Supporting the Work-At-Home Spouse

I am finally doing something I love, doing it from home, and am doing it with very little help from anyone else.

However, this was not always the case.  There was a time when I was in Direct Sales for a popular skin care provider, and I was failing miserably.  Part of my failure was my fault.  I am not a natural sales person.  I am so far right on the "desire to please others" spectrum that I often found myself being talked out of my own product (which I might add is STILL my favorite skin care product today.)  I am also deathly afraid of giving the impression of hassling anyone, especially friends and family, who are most often the very ones you must rely on to get ANY business up and running. 

So, in many ways, I shot myself in my own foot.

But... In many ways, I did everything I knew to do.  I was passionate about the product.  I was eager to get the word out.  I cold called complete strangers.  I attended business expos.  I put up fliers around my community (and got in trouble for it... hmph.)  I gave away free product.  And... as a Mil Spouse, I expected other Mil Spouses to at least attempt to help get the word out, if not at the very least place a one time order.

I know... Who am I to expect such a thing?

Well...  Let me tell you who I am to expect such a thing.

I am a Military Spouse.  I attend (well, I try to) as many of my Mil Spouse friend's parties as I can.  Whether it is MaryKay, Pampered Chef, BeautiControl, PartiLite, Scentsy, Melaluca, ThirtyOne, Premier Design, or any of the different variety of Direct Sales companies represented among my friends, I try to be as supportive as I can.  If I cannot afford to place an order, I make sure I pass on the information to someone else, who might.

I know how hard it is to make ends meet on a single income family. 

I know how hard it is to make friends among strange women every time you PCS.

I know how these parties not just offer a TINY boost to one's income, but they more importantly offer the woman a chance to meet new people, to make connections, to find other ways to get involved.

I am also a stay-at-home mom.  This means, in addition to working my butt off to help bring in some income, I also run the house.  The chores that I used to do in the evening, when I got home from my eight hour job, I now expect myself to do before my hubby gets home from his eight hour job.  I expect the laundry to be done, the dishes to be washed, the floors to be clear of clutter if not vacuumed and mopped, the animals to be taken care of, the errands to have been run---all before picking the Kiddo up from school and before DH comes home ready to relax. 

I know working from home, whether in Direct Sales or in a home business started from scratch, is no piece of cake.  No matter what the happy images imply all over the internet vying for you to join their team- working from home is hard as heck!  Time management takes on whole new dimensions.  (Yes, I said dimensions... managing time while working from home and being a Wife and a Mommy means working in three almost separate worlds at times.)

So, no, I do not think my expectations from other Mil Spouses were out of order.  As part of the Military Community, we are expected to help each other, to boost each other, to build each other up.  While many may disagree with me, which I find selfish and sad, I do everything in my power to make sure my friends know I support them, even if I can not do that financially.

 

One way I do that is by sharing their business links (if they have one) here on my blog.  If you look on the left side, you will see home businesses, not linked to Direct Sales, of friend's of mine.  These women are even more in need of referrals and business than those in Direct Sales, because they are not just handed the tools in a prepackaged kit from a company, need our support. 

These home-run businesses feature incredible women with incredible talent.  These women have discovered a talent, have honed it to a skill, and have turned that skill into a home-business from the ground up.  They have to market themselves.  They have to build their own clientele.  They have to put out their own word to get their first clients to take a chance on a product no one else has.  Plus, they have to compete with mass produced products that might be made cheaper (and less quality, I might add.)  And most of us, pass them over because we know we could find a similar product, though machine made, with minimal human touch, at a local discount store, never giving thought to supporting some distant multi-million dollar conglomerate instead of supporting someone right here in front of us, who truly needs a little support.

While I will keep adding more and more to that list as I am made aware of their links, I know YOU know women like this: strong, motivated women who choose to remain home for whatever reason, and who offer a product or a service that reflects their beauty and talent. 

I challenge you to refer them out, or give them a chance to provide you with a product or service you can't find at Wal-Mart or the Mall. 

I challenge you to support our work-at-home Spouses!