We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Natalie Saunders a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Natalie , appreciate you joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
I took a huge risk creating Desert Wild. I moved from Sydney, Australia and quit my job and moved to the desert of California to be all hands on deck and design/build an entire home with the sole purpose of it making a great income. Just moving from the beaches of Australia to the desert of California was a risk let alone putting all this money into such a risky venture. I am so happy I took the risk because it’s the best thing I’ve ever created and I learned so much along the way including self confidence and anything is possible if you put your heart and soul into it.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi, my name is Natalie and I am the creator, designer and owner of Desert Wild. A small retreat in the desert of Joshua Tree, California. I have had other careers but was always inspired by beautiful spaces and the desert. In my 30’s I went back to school for interior design and then used those skills to dream up my perfect home for the weary traveller and bought a piece of land in Joshua Tree and started dreaming up my dream oasis. 8 years on and Desert Wild is a very successful holiday home with many return guests and now interior design and renting out spaces is my main source of income.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I started our social media platforms for Desert Wild from the moment I bought the land. I shared my inspiration for the build, the design process, trials and tribulations from start till completion. I interacted with my audience with help on design decisions and we took the journey together. Our follower base grew and once we were ready to open we already had a lot of interest and sent out emails with discounts to all our loyal followers. We still have all our followers plus many more and stay very active on social media with updates, promotions and photos of the home, wildlife and photography of the area.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
I always had an interest in interior design and I would rent out the apartment my husband and I owned whenever we went travelling. People would always comment on how much they loved the design and would request to come back. We started planning trips because of the demand from return guests. This gave me the idea to try to make this into a more fulltime career. I decided to go to school for Interior Design in my early 30’s and then once I had more confidence from that I bit the bullet and designed and built a home for the sole purpose of it being a fulltime rental. I manage, clean, design and liaise with guests and now Desert Wild is a huge success. I am very grateful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.desertwildjoshuatree.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/desertwild_jt?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/desertwildjt?mibextid=wwXIfr&mibextid=wwXIfr
Image Credits
Charlotte Lea