What 1,000 true fans can do for

your business
NO M AT T E R W HAT, W HENEVER A N EW JO H N GRISH AM BO O K CO M ES O UT, I BUY IT.
( YO U K N OW H IM ? H E WROT E T H E F I R M A ND A T I M E TO K I L L .)

Some of his books are amazing…some, not so much, but no matter what, I read every single one.
You can consider me one of John Grisham’s 1,000 True Fans.

The concept of “1,000 True Fans” was popularized by WIRED editor and best-selling author
Kevin Kelly. He said:

“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.”

Imagine. If you can get just 1,000 people to pay you $100 a year, that’s $100,000/year. It means
you can have the freedom to create what you want to create. And it means you don’t need
everyone — just 1,000 of the right people.

Until now, nobody has shown the numbers behind their 1,000 True Fans.

But we will.

We’re unveiling real data that we’ve never shared before. All because we want to show you that
it’s possible to start and grow a thriving business — and you don’t need 500,000 subscribers, or
100,000 or even 10,000.

You don’t need everyone. Just the right people.

Here, we’ll show you.

The actual data behind our
1,000 True Fans
According to Kelly’s theory, your 1,000 True Fans will read, and buy, everything you create.
They’ll follow you on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, your podcast, and anywhere else you go.
(Just like I love watching John Grisham’s interviews on YouTube.) Often, you don’t even have to
“sell” them — just tell them you have a new product coming out and they’re already in.

Think about what it would mean to have customers literally telling you, “Take my money!” — before you even released a new product.

W E A NA LYZED THE DATA FOR OU R TO P 1 ,000 CUSTO M ERS. H ERE’S WH AT WE FO UND :

• On average, our top 1,000 customers have each spent $8,600 with us.
(The top customer spent $26,539.)
• On average, our 1,000 True Fans have purchased 6 products.
(The highest number purchased by one person is 15. We have 18 in total.)
• The first purchase was in 2013. The most recent purchase was July 18, 2017.
Our top 1,000 students account for over $8 million in revenue.

Forget our numbers. If you had 1,000 True Fans who spend $100/year with you, that would be
$100,000. That’s awesome!

And that’s a conservative number. Of our 1,000 True Fans, the median spend is $7,418
(mean = $8,665). That means we’ve generated $8.6 million in revenue — JUST from our
1,000 True Fans.

On average, our 1,000 students have joined 6 of our courses.

We have many students who’ve been with us for 5+ years. On average, they’ve taken 6 of our
courses. That’s 30% of everything we offer, and it means they’re joining more than one course
per year. One of them has taken 15! And we know they’ll continue to buy.
On average, our top 1,000 students spend over 5x everyone else.

Building “customers for life”

One of my coworkers was puzzled that people who hire a personal trainer keep working with
them for years.

“Don’t you just hit your goal? Then you know how to do the exercises, right? Why would you
keep paying them?”

When I told him I’d worked with my trainer for 5 years, he just stared at me.

In a world of poor-quality products, if you find a product or service that really works, people will
stay. And as they get more advanced, their goals will change (like my goals changed over time
with my trainer). Finally, there are a lot of subtle reasons people buy — not just mathematical
“results.” Think about why you’ll spend a little extra for a nice hotel.
H E R E ’ S A SIMP L E E XAMP L E :

From $42,000/year to $125,000/year.

Pretty straightforward. This reader continued to get amazing results, growing his income from
$45,000 to $125,000 as he applied our material. That is life-changing — a complete change in
socioeconomic and psychological status. He will be a student for life.

N OW H E R E ’ S ANOT H E R E X AMP L E :

We brought together 500 of our top students to hang out for 3 days in NYC.
In 2016, 500 students joined us in NYC for our Forefront conference. This was crazy. I’d be
talking to one of our readers and inevitably, I’d ask if they’d joined any of our courses. The
average person had joined more than 5 courses. It’s no surprise that True Fans will go to a
conference to meet other True Fans.

Now let’s go even deeper.

Because I can show you our data, and that’s great. But it’s not just about the numbers. It’s also
about impact, and about the relationships and transformations you create when you truly serve
your customers at the highest level.

A group of 1,000 True Fans becomes a community of people with the same values, willing to
help one another. Check out one of our Facebook groups:

It’s so rare to find a business willing to show you the real names and faces of its best customers.
But this is what I’m most proud of — our success stories. I want you to meet one of them.

The student I want to tell you about is Naveen Dittakavi.

Naveen has been a student of IWT for over 5 years. He’s taken over 8 of our courses.

Naveen ran a successful freelance business for a few years before 2008. But when the recession
hit, it all came crashing down. That’s when he began studying my material. He joined Earn1K
and used it to rebuild and grow his business before the recession was over.

Then Naveen joined our Brain Trust program. In Brain Trust, Naveen says he was able to “finally
meet people who were similar” to him — ambitious “weirdos” who read about self-development
online.

Naveen also wanted to start his own online business. But for 10 years he’d been accumulating
ideas without acting on them. He finally joined Zero to Launch and used the strategies he learned
to book over $100,000 of business in one month.
With just 1,000 True Fans, you can not only build an incredible, profitable, and sustainable
business… you can also change people’s lives. In just these two examples, we see students more
than 10X-ing their annual income.

We’re showing you our actual data — data we haven’t revealed before — because we want you
to know what it really takes to run a successful business. Too often, people toss around huge
numbers like “My $1 million launch” or “How I generated $438,273 with one email.”

Those can be inspirational — but also depressing. What if you don’t have hundreds of thousands
of email subscribers? Or a massive blog? The great news is, 1,000 True Fans can help you build
an amazing business. If you want to continue growing it (to achieve a $1 million launch, or even
a $5+ million launch, you can.)

But you should know that you don’t need all of that. If you can find 1,000 people who love what
you offer, you have a healthy business. That’s what we stand for at IWT.

Sometimes that means sharing the brutal truths about starting an online business — the stuff
most people won’t say (like “this is a lot of work”). Sometimes, like today, that means showing
you that it doesn’t have to be as impossible as people make it out to be. You don’t need 10 million
fans to be successful. You don’t need to wake up and be Bon Jovi. All you need is 1,000 True Fans
to have a large business for the rest of your life.

Now I’m curious: We’re all True Fans of something. There’s one person or company that we’ll
buy everything from. For me it’s John Grisham. For you maybe it’s a coffee roaster in your city.
Or someone whose products you buy online. It could be anything. What are you a True Fan of ?
Why?
WANT TO BECOME A MAGNET FOR CUSTOMERS FOR YEARS AND YEARS TO COME?

We have a course called Endless Audience that shows you how to grow a raving group
of buyers for your business. It has detailed modules on growing your blog, email,
YouTube, and more, including how to create content that gets seen by your ideal
customers, how to pick topics your customers are searching for, and tactics for scaling
to millions of subscribers and readers.

Learn more here