Careers

Why look for just another job, when you can embark upon a whole new career? Learn about the latest developments in careers for military spouses. With your mobile lifestyle, there are certain portable careers that can offer you and your family stability and future growth. If you have any topics that you would like to see us write about, feel free to email the editor: info@salutetospouses.com
Portable Career Options for Creative Military Spouses

If you’re one of those individuals blessed with creative gifts (and if you are, the rest of us are soooo jealous), you have some really terrific options for building a fun and rewarding portable career. With many of them you’ll have the option of selling your products and services in whatever community you’re currently stationed or online through your own website or a service like Etsy.com or eBay.com.

Some of the many options that might be a great match for your creative skills:

Fabrics.  Do you like to sew, crochet, knit, or weave? Make clothing, accessories, tapestries, rugs or other fabric-based art objects? Depending on their quality, items such as handmade scarves sell for anywhere from $25.00 to $250.00, with higher prices for custom items.

Fine arts.  Gifted with a paintbrush, potter’s wheel or art materials? Your options are almost limitless in terms of creating art works that can be admired for their beauty, prized for their practicality or both. Consider whether you want to create from your own inspiration or take commissions from people who admire your work and have something specific in mind. For example, one artist has created a thriving business painting homescapes or house portraits for clients, another has focused on customized holiday greeting cards and a third on using her calligraphy skills to do custom invitations for special events.

Crafts.  Crafts can range from creating scrapbooks for clients to special-event gift baskets, from aromatherapy candles to seasonal decorations and beyond. To get a great sense of how many different options fall under the “crafts” option, check out the range of topics listed at Craftsy.com, a sister site to Etsy.com.

Food.  Into artisanal cheese? Love making gourmet cheesecakes? Known far and wide for your herb breads? Or do you specialize in high-nutrition, high-taste, hand-delivered dinners? Although being a creative foodie usually means you’ll be focused on your local community as your target market, some types of food products can also lend themselves to online sales.

Graphic design.  Having creative graphic design skills enables you to take on a wide range of independent projects, such as web design, the creation of marketing materials, doing custom illustrations, helping with online magazine or newsletter design or creating illustrations to sell on sites like istockphoto.com.

Photography.  There are smart-phone photos, and then there’s photography. The latter is the outcome of skill, a discerning eye, an ability to capture a moment or crystallize a statement through the gift of seeing what others miss. If photography is your creative gift, consider developing a unique style or subject matter that will help you stand out from the crowd, whether in a gallery, on Etsy.com, or perhaps on sites like iStockphoto.com.

Interior decorator or designer.  Are you one of those people who can have your new military housing looking like a model home a week after you PCS? You intuitively know what to do with the blank white kitchen wall that your sister couldn’t figure out for ten years? Do you like staging for-home sales for fun? Interior decorating and/or design is one type of work that will probably need to be done on-site rather than online, but you’ll have the option of working on your own or signing on with one of the larger local design firms in the community. Plus, you could develop a specialization in quickly turning military housing into warm, welcoming and organized homes!

Freelance writing.  If your creative skills lie with words, there are dozens of ways to create a highly portable practice doing multiple types of writing. This can include articles (print or online), books (print or e-books), online content for websites, ghost-blogging, press releases for public relations (PR) firms as well as op-ed pieces, white papers and business case studies, marketing materials for companies, nonprofits, and marketing agencies, writing pieces for client newsletters and similar types of projects. One of the benefits of freelance writing is that it’s one of the independent creative activities that can most easily be done from any location.

If you’re wondering how to get started, be sure to check out our previous article, “Home-Based Business – Portable Career Option for Military Spouses.”

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