By playing, you agree to uListen's Terms and Privacy Policy and YouTube's Terms of Service.
Tim FerrissTaking Responsibility for Your Life, Why Creators Need to Smash Limits, and Dealmaking Strategies
Summaries, chapters, transcripts, and FAQs on this page are made by uListen, not YouTube.
CHAPTERS
- 0:15 – 18:19
Stan Lee: How Todd First Met Him and Worked the Conventions
After Tim sets up closing the Marvel chapter, Todd explains who Stan Lee is and tells how he met him at 16 or 17 and later toured with him. He recounts stage stories, Stan's hearing trouble and his sad final years.
- •Stan Lee co-created many Marvel heroes, and Todd compares his global impact to Walt Disney's
- •At a mid-'70s convention Stan let teenage Todd sit beside him for about five hours of questions
- •Todd emceed Stan's Iron Man premiere event and then appeared with him on stage at many conventions
- •Stan lost his wife and later his hearing and eyesight, and Todd saw him at the last convention appearance
- 18:19 – 26:58
Lessons from Stan: Treating Fans Right and Enjoying the Ride
Todd reflects on Stan Lee's gift for making each fan feel special and on why there is no dumb fan question. Tim and Todd talk about Stan's gratitude and his offstage jokes, and Todd links that gratitude to his own Canadian outlook.
- •Stan made each person feel special in a 20-second autograph exchange
- •Todd says Stan was the same offstage as on stage and drew energy from the audience
- •Todd says there is no dumb question because it matters to the person asking
- •Todd ties the gratitude to feeling that your fame could end any day, with a Canadian flavor
- 26:58 – 37:59
Todd's Four Corners and Why He Built His Own Toy Company
Tim asks how Todd expanded beyond comics. Todd lays out his four cornerstones of movies, TV, video games and toys, and explains why he turned down big toy companies to make his own, funding it with his Image royalties.
- •Spawn topped the charts and ancillary merchandising offers poured in
- •Todd wanted a foundation in movies, TV, video games and toys
- •He felt big toy companies would market Spawn in traditional ways and risk tainting the brand
- •Industry leaders make things seem more complicated than they are, and he preferred spending his own money
- •Image royalties let him fund the toy company
- 37:59 – 45:45
Beating the Toy Giants: Value, Quality and Adding 3% Sexy
Todd explains his toy philosophy of pricing above competitors but delivering more value. He describes making toys with clay, factories and photo reference, and says entrepreneurs need only add a little to existing ideas.
- •He priced at $6.99 against $5.99 competitors and gave more plastic and quality
- •Toy making is clay sculpts, molds and Chinese factories
- •Todd says he never invented anything and just made things sexier, using the Steve Jobs glass-versus-plastic example
- •Big companies skip detail and paint because pennies add up
- •He makes the product as good as possible and prices it afterward
- 45:45 – 52:06
Dumb Luck at Toy Fair and the Toys "R" Us Break
Asked about distribution, Todd tells of his 1994 Toy Fair with a five-by-five-foot space and only a foam-core drawing. A Toys "R" Us buyer committed to going storewide, which set off a domino effect with other retailers.
- •He brought only a foam-core Spawn cutout and some Hot Wheels toys
- •The buyer's assistant said Todd was the guy he'd mentioned, and the buyer offered storewide placement
- •Todd says to always say yes to an opportunity and figure out delivery later
- •Walmart, Kmart and Target followed to avoid being beaten by competitors
- 52:06 – 1:00:22
Orders, Prototypes and Staying Small Against Giants
Tim probes the financial risk and how retail terms work. Todd explains talking buyers down from big orders, delivering prototypes that match the final product, and exploiting giant companies' slowness with R-rated and niche toys.
- •Toy and comic orders are non-returnable, so he talks buyers into smaller initial orders
- •Competitors used prototypes as concept cars that never matched the shelf product
- •His goal for the company is to get to zero each year, not maximize profit
- •He compares himself to a mosquito that big, slow companies cannot swat
- •Big companies avoided R-rated licenses, leaving room for adult collectors
- 1:00:22 – 1:07:59
Selling Toys in 1994 and Keeping Momentum
Tim asks how toys sold at retail before the internet and how placement fees work. Todd describes the leftover shelf space, the see-through packaging, and selling to non-traditional retailers that wanted what Walmart didn't carry.
- •Big brands take about 85% of an aisle, leaving a 15% hedge slice
- •Value and quality, visible through the packaging, were the plan with no internet
- •Momentum is like a DJ keeping people on the dance floor
- •Virgin, Tower, KB Toys and Hot Topic bought R-rated toys
- •Many of those retailers no longer exist
- 1:07:59 – 1:22:13
The $3 Million McGwire Baseball and Sports Licenses
Todd explains how buying Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball at auction brought headlines and opened doors to the sports leagues. He describes negotiating over logos and why he can't take his company public.
- •He couldn't get meetings with sports leagues until the ball made headlines
- •He had already licensed the NHL players union as a seed
- •He threatened the NHL's lawyers with a court fight or a $500,000 check, and they took the check
- •He held the four major league licenses for 13 years and earned back more than $3 million
- •He refused Wall Street offers that would have cost him control
- 1:22:13 – 1:31:01
Spawn on HBO: Smashing Creative Limits
Todd explains how HBO approached him and why he asked whether he could say a certain word in the show. He describes pushing animators past self-imposed guardrails, winning Emmys, and the show's cancellation over shared overhead.
- •He asked if he could use profanity to check for creative freedom and insisted on being in charge
- •Experienced animators often retreated to the status quo when freed
- •As the dumbest guy in the room he asked questions about time and money until nobody could say no
- •Spawn won Emmys but was cancelled after overhead from failed shows landed on its budget
- 1:31:01 – 1:48:42
Bilingual in Art and Business, Beating Goliath, and Juggling Five Balls
Todd explains why he learned business instead of complaining about it and cites his company's sales results against giant rivals. He describes the five-ball juggler lesson and acting like Phil Jackson by finding talent. He credits brand with his DC toy success.
- •He quit jobs and started companies instead of complaining
- •He calls himself bilingual, fluent in art first and business second
- •His small teams sold the top toy line and top comic book last year
- •He is a five-ball juggler who sets one down before picking up another
- •Brand and willingness to cut new molds let him beat larger competitors on DC toys
- 1:48:42 – 1:56:42
Music Videos, Eddie Vedder and the Momentum of Success
Todd tells how Eddie Vedder called to ask for an animated Pearl Jam video, which earned a Grammy nomination. He recounts the catch game that nearly overheated Vedder, and says success is needed to keep making art.
- •Vedder wanted animation so the band wouldn't appear in its own video
- •The video was nominated for a Grammy, and Vedder edited it himself
- •Vedder brought gloves in a briefcase for a catch game in 105-degree heat
- •Todd says opportunities cascaded from one project to the next
- •He says he needs success so he can do art tomorrow
- 1:56:42 – 2:00:19
The Surface Area of Luck and Taking Ten Thousand Shots
Tim brings up the idea of luck's surface area, and Todd extends the dumb-luck idea with a trick-shot metaphor. He says people see only the made shot, not the thousands of misses.
- •Tim mentions that you can increase the surface area on which luck can land
- •Todd compares luck to throwing a half-court shot after 10,000 misses
- •Perseverance after repeated no's produces the visible success
- 2:00:19 – 2:15:12
Building Characters That Outlive Their Creator
Tim asks about creating worlds that endure. Todd explains attrition, the purple-elephant funny car trick, and his goal of creating a character that outlives him. He describes making up Spawn as he goes.
- •Todd bristles at Hollywood asking for the ending of a new idea
- •Attrition keeps a brand in people's heads over time
- •The Spawn funny car's two-sided paint job vote was a ploy to make people look at the logo
- •His goal was a creation that would outlive him like a creative child
- •Spawn's living costume began as a continuity mistake he turned into mythology
- 2:15:12 – 2:32:06
Lower the Bar, Dance First, and Treating Life as War
Todd shifts to personalities and says he treats business as war. He advises lowering expectations, expecting no's and dancing first without caring who watches. He explains how he switches off conflict, which horrified his wife when doctors compared their vitals.
- •He lowers the bar by assuming each day won't be perfect
- •Expect rejection, and a 'yes' becomes a pleasant surprise
- •If you've never been first on the dance floor you may not be built to be an entrepreneur
- •He turns off conflict after calls with lawyers while the other side stews
- •His vitals matched his wife's after a shouting call, which horrified her
- 2:32:06 – 2:43:13
Be the Second Person and Closing Encouragement
Todd shares what he tells MBA students: not how to make money but how to keep their humanity, using a hypothetical terminal diagnosis exercise to ask whether they would be the richest or the best person. He closes by encouraging listeners to try entrepreneurship and Tim thanks him.
- •He tells MBA students he won't teach them how to make money
- •The terminal-diagnosis exercise asks whom you'd pick to help someone you love
- •He urges them to be the best person, not the richest
- •He says everyone should try entrepreneurship once, since failing is like a haircut that grows back
- •Tim thanks Todd and points listeners to the show notes
