Everyone, what would you do if someone handed you an old, low-quality videotape right now and asked for 1.4 million won ($1,000)?
You might think they are crazy. However, there are actually parents who willingly opened their wallets for this price—or rather, with even greater emotion added to it.
When others gave up, saying "business is bad" or "the camera market is dead," the protagonist saw the 'scarcity of time' that others failed to see.
He did not simply film the video; he had preserved the children's 'most brilliant moments' that could never return.
The story begins with a failed photographer. He ambitiously purchased an expensive camera, but the world was not easy. Customers stopped coming, and his equipment became a burden. Then, a single remark casually tossed out by a friend changed his life. "Go visit a kindergarten. There are 'treasures' growing there every day." He went straight to kindergartens. He visited not just one, but over twelve kindergartens, walking until his feet were sore. He met more than 3,000 children. He captured every single detail on camera: their ordinary daily lives, their laughter with runny noses, and their clumsy attempts at eating. The important point here is that he did not try to sell these videos immediately. He simply greeted the children by gifting them a photo with his contact information on it. "Kids, I'll keep your prettiest moments safe."
Time passed, and the landscape changed.
Over the course of 10 years, analog tapes were pushed aside by digital files and treated as antiques. However, a twist occurs here.
When the snot-nosed children grew into teenagers and then adults, a thirst for 'those good old days' would occasionally well up in the hearts of their parents.
The videotape that the man had kept back then was no longer just a simple record.
It became the world's only 'time machine ticket.'
The average transaction price of a single videotape soared to $200.
Even an American parent, deeply moved by seeing their child grow up, shed tears and handed him $1,000.
Along with the words, "Thank you so much for giving back my child's childhood."
The educational passion and love for their children of Korean parents are among the best in the world.
Behind the psychology of creating first birthday party videos and sparing millions of won on growth albums lies an instinctive fear and affection that "if not recorded, it will disappear."
While others were preoccupied with current profits, I saw future value.
I secured 3,000 potential customers through "free sharing (photo delivery)," which others called risky.
I endured the passage of time with the collateral of "diligence."
We call this "investment," and we also call it "insight."
However, the most accurate expression would be 'the courage to move one step earlier.'
Are you discouraged because the work you are doing right now isn't making money immediately?
Or are you anxious about not taking the same path as others?
Success is not found at the end of the road everyone else takes.
Like the man who silently pressed the shutter in the unnoticed kindergarten yard, only those who sow seeds one step ahead of others can welcome a vast forest 10 years from now.
Does that sound dangerous? No, the truly dangerous thing is doing nothing and just waiting for time to pass.
Taking risks is not recklessness, but the highest form of wisdom for foreseeing the future.
What is the small thing you can start 'one step earlier' than others today?
That small move will return to you in 10 years as $1,000 or more.
