Taurus Perkins has made his beloved bulldog an award-winning brand for Perkins Productions.  He and Sgt. Perkins, the most recognizable U.S. Marine Corps Mascot in the U.S., received a Pentagon commendation in 2005.  (Photo by Earl Stanback)

The amazing thing was not that his mother, the late Mary King Bogard, saw talent in him but that she could clearly see that the toddler had drawn a duck.

In 1983, Perkins graduated from Westwood High School and like many artists sought additional training to perfect his painting and drawing skills.  The training he received at Memphis College of Art not only taught him different mediums and artistic styles but also the business of art.   

“I like the business side,” said Perkins, “You have to have the business side.  That starving artist thing is not appealing to me at all.”

The Business Side

Perkins is the artist and CEO of Perkins Productions, a company with global appeal, a winning mascot and a dedication to honor, courage and commitment.  The company offers U.S. Marine Corps Mascot prints and canvas art, note cards, crystal gifts & accessories and clothing as well as custom framing and interior design services.

A prizing-winning interior designer, he has decorated for DJ Paul and Juicy J of Three 6 Mafia, Grand Casino and the Memphis City Schools Telecommunications Center.

Perkins, 44, believes in putting money back into his business and said he does not believe in limitations.  He is a life-long learner who has faith in himself and who does research for every project, new product line, idea or opportunity that comes his way.  Recently, that involved researching the “rack rate” for being a technical advisor for a major film production.

On the September set of “N-Secure,” a movie produced and written by LeMoyne-Owen graduate Julius Lewis of Heritage Entertainment, Taurus was the key man for all things military. That included dialogue and the dress blue uniform relating to UMCS Gunnery Sgt. Joe Hooks, the character played by television and film actor Rick Ravanello.  

The smallest details matter when a military man is depicted in a movie.  Scenes with Ravanello could not be shot without a military technical advisor and script approval from the Marine Corps Motion Picture and Television Liaison Office.

Perkins said the approval process usually takes six to eight weeks but he gained the necessary permissions within two weeks.  He said he made no promises when he met with Lewis and his entertainment lawyer, Carlee McCullough, but simply said that he would “try.”   

“I like to over-deliver, exceed expectations,” said Perkins, explaining his customer service philosophy. “I want it to be beyond what you expect.”

USMC veteran Kenneth Holliday, Cpl, was included on the Perkins Production team as Marine advisor.  Perkins said that when they informed the actor that his hair needed to be cut, he quickly agreed.

In addition to movie credits for Holliday and himself, Perkins received product placement for “The Marine’s Prayer,” an illustration depicting his English bull dog, U.S. Marine Mascot Sgt. Perkins, and the prayer itself.  

To use the prayer with the illustration, he wrote and received approval for its use from the U.S. Department of Defense in 1994.  At that time, he was a senior technical illustrator for NAS Memphis. He worked there seven years until the base closed in 1996.  

In addition to being an artist, the non-starving kind, Taurus has kept a steady job—first designing displays for Dillard’s in the Mall of Memphis while simultaneously working at FedEx.  With the closing of the mall, his grandfather, “a military cat,” encouraged him to go to work for the government: “They won’t go out of business, have good benefits, and you’ll be serving your country,” Monroe King told him.  

Today, Perkins works a flexible schedule of days and nights at Cargill on President’s Island.  “Time management is important to me.  When I’m at Cargill, I do Cargill. When I’m not there, I do me,” said Perkins, who joined the Black Business Association (BBA) in 2004 after winning first prize in a national Framerica® shadowbox competition.

The Marine Project

The government job with good benefits has kept on giving, transmuted into Perkins’ beloved Marine Project, using money from his NAS Memphis severance package.  

He purchased his first show dog, Brandy, from breeder-trainer Flora Green of Corinth, Miss., in 1993. When he and other graphic artists at the base were challenged to design a mural for an upcoming Marine Ball, Taurus won the 1995 competition with his illustration of Brandy in a dress blue uniform. Until that time, The Marine Mascot had been depicted wearing a Batman-like cape.  Ever creative, Taurus redesigned the uniform for the mascot.  Brandy died and has been replaced by his son and look-a-like, “T-Diddy Perkins.”

As noted in the Perkins Productions Collection 2008 catalog, the English bulldog has been a companion to the U.S. Marines, who are also known as Jarheads, Leathernecks or Devil Dogs, since 1922.

“The Marines have so much pride and loyalty, for life. They’re a small elite group and their approval is major.  he biggest thing for a Marine is honor, courage and commitment. I run my business on those same core values,” said Perkins.  

In addition to buying all the rights to the mascot work he had produced on the job, he sent off and received the rank of sergeant for The Marine Mascot.

True entrepreneurs only need a vehicle, an idea with great potential. Taurus Perkins believes it takes money to make money. “You have to put money into yourself,” he said.

For the past three years, he has been touring stores that carry his products – to see the product on the shelves and to talk with buyers.  He said that he remembers the days when he paid for those trips himself.  “Now the stores pay me to show up.”

Perkins Productions was started in 1994 when Taurus began promoting his paintings and prints at area art shows. In 1995, he converted his winning illustration into a Marine Mascot product line of prints, note cards, decals, coffee mugs, and clothing.   

The newest addition is a line of crystal paperweights, key chains, clocks, and other gift items. The products are carried across the country in military museums, specialty shops, catalogs and online at the Sgt. Grit website (www.grunt.com). He uses resellers to help expand into new venues.  

Paying constant attention to the market place, he tours his venues to show off new items in the product line and to talk with buyers, who offer ideas for new products or changes to existing items. Taurus said the bottom-line is “Will it sell?”

‘Will it sell?’

In his office, Taurus Perkins has a cabinet full of plush toys that people, knowing his love of bulldogs, have given him during the last 10 to 15 years.  

In 2006, when he decided a plush toy of Sgt. Perkins would sell, he went to the TSBDC office at the Memphis Renaissance Business Center for technical assistance, expert advice and information. He found three toy manufacturers and eventually settled on Binkley Toys of Canada.  

In the process of choosing a manufacturer, he had an unnerving experience. The buyer for a major toy company that wanted to design the plush came to Memphis and took him and an assistant to dinner. He soon discovered that the company knew every copyright he owned and “everything about me.”  Grateful that he had taken the time and money to fully secure his claims to the Sgt. Perkins brand, Taurus said that he realized that the plush toy idea was much bigger than he dreamed.

The plush has been a major investment and with a number of other lessons learned. When the prototype was presented at a tradeshow in 2007, Perkins ended up with twice as many orders for the toy as in his initial order from the manufacturer.  He said that he called every customer to explain about the delay but feels the sting of not being prepared to fulfill all requests immediately.

Now he keeps a few thousand of the toys on hand. And he and his staff personally box and ship all orders within 24 hours from Memphis.  Other items are drop shipped – clothing from Florida and crystal from Las Vegas.  Because of the important of protecting his brand and image, all shipping labels for his products bear the Perkins Productions logo.   

Taurus doesn’t believe in borrowing money and has never taken out a loan. He covered expenses for the plush toy project, and all other Perkins Productions programs, by re-investing money into the business and using funds from his interior design, framing work and framing competitions. He stressed the importance of keeping business and personal money separate.

Giving Back

Sgt. Perkins, Taurus’ show dog, makes up to four personal appearances a year for a fee of $500 to $1,500. A portion of those proceeds and company profits are donated to Fisher House Foundation, which provides housing for military families when loved ones are hospitalized. He also runs Perkins Care, a project begun in 2004 that provides toys to needy children in memory of his mother.   

Taurus admits to doing well but says “more people are concerned about me blowing up that I am.  I take it in stride.”  

He said that the longer he’s in business, the smaller his circle of friends becomes.  He said that some people enter the circle not realizing how much work is involved and then are not willing to stay around for the payout.  

Among his mentors and role models, Taurus Perkins counts Lee Williams of the Spiritual Q.C.’s, DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia, his father Leroy Bogard of the former Bogard Brothers gospel group and BBA board member Lee Harris.

Thanks to a willingness to think big and work with diverse groups of people, Taurus Perkins – and Sgt. Perkins – is ready for the world with no delays.