“Action without vision is a nightmare, vision without action is only a daydream” – Japanese Proverb
On Thanksgiving evening 1997, Ashley was inspired by an enlightening piece written by a traditional Japanese philosopher who stated, “Action without vision is a nightmare, vision without action is only a daydream.” She jumped out of her bed, turn on her laptop and took some “Action.” Back in 1997, the “Net” was hot. She took the credit card out of her wallet and paid $35 to reserve the www.actionet.com Internet domain. Ashley registered ActioNet, Inc. with the Commonwealth of Virginia on Thanksgiving 1997. ActioNet was born on January 7, 1998.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Lao-tzu
It was a humble beginning on July 1, 1998. Ashley couldn’t afford anything at the time or pay anyone, so she embarked on this journey as an Army of One.
In October 1998 ActioNet landed its first project, Y2K IV&V, with the Department of Transportation (DOT). It was a five-month project for under $50,000. Ashley still remembers “Green Stickers of Y2K-OK, and Red Stickers for Y2K-Not-OK.” ActioNet finished the Y2K project on time & under budget. ActioNet was asked to come back and provide software development work.
Ashley had read so many “Dummies” books and become a guru on Microsoft Visual Basic, PowerBuilder, as well as QuickBooks. In 2000, ActioNet received the outstanding Woman-Owned Business Enterprise Award from DOT. Also, we expanded to the Department of Energy (DOE) and delivered our first e-Gov solution. In 2001, we received the DOE/EIA DIO Technical Excellence Award. ActioNet continued to deliver what we promised to our customers.
