New businesses quickly take flight for former Navy pilot

Going from Navy fighter pilot to rapidly successful etched-glassware proprietor in just two years might make many heads spin.

Lucky for Curt Gregory, his flying days prepared him for just such a rush.

Gregory owns two successful Web sites, GlassWithATwist.com and TheTipsyGrape.com, both of which specialize in custom-made etched glassware. Gregory and just one other fulltime employee take the orders, create the designs or apply the customer's design, etch and ship the glassware from his office in south Reno.

And in just about one year, he's become so busy he's filling about 100 orders a week, many of which are large bulk orders. He recently moved out of his garage to his first office space in order to have enough room to get the job done.

"The hours are a little out of hand right now," he admits. "It's been about eight straight months of chaos."

The ironic part of Gregory's success, which he's quick to appreciate, is that he decided to leave the Navy after 12 years including a couple years teaching at Miramar, the "Top Gun" site because it required too much time away from his family.

The family, including wife Kiersten and now-3-year-old daughter Isabella, was living in San Diego as Gregory decided his next career move.

Military pilots often fly for commercial airlines after their service or take lucrative jobs at defense contractors. But Gregory didn't want to work for someone else again.

With a fellow pilot, he dabbled with the idea of starting a air charter service.

Gregory decided the business needed to be mobile because the family was considering moving back to Reno, where Gregory had grown up, and a typical storefront wouldn't work.

Phone book in hand, Gregory looked through business listings and made a list of those he found interesting. Personalized glassware was on the list. He couldn't find any Web sites that offered what he wanted to do, so he took a shot.

"It hasn't been a lifelong dream of mine to distribute etched glass to the masses," he says. "But it was Web-based, mobile and I knew it could work."

Gregory bought etching equipment and taught himself how to use it. He even built the first versions of his Web sites, before turning the work to a pro.

He didn't expect the business to take off as quickly as it did.

"In the fall of last year, we had a major jump in traffic and orders. Basically, I had more business than I could handle and I've been working a lot of hours trying to catch up ever since," he says.

He's gratified by the success of his business, but he wants to bring the boom back under control.

"Eventually if I can get enough help, I can get some semblance of a normal life back," he says. "It's been very challenging but there is light at the end of the tunnel."

Even though he was swamped last winter, he managed to ski a little at Mount Rose-Ski Tahoe this year after returning home to Reno for the outdoor lifestyle. And the one-time baseball player at the University of California, San Diego, played a little summer softball too.

If he had it to do over? "I would have planned for success. At the time, it would have been a huge risk (to expand and get an office and hire people)."

It was a gamble he wishes he'd taken, but there's no regret in his voice.

"My mother wasn't much of a talker," he says. "She just did it. She taught me 'If you're going to do it, do it right."

High flyer

Who: Curt Gregory

What: Owner, GlassWithATwist.com and TheTipsyGrape.com

Family: Wife, Kiersten; daughter, Isabella, 3

He says: "If you're going to do it, do it right."