Chapter 8: Creating Visibility

Overview

Julia Turner sat at the counter of Schwab’s Drugstore on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. As she sipped her soda, the 15-year-old beauty did not notice William Wilkerson, publisher of the Hollywood Reporter, watching her every move. He walked up and introduced himself to the young woman, and a star was born: Julia was discovered and transformed into the film goddess known as Lana Turner.

Now, that is visibility—you put yourself in the right place at the right time, and you are whisked off to fame and glory (or so the legend goes).

There are a couple of things wrong with this story. First, that meeting took place at the Top Hat Caf in Los Angeles (not Schwab’s), and second, it’s no longer 1935. The waiting-to-be-discovered approach does not work in this century; if you want to move ahead, you have to create a strategy for becoming visible.