I was 15, my grandmother suggested I tell the
Maybelline Story in my speech class. I
did and not only got an A, but also gained a lot of overnight popularity. I
decided at that young age I wanted to write a book someday so the story wouldn’t
be forgotten.
What’s the core of the story?
Overcoming obstacles
and succeeding. Believing in yourself and making your dream a reality. Like the
new Maybelline New York tag link says, “Make it happen.”
19-year-old entrepreneur founded an Empire with a $500-dollar loan and its
effect on him and his family is a blessing and a curse.
My great uncle, Tom
Lyle Williams, founded the Maybelline Company in 1915 and though he reached great
success, he and his partner lived in obscurity to protect the Maybelline brand
from public. The family’s blessings and curse came after the sale of the company.
Some of them weren’t ready for overnight wealth.
So basically the book evokes the time-honored story of the small town boy
who aspires to make it big and then proceeds to do so – in spite of neighbors
who figured he wouldn’t amount to anything ---is that it?
Yes, that’s an
excellent point. Rags to Riches and becoming a great success when everyone said
he was a dreamer.
Have the principles of being a
successful entrepreneur changed in the meantime?
The desire to
aspire, achieve and create something is part of our DNA. However, the will to
keep going is the challenge. Today social media, I think more and more entrepreneurs
are creating brands that have a chance to thrive much faster than say,
advertising in the classifieds like my Great uncle had to use in the 1920s.
The driving Spirit that motivates a person to produce and market something
they believe in never changes. It's an internal spark that is ignited by some
inspiration
1.Tom Lyle’s secret’s to success included
2. Accountability: Though
people called him a DREAMER, he didn’t rely on wishful thinking. He stepped up to the plate and worked to make
it happen. He had
the fortitude to persist in spite of significant obstacles. He was Inspired
and responsible for making things happen. Action is what separates
doing from dreaming.
What can an aspiring
entrepreneur take from your book?
My story is about
overcoming the obstacles that constantly try and silent the entrepreneurs
voice. To never stop believing in your dream and succeed in the end. No matter
how long it takes.
Michael Levine, one of the most successful PR Agents in Hollywood, captures
the place of Maybelline when he says that every girl he ever dated as a
teenager had Maybelline cosmetics in her pursue – and that even in later life,
his dates always had some Maybelline product in their purses. Today, it’s impossible to walk through a
drugstore without seeing Maybelline products. That seems to speak both to the
power of Maybelline marketing and its place in our culture …
Maybelline has
always been known for it’s Advertising and marketing. Tom Lyle Williams was
known in the business as The King of
Advertising. Maybelline had a tremendous effect on changing the culture in
the early years. Today, Maybelline’s
standard of beauty is still holding strong with the younger generation.
Maybelline continues to change with the times and keep up with what women want.
Amongst the firsts started by Tom Lyle Williams and now taken for granted
was his use of Hollywood starts to endorse his products. What other firsts did
start?
Carded thn bubble
wrapped merchandise and the twirling displays we take for granted today in
stores. They were the first to do
“Before and After” effects in print and the first to use special effects on TV
in the early 1960s. They also were the first to use page, colored advertising on
the back of magazines. And the list goes on.
Reading the book, one gets the picture that Tom Lyle Williams had had some
failures and then when the early Maybelline products began selling well, he was
almost surprised by his own success. Is that what happened?
In the early days
the whole family took suitcases to the train station and wheeled bags of mail
home in a wheel barrel because the Post Master told them their mail was jamming
up the system. This was the first revelation that the American girls were ready
for this new eye enhancing product. It was a shock for the whole family as
Maybelline continued to expand over the years.
Was there some good old-fashioned luck here? A part of Maybelline’s success
was that the times were changing? It was no longer assumed that women who used
makeup were – as they used to say – of loose morals?
It was the flappers
who launched the Maybelline company and Silent Films. Tom
Lyle featured Stars Silent Film Stars endorsing Maybelline saying they wore
Maybelline in public. Husbands threatened to divorce their wives if they dared
to buy the product. But, in the end the women won the vote and the right to
beautify their eyes.
Was there some regret when L-Oreal took over Maybelline.
The company sold to
Plough Inc in 1967. Tom Lyle did regret selling it. He wished he had turned it
over to the younger generation. But you’ll have to read my book to see why.
