Meg Flanagan

Founder & Advocate

Service Member's Branch - Marine Corps

Service Member's Status - Currently Serving - 17 years

What has been your military spouse career/entrepreneur journey so far?

2010- opened a tutoring business at Camp Pendleton
2012- resumed teaching in the classroom
2015- started a blog and began freelancing as an educational expert and seasoned military spouse
2016- moved OCONUS, continued freelancing and providing educational expertise
2017- officially opened my advocacy business
2019-rebranded as Meg Flanagan Education Solutions
2020- became an LLC

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Meg and I'm a passionate advocate for military children's equitable access to education! I'm originally from Massachusetts, but currently live near DC. My two kids keep me on my toes! I also enjoy reading, running, and exploring wherever we are currently located.

Tell us about a "typical" day in your professional life.

I spend my days supporting families who need help with IEPs and 504 Plans. Each family is unique: different locations, different places in their journey, and with different pain points. However, what everyone is looking for the most is understanding, compassion and a plan of action.

To support families, I:

read education laws at the federal and state levels
use vetted educational sources to better understand available assessments, best teaching practices, and negotiation strategies
listen to families explain their concerns
analyze educational data and assessments
provide detailed reports that better explain what the data means for their child
explain possible options at school to support their child's education
attend meetings with parents - speak up for the child at meetings
manage communication with the school and teachers

If you've been stationed overseas, how did this affect your career and or business?

I started my advocacy business overseas! At first, it was challenging due to the time zone difference from CONUS. However, my clients liked that I could attend early morning (their time) meetings after using my day to complete document analysis and research on their behalf. While I served several CONUS clients while OCONUS, I had local clients as well. Starting OCONUS gave me a little bit of breathing room to work out some of the kinks: social media, brand designs, ideal client, and building up my presence and gravitas.

What has been your biggest military spouse career struggle and how did you overcome it?

I think finding my niche has been challenging. I prove a highly specific and unusual service - educational advocacy and consulting for students with disabilities. Many families need this support, but many don't know people like me exist or even that bringing an advocate into their child's support team is possible. Simply educating the military community about what I do and how I can support them has been an exciting challenge!

What role did mentors and sponsors play in your journey?

N/A

How does your career path differ from what you imagined for yourself?

When I was in college, I envisioned a 20-30 year career in the classroom, remaining in my home state. My lofty vision extended to possibly becoming a principal or district level administrator. Instead, I've taught in three states and two countries. I've opened and operated two successful businesses dedicated to serving military families. My professional life and career trajectory are so very different from what I had envisioned, but is also so much richer and very fulfilling in ways I could not have imagined.

How did military life (PCSing, deployments, trainings, etc) factor into your career decisions?

Moving as a teacher requires a new license in each state. Some states have/had licensing backlogs, meaning waiting for several months to receive my certification before applying. Sometimes, because of the short dwell time or high cost of childcare, it didn't make sense to pursue work in the classroom. Other times, the operational tempo was so high that it wasn't feasible for me to be juggling a 50+ hour work week as a teacher with caring for my family and without reliable support from my active duty spouse. That is when I turned to entrepreneurial pursuits.

Have you ever had to geo-bach due to your career/entrepreneurship?

What resources have you found to be useful in your career/entrepreneur journey?

Local small business administration offices, Association of Military Spouse Entrepreneurs

Final word: what are your top tips for other military spouses about navigating a career within the military lifestyle?

Stay flexible
Be creative
Give yourself grace and space to grow
Remember that everything has a season: sometimes you'll be able to go full steam ahead with your professional pursuits; other times, you may need to hit pause or scale back to achieve better balance. It's okay to do what you need to do in order to maintain peace and sanity.

Listen to an interview with Meg
to hear more about her story.

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