Lisa Phillips is a retired military wife, mother of two, and an author. She started her business to serve military wives and couples by helping them strengthen their family unit by fostering spiritual readiness.

Entrepreneur Interview Q & A

1. What Does Your Business Do?

My business is serving military wives and/or military couples. I help them build a spiritual foundation that strengthens and unifies their marriages and families. My business is www.LisaNixonPhillips.com.

As a retired military wife, I know that a military marriage is unique and hard. During my eighteen years as a Navy wife, our family experienced everything a civilian family experienced, but within the confines of a different set of circumstances and expectations. It’s these complexities within these circumstances that can test the limits of a military marriage.The rhythm of our home moved to the drumbeat of the military’s agenda, and Uncle Sam could be domineering, uncompromising, and impersonal, but faith in God gave us that extra measure of strength and assurance that our lives had meaning and purpose. Faith allowed us to perceive our unique lifestyle through a spiritual lens.

2. Why Did You Get into This Field?

There’s a lot of talk about family readiness in today’s military families, but the spiritual aspect and how faith makes a difference in overall resilience (the ability to bounce back after a setback of adverse circumstances) is still lacking. When there’s spiritual readiness coupled with general home front readiness, it translates into military readiness. How can our military members be at their peak performance, protecting our country’s borders, beliefs and values if the service member’s home is unstable or weakened by disunity? What’s more, how can our nation maintain its status as a super power if the foundation of our military families is collapsing? Spiritual readiness and home readiness are interrelated. 

3. What opportunities Did You See?

Moving from one duty station to another is normal in the military, and we made friends in the places we lived. However, in the years before email existed, we often lost touch with our military friends. By the time my husband retired and we stopped moving, I was bankrupt in the friendship category. In building friendships, I had to start all over in the town where we decided to put down roots and finish raising our two children. I want to be that friend to a military wife who needs a Christian friend, listening ear, and encouragement to get through a deployment, whether it’s her first deployment or her fifth, or if she’s seeking growth in her faith. Additionally, it’s my hope to be a mentoring coach for some of the realities of this demanding lifestyle and let young military wives know that being a supportive military wife is an honorable and worthy service. I also am certified as a Blessing Coach through the AACC (American Association of Christian Counselors), which is a program that teaches parents how to bless their children based on the foundational Biblical verse of Genesis 27: 31-34 and Deuteronomy 30:19.

4. What Has Been Your Biggest Challenge?

Soon after my first book, Faith Steps for Military Families was published I ran into resistance from personnel at military bases. I had a curriculum I wanted to implement in our local military base’s Fleet Readiness Program for promoting family unity, but because it was faith-based, they were mandated to turn me down. Disappointed, I needed to think outside the box to find other opportunities for reaching military members and their families. I started by joining my local American Legion Auxiliary, and began participating in the programs that supported our local and deployed military members. It has provided me with networking opportunities for speaking and helping our current military members as well as our veterans.

5. What Has Been Your Greatest Reward?

My greatest reward would be the relationships I’m building and enjoying and the satisfaction of knowing I’m empowering and encouraging Christian military wives to strengthen their homes for resiliency and unity. When all else fades into the background, life boils down to meaningful relationships, and there are no other relationships like spiritually-linked ones, whether family, friends, or in networking opportunities.

6. If You Could Change Something, What Would It Be?

I have been hearing and receiving information in the mail that some members of our military, as well as military Chaplains, have been punished for sharing the Gospel. Our service members are U.S. citizens first and they shouldn’t have to give up their right to religious freedom and free speech, but sadly this is happening in our military. If there is any organization that needs a higher power, it is our military and their families. The easiest thing that anyone can do is pray for our military and their families. No service member should have to fear military reprisal in sharing their testimony or faith.

7. If You Could Give A New Entrepreneur Advice, What Would It Be?

I recommend she do her homework. Whatever it is that she is interested in pursuing, she must find a way to be unique or different from other women doing the same thing. She must find something about her business that makes her or her products/services stand out.

8. Social Media. Yay or Nay?

Yes, Social Media is a vital part of reaching your target audience. If you’re an author, coach, or speaker, I recommend doing your morning tasks, such as writing, research, phone calls, newsletter, whatever it is, before you get on social media sites. Social media can be a time stealer and if you don’t have discipline, you lose precious time for important tasks. The only exception to this is if something is most urgent or time sensitive. Additionally, after my book, Faith Steps for Military Families, was published I felt such pressure to get my social media accounts set up and know everything there is to know about each one. Relax. You can’t do it all at the beginning, or you’ll get yourself overwhelmed. Start with one social media site at a time. Understand the basics of each one before moving on to the next one.

9. How Do You Market Your Products?

From my website, but also on social media, at military family related events, as well as from speaking and networking events and joint venture workshops.

10. Is Your Business A Service or a Product?

My business is both. I am currently taking courses for Biblical Counseling and Life/Spiritual Coaching so after I earn my certification I can incorporate one-on-one coaching for military wives. Additionally, I am creating a workbook about how military wives/couples can build a spiritual foundation from the topics in my book, Faith Steps for Military Families. The backbone of this course are fifteen psalms from the Bible that depict common themes that the typical military family experiences and how to apply these themes and concepts to their faith and lifestyle.

11. What Is Unique About Your Business?

The most unique part about my business is that I am a retired military wife. I understand the issues most common to military wives and the complexities this lifestyle creates, for the spouses and the children. This allows me to incorporate life and spiritual coaching into my business. I am looking for a partner so that we can work together for military and civilian women.

12. Sell Me Your Product/Service

Would you like your military home to be more spiritually committed? Spiritual readiness is about the role faith plays in response to the what-if’s of the military lifestyle. Studies have shown that people who have a spiritual readiness routine overall fare better than those who decide to leave the spiritual aspect out. My book, Faith Steps for Military Families explores fifteen psalms and each reveals a theme common to today’s military families. Through vivid pictorial metaphors some of the themes are:

• The danger of a complacent faith
• Building unity for overall resiliency
• Hope for when life as a military family is on hold
• How God defends His people
• A unique and different look at understanding of God’s nature as Protector, Keeper, and the Night Watchman as it relates to the protection of today’s military members.

Faith Steps for Military Families also has pin-point prayers and study questions perfect for individual or small groups.

13. How Can People Get In Touch With You? What’s Your Website/Contact Information?

• Website: www.LisaNixonPhillips.com
• Email: info@lisanixonphillips.com or hiswords2growby@aol.com.
• Phone: 360-474-1180 or 360-631-6625