Keeping up with information these days is like sipping through the proverbial fire hydrant. You don’t need to check your Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, etc…..you already know what’s building up on the other side.
An avalanche of knowledge
That’s right, when the circle stops spinning or the screen is fully loaded – BAM – the constant avalanche of knowledge, hypothesis, and musings from real experts, pseudo-experts, and everyone in between begins again.
Even junkies like me who actually thrive on the continuous info-stream can get a bit numb to the never-ending pitches, articles, and “gamechanging” apps. That said, there are two ideas that have bubbled to the surface over the years that, I believe, are legitimately transformative.
Idea #1: 1,000 True Fans 
The original concept was written by Kevin Kelly, founding editor of Wired, but really gained traction when Seth Godin adopted it for his book Tribes. The notion is that, rather than measure success by its highest echelons (e.g. the hyper-bestseller, Avatar realm), we should focus instead on building a community of 1,000 “true” fans.
In Kelly’s words, these are the people who “purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing… They have a Google Alert set for your name… They come to your openings… They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work.”
Like scores of others, I got this concept immediately and put it into practice. No longer would I try to find an audience of as many faceless “buyers” as possible. My focus instead turned to building a defined community of engaged followers. This idea is a breakthrough because it seems so … achievable. In other words, since social media has completely leveled the playing field, if you can’t find 1,000 people who’ll pay for your content, it’s probably not very good in the first place.
Idea #2: The 10,000 Hour Rule
This idea is based on a renowned study where “world-class” musicians were found to have practiced at least 10,000 hours, or well beyond the time logged by their peers. Famously brought to light in Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, the study showed that “…the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That’s it.”
Everyone knows that in 2008 Michael Phelps earned the most Gold medals in a single Olympics ever. But did you know that he won the 200-meter butterfly by seven-tenths of a second? What if this extraordinary achievement came down to the fact that Phelps swam just a few minutes longer per day than his competitor? Whenever I find myself writing at 12:30am, on Sundays, or when I’d much rather be watching TV, I remember that 200-meter butterfly… and I keep going.
OK – now it’s your turn. In our world of non-stop communication where everyone has a “big idea”, which ones resonated and / or changed your life?
P.S. I think I know how Dan will answer this!
Author:
Emily Bennington is the author of Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out, and Move Up at Your First Real Job. She hosts a popular blog for career newbies at www.professionalstudio365.com and can be found on Twitter @EmilyBennington or via email at ebennington @ msn.com.
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[...] this article: Two Breakthrough Ideas That Changed My Life Share and [...]
Great point!
The Era of mass production popularized by the Industrial Revolution is over in the most sophisticated economies. We can’t compete with the mass production power and low price tactics like China.
How can we compete against this economies?
We must embrace the evolution of times. The Knowledge Economy is the next step. In this new Era, there’s a shift between mass production to personalized production. Think about Amazon. They’ve combined a mass distribution business with the power of personalization provided by the latest technology. That’s the point of the 1000 fans.
Water starts boiling at 100ºC. Sometimes the extra effort is to go from 99ºC to 100ºC. 1ºC makes all the difference. So does all the effort that we make in order to be successful at our craft.
Keep up the good work.
Best regards,
Bruno Coelho
I love both ideas. I guess putting the 10,000 hours comes first (in the field you are passionate about, otherwise you won’t) and the 1,000 true fans might be used to measure how far you had come?
I believe every sincere creator has true fans for him or her. The difficult part is how to get to know them – not many of them reach out to the creator. If there is a way to notice and visualize the relationship even more easier, it would have a great network-boosting effect.
Very well put Emily.
And I agree with Bruno’s argument. there is no chance to compete on an “economies of scale” basis.
Think about why you buy things.
For example, I buy my fruits and vegetables from farmers in my area. Because I know where they grow it. And because I can see how they grow it, just by going for a walk. Adding up to that I want to support local businesses.
Another good example is WOW cookies! Anita Campbell wrote a very good blog post about it http://bit.ly/cwM0yV.
It’s not so much what I buy (I could buy the same things from almost anywhere in the world) but how it makes me feel about the purchase.
Make sense?
In order to be an expert (or professional musician) you have to work really hard at it. This is why people who want to be an expert in something dedicate themselves to that something. Otherwise, there’s just not enough time in the day to become an expert in everything. I’m reminded of the phrase “Jack of all trades, Master of none.” I’d rather be a Master than a Jack.
Given extra time investment has taught me a great lesson and it is showing on my progressive result. I am working on quality of relationships too instead of quantity.
thanks Emily
I fully support the idea #1. Actually we’ve built our software around this exact same idea.
We recommend that brand focus on the few 1000’s people that matter and transform them into prescriptors… rather than spreading themselves too thin trying to answer “any conversation out there”.
They should then trust their influential friends to tackle the “any conversations out there”.
This mean that they have to do a bit of strategy, targeting, segmentation and positioning upfront and define who are the communities that matters.
Best