In March of 2008 popular blogger Kevin Kelly wrote a peice called ‘1,000 true fans’. If you haven’t read it, do so now. Thanks largely to Seth Godin’s support in his cool little book ‘Tribes’, this piece has gone on to become one of the most popular blogs ever written about the formidable task of marketing oneself as a creative self-starting entrepreneur in todays world. Here’s the basic premise:
If you want to live a financially sustainable life as a creative person (author, painter, musician, poet, etc.) you should direct your energies to creating 1,000 truly dedicated, passionate supporters. You don’t have to become a mega-celebrity, you don’t need the whole world to know about you. You just need to develop a rabid base of about 1,000 passionate supporters. If each person spends an average of $100 on you per year, you’ve got an income of $100,000. Bam — you’re solvent! Problem solved! Right?
It’s a cool, catchy idea and it has really made me think. The implications for marketing oneself — distribution channels, messaging strategies and such — are tremendous. And yet, something still hasn’t seemed quite right as I’ve sought to digest this profound advice. It seems incomplete. It reminds me of the old cartoon with the two scientists in lab coats staring up at a chalk board filled this crazy equations — some sort of mathematical proof. In the middle of all the weird numbers and symbols one scientist has inserted the phrase “And then a miracle happens”. The second scientists looks at him and says “I think you need to be a little clearer about this third step here.”
How does a person go about generating 1,000 true fans?! Sure, people have done this and continue to do this– but how? What are these creatives doing differently than the hoards of self-involved wannabees clogging up our cultural arteries with partially digested creative pablum? What is that unique quality about an artist or thought leader that inspires rabid appreciation and loyalty from others? How can we learn it and teach and teach it an learn it again? How, how, how?
That is the real thousand, million, trillion, billion dollar question. We have to answer it, or else our goal is a mirage. We have to answer it, or else we’ll be stuck crawling on the cultural desert of our broken dreams salivating towards 1,000 gallons of vaporous ‘rabid fan’ water that will never arrive.
People are busy. There are lots of causes and artists and thought leaders to celebrate. What is it about you that will make others stop everything they are doing to follow your lead? What do you offer that resonates with the core of what they care about? Why are you generating fans in the first place – is it for you, for them, or for the world that we all share? All of the above?
Don’t make it your goal to generate fans, make it your goal to give people a reason to become your fan.
Dig deep and find out. Find out what makes you tick. What do you care about? Why do you care about it? What are you willing to die for? What are ou willing to live for? Why? Be fearless. Strip away the layers of brainwashing and tap into the true cause of your creative quest. Stop thinking and feel it, no holds barred.
Then let go.
Channel your naked passion into ideas, products, paintings, or potato salad makers that demonstrate your deepest convictions about the world. Put yourself into the world in a spirit of genuine humility and service . Forget about form —art, music, painting, books, green widgets–it doesn’t matter. Everything is a conduit for the spirit and intentions that you author. Everything is a means by which others can find or lose what matters to them most. You have been given a chance to help them remember who they are. The good and gooey parts of their souls that they may have long since lost, misplaced, or forgotten.
Why stop at 1,000 fans? Do this right and you will attract more fans than you know what to do with. And, trust me, financial sustainability will be the least of your worries.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I love your advice to forget about form. It’s so easy to identify oneself as a painter, or a musician, or a poet, or whatever, and get all ego-bound and caught up in fear. Especially when financial solvency enters the mix.
But when you realize your passion, and it finally dawns on you that that passion is a creative freight train, and you can just hop on and ride, then all forms fall away and you’ve got infinite possibilities at your fingertips.