A Doodle And A Dream: How McFarlane Turned Spawn Into A Success
A Doodle And A Dream: How McFarlane Turned Spawn Into A Success
Diversification: Early on in his career, McFarlane made the mistake of only focusing on his comic book, on relentlessly improving every aspect of his drawings until it was perfected. But, what he learned in the years to come was that in order to attain the kind of success that he wanted, with “50 billion people” seeing his artwork, he would have to diversify. And so, he branched out and created the two highly successful companies, McFarlane Toys and Todd McFarlane Entertainment.
Stubbornness: When McFarlane thinks of an idea, he pursues it until it has been realized. He does not care if his colleagues object to it, nor does he care what their opinions on it may be. What McFarlane says goes, and that is what he sees as the beauty of having his own company.
Vision: “I didn’t become a successful businessman because I wanted to be rich and famous,” says McFarlane. “I wanted to become successful enough to deliver the art to the consumer.” McFarlane may own his own toy company, but that does not mean that with each film he produces he exploits it to its fullest potential. McFarlane aims to create the best product possible, whatever that may be, and he refuses to sell out and sacrifice his work for a buck.
Current: McFarlane was quick to realize the mistake that many of his competitors were making: they were releasing similar products to those they released years ago, not realizing that their key fans and target demographic had grown up. Where the likes of Batman failed, McFarlane wanted to succeed. For instance, where the Spawn sequel was concerned, he made sure that the film was updated to suit the tastes of his now older and more mature viewers.
Uniqueness: McFarlane’s comic creations always stood out for one simple reason: his story lines and characters were simple and ordinary, save the main character. It was by making his characters unique in a sea of plainness that they became so popular. So too did McFarlane focus the rest of his company on creating unique content, refusing to ever settle for good enough.
“At the end of all that, I’ve got a company and an empire, and we make money,” says McFarlane. “But I will tell you that there has never been one day along that process when I’ve thought, ‘I just want to build up a company, go public and have stocks!’ No. There’s a reason why, after all these years, my company is still private. I want to be big enough to have the freedom creatively, and small enough to retain it. That’s the niche that I want.”
A Doodle And A Dream How McFarlane Turned Spawn Into A Success
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“In all honesty, I wouldn’t say that the business end of it came with any kind of ease,” says McFarlane. “It was more Darwinian. You have to learn business if you’re going to be self-employed and survive. If you’re a bad businessperson and you’re an entrepreneur, you’re going to be out of business.” Drawing had always been his passion, but not once did McFarlane consider it a career choice. That is, until an injury forced him to reexamine his life. How did this young man with nothing but a dream in mind and a doodle in hand become the success he is today?
Diversification: Early on in his career, McFarlane made the mistake of only focusing on his comic book, on relentlessly improving every aspect of his drawings until it was perfected. But, what he learned in the years to come was that in order to attain the kind of success that he wanted, with “50 billion people” seeing his artwork, he would have to diversify. And so, he branched out and created the two highly successful companies, McFarlane Toys and Todd McFarlane Entertainment.
Stubbornness: When McFarlane thinks of an idea, he pursues it until it has been realized. He does not care if his colleagues object to it, nor does he care what their opinions on it may be. What McFarlane says goes, and that is what he sees as the beauty of having his own company.
Vision: “I didn’t become a successful businessman because I wanted to be rich and famous,” says McFarlane. “I wanted to become successful enough to deliver the art to the consumer.” McFarlane may own his own toy company, but that does not mean that with each film he produces he exploits it to its fullest potential. McFarlane aims to create the best product possible, whatever that may be, and he refuses to sell out and sacrifice his work for a buck.
Current: McFarlane was quick to realize the mistake that many of his competitors were making: they were releasing similar products to those they released years ago, not realizing that their key fans and target demographic had grown up. Where the likes of Batman failed, McFarlane wanted to succeed. For instance, where the Spawn sequel was concerned, he made sure that the film was updated to suit the tastes of his now older and more mature viewers.
Uniqueness: McFarlane’s comic creations always stood out for one simple reason: his story lines and characters were simple and ordinary, save the main character. It was by making his characters unique in a sea of plainness that they became so popular. So too did McFarlane focus the rest of his company on creating unique content, refusing to ever settle for good enough.
“At the end of all that, I’ve got a company and an empire, and we make money,” says McFarlane. “But I will tell you that there has never been one day along that process when I’ve thought, ‘I just want to build up a company, go public and have stocks!’ No. There’s a reason why, after all these years, my company is still private. I want to be big enough to have the freedom creatively, and small enough to retain it. That’s the niche that I want.”
A Doodle And A Dream How McFarlane Turned Spawn Into A Success
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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