A blog from Army&You’s autumn 2021 edition by Emily, @sociallystyledbyemily
Army life has meant that I, like so many others, spend months on my own every year whilst my husband is out of the country.
I thought I had it all sussed – I had managed to find myself a part-time job at a local boarding school. I could make the school drop-off and pick-up and had all the school holidays off plus some! It was perfect, I could get back into work whilst not having to rely on my husband or friends to help with childcare.
This job gave me a purpose other than being ‘mummy’ and I loved my routine of finishing work, going for a run and then collecting the children. Mentally, I hadn’t been in such a good place for years. But in March last year, within days of the lockdown being announced, my contract had been terminated and I never returned to work after the Easter holidays. I was devastated. I pleaded with HR to just furlough me, but they needed to save as much money as possible. And that is when my business was born. With a love of social media and a newfound passion for design, I decided now was the time to work towards my dreams, not someone else’s. I did the usual thing of Googling everything, consuming as much information as possible, attending virtual networking events and doing free courses but I wasn’t signing clients or making any money. I was going round in circles.
Then I truly lucked out by winning a ‘power hour’ with a fellow military spouse, Suzy from Mothers of Enterprise. That hour changed my life. I went on to have weekly business coaching and within six months I had gone from earning nothing and having no clients to hitting my first income target and being booked out!
For the first time since Adam and I got married in 2014 I was fully financially independent and paying my way with the household bills. I’m so fortunate to say that 90 per cent of my clients are fellow military spouse business owners. I’m honoured that they come to me for support with their social media and love being part of a network of such talented individuals!
Emily wins a £35 voucher to spend at Gillian Jones Designs — gillianjonesdesigns.com — for our best blog. Artist Gillian, a former Royal Navy officer and military spouse, specialises in vibrant and contemporary military art and design. If you can’t quite find what you’re looking for, she’s also happy to create bespoke commissions. Follow @gillianjonesdesigns on Instagram and Facebook, and @GillAJones on Twitter.