You would have to be living under a rock in the United States to not realize that 2020 is going to be a whirlwind. And let us not even talk about politics. Nope, I am talking about 5G.
Now many will say that it will take several years for equipment to manifest that will allow the speed of the new technology to be fully felt. Fine. Whether measured in a year or months, the future is coming. There are four companies worth over a trillion dollars today: Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple and Microsoft. Trillion, one thousand billion. $1,000,000,000,000. 12 zeroes. The way we consume information (Google), consume products (Amazon), and the devices and technology we use to consume said information and products (Apple and Amazon). Oh, and today Macy’s announced that it will be closing 125 stores to trim all of the fat necessary for it to stay alive. And Frank Lloyd Wright’s Architectural School, Taliesin, is also closing after a 90 year run (the FLW Foundation is still going strong).
Here comes 5G to make that consumption (and the devices necessary for the consumption) ever more transformative. Ilove Trevor Noah’s description of 5G so you can get the idea.
What does it mean for creative business? The death of marginal design. The death of the value of a degree. The death of those who are driven to simply throw out a shingle without an outrageous promise and an outrageous demand in mind. Truly, the death of mass in creative business.
I literally cannot think of a single creative enterprise that will not be run over by the power of virtual reality, blockchain and 3D. We are nanoseconds away from eliminating the notion that showing your idea is cost prohibitive and/or unnecessary. At every price point, there will be a full expectation that imagination will be unnecessary. Your idea will have to envelop the client such that it will be unmistakably them.
None of this is new and I have talked about the necessity to invest in presentation for as long as I have been writing this blog. The notion that translating senses is incredibly hard for those not versed in your sense to grasp is ever present. Except now trust demand that you invest in the story, own the journey and allow power of consumption and the technology driving it to bring you to opportunities you cannot see.
All of which, of course, brings me back to the power of story, both of your art and your creative business. (HT, as always, to Bill Baker). I ask only that you do one thing to own how far you have to go to tell a better story: substitute the word “journey” for the word “process” everywhere. If we are going to travel down a road together describing the steps we will take to get there will never get it done. Instead, you have to make me believe that the journey is the destination. We have to know the humility in the idea that you are paid simply because it might not work. In the notion of uncertainty lies the power of conviction and the willingness to have faith in the moment, and the next and the next until you arrive where you are meant to go. There is no room for just a little better than the next guy, just like so and so except…
If you are overwhelmed (or a 5G denier), fine too. Do this then, an oldie but a goodie: read everything, watch everything, listen to everything you have put out about your art and your creative business and ask whether the opposite can be true. If it cannot, then you have wasted my time since every artist in your industry HAS to do it, therefore selling that you do it is like selling that you breathe air. So what. By eliminating the fluff, you are forced to tell your story, to make me care (or not) about why you art matters. If you do this, you will also be forced to have your journey match the promises you are making, if only so you can keep them.
Now you are ready to redefine value, to measure the unmeasurable as degrees of transformation and you will find yourself compelled to seek out the power of 5G. Your community awaits. Choose yourself.
