GIVING BACK & GETTING INVOLVED
Milspo-Owned Powerhouse Reflects on Year of “Empowering the Homefront”
By: Julie Kirchner
On a stormy September morning in 2022, a group of Powerhouse team members gathered in a hotel hospitality suite high above St. Pete beach. Powerhouse knows how to have fun together as a team, and no amount of rain could dampen the spirits of this group. The energy in the room was as palpable as the humidity. The company’s 10-year anniversary celebration had brought together Powerhouse freelancers and their spouses from all corners of the United States to commemorate the important milestone together. For many, it was our first time together in person, even having worked together remotely for years.
The focus of the agenda this particular morning was rooted in a core part of Powerhouse’s team culture—our mission to “Share the Goodness”—and the room quickly filled with stories, ideas, and plans to launch a program to help lift up other military spouses with career support. It was then that an official volunteer committee was formed, and Powerhouse’s “Empowering the Homefront” program was born.
“Empowering the Homefront” is a pilot program designed by Powerhouse Planning to empower and provide career support to military spouses. Through the program, military spouses have the opportunity to be selected through an application process to receive career kick-start prizes, including free resume makeovers, mentorship, and other career tools and support.
As a Coast Guard spouse, Jessica Bertsch knows firsthand the sacrifices and unique challenges military spouses face, which led to her creation of Powerhouse Planning, a company devoted to providing clients with remote team solutions through employment of skills and talents of military spouses and other remotely located individuals. We have lived and seen the amazing skills military spouses possess that are often underutilized as they support their spouses’ military careers, which require them to be flexible and adaptive.
BUSINESS RESOURCES
With diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) becoming more and more important to consumers and employers alike, we’ve compiled a short list of online resources designed to give you a better understanding of what inclusive marketing is and how you can improve your own marketing campaigns.
For a broad overview of inclusive marketing, including information on what consumers are thinking about it, check out Amazon Ads’ guide.
Looking for resources to help you get started on making your marketing more inclusive? Google’s Inclusive Marketing site is for you! Complete with helpful tips, audience insights, and more, this site will give you a great base of knowledge from which to build.
For a great read on why inclusive marketing needs to become our default, check out Forbes.com’s article.
Want more? Powerhouse Planning can help. Contact us today for more information.
New Powerhouse Team Member
Melissa is overjoyed to join the Powerhouse team as an office administrator. Having found success in team sports, she feels like she can contribute her energetic, loyal, and organized self in assisting with all the needs of the admin team. With over 15 years of customer service-based roles, she has found that leading with a positive attitude, being willing to take on any task, and always giving your best will lead to success! Raised in Oregon, she earned a B.S. in sociology while playing for the University of Oregon Division I women’s soccer team. Shortly after graduating, she married her husband, a newly commissioned Marine Corps pilot. After stops in San Diego and Corpus Christi, they landed in New England, where they currently reside with three active children. Melissa has over 20 years of milspouse experience with several different branches—the Marine Corps, Navy, Marine Corps Reserve, and currently Air National Guard. If Melissa had free time, she would love to be hiking outside or enjoying a freshly squeezed margarita.
LEADERSHIP SPOTLIGHT
Growing Community with Liza Rodewald of Instant Teams
By: Carolyn Rawson
Co-founded by software engineer Liza Rodewald in 2016, Instant Teams’ talent marketplace has consistently grown and facilitated more than 5,000 direct hires. Beyond their remarkable success, we wanted to know more about the launch of their new app, Twelve Million Plus, and how it’s designed to support the military spouse community.
Liza Rodewald was busy writing government software when she met and married her husband, an active-duty Army officer. Immediately enveloped in military life, she found herself surrounded by fellow military spouses wanting to know how she remained so gainfully employed. For most military families, moves are frequent, making it challenging for dependents to find and maintain jobs.
Approaching her, they would often ask, “How are you working from home? What are you doing? I’ve been struggling with getting a job for so many years . . .”
Liza sympathized, admiring their tenacity. “I love the fact that military spouses build community,” she says. “They are productive with their time, they are appreciative of opportunities, they want to keep [those opportunities], and they’re going to perform.”
POWERHOUSE OUT & ABOUT
Powerhouse President and CEO Jessica Bertsch will once again be lending her expertise to the annual PILLAR conference. PILLAR is a once-a-year online retreat designed for military spouses of all branches of service. Full of wisdom, tips, and sympathetic ears, PILLAR is a fantastic way to grow your military spouse community and get access to information and resources available to you. For more information on PILLAR’s founders, check out this interview we did with them last year.
If you are a military spouse and have not already registered for PILLAR 2023, don’t wait! Spots fill up quickly. Save your spot today. We promise you won’t be disappointed.
Did You Know?
According to statista.com, online sales were responsible for $5.2 trillion dollars in global sales in 2021. While online commerce exploded during the pandemic, it is still growing and is expected to become an $8.1 trillion dollar industry by 2026. In 2023 alone, online purchases are projected to account for 22% of all retail purchases.
In addition to the importance of online commerce to business growth over the next few years, social media isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it is expected to increase in importance over the next five to ten years. So, if you don’t have an online business presence yet, now is the time to get on board.
Two other hot topics in business growth include creating/offering hybrid work solutions (or fully remote work scenarios) and utilizing AI applications. With the rise of AI technology like ChatGPT, companies will be looking to increase effectiveness without a lot of overhead costs. A word of caution: Some companies aren’t sure about the efficiency of remote work, and AI technology currently does not offer capabilities such as copyright.
At Powerhouse, we have perfected the remote team solution and the ability to help you grow your business for less than the cost of a full-time employee. Interested in learning more? Check out our website or contact us today.
