EP 94: The Art of Pivoting with Stephanie Ritz | Pt 2

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Before we start today's episode, I want to give you a heads up that this is a two-parter. Enjoy.

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Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to the Think Happy Podcast. I am your host, Kaitlin Cuevas. I am your host who was just sitting here eating a bowl of pretzels and M&Ms right before I hit the record button. So I had a little bit of a sweet tooth before recording. And so I went into the kitchen and I opened the pantry to grab a handful of M&Ms. And as I was grabbing a handful of M&Ms, I also eye'd the bag of pretzels. And I mean, they were speaking to me. I feel like they were practically begging me to grab a handful of them too. So naturally, I did. And it's a delicious little treat of a snack, let me just tell you. And I mean, life's all about balance, right? Right.

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Yes, life is all about balance.

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Anyway, I hope you enjoyed listening to part one of my conversation with Stephanie last week. Wasn't it so fun hearing about her travel adventures? I mean, I can't even imagine just hopping around the world, living in a different city each month. God, it's so cool. Something else that's cool, something else that's exciting is part two of our conversation today. I cannot wait for you to get to listen and learn even more from Stephanie and her multiple experiences with life pivots. But first, let me remind you that the waitlist for mom-life, Think Happy's newest 100% mom-focused program is open. So calling all mamas who have a never-ending to-do list that's longer than the roll of toilet paper your toddler pulled out. Calling all mommas who want some simple routines like more badly than your kiddo wants just one more.

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Sip of water before bed.

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I just cannot wait for you to listen to part two. So here we go. Enjoy.

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So something that you said is actually incredibly aligned with a lot of what I teach. This is getting really clear on your why behind your why. And like, so for this conversation, the what would be the pivot and just getting really clear on the feelings, the emotions, the why that you have behind that. Because I believe that when we're really clear on that why, those emotions are what are going to keep us moving forward when the newness and the shininess, the excitement of whatever this goal, habit, pivot is that we're considering the why, the feelings is what keeps us heading in that direction.

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Yeah, I couldn't agree more, and especially in entrepreneurship, it's okay to say I just want to make so much money, but that's not going to be the thing that takes the action. When you have that money, what are you going to do with it? And so for me, having clarity around the fact that I just want to be able to maintain this travel life, have money to put aside for retirement, and always be able to support my son financially, that's the money goal for me. That's the thing that's going to get me out of bed and doing the things that I need to do. Not saying I'd love to make $500,000, that's not going to be the thing. Taking care of my son, taking care of myself, being independent, having this freedom, that's the motivator. And so, yeah, I love that. Very powerful tool.

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Oh, that lights me up. So did you... Did you have any lessons learned from early on pivots in your career that helped you make the decision to just go for your current business now to help you make that final... I don't want to call it your final pivot, because who knows what's going to continue happening, but this most recent pivot.

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Yeah. So because I had so much corporate success and there was never a lot of women sitting next to me, the boardrooms were not filled with women.

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This was a really big passion for me. I've always mentored people in my life, and most especially women and minorities, to help them join me at the table. And I know that's why not everyone it comes as easily to them to make those mindset shifts of, Okay, I've got this crappy entry level position. What am I going to do from here? And so coaching to me just felt like a really natural gift and way that I could use something that I love to support other people. And so that was definitely a lesson that I've learned throughout my career and why it really gave me the decision to do a coaching business.

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Yeah. I do think that it takes a special type of person to that thoroughly enjoys the act of mentoring and just coaching, helping people thrive. It's not for everyone. No.

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Because there's a lot of jobs out there that I couldn't do.

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Yeah, it's so funny. When I decided on business coaching, I knew for me the strategy part was going to be easy and fun. I love a business strategy. I'm obsessed with it. Finding new and unique ways for people to really elevate their skill set lights me up. But also I can't create those mindset shifts for them, which is why I became like a certified mindset coach to support them to take the actions to create the business. So the combination of both of those things, which I learned so much from both my first business and my corporate career, really was like the magic combination for helping my clients achieve success.

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That's beautiful. And I love how you're able to look back on where you are now and see how each of those played a role in helping you be the best that you can be right now for your clients and really for yourself and for your son.

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Yes. Thank you for that. Thank you. Of course.

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So what was it about these professional pivots that taught you or showed you that pivoting is totally okay? Kind of a question. I think this is the second latest loaded question I've dished out.

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Sometimes it's hindsight that really gives us our power to move forward. Just like you were saying, reflecting back on the career and all the things that I've experienced, it's the same thing. It's one thing to have that belief and to conjure that belief without proof. But then once you have it, then it's like, Okay, I have something to tap into. And there's so many different ways that we do that in life outside of corporate. And I think it's such a powerful tool to go back and say, Okay, I've done hard things before. I've been through challenging things. I freaking raised a child by myself. This is not going to be the hardest thing that I do. And so it doesn't work out. I have overcome so many other things. And so that really is the thing that I think supports me to make these pivots, these shifts and these changes with such confidence.

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Yeah. I think that so many of us forget it that we really deserve. And whether you're thinking about making a pivot or not, I think it's such a healthy exercise to go back and just acknowledge all of the tough, hard things you have already done. And whether it's raising a child on your own or not, holy moly, Stephanie, that is so amazing to me. I can barely raise my children, and I have the best husband ever. That is so amazing to me.

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But difficult looks different for everyone, and also difficult looks different for the same person, but in different seasons of life. I remember things that I felt were difficult 10 years ago. Now, current Kaitlin looks back and things like, Oh, well, that wasn't that difficult.

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But hey, it helps you exercise those muscles and just gear you up for the next things that are coming... Rock them.

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Yeah, I totally agree. Okay.

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So now we start to shift into some of your personal pivots also. So do you feel like all of these professional pivots throughout your career, do you feel like they laid the groundwork for some of the personal pivots in your life? And then I guess my follow up question to that would be, can you also tell us about some of the personal pivots in your life?

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Yeah. I think your job is part of your life. Your career is... It's all intertwined. It's how you make your living. It really defines your ability to make investments and purchases and have different experiences. So I don't really think it's very separate. It's all lessons that you're taking and personal decisions that you're making and your personal pivots are going to affect your career choices and your jobs and the ability to work remote. That is something that so many people desire. And so that may end up deciding I need to make a career shift that allows me to work remote or full-time or work from anywhere. And so that was a really important one for me. I mean, having gone through a marriage that didn't last for very long, a lot of people go through that and experience that and feel some shame around that or feel like they failed or feel disappointed. There's so many emotions that come up and how you decide to utilize what those lessons were and move forward is truly the thing for me that, again, now I have so much more clarity on what I'm looking for in a partner.

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Who I am and what my role in that relationship was, the things that I feel really proud of and the way that I handle them, the things that I don't. Everybody's got a part in it. So all the personal things that I think that we go through in work, life and all the things really help guide our decisions and not harping on the things that we did wrong, but using them as an opportunity to say, This is how I'm going to do things differently moving forward. And so if you look at everything you've gone through as a life lesson or a life experience as opposed to I failed or labeling it as a win or a fail, then you'll be so much richer as a person, so much more informed and confident in taking your next steps.

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Absolutely. Because if you are able to view, and I don't even want to call them failures, but if you're able to view things that you feel like you didn't do the right way or the best way as learning opportunities and learning experiences, what that does is that allows you to never have to start back at square one because you always have something gained from whatever that experience was and from whatever you learned from that experience. If we're able to have that little reframe with, Well, this doesn't mean I'm starting over. This doesn't mean I failed. This means that I have all of these lessons learned. I know this much more about myself. I know this much more about the world or my career or whatever it might be that you get to leverage that, which is a beautiful thing.

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I agree. And I think it's such an important lesson for people who are starting something new because this is something I say to my clients all the time, Your business might be new, but that doesn't mean that you are. You're bringing your experience, your education, all the things that you've gone through in life to this point, and you can utilize them as different tools and strategies inside your business, whether that's on the business side or how you support your clients. So I think it's an important reflection to say, I'm not a new business owner, my business is new, and this is what I bring to it.

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Yes. Oh, that reframe. Yes.

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And it just makes me... Girlfriends right now who are pregnant with their first babies. And just changing it from saying I'm a new mom to just I'm new at being a mom. Because so many times they look at me and ask me questions. Oh, well, Kaitlin has two kids. She's got to know what's going on.

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No, I have no idea what I'm doing. I still feel like a new mom. And Eleanor is two and a half years old. And sure, I'm still new to mom-ing. But just that reframe, I love it so much, Stephanie.

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Thank you.

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So I have to ask, with all of these pivots that we've talked about, did you have an example, a parent, a role model of pivoting while you were growing up? Were you watching someone around you just totally rocking big life moves like you have? And I guess I say that pun intended because you're moving all the time.

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Yeah. I didn't have a lot of role models. My family did not grow up with money or people in big, successful careers were not the people that were influential in my life, but I will say my grandfather was a Holocaust survivor. He was the only Holocaust survivor in his family. And so he has got this brute grit and inner strength to persevere and to provide for his family.

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I grew up seeing that. And my mother had her own set of challenges too. Just throughout life, going through a family that had multiple marriages and divorces, moving and changing school seven times before high school. These are all experiences like we were talking about to draw on, to say, Okay, that was really hard. That's a lot for a kid to go through, or that's a lot for even a kid to experience from her own grandfather. Those stories and how to put that in perspective for your life. But these are all the little moments that I think compound to make us into the adults that we are. And so it actually was a process of unlearning for me that I don't need to control every situation in order to be successful when it comes to entrepreneurship, because so much of corporate is about how you take actions and control your time and making those relationships. And there are a lot of really specific things that you need to do to control your path to the top, especially as a woman, a minority. It's just not equal, and it still isn't. And in entrepreneurship, it's very different. There's a lot of release and letting go that you have to go through that is not comfortable for people coming out of the corporate space.

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And again, just reflecting back on times where I wasn't in control, but I had to be in the experience. And how did I handle that? And how could I utilize those lessons into my business? And these are things we don't even think about. We just intuitively do them. But when you can intentionally look back and find evidence of times in your life where you have gone through these experiences, it serves as such a powerful tool and reinforcement of your own power in this situation.

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Yeah, I love it. I love it. I love all of this. So have your pivot ever gotten easier?

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Easier in the sense that I can make that fast decisions for myself, because now I'm very clear on risk reward, but there's always a sense of anxiousness. I don't think that that goes away. When you're making a big shift or a big change in your life, there's going to be a natural inclination of self-doubt or concern or worry. But now I've gone through the process so many times and have the tools to move through them faster so I'm not sitting in the worry or not making decisions or not taking action to best support my goals because of that fear, all that apprehension. But I still feel it. I'm still very human and I'm still trying to go through that. And especially because I'm traveling solo, talk about personal pivots, there are times that it can feel really lonely out in the world by yourself. I can't drive and go see family or girlfriends or whatever. I'm having this adventure and it's like those are the times where I'm like, Do I make the right decision? I'm feeling really lonely. And then I am like, Okay, Steph, snap out of it. Open up your window. And I literally do this all the time like, You're in Budapest right now.

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And then it just immediately changes my mindset. This is something that I never, ever thought I would experience. And I chose this because of a very specific intention for my life, and it makes me just feel happy. I feel happy being able to say, I'm not still in my Philadelphia suburban apartment feeling lonely. Now I'm in Budapest. Get out, go stay at the city, go have an adventure, because that's not something I could have done back home.

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Right. That is amazing. That is amazing. So I'm going to put myself... As we start to wrap up our conversation a little bit, I do want to put myself in the shoes of the listeners who specifically requested an episode about pivoting. Do you have any tips, suggestions, words of encouragement for people surrounding pivoting?

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Yeah, I think just really reinforcing what we've talked about and you so eloquently framed in this podcast around intention and why. If there's something that you're feeling pulled to do, get really clear on the why and really write it down, journal about it, get really grounded in why this is important for you to do this, and then what is the absolute worst case scenario? What are all the pitfalls, the downfalls? What is coming up for you in your mindset around it not being successful? How much of that is actually true? Because so much of that is built up in our own mind and our own perception. So really getting clear by writing it down, get it out of your head, put it on paper, and then you can decide if this is the worst-case scenario versus the worst thing that could absolutely happen in my life, where does this really fall on the fear scale? Do I have the option to learn from this and try something new? Is this going to cause danger to my life, to my health, to majorly to my finances in a way that it doesn't make it worth doing the pivot, going after the thing that I really, truly desire, because you only have one shot at this.

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We only have one life. And so finding your happiness and pursuing it, is there anything greater that you should be doing right now?

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Yeah. I can't stop smiling. I feel like you would be... So you are a business coach, but I feel like you would also be a really good career coach. So it could be a possible upcoming pivot for you.

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Well, that's where I actually started. That was the first business model that I had. I was a career coach for six months, and I think it was just the timing. Because I already knew so much about corporate, that just seemed obvious to me. Let me help other people grow in their career. And so that's where I started. And because it was like in those post-COVID months, my clients were like, No, I want to do what you do. I want to get out of corporate. I want to have my own business. And that's actually what caused me to shift into business coaching. It was clients pushing me into it. But yeah, I mean, It always, always have a passion for helping people really grow in their corporate careers as well. I do still have one client that I career coach on the side.

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That's so awesome though.

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Yeah, I really do love it. I mean, helping people arise to their potential and finding their happiness and whatever that's going to look like for them is a thing that really aligns for me.

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Yeah. Do you see or foresee any upcoming pivots in your life?

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I do. As part of this journey, I've been traveling now full-time for over two years, and I have done so much work on myself personally, professionally, and I'm at a place where it's like if I find a partner that I don't want to leave or a place that I don't want to leave, I'm totally okay at making a pivot to changing my travel life and allowing that to look different, maybe just still continuing to travel, but it doesn't have to be full-time. I, literally in the last couple of years, have been to almost every place I've ever dreamt of going, which is insane to me. Yeah. I'm like, How many people can say that.

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Yeah. I mean, it really is such a blessing, a gift that I've really given myself that if for any reason I had to stop traveling tomorrow to know that I did this for myself is just... I just feel so thankful that I took the pivot. I took the chance. I did all the things, but I'm now open to different other personal opportunities or even professional ones. You never know where business is going to take you. Yeah, just staying open to all of those. I love my business. I don't foresee my coaching business going anywhere by adding on to different new opportunities and expanding. You just never know. So I'm always open to possibilities personally and professionally and definitely open to pivoting. Like I said, if there is a person or a place that I just don't ever want to leave, then I'll adjust my lifestyle and start a new exciting adventure. I can't stop smiling. This whole conversation, I feel like I've just been smiling ear to ear. This has been such a fun talk on and just to listen to you and hear your stories. And hopefully the listeners, I know that they have just taken some nuggets of helpful information and encouragement out of this conversation. So thank you for your time with us. I cannot let you go without asking you one more very important question that I ask every guest who comes on the Think Happy podcast, do you have a life or happiness hack that you use in your own life that listeners might want to try out in their own lives?

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Yeah, I gratitude journal every night, and that to me, there is no better grounding exercise, especially when I don't want to do it. If I'm feeling resistance to opening up that journal and doing it, it's such a flag for me to reflect on what is going on. And now, more than ever, I need to find three things that I'm really grateful for. And they don't have to be big, major life things. It could be gratitude, the fact that my Airbnb host brought me a fan because it's so hot in the city right now. It's something that just made me feel just so appreciative of the things that I do have. And that has been a really powerful tool for me for feeling happiness and living my best life and grounding me into what is important.

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I have the same exact practice. I have a nightly gratitude practice where I write down three things from the day that I'm grateful for. And sometimes it's like pajamas, bed and a cup of water next to me. And sometimes because it's just like that's where I am right now. And I didn't want to do this because I'm tired. But I'm so incredibly grateful and blessed even for these small things. So I love that hack and I'm right there with you. Where can we find you? Where can we connect with you, Stephanie?

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Yeah, so my website is Stephanieritzco.com. I have a fantastic Facebook group with coaches and consultants. So if anybody is thinking about starting a freedom-based business or you have one, that's really a fun group because I take you behind the scenes of my travel life. I offer travel tips and I offer three business trainings every month. So it gives you a little bit of both worlds for both travel and business. And that is the Freedom-based Business Builders Facebook community group. And yeah, a lot of free resources in there, training, opportunity to connect and collaborate. So I'm also @stephanieritz.co pretty much everywhere. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, all the places.

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Amazing. Well, I just cannot thank you enough for taking the time to be here with us today. I know I've said this like 500 times. I have so thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and safe travels.

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Thank you so much, Kaitlin. Thanks so much for having me. I had so much fun.

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Thank you for joining me for this week's episode of The Think Happy Podcast. I would so appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review. And if you just can't get enough, find me on Instagram @thinkhappy_co. That's co, and online at thinkhappyco.com. I'll be back in your ears next week with another episode of The Think Happy Podcast.