Back in 1979, Darryl and Vita Dworkin found themselves burned out on corporate work. Darryl was a vice president in the toy business, and Vita was a director for a large pharmaceutical, but both wanted something more.

“So we formed a corporation (DNV – for Darryl ‘N’ Vita) and in 1980 bought a 25-year-old retail store business called The Bright Acre,” explained Darryl.

Today, The Bright Acre is a fireplace store that has successfully served the Ocean and Monmouth Counties in New Jersey for many years, thanks in part to lessons Darryl and Vita learned in corporate life. They were quick to adopt new technology like computers to replace inventory tracking on cards, and they recognized the importance of a company culture that values people.

“We have always provided paid health plan costs for employees and treated people in a way that has allowed us to have a company that today has the average employee with us almost 20 years – and as many as 30 years,” said Darryl.

Partially due to the burnout they experienced, Darryl and Vita wanted The Bright Acre to be a company that would allow them to get away frequently. The Bright Acre was initially a summer business so they could ski in winter. But as the company grew, they needed a way to run the business year-round from wherever they went next. So they hired dependable staff and then chose GoToMyPC as a remote access solution.

“Before GoToMyPC, we called and were sent reports,” said Darryl. “Now we just go to the company server to set up check runs or review inventory or do any of the thousand other things that running a small business requires after the daily reports.”

GoToMyPC has also been useful for business continuity at The Bright Acre. For example, when Superstorm Sandy passed right over them in New Jersey several years back.

“GoToMyPC allowed us to leave at the end of November and still guide the business from our winter home in Nevada,” explained Darryl. But there was a silver lining in that storm cloud – they’ve since increased staff by 40 percent to assist in rebuilding the New Jersey Shore.

“As business owners, we’ve learned that we just don’t know what to expect next,” said Darryl. “It may be a recession or it may be a hurricane; either way it may require late nights going over the changes to make intelligent decisions. And it sure is a lot nicer doing it from home than staying alone in a closed store to crunch the numbers or watch the finances.”

Check out Darryl’s video to hear more about his experience as a long-distance owner with GoToMyPC.

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