Shoestring Theory » e-biz http://shoestringtheory.com Currently documenting the house that is eating our lives, we will return to regularly scheduled programming in a couple of more months Sun, 11 Sep 2011 19:25:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 How to make money online: Get 1,000 people to love you http://shoestringtheory.com/2008/03/05/how-to-make-money-online-get-1000-people-to-love-you/ http://shoestringtheory.com/2008/03/05/how-to-make-money-online-get-1000-people-to-love-you/#comments Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:08:09 +0000 thetheorist http://shoestringtheory.com/2008/03/05/how-to-make-money-online-get-1000-people-to-love-you/ Kevin Kelly over at The Technium put forward an argument that artists on the interwebs really just need to develop 1,000 True Fans to make a living (and avoid ending up at the end of the Long Tail). It’s certainly related to the repeat customer business model, but tailored to artists in the digital age (regardless of the medium).

Assume conservatively that your True Fans will each spend one day’s wages per year in support of what you do. That “one-day-wage” is an average, because of course your truest fans will spend a lot more than that. Let’s peg that per diem each True Fan spends at $100 per year. If you have 1,000 fans that sums up to $100,000 per year, which minus some modest expenses, is a living for most folks.

One thousand is a feasible number. You could count to 1,000. If you added one fan a day, it would take only three years. True Fanship is doable. Pleasing a True Fan is pleasurable, and invigorating. It rewards the artist to remain true, to focus on the unique aspects of their work, the qualities that True Fans appreciate.

Some food for thought for any artists. It doesn’t hurt for retail and service businesses to learn this lesson either. Establish great relationships with your best customers and give them reasons to keep coming back to you.

I originally picked up Kelly’s post from Jonathan Coulton’s blog (who makes his living following this model).

]]> http://shoestringtheory.com/2008/03/05/how-to-make-money-online-get-1000-people-to-love-you/feed/ 1 How the “Free” business model works http://shoestringtheory.com/2008/02/28/how-the-free-business-model-works/ http://shoestringtheory.com/2008/02/28/how-the-free-business-model-works/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:07:35 +0000 thetheorist http://shoestringtheory.com/2008/02/28/how-the-free-business-model-works/ Wired’s got an interesting piece up on the nature of business models that rely on a “Free” product. Think things like flickr, YouTube, Jonathan Coulton, Facebook, etc, though the opportunities range far beyond that. It’s not groundbreaking, but strikes me as more of an introduction to an in-depth conversation. Which is convenient, as Chris Anderson (the author of the piece and editor of Wired) has a book titled FREE coming out next year.

I remember getting into an argument with my dad several years ago about the nature of the Internet and free content. He insisted that all that free stuff would go away and eventually everything online would be a pay service of one form or another. Dad wasn’t exactly wrong, he just didn’t realize who would be paying (often not the consumer) or that the price might not always be money.

I love comments sections (and great examples of why you should think before you write one). From the comments on this story:

Posted by: ihsanalshorafa
Dear Editors,

Please be advised that this article is substantially plagiarizing an article published in The Economist news publication. Such behavior is not becoming of a magazine as original as yours. The article published in The Economist can be found at

The Economist

It was published in November 2007

And the reply:

Posted by: sklassen
You do realize Chris Anderson also wrote that Economist article?

I don’t know what the legalities of plagiarizing yourself are.

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