Empowering Families: How Office on the Go Makes Senior Benefits and Paperwork Easy

[00:00:03] Welcome to the Business Chop podcast, where I guess speak on meeting the challenges

[00:00:08] of entrepreneurship as well as offer tips and advice on business, marketing, technology

[00:00:14] and more. Whether you are a newbie or seasoned professional, this episode is for you.

[00:00:21] I am your host, Audrey Wiggins.

[00:00:25] Let's chop it up.

[00:00:32] Hello, chop squad! You're host here, Audrey Wiggins, and I'm excited again.

[00:00:33] Welcome to the Business Chop podcast, where I guess speak on meeting the challenges of entrepreneurship

[00:00:38] as well as offer tips and advice on business, marketing, technology and more.

[00:00:45] Whether you are a newbie or seasoned professional, this episode is for you.

[00:00:50] I am your host, Audrey Wiggins.

[00:00:54] Let's chop it up.

[00:00:57] Hello, chop squad! You're host here, Audrey Wiggins, and I'm excited again to be with you.

[00:01:03] And I'm excited about our guest today, Pamela Coleman.

[00:01:06] And she's coming from us from Greater Cleveland, Ohio, and I'm excited to share her business

[00:01:12] with you today. And how maybe her business can help you or someone in your family or

[00:01:17] somewhere that you know. So this is a little different angle here on today.

[00:01:21] Pam founded Office on The Go.

[00:01:23] And what she does, she's been taking care of her mom for over 20 years.

[00:01:28] So Pam started as a state.

[00:01:30] She started a business as a way to take care of her mom.

[00:01:33] The seniors have a need some help sometimes like going through paperwork or different things

[00:01:38] like that.

[00:01:39] So this was a great business in a way for her to get started.

[00:01:42] So in a way it was a blessing.

[00:01:44] Her mother blessed her to be able to create something like this, helping with benefits and

[00:01:49] need to wonder how people would need to help and interview a caring for their mom or

[00:01:54] other family member. And that's actually how Office on The Go got started.

[00:01:59] And she has a few examples of how she'll help people which is going to share with us later

[00:02:04] on in our interview today.

[00:02:06] We're going to take a quick break and come back after this commercial.

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[00:02:35] Alright we're back now with Pam Pam Lacombe and welcome to the Business Shop.

[00:02:40] Thank you so much. I'm grateful for this opportunity.

[00:02:43] Yes absolutely. So we're excited to learn more about how we can care for our

[00:02:48] one of our most vulnerable populations over here in the US.

[00:02:52] So I appreciate the work that you do and happy to share.

[00:02:56] That you help seniors with their paperwork and they find peace of mind.

[00:03:00] You know, to get their benefits and keep them.

[00:03:03] And there's a couple examples that you had given us.

[00:03:06] One about a senior lost their SSI.

[00:03:09] Want to tell us about that story and I don't think it was an IRS one too.

[00:03:13] So it's a lady that she lost her SSI because she was in the hospital for two months.

[00:03:20] And so then when she got out of the hospital,

[00:03:24] she did not even know that she didn't have her benefits,

[00:03:27] she didn't get paid.

[00:03:28] So it took her almost two months to get her benefits back

[00:03:32] and she is in a wheelchair.

[00:03:35] So she didn't have the capability to go around and do a lot of what she did.

[00:03:41] And then I actually made phone calls for her,

[00:03:45] which I was able to help understand what exactly they were looking for,

[00:03:49] which was something simple.

[00:03:50] They was looking for her insurance information and some other paperwork that

[00:03:55] they said that she never submitted.

[00:03:58] And this would back in forth and back in four or four while.

[00:04:01] You know, because sometimes unfortunately people don't have the patients to deal with seniors

[00:04:05] because seniors want to take time and write things down and write.

[00:04:10] And so these people sometimes get all snoddy on the top of phone.

[00:04:15] You know, but throughout the process we was able to get her money back,

[00:04:19] get her back on her thing.

[00:04:22] They needed some papers from the doctor and all kinds of stuff that they needed.

[00:04:26] Harbin and a wheelchair, a very limited to that.

[00:04:29] She has family but her family was not a family that could actually assist her for various reasons.

[00:04:36] And that's where I came into the picture and helping her with something like that.

[00:04:40] It was a long process but in the long one she got her money back.

[00:04:45] She was able to just get back on disability.

[00:04:47] That was the only source of income that she had.

[00:04:49] What was she supposed to do?

[00:04:50] They seemed to not care all they wanted was what they wanted and that was that.

[00:04:55] Yeah, that's great.

[00:04:57] Some glad that you were in here to stand in the gap because that's very important.

[00:05:01] She could have never know what would have happened to her.

[00:05:05] So we don't really want to consider that because you were sent there to help her.

[00:05:10] Now we're here at another example about someone with the IRS.

[00:05:16] So I have a guy who has, I think this is a, but this is just one of my

[00:05:22] several because I also do taxes as well.

[00:05:27] So he had, this is taxes and many people get four ones.

[00:05:33] So he got that money in one year when he signed the four in one year but didn't get it till the next year.

[00:05:40] Well, he won the pudding it basically in both years.

[00:05:45] So the one year that it wasn't supposed to be put in there, he had to,

[00:05:50] he had went downtown or called downtown to where they helped you at and go to the other.

[00:05:58] Yeah, the advocate, the tax advocates.

[00:06:01] So I went down there and they allegedly changed it to the correct year but didn't take it out

[00:06:08] the other year.

[00:06:09] So the one year he'd run up on all of this extra tax money because he put it in there,

[00:06:14] although they didn't have a documentation for it.

[00:06:17] When he tried to contact somebody to help him, they wanted $2,000.

[00:06:25] Oh wow.

[00:06:25] To fix this problem.

[00:06:28] Meetness to say I fixed the problem for him.

[00:06:30] I didn't know where near charging for that.

[00:06:32] It was a matter of sending a letter to the IRS and the many his taxes that were done wrong.

[00:06:39] And then just going from there and that took care of the problem.

[00:06:43] It's just, when you don't know what to do, this is what happens to you.

[00:06:47] Yeah, you don't know.

[00:06:48] You're right exactly and it says that's the thought.

[00:06:52] Again, I can't express the importance of that.

[00:06:55] And then us listening to this as entrepreneurs, we're busy and we're probably trying to help folks

[00:07:01] to and our families and things, stuff through the cracks.

[00:07:05] So this is another important aspect of our business or as an entrepreneurship.

[00:07:11] You know, like we're not just business owners.

[00:07:15] We go, we help challenges and things too and our family members do.

[00:07:20] So yeah, so thanks for being in the gap.

[00:07:23] I know an introduction we talked about how you got into this with your mom, aging,

[00:07:28] and going through her own challenges.

[00:07:30] And so you're able to fill in the gap for her and you take care of her needs as well.

[00:07:36] So like with my mom, it's a lot of paperwork that was due especially in the early days.

[00:07:41] I used to have to go down to the welfare office like every six months or so to fill out paperwork

[00:07:49] and do this just for her to keep her benefits.

[00:07:52] And the sad part about it is if my mom didn't have somebody like me, you know, how

[00:07:58] would she get that stuff done?

[00:07:59] I think sometimes that's why a lot of people wind up being in senior cares and nursing homes

[00:08:06] and stuff like that because the family don't want to be bothered with all the stuff they

[00:08:10] goes with it.

[00:08:11] They don't know how to do it.

[00:08:12] It was very frustrating for me.

[00:08:15] And even if you don't have people telling you how to get the benefits that you need

[00:08:20] for your loved one, you're just going to be ready just to put them in a nursing home or whatever.

[00:08:25] But my mom is living with me.

[00:08:27] And I get lots of benefits for her because I know how to get them.

[00:08:31] And this is where I come in at for people who are caretakers.

[00:08:34] You know, I try to tell them, try to get these benefits before you actually need them.

[00:08:39] You know, and know what you need to do so that you can help yourself because a lot of

[00:08:45] them people in a nursing home if you ever been there, someone who don't necessarily need to be there.

[00:08:50] You know, but if they don't have no one, it's just a hassle when they're at home

[00:08:55] because there's so much paperwork that you have to do.

[00:08:58] But this is where someone like me comes in at to help you with the paperwork, to help you get somebody

[00:09:03] who could come out to see your mom to help you get my mom has a serious, they paid for it.

[00:09:09] My mom had a walk in a tub, they paid for it.

[00:09:12] My mom has a nurses aid that come in, they pay for it.

[00:09:15] But how to get these benefits so that you can keep your loved one at home?

[00:09:21] Yeah, that's that's important because in the life and these years coming up like that

[00:09:28] you know, our golden golden years we do need to be an advocate and somebody really again

[00:09:33] like I keep saying a standard of gap.

[00:09:36] You know, for us then, so if we are caretakers and those probably some caretakers that are

[00:09:42] listening to this podcast and how can we get into a few or how can if we need these services

[00:09:47] or how do we do that? So the best way to get in touch with me is to leave my message on my

[00:09:58] as well and they can get in touch with me through email office.ofic.planfor you that spelled all

[00:10:09] out pla in flrriolu at yahoo.com. That's office.planforyouat yahoo.com or I can always be called at

[00:10:24] 40 or 364-3149 and I'm pretty much getting my message as soon as possible.

[00:10:33] But it's a lot of stuff that seniors need and sometimes I think even if you're watching this

[00:10:38] and thinking, I don't need this you can just write my number down in case that time commonly needed.

[00:10:44] I've actually will read documents. It's an elderly gentleman. I didn't get a chance to help him,

[00:10:51] he was one of my tax clients that lost his home because he changed his bank account and his

[00:10:58] taxes for the home came out of there. I'm sure he got mail but elderly people ignore them now.

[00:11:06] Well, another thing that I can do, I can go through your mail. I've done that for people.

[00:11:11] I go through the mail let them know what's important. It was not important. It's very

[00:11:15] frustrating for elderly people to have to take care of this and if you have a family member out

[00:11:20] that you're overseeing go through the mail. Sometimes I don't trust you go and that's where

[00:11:25] sometimes somebody like me comes in at. I've actually read someone's documents and they family

[00:11:29] wanted them to do something that they didn't want to do. You know how family just would say

[00:11:33] scientists and that's another place where I come in at. I call that Pam's third eye.

[00:11:40] I'm the one that was just looking over the documents. I tell you what is all about now you make a

[00:11:49] their losing their eyesight. They have family members that they don't trust. Sometimes for

[00:11:55] genuine reasons sometimes it's not you could trust that person but that decision is up to them.

[00:12:01] I don't tell you what to do with the documents but I can't read it over explaining to you

[00:12:06] what's all security wants you to do, what the where I fail wants you to do. What your family wants

[00:12:11] you to do? What's this paperwork all about? I can help go over that. I do a lot of

[00:12:19] everything but who does. But I'm willing to do the paperwork, the footwork, make the phone

[00:12:25] call, the answer to the questions to help you figure out what's going on or what you need to do.

[00:12:31] Awesome. Well thanks Pam. Really appreciate that and what kind of insurance do you offer?

[00:12:36] I do life insurance. I'm with two different life insurance companies that I do life insurance with

[00:12:43] but it's just life insurance and a lot of a lot of final expense ones. It's amazing how many

[00:12:49] elderly people do not have insurance or how many people think that they cannot get insurance. But

[00:12:55] you can. I tell some of my clients who only can get a small amount of insurance and some people

[00:13:00] like well that's not enough. That's less that your family would have to borrow later. Right. So even

[00:13:07] if you can only contribute $2 or $3,000 to your burial that's less that your family have to

[00:13:14] do because funeral homes will not do anything. If somebody don't sign on that dotted line

[00:13:20] that they're going to pay them back later on because your dad so I've seen body sit for weeks

[00:13:26] and weeks because people did not have insurance. I think that that's very sad especially in the

[00:13:31] living room. We have apple watches and specific telephones and we don't want to pay a small amount

[00:13:39] of money for our insurance. And I encourage my elderly people if you can't afford insurance,

[00:13:44] get your family to pitch in. In the long run they're going to have to pitch in later anyway.

[00:13:50] Some of my elderly clients they talk to their family and each family member may give $5, $10

[00:13:56] and then they can then they can have a decent policy because don't wait till your love won't

[00:14:01] get to put in a nursing home or close to life in the life and then you decide they need some

[00:14:07] insurance. Get it now. Actual family members do they have insurance? Yeah that's good advice. Well thanks

[00:14:14] again Pam and Chop Squad make sure you contact Pam Coleman for the senior services and even

[00:14:25] thanks Pam. All right thank you so much bye. Thank you for listening to the business staff.

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