of drivers to share real-time traffic and road info that can save others time and gas money on their daily commute. If you Google “Israeli start-ups in the US,” you’ll come across numerous lists of companies to watch in the coming years.
This is proof that with a strong history of military service, combined with a head-strong passion to succeed, you can literally come out of nowhere and create your own economic stimulus movement! Every military business owner is helping in this movement. And with a tribe of milpreneurs, social influencers, and supporters with a shared vision, we can foster the right environment to change the world right here at home. In fact, the military community has the skills, network, and manpower to make the US an even better Start-Up Nation!
Why the Most Portable Job is a Business
The reasons business ownership works well with military life are numerous. With a shift in commerce from big corporations to smaller, more nimble business models, there has never been a better time in history to be an entrepreneur. With more and more brick-and-mortar stores trading their physical spaces for more agile virtual business models, the opportunities for the everyday entrepreneur are endless.
Could you have ever imagined that one of the biggest retailers in the country would get the large majority of their revenue from online sales?
Kudos to Amazon.
Could you have ever imagined that one of the most successful taxi companies wouldn’t own any cars?
Kudos to Uber.
Could you have ever imagined that one of the largest vacation rental companies wouldn’t own any hotels?
Kudos to Airbnb.
And could you have ever imagined that one of the most popular methods of watching movies wouldn’t include a theater or a DVD?
Kudos to Netflix.
These cutting-edge companies prove that business ownership is changing rapidly with the times. Hence, there is no time like the present to take advantage of this evolution and build a business that you can custom-design around your specific life needs.
Small business ownership provides unmatched flexibility and a variety of logistical options for how to set up your operations. For me, it provided the flexibility to work around the challenges of raising small children despite unpredictable deployments and frequent relocations. There was no other job out in the market that I could have obtained that would have allowed me the flexibility I needed to work around naps, babysitter availability, and my hubby’s flying schedule. Over the course of ten years in business we have relocated to three different states, my kids have migrated from preschool schedules to full-time school schedules, and my husband has been promoted in rank three different times. Through it all, my business allowed me to flex along with each and every phase.
Along with incredible flexibility, being a business owner also allowed me to maintain my job as “Mom” as my #1 priority. As much as I was driven to grow my business, I was also very sensitive to making sure I was always there for the little moments with my kids. I will never forget the pictures etched in my memory of bringing my kids with me to work when I was decorating homes. Most of those memories involve them sitting strapped in their car seats with big smiles on their faces, with faux foliage and other essential home staging décor packed all around them. Once we would arrive at a job, I could give them harmless tasks like moving plants and folding blankets as their way of helping to complete the work.
Not only was it handy to bring them with me on jobs to avoid daycare costs, but it allowed them to see their mom pursuing goals outside of the common homemaking tasks. I have always cherished that from a young age; my kids were able to see me not only as their Mom, but also as a smart, capable, and driven woman that they could look up to and be proud of.
Another major advantage to business ownership today is the fact that technology is something anyone can leverage. Amazingly, technology has evened the business playing field and is providing access to business opportunities for more and more everyday entrepreneurs. With each new passing day, I also recognize how incredibly capable the next generation is with all these new technological advances.
The Millennial generation has been raised in an era where video, internet, and Wi-Fi are all they have ever known, making them more connected and more capable than ever before. When I graduated college at the turn of the millennium, cell phones were just becoming popular, but they were large and had antennas and there was nothing smart about them, since the internet itself was just gaining traction. I giggle at memories of “chatting” with my husband on a blue DOS screen where we made our own version of an emoji face with the shift key and punctuation <grin>. It is absolutely incredible to think of the giant strides in technology that have occurred in the last seventeen years.
Today, a young entrepreneur can literally use the power of a smart phone to run a variety of convenient small businesses. And most likely, any business they choose will leverage the power of social media to do work for them at all hours of the day or night. There is also a strong possibly that his or her business will occur in multiple countries across the globe and in multiple languages. In today’s world, all this could happen from the palm of your hand, with you still in your PJs, sitting comfortably on the couch. The power of technology today is literally mind blowing. And it’s providing much needed empowerment to the milpreneurs who deserve it!
Ten “Secret Weapons” in Business
I have always been an entrepreneur at heart.
In fact, some of my earliest business memories as an elementary student are of putting together “junk stores” on my front steps. There, I would sell all the prizes that I had earned at the school store for good behavior and top grades. I would bring home my weekly collection of pencils, scented erasers, and stickers (back when those were a “thing”), and display them on the front porch with a homemade “open” sign. I had the advantage of being one of the oldest kids in the neighborhood, and thankfully my little sister and her friends looked up to me, so my junk store had immediate legitimacy.
Like any smart businesswoman, I tested my prices out on the local market. I played with how much the kids in the surrounding houses would pay to bring home my wares. One would think they wouldn’t have much value, given that anyone could earn the prizes themselves for free. But what I found was astonishing! I hit the jackpot with my elementary school customers; they wanted to buy it all! Not only was it fun to have eager customers, but they also taught me my first lessons in presentation and viral word-of-mouth marketing. If I made sure my goods were arranged in an appealing and organized manner and I took good care of the “well-connected” kids on the block, they organically spread the word and business stayed steady.
Given my exciting success, I experimented with adding other random “junk” items to my list of offerings; like Halloween candy I didn’t like and rocks. Yes…rocks! Straight from the back yard to my store. Apparently, that was the point where my greed had gotten the better of my business plan. Before I knew it, the mother of the children who lived next door leaned out her door with her finger up pointing at me, yelling, “My kids will not be buying anymore of your overpriced JUNK!”
That ended the junk selling, but it certainly did not stop my love for entrepreneurism. Whether I played piano for tips at Christmas, sold tickets to family to watch backyard plays I produced with my cousins, or sewed the simplest purses for sale, I was always dreaming up something! I don’t remember my parents particularly encouraging my ideas, but they certainly didn’t quash them either.
As I grew up and began life as an adult, my business ideas shifted to focus on what I could do to help the military world around me. First, there was my big idea to open a coffee hut called the “Daily Grind.” Then, there was my idea to create a series of binders for military families who needed to keep track of different categories of documents. There was also my attempt at securing military base aerobics contracts. And I even toyed with how to create a work-from-home business