Lately I’ve been thinking about Richard Branson’s way of doing business, and how it relates to the world of animation or film producing. In his 44 years as a bootstrapped entrepreneur he has amassed more than 400 companies in his Virgin Group and made a fortune doing business his way.
So what are the traits that have helped Richard Branson succeed and how can you apply them to producing your animated film projects?
1.) Branson is great at spotting and exploiting gaps in the market. He was returning from an island vacation when he heard that his flight was cancelled. Not the one to get bummed out by something like this he chartered a plane, wrote “Virgin Airlines” on a blackboard and sold all seats to the other passengers from his flight, thus also laying the ground work for his future airline business.
>> To exploit gaps you need to be on the lookout for them and be prepared to act when oppportunity presents itself. Always seek out new ideas and influences, educate yourself about business trends also in markets other than animation and carry a few projects in different stages of development with you at all times.
2.) Take risks and protect your downside. Branson is renowned for taking risks in his businesses. But whenever he is embarking on a new venture he also calculates what risks are involved. Branson takes precautions to limit the damages caused by a possible failure, in his words “protecting the downside”. For example when he bought the first 747 from Boeing he negotiated a deal to hand it back if the airline didn’t succeed in the first year.
>> As a producer you take constant risks developing new projects without knowing which ones will turn out to be profitable. You have to decide how much time and money to invest into each, and kill them if necessary. Protect yourself using an old poker player’s rule: Don’t throw good money after bad.
3.) Branson uses all the leverage available to him. Be it selling Virgin Records to save Virgin Airlines, using the Virgin brand for instant recognisability for new products or leveraging himself as the figurehead of his ventures he uses all of his resources to the maximum.
>> As a producer you have to recognise the different kinds of resources at your disposal and put them to their best use. If your director has a golden tongue, use him in your financing efforts. If your production company has been able to build a brand for itself, leverage it for future productions.
4.) “My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them.” He sets himself tough goals and works very hard towards them. Branson is the epitome of the bootstrapped entrepreneur and his biography includes the necessary stories about working around the clock to reach his objectives.
>> There is a reason that success stories contain tales of sweat, tears and hard work. If you don’t set goals for yourself and your business, you will never get anywhere. But remember, enjoy what you are doing!
5.) “Screw it, let’s do it!” With his trademark quote, akin to zen master Nike’s slogan, Branson expresses what is most important for an entrepreneur, taking action!
>> As a producer, you are an entrepreneur even if you don’t own the production company you work for. Developing, planning and preparing all have their time and place but they are worth nothing without action. So go, hustle!
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