Why the F-word “Fame” is needed for authors
Karin Roest is known as the “Industry’s Best Kept Secret” as she’s focused on creating fame for celebrities for 15 years instead of for herself. She has worked behind the scenes as a Celebrity Talent Scout and Producer with Grammy Award-winning musicians, Nobel Peace Prize Winners, highly paid TED talk speakers, New York Times Bestselling authors, and Award-winning philanthropists.
But jet-setting around the world with celebrities was not enough, so she disappeared to do one year of meditation in silence (yep, no talking for a year!) to find a deeper purpose and meaning in her own life.
Now, merging the best of both the business and spiritual worlds, she helps authentic leaders create a customized blueprint customized blueprint in 8 weeks or less to get on a solid path to go from unknown to A-list Famous for a good purpose.
Here are the highlights of my conversation with Karin:
[02:12] How to Get Clear on Your Message
What do you want to be known for? Karin explains it should be something that’s transformational, informational, or that adds value in a deeper way than being tangible.
[04:05] From Being an Orphan to Working with Famous People
Karin talks about her journey. Born in Korea, she was abandoned and dropped at an orphanage. Six months later, she was raised in Idaho and raised by a great family. But she felt she didn’t fit in on the farm. After college, she started working with other Hollywood celebrities. She mentions it takes multiple steps to make a big impact.
[06:25] We’re All the Same
Karin says that all of us are the same, including public personalities. You are as good as they are. But people tend to put them on a pedestal. But they’re just like ordinary people too. The key is to not put these people above us, otherwise, this will push you down.
[07:15] Finding Her Purpose
She remembers being backstage at a Britney Spears concert and realized that although she was living this luxurious life and has everything anyone could have ever wanted, she felt empty inside. She knew she had to change. And off she went to Myanmar. She got ordained as a Buddhist nun and stayed there for a year until she found her purpose again.
Moreover, Karin found it disheartening to see people who have a great message but they became famous too fast that they couldn’t handle it, getting their character tarnished. So she wanted to help everybody who wants to make a difference.
With Purposely Famous, Karin is on a mission to redefine fame in a positive and purposeful way and make the voices of authentic people louder than the negativity in the world.
[10:18] What to Write About
Karin worked with an A-list of clients including the Cirque du Soleil performers, Pitbull, etc. She has also worked with TED Talk speakers that are paid a lot as well as Nobel Peace Prize winners with a positive message. At the Speakers Bureau that she worked for, everybody was required to have written a book. Although not a hard requirement, having one makes it a bit easier to get in.
Indeed, writing a book gives you more credibility. But more importantly, it lets you get your message across and serve your purpose. But if you don’t know right now, Karin explains that you use a system to find that and fast track your progress.
Additionally, look at the patterns you’ve developed over your lifetime and that have shaped you into who you are – the negative and the positive sides. There are a lot of things that go into your personality and your beliefs make you, you. And when you find that one concept or headline or title that you can embrace in a full 360 way, that’s when you know you’re going to reach your highest level of success because it bullet proofs your confidence and mindset amidst all the haters that come. You will find that confidence once you find that one thing you want to be known for.
[13:40] Finding an Alignment
You have a lot of great ideas you want to do, so you want to put things in order. Karin is big on alignment. Find the core theme or idea that ties it all together – and that will be your headline. Then trickle that down and apply it into all of your revenue streams. If you’re on point with who you are, everything will sync up and will just be aligned.
For instance, Simon Sinek is known for TEDTalk Start with Why and then he branded it. Now, he has Start with Why book, website, course, book, etc. So it’s important to align everything to your core theme. And you want that to be a part of you.
[16:30] Finding the Extraordinary in Ordinary People
In finding what’s extraordinary in the people she works with, she’s looking for a higher level in a person than just being a writer or a teacher or a coach, a friend or a person. So you try to find that theme that ties in all these different titles and characteristics a person has and package that. It’s about how you’ve been transformational. How have you changed people’s lives?
Billionaires like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs didn’t really become thought leaders until they had a transformation themselves and started talking about their processes and ideas. But you don’t have to be a billionaire to do this. You simply have sit next to them at a table and share unique thoughts that challenge the status quo and share it to the world. The key is to be clear on your message. And be strategic in sharing it.
That said, it’s so much easier now to create purposeful fame because of the online platforms. And this is a good thing for everybody. Celebrities are going down, they’re more touchable now. And the ordinary person is going up.
[20:30] Building Your Own Tribe Through a Scientific Structure
Aside from the self-discovery that you go through in writing a book, you also get to talk to people and build your own tribe. Nevertheless, it’s a team effort. You should take charge of creating your own audience. This ensures profit and your following. However, it should be a scientifically structured data-driven process. It doesn’t sound fun, but it will be once you realize how many people you’ve helped.
Karin underlines the fact that once you’ve written the book, you also need to understand the people that are going to buy it. No one is going to magically find you so you have to really be intentional about it. All of the people Karin personally knows who have written books and did really well have been doing research for a couple of years to get to know the needs, the wants, and desires of their tribes.
Even in cases where your popularity only went viral, it’s hard to maintain it if you don’t have a structure in place. This said, you want to have your own tribe built on your own and have the right media strategies and sales funnels set up in a strategic manner.
[27:22] You Don’t Want to Be Famous? Well, It’s Not About You
There are authors who say they don’t want to be famous or they don’t want to publicize their book, but Karin says that it’s not about you. You’ve got a good message to share. People need to learn how to trust you. They need to know you’re not a bot or a scammer. So they have to see your personality and for them to see that you’re human is the first reason to be visible.
You can be anonymous, but the trust level goes down significantly if you’re not visible because people might think you’re hiding something. Take the pressure off yourself. It’s not about you. If you have a good message to share, share it with the world.
[28:33] How to Deal with Doubt Through Mentorship
Karin warns that you should be ready now for critics and haters. It’s also important to have a guide that knows how to handle that. Have someone who believes in you and knows that you’re as good as anybody else because this is critical.
Get the information and guidance then get yourself permission to break the rules and make your own decisions. However, don’t do it alone. Get the mentorship as well.
Karin adds that the goal is to make people reach their breakthrough point – where you’re well-known enough that media, work, and people come to you. Before that is the hustle period and the personal growth you have during that phase qualifies you to write a book and be a leader. You’re already learning intrinsically about yourself and that is valuable.
[33:12] Start with Your Core Tribe
Karin believes that everybody is worth sharing what they know in the world, getting paid for it, and making a big impact of it. In fact, she knows people who don’t do much but they’re great thinkers and have great ideas then they package it into a book. It can be that simple.
Moreover, you have to be strategic in how you promote it and how you build your core tribe. Start with the “twelve disciples” first as Karin would say it. Start with that core tribe and it will get you farther and ten times faster in the future.
[35:30] How to Get Started with Writing a Book
Start with the end in mind and work backwards from there. It can be a word or a couple of words but it will be etched in stone forever. Also, know all of your options in this process of writing a book. Many people buy the first solution every guru is selling and this might not be the right time for you. Know all your options first so you can make an educated decision on how to map out your path.
Another way, you can flip what you’ve written to turn it into your branding. Your thoughts are pure to yourself but if you can invert that and flip it, there’s going to be a certain public that people would say they get it too. And this would make you a thought leader, not just a coach, an author, or a speaker because you’re sharing your original thoughts. And there’s a big difference there.
[41:10] Airing Your Dirty Laundry vs. Being Vulnerable and Authentic
Karin says that you need to be more dramatic because people have short attention span and they’re bombarded with information. So if you pick the most dramatic parts of your story and skip those parts in the middle, this will give you the gauge. Then throw in the transformation in the end – how it has changed you, made you a better person, or opened you up to new things – just those three things alone will keep you on track.
Lastly, Karin says that if you want to fast-track your success, get a mentor and realize it’s okay to have weak points for yourself.
Episode Resources:
Learn more about Karin on www.karinroest.com and www.coachazul.com/purposelyfamous
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