Three small businesses; one recurring desire that drives these entrepreneurs to kickstart their dreams and grind to succeed: the ability to prioritize being the default parent whilst juggling the constraints of military demands.
Whether starting a business or working for an existing company, Home Based Businesses create the opportunity for military families to work through PCS moves.

HBB owners have to obtain approval from the garrison commander or senior commander, but the U.S. Army Family and Morale Welfare and Recreation has streamlined the application process so military families can reap the benefits. Some of the businesses that must be approved include: car repairs/services; hairdressing and hairstyling; home baking and meal preparation; pet grooming and pet sitting; massage therapy; and retail sales from home.
Not all businesses fall under the HBB umbrella. In addition to remote working opportunities, some businesses that may not need HBB approval include: bookkeeping and tax preparation services; personal training conducted outside the home; photography, graphic design, and advertising services; tutoring and music instruction; entertainment or travel planning; housecleaning and lawn care; and selling items from multi-level marketing companies.
Below are three milspouses who have found success in entrepreneurship:

BRITTNIE CONLEY, FOUNDER OF EM & EV. CO
Aptly named after her Brittnie Conley’s two daughters: Emma, 3, and Everleigh, 2; Em & Ev Co. is a home-based business offering custom sublimation goods such as children’s tops, pop sockets, adult shirts and cups.

“It’s unique because I custom design kids’ names, birthdays — things like that,” Conley said. “You just can't buy those things from Target, Walmart, or any store.”

Conley tailors each design according to the needs of her customers. The primary means of interaction between her and her clients are via a private Facebook group where she does seasonal launches. There, she works closely with each customer to bring their ideas to wear. Each pattern is created on a design program, printed with a sublimation printer and then the creation is transferred via heat press. Currently, the customer base is exclusive to the Facebook group, so she can prioritize caring for her daughters at home and also juggle completing her bachelor’s degree

online.
“Being home with the girls is very important to me, so starting a little side business seemed to be a good fit,” Conley said.
The Conley family have been stationed at Fort Bragg for six of the nine years she and her husband have been married. But it wasn’t until the end of September 2021 her business took off and it all started with wanting to make custom design shirts for her own children.
“Instead of buying all these shirts for my kids, I can now make them,” she said. “One of my friends mentioned I should start a little side business and then one thing turned into another.”
Initially, she only made children’s shirts. She then went on to design adult shirts. In less than a year, with positive and encouraging feedback from her friends, family, and growing customer base, she has gained confidence in not only her skills but also exploring more mediums to put her designs on.

“I'm a very shy person, so I was always worried I was going to mess up and I’m very nervous about things,” she said. “Cups took me a long time to get those to be as good as I can get them so far.”
Utilizing the power of social media, Conley also promotes her designs on several Facebook buy and sell groups. She is looking to slowly expand her repertoire and increase the reach of her business by creating an Etsy account some day and perhaps doing a vendor show in the future.
AINSLEY HEIMALL, MONAT MARKET PARTNER
As a military spouse and mother of a 2-year-old daughter, Ainsley Heimall wears many hats. Heimall has a growing direct sales business with Monat with customers around the world. Additionally, she not only works remotely as an architect with a Kansas architectural firm since 2018 where she and her husband used to be stationed, but is also a burgeoning social media influencer helping her audience plan and optimize their grocery habits.
A Vermont native, Heimall and her family moved to Fort Bragg in 2020. In May of that year, she was experiencing a plethora of hair issues, such a chronic hair loss, mainly caused by rapidly changing postpartum hormones four months after birthing her daughter. She decided to give Monat products a go in hopes to alleviate some of the hair insecurities she was experiencing.
“I had no hair and I was balding all over the place, which is very common (postpartum),” Heimall said. 

Seven months later, in December of 2020 she had grown to enjoy the products and found she was running low and needed more. It was then she decided she would sell the products with the company since they were offering an attractive incentive to join.

“I was like, I love free products,” Heimall said. “I originally did it just so I could get the free products and then you get a bigger discount on the products.”
After becoming a market partner, she piqued interest with one of her friends. Her Monat mentor encouraged her to sign her interested friend up.

“And then I did and it just spiraled out from there,” Heimall said. “When I first started ... I was not actually sure if anybody was going to buy shampoo from me.”

But she put in the work and decided to share her hair-care journey with the world on her social media platform and to her surprise, she received responses not just from people who were interested in the products she was using, but also from those who simply wanted to commiserate in the same hair struggles.
“That made me feel — first of all, seen — because I thought it was just my hair,” Heimall said. “I realized that there were a lot of people who were like me, in that (hair) sense, and that propelled my confidence and my excitement for it.”
Today, she has more than 100 customers who she meets on social media from all over the world and purchases Monat products through her.
“My customer base definitely went from my best friends and family — who love me and will buy anything from me — to people in Australia who are like, ‘Hey, your hair is really shiny. What do you do and use to get your hair so shiny?’ — and I tell them, and we create a connection that way,” she said.
As most military families have it, relocation is on the horizon for Heimalls. They will be moving to Kentucky in 2023 and she will be able to keep her passions after the upcoming move.
“The thing that I love about (being a Monat marketing partner) is that it travels with you,” she said. “You literally just use your phone ... being able to move and have your job come with you is really convenient and I think that’s why the direct sales jobs are so effective for most military spouses.”
Heimall juggles all her gigs by practicing time blocking to ensure there are healthy boundaries between all her responsibilities and personal demands with her family.
“I've gotten pretty good at setting time frames,” she said. “There’s certain times of the day where I put my phone away because it’s family time or it’s workout time. It’s definitely something people will have to get used to, especially if they’re already addicted to their phones.”
GRIFFIN CARRICK, ARTIST AT GRIFFIN CARRICK DESIGN 
Griffin Carrick and her namesake design business has been around since 2017. As an artist, Carrick’s medium is paper — specifically paper quilling, which is the intricate folding and rolling of paper she learned as a child. With that technique, she experiments and invents creations ranging from small earrings and collages to large wall tapestries.

Before returning to paper quilling in 2016, she studied architecture in her undergraduate degree, followed by studying and working in the interior design field. She also took on decor projects online and taught online.
“And then once I had kids and military life kicked up, I turned to paper quilling as a creative outlet,” she said. “I quilled back in third grade, which was just rolling paper. So when I started (again), I thought maybe I can make a more mature version of what I made in third grade ... That’s when I transitioned away from the design work to make art.”
Initially, paper quilling was just a hobby for Carrick, something she made time to do everyday. She opened her Etsy shop in 2017. Then in 2019, she became a finalist in the Etsy Design Awards.

“That helped pick things up because as an artist it takes a while to build interest,” Carrick said. “I think of it as home decor, but art for your wall. It combines my interior design background with my artwork.”
Being an artist allows Carrick to weave her passions into other more
pressing needs in her life, such as being there for her family while her active-duty husband was gone a lot. Her husband recently retired after 22 years of service and they have been stationed at Fort Bragg for 12 years. She looks at her time as a military spouse as a “runway” for when they transition to civilian life. She is trying and experimenting as much as she can while she has the opportunity.
“In this time that my husband was in the military and I have to be more at home to be with the kids to do everything, this is my time to build up my skills as an artist,” Carrick said. “Now that my husband is sort of retired, I have a little more freedom to get my art out there more.”

As an artist, Carrick said it takes a while for people to understand her art, the medium of choice, and how architecturally strong her structures are. She uses Instagram a lot to enlighten her followers about her artform.
“It is not fragile — I have three kids and they touch it,” she said. “It’s a lot of educating people on what I do.”
Currently, she is experimenting with denim quilling. In the future, she would love to have exhibitions to push her work as an artist. She also hopes to expand her reach to collaborate with interior designers and architects to put her work in public spaces such as hotels, offices, lobbies, or homes.
“That would be a great repeat business,” she said.