About MSBA

About us

Military Spouse Business Association was formed by three military spouses; Lanette Lepper, Joanna Williamson and Rebecca Poynter. Each of us owns her own business. We met informally by phone and discussed business and financial topics and of course, military lifestyle specifics like “When does your husband leave for deployment?” We enjoyed talking to each other; learning business tips and how to stay motivated. We all agreed financial preparation allowed starting and keeping our business going. We shared some funny stories and although we didn’t ever say it, shared some empathy.

Two of us had never met each other in person and we thought if we shared our ideas and encouragement remotely, motivating and learning from each other, then why can’t other Military Spouses do exactly the same thing?

It also occurred to us that if we wanted to find other Military Spouses to buy from, hire, make a friend, find a colleague or mentor in the same profession, we did not have a way to do that. So Rebecca called Lanette and Lanette said “I am in” and then Rebecca called Joanna and she said “I am in” and Military Spouse Business Association was created in about ten minutes. We met only one time in person at Ikea (Lanette may have done some pre-meeting shopping) in Washington DC. We created Military Spouse Business Association by email, phone calls and conference calls while we each ran our own business.

The prototype Military Spouse might surprise you:

Most likely to be female- approximately 90%
Most likely to be employed-approximately 65%
Better educated that her civilian counterpart
Unable to accumulate retirement in comparison to her civilian counterpart
Lives near a major city
Internet savvy
And most interesting is this…nearly 10% of active duty Military Spouses who are employed own their own businesses!

This association is dedicated to the Military Spouse interested Financial Readiness, Self Motivation and Business Success. MSB welcomes you.