7 Steps to a PCS-Proof Business
by AmeriForce Media - September 21st, 2021
This article was originally published in Military Families Magazine. Read the original article on MilitaryFamilies.com. Follow Military Families on Instagram.
As military spouses, we often end up putting our career and dreams on hold. With deployments, frequent moves, and growing families, it can be difficult to keep great jobs or pursue careers that won’t move with us. What if we could be PCS-proof? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a business that moves when you do regardless of when those orders arrive? It’s time to stop dreaming about working from anywhere and actually do it! In this post, milspouse Kayla Roof goes over seven tips for developing a work from anywhere, PCS-proof business and lifestyle.
1. Developing your big idea:
When you’re thinking about a business to start, make sure your idea is not something that’s going to hold to you a certain location. Any ideas with a brick and mortar storefront need to be crossed off your list. Think about businesses that can have online storefronts, products sold online, digital products, coaching via telephone, eGuides, eBooks, and eCourses.
2. Know your why:
Why do you want to start a business? Is it to produce extra cash for your family? Send your children to private school? Buy a house? Give more? Whatever your why is, know it well, write it down and remember it. Let this fuel your motivation to keep on moving forward on your PCS proof business.
3. Find your passion….or something you really like talking about:
When you wake up in the morning, does your idea make you excited to start your day? If you’re trying to build a business out of something you’ve been doing for years but it doesn’t make you happy, keep brainstorming! Content creation is going to play a big part in building your business online. Make sure you enjoy talking about your idea. It’s important that you’re really fired up about your business because that’s what’s going to keep you going.
4. Know your strengths:
Make a list of everything you’re good at, everything you enjoy, and the things people ask you about. For example, your background may be in accounting. You’re awesome at it, but you’re also really good at training dogs and on the weekends you enjoy taking photos. In addition, your friends are always asking you about making baby food because you’ve mastered the art of delicious purees. Out of those strengths, you could be a freelance accountant, or you could write a “How To Train Your Dog” ebook. You could also start a photography business with a specific niche. Or, you can make an eCourse online on “How To Make Your Own Baby Food.” See, there are so many options for turning the things you enjoy into businesses.
5. Who do you want to serve?
Do you want to work with children, busy moms, military spouses, business owners, or working parents? Think about the people you want to sell your products to, publish your blog posts for, and keep them in mind as you build your business idea. You can have a much larger impact than you could ever imagine if you think about the people you want to help.
6. Tools:
What kind of tools are you going to need for your work from anywhere, PCS-proof lifestyle? A laptop, website, online storefront, blog, video camera for vlogging (video blogging), and wifi? Make a list of everything you’ll need to get started. If you want to build a blog, all you need is a computer and wifi. Don’t let the idea of building a website slow you down; the technical aspects can be learned quickly.
7. Decide how much you want to work:
Be realistic about the lifestyle you want to create. If you have young children at home you may only be able to work during nap time or after bedtime. You may have to think about adding childcare if your idea is something that requires more of your time. Or, you may need to reorganize your schedule to prioritize the things you say “yes” to, in order to make more time for your new business.
Lastly, if you’re really stuck on which idea you want to run with, think about this: What would you do if you could DO ANYTHING and there was nothing holding you back, no fear of anything, what would it be?
Need help figuring out the right business idea? Download The Ultimate List of PCS Proof Business Ideas.
I hope these seven tips for creating a PCS proof business are helpful in your entrepreneurial journey. Share with me some of your ideas in the comments below.
AmeriForce Media is a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business founded in 1999. The company utilizes talent from the military community to produce print and digital offerings that inform, entertain, and support today’s warfighters and their families.
Its flagship products, Military Families Magazine and Reserve & National Guard Magazine, are delivered direct to active-duty and reserve component units across the globe. In 2020, AFM partnered with the Military Influencer Conference to create a new publication called the Military Influencer Magazine.
