By Kayleigh Alexandra
Living as a military spouse brings its own set of challenges. Finding the perfect job to fit around your chaotic lifestyle can be tricky. With lots of PCS moves, holding down a typical 9 to 5 job is near impossible, and frequently changing jobs can add even more stress to the equation. Many spouses want to bring more to the table and contribute financially to their families, especially while their partners are on duty. If this resonates with you, then we have the answer. There is a great way for military spouses to hold down a job while jumping around from place to place.
Working online means you can work for yourself without having to change company and spend lots of time looking for another job after moving. Build a career that fits around your schedule and learn how to manage and scale your online business as it grows. Here is how to start your own digital business to work around your lifestyle.
1. Work Remotely
All you need is good ‘ol Wi-Fi connection, a laptop and a lot of entrepreneurial motivation to get your company up and running. The great part is that you can work flexible hours around your hectic lifestyle. In the real world, frequent moves means having to navigate new job opportunities, adding further stress to an already stressful situation.
With your own job, you relieve the pressure of having to find another job, and you will have the flexibility to work when and where you can. If you need more convincing about the benefits to working from home, take a look at these 4 facts about working from home as a military spouse.
2. Sell Online
Selling online is a convenient way for military spouses to work from home and build their own online empire. Working online offers flexibility, so you can always find the time to work around other burning commitments. Though some of us are blessed with a tech-savvy skill set, many of us aren’t. For those of us that aren’t so fortunate, consider building your online store using an ecommerce platform to get your online career started. This will save big bucks on web design at the outset.
Obviously, handling stock and fulfilling orders isn’t ideal for a military spouse, because stock needs to be kept somewhere. Drop shipping eliminates the need for you to keep stock and distributes orders for you. Drop shipping can be sourced from anywhere and you don’t need to package and post products yourself, making it the perfect companion to online selling.
Online selling is low investment and therefore low risk. It costs very little to get an online store up and running. If your new business venture doesn’t work out for whatever reason, you will not lose vast sums of money – especially if you use a drop shipping supplier. Running an ecommerce store is low-risk and has the potential to be high gain.
3. Write a Blog
Create a blog alongside your online store to get more interest and boost sales.
- Offer value to users with how-to guides, informative articles and visual content that complements your brand
- Blogging can yield another way to make money online by hosting advertisements, product reviews, sponsored posts and more. Find out other ways to make money through your own blog
- Offer your writing services and expertise to other websites, and in doing so, promote your own business. The beauty of working for yourself means you can take on as many side-hustles as you can handle
4. Fulfill a Niche
What do Apple and GoPro have in common? They produce quality products that are easy to use and which customers love. Their products are so popular that they pretty much sell themselves. Success the online world is all about finding your niche. Brainstorm the different niches that appeal to you, and think about how you can fulfill their needs. Then build a business strategy and make it happen.
5. Manage and Scale
How can you manage and scale your online business? Once your online business is up and running, the next step is to grow. You can only do this if you bring value to your customers and to the market. So how to go about that?
- Nail your start-up business strategy. The first task of scaling your online business is coming up with a solid start-up business strategy. Outline your goals, brand, finances, niche, target audience and create an action plan
- Think big – once your initial start-up business plan has been carried out, then think about how you can double your income and take the necessary steps to scale your business
- Work on the parts of the business that need your attention and don’t spread yourself too thin
- Build a public profile for yourself and your brand to grow. This is important for networking and building relationships. Make sure people can find a public profile of you and your business to expand your company
- Make it easy for your customers to buy your product or service
- Market effectively – use social media, promote your store through blogs and captivate the heart of your audience to increase sales
With the chaotic lifestyle that’s attached to the military way of life, the perfect job needs to be flexible, workable, and of course, fun. Working online means that you can build a career that moves in tandem with you, wherever you are next stationed. Military spouses are the original digital nomads and every spouse can leverage the digital world to create their perfect career.
Have you found a job to suit your military lifestyle? Tell us about your experiences.
Content Marketer & Startup Specialist Kayleigh Alexandra is passionate about writing for the startup and entrepreneurial audience, I have recently been part of setting up an exciting project at MicroStartups.org. We donate all our website profits to charities that help people reach their full potential. Find out more on Twitter.
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