You have all known me in IGAL for some time now. Or, at least, you thought you have. Since many of you are friends and all are colleagues, I think it is only honest that I come clean. Kind of, like, a soul cleansing. I can’t keep it inside any longer and wish I had done it earlier.
Several years ago, more like five, and after a somewhat successful career in business, I decided to become an influencer. You know, make a 180 degree turn in my life.
It was a high time to substitute an office setting where risk is managed, laws followed, clients advised, money counted, for something far more exciting.
Let me get to the end of my experience first.
The move has proved highly successful and rewarding. I have more than a million followers. If you are on social media, I guarantee that you have heard of me and, most likely, envied me on my exploits. The catch is that there, I am known under a different name and persona. I will not reveal my identity here and spoil the fun I have been having.
I kind of like this double life I lead.
And, yes, I still show up at IGAL meetings as my old, drab, accountant self. I wear the same tie and tell a few jokes. Borrrrrring. My other universe is quite different.
It all started out with the eye-make up, a wig, Brunello Cucinelli suit/shoes and a borrowed BMW. The idea was to go to this five-star hotel in Seattle and hang out. You know, see and be seen. Maybe, tell a few jokes there, too.
I set up in the hotel’s bar and after a few Negronis I started to face time with my newly created platform.
I was fortunate in having confided my escapade to a client who builds a great number of apartments and condominiums. As a result, his companies advertise a lot.
That is what initially brought a bunch of traffic to my channel. His following, not mine. But I captured and made them mine.
I informed everyone that I was living at the hotel, took pictures of a suite I talked the front desk into showing me, told them it was my home, showed pictures of a $40 hamburger I ordered.
People are gullible and depressed. Most of them are and, consequently, want to believe that having a hotel suite and a BMW is the road to happiness.
I was encouraged by my early success.
My next appearance was at a well-known Los Angeles hotel. This time, in a rented Ferrari. There, I had to bribe the front desk to let me film the suite. Hey, further up you go the more expensive it becomes. I was hanging by the pool, eating a fruit salad, and telling everyone that they can do it too. Bathe in the sun, loiter by the pool and make money doing it. Selling hope, ideas, rented Ferraris. Selling empty air. My ever-increasing number of followers were starting to wait in line to buy it.
It took a bit of time, but it grew from there. The fanciest hotels in Paris, London, Hong Kong, and the like. Sometimes I show up with an entourage of bodyguards and starlets. But check this out, Lambos and Ferraris are no longer rented; hotel suites are no longer just filmed. All is offered to me for free in exchange for advertising. Best job I ever had.
Everyone is making money off the misguided hopes of the masses of hard-working people who are raising families and making sure they have that report on their boss’s desk on time, among other things. They yearn for a glamorous life. They embrace fantasies and believe in them. They want to become me. That just makes them work harder. And so on.
Meanwhile, I am reaping the benefits. I am selling dreams. Living them? Depends on your perspective.
Next time you see me, think about it. I’ll be in my old role: some accountant from Seattle.
But, out there, far out there, in the ether, if you blindly follow and believe in me, your wildest dreams will come true.
by Mike Djordjevich
Address :
321 High School Road #303
Bainbridge Island
WA 98110
USA
Telephone : +1 661 645 5572
Email : mike@mdj-cpa.com
Website : http://www.mdj-cpa.com