by Neil Licht

Created on: June 12, 2008   Last Updated: August 03, 2010

Taking Business Cues From Celebrities Leverage your "brand ID" quickly and get it "all" while you still can

"Celebrity" means well known, recognizable. It doesn't mean business acumen.

We seem automatically think that celebrities, because they are so visible, are business successful but that is not really what has produced their wealth. It is knowing that they have and can leverage their "brand ID" into multifaceted income generators.

Its not their business acumen success that we should be looking at for business cues, its their smarts - knowing who they are, how long their brand will be marketable and leveraging their fleetingly famous "brand ID" to get the deals that maximize the brand right in the here and now.

That's the business cues we can take from celebrities.

A talent for singing, acting, comedy is exactly that - a talent. There is virtually no automatic correlation between those talents and business talents so why even consider them as business experts? So they have a new line of clothing or perfume or whatever. It is their awareness of their "brand ID" value and using business managers and the manufacturers that want to leverage the celebrity's notoriety that make that happen, not the celebrity's business acumen. The ability to recognize the salability and marketability of their own "brand ID and use it for all its worth is the business cue they offer. Good old fashioned capitalizing on a very marketable and "respected" brand ID that the public likes, knows, respects and will listen to. That's it and nothing more.

The real business cue we can take from celebrities is their awareness of their own "brand" and they leverage it for amazing income and endorsements. That's very important as a business cue because it clearly says "work your best skills and talents" so that you become the person that "others" will seek out to leverage for "their" business success.

Makes sense doesn't it? Look at sports as an example. There is a finite lifespan to being famous and valuable in this spotlight. Business cue - leverage it and your "brand ID" as spokesperson, a branded line of some kind and let your finite fame bring along the cash rewards.

Another business cue from celebrities: Seize it while you can. They understanding the limited long term appeal that their name has so they maximize their appeal in every financial and business deal possible while they still can. Its short term "investing" in a sense to yield giant "short term" profits.

Business cues from celebrities - Know who you are, how long your "brand" will be marketable and get the deals that maximize the brand NOW. Notice, there is not one bit of business 101 in any of this nor is there business skill, just plain common sense and acting on it.

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