Fame is good:
Why is fame seen as such a negative thing?
First question:
Why is fame seen so negatively?
This is my theory:
People who are not famous are resentful towards the famous (because the unfamous secretly want to become more famous), and thus they disparage the famous and the notion of ‘fame’ in general.
In modern times, fame is synonymous with power and influence. Who doesn’t want to be more powerful and influential? Don’t we all? I think so– but perhaps we have been trained to NOT want more power and influence (because it is anti-christian morality).
Anyways, it is of my personal belief that the more fame, power, and influence we have– the more capability we have to do good.
For example, Angelina Jolie was able to use her fame for good– humanitarian causes. Gandhi was ‘famous’ for his acts of virtue as well — and it was good, because he was able to help liberate India from the British.
The problem with the notion of ‘fame’ is that it is intermixed with all this negative moralistic acid of famous celebrities who end up overdosing and dying of drugs, and committing crimes, etc.
But once again, I think anyone who ‘hates’ on celebrities are just secretly envious/jealous. Because people who TRULY don’t care for fame just IGNORE the famous, and they keep their opinions to themselves.
How to become more famous
I cannot state a definitive formula or blueprint to becoming more famous, because it is different for everyone. What worked for me probably won’t work for you. But let me share what worked for me:
- Be relentless: Keep producing information, substantive knowledge, and keep putting yourself out there. Keep making blog posts, keep uploading YouTube videos, and keep putting out new forms of knowledge and ideas.
- Don’t censor yourself: Controversial people are more fun to read and interesting. Avoid being boring– being boring is the cardinal sin which is anti-fame. Consider– do you know any boring celebrities? No! Even the ‘boring’ celebrities have made it into an entertaining thing — like consider Michael Scott from the office (his boringness is made interesting and entertaining).
- Be ridiculous, unusual: To gain more fame, let your inner-freak come out. To be honest, all of us are ridiculous and unusual to a certain degree. I am a strange person, and I never censor myself– I don’t censor my speech, my actions, or my blog posts. This proves that you have an opinion. The more opinionated you are, the more famous you will become.
- Always mention your own name: In my YouTube videos, I always start by saying, ‘Hey wussup streettogs this is Eric Kim from the Eric Kim Street Photography Blog’. Note that I mention my name TWICE in the introduction of all of my 1,000+ videos! Whenever possible, mention your first and last name. They might not remember what you say in your videos, but at least they will remember your name!
- Become a big fish in a small pond: I became the most famous street photographer on the internet by focusing on the small niche (street photography) and constantly producing knowledge on the topic. This is the best way to become #1 on Google: constantly produce substantive information on whatever topic you want to focus on.
- Open Source: The more open you keep your information, the better. Why? If your information is open, anyone can share it. And thus, the more famous you will become!
- Show your face: It seems that most people recognize me in public because they watch my YouTube videos, and they also recognize my voice. Whenever possible, show your face. Put your face in your blog posts for your website, and of course in your videos.
- Build your own blog and YouTube Channel: Having your own blog and YouTube channel is the best way to get discovered in today’s modern Google-Dominated world. Start your own self-hosted blog, and start vlogging on your YouTube channel about whatever interests you.
- Be brave, bold, and brazen to share controversial ideas: The best way I’ve been able to become more famous is to share ideas which have been shared widely (which are contra-against the prevailing ideology). For example in photography, my posts on shooting JPEG, why sharpness is overrated, debunking the myth of the decisive moment.
- Talk about taboo topics nobody is gutsy enough to talk about: In modern society to talk about money openly is seen as bad taste. For example my blog post, “How I Earn $200,000+ a Year From Photography” went crazy viral — because photographers never talk about their personal finances. Actually, nobody talks about their finances. And now with my photography entrepreneurship articles, I am trying to uncover certain truths about making money from your passion, while speaking openly and frankly on the topic.
Keep putting yourself out there
You do not have 100% control whether you will become ‘famous’ or not. However, our goal is to increase our likelihood to become more famous.
Certainly if you never put yourself out there, you have a 0% chance of becoming famous. The more you put yourself out there, you start to INCREASE your likelihood of becoming more famous and notorious, which is a good thing.
Ignore the haters, don’t worry about trolls, listen to empowering hip hop artists like JAY Z, be bold and brazen in your speech and writing, and be ruthless and relentless!
BRAVE ON!
ERIC
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Photography Entrepreneurship 101
Enroll in my Udemy Course: ‘Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Photography Entrepreneurship’: Create Your Own Future >Entrepreneurship Lifestyle
- Ascetic is Sexy
- Why You Must Become Self-Employed
- How to Push Yourself Beyond the Limit
- Is Location Independence Overrated?
Entrepreneurship Mindset
- How to Get Discovered
- Financial Independence
- Disregard Success or Failure; Always Attempt More!
- In Praise of Stubbornness
- Success is Personal Bravery
- Why You Must Become an Entrepreneur
- How to Brand and Market Yourself as a Photographer
- How to Conquer Haters
- How to Accumulate Capital
- Why Be Different?
- How to Master Marketing in Photography
- Don’t Play it Safe
- Why Blog?
- How to Be a More Productive Photographer
- How to Hustle
- True Productivity
- What Can Only You Do?
- Love Risk
- What is Success?
- Fill a Vacuum
- Think Big
- What is Your Dream in Life?
- 8 Blogging Productivity Tips
- Why Be Normal?
- How Much Suffering Are You Willing to Endure to Achieve Your Dreams?
Photography Entrepreneurship 101
- Don’t Sit Still!
- Bitcoin for Photographers
- Don’t Be Timid
- Why Start Your Own Photography Blog?
- Fill a Void
- 1,000 True Followers: How to Build Your Own Niche in Photography
- Photography Entrepreneurship 101: Why You Must Start Your Own Email Newsletter
- TURBO CREATION: Why a Maxed-Out MacBook Laptop is the Best Investment You Can Make for Photography Entrepreneurship
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- Life/Productivity Hack: Write (Type on a phone) While Walking on a Dynamic Treadmill
- ERIC KIM Life, Creativity, and Productivity Hacks
How to Make a Living from Your Passion
- Digital Nomad Photographer
- Build Your Own Instagram!
- How to Be More Ambitious
- Do It Your Way
- How to Measure Your Progress as a Photography Entrepreneur + Come Up With New Ideas
- How to Make a Living From Your Passion in Photography
Put a Dent in the Universe.
- Fear Disguised as Reason
- Distraction is the Enemy
- Innovate for the Sake of Innovating!
- Reality is Malleable!
- Stoic Entrepreneurship
- Against Self-Preservation
- The Purpose of Life is to Make New Stuff!
How to Succeed as an Entrepreneur
- You Have No Limits.
- Calculated Risk-Taking
- Invest in Yourself
- The Secret of Happiness: Shoot for the Moon!
- Moonshot Thinking
- Why We Should all Be Photography Entrepreneurs
- Memento Mori Entrepreneurship
- Why it is Better to Beg For Forgiveness than Ask For Permission
- How to Become a Digital Nomad
- Why You Must Own Your Own Platform
- First Principle Thinking for Photography Entrepreneurs
- How I Became a Digital Nomad
- Better to Beg For Forgiveness than Ask For Permission!
- Spurn Pleasing Others!
- Create Your Own Niche
- How to Gain More Exposure For Your Photography
- Intense Focus
- How to Conquer Your Fears as an Entrepreneur
- Define Yourself
- Let Dissatisfaction Drive You Forward!
- It Doesn’t Matter if Someone Else Has Done it Before!
- How to Succeed as a Photography Entrepreneur: Be Extremely Resourceful
- Open Source Business Model in Photography Entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurship 101: Growth and Innovation Over Self-Preservation
- How to Create Value as a Photography Entrepreneur
- Why Become a Photography Entrepreneur?
- Why You Must Ignore Nay-Sayers to Succeed in Entrepreneurship, Business, and Life
The Modern Photographer: Tips, Strategies, and Tactics to Thrive as a Visual Artist in the Digital Age
Marketing, Branding, Entrepreneurship Principles For Success MODERN PHOTOGRAPHER is your new philosophical and practical primer to succeed as a modern photographer in today’s digital world.Business Mental Models
- How to Succeed as a Photography Entrepreneur: Be Extremely Resourceful
- Open Source Business Model in Photography Entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurship 101: Growth and Innovation Over Self-Preservation
How to Monetize Your Photography
- Photography Entrepreneurship 101: INFLUENCE
- Should I Monetize My Passion for Photography?
- 10 Practical Photography Monetization Strategies: Pricing, Google SEO, & Entrepreneurship
- How to Make Money From Street Photography
Why Become a Photography Entrepreneur?
Take control of your own photographic destiny:THE MODERN PHOTOGRAPHER
- CREATIVE CAPITALISM
- How to Monetize Your Photography
- 5 Practical Photography Career Tips and Advice
- 10x Thinking
- How to Hustle as a Photographer
- How to Become Your Own Master Marketer
- The ‘T’ Technique of Success
- Go Ahead and Sell Out
- What is Your Unique Voice?
- Why You Must Self-Promote Yourself
- What is Your Unique Angle as a Photographer?
- Photography Content Marketing 101
- Why You Must Become Your Own Publisher
- The Art of Cross-Pollination in Photography
Photography Entrepreneurship Articles
- Why You Shouldn’t Trust Your Pictures to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Flickr
- How to Make Money From Your Photography
- Photography SEO and Blogging: How to Become Number One on Google
- Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation
- Now is the Best Time to Be a Photographer
- PRODUCERISM
- What Is The Value of a Picture?
- Your Photographic Labor is Not Free
PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS 101
- Chapter 1. How to Make a Photography Blog
- Chapter 2. How to Price Yourself
- Chapter 3. How to Find Your Market
- Chapter 4. Why Teach Workshops?
- Chapter 5. How to Build Trust
- Chapter 6. How to Market Yourself
- Chapter 7: Why Should Someone Attend Your Workshop?
KEYS TO SUCCESS
- Why You Must Be a “Personality” in Order to Succeed
- THRIVE OR DIE.
- Impatience is a Virtue
- Create Your Own Category
- HOW TO DREAM BIG.
- Will Not or Cannot?
- Why Not?
- How to Think BIG
- How to Stay Ahead of the Curve
- How to Invest in Yourself
- The Two Camera Rule
- MEANINGFUL DIFFERENTIATION
- Advice For College Students
- How to Thrive in Uncertain Times
- CANNIBALIZE YOURSELF.
- DO AND GROW RICH
- Does Fear of Punishment Hold You Back?
- HOW TO GET MORE FOLLOWERS
- How to Innovate
- How to Build Your Own Empire
- YOU ARE ENTITLED TO HARD WORK.
- PICK YOURSELF.
- OWN YOUR PLATFORM
- 10 KEYS TO SUCCESS
Table of Contents
Learn how to make a living from your passion:- Preface. BRAVE NEW WORLD OF PHOTOGRAPHY
- Chapter 1. How to Create Value
- Chapter 2. ZEN CAPITALISM
- Chapter 3. Scarcity
- Chapter 4. How to Brand Yourself
- Chapter 5. How to Build a True Following
- Chapter 6. The Blueprint to Success in Photography
- Chapter 7. HOW TO BE BOLD
- Chapter 8. How to Sell Out
- Chapter 9. GO AGAINST THE GRAIN
- Chapter 10. EXTREME ABUNDANCE
- Chapter 11. Photography Experience Economy
- Chapter 12. Why You Should Make Money for Your Photography
- Chapter 13. How to Become a Famous Photographer
Photography Business 101
How to Make Money with Photography
- How to Charge More Money in Your Photography
- Why You Should Not Pursue Photography as Career
- Can Photography Make You Rich?
- How I Earn $200,000+ a Year From Photography
- How to earn $10,000 a month as a photographer
- Why you must be an expensive photographer
Photography Marketing 101
- Why Have More Followers?
- Why You Should Do Photography Work For Free
- How I Became an Internet Famous Photographer
- Photography Blogging Ideas
- Why You Should Promote Your Own Name
- How to Build a Following
- How to Stand Out as a Photographer.
- HOW TO GO VIRAL AS A PHOTOGRAPHER.
- How to Master Marketing
- How to Sell Yourself
How to Hustle.
- Entrepreneurial Advice to My 18 Year Old Self
- How to Become Insanely Productive.
- 5 Lessons From Hesiod on Hustling
Entrepreneurial Principles
- It is Better to Beg For Forgiveness Than Ask For Permission
- The Free Way to Become Rich
- JUST DO IT.
- 7 Steps: How to Make a Living From Your Passion
- How to Do What You Love for a Living
- How to Create an MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
- How to Fail Big
- How to Invest in Yourself
- How to Be Bold in Photography and Life
- Mission: Cover Your Rent and Food
- 1,000 True Fans
- The “10x Principle”: The Only Difference Between “Success” and “Failure”
- Make More Value Not Money
- We Live in a Photo Utopia
How to be a Full-time Photographer
- How to Make a Living From Photography
- The 3 Principles of Making Money With Photography
- Advice for Aspiring Full-Time Photographers
- Don’t Go Into Debt For Your Photography
- How to Brand Yourself as a Photographer
- Trust: The Most Important Thing You Need to Succeed as a Photographer
Photography Blogging
- How to become rich from photography blogging
- How to Make a Living with Blogging
- 50 Blogging Tips For Beginners
- How to Start Your Own Photography Blog
- A Photographer’s Guide to SEO, Blogging, and Social Media
How to Teach Photography
- How to Become a Photography Teacher
- How to Teach a Street Photography Class
- Why I Teach Street Photography Workshops
Social Media
- Why I Deleted My Instagram
- The Social Media Blackbook for Photographers
- Why Do You Need More Likes or Followers?
- Instagram is Going to Be the Next Facebook
- Don’t Trust “Free” Photography Social Networks