Dynamic Alternatives, Inc.About Us
In the late seventies, people began to look for ways to make a living outside the corporate environment. Jobs were getting harder to come by and corporations were merging and purging. Many people were "moonlighting" which had become a term referring to making extra money doing something other than your regular job. Unfortunately, moonlighting had become their regular job. The Foys began to be approached by a number of personal and business friends with questions about improving their businesses.They came to Jim Foy because he was the international Internal Audit Manager for Avon Products and had experience that covered the full gambit of business functions, procedures, and policy. As a Naval Intelligence Officer stationed in Japan and Vietnam, Jim developed a keen ability to assess a given situation and develop a successful strategy to arrive at a desired outcome. Since money was usually a big concern and Jim has an MBA and a strong financial background, he was able to offer good advice and assistance.
Jim is easy to talk to and is very enthusiastic about entrepreneurial ventures. Both Jim and Michele engender a strong sense of integrity, trustworthiness and personal responsibility.
Although they both have much in common, Michele Foy has a very different story. In college she studied theater, art, philosophy, and psychology. By the late seventies she was working as a freelance conference manager and human resource consultant to not-for-profits. Based on her theater and conference work she developed an approach to organizational design that Dynamic Alternatives Inc. still uses today. Michele is also easy to talk to and is always fascinated by the endeavors of others. She is eager to help and totally committed to the success of those with whom she works. Before long it became apparent that there was little available to the entrepreneur in the way of support.
In 1980, the year that DAI was founded, the word "entrepreneur" was not in use in the general language. All business oriented products and services were directed to large corporations. It was obvious that the lagging economy had created a need for people to create new income sources for themselves. People were willing to do just that but they needed some support and there just wasn’t any. Hence, the birth of Dynamic Alternatives Inc. in May 1980.
DAI offered general management consulting services to entrepreneurs. This is still its primary relationship with its clients. DAI’s clients range from start-ups to older businesses going through growth transitions. Partnership relations work became a major aspect of their consulting. This is a area of consulting most firms refuse to tackle. However, Jim and Michele found that many of the challenges facing a business could not be effectively dealt with unless the relationship among the partners was addressed.
Jim left Avon in 1985 and joined Michele to focus on DAI and the entrepreneurial market. Neither looked back. They have always worked out of their home since they are on call 24 hours a day – 7 days a week. They also enjoyed the extra time with their three children who are all grown now. As years passed and technology progressed, DAI expanded into the PC world. DAI first worked with Mac’s and later PCs with Windows. Jim had been deeply involved with the mainframe software development at Avon and was delighted to see the computing power reserved for corporations being brought to the PC and hence smaller business.
In 1986, Jim began to design and program computer based management systems for DAI’s clients. Custom system development has been a growing part of DAI ever since. Michele participates in the design phase and Jim, who now works with several freelance programmers, does development.
Note: This is not intended to imply that Michele and Jim no longer offer management consulting services. As a matter of fact, the system design work involves a high level of consulting and the consulting work frequently leads to a management system. The bottom line is that both Michele and Jim love what they are doing and enjoy making business friends with such an wide variety of interesting people.