Mission Day Spa entrepreneurs branch out

Wimberley’s Mission Day Spa is branching out by offering wouldbe spa owners the opportunity to franchise with them. The business is owned by Jesseca Zollars Smith and her husband, “Chip.” With extensive backgrounds in the beauty and crane industries, respectively, they combined their energies, expertise and considerable personal grit to open the spa at the junction of RR 12 and Highway 32 on the outskirts of Wimberley.

Jesseca began working in the beauty and wellness world at 17 as a cosmetics consultant and makeup artist. At 23 she opened her first spa, and from 1998 to 2008 she co-created and manufactured a natural beauty product line that was sold in 3,500 stores. She also operated a day spa and boutique which gained recognition and acclaim in Dallas and Seattle.

As part of her spa ventures, she mentored and created apprenticeship programs for aspiring estheticians, and wrote detailed books detailing the entrepreneurial process. While a resident of Seattle, she became a licensed esthetician educator which required 650 hours of training that she repeated to gain her license in Texas. Currently she teaches continuing education courses and classes on several subjects, including advanced esthetics and specialized Oncology Esthetics A Washington state native, Jesseca attributes her natural business acumen to her Zollars ancestors. Chip, whose full name is Clyde Earl Smith IV, is descended from Clyde Earl Smith Sr., a Justice on the Texas Supreme Court from 1950 to 1970.

In 2015, while residing in Wimberley, the Smiths were flooded out in the Memorial Day flood. The disaster forced them to reside in San Antonio briefly and then relocate to Seattle for three years where they weathered the pandemic.

In 2022, Jesseca conceptualized a new kind of spa while her mother was in hospice care and her father battled pancreatic cancer. Her vision was to create a haven for people with skin sensitivities, autoimmune issues and cancer where they could be touched without the fear that the products that were used would cause irritation or burning. After searching for skincare products mindful of those issues, she incorporated Ayurvedic modalities and pursued a strong and cohesive oncology education.

In September of that year the Mission Day Spa was born. In the two years since opening, they visualized offering franchising opportunities, hired an expert franchising firm to assemble the tools needed, and in July began offering it to others. To learn more about the opportunity, go to missiondayspa. com.