{"id":2408,"date":"2011-06-01T16:04:10","date_gmt":"2011-06-01T16:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.faceofmalawi.com\/?p=2408"},"modified":"2011-06-01T16:04:10","modified_gmt":"2011-06-01T16:04:10","slug":"9-ways-to-go-from-nobody-to-somebody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/2011\/06\/01\/9-ways-to-go-from-nobody-to-somebody\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Ways To Go From Nobody To Somebody"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Better Man in brief &#8230;<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>You have to work at becoming somebody.<\/li>\n<li>One way to become a somebody is to become an expert.<\/li>\n<li>Maintain your hidden agenda and stay in touch with contacts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Seeing things from the ground floor up lets you see what it takes to distinguish yourself from the cafones around you.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2409\" title=\"forum\" src=\"http:\/\/www.faceofmalawi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/forum.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"112\" height=\"133\" \/> Let&#8217;s face it: even if you&#8217;re not some egocentric freak, you want  to be a star. Even if it&#8217;s for a fleeting moment, a few times a year,  or every time you get rejected in the queue for some fancy club with  overpriced mojitos, you have, at one point, wanted to be more than Joe  Nobody. You want to be Joe Somebody, or actually Mr. Joe Somebody.<br \/>\nWe are obsessed with being recognised, being given our dues, and, most  importantly, being respected. When I was young, I quickly learned that  my immigrant Italian accent wasn&#8217;t getting me the service I needed at times (at least, not at that  stage of my life). So whenever I needed any kind of special treatment at  a hotel or restaurant where they didn&#8217;t know how much weight I carried,  I&#8217;d always call ahead and tell them I was making plans for Dr. Bellini  (sounds respectable, don&#8217;t it?).<\/p>\n<p>Yeah sure, it was a cop-out,  but at the time I wanted to be accepted by &#8220;mainstream&#8221; society,  especially in places where guys who serviced you wore finocchio bow  ties. As you get older, these things matter less. Or at least it seems  that way to me because now I don&#8217;t need to do much to be a &#8220;somebody.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This generation of kids wants everything yesterday. Nobody has patience anymore. It&#8217;s no longer  just about instant gratification; it&#8217;s about instant gratification that  someone else works for on your behalf. You can almost never amount to  anything in life or appreciate what it is to be a somebody unless you  start off as a nobody .<br \/>\nSo what if you start at the bottom of  the food chain? Seeing things from the ground floor up lets you see what  it takes to distinguish yourself from the cafones around you. Don&#8217;t kid  yourself into thinking you can be a success overnight (remember, it  takes 10 years to be an overnight success).<\/p>\n<p>Let me further  illustrate this point by telling you about my nephew Vinnie. Vinnie is a  fine boy but he has no understanding of the word &#8220;patience&#8221; or having a  good work ethic. He tells me all the time: &#8220;Uncle, I want the big house  with three garages, I want the Mercedes, I want the expensive wines&#8230;&#8221;  That&#8217;s when I pull him by the ears and tell him: &#8220;Vinnie, outside of  these trust-fund idiots, do you see who typically has these things,  these fancy cars and large homes? It&#8217;s fat old f*cks, not young turks.  What makes you so special that you can skip steps?&#8221; He doesn&#8217;t realise  that there are ways to go from nobody to somebody and that it takes  time.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It&#8217;s not enough to be an authority on something &#8212; you have to be the authority to get recognized.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The  concept is easy, boys. All these guys with fancy things &#8212; guess what?  It took them a while to get them. First they started with the small  house that they paid off and turned into a down payment on a bigger  house, which they paid off again to get the big house with the fancy  marble walkway. Ever notice the gray hair and potbelly on guys with  mansions or in exotic sports cars? Lesson here is, don&#8217;t expect at 29  what everyone before you got at 59. Capisce? Good. Now on to some  practical advice.<\/p>\n<h2>9 ways to go from nobody to somebody<\/h2>\n<p>There is  never one single thing you do that can transform your importance  instantly. Even if you are elected Prime Minister, you get there by  climbing the ropes, following the code and being different levels of a somebody first. Unlike in the movies,  no kid is just going to get plucked from Ntcheu and win the general  election because he promises voters he&#8217;s going to &#8220;keep it real.&#8221; So  here are several pointers:<\/p>\n<h3>1- Get money<\/h3>\n<p>Buy your way into  being important. The more money you have, the more people want to lick  your arse and the more crap you get for free. Go figure. There is  nothing like walking into a place and saying: &#8220;I need to spend a lot of  money&#8221; to get you noticed. But this is fleeting importance, and having  cash isn&#8217;t enough to make you a permanent somebody.<\/p>\n<h3>2- Have street cred<\/h3>\n<p>In my line of work, once you are made or even if you are associated with a Family, you are a somebody. Having a reputation on the street helps, how you go about it is a whole other article.<\/p>\n<h3>3- Make a big move<\/h3>\n<p>There is nothing like a big move to get you noticed. Whether it&#8217;s a big  heist, a large merger or an important speech, you can climb up the  significance ladder pretty quickly by doing something that will be  archived in the history books (whether it&#8217;s the ones that get stored in a  library or in the Feds&#8217; private collection of mug shots).<\/p>\n<h3>4- Be an expert<\/h3>\n<p>Everyone always needs the opinion of other people. Even I can admit  when derivative pricing models theory is above my head. I have to call a  schmuck who can tell me what the hell that is. But when I call, I want  to call the best because I know the best knows what he is doing and how  he can help me before I even open my mouth. It&#8217;s not enough to be an  authority on something &#8212; you have to be <em>the<\/em> authority to get  recognised. So instead of being satisfied as a regular lawyer,  accountant, computer geek, whatever, be the best in your field. Have  some trait that is exclusive to you and don&#8217;t be a generic idiot like  most people<\/p>\n<h3>5- Take risks<\/h3>\n<p>This is hit and miss, but in life, certain risks  pay off. There are too many examples of things you can do, so I&#8217;m not  going to waste my time listing them, but just remember that very rarely  do guys like Harry &#8220;The Boring Office Clerk&#8221; make it big.<\/p>\n<h3>6- Have a spiel<\/h3>\n<p>You want to get noticed? You want to stand out from the crowd? Have  some unique &#8220;thing&#8221; people remember you by. It could be a unique look  (none of that earring or dyed-hair crap, though), a unique way of  talking, a smirk, a gesture, whatever. Have something that makes you  different, an original spiel that&#8217;s your calling card. The point is to  be quirky, be eccentric, have a presence, but don&#8217;t look like a fool.<\/p>\n<h3>7- Have a lady with significance<\/h3>\n<p>It&#8217;s amazing what having the right woman on your arm can do for you. Have some cursing, low-rate hillbilly at  your side who looks like she just stepped off a zombie movie set and  you&#8217;ll get one kind of reaction. Have a classy, sophisticated, cultured  woman whose self-confidence makes your own back straighten up (I bet you  all just straightened your backs), and you will win by association.  After all, the latter kind of lady is in high demand; if she is with  you, then it means you got something, kid, that others don&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<h3>8- Talk to people<\/h3>\n<p>Being connected doesn&#8217;t hurt. The more people you know, the more people  you have conversations with, the more you can open doors for yourself  or others. Don&#8217;t be a Rolodex whore who collects business cards like a  bum collects tin cans, but be someone who talks to people with a hidden  agenda and stays in touch. A rainmaker of sorts. Be the guy who gets  things done. Be Joe, the guy who knows this guy or that guy. That sort  of thing.<\/p>\n<h3>9- Have power<\/h3>\n<p>This is the most obvious way to  become a somebody . But accumulating power isn&#8217;t straightforward. Having  a position that inherently has power attached to it is the easiest way  to go. Being the CEO of a company, a big-shot consultant, a mayor of a  major town, a college dean, the boss of a Family, a bank manager,  whatever, all of that helps. But you already have to be a somebody to  get to those positions. So place yourself in positions where you can  wield power and influence, and the rest will inevitably follow.<\/p>\n<h2>hang out with power<\/h2>\n<p>There are other things you can do, but they are all gimmicks that have a  fleeting effect. For example, being the leader of some posse can make  you feel important, but if your &#8220;crew&#8221; is full of rejects from the X  Factor, how does that help you?<\/p>\n<p>It all comes down to doing a  combination of the nine things I mentioned before. Some are more  effective than others, some bring immediate results, some are part of a  long-term plan.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, being a somebody isn&#8217;t all it&#8217;s  cracked up to be (people always want a piece of you, and you become a  bigger target for your enemies), but it doesn&#8217;t suck. Especially when you don&#8217;t have to pretend you&#8217;re some neurosurgeon anymore.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Better Man in brief &#8230; You have to work at becoming somebody. One way to become a somebody is to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[694,335,695,696,697],"class_list":["post-2408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-well-being","tag-advice","tag-money","tag-power","tag-respect","tag-wealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}