A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author – in other words, anyone producing works of art – needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

Now I know he is talking about artists here. But aren’t we all produce/creating something akin to art? (Whether solutions or products)

And I can tell you, I have personally seen the value of 1000 true fans in the growth of Brains on Fire.

For us, it might work like this:

Someone on twitter tells someone to read out book or check out our blog. That person is inside an organization that hires us to speak. We create more fans inside the organization. We realize that we can add value and they figure that out too. And a relationship is forged. Based on trust.

And we never forget this one simple fact:

It all began with one true fan.

For one of our newest clients the story goes like this:

The CMO was looking for a new marketing team. A young designer within the organization followed our blog religiously. He asked if she would place our name on her list. We got an email. We arranged a call, then a visit. We told our story. We realized we were “same tribe”.

And again…it all began with one true fan. A fan that was willing to tell someone about us.

Do we spend a lot of money and time on that one true fan?

Yup. They are ALWAYS on our mind.