"First, Ten" Might Be the Ticket to Living Your Dream
"First, Ten" Might Be the Ticket to Living Your Dream
What to do before 1000 True Fans
The Dream of Flying Solo
If your dream involves serving people and you have hopes of making a side income, or some day a full income, then “First, Ten” is the best strategy I have seen for testing your dream. “First, Ten” came from the mind of Seth Godin, who is maybe the best known marketer in the world.
But first I want to mention Kevin Kelly, and his 1,000 True Fans idea, as it was an emerging idea that proved to be true.
Kevin Kelly wrote an essay in 2008 titled 1000 True Fans. The premise of the article was, in Kevin’s words:
“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.”
He argued that all you need are 1000 true fans (not followers) in order to make a comfortable living. A true fan is someone that enthusiastically buys your product, and they anticipate every new product you create.
Kevin Kelly, and others with similar ideas at the time, were seeing the future correctly. Today it is much easier for individual creators to use the Internet to create communities, take payments, get feedback, deliver products, and provide support.
The 1000 True Fans idea is great for talented musicians, writers, and creators that thrive by the number of fans they have. However, for those who aren’t rock stars, or who started later in life, 1000 True Fans may still seem unrealistic.
Maybe there is a better way.
What to do Before 1000 True Fans
In 2009 Seth Godin wrote an article titled "First, Ten." This was written a year after Kevin Kelly wrote 1000 True Fans. Seth Godin is a marketer, entrepreneur, author, and servant leader. He is the author of popular books on marketing such as Purple Cow, Tribes, and more.
Seth explains the idea of First Ten: "Find ten people. Ten people who trust you, respect you, need you, listen to you. Those ten people need what you have to sell, or want it. And if they love it, you win. If they love it, they'll each find you ten more people (or a hundred or a thousand or, perhaps, just three). Repeat."
What I like about "First Ten" is you can test your own ideas much quicker than striving for 1000 fans. Taking a smaller sample such as 10 potential customers and getting detailed feedback is worth 1000 true fans.
However, it's not that easy to find 10 potential customers because of the criteria. They have to trust you, respect you, listen to you, and want what you have to offer.
I personally have found it extremely difficult to find even one person that exhibits all four requirements. And that’s a key point. This is something that requires continuous communication and interaction with people!
Although this idea is difficult, it is effective and simple. I would only add one thing.
Serve Ten
I believe the idea that success is serving a group of people you care about. So I would just rename Seth's model to Serve Ten. I don’t even think Seth would argue with this idea.
Serve Ten starts off with the right mindset: help others get what they want.
Finding one person that trusts you, listens to you, respects you, and wants what you provide is the key to success, as well as the key to your own growth.
The benefits of Serve Ten are:
It validates your idea. If you can't find ten people that want what you offer and will voluntarily share your product or service, then you might need to try another approach (this is normal).
You get 100% relevant advice (feedback) from exactly the right people you want to serve.
You start with a manageable group so you don't need complicated tools, just email, phone, or in person.
It will give you the practice (from the very beginning) of closely working with your potential customers.
And maybe the most important benefit is it makes you get clear on who your target audience is and what you want to create.
That is a lot of value from a simple strategy!
Finally
If you can find ten, then you will find 1000.
To your success!
In Seth’s Words
You can hear Seth Godin talk about "First, Ten" in this interview. Advance to the 14:00 minute mark and listen to 15:40. The whole interview is 31 minutes and packed with value!
What is your dream?
My dream is to write small but powerful books that simplify success, and plant them like seeds.
My first book is "How to Build a Foundation for your Dreams." You can read it FREE at www.jamesonsuccess.com/books.