Side Hustle to Sustainable Income: Entrepreneurship for Military Spouses

For military spouses, employment decisions are often shaped by more than career interests and professional qualifications. Relocations, licensing requirements, local employment opportunities, and access to reliable, affordable, and high-quality childcare can all influence whether, where, and how a spouse works.

The 2024 Active-Duty Spouse Survey demonstrated that 69% of civilian spouses were participating in the labor force, while the unemployment rate for civilian spouses was 20% (Office of People Analytics, 2025). The survey also indicated that caring for children who were not in daycare or school was the primary reason 30% of spouses who weren’t in the labor force were not seeking work (Office of People Analytics, 2025). These findings illustrate how childcare access and employment decisions can intersect for military families.

For some families, a childcare arrangement might work well and allow a spouse to pursue traditional employment. For others, provider shortages, waitlists, cost, scheduling, or relocation may make traditional employment more difficult to pursue or sustain.

Entrepreneurship can be one potential pathway that provides some spouses with the flexibility necessary to adapt to evolving childcare needs.

Creating Flexibility and Portability

Entrepreneurship can give some military spouses an opportunity to build work around the realities of military life. Freelancing, consulting, virtual services, digital products, e-commerce, and other business models can allow spouses to leverage their skills and experience while creating greater flexibility and portability.

Research from the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) highlights entrepreneurship as an established pathway among military spouses. The 2022 National Survey of Military-Affiliated Entrepreneurs included business owners who self-identified as military spouses, providing insight into their experiences, challenges, and support needs. Many military spouses find entrepreneurship rewarding, with 74% agreeing that entrepreneurship has positively contributed to their professional lives. Military spouse entrepreneurs also demonstrate a strong interest in using their businesses to create broader impact, with 48% identifying as social entrepreneurs focused on addressing social, cultural, or environmental issues (D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families, 2024).

For some spouses, entrepreneurship may begin as a side hustle. A way to generate additional income or test a business idea. Over time, that side hustle can develop into a more sustainable business. Digital and service-based businesses may be particularly appealing as they can reduce dependence on a single local labor market and potentially make it easier to maintain a business following a permanent change of station.

Flexibility, however, does not mean the absence of childcare needs. Entrepreneurs still need reliable care to participate in client meetings, complete projects, meet deadlines, and grow their businesses. The difference may be that entrepreneurship can provide some spouses with greater control over when and where they work, allowing them to build work arrangements that better complement the childcare options available to their families.

Building Businesses Through Community Connections

Military spouse entrepreneurship does not have to happen in isolation. Communities can play an important role by connecting spouses with mentors, training, networking opportunities, financial resources, and small-business support.

IVMF provides one example of how these support systems can come together. IVMF offers entrepreneurship programs for military spouses and other military-connected entrepreneurs at different stages of the business journey, including programs focused on developing an idea, starting a business, and growing an established business (D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families, n.d.). Additional resources such as The Rosie Network and SpouseWorks also provide opportunities for military spouses pursuing entrepreneurship. Together, these programs and resources can provide access to business tools, career coaching, mentorship, networking, and other resources that help entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses. For military spouses, these connections can be particularly valuable as they navigate the additional challenges associated with relocation and rebuilding professional networks.

A spouse’s ability to sustain a business may depend not only on entrepreneurial skills, but on access to childcare, mentorship, networking opportunities, business resources, and connections within a new community. Partnerships among military installations, workforce organizations, chambers of commerce, small-business development organizations, community groups, and other local resources can help create an environment where military spouse entrepreneurs can establish and grow their businesses. These connections can be especially valuable following a relocation, when a spouse may be rebuilding both a professional network and a customer base.

Community capacity building means recognizing that employment and childcare are interconnected. Supporting military spouses may require more than helping someone find a job; it may mean connecting families to the resources that make work, whether traditional employment or entrepreneurship, sustainable.

Expanding the Employment Conversation

There is no single employment solution that works for every military spouse or family. Accessible childcare remains an important part of supporting workforce participation, but entrepreneurship can provide another option for spouses seeking flexibility, portability, and greater control over their work.

By expanding awareness of entrepreneurial pathways and strengthening the community networks that support them, professionals across education, workforce, child development, military, health, and community organizations can help military spouses build sustainable economic opportunities. Wherever military life takes them.

Continue the Conversation

Interested in exploring the broader connection between childcare, employment, and military family readiness? The 2026 Military Family Readiness Academy, a four-week professional development learning series, was designed to strengthen service providers’ capacity to support military families by enhancing community infrastructure and partnerships. The third webinar in the series, Navigating Child Care Barriers and Their Effect on Military Spouse Employment, explores how childcare access intersects with military spouse employment and family readiness, offering current data, practical strategies, and cross-sector solutions for professionals supporting military-connected families. To enhance your learning experience, visit the event page’s Event Materials section to access the Webinar Slides and Additional Resources to complement the webinar. Although the 2026 Military Family Readiness Academy is nearing its conclusion, the resources and learning from the series remain available to support continued professional development.

References

D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families. (2024). Military spouse entrepreneurs – 2024. Syracuse University. https://ivmf.syracuse.edu/article/military-spouse-entrepreneurs-2024/

D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families. (n.d.). Entrepreneurship. Syracuse University. https://ivmf.syracuse.edu/programs/entrepreneurship/

Office of People Analytics. (2025). 2024 Active-Duty Spouse Survey [PDF]. Department of Defense. https://download.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/Presentations/2024-active-duty-spouse-survey-full-briefing.pdf

Photo Credit: ZAC | Adobe Stock 326409738