We were lucky to catch up with Zachary Rippy recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Zachary, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
I don’t think I have. I try to keep a healthy relationship with it! If I ever feel like I got it all down or I got it all right, then I know im faking it. For lack of a better term, “Having it” is a moving target. As soon as I feel good about something I’ve done, its time to move on and learn the next thing. It’s never time to enjoy or rest on my laurels. This is a young man’s game and im getting older everyday.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Sound Signal Audio Visual is the personal creative business endeavor and multimedia entity run by Zachary Rippy. Its purpose is to help bands and artists independently creative audio and video projects at a professional level. Without any large corporate or financial backing, we together can create art that competes with things that cost 10-100x as much.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Patience is the first thing I would say. People as me all the time “how do I get to mix x band” or “how to I get to record x band” and I always have to say the same thing. Start at the bottom be patient. I loaded and pushed cases for almost 2 years before I touched a mixing console in a professional setting. You have to put in your time and pay your dues.
Persistance follows. If you aren’t persistent along with patient you won’t make it. There’s a lot of “hurry up to wait” scenarios and you have to be prepared for that.
Troubleshooting. In any and all difficult situations, being patience, persistent AND mechanically inclined has helped a lot. Small things like fixing equipment that I wouldn’t other wise be able to afford or find a replacement for. In so many situations I’ve been a help to somebody with something external and its made an impression or showed them im just here to help and on the team in anyway. There is no room for an “its not my job” attitude.
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?
The War of Art has been the most impactful book on my life. Not to be confused with The Art of War, The War of Art is about the professionals constant pursuit of doing the damn thing, whatever creative process that may be. Its about not letting lives resistance get to you. About realizing that life’s resistance is almost a good thing. When you encounter it, instead of living in it, you realize, “wow im meeting a lot of resistance to accomplishing this task” and instead of being discouraged, have there mind set of, the more important or monumental the task, the more resistance. Recognizing this has helped me overcome most challenges in life. Failure is not a bad thing. I am someone who generally learns from failure or negative consequence. I turn every “failure” into a win by learning from its experience.
Contact Info:
- Website: soundsignalaudio.com
- Instagram: sound_signal_audio
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachary-rippy-27432228
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/soundsignalaudio
- Other: @zacharyrippy
Image Credits
Chase Mason, Hayley Rippy
