$500,000 in sales revenues after only two years in business.   “Wayne Willert, a Port Washington, L.I., roofer, is proof that a lone inventor can indeed market his own product. Mr. Willert's innovation is the gutter-bolt, which simplifies roofing and other construction work by allowing metal and wood to be joined in a one-step process.  He started out in 1996, hawking his product to other roofers, homeowners and local hardware stores for 90 cents each. Now Gutter-Bolt Inc., a five-employee concern which Mr. Willert runs along with his roofing business, is selling a million gutter-bolts a year at 47 cents apiece through a large distributor that has gotten the product onto the shelves at Home Depot.  The distributor's enthusiasm opened the market for Mr. Willert. “They bought 100,000 pieces to test market, and then flew me around the country to trade shows (to demonstrate it),” he recalls.  With wholesale sales, walk-ins buying gutter-bolts at retail and 40 local contractors purchasing them via mail-order, the company hit sales of $500,000 after only two years in business.”  (Marton Dunai, “More inventors try to market products,” Oakland Tribune, September 5, 2006)