039: Abundance

What is more important - to focus on growing your audience and finding new fans, or to focus on serving the audience you already have? I know what you might be thinking - ‘can’t I do both?’. Yes and no. I do believe both can happen at the same time. However, what you decide to focus on will determine if that is possible.

I’ll start by saying that the desire to reach more people and grow your fanbase is a worthwhile goal. Having a strong base of supporters will help you to continue doing what you do. And as this base grows, it allows you to do more, create more, and focus on your art more.

When you shift your focus to growing your audience it has the tendency to also shift your intentions behind what you are creating. You begin to ask yourself questions like, ‘What will attract the most number of people’. ‘How will people perceive this’. ‘Is this too edgy, what if I offend some people?’. It becomes less about your creative energy and more about how a hypothetical audience will receive it. And yes, this audience is hypothetical - an imaginary ‘bigger audience’ you’ve decided is out there.

On the flip side, as you shift your perspective to serving the audience you already have, it compels you to dig deeper into your art. To focus your creative energy into providing something truly representative of who you are to those who support you. You are creating this work, not for a hypothetical audience, but for actual people who support what you do - and they deserve your best.

When you approach things this way I see two major benefits.

One: You end up creating more authentic art because you are no longer looking to create something for a hypothetical audience. You are no longer trying to appease everyone. By creating to serve your existing audience you are more true to yourself. You are less likely to be seeking approval. Instead you are more focused on sharing with your supporters. Plus you ‘show-up’ more for these interactions. I know it’s been a while since most folks have done a live show. But I’m sure everyone would agree. When you approach a show from the mindset of ‘Why aren’t more people here?’ - you don’t perform at your best. Conversely, when you approach a show from the mindset of ‘I’m going to give these people my best, because they showed up to support me’, you have a better performance. You’re serving the audience that is there, not lamenting the one that isn’t.

And two: Because of this you will no longer be operation from a place of scarcity. ‘I need more fans for this to be worth something’. Instead you’ll be operating from a place of abundance. A scarcity mindset is not conducive to creating your best work. An abundance mindset allows you to create from a place where your work already has value, because it is for those who already support you.

Now here’s the ancillary benefit to this - and I see this all the time. When you start to operate in this way, by focusing on your existing audience instead of focusing on growth, your audience will end up growing on its own.

This is why I answered both ‘yes and no’ to the question of ‘can’t you have both’. I don’t believe you can truly focus on both of these things and reap the benefits. I don’t believe you can focus on growth and still truly serve your audience - how could you when your focus is elsewhere. However, if you focus on your existing audience the growth will happen. It will happen because you audience becomes more connected, your work becomes more authentic, and those two things result in more people being attracted to what you are doing.

And here’s the best part about this. You’ll also feel better about the work you are doing. Creating from this mindset means you work already has a purpose, it already has value. You no longer rely on an outside arbitrary force (growth) to validate what you are doing.

So choose to serve the audience you already have, not the one you don’t. Choose abundance over scarcity.

~ Steve