold, because the clerk in the book store was willing to do a search that did not in any way benefit  her employer, I have been able to listen to my fave new nonfiction book on my phone.

Perhaps some day  computers will have advanced so far into artificial intelligence, that it will  be a simple and cost effective feat simply to convert a paperback or hardcover into a seamless audio book.....but for now at least I have another method with which to chow down on my next new must-hear non-fiction book.
Be courageous friends in your lifelong learning. It leads somewhere good.....and is worth the effort.

Peace,
Carla




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