…coming in from school, I loved nothing more than throwing my school bag under the stairs and heading to the TV to veg out on my favorite cartoons.
Although not one of my favorites, He-Man kept me amused while I was waiting for something better to come on I preferred when he was He-Man rather than his alter ego, who was a bit of a dim wit.
How the show came about is very interesting. And something that’s discussed in the new ‘The Power Of Grayskull’ documentary on Netflix.
For one, the toy came before the cartoon. Which was unusual back then, as most toys came from movies and TV shows. The problem with that way of doing things is that when the movie or TV show goes away you’re left with toys that no one wants. – Not a good thing for a toy company.
For another, most of the great ideas and look of the character came about because of limited money or resources. For example, the battle cat that He-Man rides on, was because they didn’t have the money to create a new vehicle for him. – They simply reused a tiger from another toy line and painted it green.
Even He-Man’s famous ‘I’ve got the power’ slogan came about from watching children playing with the toy.
To outside world, it seemed like they knew what they were doing. On the inside, it was more of, what if we put that with that? What if he did that? What if we created a giveaway comic with each toy? What if we created a cartoon?
Each decision was one of, throw it at the wall and see if it sticks. If it doesn’t, let’s just throw something else at it.
And lo and behold they got more right than wrong.
But what’s all this got to do with me, you’re thinking.
I’ll get to that.
1 – You don’t need to know it all before you begin. – Get started now. Learn what works and what doesn’t. Do more of the things that work, but always try out new things. – Something better might be right under your nose.
2 – How can you wring more use of what you’ve made? – The He-Man toy became a free comic, then a DC comic strip, and then became a cartoon.
How can you change the format, or make more from your work? What about making sequels, prequels, companion books, reports, T-shirts, mugs, or anything else you can from the stuff you’ve already made.
3 – They didn’t allow not having enough money or experience stop them. In fact, they told their potential buyers that they already had a cartoon created before they’d even looked into doing one or knew where to go to.
So what could you jump into before you’re ready?
How about telling your audience about the next sequel before you’ve even started writing it? Maybe even selling it before it’s made?
What about announcing your new podcast or website before you’ve even bought a microphone or a domain name?
There’s nothing stopping you. And with your back to the wall, you’ll do all you can to make it happen. Because now you have to.
There’s no wishy, washy, ‘Oh some day I’ll get around to it,’ thinking and acting.
Do that, and I promise you’ll get more done by the end of this year than you did in all the months leading up to now.
Jump before you’re ready.
It worked for He-Man, it can work for you too.
PS – The calendar keyword are still on sale here – and yep it’s a PayPal link. – So you won’t find a any dazzling words to get you to open your wallet. – You’ll simply get over 2000 words for less than ten bucks.
