Dennis Sawyer established Sawyer & Associates in 2012 in Memphis, Tennessee to provide affordable business mentoring to small, disadvantaged businesses. He realized that many entrepreneurs lacked business training, though they had marketable skills, and the poor economy made stability difficult. Sawyer began canvassing minority-owned businesses to help them develop operational processes based on lean principles using his experience. In 2015, Sawyer partnered with Michelle Isom to leverage their combined skills and experience to grow Sawyer & Associates and brand their Modular Process Business Model approach.