Originally I typed the number 50 (True fans) and the calculation I was thinking of was 50*USHs 50,000/= and changed it to 100 true fans so as we could multiply 100 fans * Ushs 20,000/= for an artiste, writer to flourish, to survive and succeed having little stress over some bills.

Imagine 2M from true fans and the other 1M from general or new fans, wouldn’t that be great!

The purpose of this article is not to talk about the success of fame and being a mega star, it’s for individuals willing to work and attract fans who can support them truly and make them core to one’s business or journey.

I recently read the popular article 1,000 True fans by Kevin Kelly and I thought to myself why not contextualize it for my Ugandan people and beyond.

Have you seen artistes with 10,000 followers on social media but have issues finding a meal? (Okay exaggeration there) It is because some haven’t capitalized the power of the medium (social media) to connect with and grow true fans.

What is the point of 1,000 twitter followers and only 2 support you? The goal is getting at least 50 to do so.

Kevin Kelly in his article says: 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.

My interest is in making a living, are you in position to, at least get paid or earn from your work as an artiste, writer, creative, or startup founder?

So how?

If you have 1000 fans not all of them are your true fans or even super fans as Kelly calls them. You may have just 50 or even 100.

If you have an album coming, you could ask your fans to generate/donate UShs 20,000/= for you to release it or to fund its marketing. Those who believe in you will contribute. If you do the math its USH 2m.

You could sell merchandise like Tshirts to your superfans. Let say you are making 100 limited editions of your new Tshirt design and selling a piece at 50k, how much is that?

A mixture of the two, sell the album bundled with a tshirt.

Perform to select 100 fans only paying 30k for the experience – won’t you have some money to buy two pairs of shades?

The other thing you could do is crowdfunding. Have you heard about GoFundMe, Kickstarter? You might not need those platforms, a mobile phone number by you could also do the trick.

This does not happen over night! So before all that,

Your role as an artiste or business owner is:

• create the product (art, music, design, merchandise)
• Establish a fan base yourself or hire someone to wok with you.
• connect with the potential consumers via social media or at events
• market it as you look at who supports you most
• know your true fans as there are repeat visits let’s say via Facebook or to your physical store.
• Communicate the goal for each product or project

This is not easy to achieve but its a lot easier than trying to be as huge as Jose Chameleon, Bobi wine, Navio, Gravity or even Jay-Z.

Build your fan base. Pay attention to it. Collect data.

Having 100 or more true fans can contribute to your journey and help provide resources for you to expand or enjoy your life as an artiste or business owner.

I have interchangeably used artiste, business owner, writer to represent anyone selling something, thus to achieve this you must offer value to those supporting you.

I have implemented some of theses tactics for my businesses. For instance this website relies on support by our True Fans ( if your are one of them, thank you for the support) who donate weekly or monthly to enable smooth running and facilitate research.

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