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, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?
When looking back I wish I would have started my business sooner! I was one of the only people in my college program that said they wanted to work for someone else. I didn’t like what I was hearing about having to run a business and then I started working for other people and found out quickly, it wasn’t for me. I started a business in the little ways in waves. I would get the bones set up like a bank account and book keeping along with some socials to promote my work and then I would let it go because I continued to work for other people. Then I lost my last job in 2020 and thought ‘Okay Nikki you have been talking a really big game about running your own business and seems like the open door to do it.’ Honestly, I wish I would have just committed when I had the first idea. I really thought about it when I had moved to Austria as well because I knew that navigating life living in a new country would be of interest to a lot of people and unfortunately, I let the opinions of others get the best of me. Starting earlier I think would have given me the freedom I have been seeking most of my 20s and I think would have led me to new places and new adventures sooner, but it is what it is and I am happy to be where I am and not still thinking about it, I’m doing it.
Nikki, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I chose to study photography in college and graduated with my Bachelors in 2016 before moving to NYC where I dabbled in anything I could get my hands on within the industry. I was a studio manager for a custom design company, a content manager for a start up tech company, a personal assistant for a private art collector, a production assistant, and I was freelancing on the side (while also waiting tables lol). I left NYC and moved to Vienna, Austria where I intended to go back to school for marketing to support my photography degree. My visa was denied and I landed back in Colorado where I became a marketing manager for a commercial real estate company. I lost that job in 2020 and decided this was my chance to pursue my own business that I had been talking a big game about for years. None of the above pieces of my story were easy. I was not prepared of the hustle of NYC and as someone who values their sleep I decided it wasn’t for me, even though at one point I had wanted it so bad. Being denied for the visa in Austria really hit me hard because it was a huge dream of mine to live in another country and it had just been taken away from me in the blink of an eye after I worked so hard to get there in the first place. Losing my job in 2020 was definitely a blow because there was so much uncertainty in the world and then I thought building my current business would be a bit more of a breeze. I figured I would be light years beyond where I am now in a year and I am not. But, it all boiled down to what makes me happy so I haven’t given up!
At my core I am a travel photographer. My art exists to capture the essence of places far away from where I grew up, experiences along the way, and things that made that journey easier/easier to do and show that to people from all over the world. My goal has always been to show people the world isn’t scary, in fact it is more beautiful than I ever could have even imagined it to be. I also have always aimed to inspire people to make their own lives epic and beautiful whether that is through travel and adventure or moving to the next town over or applying for their dream job even if they don’t feel they are qualified. We all deserve that little bit of magic! In turn, all this magic has led me to helping others, brands, businesses, hotels, cruise lines, tourism boards, etc. tell their stories. I take all of the experience I’ve had and what I know as being a consumer of content, media, and creative visual arts for so long and throw it into creative projects that are meant to showcase, sell, and attract the ideal client for others. I honestly LOVE that this is my job and that I have set myself up to work with such epic people and companies through my adventures.
Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?
One of my first clients when I started my business was actually another small business owner. I had been posting to Instagram for a few months and was trying to figure out what exactly I wanted my business to be and where I wanted my photography journey to flow. I knew I wanted to travel and I knew I wanted to help people tell stories through photography and videography. The only thing that I could think to do was take photos of myself in the creative ways I would like to take photos of others for their clothing business, tourism boards, adventure experiences, etc. One day I visited Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado and took some photos in this green dress that were very feminine and moody. I posted them to IG and a few months later this follower reached out and said ‘hey I’ve been following you for awhile and I need a photographer to truly capture my brand, which is me.’ We hopped on our first zoom call and were discussing the brand and I asked her how she found me and why she picked me for this project and she pulled up my photos from the sand dunes. She had saved that post and told me she had told herself ‘this will be my photographer’ and there we were. We have worked on countless projects since and have become quite close friends. Our businesses have grown together and we cheer each other on through every step. This was the first time I had thought, ‘damn, a simple marketing strategy and visual idea can really carry a business through so much growth and I just proved that to myself.’
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Make it your own. Every trending audio, visual, caption, all of it, make it your own. My first viral video came from a trend that I made my own. A new iPhone had come out with the wide angle lens and I was out hiking and thought ‘oh it would be so cool to use the wide angle to take a 360 video of this view’ and I took the video, watched it back, and thought ‘damn thats boring.’ So I turned the camera around to face me and spun in a circle. I made countless videos like this over the summer while hiking through Colorado. Months and months later a trend came around where you put “when I say I live in XXX this is what I mean” and then the beat would drop and people were cutting photos from that place to the beat. I went to make the same reel I had seen a million times and stopped myself when I realized I would be contributing to the noise even with my own photos and it wouldn’t set me apart. So I went scrolling through my camera roll and saw all the videos of me spinning in a circle and knew cutting those together would be cool! So I did and it worked. Then I kept taking trends or finding new audios and starting my own trend with the spinning videos and my audience grew. I continue to do this to this day along with other fun and creative videos that mimic the spinning video. I have even had companies hire me to do the spinning videos. Thats how I grew the bulk of my audience, but people have stuck around for photography tips, travel tips and guides, motivation to making their life epic, and me. The lesson here I think is to be yourself!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nikkitomlin.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkiitomlin/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nikkiitomlin
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkitomlin/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nikkiitomlin
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRozLft4C7fHPs9Cy90c8Q
Image Credits
All images are taken by me