Today we’d like to introduce you to Toni Gushue.
Hi Toni, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Nikki Steward and I are business partners and life partners. We met in 2014 as friends, eventually started dating and are now engaged to be married with an October 2026 wedding date. We reside in western Hunterdon County with our keeshond, Stone, the failed crystal shop dog.
We are both born and bred Jersey girls, Nikki has been employed by the NJ State Department of Agriculture for approximately 28 years. Growing up in rural Burlington County, Nikki fell in love with the field of agriculture through her high school’s FFA (Future Farmers of America) program, a program she is still active with through Hunterdon County FFA Alumni and the State FFA. She works with regulatory practices within the state’s agricultural department as well as marketing initiatives like the “Jersey Fresh” program. She recently completed her Bachelors in Organizational Leadership from Thomas Edison State University
Nikki has able to see, hear and communicate with spirits since a young age. She honed this skill when she got involved with paranormal research in the early 2000s and began offering readings to clients. Her services including card, past life, mediumship, aura and chakra readings. She does sessions in our shop as well as virtually and ranges from one-on-one to in-home parties to larger gallery style session. Nikki is also a Usui Reiki Master of over 20 years and offers Reiki healing services and teaches reiki certifications. In 2015, we co-founded a group called Jersey Paranormal Investigations, of which she is the Director. It is a 501(c)3 non profit with a focus on using the idea documented paranormal activity at historic locations for their historic preservation and education efforts. We have investigated all over the country but focus our fundraising efforts throughout NJ and Eastern Pennsylvania.
My career took a broader and more diverse path. I began working in retail in my teens and was a store manager for Blockbuster video at age 19, running one of their highest volume stores in the country. After leaving Blockbuster, I did a stint with Lego, opening up their first go round of retail locations, and eventually got into optometry practice management. I was an Emergency Communications Officer for the Hillsborough Township Police Department for ten years, until a consolidation of services to the county level forced me to become laid off. At that point, I went back to one of the things I knew-medical office management, but I was absolutely miserable-the environments I was finding myself in were just toxic and I dreaded going to work everyday. I helped to co-found another non-profit in Bucks County, PA focusing on music theatre summer camps for kids to help fill my personal satisfaction during that time. When the idea and opportunity to run my own business came my way, I went back to my retail roots and found my “grown up” calling shortly after my 40th birthday.
In addition to being the face of our crystal and metaphysical shop, I also do part time HR consulting for a pharmaceutical R&D company and I have been a Board Member of the Flemington Improvement District, our business improvement district, for the past 3 years, acting as President this year. I am also the Director of Fundraising and Major Gifts for our paranormal group as well. My education trajectory took a similar path as my career trajectory because I always have my hands in a little bit of everything, so I have an A.A. in Criminal Justice and an A.A.T. in Teaching from Raritan Valley Community College, a B.A. in Criminal Justicea and M.P.A. in Public Service Administration and Leadership from Thomas Edison State University. It’s been a long and windy road, but it afforded me with a vast array of skills and knowledge.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I was once told that you will never work harder for anyone than you will work for yourself and it is 1000% true. A small business owner is never “off the clock”. Whether it’s social media or ordering product, it is a 24/7/365 job. You own your successes and you own your failures, but if you don’t throw something against the wall to see if it sticks, you’re never going to know if it works. So, we’ve had things that we thought would work, like running kids birthday parties, that have fizzled out, and then we’ve had things like our Spell Jar Kits, which came from frustration from misinformation on Tik Tok, that have become best sellers.
Our biggest struggle to be honest has been the economy. We are a niche business and we are not a necessity item like food or clothing. So, when costs rise and money gets tight, people prioritize need vs want. We are fortunate to have a loyal customer base, but whenever this or any business slows down, you have to find new ways to bring in foot traffic.
The other big struggle has been that we have been dealing with a prolonged road closure due to development that is affecting the major entrance from the highway to our business. It’s gone very far over the original estimates, so, if people aren’t local to the area and don’t know some of the side streets and alternate route, they may have a problem finding us. It’s affected all our Stangl Road businesses, so we’ve all had to find new ways to bring in extra foot and car traffic by collaborating with other businesses and running additional events.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Within Spirit, LLC?
Within Spirit started during Covid. As longtime crystal enthusiastics because of the type of work we do, we were actually sitting on the bed watching crystal Instagram live sales. I turned to Nikki one night and said “Why are we buying this stuff from other people when we know more about it than they do?” Nikki’s always dreamed of having a crystal shop when she retired from the state-she never wanted to do her readings on a full-time basis and feel like she needed to do it, she wanted to do it because she genuinely enjoys it. So,we decided to venture into the Instagram and online sales arena ourselves.
We started selling via Instagram in June 2020 and things really took off. We developed a client base that was not only local but stretched across the country, from Florida to Utah, California and even Hawaii. It was like Friday night family night. We had our loyal viewers (and shoppers) every Friday night who would come on to hang out with us and just decompress from the pandemic and their weeks. In September 2021, we opened our brick and mortar location, in the Stangl Arts and Cultural District of Historic Flemington Borough. We chose Flemington because it is a town seeing a renaissance with lots of new businesses opening up and a lot of young families that will be fixtures in this community for years to come. I’ve lived within a fifteen minute radius of Flemington my whole life; it’s an area I lived in but also frequented and saw in its highs when it was thriving and when it hit harder times. It’s a town I’ve always loved and believed in and we just happened to be in the right place, right time for our location.
In addition to approximately 150 different materials of crystals, we offer herbs, jewelry and other metaphysical and gift items. We host monthly classes and workshops on a variety of topics including intuition development, energy protection, herbs and monthly sound baths. Nikki offers all of her services in the shop. We host an annual psychic fair every June, which is combined with the Stangl Karmafest event this year.
We also own and operate the Flemington Ghost Walk which is a haunted, historical walking tour of Flemington. It includes 15 stops, including the famed Union Hotel and combines a mix of history, haunted stories from residents and shop owners and our own experience and evidence from paranormal investigations within the borough that we have conducted with our paranormal group. The tours run seasonally in the spring and fall.
We created the Stangl Witch Walk event, which is held every October. It is an event where we encourage our Stangl businesses to decorate to a theme (past themes have included spiders, cemetery, vampires and witches) and we host a nighttime vendor market we have dubbed the Stangl Moon Market. The overall event has grown exponentially, with about 4,000 attendees last year. The event also includes adult, kid and pet costume contests, food trucks and adult beverages. The success of the first Moon Market event has also led us to run Summer Stangl Moon Markets June through August. We have a very active events calendar in Flemington, from car shows to holiday events to our Stangl Sip N Strolls and annual Corn, Tomato and Beer Festival.
What sets us apart and what are we known for? I think it’s the authenticity and our sense of community I tell customers that this isn’t the “witchy” or “woo woo, new age crystal shop”, this is the “dose of reality” crystal shop. I’m a business owner, but I’m not a salesperson. I’m friendly to our customers, I ask if they have questions or if they’re looking for anything specific. I’ll make recommendations if they need guidance, but I mostly just kinda hang back until I see their vibe and what they need. Some customers pop in to say hi and have an hour conversation because they know I’m honest and if they need advice, I’ll also give it to them straight, and others just want to shop peacefully and be left to peruse. Our store is a chill vibe that is reflective of who we are as people, from the decor to the demeanor-what you see is who we are and what you get and for some, that may not be their vibe and that’s okay. People always comment on the space’s calming energy and it’s something that we work really hard to maintain. Whether you’re a collector or a newbie to the crystal or alternative healing realm, you’re a member of an underserved community, you need someone to lend an ear, or are just looking to browse, the door is open.
Our sense of community is what I’m also really proud of. When we opened on Stangl, there wasn’t a ton of cross business promotion and networking. We opened in September and that October we encouraged everyone to decorate for Halloween and create an ambiance that people could enjoy even if they were just strolling the street. We’ve done costume collection or kids crystal classes for underserved members of our community. We’ve created events and invited other businesses to attend. I help facilitate monthly Stangl business owner meetups to discuss various issues we are having or to spitball ideas. Sometimes, I spend half my days on the phone with other business owners about one thing or another because I genuinely want everyone to succeed. I hope that our community, both business and residents, sees that. And not for recognition or a pat on the back, because I don’t care about those things, but for our own reputation and satisfaction. When people think of Nikki and I, I hope they think those girls are real, they’re accessible, and they care about leaving things better than they found them.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
If you are just starting out in business, I think there are three main things. Research, knowledge and passion. Research the area you are looking to open up in as well as comparable businesses in the area and the foot or car traffic. Research your actual start up costs including rent, building improvements you may need to make, fixture and inventory costs, marketing costs etc. Make sure you network and collaborate and crossover with other niche or aligning businesses. The internet has killed traditional retail, so this is more vital than ever.
Know your products-make sure they’re quality products and know your customers. Ours is a niche business with a variety of materials and people are always amazed that we can just look at them and tell them what they are, where they came from, their properties, how they’re graded etc. I hand pick every piece in the shop, so if I wouldn’t buy it, it’s not on our shelves. Our part-time employee, Kai, was a customer who we met when she was in high school and who had a lot of knowledge about crystals, so she was a natural fit for us because there are so many nuances to our products that you need someone who is going to give your customers the same experience they’d have if you were there.
At my new hire orientation for Blockbuster almost thirty years ago, my District Manager at the time said “Treat others how you want to be treated is the golden rule, but treating others how they want to be treated is the platinum rule.” He gave the example that he likes coffee, so if he’s operating under the golden rule, he’s bring you a coffee. But, what if you don’t drink coffee and you only drink tea? That coffee is like gee, thanks, that was nice, but it’s useless to you. So, if you take the time to learn about people and their needs, wants, likes, dislikes and so on, you serve them and your relationship better, regardless of what that relationship is. And for almost thirty years that’s stuck with me. Taking the time to develop relationships with your customers builds trust and builds your brand. Trust is important when you are handing your hard earned money over to a company, whether it is trust in the recommendation, the quality, the speed of delivery etc. Trust also builds repeat business and word of mouth business, which, in my opinion, is much more valuable than any social media or AI generated ad I see. Positive customer feedback and your customers throwing your name out as a recommendation is priceless and conversely, negative feedback can also ruin a small business’ reputation.
And passion. Small business is all consuming. A lot of people turn hobbies into businesses because they enjoy what they’re doing and then it becomes a job and a chore and they end up hating that very thing. It’s no different than the person who says well, I’m good at math, so I’m going to be an accountant, even though I hate math. You have to truly love what you do, day in and day out. The day it stops being fun or stops bringing you joy in some way, shape or form, is the day you should leave. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows, but you have to find the positives on even the hardest days or you’ll lose that passion.
What do we wish we would have known when we were starting out? Hahaha, I feel like there are so many things. That I’d work until 2 or 3am many nights? That I can’t plan a vacation right after a major event to decompress because I get sick? Or that I’d plan my wedding date around a major event? No, probably that most small businesses, if they survive, are not as profitable as people may think. Many small business owners, especially fledgling businesses, do not pay themselves, so they can hire staff or pay the bills when things are slower. We are fortunate that Nikki has a full time job, because if not, we wouldn’t be able to do this and I don’t think we initially thought that was how things were going to be. I know many small business owners who are in similar positions-a spouse carries the weight of the household finances so you can operate, build and grow. I had a five year plan in mind in my head and as we approach our five year anniversary in a few months, it’s definitely morphed and we’ve had to pivot, so I think that it’s important to also set realistic expectations and goals for yourself and not get frustrated if everything doesn’t pan out exactly as you intended.
But, at the end of the day, I’ve helped to build my best friend, fiancee and future wife’s dream. I’ve made amazing friendships with other business owners. I’ve learned a lot and been in rooms I never thought I’d be in. If you would have told me ten or fifteen years ago that this was my life, I wouldn’t have believed you, but I also wouldn’t change any of it! “But only someone who is ready for everything, who excludes nothing, not even the most enigmatical will live the relation to another as something alive.”-Rainer Maria Rilke
Contact Info:
- Website: https://withinspiritnj.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/withinspiritnj
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WithInSpirit
- Other: Nikki’s readings: nikkisteward.com Ghost Walk Info and Tickets: flemingtonghostwalk.com
