Over the weekend I made a comment to Lisa that, given these economic times, I would feel safer if we had more money.  Don’t get me wrong, we’re not going to the poor house any time soon, but we still have to work for a living.  I would feel more safe if we had enough money so that we didn’t have to work, I said.

Regardless, even if I didn’t have to work, I would still probably keep doing what I’m doing.  It’s just too exciting to do otherwise.  But that wasn’t my point; I was just trying to express that I would feel more safe than I feel now.

“It’s interesting to me that you think money, and not people and relationships, will make you safe,” Lisa replied.

KAPOW!  Lisa’s response stunned me and she was absolutely right.  Given the worst-case scenario, we’d end up having to rely on friends and family for necessities.  In the event of that unlikely scenario, it will be the people and relationships that keep us safe.

After getting my head screwed on straight, I was reminded of Tara Hunt’s recent post about chicken soup:

…the soup metric is the number of people in your social network that you know would bring you soup if they knew you were sick and/or get your back in any other real friend way – to help you feel better OR help your career.

which after thinking about it, I realized was just another flavor of the Kevin Kelly’s 1000 True Fans theory:

A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author – in other words, anyone producing works of art – needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

And what’s common here is what Lisa so eloquently was able to make me see clearly: it is the people and relationships that will safeguard your your health, career, and life.