🌸 ikigai 生き甲斐 is a reason for being, your purpose in life - from the Japanese iki 生き meaning life and gai 甲斐 meaning worth 🌸
Last week I wrote about struggling with the whole "ideal reader persona" concept. You aren’t supposed to start without knowing the exact habits of your perfect audience. The process felt impossible to me, like trying to capture starlight in a jar.
I’ve been exploring ideas for how to truly understand the souls we’re trying to connect with, the hearts that beat in harmony with our purpose.
This reflection started to merge with Kevin Kelly’s 1000 True Fans essay in my whirly brain. KK hugely inspired me and removed some of my fear when I first started;
“It’s a much saner destiny to hope for. And you are much more likely to actually arrive there.”
If you haven't encountered it before, KK’s idea is beautifully simple; to make a living you don't need millions of followers, just 1000 true fans willing and able to pay for the stuff you do or make. A powerful concept that's helped countless people focus on building meaningful connections rather than chasing virality or stardom, well for those of us who just want to make an honest living rather than hoard wealth *grin*
1000 x £100 a year = £100,000 (aka a bloody good standard of living for most people)
A simple formula that can be tweaked; maybe you have 500 willing to pay more or your yearly income target is higher or lower. It doesn’t matter, it’s the scale and approach that make it a great guide.
Audience thinking has been niggling away and maybe I’m still thinking about ‘true fans’ too narrowly?
This essay proposes that we need different kinds of true fans not just to make a living, but to make a life worth living.
A key aspect of crafting our meaningful life, building a support system that nurtures our ikigai. Each dimension of purpose requires its own kind of true fan, its own circle of support that helps bring that aspect of your work to life.
Rethinking the true fan formula
Traditional thinking about true fans focuses on the money, finding the people who'll support you financially. I’ve overlapped the concept with the hatarakigai (work worth doing) purpose Venn diagram structure and something helpful is emerging for me.
You need different types of supporters to help you navigate each aspect of life's intersections, like assembling a party for an epic quest, you need different skills and perspectives to tackle the challenges ahead.
Let me show you what I mean…
Four circles of support in an audience
The Enthusiasts (What you love > PASSION)
Those who light up at the same things you do
Share your passions and validate your quirks
Help you stay connected to what matters
These beautiful souls are your resonance chamber. They're the ones who light up at the same things you do, who get excited about your weird obsessions and quirky perspectives. When you geek out about bullet journaling or share your thoughts about AI ethics, they're right there with you saying "me too!"
They're not just cheerleaders though. By sharing your passions, they help you stay connected to what truly matters to you and stay true to your core passions when the world tries to pull you in a thousand different directions. When you're tempted to chase the latest trend instead of following your heart, they're the ones who remind you why you started this journey in the first place.
The Mentors (What you're good at > PROFICIENCY)
Provide constructive feedback to help you grow & develop
Notice and nurture your unique skills
Help refine your craft through engagement
These are the fans who push you to grow, but not in that uncomfortable "hustle culture" way. They might be further along the path, or they might just have that knack for asking the right questions at the right time. Their feedback isn't always comfortable, but it's always aimed at helping you improve.
They help you level up your skills and point out things you might have missed. They're invested in your growth because they see your potential, often more clearly than you can see it yourself. Sometimes their most valuable feedback isn't about what you should do, but about what you should stop doing.
The Impact Makers (What the world needs > PURPOSE)
Help you understand real problems
Show how your work makes a difference
Connect you to communities needing your contributions
These supporters are your bridge to real-world impact. They’re the ones who take your ideas and implement them. They show you how your work makes a difference in ways you might never have imagined.
They're the ones who tell you "I used your method and it helped me..." or "Have you considered how this could help with..." They're the coaches who use your frameworks and adapt your methods for their clients, the creators who build on your ideas to serve their own communities. They're your reality check and inspiration for what's possible, in ways that often surprise and humble you. Their connections remind us that our work can ripple out in ways we never anticipated.
The Sustainers (What you can be paid for > PROSPERITY)
Make your work viable
Share your work with others
Help refine your offerings
These aren't just people who buy your stuff (though that's brilliant too!). They're the ones who help you figure out how to make your purpose sustainable without selling your soul. They give honest feedback about value and pricing. They tell others about your work not because you asked them to, but because they genuinely want your work to continue.
Think of them as your sustainability squad, they're investing in your future because they want your work to exist in the world. How gorgeous is that?
Venn intersection multiplier magic
The real magic happens when these supporter types overlap and interact, that's where exponential growth occurs. These different types of supporters don't exist in isolation; they interact and amplify each other's contributions in ways that can transform your work. They create what I'm starting to think of as our purpose ecosystem, for me an ikigai community;
An Enthusiast shares your work in their community, catching the attention of a potential Mentor
A Mentor connects you with Impact Makers who help your ideas reach new audiences
Impact Makers provide evidence of value that helps Sustainers justify their support
Sustainers provide resources that help you create more value for everyone else
It's not as simplistic as 250 of each of the four as it's a beautiful feedback loop where each type of support amplifies the others.
Sometimes one person plays multiple roles, creating even more powerful connections;
Two intersections;
Growth Buddies (Enthusiasts + Mentors) - share your passions AND help you develop them, your peer learning group
Purpose Partners (Enthusiasts + Impact Makers) - share your vision and help implement it, your beta testers with heart
Joy Investors (Enthusiasts + Sustainers) - love what you do so much they help make it viable, your passionate patrons
Reality Refiners (Mentors + Impact Makers) - help improve your work while keeping it practical, your grounded guides
Value Validators (Mentors + Sustainers) - help you develop marketable skills, your business coaches
Change Champions (Impact Makers + Sustainers) - help make your purpose profitable, your scale supporters
Three intersections;
Change Catalysts (Enthusiasts + Impact Makers + Sustainers) - People who are passionate, needed and profitable but need skill development
Skill Stewards (Enthusiasts + Mentors + Sustainers) - People who are passionate, skilled and sustainable but haven't found their impact angle yet
Performance Partners (Mentors + Impact Makers + Sustainers) - People who are competent, needed and profitable but might be missing the joy
Vision Virtuosos (Enthusiasts + Mentors + Impact Makers) - People who are passionate, skilled and making a difference but haven't yet found how to make it sustainable
Four intersections;
This is the centre, our ultimate aim in terms of IKIGAI community seeking in other people and what we want for ourselves too;
The sweet spot where all four types of support & audience converge
Your complete purpose ecosystem
The foundation for sustainable, meaningful work
Where passion meets proficiency, purpose, and prosperity
The journey from zero to community
"I'm starting from zero, how do I begin?"
First, take a deep breath and remember that everyone you admire started exactly where you are. Just as ikigai isn't found overnight, building your ecosystem of true fans is a gradual process of authentic connection and mutual growth.
Begin by being the type of supporter you want to attract, with clarity and authenticity;
Share what genuinely excites you and lights you up (to attract Enthusiasts)
Offer thoughtful feedback to others and share your learning (to connect with Mentors)
Help implement others' ideas & state how you can help (to find Impact Makers)
Support work you value & articulate what you are trying to create (to engage Sustainers)
A blooming ecosystem requires planting seeds and creating conditions for growth.
You need to BE all these things for others, the best way to find your community is to be your ideal community member.
Quality of connection matters more than quantity, and be aware that sometimes you'll face challenges;
Supporters who give conflicting advice (trust your gut)
People who shift roles or drift away (it's natural)
Periods where certain types of support feel scarce (keep planting seeds)
The fear of being inauthentic by actively building relationships (it's okay to be intentional)
The key is to remember that this is a living, breathing system. It's meant to evolve and change as you grow.
Making it work for you
There isn’t a magic number when building the right support system for *your* unique purpose. Some might need more Mentors at certain stages, others might need more Impact Makers. The balance shifts as you grow.
I remind myself that my goal isn't solely to make a living, it's to craft a life that matters through work worth doing, creating value that serves the world.
Instead of agonising over perfect reader personas that end up gathering dust in a forgotten Notion database, I’m now thinking about nurturing these four types of connections. I’m more intentionally trying to find my people through the resonance of shared purpose and values.
Principles of purpose power-up process
1000 true fans is a scale or approach not an exact metric
Some supporters may play multiple roles
The balance of support needed may shift over time
Focus on quality of connections over quantity
Be the type of supporter you wish to attract
Allow your community to evolve naturally through authentic connection
This framework provides a structured way to think about building your audience as a community and support system while staying true to ikigai principles. It helps identify gaps in your current network and can guide intentional community building for sustainable purpose-driven work.
Building an audience doesn't need to be just collecting followers, it can be the joy of creating connections that matter. Perhaps this is what I've been searching for all along, not an "ideal reader persona”, but a living, breathing ecosystem of real people whose paths intertwine with our purpose.
When we stop trying to capture starlight in a jar and instead focus on creating constellations of meaningful connections, something remarkable happens. Those 1000 True Fans transform from a metric into a mosaic - each supporter bringing their unique light to illuminate different aspects of our ikigai.
Start small, stay authentic, and watch your purpose ecosystem grow. Because ultimately, it's not about defining a perfect audience, it's about nurturing the right community that helps your purpose take flight.
What type of true fan supporters do you need most right now on your journey?
Sarah, seeking ikigai xxx
PS - Ready for your own purpose ecosystem? Here are some journal prompts to explore;
Supporter ecosystem mapping;
Who are your current supporters in each category?
Where do you see gaps?
Who might be a potential supporter you haven't fully engaged with yet?
Value Exchange;
How can you be each type of supporter for others?
What unique perspective or skills do you have to offer?
What kind of support do you need most right now?
Growth Planning;
What's one small step you could take this week to attract or nurture each type of supporter?
How might you facilitate connections between your existing supporters?
What boundaries do you need to set to keep relationships healthy?
Yes! It's not just about numbers but the quality and connection of those people...wonderful post. I have my thinking cap on.
Sarah - The connections you make between relatively recent, pop-culture-like concepts and timeless ideas is something that truly sets your posts apart. It is a welcome breath of fresh air in a sea of stale, shallow, rehashed drivel.