Even though I had hours of academic marketing classes, and cartoonist Rick London, my former boss had none, his killer marketing instincts could have rewritten the textbooks. He is no guru, in fact, is anti-guru. He doesn't write ebooks or exploit those who know less. He tells it like it is. He approached cartooning knowing nothing about the business. He learned it as he went.
Rick had a good bit of experience in corporate America before starting. He was keenly aware that most professions had trade magazines and this was virtually an untapped market. Most were low budgeted and could not afford an inhouse cartoonist, and were willing to pay a small amount for a monthly or quarterly cartoon. Rick provided it. He made a hundred calls a day to publishers. Out of that hundred, he would generally sell one or two cartoons. He was building a portfolio and enough money to keep the lights on.
Rick knew it would be no bed of roses. He prepared himself for a hard time and a hard time it was. For awhile he was virtually homeless working out of an abandoned warehouse where he had a phone line, and cold running water out of a sink in which to bathe. He did not let these invconveiences stop him. He was like a tank. He made calls to publishers and sold cartoons. If the publisher had no budget, Rick would create a win-win barter. He traded cartoons for everything from clothing to nutrition. I've never seen such survivor instinct.
It was a cold winter in 1997. Rick was living and working from an abandoned Mississippi warehouse. He was not eating well but had made some good trades with fishing tackle companies to put his fishing-related cartoons on their sites. He took the tackle and lures (sometimes live bait he dug up from the woods) and would fish after working in the late afternoon, sometimes into the night until he had enough fish to make a meal. This man knew how to survive. It was like living and working on Walden Pond.
He no longer has to beg for barters though he occasionally does them just for fun, especially with other businesses just getting started and needing help. He has not forgotten his roots. But more often he is approached by newspapers and magazines, and even college textbook authors to buy his cartoons outright. This has been happening for several years now.
Rick started his cartoon in the days before Google, social networking, blogging, ppc, and all the other goodies that make it much easier to get one's project known. When those entities hit the Internet, he was right up there with the big-dogs learning and absorbing all that he could.
I am hard-pressed to find someone who is so committed to a project. A day does not go by that he does not do some article marketing, blogging, revamping his ppc campaign, and even finds time to write new cartoons. At age fifty-three, his mind is sharper than a teenager, and that is not an embellishment. It is almost a phenomena.
Rick London was born and raised in south Ms, not the delta, which is the northern area of Mississippi that brought us such talent as the delta which brought us William Faulkner, Elvis, Grisham, Eudora Welty, Willie Morris, Morgan Freeman, B.B. King, and others. Rick is an enigma from that part of the state. He has invented and reinvented himself a number of times until he says "I finally got it right, I think". I'll never forget working with Rick. He is one special soul.
I do not see him anymore but communicate via email. He is sharp as ever and bubbling with enthusiasm. He loves his work and does it so well. I remember him not being understood there. Some thought he was a bit too eccentric. He was not. He was regular marketing "wiz kid" that just happened to be interested in a not so "status quo" product, cartooning and humor gifts. He is by far, to me, the funniest cartoonist who ever lived, and I always give his products from his stores as gifts on any occasion. It's been almost a decade since I've seen Rick. I would love to spend just one evening with him picking his brain now.
Rick had a good bit of experience in corporate America before starting. He was keenly aware that most professions had trade magazines and this was virtually an untapped market. Most were low budgeted and could not afford an inhouse cartoonist, and were willing to pay a small amount for a monthly or quarterly cartoon. Rick provided it. He made a hundred calls a day to publishers. Out of that hundred, he would generally sell one or two cartoons. He was building a portfolio and enough money to keep the lights on.
Rick knew it would be no bed of roses. He prepared himself for a hard time and a hard time it was. For awhile he was virtually homeless working out of an abandoned warehouse where he had a phone line, and cold running water out of a sink in which to bathe. He did not let these invconveiences stop him. He was like a tank. He made calls to publishers and sold cartoons. If the publisher had no budget, Rick would create a win-win barter. He traded cartoons for everything from clothing to nutrition. I've never seen such survivor instinct.
It was a cold winter in 1997. Rick was living and working from an abandoned Mississippi warehouse. He was not eating well but had made some good trades with fishing tackle companies to put his fishing-related cartoons on their sites. He took the tackle and lures (sometimes live bait he dug up from the woods) and would fish after working in the late afternoon, sometimes into the night until he had enough fish to make a meal. This man knew how to survive. It was like living and working on Walden Pond.
He no longer has to beg for barters though he occasionally does them just for fun, especially with other businesses just getting started and needing help. He has not forgotten his roots. But more often he is approached by newspapers and magazines, and even college textbook authors to buy his cartoons outright. This has been happening for several years now.
Rick started his cartoon in the days before Google, social networking, blogging, ppc, and all the other goodies that make it much easier to get one's project known. When those entities hit the Internet, he was right up there with the big-dogs learning and absorbing all that he could.
I am hard-pressed to find someone who is so committed to a project. A day does not go by that he does not do some article marketing, blogging, revamping his ppc campaign, and even finds time to write new cartoons. At age fifty-three, his mind is sharper than a teenager, and that is not an embellishment. It is almost a phenomena.
Rick London was born and raised in south Ms, not the delta, which is the northern area of Mississippi that brought us such talent as the delta which brought us William Faulkner, Elvis, Grisham, Eudora Welty, Willie Morris, Morgan Freeman, B.B. King, and others. Rick is an enigma from that part of the state. He has invented and reinvented himself a number of times until he says "I finally got it right, I think". I'll never forget working with Rick. He is one special soul.
I do not see him anymore but communicate via email. He is sharp as ever and bubbling with enthusiasm. He loves his work and does it so well. I remember him not being understood there. Some thought he was a bit too eccentric. He was not. He was regular marketing "wiz kid" that just happened to be interested in a not so "status quo" product, cartooning and humor gifts. He is by far, to me, the funniest cartoonist who ever lived, and I always give his products from his stores as gifts on any occasion. It's been almost a decade since I've seen Rick. I would love to spend just one evening with him picking his brain now.
About the Author:
Rick London has the largest offbeat Internet's Top Cartoon Site on the Internet and several cartoon gift shops Rick London's Marketing Secret: From Nothing To Internet's Top Cartoonist And E-Tailer, and This and other unique content 'offbeat cartoons' articles are available with free reprint rights.
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