My superfans have provided me with some of the most positively head-shaking and smile-inducing experiences of my life.
When I came out with my book Will It Fly?, one of my fans, a guy named Tom, emailed me and said, “Hey, Pat, I know you’re writing this new book. I have no idea what it’s about. But you’ve been so helpful to me, and I’m a big fan. I want to buy twenty copies of your book, and just give it to my friends and family. I don’t care what it’s about. I know it’s going to be helpful because it’s you.” That blew my mind. A couple other people literally sent me emails with their credit card information and a note saying, “Hey, Pat, when you come out with your next product, I want to buy it. When it’s ready, just charge it to me, and send it to me as soon as you can.” Incredible, right? The credit card part was a little unsafe, and probably not the smartest thing to do, and I did suggest they not do it again. But it was also very flattering, and a testament to the power of having superfans.
Or take 2010, not long after I launched the SPI Podcast, when I got my first group of haters—trolls who got a kick out of saying some really nasty things on my blog. Without being asked, my superfans came to my defense. Many of them also took the time to reach out to me and make sure I was okay. That’s the thing about superfans. They’ll look out for you. They feel like they know you, that they’re part of your brand and your mission. That in a way they share responsibility for you. They want to protect what you’ve created so that it can continue to help others the way it’s helped them.
There was also my experience attending conferences after I started developing a high profile, where people would come up to me and say, “Dude, I listen to you all the time. And now I’m meeting you!” That kind of attention felt weird the first time it happened, and it’s still weird because I don’t feel like a rockstar. That’s not to say I’m not thankful for it, because I am, but it’s so cool to see that I can have such an impact on a person’s life that they’re jazzed to meet me in person. Or that someone I’ve never met will see Back to the Future playing on television, then tweet at me because it reminded them of me.
Building a core of superfans is the best way to make your business future proof. As the world changes, as technology evolves, and even as your entrepreneurial path takes its own turns, by focusing on creating special moments that make people feel valued, connected, and celebrated, you’re going to win no matter what.
I believe the best and most lasting businesses are the ones that focus on serving first. Money is important, but guess what? At its best, money is simply an amazing byproduct of building a small but potent set of superfans. You don’t need millions of dollars, or millions of people following you to build a successful business and lead a successful life. You just need a core group of raving fans who will follow you wherever you go.
If you’re a solo entrepreneur or run a small business and one thousand true fans still sounds like a lot to you, remember: that’s one fan a day for less than three years. Anyone can provide an amazing experience for one new person every day, and it’s your consistency of focusing on those experiences that will lead to building a core group of superfans. Use your size to your advantage to make true connections with people and create unique, memorable moments for them. As Kevin Kelly says, you don’t need a huge audience to do some really amazing things, or to change your life and the lives of many others.
If your business is a little bigger, I encourage you to get more ambitious with the experiences you provide for your fans. Use events and community-building exercises like meetups and even live gigs and conferences to bring your community together and foster connections between your brand and your audience, as well as within your audience.
And if your business is a lot bigger—like a Fortune 500 company—use your bigger platform and deeper pockets to reach larger numbers of potential superfans. Open your factory doors and give your audience VIP experiences they’ll remember for life.
No matter your size, you can also use your following to help serve the community outside of the arena of your brand, to move your superfans to make positive change in the world. Think of Toms Shoes, a company that donates a pair of shoes with every purchase to kids around the world who need them. Or athletes who give back to their communities. Or SPI, which has supported Pencils of Promise, an organization that has built two schools in Ghana with our help; the SPI community is even mentioned on a plaque at one of those schools.
With superfans on your side, you strengthen your ability to serve the wider community; you have more ways, more support, more energy at your disposal to serve a much greater number of people and causes. Through SPI and its superfans, I’ve been able to serve in ways I never considered possible.
Your fans want to feel like they’re making an impact and are part of something bigger than themselves. When you facilitate and make that happen, you can make great change and service happen, and strengthen those superfan bonds in the process.
If you’ve made it this far, and you’re excited by what you’ve learned and ready to start cultivating your own band of superfans, I’m not about to leave you hanging. I’ve created a companion course for the book, titled—wait for it—the Superfans Bonus Companion Course. This free chapter-by-chapter course features bonuses and supplemental materials, including downloadables and videos, that will help you enhance your reading experience with Superfans and implement what you learn even faster. Visit yoursuperfans.com/course to get instant access.
I’ve built my whole brand around the idea of helping people build thriving online businesses by serving their audiences ethically and authentically. My whole philosophy—and all the content I create through SPI, including my blog, podcasts, courses, videos—is geared around serving others. So, if you’re curious to continue learning how to create a passive-income-driven online business supported by a cadre of undying superfans, then head over to smartpassiveincome.com, where you’ll find all the resources I’ve created and collected (and continue to do so!) for the past decade-plus.
I wrote this book to help you see that you have the power to make connections with people and create special moments that will endear them to you and your brand for life. Without a bunch of fancy tools or tricks or money for Facebook ads.
I realize you may not consider yourself or your business superfan worthy, but as long as you’re guided by an ethic of service, achieving this kind of following is definitely within reach. You’ll know you’re worthy when you make the mindset shift that it’s not about you. It’s about your audience.
And when you put that mindset into action, people will resonate with you, your message, and the way you do things. Most people won’t—and that’s okay. Remember that you shouldn’t try to make everyone a superfan. If you do, you’ll end up diluting your message and your brand and wasting your energy. But if you follow the strategies in this book and realize that you don’t need a huge band of superfans to make a difference, enough of the people you connect with will take the leap to superfan status—and big time.
Those are the people who are going to lift you up, who you’ll be thinking about when you’re creating content and designing products and services. They’re the people who will help you out when you’re stuck, and who will set you straight when you take a wrong turn. They’re the ones who will help shape what your brand will become.
As Dale Carnegie said, “The rare individual who unselfishly tries to serve others has an enormous advantage.”16 The beautiful thing is that when you create a legion of loyal superfans by serving people, this enormous advantage doesn’t come at a disadvantage to anyone else.
So go do some superfan-making things. Learn the names of your first ten email subscribers and send them an individual note thanking them for joining your list. Put on a live event and feature your most active and dedicated audience members. Give away prizes to a random group of fans without making them enter anything first. Above all, use your handwriting and find your own creative ways to surprise and delight your best fans.
And when you have your own superfan stories to tell, I want to hear them! Share them with me at pat@smartpassiveincome.com, or on Twitter and Instagram (@patflynn). I thrive on hearing from people about the ways they’ve applied an ethic of service, along with the strategies I’ve shared in this book, to surprise and delight their own audiences. And be sure to use the hashtag #SuperFansBook!
You can cultivate superfans in many ways, and people will take different paths toward their own version of superfandom. But above all, I promise you, no matter your industry or niche, if you’re just getting started or have been in business for ten years: this is possible.
Your future superfans are waiting for you. Go get ’em.
#TeamFlynnForTheWin
16 Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Reissue edition (Simon & Schuster, 2010), 42.