Hi guys. I know it has been a very long time since I posted here. The truth is my life has become much more complicated and I just sort of fell away.

I have been working on some plans and activities to develop a business that will allow me to spend more time at home. The reason being that my beautiful wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease about 2 ½ years ago. While she is doing pretty well overall, and is on some very effective medications, I find it extremely difficult to stay focused at work since I feel like I need to be at home. And running an ISO program does require some focus.

As I looked at the options for her care and the costs involved it became clear that costs could be about 1/3 of my income. Since I would prefer to be there caring for her myself (and so would she) I decided I would much prefer to try and work from home.

Anyway I have come back to hopefully get some ideas of things I can do at home to earn some income. I’m thinking that I will need to resign my position sooner rather than later before I wind up in therapy


Some Ideas I have kicking around are:
Simple access based software for calibration, non-conformance tracking etc. The idea being these are ready to use, but open, so that the owner can customize it themselves (or I can for a fee)

Help small companies who don’t need a full time QM to run their program, keep up with paperwork etc,

We have a leather shop at a flea market and hope to get into more sewing and repair (Karol is very good at it and it’s a good exercise)

I would appreciate any other ideas or suggestions you folks might have.
And they don't have to be quality related

James

Welcome back James :bigwave: I sure wish it was under happier circumstances though. Gonna be a rough road ahead.

Have you ever thought about selling your leather goods from home on Ebay?
Might be worth a look as the potential client base would be expanded.

Welcome back. Sorry to hear the news... :(

Welcome back James :bigwave: I sure wish it was under happier circumstances though. Gonna be a rough road ahead.

Have you ever thought about selling your leather goods from home on Ebay?
Might be worth a look as the potential client base would be expanded.


Thanks,
Problem with e-bay is too many people selling used stuff at garage sale prices. I do have a presence there though.

Rough road yes - but - you love - you cope.

James

James,

Welcome back, and sorry to hear about your wife. I can sort of empathise...my 80 year old father was just diagnosed...I am heading to Texas this weekend to help him pick out some care facilities.

But, one suggestion on the employment front. Have you spoken to your current employer about going part time? They may not want to fully loose you, and may be willing to work a compromise.

Welcome back James. I am very sorry to hear of Karol's illness. If I hear or think of anything you might do from home I will let you know.

Dave

Do you have a web site yet or are you considering one? I may be able to help out.

James:

I wondered what happened to you. Welcome back!

I have actually bought a couple of belts off of Ebay, through a "virtual store" and the materials and workmanship are #1. Its been so long ago I can't remember the specific site or seller, though.

It sounds to me like maybe a mixed approach might work(?). Maybe a combination of all of the things you mentioned would be interesting, but juggling the schedule might tricky. Then again, the flexability might be great too.

Whatever you choose, please keep us posted, and GOOD LUCK!!!

James,

What a sad thing to hear. Your wife and you are in my prayers. You are doing a great thing. :agree1:

Despite all the b!#ching and complaining I tend to do I am often reminded that if you and your family wake up healthy it is already a good day -- other positive things are just a bonus.

I wish I could offer more, but all I have are a few random thoughts, FWIW:

* Seek the advice of an estate planning attorney -- there may be big advantages to this down the road.

* There are caregiver support groups out there in most communities that can be a good source of ideas and support for people in your situation. Seek 'em out and give 'em a try. It is a sign of strength, and a benefit for both you and your wife, for you to seek support resources for yourself even before you really feel you need them.

* I would definitely try to get your employer to allow you to work PT -- maybe mostly from home. They know you and what you can do. Maybe you can even work out a deal where you can keep your health insurance benefits through them which might be no small consideration. Pitch a plan to the top dog ans see what he/she says, then go from there. If it works you might even be able to get other clients for your home-based work through your contacts "at work".


Please keep us up to date on how it goes for you. The people here -- many of them -- care, and want to help. Good luck.

James:

I was in a health-related situation a few years ago where I had to go to part-time. I was able to find a company that needed someone to "do quality" part-time. So, it is possible to find something. I put contacted lots of recruiters, some local business organizations, and every single person I knew in the local business community. It worked. After 3 months, I found what I was looking for.

Best of luck to you.

--QG

James:

I was in a health-related situation a few years ago where I had to go to part-time. I was able to find a company that needed someone to "do quality" part-time. So, it is possible to find something. I put contacted lots of recruiters, some local business organizations, and every single person I knew in the local business community. It worked. After 3 months, I found what I was looking for.

Best of luck to you.

--QG
quality goddess is correct - Persistence!

My prayers will be with you and your wife.

If you don't mind paperwork, you may be able to do some data entry work...the stuff that people usually hire temps for? We hire temps every now and then, and I don't see that they are doing anything that someone couldn't do at home as long as they had an up-to-date version of micky soft...and maybe get better results if it was a person who actually knew how to use the software.

Appreciate all the good wishes, prayers and thoughts.

Some great ideas too. I will be working these you bet.
Gonna make a list of possibilities and go from there.

I hope I can maintain some relationship with my current employer, I'm just not sure what it will be.
On the other hand I kind of like the idea of being my own boss.
Much depends on how well Karol maintains.

By the way if I haven't said it before, You folks, and this place, are the best :applause: :applause: :applause:

James

James, my friend. I'm sorry to hear the news, but I'm very happy to see you back among us. You belong here, and I for one have been wondering about your absence.

Welcome back. :bigwave:

/Claes

I'm not quite sure how to phrase my idea, but please bear with me. My MIL runs a large nursing home and I know they're always looking for people to come in on a volunteer basis and sit with the residents, read to them, play bingo, etc.

Assuming that your wife will have her "good days" and "not-so-good days" and hopefully more of the good ones, I'm thinking maybe you could have some sort of arrangement where your wife could visit a facility like this while you perform some sort of work-for-pay for the establishment?

I know I'm not saying this exactly right but let's say you went in for a few hours a day there to do...whatever, be it handyman work or computer work or 'whatever needs done' and your wife could be a volunteer-nursing staff is right there with the residents.

Sorry I can't rough this out better for you but I know what I'm trying to say -there could be some mutually beneficial arrangement where you do something outside of quality and your wife gets to 'do' something, whatever that something is. Best of luck to you.

Depending on your knowledge level, you might also be able to do computer upgrade and repair work at home. Build computers, repair them, upgrade them, teach people to use software, etc. Have most of the work be where they bring you the computer if it needs repair, but if you have to p/u and deliver now and then have the wife ride along for keeping you company.