Military Spouse Appreciation Day on May 8th is considered a day of thanks for military spouses across the U.S. But one company, founded by two military wives, has turned the idea of appreciating spouses of service members into an entrepreneurial mission.
“I was an active-duty military spouse for 22 years until my husband retired three years ago,” said Erica McMannes, co-founder of the career placement firm, Instant Teams, in an interview with Military.com. “We moved 14 times in those 22 years, but in that time, I ended up meeting another military spouse, Liza Rodewald, and we realized there’s a need for the spouses of service workers to fill remote tech jobs.”
Established 10 years ago and headquartered in Southern Pines, NC, near Fort Bragg, Instant Teams was born out of a two-sided focus: an exploding demand for skilled remote workers in tech industries, and qualified military spouses who wanted to do more than tend to their home and family.
“We are 100% remote. We’ve built a brand that helps military spouses earn income, contribute to the workforce and improve their family’s finances,” McMannes said. “Since day one, we’ve always been dedicated to the military spouse community. We can’t only serve them, but we want them to be in the forefront.”
Personal Stories Sparked Business Idea
McMannes and her business partner, Liza Rodenwald, had a feeling that their own desire to find high-level employment, separate from their individual homes and spouses, was something other military spouses desired too.
“Maintaining a career had been almost impossible because you move every 2–3 years. When I became a spouse, I moved six times in seven years, so you can imagine just trying to get a job normally would be almost impossible, especially if you’re high-level, trying to grow your career,” said Rodenwald in an Instant Teams virtual summit posted online and reviewed by Military.com. “So as an entrepreneur, I was like, ‘there’s this large group of very skilled individuals that don’t know how to connect to companies in a remote capacity.’ There are a lot of companies that have no idea this population even exists.”
McManness said early on that some education and awareness were needed on the part of employers.
“I think there’s a lot of homogeneous thinking out there around military spouses, that they don’t need or want to work. That being a military spouse is enough,” said McMannes. “But just from a pure financial standpoint, military families need dual incomes. In general, their interest in remote work gives them a special kind of portability and flexibility that makes sense for military life.”
That’s where InstantTeams comes in, not as a staffing service but as a marketplace firm. The company works directly with other businesses looking for remote workers in specialized areas. In turn, businesses find that hiring a military spouse is a selling point, while the spouses are eager to earn some of their independence back.
“That personal and professional identity is important. Spouses want to contribute not just to their families and their service-member, but to a company or organization as part of the workforce,” said McMannes. “As long as the skill-sets align, we are the connector for spouses between their military life and their work-life.”
The mission for Instant Teams has expanded into community service and impact, with the company sponsoring about 85 events a year for military spouses and families.
“At Instant Teams, our connection with the military spouse community goes beyond remote work,” reads the company’s website. “We proudly partner with spouses to create meaningful experiences, from virtual coffee chats to local meetups at duty stations worldwide, bringing [them] closer to a supportive, global community.”
Several events are planned around Military Spouse Appreciation Day and the month, including a “PinkBall” event outside Fort Bragg on Saturday, May 9th and a dinner club series across the country presented by T-Mobile.
“That’s the benefit of being in business for 10 years. We are able to give back to communities and have a real impact,” said McMannes. “We understand the cycle of military life, and the levels of support, camaraderie and community involvement that military spouses are seeking.”
Still, the satisfaction for McMannes and her team is the personal stories of military spouses who sometimes feel invisible.
“Some of our favorite stories are when we hear about spouses applying for a mortgage together, but the banker assumes only the service member has income and tries to deal with only them,” said McMannes. “But when the spouse chimes in and shows that they have a job and an income, and can financially contribute to the purchase, there’s immense pride in that.”
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