A lot has been written about the GameStop saga already, how David fell Goliath, how a small group of determined folks caused the downfall of a billion-dollar fund. It doesn’t matter whose side you are on; one thing is clear - it couldn’t have happened at any other point in history. It happened in today’s times because it’s possible to create a small community of like-minded people who are very passionate about a particular thing and have the wherewithal to pick a fight with the giants.

The Internet has enabled this.

At no other point in the history of humankind were there tools that could rapidly amass a large number of people with a common goal - no matter their geographical location, social status, or color of their skin - in a meaningful manner.

The story of the Internet so far has been that of scale. Massive businesses could be - and have been - built by taking advantage of the Internet’s scale to reach a huge number of people very cheaply and efficiently. From Google to Facebook to Amazon to Netflix to Pinterest to Twitter to Airbnb, everybody has focussed on building a high-scale business by adding millions, if not billions, of users and build hyper-scale businesses by benefiting from the massive reach of the Internet.

But in recent years, another business model has emerged - Niche businesses. Niche businesses take advantage of the massive reach of the Internet to target a very narrow set of like-minded people worldwide. They build a small but very loyal and passionate audience through word of mouth or by using hyper-personalized targeting tools (like Google and Facebook ads).

The idea is hardly a novel one.

More than a decade ago, Wired writer Kevin Kelly wrote an essay called “1000 true fans”, predicting that the Internet would allow a large number of people - artists, musicians, authors - to make a living off their creation.

To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans.

A true fan is defined as a fan that will buy anything you produce. These diehard fans will drive 200 miles to see you sing; they will buy the hardback and paperback and audible versions of your book; they will purchase your next figurine sight unseen; they will pay for the “best-of” DVD version of your free youtube channel; they will come to your chef’s table once a month. If you have roughly a thousand of true fans like this (also known as super fans), you can make a living — if you are content to make a living but not a fortune.

Here’s how the math works. You need to meet two criteria. First, you have to create enough each year that you can earn, on average, $100 profit from each true fan. That is easier to do in some arts and businesses than others, but it is a good creative challenge in every area because it is always easier and better to give your existing customers more, than it is to find new fans.

Second, you must have a direct relationship with your fans. That is, they must pay you directly. You get to keep all of their support, unlike the small percent of their fees you might get from a music label, publisher, studio, retailer, or other intermediate. If you keep the full $100 of each true fan, then you need only 1,000 of them to earn $100,000 per year. That’s a living for most folks.

A thousand customers is a whole lot more feasible to aim for than a million fans. Millions of paying fans is not a realistic goal to shoot for, for most people. But a thousand fans is doable. You might even be able to remember a thousand names. If you added one new true fan per day, it’d only take a few years to gain a thousand.

Read the full article here - https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/

Yet, this idea has taken more than a decade to come to life. It’s because the tools required to build a niche business in a meaningful and hassle-free way are finally here.

Thanks to smartphone penetration, the Internet has become an integral part of everyone’s day-to-day life. More than 80% of people in developed and developing countries now spend at-least 1 hour a day on the Internet.

This has led to smart entrepreneurs trying to monetize this attention either by building niche businesses or personal brands on the Internet. It has, in turn, led to a rise in tools that can help these businesses operate nimbly and sustainably.

Facebook and Google obviously help with targeting. Stripe & Gumroad could be used for payment collection, Signal, Telegram, and Whatsapp for secure communication, Kickstarters for fundraising, Paetron for donations, Shopify for setting up an e-commerce store, and Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok for brand building.

Anyone who understands their audience well can build a niche global brand using these tools right from their garage. If the rise of Shopify is anything to go by, it’s clear that coming years are going to see many successful niche businesses and personal brands.

Best,
Kaddy

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