The school project that turned into $100,000.
6 years ago, while attending university, I created a 30-second advertisement using kinetic typography. Kinetic typography is just a fancy way of saying animated text. Here’s that school project:
I couldn’t tell you the grade I received on the project. I don’t remember, and it isn’t at all relevant. Once I finished the assignment, I uploaded the video to youtube, shared it with the class, and immediately forgot about this project.
I had no intention of being an animator. I had no intention of this projecting turning into anything more than what it was, a class assignment.
But after a few years of collecting dust on Youtube, the video started to gain some traction. It eventually passed 10,000 views. Then it grew to 30,000 views. Then it had surpassed 50,000 views.
One day I get an email. A company had seen my video, liked it and was looking to create a similar advertisement for their company. I took a call with them to learn more. They said they had a lot of kinetic typography work if I was interested. I figured this would be some great WFH work, so I accepted the project.
I felt a lot of imposter syndrome. I am not a full-time animator, I told myself. The video was a class assignment from 6 years ago. It’s awful!
But I convinced myself I was capable, and so long as I gave it my all, anything was possible. I was able to animate the video they liked so much, so if they want more of the same, I should be able to handle it.
It turns out they did have a lot of kinetic typography work. Over the course of a few months, I completed $100,000 in kinetic typography work.
6 years ago, when I was up at 4 am, putting my all into this animation for class. I would never have expected this one video would lead to $100,000.
So a friendly reminder to always give it your all, and always show your work even if it is for school. You never know when it might turn into something much larger.
Make it a great day or not; the choice is yours.
