Krista LeRay spent $7,000 on a hobby that first paid her $2 an hour. Today her needlepoint business brings in $4.4 million a year

Behind many success stories in the United States is a long road of effort, sacrifice, and setbacks. Whether they come from humble beginnings or have faced obstacles along the way, those who achieve their goals share a common trait: the persistence to keep going when the path gets hard.

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That’s what defines the story of Krista LeRay, a woman that turned her side hobby into a million-dollar business. She used to spend hours painting a single 4-by-4-inch cotton canvas with a tiny brush at her kitchen table.

“I would wake up and paint the entire day until 2 a.m.,” she told CNBC Make It. From that effort became the idea of Penny Linn Designs, a needlepoint company that brought in more than $4.4 million in sales in 2024.

A hobby that started in the pandemic turned up being a million-dollar business

Needlepoint was LeRay’s hobby in college. She picked it back up during the Covid-19 pandemic and decided to sell her own designs.

At the time, she worked full time as a lifestyle blogger in New York. She went on to spend $7,000 on supplies and launched her online store in September 2020. Her first 500 canvases sold out in two hours.

But the work she had to do was so time-consuming that, at first, her profits came out to roughly $2 an hour. “I was making really good money from blogging. It was my retirement plan,” she said.

From a time-consuming side hustle to full-time business

After her son was born in 2022, LeRay felt less comfortable sharing her personal life online. That same year, after her business passed $416,000 in annual sales, he turned her blogging as a hobby and turned Penny Linn into her full-time job.

Today, Penny Linn sells canvases from $30 to up to $100 with “coastal preppy” designs and pop culture themes. The company has 10 full-time and 24 part-time employees and was profitable in 2024 with a 36% margin.

LeRay says she stood out by making needlepoint feel younger and more affordable than in traditional shops. She also credits the thick skin she built as a blogger and her capability to surface critics.