Meet Emma Halstead

 

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Emma Halstead. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Emma, 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.

I’m currently still developing my confidence and self-esteem everyday. In my opinion, building confidence is a never ending process. It takes effort to continue believing in yourself and your abilities everyday. Hopefully it becomes easier with time but I still find that when I neglect my confidence even just for a day it becomes that much harder to find it again tomorrow. Confidence, to me, is forgetting about the possibility of embarrassment and failure. I tend to draw inspiration from my younger self and her inherent confidence without any fear of judgment.

My jewelry business, Cloaked in Confidence, is an extension of me and who I am. As a small business owner, I have the ability to express myself in different ways, experiment with my skills, and almost over exaggerate my aesthetic. Successful business owners need to learn how to excel in all roles and operations of their business. Founding and developing Cloaked in Confidence has constantly pushed me out of my comfort zone into areas I thought I would never succeed. I find it easier to have confidence in my products and my creativity rather than possess that same confidence in myself. The reminder that those accomplishments are actually a part of me and an extension of who I am allowed me build confidence in myself.

There are a few additions that have made the biggest impact on my self esteem and my ability to feel confidence. Reciting affirmations while looking in the mirror is one of my favorite ways to start building confidence in yourself. You can actually post these affirmations with sticky notes either on your mirror or somewhere else in your home you tend to have negative thoughts about yourself. Some of my affirmations for building confidence: I believe in myself. I love myself just as I am at this moment. I am becoming more confident with each passing day. I am surrounded by love and positivity. I am the most confident version of myself. Another technique that I use for building confidence is throwing myself in the deep end and forcing myself to love my insecurities. Three years ago I realized I was feeling very insecure in my body so I started posting body positivity content. Posting this content, even though I didn’t feel confident in myself at the time, ultimately led me to the most confident version of myself. When I began to post about loving my insecurities and it inspired others to love themselves it shifted my perspective on my own insecurities. Reframing negative thoughts is probably the technique that has had the biggest impact on me. This technique involves being present with your thoughts. Paying attention to any negative thoughts that bubble to the surface of your mind and questioning why you feel that way. Finally, switching any negative thoughts to positive ones instead. The key step is staying present in your thoughts and noticing your negative thoughts instead of letting them drone on. An additional step is to do this practice in front of a mirror because this is where I tend to have a lot of negative thoughts about myself. Try to work this practice into your everyday life with any and all negative thoughts you have.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I own Cloaked in Confidence, a small jewelry business based in Minneapolis, MN. I design, create, and hand make all of my jewelry. I also thrift and sell different vintage jewelry pieces that I find secondhand. I was very intentional with the name of my jewelry business, Cloaked in Confidence. The meaning and impact behind its message positively inspires others. My jewelry offers a connection and a reminder to the innate confidence within our younger selves that we still possess. I find that spreading this positive message is the most exciting part of what I do. Being able to provide others with a boost of confidence with the addition of my jewelry. Through founding and developing Cloaked in Confidence, I actually started to rediscover my sense of self and what it really meant to feel confident in who I am. The jewelry I design and create is my art form and I continue to discover more about myself with every jewelry piece I make.

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?

The most important quality that I have had to develop is persistence. The last person standing will always win. This quality is still something I struggle with daily. I want everything to happen for me now all at once but unfortunately this is completely unrealistic. I tend to get caught up in comparison and jealousy instead of staying persistent in my goals and the belief that I will achieve them. The key component to persistent is confidence in yourself. You have to be able to release your fears about the future. Focus on the now and understand the outcomes are out of your control.

Another important quality that has been particularly important in my industry is forecasting. The jewelry industry is always changing and trends constantly come and go. You need to be on top of the trends at all times or you might miss the ability to capitalize on them. I am always looking towards the horizon trying to integrate the next steps I need to take to grow. I try to stay up to date and inform myself on upcoming changes to my industry. I suggest scheduling a research day once a week to update yourself on current trends, changes in algorithms, research new techniques or designs for new collections, and quickly catch up on any potential shifts to your industry. I am not able to spend a lot of time on this due to my attention being needed elsewhere as a small business owner but I will schedule about two hours a week researching as much as I can within my allotted time frame.

The last piece of knowledge is to make your business as an extension of you. Develop a brand and personality for your business using your best asset: YOU. When I first started Cloaked in Confidence I really tried to keep my personal content and my business content completely separate. I didn’t want my business to be associated with me as a person, I wanted it to stand alone as an entity. Once I began to combine my personality and my business the vision for Cloaked in Confidence finally became clear to me. As a small business owner I think it is super important to show who is behind the curtain. It was the key element I was missing that allowed Cloaked in Confidence to achieve the success it has today.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

Try to channel it into something else. When I am feeling overwhelmed I take it as a sign that I am needing change in my routine. Instead of sitting in the heavy energy of being overwhelmed I will choose to do something creative that I have been putting off. I will schedule a content day and spend the day filming, editing, and posting content. I have a creative day where I work on a new collection – I have monthly collection launches so I am always in need of a creative day. I will start a project I have been putting off or catch up on my monthly finances for my business. I will even change up my environment and work at a coffee shop that day instead of my studio. I will schedule a photoshoot day and take new product photos to edit and upload. Once my brain has time to catch up I’m no longer feeling overwhelmed. I end up feeling a sense of accomplishment for starting something I put off for such a long time. I’m always trying to stay ahead of negative feelings that tend to send me into a spiral by doing tasks that use a different part of my brain. In my opinion, negative feelings are just an indication that something needs to change.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

All images were taken by me

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Highlighter Series
Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?

Culture, economic circumstances, family traditions, local customs and more can often influence us more than

Highlighter Series
Is the public version of you the real you?

We all think we’re being real—whether in public or in private—but the deeper challenge is

Highlighter Series
What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?

Every industry has its myths—stories insiders repeat until they sound like truth. But behind the