To Carla Lane, being president and CEO of her own company is about more than just the numbers.

“I’m doing something near and dear to my heart, preparing people--who often look like me--to go to work. Teaching the women and youth business etiquette and how to dress. This is my ministry,” said the Houston resident.

But it didn’t start that way. In 1993, as an accounting major at the University of Houston, Lane started working at a small, family-owned staffing company as an accounting clerk. She was the first non-family member in the business.

Nine years later, a divorce caused a major upset in the business. The husband, who kept the business, was a master salesman, but wasn’t a numbers person. So he asked her to stay and help run the business. He promised her that he would help her reach her ultimate goal--to own her own business. He dissolved the original company and created DiverseStaff. They turned DiverseStaff into one of the largest minority-owned staffing firms in the Southwest.

Lane continued to handle accounting and finance while her mentor marketed the business. In 2007, she purchased the business. Now sole-owner of the company, Lane knew she could do the numbers, but she wasn’t quite sure she could sell the company.

Lane decided the company, which she renamed Lane Staffing, would become an employment solutions provider, not just a staffing company. She restructured Lane Staffing into specialized divisions and reorganized the company to make it a better sell.

“We can provide everything that an organization can need as far as staffing and jobs,” Lane said. “Once we made the organizational change, we were able to grow with existing clients. We became much more relevant as a staffing firm.” Lane Staffing employs 15 full-time staff and 600 temporary staff across the United States.

Agility is one of the benefits of working with a small company, she pointed out. “Every client is a priority for us.”

With that mindset, Lane Staffing has grown exponentially since the brand’s inception. In 2007, revenue exceeded $11 million. In 2008, it exceeded $12 million. Projections have revenue topping $20 million in 2012.

Lane’s business and her work in the community has garnered her many accolades and awards. She is most excited that her alma mater, the University of Houston, honored her as one if its distinguished alumni.

Lane admitted being a female entrepreneur does affect family life, but she is determined to be there for her husband and kids. “I’ve made a commitment to leave the office at 5:30 p.m. to go home and cook dinner for my husband and two children,” Lane said, “but I do get back to work after the kids are in bed.”

Now that she’s reached her ‘ultimate’ goal, is this the pinnacle for her? Lane says no. “My business goals just got bigger,” she added. She explained that her goals now are: 1) to have a branch office in each of the major cities in Texas; and 2) to have multiple offices in the larger Texas cities. She currently has offices in Houston, Dallas, Port Arthur, TX and Orlando, FL. “Ten years from now I want to have someone else run the day-to-day operations so I can start a non-for-profit organization to prepare women for work in each of the cities we serve.”

Lane offers this advice to women aspiring to become business owners, “Never, never, never give up! And integrity is everything in business.”