Getting a small number of people to love you is far better than having a million people just sort of like you. 100-1000 customers that love you will tell the world about your tiny venture and give you feedback or ideas that help you make the experience much better.

“It’s better to make a few people really happy than to make a lot of people semi-happy”  — Paul Buchheit

Kevin Kelly’s 100 True Fans

If you keep the full $100 of each true fan, then you need only 1,000 of them to earn $100,000 per year.

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.