What I learned about the “1000 True Fans” theory (it’s not about the same 1000 people)

I’ve been thinking a lot about the “1,000 True Fans” idea recently, and I feel like most of us have a slight misunderstanding of it.

Your “true fans” aren’t just followers or people who like your posts. They’re the ones who actually pay for what you create, whether that’s through subscriptions, buying your products, supporting you on Patreon, or joining your course.

If each person pays you around $4 per month, that’s already about $4,000 monthly. For many creators, that’s enough to live on.

But here’s what people often forget:
It’s not the same 1,000 people paying you every month.
Fans come and go. Some love your work today; some may lose interest next month, that’s completely normal.

So the goal isn’t to “lock in” 1,000 people forever.
The real goal is to maintain a rolling community of around 1,000 active supporters. Keep the cycle going.

How do you do that?
There’s really only one answer: keep creating.

Keep showing up, keep expressing yourself publicly, build your own small ecosystem, your content, your products, your revenue loop, your own rhythm.

In short:
Don’t chase numbers, build systems.
Keep creating. The rest follows.