Dan Bigger knows all about silver linings. In his case, the lining is glass, and it glimmers.
In February 2023, after more than two decades of work in manufacturing sales, he lost his job. Shortly after that, his father-in-law died. But ultimately, one of the most painful chapters of his life opened the door to one of the most rewarding ones. Today, Dan works alongside his wife, Julie Bigger, helping her grow Glimmer Glass Gifts, their wholesale glass jewelry and fused glass art company.
Transitioning from large-scale manufacturing to creating homemade gifts was not a path Dan envisioned for himself or initially saw as a good idea, but it’s working on several levels. Dan has put his considerable sales and marketing expertise to work for Glimmer Glass Gifts, growing its customer base and brand awareness significantly. He enjoys working alongside Julie and having the flexibility to be available for their kids (two sets of twins).
And, for the first time since launching his career, Dan doesn’t have to deal with “we’ve always done it this way” mindsets.
“That’s the biggest thing I like about what I do now, I don’t have to answer to people who will shoot down ideas,” he said.
“I get inquiries about whether we can do certain things, and I go to my wife and present it. Most of the time she says yes, because we think alike.”
Team Bigger
Making Dan Glimmer Glass Gifts’ president of sales and marketing has been a plus for Julie, too. Not only is Dan driving company growth, but his presence makes it easier for her to devote time to her second business and passion: the Rising Tide Volleyball club, which strives to help volleyball players of all ages become better competitors, teammates, leaders, and communicators.
Sports have been a huge part of Dan’s and Julie’s lives, and the morals sports instill, including perseverance, teamwork, and dedication, continue to influence the couple’s approach to entrepreneurship.
Julie, who grew up playing volleyball, softball, and field hockey, was a scholarship volleyball player at the University of Vermont and went on to a highly successful coaching career. She was the head volleyball coach at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh when she and Dan met.
After they married, the couple moved to New York, where Dan went to work for two of Julie’s family’s three businesses before moving on to other corporate positions.
Volleyball remained a passion for Julie, but she also had a growing interest in working with stained glass. She particularly enjoyed creating dichroic glass jewelry. Dichroic glass
reflects and transmits light in ways that make it shimmer with multiple colors, depending on the angle.
“You make a piece with it and as you move it, it changes colors within that spectrum of color,” Dan said. “So if it’s a pink piece, it can go from pink to salmon to purple.”
In support of her growing skill and interest, Julie’s father bought her a laser that allowed her to etch images into her dichroic glass pieces. As Dan puts it, she then had a niche within a niche.
In 2004, Julie decided to make the shift from creating for fun to entrepreneurship, and she launched Glimmer Glass Gifts.
“She did really well,” Dan said. “Me and my kids would help her when we could, but she was basically doing everything by herself.”
Then the pandemic hit. Jewelry sales continued, but they slowed. The lull in business freed Julie to play with two recent gifts from friends: Matboard, a sturdy paperboard used for framing and crafts, and a Matboard cutter.
“That’s when she began making the greeting cards we do now,” Dan said. “She also started fusing glass to make suncatchers.”
The new products were hits, but Julie still found it difficult to carve out time to grow her business.
All of that would change when Dan came on board.
When Best Friends Work Together
When Dan lost his sales job in 2023, it wasn’t the first time he’d faced unexpected career setbacks despite a track record of driving strong sales growth. He found himself frustrated and disheartened by the experience. His father-in-law’s passing deepened the emotional toll, leaving him struggling to balance his responsibilities at home while searching for a new path forward.
“I was trying to help my mother-in-law, help my wife, help my kids, and take care of the house,” Dan said. “At the same time, I was looking for a job. I would look in the morning and get frustrated. Then I’d go work for Julie in the afternoon.”
Julie started talking about the possibility of Dan making Glimmer Glass Gifts his full-time occupation. He had doubts. “I didn’t want to put all of our eggs in one basket — our livelihood, our kids’ livelihood.”
But the routine he’d fallen into wasn’t sustainable, and the more he helped Julie, the clearer it became that they had something special on their hands.
“So we decided to give it a shot under certain circumstances,” Dan said. “The conditions were if we grew the business, I couldn’t leave unless it was something I just couldn’t pass on.”
What started as a leap of faith quickly proved to be a strong partnership. Julie’s creativity and dedication to her craft now had the benefit of Dan’s experience in sales, systems, and efficiency — an ideal combination that began to propel Glimmer Glass Gifts forward.
Dan and Julie started attending more gift trade shows and growing their customer base — largely retailers who carry homemade gifts. Dan also started cold calling to drive sales, which resulted in 52 additional customers during his first six months with Glimmer Glass Gifts.
“This year will be my first full year with her (Julie) from January to January, and right now (early December 2024) we have 78 new customers,” Dan said.
Two of the company’s biggest customers are family-friendly theme parks Dollywood and Silver Dollar City, which carry Glimmer Glass Gifts jewelry. They also have jewelry and greeting cards at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York.
In addition to his sales efforts, Dan has set up a system to foster ongoing communication with new and existing customers, taken over social media management, and set up processes for managing inventory and estimating order fulfillment times.
All of this has resulted in more efficiency and steady growth.
“Our average order has gone up; it’s $200 more than last year,” Dan said. “The average number of orders is up; we have 60 more orders than we did last year, and that’s just on our website. It doesn’t include two other websites we’re on. Everything’s up; everything’s green.”
Dan says he’s optimistic that with even more determination and work, the company will continue to grow. And if he and Julie encounter more challenges, at least they have a history of successfully overcoming difficult times. All in all, the road ahead is glimmering.
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