The military lifestyle builds strengths military spouses may not even know they have. Picking up and moving every three years, navigating single parenting during deployments, adjusting to different locations, people and duty stations are tasks military spouses undertake every day.
These challenges may not reward a military spouse with certificates or degrees, but they teach skills. These are skills military spouses can leverage to build a career that travels with them.
Creative Business Ideas for the Military Spouse
Identifying and leveraging unique strengths and weaknesses can guide military spouses toward fulfilling and successful business ventures. Military spouses can explore building businesses that align with their personal attributes, interests, and strengths.
Taking stock of personal strengths can inspire military spouse entrepreneurs to build businesses that travel with them. Take a career from place to place with these ideas featuring real MilSpouse businesses.
Meeting
Crane and Co Boutique is a military-spouse-founded online clothing store. The founder, Amber Crane, knew fashion was her passion and strength. She built her business by encouraging military spouses to recognize their individual beauty.
This store moves to each new duty station with her. Amber doesn’t have to put her career aside for living the military spouse lifestyle.
Writing
Military spouse writers and authors just need laptops to utilize their skills. By focusing on their passions, whether it’s writing as a children’s book author, like Jessica Stremer, or delving into the self-published world like Katie Bonecutter, being a military spouse author is a job that can be done anywhere.
This is not limited to traditional writers either. From blogging to freelance writing, military spouse writers can move their careers wherever they go.
Handmade goods
Handmade artisans and craftspeople can create wherever the military takes them. Whether it’s hosting wine and paint nights to teach neighbors how to make beautiful creations or selling custom spousal gifts, creative crafting MilSpouses showcase their talents by leaning into their interests. By selling their goods on the online marketplace, there is no need for a physical store.
Digital design
Spouses thrive in the digital publishing realms. Whether they work building websites, work as virtual assistants, or thrive in human resources, military spouses with technical backgrounds and expertise aren’t hindered from following their service members around the world.
Property and housing association
Selling real estate, offering personal organizing, home care, childcare, and pet sitting are all needs military spouses can fulfill. These positions move with them to their next base or community.
It just requires recognizing strengths and weaknesses, leaning into talents and filling a need. There are many business ideas that utilize unique skills and transfer from place to place.
Steps to Finding a Career as a Military Spouse
The first step for military spouses looking to build a portable career is to assess their strengths and weaknesses. Next, they should take stock of their interests and find out what they enjoy doing or doing.
There are many resources such as Military OneSource, Small Business Administration and Career OneStop for business start-up or employment opportunities in that area of expertise. LinkedIn offers a free year of premium membership to military spouses. It is an active search database for jobs in a desired career. The platform is also a great place to connect with other professionals who have built a business in the same niche.
Military spouses have unique career opportunities
MilSpouse entrepreneurs use the strengths of being a military spouse to create careers that move with them. They take their creativity and give it direction. By following the desire to serve in their own ways, military spouse entrepreneurs allow the instability of military life to inspire creativity to achieve personal goals.
While the constant temporary cycle of military life can prevent traditional office-based careers from being realistic for military spouses, it provides the exact climate to create unique business and career opportunities that fit well with the often chaotic military lifestyle.
Within the trials of military life, military spouses can find their career happy place. They can build businesses that not only thrive, but also bring personal satisfaction and balance to their lives.