Fan of fans

Back in 2008 me and my present boss had a great dialogue back and forth about a concept, we called “Fan of Fans”; the idea built in Kevin Kelly’s 1000 True Fans post that if you could muster enough dedicated fans, you would have the foundation for a solid business.

We bought the domain and discussed it at length, but we never followed through on it. I am not the one to say what could or could not have been, had we put in the extra mileage. But what I can say is this:

(1) The whole idea is coming back with a vengeance post Covid-19; we’re done with mindless, senseless, cheap junk. I admit, it is a prediction, but I really believe in it coming true.

(2) The idea is going to be core to a new project, I am working on, and which I very much hope, I will be able to announce very soon (aka within weeks rather than months).

Why? Because fans are important. They matter. More than anything, really.

When you have fans, you have desire, you have something other people want. Otherwise; why would they be fans, exactly? Why do huge arena concerts with big names sell out (in normal times) in minutes after tickets are being put on sale?

With fans you have a source of revenue as those desires have a tendency to be transferable into good ol’ cash. I am a big fan of LEGO. Ask my girlfriend how much LEGO I have and still buy, and how much LEGO Friends my two girls are swimming in?

With fans you have your “Why?”, your purpose. With fans you’re never in doubt as to why you are there – and what is expected of you in terms of performance and behaviour. They’re extremely vocal.

And with fans you have stamina for the long haul. I have been a fan of Blackburn Rovers Football Club for almost 30 years now, and even though we fans have been dragged through the mud, to hell and back again, we’re still there. Because that is what it means being a real fan.

Working with fans can be daunting. But it can also be easy. If you treat them as fans and realize that just as it is in business in general, the fan is always right.

Always.

(Photo: Pixabay.com)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.