We’ve all said it at least once in our lives.

It usually happens when we’re watching TV and a talk show host is stumbling over their words or simply not being articulate, and we say either out loud or to ourselves, “I could do better than that.”

In my business, I get a lot of people who are of that belief, and many of them genuinely can do better than that. The disconnect is they believe that because they can be good on the air, it automatically means if they hire a PR agency to attract attention, they’ll have their own talk show and be a national celebrity.

If that were truly the case, the airwaves would be crowded to the point of bursting. Unfortunately, it’s a little more difficult than that to become the next talk show star. Keep in mind, even the current stars didn’t become stars overnight. Keith Olbermann started as a sports anchor. Bill O’Reilly hosted a tabloid TV show called A Current Affair. Rachel Ray started by doing cooking advice segments on a local TV station. Erma Bombeck, one of the pioneers of punditry, began her career writing satirical columns for a local newspaper for just a few bucks per column. She parlayed that into a career as an author, columnist, speaker and veteran talk show guest, commenting on just about everything.

Today, experts from all realms have segued into prime jobs in the media. George Stephanopoulos hosts Good Morning America, a far cry from being a political consultant for former President Bill Clinton. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow started her career by winning a contest staged by a radio station looking for a morning radio personality. One of her first gigs was doing a morning radio “zoo” style show with Rapper Chuck D and comedienne Lizz Winstead. Her colleague Lawrence O’Donnell, host of the networks The Last Word, started as a novelist, then worked as an aide to Senator Patrick Moynihan, and then wound up in Hollywood as a writer and producer (and sometimes actor) on NBC’s The West Wing, before he entered the punditry in 2004.

The way to start is by getting booked on your local talk shows. Local TV shows tend to want fluffier, lighter content, so if your expertise is personal finance, for instance, you probably don’t want to pitch yourself to them to comment on the Wall Street collapse. Instead, something lighter, like “five tips to help make ends meet.” Local TV is imperative, because national shows typically don’t book a guest unless they can see from a local clip that the guest is articulate and good on camera. After a few local appearances, you can start pitching yourself to national shows using more newsy angles that are attached to breaking stories. The national media is a slave to the immediate news cycle, so the earlier you can jump on a national story, the better.

At the same time, you also want to be pushing yourself and your expertise to the print media and as a guest on radio shows to more firmly establish yourself as an expert in your field. It helps tremendously to have a book based on your expertise, but it’s not necessary if you have a strong Web presence and are head and shoulders above some of the other guests making the rounds on your topic.

When do you become the next big thing? Sometimes, as evidenced by the examples above, it takes years. Most overnight sensations have an “overnight” that lasted as long as a decade before they broke onto the national media scene. So, it’s not just about looking good on camera. It’s about the unique, perfect storm combination of talent, perseverance, elbow grease and opportunity.

A simpler way to launch your career in the media is buying air time to host your own radio show.  All that’s required is a high degree of talent and cash.  For example, you can have a weekly one-hour national show on Sirius XM for approximately $1,500 to $2,000 per hour.  Or, you can buy time on a local station for a local show.  The costs can range as little as $200 per hour on a small wattage station or in a smaller market.  Or, you can spend upwards of $6,000 or more for a one-hour weekly show on a top station in New York City.

This approach is known as “brokered time,” and unbeknownst to most listeners, most of the weekend radio shows you hear nowadays are shows of this nature.

For instance, Dave Ramsey, the well-known financial guru, built his empire by buying air time for his show on radio stations around the country.  And, because he had a message with mass appeal and was very effective at building an audience, he had no problem finding sponsors who wanted to advertise on his show. So, for him this model not only built his platform as a financial expert, but it became another huge source of revenue.

It’s key to understand that the format and content of your show must follow the form of any successful talk radio show.  It can’t be an hour-long advertisement about why people should hire you or buy from you; otherwise listeners will tune you out or change the station. Instead, you can motivate people by informing and entertaining them and being seen as the smartest and most articulate expert in your field who is on the air.

Of course, you’d have to market the show once it’s on the air, because a radio show without listeners is just a guy talking into a microphone. Marketing your show can be done via public relations and social media. In fact, social media can be used to drive the majority of your audience, and then keep that audience interested in your show on a weekly basis. Hosting your own radio or TV talk show is a terrific marketing vehicle for generating new business.

At the end of the day, the American Dream ain’t cheap. If you aren’t willing to work hard and persevere – whether you work your way in or buy your way in – it’s not likely you’ll go far. But if you are willing to put in the hours and the effort, who knows? Maybe I’ll be booking a guest on your show sometime soon.

I was actually surprised when I realized that Sheen’s daily presence in the news wasn’t just from his tweets or his videos that he posted online, but rather his radio interviews. The meatier comments the media used for their stories about Sheen actually came from his constant calls to national radio shows like The Dan Patrick Show, The Alex Jones Show and a wide variety of morning shows in different cities.

In fact, Philadelphia’s Wired 96.5 FM station – recognizing Sheen’s penchant for phone-in radio rants – flew a banner over Sheen’s house inviting him to call the station. He did and another news cycle ensued.

The interviews then fueled more tweets on Twitter and provoked TV and print outlets to seek out Sheen for other interviews. Now does that mean I’m saying that a public meltdown in radio interviews is a good PR strategy for drawing attention to your message? Of course not, but make no mistake, talk radio was the fuel behind his media engine.

And that’s a lesson that should not be taken lightly and it proved one thing that advocates of other, more technologically-driven media, seem to want to downplay: people are still listening to radio. They are listening to radio and paying attention to what they hear. That’s why I feel very strongly about the value of talk radio as a key component of any well-balanced media campaign.

A good radio interview can fuel social media, because it gives you something to tweet about. It also works well in conjunction with print coverage and appearances on local and national TV, because it provides a longer form format for your message. Whereas an article may only be 500 or 600 words or a TV appearance only 3 to 5 minutes, a radio interview can run anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour, depending on the show and how interesting you are to the host and the listeners.

What I love most about talk radio is that it provides a forum for guests to demonstrate their expertise in their field, making them attractive to customers, clients and also decision-makers from other media outlets. It’s also the one place in which they can communicate their message in their own voice, in their own tone and their own words – unedited – to listeners within the range of the radio show’s signal. If it’s a syndicated show, their message can be heard nationwide.

So, if you’ve been thinking about doing PR, be sure to include radio as a key venue for your campaign. People are definitely willing to listen to you, if you’re willing to speak to them.

We’re all experts on something. In my case, my passion was always the inner workings of the media and the crafting of a message. The fun for me isn’t always when I have a client who is a ready-made for the media, but rather someone who has a unique message that may not seem on the surface to be compatible with generating media. That’s what drives me and those are the challenges I truly enjoy. When I can connect the dots in a creative fashion for a client who may never have thought they had a good enough story for the media, I’m thrilled!

One of the tools that helps in this process is when clients have a book. In my own book, Celebritize Yourself: The Three Step Method to Increase Your Visibility and Explode Your Business, I explain how a book – or more specifically, YOUR book – can be your new business card. It’s a model I not only recommend to clients, but also one that I use for the promotion of my own business.

Here’s how the formula works:

• Passion: The first step is to ask yourself about your passion as this will guide the message of your book. When you achieve what you believe to be a high level of proficiency in your field or profession, it is usually a representation of your passion. So, think about it. What gets you up in the morning? What are the elements of your profession that stir your emotions and make you happy to work in your field? Those elements are the cross section of your passion and your expertise. When you write about those ideas, concepts and realities, it will show the reader that they are dealing with a consummate professional who knows his or her stuff!
• Execution: Here’s a tough question, and it truly doesn’t matter how you answer. Are you a good writer? I don’t mean, can you craft a story and develop characters and plotlines. We’re not talking about fiction here. What I mean is, can you write about your field convincingly and articulately? Can you take the elements of your profession that drive your passion and business, and use the written word to inform, educate and inspire someone with your message? The good news is that it doesn’t matter if you are not a writer. There is no shame in hiring a ghostwriter whose skill is communicating via the written word to get your thoughts and feelings down on paper and write the text in “your voice.” The book is solely your ideas and your knowledge – it is YOUR book – but the quality of the communication will be key to its success.
• Publication: Here’s the part that makes it all work. First, remember the goal in writing the book is to have a representation of your passion and expertise that builds your platform as a credentialed expert in your field and that you can use like a business card. With the various self-publishing services available today, you don’t need (or want) a traditional publisher to accept your idea. It’s far more advantageous to self-publish because you retain all rights to your work, you control your message and most importantly, you control the timeline. Moreover, with the quality of “print on demand” today, you also control your publishing costs and can simply print copies as needed to align with your marketing budget and strategies.
• Promotion: Your book opens the door to the media as well as your customers, both directly and indirectly. When you reach out to the press with your message, they are going to take you far more seriously if you’ve written a book about it. The media, in turn, opens the door to new customers. And that’s really the way the book pays for itself and helps you generate revenue – through branding you as an expert in your field. After it’s published, that book will play a part in just about every piece of business you close for your company, whether it helps drive media that drives your business or it is simply a better opening line to a new customer besides “Let me give you my card.” In the sea of business cards executives get from vendors at trade shows and on airplanes, a book is like the cream that rises to the top (even if they don’t read it!). And when you’re pitching the media or speaking with a prospective client, a book says, “I’m such an expert in my field, I literally wrote the book on it.”

Having been in business for over 20 years, I can attest that after writing my book, Celebritize Yourself, my revenue has grown annually, even through the recession. And, soon I’ll be working on my second one. So if you feel like your business has reached a plateau or is creeping in growth, and you want to inject new life and energy into your enterprise, a book is one of the most valuable marketing tools you’ll ever have.

I heartily encourage those who haven’t started yet to get busy. Collect your thoughts; make a decision; commit to it unwaveringly and I promise you will reap the rewards personally and professionally.

The general idea with today’s tips is to zero on one key element, things journalists love. They include:

• Professionally written communications: Journalists love good writing, and even though this can be inherently subjective, it’s something upon which a good PR campaign is founded. When communicating on subjects about which you’re passionate (and if you’re not basing a PR campaign on your passion in business, then you’re already starting in the wrong place), your words should have rhythm, timber and pitch like symphonic music. It’s not just about your message, it’s about communicating it eloquently and with style. Journalists will respect that element of it, even if your message doesn’t resonate with them.
• Tie in the News: The fact that you’re launching a new product line or service is not important news to a journalist just because it’s news to you. Now, if your product or service could be viewed as a solution for a problem that’s getting play in the news cycle – for instance, a health problem, diet issues, credit or financial problems – then you could pitch yourself as an expert on the topic with tips on how to combat it. If you can tie your company or offering into the news cycle, you’ll always move to the front of the line.
• Follow Up, But Not Too Much: After you send a journalist a story, they appreciate a little follow up, because many of them aren’t exactly slaves to their incoming emails. They appreciate it even more if your follow up is respectful of their time. The temptation may be there to call regularly to see if they’re interested in what you sent them, but rather, keep your communications focused and concise without calling too often. Even if they turn down your current pitch, they’ll be more likely to pay attention to future communications from you.
• Give Them News: A lot of companies use every excuse to send out a press release, because they think it will keep them on the press radar. However, the press is far more interested in quality of news than quantity. Be choosy when communicating with them and only send items that would be of interest to their readers. If you respect the journalist’s job description – which is to report the news – the journalist will sense that. The real pros are familiar with the dance. They know you’re promoting something commercial when you reach out to them, but as long as you help serve their readers’ need for useful and timely information that’s helpful to them, the reporter won’t mind so much. It’s the classic trade-off that makes the media work.
• Be Gracious When They Turn You Down: Just getting a journalist to read your release or your pitch doesn’t mean they’ll say yes and do the story. If they’re not interested it could be for a variety of reasons. It might be because of a busy news cycle, or simply because they’ve just run a similar piece, or it could be that they just don’t see the news value in your pitch. No matter what, the key to motivating them to read your NEXT release is to be gracious when they turn you down. Even if reporters are a little snippy with you, take the high road and simply respond politely and graciously, thanking them for the time they gave you. Remember, they’re on deadline and are dealing with daily pressures to deliver the news. Moreover, their job is the only one in which their mistakes are printed and circulated to tens of thousands, with their names at the top for all to see. If they’re a little short with you, don’t take it personally. If you maintain a professional, polite demeanor with them, they will be more likely to keep reading your pitches and releases, and they’ll be more motivated to work with you when you send them something that IS interesting to them.

Now, I don’t mean for these tips to portray journalists as an insensitive bunch. They aren’t – they’re simply in a high pressure job that requires they be creative on demand and by deadline and that they get it right the first time. In between reading all those emails and pitches, they actually have to ensure that a publication gets out the door, on time and on budget. That’s why, the more you’re able to provide information that makes their jobs easier, it not only positions you as a helpful professional, but it’s far more likely that you’ll have a successful PR campaign.

The slogan was a nod to the fact that Avis was the second largest rental car company behind Hertz, and that as a result, they would always make an extra effort in a desire to overcome the competition. It’s a reasonably universal sentiment, as small corporations around the world employ the same tactic to provide better service or more flexibility than the market leaders. And the same can be said of talk radio.

Typically, people engaging in talk radio-based PR campaigns will use market size and wattage of the stations they choose to pitch as a benchmark for a successful campaign. That’s usually a safe bet, but that being said, it’s important not to overlook some of the smaller market, smaller wattage stations. There are a lot of diamonds in that rough to be found.

While big market, big wattage stations offer you reach, many smaller stations offer better quality interviews. Many small market hosts want to be big market hosts, so they are always trying to play a better game. When I embarked on my own talk radio campaign to promote my book Celebritize Yourself – shameless plug acknowledged – I discovered that some of the more in-depth interviews I gave were in smaller markets. In some cases, the hosts actually read the book cover to cover, and were able to engage me in a more specific and thought-provoking discussion.

Some took the time to truly research the material before putting me on the air, and as a result, I truly felt like I had the opportunity to get my message out in a substantial manner. And some of these stations, while small, have more loyal followings. Because the station may be in a smaller market, listeners may not have as many choices as they have in a big city market, so they listen more often and are more loyal. Moreover, the hosts tend to have more sway over their listeners because they are local celebrities themselves, or community leaders.

For example, in Los Angeles, you could stay extremely busy surfing all the talk shows on the AM dial because they have so many stations competing with each other. Conversely, in Gainesville, Florida (the number 83 market in terms of audience size), the same number of people may be listening to a top rated show there. But that’s not all – you’ll also find the listeners are loyal and dedicated fans of that talk show because they don’t have the variety of stations and shows to pick and choose from.

I chose Gainesville, Florida as an example for a reason. We work with one of the top shows in that market – it’s typically a 20 to 30 minute interview with a host and co-host who’ve been on the air for many years and have a dedicated following. The interesting thing that’s happened is that nearly every single one of our clients has contacted us after that interview to tell us how much they enjoyed it, how the hosts had done their homework and were so informed and interested about their topic – and how it was absolutely the best interview.

In that sense, some of these smaller stations can deliver more qualified listeners who are more receptive to your message and more likely to take action after the show – look you up on the Internet, go to your site, or even become a customer.

Now, not ALL smaller stations are like that, and not all hosts in small towns carry that kind of punch. That’s why it’s important to discriminate. There is such a thing as too small, or too insignificant.

One of the key things to look at is whether the show has been around a while. A show with a 10 or 20 year history is more likely to be hosted by a local celebrity who is able to drive consumer opinion in your favor.

To sum it all up, the most important thing you need to know is that when you’re launching a campaign on talk radio, market size isn’t everything. You’ll need to consider the other factors we’ve just discussed when evaluating what’s the best fit for you. Then you can find a PR firm to tailor a campaign that suits your needs.

Many new clients come to us with a strong opinion about what their “pitch” should be, but often miss the mark, in terms of knowing what will get the media to sit up and pay attention to their message. But it’s very understandable that this could occur, if you’re not working with the media the way we do, day in and day out, developing story angles intended to grab their interest.

For those who are new to PR, my message is this – think outside of the box! As normal as it is to be focused on your own company and industry or field of interest, there is a lot going on in the world, and your expertise might be news in ways that you’ve not previously envisioned.

I always recommend to my clients that they try to view their companies from the outside looking in, particularly, from the perspective of the media. The best way for you to garner the media’s interest is to understand what it is about you and your company that might be interesting to them. The process is actually quite simple.

1. Read the News – If you want to be featured in the news, you should read the news. Be general in your approach. Read the top headlines in all the categories, even if your company is in a niche industry, because you never know what is going to happen. For instance, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has focused a spotlight on oil rigs and the people who work on them. Journalists are looking at the companies who own oil rigs, drilling rights, and other oil company service firms. Analysts in that small business niche are being quoted in top tier media outlets, after existing for decades completely outside the reach of the media’s radar. So, go broad with the topics that you track, and don’t be afraid to become a little bit of a news geek. Being better informed about the world around you isn’t a bad thing, and the by-product is that you’ll be far more media savvy.
2. Track it Back – Now, as you absorb the headlines and the stories of the day, think about how one or more of them could track back to you, your company and your key messages. A good example comes from one of our clients, a maker of natural health supplements. Their primary product line uses a natural ingredient called Resveratrol. Clinical research has uncovered that Resveratrol can be helpful in reducing fatigue, restoring energy and safeguarding your immune system. Now, earlier this month, Reuters reported that doctors who performed an 11-year study of British civil servants discovered a direct link between heart disease and working 11 hours or more each day. Another story quoted U.S. Department of Labor statistics that more than 7 million Americans work at least two jobs. We combined those two pieces to demonstrate that millions of Americans are working way more than 11 hours, and are at risk for everything from chronic fatigue to heart disease. From there, it wasn’t too difficult to beat a path back to the client’s physician spokesperson who recommended a series of tips to prevent those outcomes, including a short tip about how some natural supplements can be helpful. At first blush, you wouldn’t imagine that labor stats and a medical study in Great Britain would have any relationship with a natural health supplement, but by thinking creatively, we were able to make the connection and develop a strong radio pitch for that client.
3. Be Opportunistic – The news happens fast, so be prepared to think just as fast. Recently we took on a client named Jane Heimlich, who has a dual claim to fame. She is the daughter of dance hall king Arthur Murray, who established the largest chain of dance instruction centers in the country. She is also the wife of chest surgeon Dr. Hank Heimlich, the creator of the life-saving, anti-choking first aid technique called the Heimlich Maneuver. She had just written her memoir, and was looking to promote it via media interviews. When we brought her on board, the new season for the network TV show Dancing with the Stars was about to begin. In reading her book, we discovered that her father’s TV show, The Arthur Murray Party, was the first network TV dance contest – and it involved the big stars of the day. So, we put together a radio pitch with the headline “Remembering the Original Dancing with the Stars.” We booked 15 radio interviews and a full print campaign with that angle, and we just refreshed the angle with the CBS announcement that they are giving Paula Abdul her own TV dance competition.

At the end of the day, recognize that your expertise can be stretched beyond what you have in your marketing plan, and you’ll be able to make you and your company more relevant to the press in a lot of creative ways.

Sure, it’s great to have a client walk in the door who has a unique product or service, solid credentials and a compelling angle. It makes the work easier, certainly, but it sometimes is more satisfying to solve what a client thinks is an unsolvable problem in a creative way.

One such client was (and still is, by the way) Darlene Quinn, author of the novel Webs of Power. She had been handled by another PR agency previously and spent quite a bit of money to get very limited coverage. She came to us needing new representation, but very skeptical about how we would handle her pitch. Our method, as many regular readers know, is to approach the client as an expert in their field, and then promote their expertise as a way of getting media interest for them and their message.

In Darlene’s case, her novel was a marriage of Dynasty and Macy’s, a story of power and intrigue at the highest echelons of the retail fashion industry. When we asked her what inspired her to write it, she revealed she had been a top executive at the Bullocks Wilshire department store chain. Furthermore, she was friends with other top executives at some very upscale department stores, and had enough knowledge about the inside of the business that she could tell a few good stories (with the names changed to protect the guilty and the innocent, of course).

And that’s when we knew we had it. We knew that promoting her simply as a new author of a racy novel that reeked of money and power wasn’t going to get us very far. There are more than 370,000 new books published every year, and casting her as one of those numbers just meant that she’d be regarded as another can of beans on the shelf.

However, how many experts on the high-end retail industry are there in the media? Not many, because many top executives don’t want to offend anyone else in the business, even if it’s a competitor. They never know when they might have to ask them for a job. Not a problem for Darlene, however, who had made a commitment to being an author for the rest of her working days. While she would never overtly say anything to offend anyone – that’s just not her way – she did have the freedom to tell the truth about the retail business.

Soon, she was being booked on radio and television to talk about the retail industry and its struggles to get through the recession, which was just starting around that point in time. With tons of coverage in the print media, more than 120 radio interviews and several national TV interviews, Darlene is now the undisputed expert in the media on retail matters. In addition, she was able to expose her book to millions of readers, listeners and viewers. Coming full circle, we’re looking forward to her new campaign in the fall to promote her new book, Twisted Webs, the sequel to Webs of Power.

More than that, Darlene is branching out and becoming a commentator on the retail industry as a whole. Watch the Internet for her next interview, which is about how retail giant Wal-Mart is trying to fix a serious mistake which cost them many thousands of customers late last year. I’d tell you about it, but Darlene is really the expert on that!

There’s a lesson here that can be learned and applied by anyone with a consumer message, regardless of whether you are selling a book, a product or a service. The lesson is that if you’re interested in being in the news, or interviewed on radio and TV, there is a precise formula you must follow.

1. Follow the news and look for news items that are relevant to your topic and that you can comment on as an expert.
2. Develop your message around those news items that will provide valuable information to the public.
3. Identify the local or national media you feel is a good match. Read their column, watch their show on TV, or listen to their radio show. Before you approach them, know the format of their shows and types of topics that would interest them.
4. When contacting them, never, ever pitch your company, your product or service. Only pitch yourself as an expert with solutions to problems their audience is concerned about.
5. Understand who their audience is so you can engage the editor or host with your pitch and, make sure to give them all the information they need to make an immediate decision to interview you.

Of course, if you need some help, let us know…it’s what we do, day in and day out. And, we may be able to do it for you!

If you want to become an expert celebrity, understand that it is the culmination of hard work, passion and intent. Not everyone has the heart or the drive for it, but those who do – and have been successful – have frequently started on their path to celebrity by writing a book to build their platform and credibility as an expert.

An excellent example of the power of this strategy is financial expert and author Dave Ramsey, who learned the hard way that debt can cause you to lose everything, and was forced to file for bankruptcy in the mid-1980s. Ramsey, now the author of several bestselling books with his own nationally syndicated radio show and national TV show on Fox Business Network, recovered from financial devastation to achieve international success and recognition.

After losing his substantial real estate holdings in the 1980s through reckless borrowing habits, Ramsey changed course personally and professionally and became an expert on consumer financial issues and personal financial management. He wrote his first book in 1992, and the same year started up a local call-in radio show, The Money Game, that grew into the juggernaut that is now the nationally syndicated The Dave Ramsey Show. Ramsey took the initiative to start speaking to as many people as possible, creating a buzz for himself that started as a local whisper and has become a national shout. His financial talk show can now be heard on more than 450 radio stations in the U.S. and Canada, and on satellite radio.

Ramsey intuitively understood that the most direct route to establishing himself as an expert was to write a book and get out in front of people. He started speaking to as many individuals and groups as he could while spending his own money to air his local radio show in order to reach more people. And as they say, the rest is history; he now sells books, training materials and classes, and is making a fortune as a speaker, author and national radio and TV personality.

Perception is everything when it comes to being an expert, and people perceive authors as experts in their field. Gathering knowledge and imparting it as Ramsey did in the form of a book is the first and most important step on the journey. If your book is clearly written, concise and conveys your message in a unique manner, it can be very effective as the springboard to launch you as an expert celebrity in your field.

Becoming an author and speaker worked for Dave Ramsey and it can work for you too.

It all comes down to knowing who you are and what you have to offer others…what is that “unique something” that makes you and your message stand out? If you really are an expert in your field, it may be time to take it to the next level and become well-known as an expert celebrity.

The 17th century French philosopher Descartes summed it up with his immortal words, “I think, therefore I am,” and that is the viewpoint you need to adopt. It requires some soul searching to gain insight about your strengths and weaknesses, plus a strategy so that you can position yourself correctly as an expert, and finally, a willingness to embark on the journey.

The contestants on American Idol are a terrific example. The show starts out with a cattle call. Anyone and everyone who believes they have talent shows up to audition. As the weeks go on, the participants are given a chance to showcase, not just their talent, but themselves. They learn how to package themselves; they have to figure out how to stand out in the crowd.

The competitors who successfully navigate the first few weeks quickly learn how to use their strengths and minimize their weaknesses – they know the judges will expose those weaknesses and it won’t be pretty. They know they must work extra hard to strengthen any vulnerable areas before the next show or they are done for.

It takes some intestinal fortitude to admit what your weaknesses are and a lot of hard work to overcome them. That is where passion and drive come in. These contestants are passionate about their craft and driven to win the final prize – success, fortune and the celebrity that is their due.

Being an expert celebrity is not something that just happens. It takes courage, passion, sweat, drive and maybe even some tears. If you are sure of yourself, who you are, what you want and what it is going to take, you can make it to the top of your field, regardless of whether you are America’s next pop star or the next celebrity home renovation expert.

Time to do some soul searching.

The AP article was picked up by The Dallas Morning News, which has a circulation of 411,920.

Click here to read article