In past articles about Gig and Passion Economy, we have talked about how the economic world and the labor market are changing. And step by step we come to the simple point that now you don’t have to work 36 hours per day, chasing new clients and slipping away money.
Building a community of loyal fans who will buy all the products and services you offer is Essential.
Why 1,000 loyal fans?
More than 10 years ago, Kevin Kelly wrote an essay called “1000 Faithful Fans”, where he suggested that in the near future, creativity, and individual zones of influence will be the key to achieving a high income. Many more people will be able to earn a decent living from their creativity, whether they are artists, musicians, writers, or entrepreneurs.
The point is that you don’t need to become a global celebrity to make a living. All you need is a group of loyal fans. With the development of the Internet, platforms, and the Passion Economy itself, instead of selling something for $100,000 to one fan, you can sell it to a notional 1000 fans for $100 and make the same money.
Only 100 fans?
As the Passion Economy trend evolved, people began to monetize what they love. And now you can talk about having 100 fans who will buy $1,000 per year from you. That doesn’t sound very realistic, but let’s look at the numbers.
The average check on Patreon has gone up 22% in the last two years. The percentage of those paying over $100 a month (that’s $1200 annually) is up 21% since 2017. Podia, an online course platform, shows that the number of authors who earn more than $1,000 per month is growing 20% each month. Similar statistics are seen on other platforms in the Passion Economy ecosystem.
In many industries, such as gaming, 1–2% of users generate 80% of revenue. The same pattern is observed in many areas within this ecosystem.
Consequently, you need to segment your audience so that the top fans get more value for a higher check, about 15% of the audience pays a minimum check, and the remaining fans get free value from interacting with you.
So we see a typical sales funnel. Free users come into it, and over time they convert to paid users, then step by step they get to the maximum check.
1000 vs 100 fans
The interesting thing is that the concept of 1,000 loyal fans is slowly resonating in the way companies and professionals organize their workflow.
Thus, we are gradually moving away from the typical donation system to a more complex structure with an emphasis on individuality.
But that doesn’t mean at all that these two strategies can’t work together. These can all be links in the same funnel where you have free users, and then they gradually move from one group to another, converting to the “donates from 1000 fans” section and then to the “exclusive content for 100 fans” section.
People want to pay more for exclusivity, which brings them some benefit and development. It’s already a question of status and authority. They want to pay for individuality and creativity.
Passion Economy is about monetizing individuality and creativity. It’s about building community and democratizing the economy as many more people get access to the tools that allow them to monetize what they love.
So, all you need is only 100 loyal fans, and.. new tools for monetizing your individuality, right? Stay tuned!
