It’s hard to believe that the Strength 4 Spouses blog has been around for four years now. It has been quite the journey through writing, growing, advocating, collaborating with others, and learning the art of social media marketing over the years. I have been offered some amazing opportunities over the last four years and met some incredible people. It all started with a website and a blog post.
To learn more about the story and inspiration behind Strength 4 Spouses, read our 1st year recap.
Where to Follow and What You Will See:
For local and national news, Fort Bragg & Fort Sill events, blog posts, and daily inspirational quotes delivered first thing in the morning, follow us on Facebook.
For a more personal look at my life behind the scenes, local finds and activities, then follow us on Instagram.
For short and sweet information periodically, follow us on Twitter.
For occasional quotes, poetry, and blog post pins, follow us on Pinterest.
The Big Achievements from Year 4:
- Collaborations-XpertCare, Baby Pavilion, Dave’s Dryer Vent Cleaning, Instant Teams, Mrs. Navy Mama, Raquel Riley-Thomas Beauty, ailana.j, Lift Chocolate, MilsoBox, ToastyTote, Museum of the Great Plains, True Energy Socks, Fla-Vor-Ice Patriot Pops with United for Reading, and Finesse Hair Care.
- Survived a cross country PCS-Our family moved from North Carolina to Oklahoma in the Fall of 2020. This first PCS happened during Covid and the beginning of the national housing shortage. We moved into our rental home in Oklahoma in the middle of an ice storm. It was a wild ride. To read more about our crazy PCS, read The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad PCS.
- Website redesign-We hired a military spouse-owned company to completely redesign our website. If you like our new website look, check out Syt Biz for all of your WordPress and Web Design needs.
- Local & global park clean-ups-After moving to Oklahoma and spending much of our time in local parks, I noticed the insane amount of litter in the places where little ones play. This broke my mama heart and I did not want my child or others to put this trash in their mouths. So, I felt inspired to start cleaning up parks and recruiting some help. In addition to picking up trash at our local park in Elgin, I also created two clean-up efforts at Elmer Thomas Park in Lawton, Oklahoma. The first clean-up was on Martin Luther King Day and 1 local mom and her family came to help. Then, I joined forces with Deployed Love-the Fort Sill Chapter on Good Friday in April to try once more to clean up Elmer Thomas Park prior to Easter Egg hunts the following day. We had over 12 families join in and random even park goers joined in. With our joint effort, Viridian Coffee, Target, and The City of Lawton provided items needed and giveaway items for those who participated in the clean-up efforts. Next, on Earth Day, I joined forces with Freedom Rings USA to inspire others globally to clean up their local parks.
- Hired a blog assistant-A local high school graduate, who just so happens to be quite the administrative genius, has worked with me all summer as a blog assistant. She will be going away to college this fall. We will miss her tremendously. My hope is that she will have a little time to help us occasionally on a remote basis.
- A different focus for volunteerism-I have also decided to focus my volunteerism efforts in the area of my expertise; adult education. I joined the board for The Bautista Project this year as the Director of Adult Education to help develop a comprehensive and rehabilitative education plan for the homeless population in Tampa, Florida where TBP works tirelessly to provide for the homeless community.
#MoreThanAMilspouse
This hashtag campaign has continued to gain momentum this year and has over 1000+ posts just on Instagram. #MoreThanaMilspouse highlights the ambitious, driven, amazing, multi-faceted life of a military spouse.
Be sure to use this hashtag to showcase the amazing things you are doing in your community, the goals you are striving for, and the many hats you wear beyond the title of military spouse. This hashtag was created for “ALL” military spouses! We are all so much more than just married to a service member.
Giveaways
When I started this blog, I LOVED offering giveaways monthly, however, that became expensive and cumbersome. While I do still offer giveaways, it is usually once per quarter only. This year we partnered with 2 military spouse owned businesses and 1 veteran-owned business for giveaways.
If you would like to partner for a giveaway, please reach out through the contact form.
Statistics:
I have slowed down quite a bit on blog posts this year due to motherhood, our PCS, and going back to work full time in June. While many of my statistics look like they are dropping, I have had record numbers of growth, page views each month on my blog, and I have consistently read almost the same number of books and appeared on the same number of podcasts for three years now. In addition, I have been guest blogging in several new places this year to include: the Quiet Days Magazine and The Military Mom Collective Blog.
| Description | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021 |
| Number of Blog Posts Published | 68 | 57 | 35 | 31 |
| Guest Posts written for others | 17 | 12 | 19 | 7 |
| Guest Posts published on the blog | 13 | 15 | 5 | 6 |
| Podcast Guest | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Combined Social Media Reach | 1386 | 3275 | 4826 | 5780 |
| Books Read and Reviewed | 5 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Giveaways | 12 | 16 | 8 | 4 |
Top 5 Most Popular Blog Posts from Year 4 (2020-2021):
4-9 Nonprofit Organizations that Military Spouses Should Know Well
3-5 Military-Affiliated Life Coaches You Should Know
2-To the Childless Father This Father’s Day
1-Local & National Support Resources for Fort Bragg Families
What’s next in year 4 for Strength 4 Spouses?
- Continue offering the following services; freelance writing, editing, brand ambassadorship, and public speaking.
- Continued collaborations with military spouse and veteran-owned businesses.
- Finally publish an extra special devotional that has been in the works for two years.
- Continued advocacy and empowerment for military spouses through the hashtag campaign #morethanamilspouse
- Continue outsourcing certain tasks to a blog assistant.
- More park clean-up efforts locally and globally in addition to advocacy for safe and clean parks in my local area.
Win It
Disclaimer: This giveaway is not sponsored by Facebook, Instagram, Amazon or their affiliates.
Your support and input is valuable to me. Please take a moment to complete the quick annual survey and enter for your chance to win one of three prizes;
- 1st Place: $20.00 gift card to Amazon, along with your choice of a book from my secret stash.
- 2nd Place: $10.00 gift card from Amazon with your choice of a book from my secret stash.
- 3rd Place: Autographed Copy of Brave Women, Strong Faith
*Survey is open from August 1st to August 31st at 10pm. A drawing will be held on the evening of September 1st. Winners will be notified by email.*
Strength 4 Spouses Annual Survey 2021
© Strength 4 Spouses LLC, 2021.
