Lorraine Lane, BA, MBA - Expert

Fifteen years ago, I was a happy corporate employee: recently promoted into a pretty big job, I was spearheading an initiative at the request of the company vice president. And then it Lorraine Lane, Business Coach happened…I was given the dreaded pink slip. Our entire department was laid off overnight due to “budget cuts.”  I’d worked for this company for seventeen years. I had thought—as I’m sure many corporate ladder-climbers do—that I would retire from this organization.

What followed was a lot of stress and heartache: two and a half years of taking on assignments as an independent contractor in order to bring some income into the household, job-searching, accepting a full-time job and quitting two months later. Finally, I drove a stake in the ground and decided to build my own business. That was fifteen years ago. Today I enjoy a thriving business, eighty percent of which is built on referrals.

I call myself an “X-CORP,” ex-corporate-employee-turned-small-business-owner. Many of my clients are also X-CORPs. I work with X-CORPS and other small business owners coaching them one-on-one to build their businesses, and I facilitate the A-Game Program, a ten-week program in the art and strategy of building a business through referrals. I bring more than two decades of learning and experience to my individual clients and A-Game Program participants. Having started my own consulting business in Florida, California, and then Florida again, I understand the issues faced by entrepreneurs. I know first-hand what it takes to build a small business.

My background includes an undergraduate degree in Education from the University of Vermont, and a Masters in Business Administration. I served as an adjunct faculty member for San Jose State University’s Professional Development Center and now serve in that capacity for a local university and community college in the Tampa area.

Over the course of the last fifteen years, I have served in leadership positions with various Chambers of Commerce, and am a current member of the Board of Directors for the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce. I recently received the Chamber Member of the Year award and The President’s Award.

I live in the Tampa area, where it is sunny and warm. When not playing the A-Game and building my business with referrals, I enjoy cooking, games, reading great books, and spending time with Brady, my four-year-old grandson, whose imagination knows no limits.

I welcome your phone calls (813-486-2837) and emails (Lorraine@LorraineLane.com). If you’re feeling challenged building your small business, feel free to get in touch with me and let’s have a conversation.