Run it Like Ryan: Five Business Secrets From a Hollywood Mogul

I first became aware of Ryan Seacrest during his tenure as host of American Idol. For the first few seasons, I enjoyed the show and also liked the host. He was the perfect blend of wit and cotton candy; exactly the ticket for an hour of escapism. I wrote him off as a lightweight who would inevitably disappear whenever the series ended.

I was wrong.

What I didn't know about Seacrest (hidden behind the smiling face and charming banter) was that he was already on his way to becoming one of the biggest moguls in Hollywood and perhaps its hardest working resident. Since ditching college at the age of 19 and relocating to Tinseltown, he's put together an impressive cadre of wins.

He is the producer of multiple TV shows, on-screen talent for several, a major force in radio, Internet, fashion, and the entertainment business. According to the Gazette Review, he has a net worth of 375 million dollars. How does a 19 year old kid show up in Hollywood and produce such such hefty results? I believe it's all about Ryan's philosophy of life. We can learn from him.

So here are my top Five Ryanisms to have you ballin' like a bigwig.

1. Outwork everyone. Gary Vaynerchuk, the entrepreneur and social media maven, sings this anthem like a personal theme song. His point is that hard work has become underrated. One school of thought says that we should work smarter, not harder. That's true. But to achieve mogul-level success, you have to double down on the hard part. You can't just be smart. You need smarts, but you also need to grind it out daily. You can beat most of your competition by outworking them. Put in more hours, take less time off, sacrifice more, stay on your game, go all in. Seacrest succeeds because he outworks his competitors, plain and simple.

2. Know what you want. Ryan knew what he wanted at an early age. He got an internship at a radio station in his native Atlanta, at 16 years old. There he received training on the inner workings of the business and mentorship from veterans who saw promise in him. He got his first on-air break when the scheduled jock called in sick. Three years later he was off to La La Land with a one-way ticket. That would not have been possible if Ryan had waffled. Knowing exactly what he wanted placed him in position to not just seize opportunities, but to make them.

3. Think bigger. Seacrest wasn't satisfied being on camera. He wanted to own the cameras. Stop and think about that for a moment. There's a huge gulf in those two positions. Some would have been satisfied being an on-screen talent, earning a multi-million dollar salary. Seacrest pushed for more. He always saw American Idol as a springboard for his other ambitions. He's now fully in front of the camera, behind the camera and the owner of the camera. You're only limited by your own thinking.

4. Don't waste time. Seacrest is known for having little time for small talk. He's also famous for never attending useless meetings. There's a book by Patrick Lencioni called, Death By Meeting. There's a lot of truth to that title. Calculate the time you waste in unnecessary meetings and you may solve your productivity issues. There's a time to work and a time to play. The key is to seriously work when you're at work and to turn off the noise when you're at rest.

5. Build a great team. There's no way you can manage as many moving parts as Seacrest without a top team. This is not necessarily intuitive, but essential to success. The formula is: great teams = multiplied greatness. The opposite is also true. Mediocre support multiplies mediocrity. You don't get to mogul status by being blasé. Lesson? Choose your team members extremely well.

There are other things that I like about Seacrest. I admire how he's honored his mentors in the business like the late, Dick Clark, and his philanthropic efforts. On a human level, it's nice to see a beating heart behind the kingpin.

Thanks for reading my post. I'm an attorney and Christian minister. I'm also a #keynote #speaker and an author. I write about business, life and faith, focusing on how to know God's vision for your life so that you may fulfill your purpose. You may connect further with me here or by clicking below!