4RICH . . . AND FAMOUS
Seeking fame and fortune? Don’t mind abdicating privacy? Try cruising the rich-and-famous road.
Rich and famous is a popular dream. But most rich folks aren’t famous. They own trailer parks or small businesses. They’re accountants or doctors, not living fantasy lifestyles. We think big limos, Super Bowl rings, Oscars, owning sports teams or making movies. This road is the stuff of grade-school career aspirations— baseball player, actress, Oprah, Tiger. This road’s riches can be planned for, though realistically it’s closed to most by the time we’re adults. It requires a young start. Kids dream of stardom. Such kid dreamers kid themselves. Be warned—though this road’s riches are legitimate, it’s hard work, and the odds of success are super slim.
This road has two forks. One is talent—LeBron James, Beyoncé, and Jennifer Lawrence. The other is media mogul—Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch. The media mogul road is more attainable—you needn’t throw a tight spiral or look like Charlize Theron. You just need what any successful businessperson needs—perseverance, smarts, and luck. It happens later in life, too. But that doesn’t make the talent road less tempting.
There’s an occasional crossover here—talents who become moguls and vice versa, though it’s rare. Oprah (worth $2.8 billion)1 is the richest talent-mogul crossover. She parlayed a newscaster career (talent) ...
Get The Ten Roads to Riches, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
