Celebrating 8 Years of Growth: Supporting Small Businesses and Military Spouses

As Freedom Makers Virtual Services celebrates our eighth year, I am filled with gratitude for the opportunity to reflect on our journey of growth and success. We have expanded our customer base, and our military spouse virtual assistants have consistently provided excellent, customized support to our clients.  Their hard work has allowed more and more clients to focus on growing their businesses with less time spent on administrative support and repetitive tasks!  I am proud to say that we have continued to stay true to our mission of strengthening small businesses while supporting our military community.

Of course, as with any growing business, we have faced our share of challenges and growing pains along the way. In that regard, last year did not disappoint!  However, we have learned from them, and we are undoubtedly a stronger and healthier company as a result. I am grateful for our team's hard work and dedication, and I look forward to the next chapter of our journey.

In the months since our last birthday, we changed our name from Freedom Makers to Freedom Makers Virtual Services. This decision was more of an addition than a change. Our new name (and snazzy new logo!) more accurately reflects all that we are and all that our military spouses offer to small businesses. 

In the past year, we also made a significant move by merging with Re4ormed, which allowed us to create The Forum. The Forum’s initiative is built on the visionary idea of Mark Mhley, and we are committed to continuing what he set out to create. Today, the Forum provides a supportive ecosystem for veteran and military spouse-owned businesses through networking events and partner offerings. It is through the Forum’s monthly All Calls and quarterly conferences that we are able to meet and connect with veteran and military spouse business owners and build a strong network of collaboration and support. In addition, The Forum offers a directory of vetted partners, business services, and products. Now on our website you can now easily search for enterprises that offer support and resources to small businesses, including products developed and sold by veteran and military spouse-owned companies. 

In our expanding market, we remain committed to doing things our own way, growing our company sustainably and in a way that we can feel proud of. Our ongoing goal is to always strive for excellence, and this year, we are also focusing on micro-improvements and making quick pivots. By always seeking ways to improve, we are able to better serve our clients and our military spouses.

That’s because, at Freedom Makers Virtual Services, we value people above profit.

What that looks like for us is that we are discerning about our process of selecting the right military spouse virtual assistants to join our community. We understand that a resume doesn't capture the full scope of one's capabilities, so we strive to identify a unique mix of tangible and intangible attributes that have proven to be the “special sauce” for Freedom Maker success. We offer onboarding counseling to strengthen skills and monthly training sessions on how to be a successful Freedom Maker.  Once “in,” we do everything in our power to support our Freedom Makers in their virtual assistant journeys. 

We not only value our community of military spouse virtual assistants, but we also place a high value on the clients we work with. We want to ensure healthy and successful working relationships for both our Freedom Makers and our clients!  We work hard to help our clients match with a Freedom Maker who has the potential to become a collaborative partner they can trust and rely on as they grow their business. We have a client success management team in place to help clients get underway with their virtual assistant, help clients navigate through the delegation process, and offer support and backup through any potential areas of friction. We want every client to feel that they are in good hands, and the CSM team is always working on new ways to build on our strong foundation of service.

Of course, we have made mistakes along the way, but as we celebrate our eighth birthday, I am excited about where we'll go next! 

Here's to many more years of success, growth, and making a positive impact on the lives of small business owners and military spouses. 

Happy Birthday, Freedom Makers Virtual Services!

-Laura