NMSN Blog

Welcome, Rachel!

Sue Hoppin — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:04:00 +0000

We're thrilled to welcome Rachel Rodgers to our Panel of Experts as our Legal Expert. When you talk to Rachel, the first time that comes across is her passion to serve. It's not difficult to see how excited she is about the opportunity to support military spouses, "I am so excited to have the opportunity to serve military families through the National Military Spouse Network! I have clients who are business owners and members of the military that have been deployed while starting a new business. I've also had the pleasure of working with multiple military spouses who are lawyers to help them set up an online-based law practice that fits their mobile lifestyle. The sacrifices made by servicemen and women and their families are immense so I look forward to giving back to them and expressing my gratitude for their service by sharing my expertise and supporting them in whatever ways I can."

You'll find Rachel's first article in our January newsletter. I hope you will all join us in welcoming her into the fold. If you make it out to our summit later this year, you'll have a chance to meet her in person!

More about Rachel from her bio:

Rachel Rodgers is a business lawyer for women entrepreneurs. Her unique practice, Rachel Rodgers Law Office, is run entirely online making her services accessible and convenient for busy business owners. Her secure online law office was one of the first of its kind and has filled a void among women entrepreneurs in need of savvy legal counsel without breaking the bank or compromising excellent customer service.

Prior to forming her law practice, Rachel served as Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable James A. Farber in New Jersey Superior Court. Before law school, Rachel worked for non-profits in New York, at a premier lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. and on Capitol Hill in the Senate office of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

When Rachel is not practicing law, she is teaching other women lawyers how to create their own innovative law practices through her company, Her Virtual Law Office. Rachel writes about going solo on popular legal websites and also writes a blog about managing modern law practices. Rachel and her practice have been featured in Forbes, MSNBC, Time Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, The Washington Post, The ABA Journal and various other publications.

Rachel understands that the safe and comfortable life her family enjoys is due to the sacrifices made by members of the military and their families. That is why Rachel is passionate about serving military families. Many of the lawyers she works with are military spouses who are unable to practice law traditionally. She looks forward to continuing to share her expertise on business law and virtual law offices with military spouses.

When she's not taking care of clients, you can find Rachel in the kitchen baking, running after her 1 year old daughter, hanging out with her hubby and traveling to France, her favorite place on earth.

Living a Purposeful Life

by Sue Hoppin — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:36:00 +0000

It's an age old question - in a world that defines success by the amount of money we have or the things we own, how do we as military spouses "succeed" professionally within our transient military lifestyle?

So often, we define our "professional" success by measuring how well we're doing on the career paths that we choose to pursue or would like to pursue given the opportunity to live in one place for any length of time. It's easy to look around at our peers who aren't married to service members and envy their ability to climb that corporate ladder or chase after their goals in an unfettered manner. Laying our resumes side by side, we might feel like we always come up short in the professional arena by comparison.

Most of the military spouses I know and certainly those I've been privileged to meet through the NMSN are hard charging and ambitious, so it's easy to get frustrated about the needs of the military when you just wish those deployments and moves weren't such a factor in your career path. In hindsight from my own experiences and from talking with countless military spouses who have very successful careers, there's a commonality that runs through their stories - rather than thinking of their career as a sprint to the finish line, they viewed it as a marathon. As military spouses, it's very few among our ranks who are going to be taking a direct route to the top, but stretched out in the continuum of a twenty/thirty year career, the disruptions are manageable if you're able to keep a few things in mind.

Education is never wasted. Sometimes when our situations can preclude us from working, we may look at the degrees hanging on the walls and think, what a waste; or lament at the credits standing between us and finishing our degrees because of the multiple moves. This is when it's important to remember that education is never wasted. You may not be using your degree(s) or knowledge in the way that you imagined you would, but your education helped shape the individual you are. Remember that education doesn't always mean the pursuit of a four year degree, nor does it end once you've achieved whatever degree or certification you were working toward. Take advantage of the free classes offered at the installation support centers to enhance your resumes or to stay up to date on new technology or skills. If you've developed an interest in something that you can't find on base, check out your local community colleges or adult education classes. If you're homebound taking care of young children, plug into webinars or online learning. However you do it, continue to feed your curiosity.
Don't be afraid to try new things. I often envy my husband who has known he has wanted to fly since the age of 3. That clarity and sense of purpose helped guide the choices he made to become a pilot in the Air Force and continues to guide him as he nears retirement and looks forward to his next career. Not all of us are fortunate enough to be able to find our niche in life early on. More often than not, we find ourselves stumbling through life trying to figure out what we're passionate about. Here's the thing - that's okay. It's more than okay. Try lots of different things. You don't have to be good at everything. What's important is that you remain open to new experiences and explore different career opportunities through strategic volunteering opportunities, freelance gigs or whatever mechanisms work for your lifestyle.
Find that balance between working passion and fulfilling your financial obligations. Being a responsible adult sometimes necessitates that we chase a paycheck and work at jobs that don't feed our passion. That doesn't mean you can't incorporate your passions into your life by pursuing volunteer opportunities to round out your professional experience. Not only will it allow you to feed your soul by doing something you care about, you'll find that balance between doing what you need to do to support your family and what you'd like to do - until you get to that day when the two become one and the same.

Don't gauge your success by how much money you've accumulated or haven't accumulated; the titles you have or haven't achieved or the size of the corner office you do or don't have. Consider instead that success can also be defined as a life well lived and that for military spouses that might mean crafting a portable career that allows you to balance your own goals and ambitions with your military lifestyle.

November Military Spouse Employment Summit

Sue Hoppin — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:55:00 +0000

When I first started the National Military Spouse Network over a year ago, we started asking military spouses about their employment experiences and they began sharing their stories, frustrations and suggestions. What we've learned over the past year is that:

with advances in technology, more military spouses are telecommuting
there seems to be an uptick in milspouse freelancers, small business owners and consultants
there still exists a lot frustration around breaking into the civil service and questions about the Federal Spouse Internship pilot of 2010
while there has been movement on the military spouse licensure/certification issue, we still have a ways to go

That's why we're so thrilled to be launching our first ever NMSN Military Spouse Employment Summit in November. Based on the feedback that you've given us, we've put together three fantastic sessions and an afternoon panel to address your concerns in developing a portable career. Head on over to the event page to read more about these sessions.

To kick things off, we'll be hosting one of our signature networking events on Thursday night. Military spouse friendly employers will be joining us for an employer panel to share their insights about what employers are looking for as well as tips on standing out from the crowd. These networking events are always a great way to visit with old friends and make some new friends and contacts in a relaxed environment, so what better way to ease into the summit?

Registration is now open - grab a friend or two and take this time to invest in your personal and professional development. Hope to see you there!

Town Hall Discussion

Sue Hoppin — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:29:00 +0000

Earlier this week, I joined about 70 other military spouses and servicemembers at a town hall with Mrs. Holly Petraeus and Elizabeth Warren, the Treasury Secretary's special advisor for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They met with us to discuss the new Office of Service Member Affairs that Mrs. Petraeus is leading. While everyone else was there to provide feedback on predatory lending and fiscal responsibility, I attended with a very specific agenda in mind: to share the financial impact on military spouses whose careers require new certifications or licenses with every move. This was a sentiment that was echoed by a number of spouses in the room, so I think they heard the message loud and clear. While time was limited for those of us who stood up to make remarks, I left them with two things: 1. Military spouses repeatedly articulated their frustration with multiple moves and their financial impact with regard to careers such as: nursing, counseling, teaching, etc.... Even if a spouse does everything right, by the time they've finished re-certifying, fulfilling all the requirements for their new state, gets our there and networks for a new job, they could be halfway through with their assignment before they finally get a job (if at all). Imagine the frustration when they have to PCS a year or so later, just to have to start the process all over again. We encouraged them to work with the DoD State Liaison office to push folks to: "offer alternative certification and credentialing options and streamlined licensing procedures to support the unique needs of working military spouses and separating service members." Though the initiative has been around for years, it's never really taken off. We're hoping that they might be able to interject some new interest. To read more about the issue, read more below: http://www.usa4militaryfamilies.dod.mil/portal/page/mhf/USA4/USA4_HOME_1?current_id=22.60.30.0.0.0.0.0.0&content_id=242296 2. Even more frustrating, sometimes, we'll do everything right and finally finish our degree program to find ourselves stymied by the internship/experience requirements. It is incredibly challenging for counselors to fulfill requirements when they lack the networks or the time in place to find the opportunities. We asked that they work to ease the path for military spouses who want to intern within the federal government. Professor Warren was feverishly taking notes and at the end of my comments, her staff came by to collect your remarks and inputs that I had assembled for them, so I think they heard us. Thank you for taking the time to share your stories. We'll continue to keep you updated and let you know if we hear back.

Force Multipliers

Sue Hoppin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 12:39:00 +0000

I had an interesting dilemma awhile back - an extreme case of writer's block was standing in the way of getting paid work. Even though my personal consulting website has been up and running since the end of January, the consulting page sat empty. Even if companies or organizations wanted to hire me, they had no idea of knowing what I could do for them. Talk about a disconnect! I have no problem writing articles on the military lifestyle and even wrote a book on the topic, but when it comes to writing about myself and my capabilities, I kept drawing a blank. I don't know how many times I sat in front of that blank computer screen trying to string together enough words to illustrate my abilities. No such luck. It wasn't until five months had passed that I realized I had long passed the ridiculous phase. It was time to find some help. One of the greatest lesson of going out on my own has been the knowledge that for those tasks that are outside of my area of expertise or comfort level, I can reach out and hire contractors. I mean, it makes sense. I'm working with a very talented Air Force veteran to maintain this site, why wouldn't I look for help with other tasks? So, I went back to elance.com where I found my database help and posted a proposal looking for a copywriter. I found a fellow military spouse who has a background in copywriting and PR. We worked together to flesh out my capabilities and I had that page up in no time. Now, the site is finally fully functioning as a business site. Not only was it money well spent on some great content, I was helping another military spouse with her business. Total win/win situation. Lesson learned - don't be afraid to ask for help. Bringing on contractors to perform tasks is actually a lot more reasonble than you'd expect. If anyone is looking for a great copywriter, I used Tiffany Silverberg, a navy spouse. You can find her profile on elance.com. If you want to check out her work, look at my consulting page on www.suehoppin.com.

It Takes a Village

Sue Hoppin — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:16:00 +0000

We all know about the value of spouse groups for family support, so why is it that we don't extend this same mentality to our job search? I think one of the most demoralizing and isolating exercises anyone can ever go through is that new job search or any kind of career transition. What's helped me get through is a small group of friends who are always there to offer their support. In addition to ad hoc phone calls and informal coffee meet ups with different folks, three of us actually have a monthly phone call where we share our successes, frustrations and any issues we may be facing. As military spouses, we should really know better than to try to tackle the job search on our own. We don't even think about moving without reaching out to a sponsor or a more experienced spouse. Why would we think that our careers are any different? Personally, I know enough to know that I don't know near enough! I love that I can tap into the knowledge base of my two friends and contribute my own knowledge to help them work out their issues. Our calls started as a way to share what we were all doing, but as our businesses started to grow, they have organically grown to a venue for us to connect one another to additional opportunities and contacts. Being in business for yourself can be incredibly isolating at times, so it's great to know that I have that support system out there. Try it out for yourself. My friends are actually not even located in the same area and one isn't even a military spouse, but that's the great thing about technology - your mastermind group doesn't have to be local. Put together a small group of trusted friends with a common goal and get that support system in place.

Hey There....

Sue Hoppin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:31:00 +0000

I'm so happy you've found your way to our website. I founded the National Military Spouse Network as a professional development and networking organization to support military spouses. Those of you who know me know that I've been working military spouse issues for quite awhile. One of the most remarkable things I found through the years is how many military spouses were out there living the dream. Not only were they supporting their service member, single parenting through deployments and maintaining the homefront, they had these amazing careers going on....in the most interesting industries. Now, I had met lots of spouses pursuing "portable careers", but where did these spouses come from who were government consultants, congressional staffers, highly placed DoD officials, corporate execs?!? I was meeting the most fascinating military spouses who had networked themselves into some fabulous jobs. And they really were balancing it all. They had cracked the code on how to balance their careers with the military lifestyle. Needless to say, I was in awe. I consider myself a relatively intelligent person, but I'd always put my own ambitions on the back burner, subconsciously "waiting" for my turn. Looking back, I'm wondering what I was waiting for! Did I really think I was going to be more marketable in my 40's than I would be in my 20's? So, big lesson learned - don't wait! Even if we can't progress in our careers as quickly as we'd like due to multiple moves and demands on our time, there are little steps we can take along the way so that when we're ready to go full steam ahead, we've got the skills and the networks in place to get us where we need to be. So back to these phenomenal spouses I was meeting with these crazy careers....every single one of them was so eager to share their stories. When I sat down and started speaking to them, I was stunned by their candor. They shared it all: the good, the bad and the ugly. They didn't hold back on the lessons they learned, things they wished someone had shared with them and the advice they would give to military spouses making the same journey. So, in addition to sharing some resources and great content with you, the NMSN will continue to look for ways to highlight all the great things military spouses are doing in the career arena - because sometimes it's easier to dream big and achieve great things when you know that someone's already blazed that trail and left behind a map for you.

Welcome!

Sue Hoppin — Wed, 05 May 2010 10:18:00 +0000

Welcome to the Milspouse Notes Blog!