Turn Your Collections into Valuable Ways to Meet Celebrities

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Do you enjoy meeting celebrities?

Do you like collecting?

Do you find it rewarding to develop a plan and see it fulfilled?

If you answered "yes" to all of these questions, this blog post may be helpful for you.

Collections are for some all about bragging rights. But to enjoy bragging rights, you need someone to brag to.

For billionaires, collections offer all sorts of possibilities. If the subject matter is narrow enough, they may be able to have the world's finest collection. If that which is collected has economic value, putting it into a collection may enhance that value by increasing awareness of the objects or helping them be better understood. If others crave seeing the items, the billionaire will receive flattering attention as others seek access. And of course, there's the personal tour of the collection as an ego-stroking opportunity.

How much do billionaires spend on collections? The amounts are virtually limitless . . . and certainly exceed a billion.

How can you hope to attract celebrities with your collection?

You have several disadvantages versus a billionaire:

1. You cannot spend a lot of money on the collection.

2. You will not attract as much attention as a billionaire can purchase.

3. You don't know as many celebrities as a billionaire does.

Let's look at how you can overcome those disadvantages.

1. Choose your collecting with the celebrities you want to meet in mind.

Celebrities have their own passions. By matching your collection to the passions they display, a given celebrity is more likely to want to see your collection than that of anyone else who didn't aim at the celebrity's interests.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

a. Many items were not considered collectibles until recently, and celebrities may be interested in revisiting their past. You can help fill that gap for them. For instance, a television star may not have kept shooting scripts from old shows. These scripts can often be purchased without autographs for a few dollars. When you show the scripts to your favorite celebrity and share your favorite lines with them, you can increase the value of the scripts by having your celebrity autograph the script . . . and possibly even share a story with you about that episode which you can tape and type up to keep with the script.

b. The celebrity may have a pre-existing passion that you share.

Many people are interested, for instance, in teddy bears. My sister collects teddy bears and often attracts interest from celebrities by showing them teddy bears that are modeled on the celebrity or a role they played.

c. Collect arts and crafts that can be customized.

You can look for items that fit the celebrity's interests or relate to the celebrity's life. For instance, I'm sure Tiger Woods would enjoy seeing more kinds of hand-made head covers made like tigers.

2. Tie in your collection to some benefit for a charity the celebrities support.

Many collections aren't very portable. If yours can be portable and easy to display and protect, you may be able to set it up at charity fund-raisers that celebrities attend. Normally, you would also be invited as a guest to the event and introduced to the celebrities.

In considering this path, evaluate the opportunity to create a collection that will be related somehow to the charity as well. In that way, you will have a natural connection that will grow over the years. Charity volunteers will probably help you find new items for your collection.

3. Write to celebrities to learn their suggestions for how to improve your collection and make it helpful to them.

In many cases, your collection will be like an archive of their career. By explaining what items you have and what you plan to add, you can ask for suggestions about what else to add. In many cases, the celebrity will be in a position to help you acquire those items.

Such a selfless contact is also likely to lead to an invitation to bring the collection around for a viewing during a personal meeting.

Write to the celebrity through her or his agent or a posted fan address.

4. Seek publicity about your collection.

While most people imagine themselves as being on Oprah to share what they collect, a better place to begin is with your local newspaper. Most such publications put a premium on profiling items and people of local interest. Those stories are often picked up by the local metropolitan newspaper . . . and from there to national publications and network television shows.

Always seek out reporters when you display your collection for a charitable organization. The charity often will have someone working on such publicity and you can share your ideas for possible stories related to current events with them.

5. Publish a coffee table book about your collection.

With digital photography and print-on-demand publishing, you can create a beautiful hard cover book for less than $1,500 that will attract celebrities and display your items attractively. See my blog entry from October 7 for more information on how to do this.

Such a book will increase the value of your collection by more than its cost. And you'll have a ball making the book.

You can arrange with a charity to provide some of these books as items for auctions. They will help you find celebrities willing to autograph the books to increase their value. Naturally, you can expect to have a chance to meet the celebrities while they sign.

You'll also be ahead of most billionaires . . . who never bother to publish a book about their collections.

Can any billionaire do better? I don't think so!

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N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color. Many thanks to Linda Grace for her suggestions which I am following!

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Here are some upcoming subjects:

Tomorrow, you and I will visit the newly expanded and renovated Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts for a remarkable look at America's and China's pasts. This will give you a choice in case you decide to visit Salem for pre-Halloween festivities.

Wednesday, take a thrilling ride on the world's best theme park attractions!

Thursday, I will describe the life-changing experience I had in hearing Dr. Masaru Emoto describe on October 6, 2005 what he has learned about the nature of human thought from photographing water crystals.

Friday, I'll share my preparations for viewing the Michigan-Penn State game in Ann Arbor as model of how to enjoy college football better than a billionaire.

Saturday, let's look at how to plan a party that any billionaire would envy!

If you are new to this blog, be sure to check out the updated table of contents entry that I posted on October 5. The table of contents will help you find earlier entries that may be of interest. I'll update this table of contents every week or so for your convenience.

August 31 was the most frequently read blog entry to date. Be sure to check it out!

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea.

Check out the latest index at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005/10/latest-table-of-contents-to-this-blogs.html to pick out your choice.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell