Early success can be dangerous to a creative.
Why?
Because early success can mean being stuck doing something you’ve outgrown just because you’re afraid of the cheers turning into boos.
But it isn’t your job to keep getting applause. Your job is to shake the world a bit. To show us things we haven’t seen. Teach us a little.
Not everyone will want to learn the lesson.
But aside from early success there’s that point that author/marketer Seth Godin calls The Dip. It’s the point between when you’re accepted as being the ‘hot new thing’ and ‘when you’re an established professional’.
It’s the gap between those two places where most creatives falter or disappear. What do you do when no one thinks you’re cool anymore? When your work is not seen as the hot amazing thing and people are rushing elsewhere?
You keep going. You don’t worry about the applause, you follow your vision. You create work that you’re proud to attach your name to and wait until people start to notice again. Stick around a while and they will.
The Dip is a test.
Most successful people move through it.
The key is to understand that it’s coming. (and that there’s more than one).
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