User Research Academy
Embrace impostor syndrome. Lead research that creates FOMO and makes you famous in your organization
The User Research Membership
For the user researcher who wants to be valued by colleagues, the UXR membership is the place to learn how to confidently become a b@d@ss user researcher and turn heads with your work.
If this is you, wave your insights in the air like you just don’t care
You are expected to know the most things (read: every single method, approach, idea, criteria, concept, answer, solution - is an etc needed?) about user research at your organization. You just want to scream, “I’M NOT AN EXPERT” but then nobody would take you seriously
You have done so much Googling on topics like personas, journey maps, insight reports, and interview guides that your fingers and brain hurt, but still get a shake in the knees when a stakeholder approaches you with a research request - what if this is the one that makes them find out I’m an impostor?
You are super over screaming into the team-of-one-void and doing everything (the list above) alone while crossing fingers, toes, and eyes that you’re doing it right, despite being a good colleague to work with
You are creative and fun in real life, but you can never seem to infuse that into your research process. Instead, it’s yet another usability test, 1x1 interview, or PowerPoint (which you’re starting to dread)
You are sick of putting a hulk-amount of energy into a research process only for stakeholders to come to you wishing they had research done yester-year
And honestly? Most of the time, you feel like you’re spitting into the wind. 👻 You’re working so damn hard to “create actionable insights,” but nobody seems to care, notice, or open your report masterpieces. Is it your slide design? Your insight creation? That one time you said, “we’re doing the wrong F*ing thing!” (And then heard every stakeholder was offended)
Big sparkly bonus points if you are also: (a) a non-native English speaker trying to write English reports, (b) someone who transferred from academia and is scared about the pace of product/tech teams, (c) scared out of your mind by what you do every day, (d) Stacy’s mom. I’ve been dying to meet you since 2003.
Or how about these fun-filled symptoms? You ever experience these filthy thoughts while writing insights / listening to a stakeholder / procrastinating /contemplating a career pivot into a bookstore manager?
Ugh, that insight sounds so stupid! Who am I, someone who has never written anything in their entire life?
Why, why, why do I have to listen to Pete the Product Manager (or insert any stakeholder here) tell me how to write a better question that sounds like the stupidest question anyone could ever ask — “how much would you looooveeee to buy our product?”
Every other user researcher (including the ones that aren’t even user researchers yet) is smarter / more creative / cooler / more credible / better than me
Is anyone even going to read these insights? Maybe I’ll just go eat some nachos instead of writing this report…
Shit, this report sucks
NO! PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME LISTEN TO MY INTERVIEWS TO GET BETTER! I HAVE THE MOST AWKWARD VOICE IN THE WORLD!
“Just following up on those insights” I write in yet another calendar invitation that I know everyone will decline
What in the name of research is a persona anyway?
Why do people keep asking me to do Jobs to be Done when they literally have never listened to any form of research?
WHY DOES PETE <INSERT ANY NAME HERE> KEEP RUNNING TERRIBLE RESEARCH SESSIONS WITHOUT TELLING ME?
Good thing the stakeholders who need a two-month project came to me yesterday asking for insights in a week
LALALALA LAAA. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING - JUST A PERSON HANGING OUT WITH A GIANT IMPOSTOR SIGN OVER MY HEAD
User research isn’t even fun anymore—it’s just a big, fleshy, smelly armpit of a chore…except I gotta do it because this is what my entire career / life / marriage / FUTURE HOBBY AS OPRAH IS RIDING ON.
Conducting research stakeholders LOVE doesn’t have to feel like a thousand needles in the eye.
The good news is: research doesn’t have to be such a scary slog. It can be fun again!
And you don’t need to be “an expert user researcher” or “a creative person” by nature, or someone that took a million bootcamps and has every certificate under the sun (hey, I have two from general assembly).
You don’t need to be the best writer in the entire world or have a soothing radio voice for your interviews.
And you certainly don’t need to spend endless hours procrastinating and torturing yourself into believing you made a terrible career choice that one day when you were so excited you found your “next step.”
Rather, it’s about learning how to embrace your impostor syndrome and have fun with user research, so your stakeholders can experience that fun with you — all while they listen to your amazing insights.
Most people think it’s about “convincing stakeholders” or being so good that someone finally listens, but here’s the pickle of a truth:
They are listening, but they don’t care (YET!)
Fun fact: 85% of the researchers I’ve worked with (and it’s in the hundreds now) have felt impostor syndrome because it feels like no one cares.
85% is nearly 9 out of 10 people.
9 out of 10 people don’t feel good enough to be a user researcher. They doubt their skills. They spend hours perfecting a persona that no one will use. They get burnt out.
This proves:
You can’t spend hours convincing others about the value of research through lengthy reports or long meetings if you don’t have confidence in yourself.
You need to embrace and learn to dance with impostor syndrome. So you can value yourself. And stakeholders can value your work.
That’s what The User Research Membership is all about.
“This membership gives me confidence and helps me believe in my abilities as a Solo Researcher. I love reading every single article in the database. It keeps me accountable and I always refer back to the material available when in doubt. Love how structured all the information is. Makes it so easy and enriching to consume. Best thing of it all is the amount of time and energy I save on researching about research!”
- A happy UXR member
INTRODUCING
The World’s Most Fun—And Practical– UXR Membership That’ll Make You Embrace Impostor Syndrome & LOVE Doing Research Again
“Nikki is not only an expert in the field of UXR, she does everything she can to bring other researchers along with her. Her UXR templates alone are worth the membership fee, but having the chance to meet regularly with this generous and reflective researcher has given me invaluable insights into my work and process.”
- A happy UXR member
Because user research should be fun! And when you finally get your confidence back, it can be incredibly rewarding too!
Inside this membership, you’re going to gain the confidence so that you can:
Steal the Show 🏆 by writing reports that turn stakeholders’ heads (and maybe even the CEO’s) and have them lining up with GOOD and THOUGHTFUL research requests
Say no to methodologies that don’t make any sense given the questions you are trying to answer (hellllllllo JTBD — no offense, but you are overutilized) while feeling good about suggesting the right method
Track your amazing, sparkly impact as a user researcher, beyond just your insights and throughout every step of your process so that you can demonstrate your b@d@ss-ness to others (especially helpful for pay rises, promotions, and finding your new job)
Instantly up the Wow-Factor of your workshops with my mini-course all about how to facilitate workshops in the best way possible — for the outcome YOU need, not the one Pete wants
Stand wayyyyy out 📣 from everybody else in the industry with our constant live resume and case study sessions to get all your stuff in tip-top shape for that dream job (unless you’re going for Oprah…or President…in which case I support you, but probably can’t help).
Make a BIG impression by learning the best ways to ask for feedback — even if you are terrified of doing that right now. I’ve got all the tricks and templates for you
Tell Pete to shut up. Kidding — but at least get him on board with the right way to do research through my Treat Stakeholders Like Users technique
Try all the different methodologies in the world BECAUSE IT’S FUN AND YOU CAN
“You helped me remember why I love user research”
That’s what researchers chant in the streets (or maybe not since we tend to be an introverted bunch) after joining this membership.
Also we’ve had:
“You’ve helped me fall in love with user research again, ” and “Thanks for giving me permission not to know everything,” and “BYE BYE IMPOSTOR SYNDROME, I’M OVER YOU!” and “You are a legend".” — that last one is honestly true and I blushed for three weeks straight after hearing it.
Before joining, members often feel some combination of: Crippling self-doubt. Questioning their career paths. Wishing they could scream at their manager (& Pete). Wanting to make an impact but being sick of all the unnoticed effort. Hoping someone listens to them. And most of all, trying to recall why they got into this industry in the first place (instead of being that BOOKSTORE MANAGER — who else wants to go in with me on that?)
After joining, it is like they are different researchers: they buzz with the excitement of trying a new methodology, they don’t let their head hang when Pete (btw, I’m sorry if your name is Pete, I have nothing against you) rewords their interview guide to look sound like a toddler asking questions, they get jazzed up about reinventing processes and putting intake docs into place, they look forward to a workshop to bring their insights into beautiful solution-land.
That’s why the User Research Membership exists.
To make it fun for you to do research again. To get you out of that cave of impostor syndrome and into the incredible shining light of impact you can make on a team and organization.
To be able to embrace impostor syndrome. Get that recognition. Get that fulfillment. Get that pay rise. Get that promotion. Get that new job.
“I have no idea how to describe how much I love this community. Nikki is highly empathetic, creates a safe space, and is unafraid to discuss difficult topics. She inspires others and helps them wherever she can. When I don’t know what to do, I ask her questions, and then, after the meeting, I am always closer to the solution. I believe that thanks to her and the researchers who gather in this community, research will not only be conducted with higher quality but also UX research will establish its position in the product 🙂 “
- Karolina
Make your research & yourself sparkle✨
What’s included so that you can be the best - the very best - like no one ever was
- Quarterly templates (+ access to a template library) help you try new approaches, deliverables, and ideas without having to start from scratch, and they are able to be completely customized to you and your organization. No more breaking our fingers Googling to see templates that look like a website built in the 90’s.
- The UXR database is your go-to for user research templates, articles, books, and videos, all tagged, so you don’t need to open 945309874 tabs and scour through each resource to know if it has valuable (and reliable) info in it!
- Live Q&As are the place to ask every question under the sun that might come to your mind — I will literally answer anything — so that you don’t have to be stuck wondering, “what is a user research strategy after all?”
- Hot seat coaching is admittedly somewhat nerve-wracking because, hey, it’s scary to share your stuff in front of others to get feedback buuuutttt you can get actual eyes on your work and understand if you’re going in the right direction and where to improve — like magic!
- Live practice sessions & challenges are where we really supernova your skills — no more walking into interviews thinking concerned about your questions or tasks, no more wondering if your user research plans are sh*t. We will practice all the skills to sky rocket your confidence
- The private community is your place to vent learn from others by asking questions, sharing the situations you are in, and giving advice so that we no longer are screaming into a void — instead, scream into our community and I promise you will be heard
- Guest sessions happen when I have no idea what I am talking about when it comes to a particular topic because I dedicated way too much brain space to memorizing the PokeRap. I’ll bring them in whenever there is a topic we need a specialist for!
- Career workshops/working sessions are when you GET TO FOCUS ON YOU BECAUSE THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING! We spend dedicated time on things like your resume or case studies, working together (quietly) with me there to offer the perspective of a hiring manager
- Mini-courses I’ve created (based on member votes) get you to the next level in your skills without joining anything live. They are courses only available to my members!
- For members only - discounted 1x1s and document reviews. I no longer offer ad-hoc 1x1s or document reviews unless you are in my membership! Get my eyes on your work or book a call with me so that you can get personalized feedback and guidance on what to improve and do next
Go behind the scenes with me 👀
Upcoming events!
February
Practice Session: Tagging Data
Book Club Discussion
March
Q&A: Roadmaps & backlogs
Case study & resume working session
What makes this membership the best (the very best) membership in the world universe? 🚀
Community & Connection
What is the one thing better than venting on your own? Venting with a bunch of other people WHO GET IT.
Just kidding - kinda. We don’t just vent, but we do a lot of great things in the private community. We have challenges 💪, celebrations 🎉, book club 📚, all on top of the fact that you can literally ask any question in the (user research) world and get help ASAP.
I’m chillin’ in the community at least once a day alongside over 150 other researchers who just want to hang out and introvert-ly enjoy each other’s company.
Q&As, Hot Seat Coaching, & Practice sessions
“This might be a stupid question but…”
Well, guess what? That’s a line we’re not allowed to say in this membership because there is no stupid question. During out 2-3 live sessions you get to ask all the things, get ACTUAL FEEDBACK from me on your work, and have the opportunity to practice real skills in a low-stakes environment because who wants to learn card sorting during your first study?
Also, since I don’t know everything (thank goodness, then I wouldn’t be able to remember lyrics from the 90s), I bring in guest speakers all the time
Members-only Templates
Oh, the sweet relief when you don’t have to sit and stare at a blank page for hours trying to come up with a stakeholder satisfaction survey, a CYOA deliverable (freakin’ cool), a canned response to the statistical significance question, to track your impact in a whole new way, and how to educate people on the value and purpose of UXR (among others).
You ain’t got time for that, so I do it for you by delivering a monthly template to you to save your previous time for other things (like posting in the community or hanging out at our Q&As.
You get access to all the previous templates once you sign up and you also get to request template ideas that would be helpful to you!
UXR DATABASE
No one has time to actually Google something, open 83492749 tabs, go through each to see if it’s a valid and reliable source, and synthesize that information into something you need and can use.
Because I (and my fingers) suffered through this very same pain for years, and heard other UXRs complaining about the very same thing, I wanted to take away the pain!
This UXR database has valid + reliable resources tagged for you in an easy-to-search way!
Embrace impostor syndrome. Lead research that creates FOMO and makes you famous in your organization
If you could wave a magic wand and get anything to get you to embrace impostor syndrome and make you famous at your org what would it be? (YES, I JUST ASKED THAT QUESTION AND I RECOMMEND YOU DON’T IN YOUR INTERVIEWS!)
THIS MEMBERSHIP! Huzzah!
PS. Many people expense the cost of the yearly membership to their companies! Here is an email you can send your manager.
YEARLY
£847
1 YEAR OF ACCESS
✓ One free month of access to the membership
✓ 2 live Q&As, hot-seat coaching, practice sessions, and guest speakers on valuable topics per month
✓ Access to the private membership community on Heartbeat
✓ A quarterly template & video you can customize to your org/team + access to over 20 members-only templates
✓ Access to the continuously updated user research database
✓ Priority to request templates or podcast episodes
✓ Access to our members-only book club
✓ Access to five members-only mini-courses
✓ Discounted document reviews (after the first free one)
✓ 50% discount on one-off 1x1 sessions, which are exclusive to members only (£175/call)
✓ Membership discount on all current and future courses
✓ Access to my substack content (normally £17/month)
A free resume & cover letter template (value: £150)
Free immediate access to my job webinar prep & career workshop recordings and slides (value £137)
Bonuses for yearly members
MONTHLY
Cancel at any time + a 30-day money back guarantee!
Proud to offer a 30-day, 100% money-back guarantee (that you won’t need because it is AWESOME.) 🌟
£77
MONTHLY PAYMENTS
✓ 2 live Q&As, hot-seat coaching, practice sessions, and guest speakers on valuable topics per month
✓ Access to the private membership community on Heartbeat
✓ A quarterly template & video you can customize to your org/team + access to over 20 members-only templates
✓ Access to the continuously updated user research database
✓ Priority to request templates or podcast episodes
✓ Access to our members-only book club
✓ Access to five members-only mini-courses
✓ 50% discount on document reviews (£77/review)
✓ 50% discount on one-off 1x1 sessions, which are exclusive to members only (£175/call)
✓ Membership discount on all current and future courses
✓ Access to my substack content (normally £17/month)
The proof is in the pudding…or what other members say
Trying to read your mind (as we tell our stakeholders to never do)…
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Yes! You can cancel at any time within your membership portal or by emailing me directly!
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Quarterly UXR templates so that you can try new approaches and ideas without starting from scratch
2 times per month live meetings that include Q&As on specific topics (ex: democratization, insight writing, JTBD), guest speakers on specific topics (ex: quant UXR, product management), hot seat coaching (ex: I review resumes/case studies live) and practice sessions to up-level your skills (ex: generative research, usability test, insight writing)
Quarterly career workshops to focus on writing/updating resumes and case studies
Private members-only community to get all the support you need (I’m in it every day!)
UXR database with keywords so you can leave Google behind
Discounted document reviews (only available to members)
Discounted one-off 1x1 calls (only available to members)
Discount on all current and future courses/workshops
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This membership is focused on you feeling less alone and more inspired in your user research journey. I cater all the resources to make you feel like you can tackle any problem that comes up in your daily UXR life through practical advice, actionable templates, and a kind community
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Calls range from 1-2 hours, depending on the topic and type. For now, calls are usually from 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm UK time (GMT/BST).
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We meet in live calls 2-4 times a month and each call has a focus (with the exception of open Q&A calls). During the call, we either:
Cover a specific topic in which you ask all your questions (ex: how to form insights)
Engage in hot seat coaching, where you can share your work with me and get feedback/advice during the call (ex: resumes)
Have a practice session where you get to practice a skill and give/get feedback from others (ex: generative research)
Have a guest speaker who talks specifically about a topic they specialize in (ex: quant user research)
Every 3-6 months, I ask the group to give me feedback on the most relevant and valuable topics
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Hot seat coaching is when you are able to share a concrete issue you are struggling with (and even share your screen) to get direct feedback from me and any other group members who can give advice.
This can mean sharing some research goals you are struggling with, some recruitment criteria you aren’t sure how to turn into a screener question, a theme that you don’t know how to format into an insight, a workshop agenda, or a situation you struggled with at work.
Hot seat coaching is a great opportunity to get personalized feedback…
While also helping others learn from your experience.
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The format is:
Any announcements about the membership, upcoming calls or events
A live Q&A session to answer any questions on the topic
Hot seat coaching for you to get feedback on your work right then and there
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Hells yeah!
Just shoot me an email and I will switch you over to the annual membership and give you all your awesome bonuses!
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If you are currently working as user researcher, especially in a team of one or without a support system, this membership will give you the support and guidance you need in your career.
If you aren’t currently working as a user researcher or are trying to transition into the field, I would recommend taking a look at my User Research Mastery course to get you started!
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These templates are created based on struggles that I myself and other researchers have encountered in the industry. And, as a member, you can also request templates that you need!
And give you a 10-20 minute walkthrough of the template (depending on complexity) to help give further context and help guide you on how you could use it at your organization.
Some templates from previous months include: stakeholder satisfation surveys, research impact tracking, diary study organization, guide to statistical significance questions, Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) deliverable, and more!
You will get access to all the previous templates once you sign up!
And who am I?!
I’m Nikki 👋🏻
I once entered a bar as a normal graduate student and emerged as an aspiring user researcher.
I first heard about user research at an NYC bar party way back in 2015, the year we had the seemingly never-ended debate on whether that dress was #blackandblue or #whiteandgold and also the year Google changed its logo for the first time since 1999.
I’d love to say, since becoming a user researcher, I haven’t looked back, but there were quite a few times when I seriously considered quitting to be an interior decorator or open my own bookstore (which my husband still has to tell me is a financially irresponsible idea).
What gave me self-crippling doubt about user research?
I was so lonely as a UXR team of one that I practiced my presentations in front of the bathroom mirror at work rather than with colleagues.
My fingers nearly broke from the hours I spent googling “how to build a persona,” “what is an executive summary,” or “how to write insights that stakeholders will actually listen to and care about that will also get me promoted because all I do is work?” (The last one didn’t yield great results.)
Luckily something told me to keep on keeping on, and now people call me an “expert in the field” - someone once even called me a “legend.” I have written over 250 articles - I am attempting to wrangle them into a book, stay tuned - on user research, spoken at dozens of conferences, and upwards of fifty podcasts and events with super cool people and organizations such as UXPA, dscout, UXInsight, and Dovetail. I also spoke one-on-one with my idol, Indi Young, during a conference tech check, so I’m pretty thrilled.
The point is, I don’t want you to experience the crippling self-doubt and impostor syndrome I did.
I want you to:
⭐️ Stroll into that 1x1 interview with confidence rather than crossing your fingers (toes and eyes) that the participant will cancel
⭐️ Facilitate that workshop so well that everyone’s buzzing about your insights, rather than calling in sick for the next six months until someone forgets about it
⭐️ Grab that promotion/pay rise you’ve been wanting for what feels like the past five years by the horns
So you can fall head over heels for this beautiful craft we call user research and have a blast doing it.
I’ve rallied hundreds of user researchers together, cheering them on and supernova-ing their careers so they are happy doing what they love: researching users.
If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, join the community!
PS: In my spare time, I carry around something called a Pokeball Plus to walk around with some of my favorite Pokemon (Charizard, Gengar, and Growlithe, if I have to name a few) in real life. I can play with them too by shaking the ball. I live in Jersey (not the new one, the old one that’s off the coast of France but has a bunch of British people who speak funny-sounding English) with my dog and two cats.
