Human capital

Liza Rodewald is an Army wife, an entrepreneur, and founder and CEO of a company that provides remote careers for military spouses.

According to Rodewald, “military spouses are extremely resilient. They go into new environments all the time and can live in stressful situations.”

She should know. Her family has moved six times in the last seven years. On each deployment, Rodewald made a point of meeting every military spouse she could. And because remote work had always been one of her passions, she kept hearing the same thing.

“How can I work from home when we move every two to three years”?

Every time the family moved, her goal was to help find consistent work that military spouses could count on regardless of where in the world they were deployed. Rodewald relied on a life mantra she learned from her parents to make that happen.

“See a need, fill a need.”

It’s been in her head since she was a young girl growing up in Missouri, where her parents were successful business owners. That had a very big impact on her.

So, she began helping military spouses find remote careers. That was the beginning of her company, Instant Teams. The company places military spouses around the world in remote careers.

As the company grew, she and her business partner decided to raise investment capital to bring it to scale. Then her husband got Permanent Change of Station (PCS) Travel Orders. The family found itself half way around the world. It was a huge hurdle to overcome and Rodewald was forced to shift gears.

Still, she saw a need she could fill.

“Military spouses can feel isolated being in a new town when they are deployed. It can draw them inward and take a toll on their mental health. The ability to connect with other people helps to give them purpose,” Rodewald says. And her company creates the opportunities to make that happen.

During that deployment, she networked and built relationships with the local business community, and continued to grow Instant Teams. And she has raised enough money to help the company get to a multimillion-dollar revenue run rate.

She attributes that to the military spouses her company helps. Rodewald says that “they have the ideal qualifications for remote careers. They’re adaptable people who are team players who can build community.”

Her advice to service members and spouses aspiring to become successful entrepreneurs?

“Nobody knows your business the way you do. Trust your instincts. That’s one of the biggest things you can do to be successful.”

The same is true about personal financial goals. An important element is establishing a plan that’s unique to your circumstances and then following through.