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You Don't Need a Big Following to Make a Living as an Artist



What if I told you that you didn’t need a million followers to make a living with your art? Whether you write, draw, paint, dance, or make music. What if, with just 1,000 true fans, you could already go full time with your creative career?


Sounds far-fetched, I know, but this idea has long been in the ether, and if you’re just hearing about this now, then let me tell you exactly how you can go full time with your art with just a thousand true fans.

 

 

IT ALL BEGAN WITH KEVIN KELLEY

The idea that you only need a thousand true fans to make a living off your art first came from a guy named Kevin Kelley. He wrote this blog post way back where he explained his thinking process about how you didn’t require a massive following to earn a decent living. And so many artists and entrepreneurs have jumped on this idea.


Because the first time I remember hearing about this was from Pat Flynn’s podcast, Smart Passive Income. And ever since then, I’ve been hearing about it from various podcasters, YouTubers, and the like.


Anyway, Kevin Kelley explains in his blog post that if you create enough work or art to help you earn $100 every year from every true fan, that will amount to $100,000 annually. You wouldn’t be a millionaire, but that’s more than most salaried employees make in a whole year. And the difference in this case is that you’re making it from your own personal art.

And when you think about YouTube, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that one of their requirements for you to monetize a channel is to have 1,000 subscribers.

 

WHAT IS A TRUE FAN

Now, it’s important to note that a true fan is distinctly different from the people who just casually follow you on Facebook or Instagram. A true fan is essentially someone who will buy anything and everything you sell. They’re there to support you all the way.


True fans are people with whom you, the artist, have a direct relationship with. That doesn’t mean you have to be super close with a thousand people. It just means that you interact with these people in a more direct and personal way.


What does that mean, exactly?


Imagine if your favorite music artist, actor, or author were to send you a direct message or email every week, or every month, talking about what’s up with them, what they’re working on, what they’re currently listening to or watching, and asking a question or two about what you think they should work on next.


There’s difference between finding out Coldplay is playing in your city, versus receiving an email from Chris Martin telling you that they’re coming to your town next month.


Throughout the years, I’ve listened to indie authors talk about how the biggest drivers for their book sales was an email list. This is because an email list helped them reach out to their true fans. More than social media, more than Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, it was email that gave them a direct connection with their audience.


They would send their either weekly or monthly emails, just to stay in touch, and sometimes talk about the most random of things that were related to who they were as human beings. This level of vulnerability helped them connect with their audience and helped them create that deeper connection.


Now imagine if you had a thousand people on that email list who would buy virtually anything that you’d sell. With that, you could sustain yourself as an artist and stop worrying about paying the bills.


Consider, as well, that we’re only talking about true fans here. What if you added to that equation the casual fans, or new fans? Maybe they’d only chip in a couple extra $10 here and there, but when you multiply that by a hundred, that’s an extra thousand dollars in your bank account.


So, there’s truth in the idea that you don’t need a big following to make a living as an artist. You just need to find your 1,000 true fans and maintain a direct connection with them throughout your career.


PATRONS & TRUE FANS

When you think back to the Renaissance period (the world of Shakespeare and the like) there was the concept and idea of patrons. Patrons would be the rich folk who funded an artist and their work so that they could develop more of their plays, paintings, and art. It’s one of the reasons why artists back then could spend their days just creating.


Fast forward to today, the concept of 1,000 true fans is not so different. Perhaps the main difference between them is that the role of the patron has been democratized to your everyday person.


So, if a million followers seems like such a huge mountain to climb and overcome, why not focus, first, on a thousand. A thousand true fans. A thousand patrons. A thousand people whose lives your work will forever change.


Do it for the thousand. Do it for yourself.

You don’t need a huge following to make a living with your art.

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