Trump: How to Get Rich

Brand Yourself and Toot Your Horn

I was originally going to call Trump Tower by another name—Tiffany Tower, for the famous jewelry store next door. I asked a friend, Do you think it should be Trump Tower or Tiffany Tower? He said, When you change your name to Tiffany, call it Tiffany Tower.

We’ve all seen the power of a brand name, especially quality brand names. Coco Chanel became world-famous eighty years ago by naming her first perfume Chanel No. 5, and it’s still going strong in a fiercely competitive market. Her fragrance, as well as her name, has become timeless. She proved that the right ingredients can create a legend.

Trump has become a great brand name, due to my rigorous standards of design and quality. We all admire Rolls-Royce cars, and I see every one of my ventures as being just that elite. Being a stickler has paid off, because my buildings are considered to be the finest in the world. That may sound like bragging, but it’s also a fact. I’ve never been one to confuse facts with fiction. In 2003,Chicago Tribune real estate columnist Mary Umberger attributed the sales for Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago to The Trump Factor. Umberger reported: The sales velocity surprises even experienced real-estate players, who told me at the sales inaugural that they doubted Trump would gain enough momentum because Chicago’s luxury market was—and is—in a lull.

Some people have written that I’m boastful, but they’re missing the point. I believe in what I say, and I deliver the goods. If you’re devoting your life to creating a body of work, and you believe in what you do, and what you do is excellent, you’d better damn well tell people you think so. Subtlety and modesty are appropriate for nuns and therapists, but if you’re in business, you’d better learn to speak up and announce your significant accomplishments to the world—nobody else will.

When I’m setting the price for a luxury apartment, I consider a lot of factors—the market, the location, and the competition. Then I set my own standards. Once, when some top-of-the-line apartments weren’t selling, I upped the prices, way over the competition. They started selling immediately.

I view my work as an art form and approach it with the same intensity and ego as any ambitious artist would. I never planned on becoming a brand name, but the fit of my aesthetic nature with each product I became involved with has resulted in an expanding network of interests. The success of the Trump name worldwide has been a surprise.

It’s been a good surprise. For example, using my name on a building carries with it a promise of the highest quality available and at least a $5-million price tag. That’s just for the name, because it will be worth it to the developers, and they know it. That building will be up to my standards. When I remember the line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet—What’s in a name?—I have to laugh. What’s in a name can be far more than either the Bard or I ever could have imagined.

We’ve all noticed the ascendancy of brand names and the power they have, from Levi’s to Louis Vuitton. Some people are against this widespread branding, seeing it as another form of labeling. I see it as a viable outlet for creativity.

If you’re on the brink of success in your career, some snob might ask you dismissively, You don’t want to become a brand name, do you? Anyone who asks you that does not have the big picture in focus—and they are usually just envious.

I can get a project off the ground in no time now, whereas an unknown developer would require many months, if not years, to get something going. The number of people I employ to get a project finished reaches into the thousands, and those people would not have a building to work on without a developer to give them a job. Commerce and art cannot function independently—they must work together. That is the beauty of a successful brand name.

If there is a downside to being a well-known name, it is that you become an easy target. The media needs to tear down what it builds up; that’s just part of journalism—stories are about heroes and villains, or success and failure. If you’re a brand name, they’re going to take a shot at you. It comes with the territory, and I’ve learned to live with it. As we say on The Apprentice: It’s not personal. It’s business.

Fortunately, if you have the critics who matter on your side, reading the newspaper can be a lot of fun. Herbert Muschamp, the architecture critic for The New York Times, is a scholar and an authority when it comes to buildings. To receive a compliment from him has an intrinsic value that will never diminish. When he wrote an article on Trump World Tower and described it as a handsome hunk of a glass tower, I was very honored. Here’s more of what he wrote:

Although Donald Trump prefers to publicize the aggressive side of his nature—it’s the manly thing to do—he is also the only beauty freak at large in New York City real estate development…. It’s not surprising that unofficial approval of Trump’s building should come by way of the Museum of Modern Art. The tower embodies the Miesian aesthetic through which the Modern’s design department’s taste was initially formulated—I hope Trump sticks with this material. Trump does better when he ignores his critics than when he pays attention to them.

So don’t be afraid to toot your own horn when you’ve done something worth tooting about.

And don’t believe the critics unless they love your work.