You Can do Anything.
For a couple years now I’ve been writing about how the world has changed while you and I were sleeping.
I’ve written about how social media put the power of the media in the hands of each one of us.
I’ve blogged about how the handheld video recorder in your smartphone has destroyed our concept of privacy.
I’ve talked about the ways wireless Internet connections have turned our consumer society into an unending 24/7/365 telethon.
And I’ve pointed out how computer design and manufacturing have made all products “good enough.” This has eliminated the importance of a product’s functional ability in purchase decisions.
But maybe you haven’t always bought my line of reasoning. Or perhaps you’re new to this blog and haven’t been following my points for long. If so, here’s proof:
The canary in the coalmine is Eugene Romanovsky’s ad to sell his 1996 Suzuki Vitara. It proves you can do anything.
Romanovsky created this epic video to unload a car that CarsGuide says is worth somewhere between $2,640 and $6,270. But that didn’t stop Romanovsky from pulling out all the stops to present the 96-horsepower SUV.
In his video, Romanovsky’s little Suzuki stars in cameos from Jurassic Park and Mad Max and also travels with sharks, dinosaurs, and the Space Shuttle.
Of course, Romanovsky is a special effects artist. His Facebook page says Romanovsky works at the Tel Aviv animation studio Gravity and has access to the technology necessary to create an ad like this.
But what’s so exciting is that it proves you can do anything.
Video editing programs including Final Cut Pro X, Screen Flow, Autodesk Inventor, and Adobe Edge are available for less than $100. And if that’s too much to spend, there’s a long list of software that will give you much of the same functionality for free.
Needless to say, just having the software loaded in your laptop doesn’t mean you have the skills or creativity to recreate Romanovsky’s blockbuster. Hell, I have a piano at home but I can’t play it. But the point is that today’s cost-of-entry barriers to so many things that were previously unavailable to us simply do not exist anymore.
Today you can learn how to use the tools yourself. Or you can go online and find someone in India, Malaysia or perhaps the Philippines who is more than willing to make your vision a reality. And they’ll do it at an astoundingly low price.
For years we were told that anyone in America could grow up to be president. But based on how similar all of our presidents looked up to that point, I’m not sure we entirely believed it was true. Until 2009 when Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States, that is. Suddenly anything was possible.
By the same token, motivational speakers have made it a cliché to believe that you can do anything you put your mind to. And I don’t think many of us believed that was true either.
But that was only until Eugene Romanovsky created an ad that would have cost millions of dollars to produce less than a decade ago. And he did it to sell a four-thousand-dollar car.
What can you do?