We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Andi Smeltzer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Andi below.
Andi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
I’ve always been good at putting things together that shouldn’t work, but somehow do. This is a theme in my life and my business today — looking at the shop now, you’d probably never guess that we were initially a furniture store. The progression from pop-up to brick and mortar has been a chaotic and winding journey, but frankly, it’s on brand. It shouldn’t have worked, but it somehow has, and I’m more and more thrilled every day to meet the journey of operating this business head on.
My lifelong love of vintage was what initially kick-started the beginnings of ZHOOSH — I didn’t want to stop sourcing, decorating, and enjoying antiques and decor, but one only has so much room in her own home!
So I took it on the road, pop-up style, with a partner. At the time of my jump into the pop-up world, I was still working a corporate job. ZHOOSH pop-ups were supposed to be pet projects, something that could be fun and fulfilling on the outskirts of my professional life. However, planning and executing these pop-ups quickly became a driving force in my world. I realized I was never going to be able to keep this passion on the outskirts — I’m not one to half-ass anything. I was setting up entire living rooms in a 10×10 tent at festivals and events. Back breaking work. My attention to detail was my best friend and my worst enemy — and still is. I knew there were significant limits to our growth within the confines of a pop-up business. I had to honor my intuition to see this through, as far as this passion would take me.
Taking the monumental step of quitting my job was terrifying. Of course, when you have comfortability, it can feel crazy to step away from that into the unknown. And even now, two years later, I still feel a little crazy sometimes for doing it. I’ve doubted the decision more times than I could count. But at the end of the day, I knew I wanted to whole-ass this thing. My passion deserved its moment.
ZHOOSH opened up as a brick and mortar shop in Grimes, IA. It was a furniture shop first — We did a lot of vintage sourcing, styling, and flipping. Very quickly into our time as a physical shop, there were growing pains. We realized that our location on the main street of a pretty small, quiet (and relatively conservative) town was not the most ideal for some of the products we wanted to expand into. While we’d love to bring the sexual wellness and cannabis industries to small town Iowa, Grimes wasn’t ready to get with the times. So, we moved to the East Village in Des Moines, IA, a much more progressive and creative community. We downsized and began to transition into the store you see today — a lifestyle brand that caters to self care needs of all kinds (though you can still find the occasional funky antique item, too!). We pride ourselves on offering an elevated experience, and will continue to strive towards quality as we add e-commerce to our resume this year.
At the time of our move to our current location, my business partner and I decided to go our separate ways. This was devastating to me. My partner had been with me when ZHOOSH was only a spark of an idea. Though it was far and away the best thing to do for myself and for the business, I never dreamed I would have to do this alone. If I could give one piece of advice to anyone starting a business, it would be to CHOOSE WISELY. With your business partners, your investors, your employees. A best friend or a romantic partner is not necessarily a safe choice when doing business. Get real with yourself and your relationships. And most importantly, believe that YOU can do it. I now know through this specific challenge that I had the ability to execute my ideas on my own all along. If I had trusted that inner knowing that I could see it through myself, who knows how things would be different?
And that’s not to say I’ve done this all on my own. I have a kick-ass team of employees that I have corralled over the years, and a community in the East Village that is warm, encouraging, and fun.
At ZHOOSH, we always say to each other, “we’re never short on ideas around here.” And that’s extremely true. I have lofty goals and big ideas, and it can be easy to get carried away with the ideas that haven’t yet come to fruition rather than taking a moment to stop and recognize how many of my daydreams are now a reality.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
ZHOOSH is a lifestyle brand centered around elevating personal rituals around self love and care. To us, this means giving detail to your physical space, your smoking rituals, and your sexual wellness practices. “Self care” is a huge umbrella term that can mean whatever you want it to. We hope that we can facilitate customer’s curiosity and self-exploration with our offerings, and we think our product knowledge, our commitment to destigmatization of historically taboo industries, and our customer connection makes our space special.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
After I had my third child, I was knocked completely on my ass by postpartum depression. I had struggled with postpartum with all my kids, but it hit the heaviest with my last. Suddenly, the ways in which I was unhappy with my life were all on display, from my struggles as a mother to my deep dissatisfaction in my career. I realized I had to make a drastic change to my life if I wanted to find fulfillment. I decided to start ZHOOSH when my son was only five months old, which, in retrospect, feels like a very gutsy decision for me to do!
Ultimately, this pivot into a new career has not been easy, but it has been vital. It has allowed me to show up more authentically in my work life, my family, and my relationships.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
In all honesty, our reputation had been bolstered by the fact that we are the only shop in Des Moines that has the product offerings we provide to our market. We were able to tap into several unrepresented industries by opening up our brick and mortar.
Our reputation has stayed stellar due to our commitment to customer connection, our prioritization of events that involve and excite the community, and our active presence on social media.
Contact Info:
- Website: zhooshdsm.com
- Instagram: @zhooshdsm
- Facebook: Zhoosh DSM