Herndon Woman's Business Teaches Companies About Hiring Veterans

A Herndon woman's company, aimed at encouraging and helping companies to hire more veterans, is making waves in the business world after winning a pitch competition hosted by Capital One recently.

Lisa Rosser of Herndon has a long and impressive military background, which includes 10 years of active Army duty and 11 years of service with the Army Reserve, including 2-1/2 years of mobilization after the events of Sept. 11. During her active duty time, she participated in three major engagements - the Gulf War, Somalia, and Bosnia.

When it came time to retire from her Army career in July of 2011, at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Rosser thought ahead to what came next for her and her career.

Since her Army career had focused largely on operations and performance management, recruiting, placement, training, and skills development, Rosser dreamed up her own business that could continue along that path, and help veterans such as herself get ahead in the post-miltary service business world.

In 2007, The Value of a Veteran was born.

What started with just an employer guide Rosser wrote, aimed at educating companies on how to recruit military, blossomed into an incredibly full and robust company.

The response to Rosser's corporate military recruitment guide was so positive and enthusiastic, that soon Rosser's expertise was in demand in the form of workshops for corporate, government and higher education organizations, and webinars on critical military hiring topics.

In just a few years, her list of clients has grown, and includes big names such as Google, Halliburton, Sprint, GlaxoSmithKline, JP Morgan Chase and more.

In fact, the one obstacle Rosser seems to have faced through her business' success is that it can be hard to keep up with all the client opportunities when her office consists of just her and three part-time employees.

Rosser said she is constantly asking herself, "We've got the revenue, enough to support one full-time person, but how are we going to get this business where it needs to be?"

That's when Rosser decided to attend the Women Veteran Entrepreneur Corps. conference, hosted by Capital One and the nonprofit organization Count Me In, which aimed to bring together women veterans running their own businesses with business experts from across to country, to help them address their biggest business challenges and grow their business. 

Part of the conference included a "pitch competition," in which the women veteran business owners were given two minutes to pitch their business to a panel of business experts and explain why they needed professional help in learning how to grow their business. The winners would be invited to join an exclusive business accelerator program and be given a cash prize.

Rosser and The Value of a Veteran walked away a winner.

As a winner of the competition, Rosser and her business will join Count Me In’s Business Accelerator Program, a six-month intensive business education program designed to help grow her business significantly within 18 to 36 months; a $1,000 cash award; a one-year membership with the advocacy organization Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP); and a formal headshot and PR toolkit.  

Rosser said attending the conference was an inspirational experience, especially being around so many fellow women veterans working hard to run their own businesses just as she does.

"It was unique for all of us to be able to be in a room and see so many people who are similar to us," she recalled. "You don't usually see so many, all in a room at one time."

Rosser said she most looks forward to learning how she can take the next step with her business and hire more employees as the best, smartest time, to help grow her business at the point between spending the revenue while also bringing it in.

"I think most companies reach that point - when you know there are people you need to hire, there's so much more you need to get done, and you realize you can't do that all by yourself. So how do you do that?" she explained. "How do you bring in revenue fast enough to justify hiring those extra people?"

As a winner of the pitch competition, Rosser will also receive valuable business coaching from Capital One, which Rosser said is very exciting considering what a large and powerful company it is.

"You need someone who's been there to get that common-sense approach, but you also need someone to inspire you," she said.

Rosser said her first step in growing her business is to roll out some new services, which she is already in the process of doing. She added, hiring more employees will be crucial to that, so she can step away from day-to-day operations to focus on growth.

"At some point I need to be able to pull away from the day-to-day stuff, and I think the coaching on when to make that transition and decide when is the right timing for it, will be very valuable and important."

Learn more about The Value of a Veteran on its website.

What do you think of Lisa Rosser's company, The Value of a Veteran? Tell us in the comments below.

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