Photo by Ron Burkett
Stephanie Loyd, left, and Ashley Floyd, creators of the Military Saves app, together on Aug. 23 in Trussville.
Ashley Floyd and Stephanie Loyd grew up with military dads — Floyd’s in the Air Force and Loyd’s retired from the Marine Corps.
Best friends for more than 20 years after meeting in college ministry, the pair recently decided to combine their passions for the military and local business community. They created the Military Saves app, a free download that connects military families to local businesses in Birmingham.
“It serves our military (active duty, reserves and veterans) by placing in their hand access to discounts, incentives, job postings, resources and more,” Floyd said.
The women both moved to the Trussville and Moody areas about a year ago, along with most of their family members. Floyd immediately noticed how supportive local businesses were of the military, even though Birmingham is a town without an active military base.
“I started doing research and found out there was a large military presence here,” she said.
“I wondered if the military knew the businesses were so supportive and if the businesses knew how many military families were in the area. That’s where the idea to create an app came from.”
After a prototype for the app was created, Floyd hit the streets in February. With no sales experience, she began asking businesses to partner with her and offer their military discounts on the app.
“They were already supporting the military, so they quickly saw our vision and came on board,” she said. “Our heart is to serve the local Birmingham business community well.”
The app launched to the public July 1 and attracted more than 400 users in the first six weeks. Their first public event was at the Hoover National Night Out in August. Floyd said they got a lot of feedback and people were excited about the app.
“We haven't found anyone who hasn’t received it in a positive reaction,” she said. “It’s fun to talk to people and have them tell us it was so needed.”
Floyd handles the sales side, and Loyd focuses on the social media presence and manages the hiring of new sales associates. They are currently doing military public relations and meeting with military contacts, along with building relationships with nonprofits.
Both work other jobs in addition to working on the Military Saves app. Loyd is an assistant varsity girls’ soccer coach at Trussville High School, and Floyd works part time with the young professionals at Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church and is also getting certified to be a foster parent.
“Being an entrepreneur is both exciting and scary, but along with the foster certification, I’m doing two humongous things at once,” Floyd said.
As the app continues to grow, more categories will be added to accommodate new businesses. Current categories include auto, clothing, entertainment, financial, fitness, food, home services, insurance, legal, real estate and health.
“We want the app to be provide everything they ever need and to have a list of trustworthy businesses in their hands,” Floyd said. “We are about to expand the resources portion of the app and add specific nonprofits that serve military.”
Learn more or download the app at militarysavesapp.com.
