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How Natalie Built a Multi-7 Figure Business—By Showing Up for 2 Years Before It Paid Off

A behind-the-scenes look at the consistency, simple strategy, and sales focus that made Sew Hungry Hippie one of the rare shops fully in control of its revenue.

Building a multi-seven-figure store sounds glamorous. But if you ask Natalie Santini how she got there, the story is surprisingly mundane:

She kept showing up.

For two years straight, she went live for her audience—even when no one showed up. She focused on selling, not perfection. And she committed to the core activities that drove revenue, long before she ever saw big results.

Today, Natalie’s business, Sew Hungry Hippie, is one of the rare ecommerce shops that doesn’t depend on constant new releases, heavy ad spend, or unpredictable traffic. She’s built a steady, reliable system that works—because she kept working it.

Here’s exactly how she did it.

She Couldn’t Work as a Nurse Overseas—So She Started Sewing

Natalie’s business started as a creative outlet. While living in England with her family, she couldn’t work as a nurse due to licensing. So she started sewing, selling small handmade items on Etsy.

“I realized even though I would work from sunup to sundown, oh, I’m not gonna make much money because it’s just me, it’s all reliance on me.”

Since sewing everything by hand wasn’t scalable, she shifted into writing sewing patterns, sourcing materials, and finding ways to sell products that didn’t require making every single one herself.

The big breakthrough came when she saw an opening in the market for fun, colorful faux leather, vinyl, and sewing supplies—products her customers wanted but couldn’t easily find elsewhere.

Her first wholesale order was a huge leap of faith.

“I spent $720 on an imported order. And I thought, oh my gosh, I was freaking out. Is this gonna work?”

It took a month, but it sold. And she kept reinvesting, slowly expanding both her inventory and her confidence.

Eventually, she moved from Etsy to Shopify to take full control of her store, her email list, and her customer experience.

She Joined Inner Circle—And Did Every Single Thing

Natalie came into ecommerce with no formal business training. But when she joined Inner Circle, she treated it like a masters degree. Every time she heard Susan teach something, she applied it—immediately.

“I did everything. Every single thing…I did it…And it would work. Emailing once a week [I thought] ‘Yeah, everybody’s gonna hate me [but] I don’t care.’ I just did it and then everything changed.”

One of the first mindset shifts was understanding how much traffic she actually needed to hit her sales goals—and how a 3–5% conversion rate was perfectly healthy.

Once she saw the math, it clicked. She didn’t need perfect. She just needed consistent visibility and simple systems that kept the store moving.

She Went Live Every Week—Even When No One Was Watching

Natalie’s biggest sales channel today is live selling. But it didn’t start that way.

After hearing Susan emphasize the power of consistency, she committed. No matter how many people showed up—or didn’t—she would go live every week.

“I started doing Friday lives, and…let me tell you how bad they looked. I look back at those and I think, oh, you poor things. But that’s okay. Because I think the grittier they are or the more homemade they are, people resonate with that and they’ll show up.”

For two full years, she kept showing up before live selling started to meaningfully impact her revenue. Now, it’s a core part of her system.

She runs two live shows each week:

• Friday morning: a short, easy update featuring new arrivals and shop updates.
  
• Wednesday night: her signature bundle sale, where she curates color-matched bundles for customers who want a “ready to go” kit.
  

“I noticed anything that I talked about [during the lives] would just spike and often sell out.”

She Created Bundles to Make Buying Easy

As Natalie’s customer base grew, she noticed something: her audience didn’t want to make dozens of tiny decisions. They wanted complete, curated bundles that made it easy to start their projects.

So she built her bundle system to remove friction. Customers can buy everything they need—vinyl, fabric, hardware, and accessories—in one click.

Sometimes the bundles sell out within hours. Sometimes they sell slowly over the course of a week. But every bundle drop feels fresh and exciting for her audience.

The bundles also let her control inventory, cash flow, and simplify production—without needing constant new product development.

She Added Digital Products for More Stable Profit

Natalie also sells PDF patterns, tutorials, and courses to round out her revenue. This digital side of her business helps offset the challenges of physical inventory and creates high-margin, scalable income streams.

She’s produced over 250 free YouTube tutorials, which continue to bring in new traffic and feed her email list. The digital content also supports her physical product sales, since customers often buy supplies after watching a tutorial. Once a week she emails a link to her video content, which in turn boosts product sales.

By selling both physical and digital products, Natalie has built a business with multiple streams of income—each supporting the other.

She Stays Ruthlessly Focused on Sales—and Pays for Help

Natalie is clear about her priority: sales first. She spends her time on activities that generate revenue—and she outsources the rest.

Whether it’s video editing, ad management, or backend tech, she hires help rather than trying to master every new skill herself.

That mindset allows her to focus her energy on serving customers, building bundles, and hosting her live shows—the things that actually move the needle.

She Reminds Herself: “It Took Me Two Years”

Even now, Natalie knows that building a sales system takes time. When other store owners ask how she stayed consistent for two years without seeing immediate results, she’s honest: it wasn’t easy.

At first, she pretended her best friends were watching her lives. She shook nervously during the first few. But she kept showing up.

That mindset allowed her to stay consistent long enough for the system to work—and now she’s fully in control of her sales. Her best advice?

“Get a tracker and track your data because it’s very easy to feel the feels and feel bad about yourself, and you don’t actually have the data to go off of it…So many times I’ll look at numbers and I’ll think, oh, I don’t think that’s as good as last year. And then I go and look and it’s way more than last year.”

The Business She Built Is Rare—But Repeatable

Natalie’s story isn’t about viral growth or lucky breaks. It’s about simple systems, steady execution, and doing the work long before the payoff.

• She sells the same types of products every week.
• She shows up consistently for her audience.
• She keeps her offers simple and easy to buy.
• She outsources what slows her down.
• And she focuses on sales every single day.

That’s what real business ownership looks like. And it’s exactly why Sew Hungry Hippie has grown into a multi-seven-figure brand—without needing complicated funnels or constant product launches.

RELATED LINKS:

Natalie’s Site: Sew Hungry Hippie

The stress free content plan that built a huge audience. Episode 190:
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/the-stress-free-content-plan-that-built-a-huge-audience-episode-190/

Do You Even Know What It Costs To Get A New Customer? Episode 187:
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/do-you-even-know-what-it-costs-to-get-a-new-customer-episode-187/

The Best Strategy For Organic Growth. Episode 119:
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/the-best-strategy-for-organic-growth-episode-119/

Organic Results That Will Shock You. Episode 120:
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/a-year-of-results-that-will-shock-you-episode-120/

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