We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nikki Tomlin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nikki below.
Nikki, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
This is kind of a two part answer. One part being a little bit of delusion and another part pulling away from the noise. I think a lot of the delusion part of has been not paying attention to every single step to get where I want to be and then trying to predict where I am going to fumble. Instead I leaned into the delusion and trusted myself to lean into the step that was right in front of me. In pulling away from the noise of following people that push me to compare myself to them or something else and from people who in real life make me feel the same way or not supported, I’ve given myself more of a chance to just believe in myself. By letting myself dream big AND step towards those dreams with as little influence from negative energy as possible, all that is left is a new found confidence in myself.
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?
As a travel photographer and content creator I live a lot of my life in chaos as I like to describe it. In all reality what it is, is a willingness to be spontaneous and say yes to opportunities that will carry me around the world. The bulk of my business centers around sharing about travel experiences, products, accommodations, etc with the audience I have built online. There are a lot of other avenues that are spiderwebbed into this like creating professional marketing materials for companies to use to support their brands mission, hosting groups of travelers from around the world on bucket list experiences, and creating a community of women who are stepping into their femininity. This is all unique because I didn’t come from a family that traveled or had any money to support me on this. It all came from one simple idea that I had as a kid– that I wanted to see the world and capture it for the next girl to see she can do it too.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think being flexible, eager to keep expanding on skills, and that its not a one size fits all type of industry were the most vital things for me to hold onto and lean into on my journey. My biggest advice is to take inspiration from others, never compare, and don’t worship on person or brand. Knowing that your journey will be specific to you and that you will hear countless stories about what is ‘the best’ way to do something that you ultimately have to decide what works best for you, your business, and journey. This doesn’t mean you should accept one thing that works now as the thing that will work forever. You have to be willing to keep educating yourself and have the flexibility to roll with the punches.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
My number one challenge right now is a massive lifestyle change that I have been working towards for years. Starting in July of this year I will be living a fully nomadic lifestyle meaning that I won’t have a home base and will be traveling truly wherever I am pulled to. This is proving to be a challenge because I will have to learn how to run all aspects of my business and work with clients while permanently on the road and likely outside of the US. Like I said, this is something I have been working toward doing for years so I have taken plenty of long term trips and have the traveling part figured out, but inevitably things within my business will have to change. I am resolving a lot of these issues by focusing on other ways I can use my skillset on the road. For example, I am coaching aspiring creators one on one and providing guidance to other businesses on social media strategy. I am also switching my partnership strategy to include more accommodations, experiences, and digital products vs physical products.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nikkitomlin.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkiitomlin/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nikkiitomlin
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@NikkiTomlin
Image Credits
These images are all mine 🙂
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
