Extremely limited room at the top

SOME child psychologists and guidance counselors have recently depressed parents and educators with the “breaking news” report that more kids and tweens these days no longer want to become doctors and engineers and teachers—they dream of making it big as show biz stars, instead!

“Blame” it on all the TV they’ve been watching from morning till midnight, especially shows featuring fave young stars who no longer have to bother going to school to become rich and famous beyond their wildest dreams!

Uh, reality check, guys: Before you get carried away and set your avaricious and lazy sights on becoming the next Justin Bieber or Ariana Grande, please read the fine print and be informed that there are literally hundreds of young hopefuls like you who want exactly the same thing—and there’s no room left for any new aspirants! Well, except for maybe three?

If those dismal statistics don’t scare you off for good, here are some tips on how you can become one of the very few exceptions who prove that exceedingly cruel rule:

First, it helps a lot if you’re an instantly exciting standout like the young Amalia Fuentes and Ric Rodrigo were when they first made their stellar bids—yes, you could have a chance. If you’re less photogenic or telegenic than that—uh, not so much!

Next, you should be an exceptionally talented performer—if you’re a singer-dancer-actor of “total performer” caliber, even better!

Less than that—well, make sure you finish college first or marry really rich, so you have a fallback position to console yourself with when (not if) your dream of stellar fame and fortune doesn’t pan out.

Show biz connections? Yes, they help. Money to finance an aggressive and imaginative buildup campaign for you? Sure! A crack team of managers, media relations officers and stylists? Definitely! Workshops to death? By all means!
Starlet to star

But, all these perks and powers would be for naught unless you have the all-important charisma, audience appeal, magnetism or X-factor (take your pick) that makes a starlet move up to becoming a star.

That’s something you can’t buy or “style,” or learn in workshops—it’s your unique personality or temperament, and your reason for being—and being seen!

So, how do you become a star? Aside from exceptional looks and talent, you should be a good person who’s easy for viewers to love—or at least regard as a delightful and fascinating friend!

That sounds like a really strange thing to say in the sometimes nasty world of show business, where only the tough survive—but, we’re talking about what the audience is looking for, not your pushy coworkers.

Yes, you’ve got to be really tough and even rough not to be eaten up by the stellar competition.

But, for your audience, you have to forget and rise above all that—and focus completely on becoming and coming across as a good person!