About Valor

Lissa is a Master Certified Coach with a track record most coaches spend careers trying to build.

In her executive coaching practice, she works with both men and women—helping high-functioning professionals identify the roadblocks that keep them from achieving what they’re fully capable of. Her clients don’t come to her because they’ve failed. They come because they’ve hit a ceiling they can’t break through on their own, and they want someone who will tell them the truth about why.

Before building her coaching practice, Lissa spent 20 years in full-time missionary work with Youth for Christ. The work took her across foreign countries and put her in rooms with teen moms, women in crisis, and young people who had been told—in a hundred different ways—that their voice didn’t matter. Her most passionate work in those years centered on a single conviction: every woman has a voice, and that voice needs to be heard.

That conviction didn’t stay in ministry. It followed her into every coaching room, every client relationship, and eventually—into Valor.

At Valor, Lissa directs the women’s engagement experience. From the moment a woman first encounters Valor to the moment she leaves the range, Lissa shapes the environment that makes it possible for her to show up, stay present, and leave different than she arrived. She doesn’t stand at the end of the lane. She builds the conditions in which real training can happen—before, during, and after.

A Ceiling That Broke

A young woman once came to Lissa as a last resort. She was exceptional at customer support—loved by everyone she worked with outside the company. But inside? She’d burned bridges. Her employer sent her to Lissa as a final chance to save her job.

She was shocked when she made the call. She didn’t expect what came next.

Through their work together, she learned how to communicate in a way that people could actually hear—without leaving dead bodies in her wake. She learned how to lead effectively and how to develop her team.

By the end, she didn’t just keep her job. She was overseeing an entire division.

That’s what it looks like when a woman discovers what was in her all along.

Laran grew up shooting guns and hunting, but it wasn’t until 2008 that he discovered the difference between shooting and fighting.

During a four-day, 2,000-round course called “Fighting Handgun,” everything changed. For the first time, he experienced training that didn’t just focus on marksmanship—it focused on performance under stress, movement under pressure, and decision-making when it matters. He adapted quickly, loved it deeply, and felt compelled to help others experience that same transformation.

That same year, Laran earned his NRA Basic Pistol Instructor certification and began building his experience by training under instructors who were much further along the path. He hasn’t stopped learning since. Currently, Laran is pursuing instructor certification with Tactical Hyve. These instructor positions are coveted and not given away.

From Public Safety to Training

Before founding Valor Training Group, Laran served in public safety, retiring from the fire service as a paramedic and engineer. After leaving the fire service, he led a large volunteer security team for a five-campus church—and that’s where he discovered the gaps in real-world training firsthand.

Volunteers came from all walks of life. Some had never dealt with adrenaline-influenced interactions. Many weren’t skilled with their firearms. Laran had to find ways to maximize their training time and prepare them for roles that required real capability, not just range performance.

That experience became the foundation for Valor’s approach: meet people where they are, show them the gap, and build a clear path forward.

Teaching Philosophy: Relationships Enable Learning

Laran’s approach as an instructor is simple: he pays attention.

He can sense when someone has shut down and stopped learning. When that happens, he doesn’t push harder—he reintegrates them where they are and moves forward at their pace. There are no “normal” results in his classes. Each person’s performance is based on their previous experience, and he builds from there.

Students consistently say Laran doesn’t come across as “macho.” He doesn’t wear high-end flashy gear or carry a gun that looks like it gives him unfair advantages. He shows up the way they will—because real-world preparedness isn’t about looking the part. It’s about performing when it matters.

A Moment That Captures It All

A few years ago, a woman joined one of Laran’s classes. Her husband—an FBI SWAT doctor who deploys tactically with his team—didn’t need the training, but he came to support her.

Her facial expressions during her first shots revealed fear. But every student wears a holster in class, so she kept her gun on her hip the entire time.

About two and a half hours into the session, Laran watched her walk up to her target, cock her hips with her gun hand resting on her holstered firearm, and calmly evaluate her performance.

No fear. Just confidence earned through experience.

That’s what transformation looks like.

Building Instructors, Not Just Students

As co-owner of Valor Training Group with his wife Lissa, Laran heads up instruction—but one of his primary roles is finding instructors who share the same philosophy and desire to teach well.

He gives them a path to develop their full potential through Valor’s venues and model, because great training doesn’t scale through one person. It scales through a team of instructors who believe relationships come first and capability is built through trust.

Laran holds his NRA Basic Pistol Instructor certification and instructor certifications in various disciplines, as well as a CLEET Line Safety Officer designation.