Meet the Author of The Art of a Successful Life

During your career, you’ve been a historian, journalist, entrepreneur and real estate investor. That’s quite an unusual combination. How did it all begin? 

I studied history and political science and got my first doctorate in history. My doctoral dissertation dealt with Adolf Hitler’s worldview with a particular focus on his social and economic policies and was awarded the best possible grade, “summa cum laude.” I then worked as a historian at the Free University of Berlin for a few years before switching to the world of book publishing.

I was editor-in-chief and member of the management board of what was the third-largest German book publishing group at the time, Ullstein-Propyläen. I then took a position at the daily newspaper Die Welt, one of the largest, most highly regarded daily newspapers in Germany, where I headed numerous departments before ending up as head of the real estate section. During my time with Die Welt, I realised that most real estate companies know very little about public relations and most PR companies know very little about real estate. That’s when I had the idea to found a PR company that would focus exclusively on serving clients within the real estate industry.

When you set up your PR agency? How did you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry?

Back then, there were about 2,000 PR agencies in Germany. Most of them were all-rounders, working with clients in every conceivable industry. I have always believed that you need a truly unique selling proposition (USP). It is not enough to be better (we were), you also need to be different. Our USP was our very specific real estate expertise and our exclusive focus on this one industry. Companies came to me because people were saying, “Zitelmann, he’s the undisputed real estate PR specialist.” That’s how we became the market leader in our niche.

It is generally accepted that entrepreneurs and investors need to take risks if they want to make big profits. You have made a lot of money despite being very security oriented. What can you tell us about risk and security?

Yes, I’m pretty security oriented. That’s why I didn’t start my own business until I was 43 years old. And when I did, I already had firm commitments from seven clients. I built my company with a keen eye on minimizing risk. For example, we didn’t normally make more than 3% of our turnover from one client. And being prudent also meant making very high profits. We made an average return on sales of 48% over a 15-year period. Too many companies don’t have big enough profit margins.

After all, it’s only a very small step from making a small profit to making a loss. I then used the money I earned with the PR company to invest in the Berlin real estate market. Some people would describe my real estate investments as high risk because I sometimes took out mortgages worth more than 100% of the initial property value, i.e. I bought real estate without using any of my own money. According to conventional wisdom, this is a high-risk approach. But I didn’t and still don’t see the risk in buying real estate with initial yields between 8% and 15%, as I did at that time. Where is the risk? Any idiot can make big profits by taking big risks. The trick is to make big profits with low risk (which others wrongly perceive as high). And that is exactly how I became wealthy.

Your real estate investments have always been extremely profitable, but you have now sold most of your properties – why?

I acquired my properties when almost everyone said it investing in real estate in Berlin was a crazy idea. At that time, rents and residential property prices were very low, and in some cases they were even falling. Ten years later, everyone was scrambling to buy residential property in Berlin.

For example, I bought an apartment building for 1.2 million euros in 2004 and sold it ten years later for 4.2 million euros. I bought another property for 1.8 million euros in 2009 and sold it for 7.5 million euros ten years later. And I made a fair few deals like that. I sold my properties because the Berlin market was on fire and property prices had risen to unsustainable levels. On top of that, Berlin has a very left-wing government that has introduced legislation that effectively expropriates private landlords. Investing in Berlin today is almost like investing in Venezuela. That was another reason I decided to sell most of my real estate in Berlin. But I still own properties in other German cities and in the United States.

Nowadays, you are primarily an author and guest speaker. What do you hope to achieve with your books? Who do you write your books for – and what motivates you? 

I hope to achieve lots of different things with my books:

With Hitler. The Policy of Seduction, The Wealth Elite or The Rich in Public Opinion, I want to make a lasting contribution to the world of science. I hope that 100 years from now the scientific community will still regard these three books as milestones in scientific research.

With a book such as The Power of Capitalism, together with the more political articles I write for newspapers in Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Great Britain and the United States, I want to influence the political debate.

With Dare to Be Different and Grow Rich and The Art of a Successful Life, I would like to provide young people (and others) with an immediate added value in their lives and help them to strive for and achieve even bigger goals.

In addition to your popular books, such as Dare to Be Different and Grow Rich, you have also written major scientific studies, including The Wealth Elite and, most recently, The Rich in Public Opinion. How do these scientific books differ from your popular books?

Even with my scientific books, I try to make them generally understandable so they can be appreciated by every reader—by the typical reader of The Times, for example. Of course, writing a scientific work does also mean that I have to reflect on the research discussion and methods in more detail.

Your books are especially successful in Asia, in countries such as India, South Korea and China. You are now planning to publish them in Vietnam. Why do you think readers in Asia are so enthusiastic about your books?

Yes, my books are published all around the world, but they have enjoyed the greatest success in Asia, in countries such as the People’s Republic of China, India and South Korea. People in Asia are “hungrier” and more ambitious than people in other parts of the world. In the United States, for example, Asians represent just 4% of the total population, but they account for a quarter of all students at the country’s elite universities.

And that number would be far higher if Americans stopped discriminating so outrageously against Asians who apply for places at their best universities. I had an Asian girlfriend for a long time and came to know and admire the culture and ambition of people in Asia. I like Americans, but unfortunately many Americans think they already know everything and have nothing to learn from foreigners. Asians are more inquisitive. In the words of Confucius: “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest”.

In The Art of a Successful Life, you have compiled and commented on more than 200 proverbs, sayings and aphorisms from 2,500 years of human history – from Confucius to Steve Jobs. What is your favourite quotation?

Michelangelo, the Italian painter, sculptor and architect once said: “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” I think he was absolutely right. Imagine how painful it must be as you get older to have to ask yourself whether you couldn’t have achieved far more in life if only you had dared to aim higher? Most people never achieve any great successes because they never aim high enough for great goals. Imagine aiming for an ambitious goal and achieving it.

That’s an incredible feeling. You know your plans have worked out. But now ask yourself whether you might not have been able to achieve an even more ambitious goal. What are the chances that your plans would still have panned out? When in doubt, it’s always better to set your goals higher than you think you can achieve, rather than contenting yourself with what is easily and safely within reach. Bear in mind Michelangelo’s advice—it might change your life. Why don’t you aim higher? Are you scared that you might not achieve everything you aim for? Then you have already failed, because you are unlikely to achieve more than you dare believe possible. “Nobody knows how far his strength will take him until he has tested it,” observed Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Your latest book, Die Kunst, berühmt zu werden (English: The Art of Being Famous) is going to be published in Germany in July. Can you tell us a little about the new book? And will there be an English edition?

In an age when self-marketing plays an increasingly important role in getting ahead in life, this book examines the methods used by prominent figures from the most diverse fields imaginable—including science, sport and business—to establish themselves as distinctive brands and attract worldwide attention. The figures I write about couldn’t be more different, from Albert Einstein, born in 1879, to Kim Kardashian, born 101 years later, but they were all masters in the art of self-marketing.

I write about Karl Lagerfeld, Stephen Hawking, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Muhammad Ali, Andy Warhol, Madonna and Steve Jobs. I analyse the strategies they used to transform themselves into brands and distil these insights to provide readers with valuable take-aways that can be applied in their own lives and careers. At the moment I am still looking for a publisher in the UK or the United States. The book has already been translated into English and the first overseas publisher to express an interest is from Russia. In Germany, not a single day goes by without several articles about the book being published.

You were one of the leading PR experts in Germany. But you say that most authors and publishers underestimate the importance of PR. What is the significance of PR for you?

I’d also like to answer this question with a quote, one from a man who achieved everything in life thanks to PR. In his autobiography, Arnold Schwarzenegger writes: “No matter what you do in life, selling is part of it. … People can be great poets, great writers, or geniuses in the lab. But you can do the finest work and if people don’t know, you have nothing! In politics it’s the same: no matter whether you’re working on environmental policy or education or economic growth, the most important thing is to make people aware.” I couldn’t agree more wholeheartedly. Most authors think that their work is done when they have finished writing a book and it has been published. In my opinion, that is precisely when the work really starts: negotiating international licenses and then doing press work and public relations in every single country.

If a book of mine is published, then I want to go to the country and help raise its profile and spread the word, whether it’s the United States, South Korea or China. I also like to talk about my books with readers and journalists in every country. When a book of mine is published, I give numerous interviews every single day. I like that because I write the books for a reason, to share my insights with other people. And that is exactly what I do in my interviews. I also started using Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in Germany last year and now have more than 50,000 very active and highly engaged followers. I am also active on social media in China. In English, I just started the day before yesterday and I think have about 30 followers so far, so I’d be really happy if everyone who reads this interview follows me on social media afterwards.