What Is 'It' And How Can It Help You?

Gossip columnist Paula Froelich knows all about how celebrities rise and fall out of the Hollywood spotlight.

A fixture on the New York Post's "Page Six" and a regular on "Entertainment Tonight," Froelich is out with a book whose title says it all, "It! 9 Secrets of the Rich and Famous That Will Take You to the Top."

Those nine basics:

Rule #1: FIND WHATEVER IT IS YOU ARE GOOD AT, AND DO IT!
Rule #2: Don't try to fake a talent you really don't have!
Rule #3: Don't know what you're good at? Ask someone to help you figure it out.
Rule #4: Learn to enjoy the spotlight: Be the star of your own stage.
Rule #5: Educate yourself. Knowledge is power.
Rule #6: Formulate a flexible plan of attack, and stick to it.
Rule #7: If you want it enough, you can get it -- but don't sell yourself short.
Rule #8: Never be mean to waiters -- what goes around comes around.
Rule #9: People are going to hate you, so have a hide like a rhino -- and above all, don't give them a reason to bring you down!

Froelich contends that people can make or break themselves.

"I just watch stars on the rise and stars on the fall," she told co-anchor Hannah Storm on The Early Show Monday, "and I just kind of thought, 'You know, someone ought to tell everyone out there that you can do this. There's a formula to it, and stars are made and not born."

The first thing Froelich suggests is figuring out what you're good at, and doing it. She uses Donald Trump as an example.

"You know," Froelich observed, "the thing is, I think a lot of people are raised to be a doctor, a lawyer, a banker, and they don't really know that there are other jobs out there. And, you know, there's Donald Trump, who realized, you know what? He's great at real estate, but he's even better at marketing. You know, at one point, Donald Trump was on the verge of bankruptcy. And I remember, when I worked at Dow Jones, he came in and told this story about when he was married to Marla Maples, and he looked at her, and there was a bum on the street, and he said, 'That bum has more money than us.' And Marla was like, 'What?' Donald figured out, through the sheer power of marketing and his own strength of will, how to turn his business around, and he marketed his name and, yes, even his hair!"What, Storm wondered, is Paris Hilton's talent, exactly?

"A lot of people say, 'What does Paris do?' Froelich responded. "To you, I say, 'Well, Hannah, can you go out till 3:00 in the morning and dance on the tables every night?' "

Storm admitted she can't.

"And the thing is," Froelich continued, "that everyone likes the pretty girl at the party. You're at a party, and there she walks in and you go, 'Hee hee, entertainment. Look over there!' "

The converse of Froelich's fist tip is her second: Don't try to fake a talent that you don't have. Several reality TV stars are examples, she says: "I look at it like, I once met a lawyer who was just miserable, and you could tell he was miserable. And I just thought, 'You know, you got to do something else.' And you look at these reality show people who, like maybe Zora (Andrich) from 'Joe Millionaire.' She was a teacher, loved being a teacher. Then, all of a sudden, she gets the reality bug and likes the fame and likes the cameras, and just goes, 'No, no, no, now I'm going to do this'. And you just go, 'Please! … What are you doing?' "

Another basic tip: Have a team, have a plan of attack. Do, for instance, what Jennifer Lopez did: Make yourself a star.

"I think," Froelich explained, "people don't understand that, behind every single star is a team of people, be it hair, makeup, publicity, manager, agent, everything. And you can learn how to be your own team. You know, look at Jennifer Lopez. God love her, she's the hardest working woman in show business. … Or Jennifer Aniston. When she first started on "friends," she was made through a haircut!"

To read an excerpt of "It! 9 Secrets of the Rich and Famous That Will Take You to the Top," click here.