Creating true fans through radical specificity
To earn true fans, the first step is to be relevant.
When an internet stranger stumbles upon your latest essay, video, podcast, or album, you want them to say, “Oh hell yes! Where has this been all my life??!”
It should feel like they’ve found a missing puzzle piece—one they’ve been craving, but not finding anywhere else. Your creations should slot perfectly into their identity.
You’ll never get to that place by making work “for everyone.”
For the indie creator, trying to please the masses is a one-way ticket to irrelevance.
To become relevant, draw a line in the sand.
Declare who your work is for. The more specific, the better. Proudly exclude 99% of the population.
Then, create things just for your people. Give them their missing puzzle piece. Make it fit with unexpected precision.
This is how you become signal in a world of noise.
This is how you elicit the coveted, “where has this been all my life??!”
Through blistering specificity.