Excerpt: 'it!'

ByABC News via logo
April 20, 2005, 9:26 AM

April 20, 2005 -- -- Paula Froelich, reporter for The New York Post's "Page Six," says anyone can make it to the top of the "A" list if they follow "the rules." She gives readers those rules and also lets them in on the secrets of top publicists, fashion designers, moguls, entertainers and others.

You can read an excerpt from "it!" below.

Excerpted From Chapter One: The Rules of Fame (and How They Can Make You a Success)

Admit it. You have at least once in your life fantasized about being that intriguing, charismatic person with that ineffable star quality who walks into a room and all heads turn. The "it" person.

For many, this is a dream that begins and ends in junior high school. For others, it is a daydream that gets honed through high school and college, and then after, into an actual ambition, a goal. But often it doesn't get translated into a plan, mainly because the daydreamer doesn't know how to move from dream to reality. If you are stopped in your tracks at that point of paralysis, knowing you have the goods to make it, to achieve success, fame, stardom -- it's time to take action.

Very few people are simply born with some innate "it" quality that is unattainable to the rest of us. Trust me. If that's what you believe from watching too many "E! True Hollywood Stories" or reading too many issues of People magazine, I am here to tell you that you have been misled. Stars, whether in show business or in any other walk of life, are made,not born.

As a reporter on the nationally renowned New York Post "Page Six" gossip column for the past five years, I have seen fame come and go, the famous rise and fall. I have seen how some people know how to work it and some don't, and as a result, I have learned what works and what doesn't and am about to pass on what I've learned to you.

The truth is that with a modicum of talent and a lot of hard work, virtually anyone (guided by some good advice) can move beyond their drab, no-name universe into that cherished inner circle known as the A list.

These rules are valuable not only for those who seek fame, celebrity, and to have their name in lights, but also for anyone who wants to achieve a dream, launch a business, or get their ideal job. If you don't believe me, look at Donald Trump, who in the early nineties, just after proclaiming himself a billionaire for the first time, turned to his then-wife Marla Maples as they passed a bum on the street and said, "That guy has more money than I do." But Donald knows that what he is selling is a dream, a brand -- himself! There are thousands upon thousands of examples, on a grander or lesser scale, of individuals who have learned how to harness the techniques of the best PR people (who are, after all,largely responsible for making the famous famous), learned how to use the media, learned how to transform themselves into stars.

So ask yourself: Are you bored with your humdrum life? Have you begun to achieve success in your field, but are at a loss as to how to rise to the very top of it? Are you itching to be fabulous, famous -- to be "it"? No worries. Just read on, honey, and think HOT.

Rule #1: Find whatever it is you are good at, and do it!

One of the most powerful publicists in New York, who has launched (not to mention saved) the careers of many celebs, including Britney Spears, Sean "Puffy" Combs, and Jennifer Lopez, is Dan Klores. Klores is a congenial man of fifty with salt and pepperhair and beard to match, along with piercing eyes that don't miss a thing. He spent many years living and working down South preparing for the big time before heading home basically to rule New York. I always take his calls.

Over lunch at the sublime DB Bistro Moderne in midtown Manhattan I asked Klores about Donald Trump's re-emergence as the poster boy for success. Klores was Trump's publicist for many years. "I've seen Donald Trump build his brand name brilliantly," Klores observed. "His father was just a builder, but Donald always understood the importanceof building a brand name and having an ego. The genius is," Klores continued, "what real talent did he have? Well, his talent was how to negotiate, and how to add the new numbers in. He instinctively knew people, he really did."

Along with the gaudy high rises that dot Manhattan's skyline, Trump was so successful at building his own name -- mainly through his appearances in the gossip columns and the publication of books like The Art of the Deal -- that no one really cared that he had no money. He has been so good at maintaining his personal profile that when his bonds went junk, no one blinked an eye. When I was jumping through hoops to get a mortgage for my small house in the Catskills, my mortgage broker, Seth, told me, "Somebody will always lend to him because he is Donald Trump. His name is worth even more than his buildings." Seth made this observation even before Trump's monster television hit, The Apprentice, which is perhaps the best example of brand extension I've ever witnessed.

In other words, Donald Trump was able to identify his own talent (not spend a lot of time on projects that didn't best utilize his skills) and carve out an empire by doing it. Do you want to become the "Donald Trump" of your profession, whether you are a realtor, a baker, an antiques store-owner, or a caterer? Use his career as a road map!

Or take me as an example.

My only real specific talents are writing and being able to talk to a brick in the wall -- for hours, if necessary. Within the first thirty minutes I will have gotten that brick's entire life story, have categorized alphabetically its likes and dislikes, and have gleaned the details of its love life (which usually occupies at least another half hour -- love is never easy!). But I didn't always know how to translate this "skill," my "gift of gab," into a career.

In all honesty, I would currently be a doctor or lawyer, if not both simultaneously, if my parents had had their way. But during my sophomore year at Emory University in Atlanta, having already completed the majority of my political science major requirements, I had a nervous breakdown of sorts. (Read: I locked myself in my dorm room for over a week, with only the pie-faced pizza delivery boy dropping by at regular intervals to feed me.) During that time, I imagined myself wearing nondescript Jones of New York gray suits for the rest of my life and getting rapists acquitted of their crimes. I began obsessively plucking my leg hairs. I know. It wasn't pretty.

After a week of semi-insanity, I finally worked up the courage to tell my parents that I would not be fulfilling my destiny as they saw it. After making a brief speech about the importance of 401ks, Roth IRAs, and whatnot, they actually accepted my decision, which to them also meant I would end up living at home with them forever. But before my mother could start getting my room ready, I joined the staff of the school newspaper, and knew right away I had found my calling.

I figured out that to be a journalist, one must know how to write (though not always -- just ask any editor!), and one must be able to chat up anyone, anytime, and wring their life story out of them without their ever knowing what is happening. Perfect for me, right?

During my career I have written for the women's pages of a national newspaper in England, written lifestyle pieces for men's magazines, gotten a comprehensive financial education from Wall Street traders during my stint as an over-the-counter derivatives reporter (don't ask -- I'm still trying to explain it to my mother), and finally, gotten the scoop on the biggest celebrities, the hottest events, or just the juiciest dirt -- all because I have a talent for making people comfortable enough to open up to me, and an instinct for what's news. I also had a frontrow seat as I watched agents, managers, PR people,stylists, and others create stars.

Had I ultimately decided to go to law school, I'm certain I would have made it through somehow, but I would no doubt have become an absolutely miserable person, and probably not a very good lawyer, slogging away in a back office somewhere, contemplating stabbing myself in the eye with a fork. Which leads me to rule #2.