https://www.listennotes.com/e/9f0bca836df6405a9fc1905ecaf80806

I have to tell you that there are very few store owners that are truly in control of their sales, but I have one here, and that's why I'm excited for you to meet Natalie Santini. You know, in the last few years, Natalie has built a business that has annual sales of multi seven figures. She's done the work and she's done it using just a few strategies that every single store owner could use. So I want you to come listen and be inspired. Come meet Natalie.

Welcome to the e-commerce roadmap, the podcast for store owners who are growing their sales without spending a fortune on ads. Each week, you'll learn actionable strategies and tips that will fast track the growth and profitability of your e-commerce business. So buckle up and join your host, Susan Bradley, as we dive into the work that will grow your sales this year.

Hey, welcome back. I am so excited to have you here, Natalie.

Thank you. I'm so excited, Susan.

Yeah. I don't know who shows up. You show up on video more than I do, but we both do a lot of showing up, don't we?

Yes, we do.

Guys, I am here with Natalie Santini. She's the founder of so Hungry Hippie. That's S-E-W. She's just is such an amazing personality. She has, I always say she has a magnetic personality, but that's not what we're really talking about today. You'll see that as you listen to her. What we're really talking about today, today is Natalie is one of the few people I know who has set herself up to control her sales, and she's done it in a way that doesn't involve ads. This is, it is really, she set herself up. You have ads, right, Natalie? But your business is so not reliant on advertising.

Correct.

Yeah. And we talked about this just before we started recording that I am fully confident that you could go, I could tell you to go sell $10,000 tomorrow and you would come back and tell me I sold 15. Show you I can.

Yes, yes, that's right. Get it.

So Hungry Hippie is a multimillion dollar business now, annual sales, but that's not where you started. So I would love it if you would tell us who like what you sell, who it's for, and when you started and what did the business look like for the first couple of years? I would love it if you would share that.

Sure. Okay. So I, we were stationed overseas in England and I could not work as a nurse there due to licensing. And I started sewing and selling my handmade goods. And I realized even though I would work sunup to sundown, oh, I'm not gonna make much money 'cause it's just me. It's all reliant on me. So as soon as we moved back state side, I started writing patterns. And from there, even though I wasn't really making any real money, I never stopped. And I don't know what that is within me, but I refuse to stop as long as I'm doing something that I enjoy. And so I saw a need in the market for my materials. So I sell things like faux leathers, which is also called vinyl, cork, fabric, sewing patterns, tools, things like that. I saw a need for that vinyl in faux leather. And I thought, let's give it a shot. And I remember this specifically. I spent $720 on an order, imported order, and I thought, oh my gosh, I was freaking out. Is this gonna work? And it took maybe a month. But I sold it all and I just kept repeating. And I never went crazy and ordered big orders in those first few years. I was conservative in my buying and reselling, and I made it a point to always ship quickly and correctly and have open communication with the customer. And I think I met you, I found your podcast in Inner Circle and then met you in California in 2022.

I know.

And from there, I just, it just, it's like being in a position where you can hear what's working for other businesses and being able to talk about things. It's just absolutely fueled my growth. And I don't make any attachment to personal worth and making mistakes. If I make a mistake, I just solve it and move forward. That's it.

Yeah, you're not, I wouldn't, when I think about everyone, you're, of course you're in our mastermind, and when I think of the group of us in our mastermind, I wouldn't put you high on the feeling scale.

Yeah, let's just get her done.

There's a few of us in that club. But when you started, did you start, did you go right to Shopify or did you go the Etsy route or how did you sell at Etsy?

Sure. I started selling my patterns on Etsy and didn't put vinyl in there. And then I remember a friend or she was a customer, but also I knew her and she said, Hey, I just want you to be aware that Etsy, you have no control. And so I would love to see you have control over your products. And I recommend Shopify. And I think at that time, I had tried Wix for a week and it drove me nuts. So I quickly ended that and opened Shopify. And then I was brought into your Facebook group by Melissa. and got in there and every time you would show up live, I would be in there watching. And I didn't say much because I don't know what I don't know. I've never had a business class in my life, whatever. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just winging it. And so every tidbit you shared, I would go and implement immediately, immediately. And it would work every single time. And I'm the biggest doubter of, oh yeah, this is really good. Emailing once a week. Yeah, they're gonna, everybody's gonna hate me. I don't care. I just did it. And then everything changed.

So I wasn't talking to the wall when I went live.

Not at all.

Oh, that's so good.

Not at all.

Today you have a pretty big business.

Yeah.

So many big milestones for you. Your husband, like you actually, everyone should know that you're actually a nurse.

Right.

So many nurses and teachers. I don't know what it is about nurses and teachers that they decide they're better at selling stuff. yeah, but you're a nurse and your husband, is it two years now since he left his job and he's on your team?

Three years.

Three years. Oh, wow. That's fast. And then last year you bought yourself a beautiful big building.

Sure did.

And of course, because you moved your house at the same time.

I sure did. Crazy.

But you have really significant sales volume in a pretty big business. But back then, like back in 2022, I still remember meeting you in person in California. That was so much fun. What back then, what was your biggest barrier to getting the sales you wanted?

I think it was understanding how much traffic you really need, the percentages, the data, because that never occurred to me at all. And so once I figured out, oh, you mean three, four, five percent conversion is good? Because in my mind, I thought it needs to be 90%. I'm a straight A student here. Let's go. I suddenly realized, okay, this is a, this is truly a game. Just like making money. It is a game that you have to be willing to take the actions and then stick with it. Yeah. It takes a lot of grit to be an entrepreneur.

So let's talk about that because somewhere along the line, you decided that you were going to consistently do live shows. And I don't mean shows like you know, acting. Everyone should watch one of your shows. But what did, what made you decide to do that, number one? And then what did those shows look like when you, way back when you started? Did you start three years ago or four years ago? When did you start?

Let'S see what year are we in 2025 I started the lives I believe 2019. so we'll live 2020. so what's funny is I was not consistent when I started and then it must have been I know it was you because you said if you go live once a week it's much better people know what to anticipate what to inspect and I thought or expect. And I went, oh, duh. I can't just show up when I feel like it should be scheduled. Everyone should know how can I expect them to watch if I don't do a schedule? And so really quickly, I started doing Friday live shows. And those, 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.

Yeah.

What I told myself is it doesn't matter if there's one person, zero people, 10 people, or a hundred people, I'm going to show up no matter what, because I told them I will. And so I stuck with that schedule and it was a good two years. before the sales correlated with the live shows.

Wow. So when you first did the live shows, were you just demonstrating or were you actually trying to sell product?

I was demonstrating, but it was all on products that I sold. So I would give some education, some insight, some tips and tricks using materials that were available in my shop. And it was not good lighting. It was my DSLR on a tripod. I was literally five feet away in a cramped, tiny little room. I guess you could call it unprofessional, but I thought, who cares? Let's just show up. I don't have a videographer team. That's the way it's gonna be. Yeah. Yeah.

What kept you going for two years?

I have this weird thing about my personality where I just will not quit. And I like, and I think it stems from, being in sports in high school, ever the star athlete or even close to it, I was probably one of the worst. But I never quit and it just put something in me. It's like it built self-confidence and belief in myself. Okay, I'm never gonna win a track race, but I'm gonna finish. I'm gonna outlast these other people. I'm never gonna quit. And so I don't ever remember thinking to myself, I'm going to quit. I do remember thinking, oh my gosh, are people noticing that I only have 10 people watching? How embarrassing. But I thought, swallow that ego and get over yourself. I would hear you in my head, get over yourself and keep going. And I just kept going, kept showing up. And pretty soon I was able to add the Wednesday night show because people would request for me to do matchings. And that is one of my superpowers is matching colors, matching fabrics and vinyl. And I thought, okay, let's run with this. Let's have a separate show on a Wednesday night. It's a new thing. And then we'll just be consistent with those two shows. Wednesday night, Friday morning, never miss. Show up even when you don't feel like it.

Yeah. What do you do when you're on vacation?

A lot of times I'll pre-record.

Okay.

But now I have Vicki here, and so she's It's been for me. I've trained her for doing the shows and people know her and trust her. And so it's really nice. But that's very recent.

Super smart though.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So on Friday, so you started with Friday shows.

Yep.

Did that for two years before you said to yourself, okay, now I can see this is having a significant impact on my sales.

Yes. Two full years.

Two full years. yeah, that is a long time. And what were the clues? How did you know, okay, this is working? Was it more people showing up or was it really just more, more sales of what you were showing?

It definitely was more sales. I noticed anything that I talked about would just spike and often sell out.

Yeah.

And even though I had maybe carried it for a year and a half.

Yeah.

So that was really interesting.

Yeah. Great proof that People buy what you show them. Yes. Whatever you let it linger on some back page on your website. It's not that it's a bad seller. It's that you didn't market it.

And for somebody who's never had any marketing experience or classes or anything, I just found that so fascinating. And yeah, so that definitely, once you start selling, I think it increases the motivation.

Yes. Oh, for sure. Because it feels like you're winning.

Right.

Yeah. So on Fridays, your show on Fridays, if we fast forward now till today, your show on Fridays, what do you actually do on that show?

So Fridays, I have tweaked now. It used to be sewing discussion. Bring your questions, I'll demo or explain the best I can. But that got a little too willy-nilly. Some days would be really full and then others, nobody would have any questions. so I had transitioned to showing folks what is new in the shop.

Oh, smart.

Yeah. And it's so easy. A half an hour is over like that. I can make it longer if I want to, but I try to keep it to 30 minutes because then it's easy to watch a replay.

Yep.

And I think folks like seeing the unrolling live on the camera because a lot of times photos just don't convey the true beauty of something.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I have watched one of your match up lives. Oh, yeah. I can see why those are so engaging. So for anyone who's listening, Natalie shows how she puts things together. Don't just buy this one thing that you're going to need the strap, you're going to need an embellishment of some sort, and you put all this stuff together. You're really good at color and pattern.

Thank you. Yeah.

Yeah.

And then do you sell those match ups? as a bundle. As a bundle.

Yeah. Yeah. That's the Wednesday Night Show. So then what I realized is, okay, people want to, they want ease, they want convenience, just like Amazon, right? What can I do to be effective there? Oh, I can make 10 bundles a week, have my staff cut them all up and package them, and then I will show people these bundles. Yeah. And every week it's just gangbusters. We've had to order in more supplies because it's always funny to me how certain bundles fly out within an hour or two and then others will linger for the whole week and then they'll start selling. But I just go with it. I never know. It's always a surprise. I just try to think positively and show my excitement for each bundle.

It's almost like a kit.

Yeah, it's like a kit.

No thinking required. And do you give them patterns or do they buy the patterns too?

They can buy my digital PDFs, my printed patterns and courses. So I do have a lot of free videos on YouTube. Definitely. I understand that people need education. I don't want to charge for everything, but I went to paid courses last year.

I know.

Those, yeah, those take a lot of time to develop. And Ramel is in there for days editing those courses. So we sell those now. I think we've got maybe 15 or 20 so far. Yeah.

Yeah. I love to see you doing that.

Thank you.

It is a lot of work upfront, but it's evergreen. You can sell it for ages and ages, and it's so much more profitable at the end of the day. It really supplements some of the things that are hard for product-based people like us. Just our margin and the amount of cash we have to lay out when we place these big orders. And now, of course, uncertainty with not sure what it's going to cost you next month. Like that really helps stabilize your business. But let's talk about the shows again because I'm, I know there are going to be people that are really interested because there are people that are showing up and not getting those results.

Okay.

And so you do two shows. Both of them are selling now. I'm sure that you get lots of people attending live because I've watched replay, and I can see all the people sending you hearts like all the time. Oh, yeah. But you're doing, you actually have the shows hosted now on your website. So I'm assuming that's the replay. Or does it stream live on your website, too?

It also streams live. So now I'm paying for a service. It's called video wise. And I stream from my website and also simultaneously to YouTube and Facebook.

Wow.

Yeah.

Because some people, I don't know, some people just have better reception with one channel or another. And so they'll watch it there.

Yeah. And all your comments come in from all three places.

Yes.

And then you can actually put, it looks better than a link. You actually have a thumbnail and description and people, this is not comments old that you're doing. This is like actually putting it in a cart and buying it. Yeah.

I create a show each week or for each live show, I create the show and video wise. I load the products in that I want to promote, and then they show up there and it's a click to buy thing. Very easy. Yeah.

And so you are also a really good email marketer.

Yes. Yes. I'm telling you that email that I told you a couple of years ago, that's my ATM. I love email. I will never feel guilty about sending too many emails. If somebody complains, okay, bye. Not my problem. I get emailed every day from companies. I just delete if I'm annoyed.

I get literally every day from companies. And in fact, I've been, I bought one thing at All Modern, which, you know, is just basically Wayfair. But I bought one thing and sometimes they email me twice a day and.

Text you and do this and do that.

But yeah, I just, just haven't unsubscribed yet cuz I might see something I want.

Exactly. Right?

Yeah. So you're a good email marketer. Do you use email to drive people to the shows and then follow up after the show?

Yes, 100%. So I, I have recently, as Claudia helps me out now, I hired her on. So she has set up text reminders 15 minutes before the show. and that has really helped with attendance. We also do a post show email with the replay and the products in there. And so that email, there's an email Wednesday, there's an email Friday, and there's an email Sunday.

Wow. And what Sunday? Just a recap.

It's a recap. And this Evergreen flow, I call it. So I have, I don't know, something like 250 free tutorials on YouTube. so I told her, just pick a tutorial every week and send it out. Like lots of these nobody has noticed or seen. Yeah. So it'll feel new to them.

That's right. That's something that people struggle with. Store owners struggle with. They always have to come up with something new. And I just keep thinking, no, you don't. No, you don't.

Yeah.

You need to go find new people. It's new to all of them. It's so true.

But it's something like we have to repeat or repost seven times for- oh, for sure.

Yeah.

For people to really get it, for sure.

Yeah, for sure.

And that's aligned with having to show up live for two years in a row.

It sounds crazy, but I'm so glad I didn't quit.

Oh, yes, because that is exactly why I could say, I want you to go tomorrow and sell $10,000 of something and you could do it and you don't have to spend a dime on ads.

And you know what, Susan, we have slow sales days too. I'm not a magical unicorn. And so on those days, I just have learned to stay steady, don't panic, don't get your emotions balled up in this day. And yesterday, which was my live show day, I said in the morning, okay, I want to make this much money. And I said it out loud and I wrote it on a Post-it. Do you know? I was just $200 shy of that goal.

I had a girl.

You just gotta believe, you gotta take the actions, do the stuff, show up, and it can happen.

Yeah, for sure. And you do a lot of other things. That's one other thing that I noticed is that, first of all, I love your transparency with your customers. And like, sometimes I look at your website and think, oh my goodness.

Screaming fun.

You're just very clear with people.

Yeah, I'm just trying to be clear.

There is kind, even though it sounds like you might just got scolded. But you're not afraid to be you. Like, you are part of the business. But what I was going to say is everything you do, that's what I see. Everything you do is focused on sales.

Yes.

Yes.

You and you're not afraid to try anything.

That's right.

And because of that, I think I'm always really grateful to you because you share so generously and you've been in our mastermind group since the beginning, really. And often it's something that you've done that is shared there in that room and is so helpful to others because you aren't afraid to try it. And you're also not afraid to pay for somebody to help you implement it because I'm pretty sure if I said go set up an add, I wouldn't see you for a month because you probably don't know how.

I hate that work. I begged Kathy, please help me.

I don't care what it costs. But it's so good because you are focused on sales. That is your zone of genius. So you're not tripping over, as Stu McLaren always says, tripping over pennies to get to dollars. Yes. You do that. And I would just love to know what's next for you. So now you've got this multimillion dollar annual sales store. You are, you've got this cadence and routine of how you sell. You've got your, your building, so you're not going to have to move for a long time. What's next for you? What do you want to happen next?

I would love to have a syndicated national, maybe worldwide show. where I can just share my love for creating things, sewing. I often have these customers that will email in and say, you,'re the first person that told me I can make something without it having to be a perfect result. And that just hurts my heart. So many of us have that pressure over us for whatever reason, society or home ec teachers or whatever happened. where we think something has to be perfect. And every single tutorial I ever film, I always mention, this is not perfect. Nothing I make is perfect, but you won't know. I'm not going to point out my mistakes because you would not notice and nobody else is going to notice. So just have some fun and enjoy the process. And I think that's analogous to running a business. You have to have fun and enjoy the process.

Yeah.

You're gonna burn yourself out.

Yeah, 'cause we work hard.

Yes.

Yeah.

I love that. So you turn the conversation in their head from, I'm not good at that, to, yeah, I can do that.

Exactly. I think that's been my whole mission in life. 'Cause when I was the worst athlete on the track team or on the swim team in college, I was voted captain. And I know that's why. It's because I believe in people. and I just want them to believe in themselves. Wow. That competence, yeah.

I would be one of those people that would say, yeah, you don't want anything, I knit you. So maybe I should get watching those tutorials. Let's think about Natalie three years ago and somebody who's maybe where you were then. What is your advice to them? What would you say to them when it's hard?

Yeah, I would say definitely 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. Like logically, I don't know if I ever would have done that without being in the inner circle.

Mm-.

It was just really clear to me, okay, she's right. I need to track my data. 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. Why did I have that thought in my head?

We all do. We make up.

Yeah. So look at your data. I would say make goals that are reachable but high. not these. Like, I want to make a hundred million this year. Okay. That's not reality. Yeah. And just don't let anything get in the way. Don't let other people's comments, perceptions, opinions get in the way. Because if they're not running a business, they don't understand it.

Yeah.

I'm not gonna give.

What it's like to be. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And actually, even if they're not your customers, they're not gonna. Their advice on product is right.

Right.

Worth the weight you might put on it. And how, like, how would they, how, what is your best advice? I'm stumbling over my words here. What is your best advice for someone who's like really feeling badly about their, if they want to try this going live or maybe they are already doing it, what is your best advice to how to keep going before you get those results? So maybe you are tracking, maybe you're tracking the sales of the products. that you promote, or maybe you're tracking the number of plays. How do you, like, how did you keep yourself going for two years other than, I know you, you don't quit things, but what could they tell themselves that it took Natalie two years?

Yeah, that's common to that question. I think I'm asked a lot. And what I tell people honestly, I can make up anything in my head. So for those first two years, I actually pictured, this was before Ramel was part of the business. He was still working nine to five. So I would turn on the camera and I would be alone in the house and I would be on a live and I would just think, okay, my three best friends are watching. I'm just going to be me. I'm not going to pretend and try to be perfect because that's not who I am and I'm just going to do it. and so I would envision like I was talking to them. And sometimes I would say, Hey, can you just show up for me and maybe ask a question and then you can peace out. It's fine. Just give me a little support and they would. Yeah. But that's what I did. Now, I will say for probably six months, I shook. And I'm not a shy person, but I shook on the lives. I was shaking. Sometimes my voice would waver a little bit. Nobody else ever said that they heard it or saw that. But that is what I was feeling. And I think you just have to keep doing it to work through that. Now I go live and it's no big deal at all. Who cares?

I know, 'cause I've seen that.

Yeah.

Just doing you.

Yeah.

Make a mistake to say, oh no, that was wrong. Yep. Oops.

It's funny, though.

I would agree with you about that. When I first started the Social Sales Girls, we used, oh, I can't even remember what it was. where you used to call everybody and it going, yeah, whatever that was. I wouldn't turn on my camera. I would not turn on my camera. And then I thought, you got to do this. And I was also very nervous to be alive or even on Zoom talking to someone. And it, the more you do it, the easier it gets.

Absolutely. Yeah. And you just, you don't want to pretend to anything. Just be you. Cause people can sniff that out.

Yeah. And it's too hard.

Yeah, it's too hard. It's too much effort.

Yeah.

So good. So I'm sure there's lots of people that are going to want to see what you do and see your site. Where should we send them? Should we send them to soHungryHippie.com?

Yeah, soHungryHippie.com, it's SEW and then Hippie is with an IE because sometimes we get folks that spell it with a Y. Yeah.

And they should follow you on YouTube.

Yeah, that'd be great. SoHungryHippie, I'm everywhere under that. name altogether on YouTube, on Facebook, on Instagram. I don't post much on TikTok, but I'm over there just in case.

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Anytime. If you got something to share, you just let me know.

Okay.

Yeah. When we want to tell the world, because one of the things that is so great for people like us is that you are, you get to do what you love. And then you get to feel like you're really successful and you get the financial reward too.

Yes, 100%. I think of that every day is when I get up, I'm excited to come in, even though I'm working really hard, I'm working long hours, I'm excited and I'm happy. Yeah. And honestly, even if this wasn't multimillion, I would be happy with lesser because I get to decide. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Nobody's going to get you to do an 11 to 7.

Right.

Oh, my gosh. Oh, thank you so much. Okay, guys, go follow Natalie on YouTube. Go check out her website and think about what your strategy is. I think the biggest takeaway from you or for you from all of this is really the fact that it's, it's all possible. But what Natalie did is focus on one thing for way longer than Normal people would think you have to. And I think I would say that is the norm in our business. There aren't a lot of overnight successes, and if they are, they might just be a flash in the pan. But what you've built is lasting. Thank you. Hey, if your sales are slower than you want them to be and you're not sure what to do next to reach your sales goals, I want you to head on over to the show notes and grab a link to get your copy of my new course, Conversion School. It's absolutely free and inside the lessons you will learn our step-by-step process to grow your sales without spending a fortune on risky ad strategies and without discounting your products. The strategy that you will learn in Conversion School works for e-commerce stores, of all stages. You'll use your store's data so if you're starting out you'll learn how to get consistent sales every day and if you're an established store looking to really scale your sales you'll use your data to learn how to achieve significant sales growth every month, month over month. So head on over to the show notes, grab the link and get your copy now.