Seeking 1,000 “True Fans”

Can the Coaching Commons find a thousand “true fans” out there?

Two years ago, Kevin Kelly, editor of Wired magazine wrote a blog post that suggested success—and sustainability—doesn’t necessarily have to come in the form of finding a mass audience.

Instead, earning the loyalty of just one thousand “true fans” can make the difference between folding up the tents–and fearlessly fighting on.

“One thousand is a feasible number,” wrote Kelly. “You could count to 1,000. If you added one fan a day, it would take only three years. True Fanship is doable.”

Could it be so for coaching?

Since we first asked the coaching community if it wanted to keep The Coaching Commons on the beat, providing an independent source of journalism on the field of coaching, the loud response has been, “yes.”

But how?

Ruth Ann Harnisch, whose Harnisch Foundation has been the sole financial supporter of The Coaching Commons, intended from the project’s inception to ultimately migrate The Coaching Commons from foundation support to community support—a sustainable model intended to keep the project going and available to all—without limiting access to the Commons’ growing body of work behind a pay wall.

But what would it take to begin that process? Harnisch has committed to funding the balance of the project’s budget–currently in excess of six figures–if the coaching community commits to $40,000 in support for the year 2011.

Many coaches immediately wrote in with promises of support, but others wondered if there were enough coaching willing to commit their own dollars to make it happen.

Coach Fran Dutton wrote, “it’s gratifying to read all the support for The Coaching Commons and Mark’s work as well as Ruth Ann Harnisch’s foresight. But it can be misleading. Many are willing to cheer, shout out and jump for joy. But how many are willing to take the action steps needed to assist The Coaching Commons to continue to do what it so elegantly does? And to be totally blunt: how much are people willing to contribute financially?”

How about a thousand?

In Kevin Kelly’s model, a thousand “true fans” of The Coaching Commons would need only pledge $40 to ensure the independent reporting on coaching around the world would continue through another pivotal year.

“You don’t need a hit to survive. You don’t need to aim for the short head of best-sellerdom to escape the long tail. There is a place in the middle, that is not very far away from the tail, where you can at least make a living. That mid-way haven is called 1,000 True Fans,” said Kelly.

So will coaching find that “mid-way haven?” The Coaching Commons has established a system to record pledges from coaches who want to step forward and declare themselves “true fans” with a pledge of $40.

Other communities have rallied around the idea. Jill Sobule, a musician, turned to “fan funding,” asking for help raising the money to record her next CD.

Sobule needed $75,000 to get the CD recorded and produced. Her fans donated $88,969—in two months. “The whole thing was made possible by a small but mighty fan base,” Sobule writes about the CD, California Years. “They gave me the love, encouragement and the dough to do this. I was truly surprised and so very grateful. This record is for them.”

So now The Coaching Commons invites a “mighty fan base” to make another year happen.

The pledge box is open now, with this understanding: if 1,000 fans don’t show—and the $40,000 isn’t reached—nobody will pay a dime.

It’s all or nothing.