North Carolina

Elisabeth Perez and Michele Azan were visiting North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains in 2007 when the fresh air led to an epiphany: they’d leave city life behind and join the hospitality business. By 2014, they’d purchased a historic property in charming Hendersonville, 30 miles south of Asheville. Brightwaters Vacation Rentals now accommodates 500-600 reservations per year in their well-appointed cabins and cottages, and Elisabeth and Michele offer concierge-like services and itineraries for hiking, mountain biking, and other adventures. “When I speak to people, they all feel that attraction,” Elisabeth notes. “It’s something that calls you to the mountains.” Elisabeth, a one-time U.S. Army parachute rigger, says 2020’s pandemic was a tough test but she leaned into the resilience she learned in the military. Michele advises new business owners with a laugh, “If you don't have resilience, get a business partner who does!”

Michele considers Google Ads important in making Brightwaters stand out from other destinations. “We’ve had Google Ads running 24/7 every day since we started this business,” she recalls. Between Ads and organic search, about 23 percent of their direct bookings come via Google, Michele estimates. Their Google Business Profile provides much-needed visibility, a place for in-depth info, gorgeous photos, and showcases the customer reviews–4.9 stars from more than 200 reviews. “Our Business Profile is a powerful driver of new customers,” Elisabeth says. Along the way, Brightwaters has increased direct bookings from 18 percent to 56 percent. “That’s where they’re finding us,” Elisabeth says. “The growth has been tremendous.” But it’s not just about growth: After Hurricane Helene struck the area in September 2024, they offered up Brightwaters as a place for displaced residents and disaster relief workers to stay. Says Michele,“That was a no-brainer.”

Florencio Gonzalez had been working for a contracting company for two years when he had the idea to start his own business. He researched and found only a few companies advertising in the area, and so, with the support of his crew–and his former boss–he founded Gonzalez Painters & Contractors in 2002. There weren’t many Latinos in the yellow pages at the time, he notes, adding, “People wanted to give a chance to a guy like me, which I appreciated.” Over the years, the team has expanded from a single crew to over 80 employees, generating millions in revenue each year in Durham, Raleigh, and beyond. “We started in a small town, but the North Carolina Triangle is growing. With digital tools, we can grow as well.”

Florencio began using Google Ads in 2020, which now attract about 40 percent of his customers each year. “They help us generate more leads and create revenue,” he says. The team has used Google Workspace since 2010 to stay organized and strategize, with more than a dozen staff coordinating schedules, analyzing data, and maintaining score cards. They showcase reviews and photos of their work on their Google Business Profile, which nearly 6,000 potential customers viewed in just one quarter. Of those, 321 used it to call the company and 835 clicked through to their website. Jesus Avendaño, who joined the team in 2023, says the reviews on their Business Profile have almost doubled this past year, adding, “We're able to see our growth over time with Google reviews.” Jesus has recently started sharing customer feedback videos on YouTube as well. Meanwhile, Florencio and the team are giving back to the community, raising money for and donating services to nonprofits, painting sports fields, and helping high schoolers paint a mural. Florencio likes to make people happy: “Seeing how our work transforms houses feels good,” he says. “Seeing a customer’s smile feels great.

When Julia and Pavlo Prannyk saw U.S. demand for their hand-crafted Ukrainian leather goods take off in 2015, they decided to chase the American dream and moved their business to Mooresville, North Carolina. “It’s a beautiful place. Great schools, nice community, lots of nature. We love it here,” says Pavlo. Today, they sell an entire line of handmade bags, wallets, journals, and other leather accessories to over 20,000 customers around the world per year. Even as their Mooresville team has grown to 10 employees, they continue to employ five people back in their native Ukraine. “With the war going on right now, what they are making is important to the whole world. They live in uncertainty, and we give them something to believe in every day. They’ve never missed a day of work,” Julia says.

Julia and Pavlo collaborate and stay connected with their team in Ukraine using Google Workspace tools like Docs and Sheets, allowing everyone to check workshop inventory, update their product orders, and rapidly respond to customer questions whether they’re in Mooresville or Kyiv. On the marketing side, olpr. trusts Google Ads to find and attract customers looking for premium leather goods, encourage existing customers to buy again, and generate big brand buzz for their company. “Every year, more than a third of our direct online sales are driven by Google Ads. It’s our biggest sales channel,” says Pavlo. Combined with Google Analytics, which lets them see exactly which products customers are searching for to find them, olpr. is poised for their biggest year ever, expanding their commercial restaurant business to meet demand for fine leather menu covers. “We feel a social responsibility to keep going. To share a piece of our two homes with the world,” Pavlo says.

Some people give up if a new hobby gets too frustrating, but not Justine Tiu. After struggling at first with learning to crochet, she and her husband, Adrian Zhang, launched The Woobles in 2020 to create crochet kits for adorable amigurumi, or 3-D animals. They pair the kits with YouTube tutorials to make the process fun and engaging. For Justine, a former user experience designer, learning is what it’s all about. “I wanted to make a product that builds self-confidence, like what I experienced learning to crochet, and proves that you can always learn new skills,” Justine says. The two promoted their kits with a national Google Ads campaign, which currently brings in 20 percent of their sales. They now get orders from all 50 states and have taught 50,000 people to crochet.

The first Woobles kits used printed instructions, but Justine and Adrian switched to video after realizing it was a much more effective teaching tool. Their 120 tutorials on YouTube have over 500K views; they include generic crochet skills, and for kit purchasers, password-protected, step-by-step lessons for each amigurumi. Google Analytics helped them test new pages on their website or track conversions. “We can make a change, and in a few days we know if it’s working,” Adrian points out. “Without Google Analytics, we’d have to wait and still not get any statistical meaning.” Justine’s focus on the learning principles behind the kits and videos has translated into soaring sales for the company, with 11-percent month-over-month (MoM) revenue growth in 2021. They’re also expanding into international sales and are partnering with retailers to get products into stores. “Our kits work because we spend a lot of time improving the learning process,” Justine says. “The Woobles is about more than crochet–it’s about showing people they have it in them to learn something new.”