Patronage once meant an artist would set up in the back house of an aristocrat and paint for room, board, and a stipend. The artist got a living, and the Duchess of Farthington had another bauble for her philanthropic mantle.
Today, patronage comes in a few other forms. The most common is a monthly plan where patrons give a small amount of money to a creator they love, granting them early access to work, online chats, etc. The goal for a creator employing this model is often to free up time to create, be able to take fewer hours at jobs, take on fewer freelance gigs, and put out great work that their audience will love. It’s a feedback loop and a pressure valve.
But what if, instead of ongoing, recurring payments, you could pay a lump sum and be a lifetime patron of a creator whose work you enjoy and want to support? That’s kind of a crazy idea, right? Well, if you’re familiar with writer/speaker/entrepreneur Jason Zook (formerly Jason Headsetsdotcom, formerly Jason SurfrApp), you know that crazy ideas are kind of his thing.
So here’s Jason Zook’s (and this is a surname you can get used to, because he says he’s sticking with it) latest crazy idea.
BuyMyFuture
For two weeks, September 22nd to October 6th, you can pay a lump sum for access to a lifetime of Jason’s work. That work includes 14 guaranteed projects valued at $4,500 and access to a private Slack community. All for $1,000. And if you purchase Jason’s future, you’ll also get access to anything he ever makes going forward, free and first.
How did Jason get to the number? $1000 is so crisp and clean. Was that it, or was there another reason?
“I looked at the lifetime value of my existing customers. There were a handful of people who had purchased multiple products from me, and those added up to around $1,000. That price felt like a bargain for my future, but it also felt like a price I’d be willing to pay.”
I asked Jason about this model and why he chose to run with it.
“There’s no staff. Just me. If 500 people purchase my future, the need to sell is removed for a long time. And that gives me the ability to keep creating without the pressure of having to sell, which can hinder a product’s quality.”
Jason has an interesting five-headed snake of a marketing strategy to sell his future:
Customer calls. (Jason laid out 100 calls—as in phone calls—to make with previous customers before launch, and he tells me that early on, around 75% said they would buy.) Speaking one-on-one with these 100 previous customers is a way for Jason to hedge his bets. He also planned to offer these people early access.
Using Gumroad Affiliates. Jason is calling them “partners”. This part of the strategy involved partnering with people who have simpatico audiences. And he only reached out to friends for this—not strangers with big email lists.
Podcast interviews. 25 of them scheduled to go live on the day of launch (today) or a few days after.
Using Sendbloom.com to send highly targeting automated email campaigns to nearly 1,600 of Jason’s previous customers. This will include personalized follow-up emails, a secret weapon of Jason’s.
Facebook retargeting. Jason admits to knowing nothing about this, so he’s hiring someone who does.
He also kept a 60-day journal leading up to his launch. For extra mystique, until today, this project has been called “Project Galaxy”.
What exactly can you expect when you buy Jason’s future? You’ll get immediate access to five online courses (How To Get Sponsorships For Anything, Product to Profit Masterclass, Finish Your Damn Book, One Week To Profit, and How To Get Sponsorships For Podcasts), a digital copy of Creativity For Sale, and free lifetime membership to two web applications (Teachery, a $600/yr value itself, and Bumpsale).
And you can expect a guaranteed six future projects, half of which will be dictated by the community through submissions, upvotes, etc. Jason has a two-year roadmap that he’s excited about. After that, who knows?
So that’s Jason Zook’s BuyMyFuture. An entire lifetime of work for $1000 (or four payments of $250 in his “startup option”).
How might you employ a similar model with a one-time access fee? With Gumroad, it’s as simple as setting up a product. Add some files to start out with (past work), and update over time (future work). Everyone who champions you is right there in your Customers tab to contact and update on your life’s work. Use Workflows to drip out content and extras.
Maybe the certainty of a lifetime of support would be comforting to you, or perhaps it would be relentless pressure. This model of patronage is not for everyone. After all, Jason’s ideas… aren’t normal. Jason believes that this strategy wouldn’t take money off the table for you. That, if anything, you’ll earn more per customer than you’d make in a lifetime of putting out work. And each and every one of your patrons can have an entire mantle of baubles to enjoy. Forever.
So how will this experiment work out? Jason will be back in a month with answers and stats.