Starting and growing a company by filling a need

Alisha Allen Gardner, Easy Time Clock

I am the co-owner and CEO of Easy Time Clock. And no, we do not fix clocks. If you need to keep track of your employees, we can help solve that for you.

Maybe the origin of your company is similar to ours. Many companies start when someone sees a specific opportunity and wants to solve it. Then, depending on what you want to do with your business, you can grow it from there.

Easy Time Clock was started back in 2004 by my husband’s parents. My mother-in-law was a bookkeeper, and they saw an opportunity in the market. Her clients were looking for an easy solution for employees to send in accurate time cards.

My father-in-law then stepped in and built a small timekeeping component. In the beginning, they just offered it to my mother-in-law’s clients. Eventually they expanded and offered it to others outside her bookkeeping service.

For them, it was an opportunity to work from home. It allowed them to travel and work anywhere they wanted to, provided they had internet access. So from 2004 to 2016, they let it grow organically, ending up with around 1,100 accounts and 35,000 employees in the system by the end of that time period. They didn’t advertise at all during that time.

I can’t take credit for how it got to where it was in 2016. But I can take some of the credit for where we’ve brought it since then.

In 2013, I became the first official employee, and I answered the phone two days a week. From there, my role expanded. Soon after, my husband, Chuck, came on as a full-time web developer. In 2016, my husband and I ended up buying the company from his parents so they could retire.

From the beginning, my goal was a little different from what my in-law’s had been. I wanted to make our product better. I wanted to grow the company. I wanted to set processes in place so we could be more efficient with our time. Over time, I learned to make healthy relationships a part of my priorities as well. Those are what make everything work.

We keep track of stats now. We have metrics in place for measuring growth beyond just how many accounts and employees we have and how much money we have in the bank.

I am proud to say that while it took my in-laws 12 years to grow the company to 1,100 accounts and 35,000 employees, in the three years since then we’ve grown it to 3,800 accounts and 70,000 employees.

And that’s all because someone saw a need that they could fill with an existing client base. Is there a need your clients have that you’re not currently helping with? Consider helping them. It could lead to massive growth in your business.

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