Ryn Pitts

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ryn Pitts. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ryn below.

Ryn, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
After some recent conversations with fellow Small Business Owners, it became very clear that Imposter Syndrome is unfortunately super common, and it is something that plagues all business owners at one point (or more) throughout their Entrepreneurial journey. What I have noticed lately within myself is that my Imposter Syndrome comes in waves and never stays for long. I mainly battle Imposter Syndrome in moments of great change or growth; instead of celebrating the new, my body decides to subconsciously stress over it. During these moments, I find myself questioning my purpose, my work, and my future, along with numerous thoughts of what I “should be doing” according to outlying standards. For anyone who has truly felt the weight of Imposter Syndrome, you understand how crippling, un-motivating, and sometimes dark those thoughts can be, so how do we overcome them?

When I was in the sixth grade I struggled immensely with confidence and self-esteem. I hated the ways that I looked different from my peers and I made myself very aware of my many “flaws”. Currently, I consider myself a strong advocate for positive self-talk, but during this time I hardly had anything positive to say about myself. Although sixth grade was a massive low point for me in my life, I learned a very useful skill to combat negative thoughts as a result; the art of faking it until you make it and tricking your mind. Since at this time, it was the age of the “thigh gap”, and I had absolutely no space between my legs, one of my biggest insecurities was my thighs. So, one day, instead of continuing my routine “I hate my thighs” talk as I looked in the mirror, I decided to change my words, and hate became love. For the next month, every time I looked into my mirror I would repeat “I love my thighs” as many times as I needed to until I truly felt the words that I was speaking. Changing just one word completely shifted my perspective and after some time, I actually did love my thighs! Today, I use this trick to overcome Imposter Syndrome.

When I am challenged with negative thoughts that often doubt my abilities, my success, and my direction I combat those with opposing thoughts that reassure me of my talents and purpose. During moments of feeling Imposter Syndrome, I consciously monitor the way I speak to myself as well as my thoughts. Instead of allowing thoughts like “I don’t deserve this opportunity” to engulf my mind, I do as I did in Sixth Grade, and get in front of my mirror and change the narrative; I do deserve this opportunity, and many more as a matter of fact! I am a visual person, so another way I help myself in these moments is by looking back at some of my favorite photoshoots, which is a great reminder to myself of my abilities. Lastly, I use my community heavily to help overcome Imposter Syndrome! Whenever I am in this state of mind I lean deeply into my support system and those that are rooting for me, they serve as tangible reminders that I am exactly who I say I am.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Serendipity Social Co is a Social Media Agency aimed to help businesses of varying sizes build their brand, creatively and consistently, across numerous social media platforms. At SSCo, I act as a brands’ Creative Consultant to teach companies the importance of creating a strong digital presence while providing numerous social media services to maintain it. Our mission at SSCo is to help companies strategize their Business to Consumer outreach to prioritize and capitalize on consumer engagement on social media. What sets SSCo apart from others is that we can help our clients at every part of their social media journey, from the Photoshoot to the phone! We specialize in Content Creation and Social Media Management to help brands reach their target audience in a more personable and relatable way. We are currently undergoing some exciting changes that will not at this time be spoken on, but in the near future, you can expect more social media workshops, a revamp to our YouTube Channel #LetsGetSocial, and more business services like business card creation and Website Design and Management.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think my three most impactful qualities would be being outgoing, being personable, and being courageous! If I had to give a few tips on how to improve or develop these qualities within oneself, they would be as follows:

1) To become more outgoing, put yourself in situations you wouldn’t “typically” find yourself in. Learn to occupy and dominate within a diverse range of spaces and I guarantee you, starting conversations with strangers becomes instantly easier.

2) To become more personable you have to focus on what energy you’re putting out into the world. For instance, one thing to think about is your body language, what are your arms doing, are they crossed? Are you actively giving off an approachable energy or are you seeming a bit closed off?

3) Being courageous, for me, starts with having a strong relationship with myself. It looks like using positive self-talk to overcome any doubts or fears I may be having, embracing the failure of life’s many lessons, and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
I have two, “#GirlBoss” by Sophia Amoruso and “The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck” by Sarah Knight. I can’t remember exactly how old I was when these books crossed my path, but they have been in my book collection for years. #GirlBoss focuses on telling the story of Sophia Amoruso, a high-school dropout who became the Founder of one of my favorite clothing brands, Nasty Gal, and her hectic journey to the top. The book emphasizes that success isn’t measured by where you went to college or how popular you were in school, but more so by following your gut and knowing which rules to follow and which to break. Some of my biggest takeaways from the book were that you can truly do anything that you set your mind to, it’s okay to not have it all figured out, and to never listen to the people doubting you.

The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck teaches you how to remove your feelings of guilt and obligation to better direct your time and energy into things that matter to you. Within the book, she talks about how not caring can help to create a life that you love for yourself while also giving many useful tips and tricks to help you on your journey. Some of my biggest takeaways from the book were that not caring is not selfish, it’s self-care, and that this life is yours to live and yours alone, so live it how you want to.

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Image Credits
Gregory Kirkpatrick Melissa Raelynn Bryanna Wrenn

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