We Just 'KNOW' Lorraine Lewis Will Make a Success of Her New Business @KnowServices

The brilliant Lorraine Lewis launched her business KNOW Services Ltd. with support from Enterprise Hub Partner The Women's Organisation.

Looking back at where the idea came from Lorraine reflected "I identified a gap in the market for providing businesses access to Intelligence Analysts. KNOW Services Ltd would become an extra pair of hands in times of higher demand, or for those who did not need a full time Intelligence Analyst. I wanted to be able to provide the skills and the services that I have to small or more niche organisations. And within the first six months I successfully secured a contact to provide consultancy services in the establishment of a specialised Intelligence Unit for an International Organisation."

With words like ‘Intelligence’ and ‘Analytical’, we’d be forgiven for thinking that Loraine sounded quite like a Spy or a previous employee of MI5, and frankly we weren’t too far off the mark! Loraine’s previous experience comes largely from within the Law Enforcement sector undertaking roles such as Senior Crime Analyst and as part of a Serious and Organised Crime Team, but launching her new business, KNOW, she is taking the skills and experience that she has garnered for the past 14 years and applying it to businesses who are looking to make those important, informed decisions to improve.

To help her get started Lorraine was linked with a business adviser to talk her through the process and invited to attend a number of free training courses the develop her enterprise skills.  She told us about the experience:

"I had the opportunity to attend the Planning for Success course with Bernie – who is amazing! I loved it because she told us that we would have doubts and that the doubts would come – and they did! However knowing that they are going to come makes it just a little bit easier!"

Loraine’s business model works in three different strands…Firstly there is Consultancy where Loraine can work with organisations to implement specific procedures, "So a business could come to me to setup their own Intelligence Analysis unit, but they don’t know how to do it, and I would come in, establish the unit and show them how to run and maintain it." Secondly, Loraine can also fill in the gaps in organisations that already use analysis but don’t have the requirement for a full-time Intelligence Analyst, and thirdly for organisations that do use Intelligence Analysts and have a higher than normal demand that Loraine can assist with.

Read Lorraine's full story here. 

If like Lorraine you have a wealth of experience and knowledge that you think you might be able to turn into a business, why not contact the Enterprise Hub Team on 0151 706 8113 or enterprisehub@thewo.org.uk to see how we can help.  FREE support is on offer to Merseyside residents thanks to funding from European Regional Development Fund.