Understanding how many customers you need to build a permanent income from your audience is as easy as understanding the pros and cons of each scale. Kevin Kelley wrote the original on building an income from 1000 fans who subscribe for $10/month. Li Jin took it down to 100 with higher ticket offerings at $100/month price point. Instead of a flat fee subscription, monetization should be thought of as a model based on your audience, market, and positioning. In the real world, it's a combination of options that make up the whole. | True Fans | Speed To Scale | Best For | Best If | Examples | | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | | 1000 | 12-24 Months | Creators, Musicians | Established Market | Most Substack Writers, Stratechery | | 100 | 6-12 Months | Creators, Consultants, Coaches | Niche B2B or High Value Outcome | Productized Services, The Clickdown | | 10 | 3-12 Months | Consultants, Coaches, Artists | High Value, High Touch, High Skill | Me, Large Scale Sculptors, Digital Agencies | | 1 | 3-12 Months | Unique Skillsets | OK to Be Employed | Anyone With A Job, Early Career Athletes | ## What's Right For You? I think consultants and coaches selling to businesses (B2B) will be better off with a 1-100 fans strategy. If the goal is speed of income, then a few contracts will lock in faster than subscription or product sales. If stability is the goal, then the more paying customers the better. Creators, coaches, and some influencers will likely benefit by focusing in the 10-1000 range since they can much more easily scale on content. Focus on building a 100x$100 true fans to start, then expand where your heart takes you. If you're already in a market with 100K+ audience and have a mass market revenue stream open, then and only then would I start the 1000 True Fans grind. ![[Photos/Pasted image 20210214124807.png]] ![[Photos/Pasted image 20210408075414.png]]