These end-of-the-year reflection articles are a favorite of mine to write. It is such a fun experience to sit down and really think back on the year – the events we hosted and attended, the people we met and hired, the clients we onboard and served, the partners we worked and grew up with, the milestones we reached and celebrated. All the creation that can happen in one year fascinates me every time I sit down to write these. It is important to do something like this, to reflect and celebrate. In fact, I just published a Creating Abundance Reflection Journal. The journal is made as a companion to my book, “Insights Into Creating Abundance” but is also a stand-alone tool meant to create a structure in your life to reflect on what you are up to, where you want to go, and who you want to be. Be sure to check it out on Amazon or send me an email, and I’ll ensure it gets shipped to you at no cost.
As I look back on 2021, I am really amazed at all that was accomplished. Despite still battling a global pandemic, In Time Tec has yet again shown what it means to be a company dedicated to Creating Abundance. From our team members, to our partners, to our families and friends, I have been blown away by the dedication, contribution and love that was made possible this year. This year, we continued to make progress and structured our focus areas into the three horizons of growth, a model created by McKinsey & Company.
“Horizon one represents those core businesses most readily identified with the company name and those that provide the greatest profits and cash flow. Horizon two encompasses emerging opportunities, including rising entrepreneurial ventures likely to generate substantial profits in the future but that could require considerable investment. Horizon three contains ideas for profitable growth down the road—for instance, small ventures such as research projects, pilot programs, or minority stakes in new businesses.”
Horizon One - Core Business
In 2021, we leveled up our core business by 60 percent. We had a 60 percent growth in projects, clients, employees, and revenue. In Time Tec added 25 new projects, 10 new clients, 200 employees worldwide, and more than $7M in revenue. Additionally, we now have 5 clients that are $2M+ accounts.
Horizon Two - Emerging Opportunities
For the last handful of years, we have been focused on the printing industry. Given that our founders all came from this industry, it has always been a natural path. But this year, we shifted gears to focus on the public sector. While our main printing product offering, Cartos MPS, is still available and thriving, the majority of our focus will now be on how we can serve our state and local governments in and around the US northwest region. In 2021, 5% of our revenue came from public sector projects and our goal for 2022 is to grow that to 25% of our revenue.
Horizon Three - Profitable Growth
Our focal point for this horizon is geographic expansion. We are expanding our client reach with more new clients in Europe and EMEA than ever before. We have also started a new company, NextGen Ag Tech, focusing on the agriculture vertical. I’m really looking forward to sharing more about this newly formed company and the new product launch in future reflection articles.
As I look at these horizons, I am excited about what is possible and so incredibly proud of how far we have come in the people-first areas too; growing our leadership, growing our team, and growing our influence.
Growing Leadership
This was the year that we really had time to focus on growing new leaders. We, of course, hosted multiple offsites. Our new Creating Abundance offsite was hosted in August for all new hires to come and get inspired by life and what we are up to at In Time Tec. Stateside, we also had a leadership summit in Mt. Hood where we laid out the vision for the next decade in the form of a created future/given word declaration. On the India side, we had our leadership offsite meeting, the first ever led by Next Gen leaders.
We started a learning group called “Learn to Love and Lead” for aspiring people leaders. We recognize there is a difference between a work manager and a love manager (people leader). We know that you can love someone without leading but you cannot lead someone without loving. And through that belief, we create the framework and training to build up those who are interested in being a stand in people’s lives through love.
By having a team that is focused on business development and people development, we are ensuring that our clients and employees are happy, joyful and peaceful.
Growing Team
I mentioned that we have added more than 200 new employees to our teams globally and that came with its own set of challenges, mainly where to put everyone! Luckily, when this year started we were already close to the completion of our building in Jaipur. And in October , we officially moved in. This building is so near and dear to my heart because Jaipur is where we had our first basement office, and now, not far from that first office, we have built a beautiful seven-story office, proudly displaying our mission on the exterior for all to see. In Bangalore, we expanded our rental agreement and now have all five floors of our building there, instead of just the three we had before. Finally, we expanded our office space in Meridian as well by taking a lease out on the building next door and we officially had a ribbon cutting in December that was attended by many pillars of the Idaho community, including Governor Little and Mayor Simison.
Growing Influence
We believe that in order to Create Abundance, we need to grow our influence on the world around us. After all, if people don’t know who we are, why should they care what we are up to? And 2021 was our time to shine. One of our biggest accomplishments this year was becoming Certified Evergreen by the Tugboat Institute. To become certified, a company has to prove that it is a people first, purpose driven organization. We went through a rigorous evaluation and were approved in November.
With the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccinations, we were also able to finally attend events again. This year, we volunteered at the Idaho Foodbank and for Hour of Code, held vaccination drives, and went to trade shows in Vegas, Seattle, Boise, and Florida. And, even though it was not in person, our VP of Business Development even gave a TED Talk for TEDxFolsom.
We made the Inc 5000’s list of Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies for the sixth year in a row, won the Rajasthan Best Employer Brand award, became NASCIO members, and were published on Inc.com. Our social networks grew, our second book is almost finished, and I am proud to announce that I am the incoming chair for the Idaho Technology Council.
This year was truly full of more creation, connection, and commitment than I ever thought possible and I know that kind of contribution to our clients, each other, and the community will only continue to grow in 2022.
As I look ahead to the next year, I see so many possibilities. We are already looking at 50% growth just based on contracts that we have in the pipeline now. That is phenomenal! No doubt we will see that and then some. We set a goal in 2014 to be a $100M company by 2024 and based on our current growth and profitability, we will meet that goal by the end of 2022, two years earlier than our targeted timeline! At our Created Future Summit, our leaders made a declaration to be a $1B company and I know it won’t be long until we meet that milestone as well.
As we focus on the public sector in 2022, we are also focusing on the impact we can have in our local communities. For example, to keep up with our growth, we plan on adding 120 new high-tech jobs to the Idaho economy in the next two years and we are already working with local experts to find a lot we can build on in Meridian. In India, we will add at least 250 jobs to the local economy, bringing our total employee headcount to 1000+ people worldwide.
We will continue to work with our communities to expand the conversation around technology to enhance and grow innovation and creation in our industry. Our partnerships with Boise Codeworks, Idaho Technology Council, and other technology organizations are elevating Idaho as a technology hub and we are committed to bringing in more jobs, more expertise, more projects, and more creation to the communities that support us.
I am so incredibly gotten by the support, belief, love, and joy that we experience everyday. Every single thing I mentioned above just shows how much our clients, partners, and employees believe in us and what we do. I cannot thank everyone enough for that. We created a platform for people to achieve their dreams through our dreams and I see evidence of that in action all the time. I am eternally grateful for your stand in our creation. The world is better off because of what was created this year. I am excited to continue this path of growth, creation, contribution, and most importantly creating abundance with you all in 2022 and beyond.
Happy New Year and I love you all so much!