We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nichole Boyer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Nichole, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
Imposter syndrome is definitely a word that has gotten thrown around a lot. I feel like it’s kind of a New Age way of describing struggling with your confidence. Everybody has their own trick to help overcome not knowing how to do something, doing something for the very first time, or doing something again because you messed up the first time. For me, it has always been about letting go of wherever is eating away at me.
I can really struggle with perfectionism especially as an artist. A lot of times I have a gut feeling or an inner feeling that says “Aha, that’s is it!” which lets me know that that is perfect and doesn’t need anymore edits. However, as a business owner, waiting for something to be absolutely perfect isn’t always best for business because I have deadlines and due dates and launch dates that I need to follow through with.
It’s been about coming to an understanding with myself that it’s important for me to put something out even if it’s not 100% perfect my clients provide feedback that help shape the project to the point where I have that “aha!” moment.
It’s some thing that I have to remind myself about every single day and really applies to all of my roles as a business, owner and artist.
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?
Growing up on the coast in New Jersey, I was surrounded by history at every corner. Jersey has centuries-old schoolhouses, regal private homes, and iconic streets in the most charming of small towns so it was easy to fall in love with the architecture around me. To this day I love a good road trip to a town unknown just to explore all the amazing buildings and structures it has to offer.
I started Lake Fair Lane as a way to preserve the stories the places around us have to tell. We are so quick to start over that we often don’t take the time to see what’s really in front of, even with architecture. I want Lake Fair Lane pieces to encourage people to take in the design to see what is really there structurally….those bones of that place have so many stories to tell, they’ve been a part of so many moments that it’s ashamed when we tear those walls down.
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, curiosity and discipline are definitely skills that have been the most impactful for me. For me patience is similar to letting go. Whatever you want will always get to you but the timing might not be what you want so you just have to stay patient. Always stay curious. It’s so important to find excitement about the things that you are diving into. For me it could be learning how to screen print because wanted to create T-shirts….having that curiosity about wanting to understand how to do something keeps me going. And then staying disciplined, which is incredibly hard. I’ve had to say no to a lot of things because I needed to get a piece done or because I had to get Market prep done. You have to be so disciplined to be able to say no to new experiences in life.
My advice for anyone who is just starting is keep going. If you’re not making any sales keep going if you feel like your stuck and you can’t create more products to keep growing, especially in the creative roles I feel like you can fall in and out of love with your skill or your talent, and even in those the slums you want to find a way to keep pushing yourself
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
Learning how to sell myself has been a huge improvement for me over the last 12 months. Putting yourself out there and putting your artwork out in the world for judgment is a very vulnerable thing. You have people who are providing feedback both negative and positive about something that you have poured your heart and soul into. For a really long time I let that fear of being vulnerable hold me back from sharing my work. August 2022 was the first time I started doing markets and looking back at these last 12 months, I’m incredibly proud of myself for becoming very comfortable about talking to people about my concept, about my vision, about my style and listening to the stories they have to tell. It’s not easy to put yourself out there but it’s been an incredible experience the last 12 months.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lakefairlane.com
- Instagram: @lakefairlane
- Facebook: @lakefairlane
