Meet Our Bright Builders $100,000 Club Members

Zai Zhu

After earning his Economics and Biology degrees Zai Zhu began looking for work. However, he quickly found that he had no desire to have a boss. It seemed that starting his own business was the only solution. Today Zai makes his living entirely from his growing web-based business.

Donna Church

For sixteen years, Donna Church worked as an IT expert for a manufacturing company. But when the company downsized, she lost her job. She turned her thoughts toward ways that she might be able to apply her skills toward a business of her own. She attended many craft shows and exhibits and was immediately drawn to the marionette puppets. She ordered some puppets and registered for a craft show. They sold so quickly she decided to turn to the web and sell the puppets. Now she receives over a hundred orders on her Bright Builders website per month.

Charles Gottlinger, Jr.

For twelve years, Charles Gottlinger Jr. traveled the nation as a tool manufacturers´ representative. It was good work, but it took him away from his family very often. His desire to spend more time with his family pushed him to find creative ways to put his expertise to work closer to home. Thus the idea of a website took root. Today Hands on Tools is a major contender in the tool retailing business. In fact, he is so successful that Amazon.com contacted Charlie to request a partnership. This partnership with Amazon drives a good portion of his websites sales today.

Charles Gottlinger, Sr.

After leading his son into the tool business, Charles Gottlinger Sr. followed his son into the Internet business. Now his Internet business is thriving and he has a partnership with Amazon of his own.

Dave Giles

In 1997, Dave Giles, a talented woodworker, decided to use his gift to make some extra money on the web.

He was so successful at selling his handmade gavels that a national gavel distributor approached him and asked him to sell their gavels - which he does today. His website is easy to find. Just type in the keyword “gavel” on Google and his site comes up #1.

The Woods

Doug Wood worked for nearly 20 years building custom rifles and selling archery equipment on the side to help supply his Bow Hunting Habit.

Now Doug is in the Internet business with his son, Ryan. The Woods earn their living working full-time on their businesses, which are thriving both in web stores and on eBay.

Randy Davis

As a Cub Scout Pinewood Derby master, Randy Davis developed a booklet with tips and techniques to make the cars go faster, and make the competition more fun for everyone.

Randy decided to try selling his booklet on the Internet – and had great success. He worked with Bright Builders to develop a shopping cart that allowed customers to buy the booklet in PDF format.

The success of his website led to the addition of many products, and a substantial increase in business. To help support the growing business, Bright Builders has worked with Randy to add more sophisticated capabilities to the shopping cart. These features have helped streamline the business, and reduce the need to hire additional staff.

MoninStore

Monin-usa has the exclusive rights to distribute Monin syrups in the United States. They contacted Bright Builders to build a custom shopping cart. Today the moninstore website is a growing part of their business.

Denise Haller

Denise Haller opened a Bright Builder web storefront to sell exercise mats. Her website includes all kinds of mats, from tumbling mats to yoga mats. She's found her niche and, as a result, her business has consistently grown since she opened her online store.

StrawberryElectric

Strawberry Electric is a local power company that wanted to use the Internet to communicate with their customers and provide a convenient way to pay bills.

They have successfully reduced costs and increased customer satisfaction with their online billing payment solution.

Cony Larsen

Cony Larsen owned a successful scrapbook wholesale company with her husband. She decided that it was time to sell directly to customers through a website. She was unhappy with her initial shopping cart provider and switched to Bright Builders. Her business is now thriving and Cony has turned ownership of the website over to her children, Tony and Rony Moya.

Rick Mennon

Rick Mennon helped build two other companies and got laid off—both times. He decided that this time he was going to build a business for himself.

Rick and his sister Deb have always had a strong interest in camping. Using this common interest they partnered together to create an online business with Bright Builders. They are selling camping gear from a variety of vendors and have branched out to sell used RVs.