We recently connected with James Legier and have shared our conversation below.
James, 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.
Imposter syndrome is something I have battled for the majority of my life. I grew up as an Inline Speed Skater in Florida and competed across the United States. I was never the best, I didn’t have that natural “gift” that other speed skaters had, but I made up for it by training full time in the off-season. I got better, but I never really felt like I was supposed to be there. Eventually I started cycling and working at a local bike shop where I fell in love with everything related to the sport…then suddenly I was a soldier. I enlisted in the Army at 17 and was deployed to Afghanistan by the time I was 19. My dream then was always to open my own bike shop after the Army and I quickly realized that was a tall order. Instead, I started contracting for the military and stuck with that for roughly 8 years in Hawaii with my family.
My woodworking / Maker career didn’t start until I was in my late 20’s, and it started with my better half Ashley mentioning she wanted to buy a new headboard for our son’s room. My immediate (and surprising to me) response was “I think I can build that for you”. So, one weekend I went to the local hardware store, grabbed tools and lumber, and I built it. That started me down a whirlwind path of various “I can build that” projects. Eventually we bought our first house in Hawaii and needed to sell our couch. We posted it on social media and nearly every comment was people asking if the entertainment stand in the background of the photo that Ashley and I built together was for sale. Immediately the gears started turning in my brain, envisioning the next chapter of life after government contracting work. Over the next year I built several things for our house and the dream of owning my own Woodshop lived in the back of my head. I watched every YouTube channel related to making things that I could to get inspiration and learn new skills: Jimmy Diresta, I Like to Make Stuff, Make Something TV, Blacktail Studios, John Malecki (just to name a few) and that’s when the realization hit me: I lived in Hawaii, anything that I built that was large and heavy would require massive shipping costs, and I knew customers wouldn’t go for it. So, one night I started the search for what I was going to build my business around. It needed to be small, easy and inexpensive to ship, but meaningful to the customer. Handmade rings crossed my path, and I thought “I bet I could make one with the basic tools I have in my garage”. I watched a few YouTube videos on the process and the next day I was in the garage making rings…the majority of which broke within an hour…but I had found my new obsession.
I ordered a box of Whiskey barrel stave cutoffs from Etsy and started honing my skills. I showed them to anyone who would give me the time of day; coworkers, family members, neighbors, it didn’t matter, I found my niche and I didn’t want to let that flame burn out. Over time people started asking me to do more custom rings with material they wanted, we would sit down, and I would listen to their stories and how they were connected to this specific material, and I would turn their story into a ring they could wear. Over the years those stories have gotten more frequent and have allowed me to expand my skillset and work with materials I never even dreamed of touching.
I say all of this because despite all of these great things happening, all of the support and orders and growth, I still felt
like I didn’t belong. I still felt like what I was making was “just rings” and only a few people would really want one. It wasn’t until our son mentioned I should join a Discord group for Makers that I really realized what I was doing meant something to people, they just needed to know who I was. His exact words were “I bet if you posted your rings there, people would really love them”. So, I joined, and I posted, and I was not prepared for the response. I immediately got messages asking “these are incredible! Can you make a ring with…” (which is now my favorite question to get). It not only showed me that people want my product, but it also allowed me to be more creative and think outside the box with my designs.
We moved from Hawaii to Tennessee in 2023, I left my contracting job to focus on this business full time…and a few months later I almost quit the dream of Legier’s Workshop. I had hit a wall, I was completely burnt out, working in my standalone shop with no A/C in the summer with very few orders coming in. I felt like I had reached the end and that nobody cared about my product. One of my Maker friends, a Marine, asked if I could make a ring with sand from Iwo Jima beach sand. He sent me the sand and we worked on a design together; I posted the finished product and another Maker friend who was an Army Veteran suggested I tag a specific company in my next post: Crayons Ready to Eat, started by a Marine by the name of Frank Manteau. Ten minutes later I was on a phone call with Frank setting up a meeting in my shop. I made him his very own Iwo Jima ring and he introduced me to an organization called Warrior Rising; A Veteran owned non-profit specializing in helping Veteran Entrepreneurs grow their business. Warrior Rising holds several business showers every year for Veteran Entrepreneurs who complete their program, giving them a chance to promote their businesses and compete for a grant. I competed in Detroit in August of 2024 and finished second, but within a few hours of showing up to the event, every person who heard my story approached me to talk about ideas for their own rings, about how they had never thought to put sand from historical battlefields, or material from their favorite sports team’s stadium, or cremation ashes into a ring. I realized my imposter syndrome was more a figment of my imagination. If people know who I am and what I’m doing, this dream I have can be made a reality. One of my favorite memories from that event was one individual calling me to inform me “I’ve never once given a thought to custom rings before tonight, now I cannot stop thinking about the possibilities.”
My other favorite memory from that night came from Warrior Rising member Reggie Ordonez, he pulled me aside after it was announced that I had finished second and said “Listen, life is all about peaks and valleys. Right now, you are at a peak. Take some time to look around and enjoy where you came from and where you are, but look forward to the valley and embrace it, because that’s where the real work is done.” Now I live for the valleys and appreciate the peaks when they arrive.
Imposter syndrome isn’t a sign that you don’t belong—it’s proof that you’re evolving. Every chapter of your life requires a new version of you, and growth will always feel unfamiliar at first. The real challenge isn’t overcoming doubt—it’s embracing the fact that reinvention is part of the journey.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
In short, I take your story and I make a piece of wearable art with it that you can pass down through generations. Whether your story revolves around a favorite sports team, military history, a specific location in the world that’s meaningful to you, I have yet to find a piece of material I cannot make a ring out of. Aside from coming up with new ideas for ring designs, my absolute favorite part of this business is sitting down with a customer to design their own custom piece. I get to listen to their story, why they love and feel a connection to a specific place, and then I get to hunt for material connected to that place and make a completely unique-to-them ring. I encourage my customers to be as in-depth and ask as many questions as possible, because that allows me to see the big picture and the “why” behind what this piece means to them. The entire design process of one of my rings builds trust and a connection between myself and the customer and shows them the reason why they came to my shop and not one of the big brand jewelry stores.
One of my future goals with this business is to eventually start teaching others how to make things. (Rings, pens, cutting boards, etc.) I want to start classes where I open up the doors to individuals who want to learn something new and show them that regardless of their knowledge or experience, they can make something. It’s about giving individuals a purpose, and when you walk out of a class and you’re holding something in your hands that a few hours prior you had no clue how to make, that leaves a lasting impact. Even if it doesn’t cause them to go out and start their own hobby, every time they come across that piece, they’ll be taken back to that moment in time and think “Wow, I made this thing, and it is awesome…”
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?
When I started this potential woodworking chapter, rings weren’t even close to being on my radar as something I would start making. Even when I did dip my toe in the water, I had no ring making skills, no specialized tools, and no idea of how to create some of these designs. After the first few rings were made, I became obsessed with learning everything I could to improve my skills. I watched hundreds of videos on YouTube, read books, and reached out to other ring makers on social media to soak up every bit of knowledge, every tip and trick that I could. From day one I had a “make it work with what I have on hand” mentality, and at times I still do. A drill clamped to the work bench was my “lathe” for 9 months, and I made a lot of nice rings with that setup. When I finally stepped up to an actual wood lathe, the quality and the complexity of the materials I could use expanded. I made it difficult for myself in the beginning by refusing to buy all the nice specialty tools needed for this craft, but it allowed me to hone my skills and figure out ways to make the rings work with the tools at my disposal.
As far as advice, first I would tell people to stay humble. Your first piece isn’t going to be great, it’s not supposed to be. It’s supposed to spark that creativity and that obsession with getting the next one just a little bit better. Second, don’t be afraid to ask questions. All of us were in the same boat when we started out and we have a wealth of knowledge to share to the next generation. We want to see this community grow and thrive, and that doesn’t happen if we aren’t teaching others. Third, this journey is going to be hard. You’re going to have great days, and you’re going to have weeks where it seems like nothing is happening. Do not quit. Use those moments to recharge your brain and start working on the next thing or focus in on what isn’t working about your business and fix it. Again, this is where asking questions can come in handy, you might see someone in your industry doing incredible and you think “Well, I’ll never be as successful as that person” and then you find out they went through the same ups and downs that you are currently going through.
You’re not along in the struggles of trying to create something, once you understand that, it helps lift some of that weight off your chest so you can breathe and continue moving forward.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Collaborations are one of my favorite things about what I do. Working with another business or individual, especially if the two have different skillsets and styles has the potential create something wildly different and unique. It gets your work out to their customer base, and vice versa, both companies see growth and learn new things about the process of making something. I’m in talks with a couple of different companies who are Warrior Rising Alumni to make some truly incredible pieces this year, one of those companies is Three Forks Wood Reclamation, they acquire and restore historic barns and other buildings, document the entire journey of the process, as well as the history of the building. Right now I am working to acquire wood from WWII barns from them to feature in my Normandy themed rings.
Collaborations are also great because they force you out of your comfort zone, and that’s where real growth happens. You may not have ever considered using these two vastly different materials, so you never learned how to machine it and shape it, now you have to and when it’s all said and done, you’ll be a more well-rounded creator because of it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.legiersworkshop.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legiers_workshop/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/legiersworkshop/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-legier/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@legiersworkshop
- Other: Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LegiersWorkshop
Image Credits
Alyssa Michelle image credit for any event-related photos.
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
