The Early Years

In the first couple years of my professional life, I felt a little like the Forrest Gump feather in the wind (and I still feel like that sometimes if I am being honest) so I figured I would share a little of that story today.

I had just turned 21 and moved to NYC after getting married. While I was going to school online, I really wanted a “Big Boy” job and somehow I landed on real estate…in New York City. A kid from Grants Lick, Kentucky, a month into living in NYC parading around like I knew where someone should live. I had no business doing it but after some online courses, I was licensed and began showing with the few clients that came along. I remember being completely lost trying to navigate my new home while at the same time acting like I knew everything about each neighborhood. It was bad, and my clients must have caught on because I was chewed up and spit out within 6 months. However, I was forced to learn the city quickly and it actually grew my confidence that a “country boy could survive” in the city.

Then I got an internship with an AirBNB competitor (before that was really a thing). I was basically the “we don’t know what to do on social media so we got a young intern to fix that” guy. It was a start-up and it always felt like we were out at rough seas. People seemed to applaud my steady, calm demeanor through it all and I found that was a skill that was desired in those settings. I found out that I could run social for a business too. (Bonus: They didn’t have an office so we would just go to hotel lobbies that had free coffee and wifi so I also gained a wealth of knowledge on how to get free coffee/bathrooms in pretty much any part of the city, which is just a useful hack there)

During that internship, I landed a job at this upscale YMCA-ish facility coaching youth sports to make some money. The kids were great, but it was the parents that I would get to chat with that were fascinating. Now a 22 year old kid from Grants Lick, talking casually with celebrities, political figures, and executives of huge companies from all over the world. It’s where I learned people are people no matter their status.

It’s impossible not to see how that shaped who I am today so to wrap this up like a feel good-90s end title scene.

"-Shedding the feeling that Ryan “doesn’t belong” in a room full of people who may have “higher status” has been an invaluable part of his professional journey. (at least to me and my personality)

-A seasoned real estate professional took Ryan under their wing and he had another (more successful) go at the whole real estate thing.

-The social media management experience he got gave him the confidence to land his first job when he moved back to Cincinnati and jumpstarted his career path.

He lived happily."

While it’s never easy, I now look at failures and uncomfortability for what they are. Things I will look back on 5-10-15 years from now and say, I’m glad I was a bit of a feather.