Being named a finalist for Startup Business of the Year after being open just a few months would seem to confirm that statement. The Bellingham-based company specializes in on-site trainings, consulting, Web-based forums, training DVDs, and an assortment of innovative tools for assisting business clients with their staff development needs. Since opening in September 2007, ETC has made quite a mark. According to Beeland, the company – whose motto is “building teams outside the box” – has worked with more than 500 students and 50 different businesses.
By partnering with the National Seminars Group in Kansas City, ETC is bringing nationally known business speakers to Bellingham to present all-day workshops at greatly reduced costs. Already, Beeland said, folks have come from Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Vancouver, B.C., as well as Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane to attend ETC’s on-site seminars. By offering attractive packages that include two days of training, hotel, meals and airport shuttle service, ETC is attempting to make Bellingham one of the Northwest’s premier business training destinations. Recognizing the upcoming Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., as a golden opportunity for local businesses, ETC kicked off a campaign on February 21 with the tagline: “Is your business ready for the 2010 Olympics?”
ETC has also developed its own “Lean 5S Leadership Certification” program to assist businesses in reducing waste and increasing efficiency. Based on Toyota’s famous principles of business organization, ETC has added its own signature features to the model, Beeland said. The first group to take ETC’s six-day training last fall immediately implemented cost-saving projects at their home companies. Within just four months time, Beeland boasted, those projects saved their organizations a combined $1.2 million.
ETC is also patenting a new tool called “Team Growth Matrix.” This Web-based application, according to Beeland, will allow human resource managers to accurately track and assess staff training needs and follow each employee’s progress. By entering an employee’s zip code, the system will list all upcoming national level trainings offered in that area for which participants can register directly via the Web site. This young startup is already working to make an impact in the community as well. Among its good works, team members donate a minimum of 40 personal hours per year to assist charities or community organizations, and donates its interactive computer lab to local school groups for tutorial assistance in preparing students for college level work.
With growth taking off, ETC expects to increase its current staff of nine by 50 percent in 2008, and to open a second office location (probably in Seattle) within the next three years. Always thinking big, Beeland said his dream is to have more than 20 ETC facilities up and running across the United States and Canada in the next 10 years.
But no matter how big ETC grows over the coming years, he promised, “Bellingham will always stay our corporate office.”
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