A Decade of Doing It His Own Way

Chase Clymer learned early that if he wanted something, he had to figure out how to make it happen himself.

Growing up without financial stability forced creativity. It pushed him to look at skills not as hobbies, but as tools. In middle school and high school, photography became one of those tools. He loved it, but more importantly, he learned how to turn it into access. Taking photos at shows led to photographing bands. That led to magazine work. That led to going on tour. He was getting paid to do something he enjoyed, and a pattern formed. “I always kind of had that mental thing where it’s like, oh, I could probably charge someone to do this now that I figured it out.”

That mindset stuck. Whenever he learned something new, his instinct was to apply it. How could this help someone else. How could it turn into value. That way of thinking followed him through creative work and eventually into business. Charging for value never felt uncomfortable. It felt logical.

He started Electric Eye nearly a decade ago. In the beginning, it looked more like a few freelancers with a domain than a real agency. Over time, it turned into something solid. Full time employees. Contractors. Real processes. Real expectations. That shift changed the work. Creative problem solving turned into responsibility, and responsibility demanded structure.

What kept him in it for ten years came down to two things. Partnership and autonomy. “I have a great partner,” he says. “Him and I have the same vision for the company, and that vision has evolved and changed as we’ve learned stuff over the years.” That alignment mattered. The second reason was simpler. He liked working for himself. “If I was to stop this, I don’t know if I could get a real job quote unquote.”

Over time, the business got clearer. Each year, the ideal client narrowed. The services tightened. The value delivered increased, and pricing followed. “Things just get more streamlined the longer we do it,” he explains. At a certain point, walking away stopped making sense.

Today, the work centers on one core belief. The decisions made in the user experience of an ecommerce site have consequences. Electric Eye invests heavily in conversion rate optimization for Shopify brands. The goal is not just better design. It is better outcomes. Faster buying. Higher cart values. Stronger post-purchase flows. Everything ties back to helping brands sell more to the customers they already have.

The hardest challenge never disappeared. Landing high-quality clients consistently. Selling small services is one thing. Selling five and six figure engagements is another. That problem became real around year two or three, when the business crossed the line from casual to legitimate. Around that time, a mentor asked how much of his week went to business development. “I was like, oh, it’s like seventy thirty,” he recalls. When asked which way, he clarified. “No, thirty percent.” The response was immediate. “If you don’t flip that, you’ll be out of business by the end of the year.”

That conversation changed his role permanently. Another mentor reinforced it by insisting partners define swim lanes, with one person fully owning business development. That responsibility became his. For the last eight years, finding and qualifying customers has been his job.

Scrappiness defines how the agency operates. There is no office on purpose. Every expense is questioned. “What’s the cheapest way we can do this thing” is not a mindset he adopted later. It comes from necessity. Before agency work, he played in bands and handled everything himself. There was no money to throw at problems. Solutions had to be creative. “It wasn’t because I wanted to save money,” he says. “It was because we didn’t have money.”

That approach carries through every decision. Conferences. Software. Outbound. He sees founders spend money where learning would be more effective. “Software isn’t a strategy,” he says. “You still need to have a plan.” His advice stays consistent. Learn first. Spend later.

Instead of chasing scale for an exit, he and his partner chose profitability and flexibility. Growing purely for acquisition would mean reinvesting everything, taking on debt, and managing a much larger team. People are the product in an agency, and people are expensive. Staying boutique allows them to be selective, consultative, and profitable. That choice created room to invest elsewhere. Buying an app. Investing in other tools. Building a podcast that became a relationship engine.

When he talks to aspiring founders, his advice is blunt. Start. Stop waiting. “Analysis paralysis is the bane of everybody,” he says. Make mistakes. Learn fast. The worst outcome is usually giving someone their money back.

Looking back, the biggest difference between the first five years and the second five is sales. “Entrepreneurship is just glorified sales,” he says. The reps mattered. Learning how to talk about money. How to push back. How to say no. Over time, he learned to recognize bad fits quickly and walk away. Saying no created space for the right work.

The best advice he ever received reinforced everything. If outbound and prospecting are not priorities, the business runs on luck. Referrals alone are fragile. Momentum must be generated deliberately.

A decade in, he continues building the same way he always has. Learn the skill. Apply it. Charge for it. Stay lean. Solve problems before spending money on them. The work feels clearer now, not because it is easier, but because it fits.

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