Our story
The journey that led to MyEKC.
If you’re a business owner, you probably understand exactly what I mean.
You started your business with a dream. Perhaps it was independence. Perhaps a better life for your family. Perhaps the chance to build something meaningful for your employees, customers, and community.
For me, that journey began unexpectedly.
In 1993, after what I believed was a successful career with a Fortune 100 company, I lost my job. Like many people who experience a life-changing event, I found myself asking hard questions about my future — and realizing just how little control I had over my own life. I never wanted to feel that way again.
Three years later, with the unwavering support of my wife and children, I purchased a small adhesive company with four employees and less than one million dollars in annual sales. We invested nearly everything we had — borrowed from our retirement, sold our family home, and bet on ourselves. It was one of the biggest risks of my life. Looking back, it was also one of the best decisions I ever made.
Building a business — or becoming captive to one?
Like many entrepreneurs, I believed that working harder, making better decisions, and caring deeply about my customers would naturally create a successful business. To some extent, it did. We grew. Our relationships strengthened. Our reputation improved.
But another reality was quietly growing alongside our success: the business depended on me. Employees lined up outside my office with questions. Important decisions flowed across my desk. Critical knowledge lived in my head, and in the heads of a few key people.
I wasn’t creating freedom. I was creating dependence. The more successful we became, the harder it was to step away.
The lesson that changed everything
Shortly after buying the business, someone handed me a copy of The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. It challenged how I thought about ownership — the idea of building a company around systems instead of individual heroics.
Several years later, I had the privilege of meeting Michael personally. That meeting changed my life. His greatest lesson wasn’t about systems. It was about leadership.
It wasn’t enough for me to understand where our business was going. Every employee needed to understand the vision. Every employee needed to understand why their work mattered, and what success looked like. And, most importantly, they needed to believe in it. Only then could we truly become a company where everyone was rowing in the same direction.
The progression we discovered
Knowledge became Systems. Systems created Alignment. Alignment drove Freedom.
Knowledge → Systems → Alignment → Freedom
When the systems outgrew the binders
When I returned home, we committed to becoming a system-driven business — not because documenting procedures sounded exciting, but because we believed systems could improve the lives of our people. Every process would explain its purpose. Every employee would understand the expected result. Our culture, values, and vision would be woven throughout.
For years, we documented everything in binders. At first, it worked. Then we grew. We added employees, managers, a second location, salespeople across the country. Suddenly, keeping everyone aligned became harder than creating the systems themselves. Information became outdated. Documents were hard to find. Communication slowed.
I wasn’t looking to build software. I was looking for a better way to communicate — a better way to share our vision, and help every employee understand exactly what was expected of them. When I couldn’t find a solution that truly met those needs, we decided to build one. That solution became MyEKC.
Why MyEKC exists
MyEKC was never meant to be just another software platform. It was designed to be the communication foundation of a system-driven business — a place where every employee could easily find the knowledge they needed, where processes, performance agreements, policies, vision, culture, and expectations all lived together, and where communication became clear, consistent, and documented.
Most importantly, it became a place where people could confidently answer one simple question:
“MyEKC has reinforced an important leadership lesson: the best leaders don’t build businesses that depend on them — they build businesses that can thrive without them.”
It has challenged me to think differently about how we document, share, and preserve the knowledge that ultimately defines our company.
The journey continues
Today, our company has documented hundreds of processes. We’ve enjoyed decades of continuous growth and profitability, and exceptional employee retention. Our systems have helped us navigate downturns, supply-chain disruptions, and extraordinary challenges — and, more importantly, helped create a business that serves the lives of the people who work here.
Today, MyEKC serves businesses far beyond my own. And now, with EVA as your embedded business thought partner — and EVA Coach to guide you — creating and improving systems that once took hours, or even days, can often be done in minutes. The technology has evolved. The mission has not.
We are still helping owners capture their knowledge, build a system-driven business, align their people, create stronger and more valuable companies, and ultimately experience the freedom that inspired many of us to become business owners in the first place.
My hope for you
Whether you’re just beginning your entrepreneurial journey, somewhere in the middle, or starting to think about succession, transition, or someday selling — I hope MyEKC becomes more than a software application. I hope it becomes a trusted partner in helping you build the business you always imagined.
One that grows consistently. One that creates opportunity for your people. One that becomes increasingly valuable over time. And one that ultimately gives you something every business owner deserves — the freedom to enjoy the life you built your business to support.