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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to always be thinking about your next

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Speaker 1: big idea. Yes, we want to see things through and

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Speaker 1: ride the waves that they create, but your last project

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Speaker 1: never completes your next one. Being willing to try things

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Speaker 1: that aren't as successful as your first big idea paves

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Speaker 1: the way for more success in the future. I have

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Speaker 1: long been fascinated by people who have some big early success.

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Speaker 1: Their careers can go in wildly different directions. Some folks

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Speaker 1: managed to use that early flame to ignite a long

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Speaker 1: slow burn, getting the chance to do a lot over

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Speaker 1: the years. Some of those projects aren't as good as

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Speaker 1: the first offering, but over time skill improves and what

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Speaker 1: required luck in the beginning to achieve becomes more repeatable

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Speaker 1: later on. Others, of course, experience early success and then

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Speaker 1: completely flame out. The early win is the only win.

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Speaker 1: This dichotomy is more readily apparent and fields like pop

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Speaker 1: music and books, but even regular jobs can reveal these

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Speaker 1: two paths. Someone gets a big opportunity early on, does

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Speaker 1: well with it, and gets more opportunities to do bigger things.

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Speaker 1: They can even shape their identity past that first job.

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Speaker 1: Other folks get offered a big promotion or opportunity and

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Speaker 1: then can't follow up. So how do you avoid being

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Speaker 1: a one hit wonder? First, I think it helps to

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Speaker 1: accept the reality that a big early success means your

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Speaker 1: next offering is probably not going to go as well

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Speaker 1: as the first. Every success is a combination of skill,

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Speaker 1: hard work, and luck. You can repeat the first two

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Speaker 1: or maybe even improve on them, but the last comes

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Speaker 1: and goes. A fortuitous opening in the market means you

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Speaker 1: were able to double one products revenue. You probably won't

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Speaker 1: instantly do that for a bigger and more established brand,

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Speaker 1: but so what you can do something. The key is

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Speaker 1: to make it clear to yourself and to everyone else

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Speaker 1: that you don't think your second big project is going

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Speaker 1: to be your past one. You will continue to work

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Speaker 1: hard and to challenge yourself to keep getting better, and

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Speaker 1: you won't view a smaller success as failure. You will

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Speaker 1: view it as the next step that will then allow

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Speaker 1: you to move on to other possibilities. You can also

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Speaker 1: increase the odds that you are not a one hit

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Speaker 1: wonder by continually trying to think of new ideas. You

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Speaker 1: build in time into your life to think about these ideas.

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Speaker 1: You capture them, you explore them. But and this is key,

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Speaker 1: I really do believe that ideas are plentiful. Success is

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Speaker 1: largely about whether you are able and willing to execute

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Speaker 1: on those ideas, and that means doing the work. So

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Speaker 1: if you are a writer, you have to keep writing,

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Speaker 1: even if you know this book won't do as well

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Speaker 1: as the last one. You have to sit in your

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Speaker 1: chair and finish it and make it as good as possible.

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Speaker 1: If you are a painter, you have to keep going

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Speaker 1: to your studio and finishing new canvases. If you have

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Speaker 1: launched one wildly successful product, great, you want to make

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Speaker 1: sure that is well supported, And then you probably want

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Speaker 1: to keep thinking about what your customers want and what

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Speaker 1: you suspect would thrill them, and keep trying things out

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Speaker 1: and work every bit as hard to make the new

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Speaker 1: products as important and meaningful as the first one was.

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Speaker 1: Your sophomore effort probably won't be wildly successful, and some

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Speaker 1: people will grumble and note this, But if you keep

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Speaker 1: producing good new things, eventually some will be able to

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Speaker 1: stand a lot inside that first hit, and the first

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Speaker 1: hit will look less like a one hit wonder and

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Speaker 1: more like a harbinger of good things to come. In

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Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's

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Speaker 1: to making the moose of our time. Hey everybody, I'd

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Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the

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Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also

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Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i

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Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out

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Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward

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Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of

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Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. Ye