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1k True Fans (2008)

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Re: 1k True Fans (2008)

#91

Maybe some of you know of Dave Bull: the Caucasian Canadian that took a shine to Japanese woodblock carving (Ukiyo-e printmaking). I have pondered his "business model". Apparently the master Japanese carvers were loathe to take this gangly gaijin seriously when he began his obsession decades ago. And yet, Dave set for himself some insane goal of carving 100 wood blocks for prints over the space of a decade. Now as a…

Dave Bull's Youtube channel -

https://www.youtube.com/@seseragistudio

Re: 1k True Fans (2008)

#92
The mindset here strikes me as the social-media/content parallel of "solution in search of a problem". If you're looking for money: You should focus on making content you know there is demand for, ideally with customers lined up to pay and/or distribution channel deals. The fundamentals here are the same as for any business.

If you're making content creatively you should be ready doing that without financial compensation.

This influencer-hustle mindset is not helpful and a distraction for both approaches. Get your priorities straight.

Re: 1k True Fans (2008)

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Downside vs SaaS is that an employer stops paying you when you stop clocking in. SaaS customers keep paying until they churn, often with very little support along the way.

You’re assuming a well-functioning SaaS business, which is decidedly harder to come by than a decent job.

Oh sure, building a SaaS business that generates $100k is harder than getting a job that pays $100k. The key question is: what is the difference in difficulty, and does it justify the incremental benefit of generating a self-sufficient income stream, rather than a one-time payment?

Re: 1k True Fans (2008)

#95

Maybe some of you know of Dave Bull: the Caucasian Canadian that took a shine to Japanese woodblock carving (Ukiyo-e printmaking). I have pondered his "business model". Apparently the master Japanese carvers were loathe to take this gangly gaijin seriously when he began his obsession decades ago. And yet, Dave set for himself some insane goal of carving 100 wood blocks for prints over the space of a decade. Now as a…

Almost every great artist seems to invent the self-control to do this, whether it's writing 5 pages a day or waking up early to paint, in many cases as a response to the ennui and disintegration of an overabundance of unstructured freedom. I'm not one of those guys because it's really difficult to reshape your life into that structure.. But all it really requires is willpower. For me, concentration of that level only…

I think you are being overly unkind to yourself. It could be that the people who become great artist learn this, but it's also possible they just won the genetic lottery in terms of brain chemistry.

Beating yourself up by comparing yourself to people like that won't make you like them, but it will severely distort your self image and mental health.

Re: 1k True Fans (2008)

#96

Maybe some of you know of Dave Bull: the Caucasian Canadian that took a shine to Japanese woodblock carving (Ukiyo-e printmaking). I have pondered his "business model". Apparently the master Japanese carvers were loathe to take this gangly gaijin seriously when he began his obsession decades ago. And yet, Dave set for himself some insane goal of carving 100 wood blocks for prints over the space of a decade. Now as a…

I'm a long-ish time fan of Dave's. I've been following his work on and off for the past ~decade or so. I've bought a number of his prints and have visited his shop in Asakusa.

I've been thinking about this for some time now, but I think the key to a number of artists successes has been the ability to combine what you've laid out here. Long term dedication to the work & with expressing the passion for that work — through a popular medium.

Having watched Dave's streams on Twitch, it seems to me that he has been able to adapt to the medium as they've come along through his career. Originally he appeared on broadcasts on Canadian television, moving on to YouTube in more recent times, and now has been consistently streaming on Twitch for a couple of years.

In all his output, you can see so clearly how passionate he is about Japanese printmaking. It's incredibly infectious. Commenters on his stream take on and share that passion, especially in his show-and-tell sections where you wait to see him reveal, discuss, and get very excited about new prints he has purchased (usually off of Yahoo).

Having recently read Van Gogh's letters, I saw a similar thing. His popularity really stems from his sister in law, Johanna, making them available after his death. He exuded passion (to the extreme!) about art and was tenacious in expressing that to his Brother in letters. However, he also made a clear decision point in his life (At ~27/28 years old) that art was going to be his primary focus.

I think that dedication combined with sharing that passion with others is what really makes some artists stand out. Ideally, doing both while still alive so you don't have to depend on your brother the whole time!

I think that's what make's Dave special. He has certainly mastered this.

(I'm sure he would hate being compared to Van Gogh though, so I apologise to him for that)

Re: 1k True Fans (2008)

#97
post #18
post #14

Does anyone have any suggestions where I could go looking for fans? I'm making a text editor/game where you write text documents with tentacle arms. Learn ritual magic based on what you write / activate machines by writing. I've got about 1400 followers on twitter, had a few semi-successful posts on reddit. Tiktok did less well. My weathervane is currently pointed towards doing more on YouTube. Enough people have dow…

If it's a game I wonder why you tried TikTok but not Twitch? That would probably need more time involvement than TikTok but most game livestreams are still on Twitch. Although from your description I'm not sure how much of a spectators game it is.

In order to extend the runway of a self funded solo development text editor rpg game, I moved into a barn. The upload from my martian rover rusty can antenna is not sufficient for live streaming, however, I can wait several revolutions of the daystar for asynchronous uploads.

Starlink was supposed to be my enabler and savior, but Elon betrayed us because my barn isn't a boat or a plane I guess. My easily accessible options are youtube/twitter/reddit/ + light a candle for twitch someday.

Re: 1k True Fans (2008)

#98
post #54
post #14

Does anyone have any suggestions where I could go looking for fans? I'm making a text editor/game where you write text documents with tentacle arms. Learn ritual magic based on what you write / activate machines by writing. I've got about 1400 followers on twitter, had a few semi-successful posts on reddit. Tiktok did less well. My weathervane is currently pointed towards doing more on YouTube. Enough people have dow…

dude, what?! i am immediately a fan.

Glad to have you.

Re: 1k True Fans (2008)

#99
post #14

Does anyone have any suggestions where I could go looking for fans? I'm making a text editor/game where you write text documents with tentacle arms. Learn ritual magic based on what you write / activate machines by writing. I've got about 1400 followers on twitter, had a few semi-successful posts on reddit. Tiktok did less well. My weathervane is currently pointed towards doing more on YouTube. Enough people have dow…

You will want to go where people already hang around. There are many sites where people interested in some topic are constantly refreshing the page looking for something interesting/helpful/useful/entertaining/etc. Find those places, help as many people as you can, and build a name for yourself there.

That's the trick isn't it. The only place I hang out and refresh constantly is hn :p

Re: 1k True Fans (2008)

#100
post #11

This idea reminds me of something I've read on some old blog post about enterpreneurship. So, the guys starting the company were excited, because they said "We know the odds are small, but we don't need much, if just 1 in 1000 buys our product we're rich, as that's like 350K people in the US. And how difficult would be to get 1 in 1000 to buy our stuff with a little marketing? It's a great product anyway! Heck, if ju…

As a VC whenever I heard this or saw it on a deck it was just an immediate sign to not take the meeting.

The founder didn’t know anything about his customer. It was such a poor use of logic it’s astounding.

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