Indiana family wanting wide open spaces and good place to raise family. (Gillette: unemployment rate, school)

[ehoyle79]

Well, right now I'm majoring in Business Admin and have my personal trainer certification. I'm also focusing on nutrition. My goal was to start my own health, fitness, I also do massage, so pretty much the whole health and well being thing. Although I'm thinking that isn't really a huge thing out there. Of course I could always change my major and focus on health care, because I know everywhere needs nurses. But I'm really more interested in being my own boss, that way I can have time with my kids.
Is there an age limit as far police or sheriff department??

[sunsprit]

If you're looking at public service sector jobs in the area, you may want to investigate why there's job openings/turnover in these departments in the area before applying ....

As far as "being your own boss" for time with your kids, I've been "my own boss" for over 40 years. My experience ... and that of friends in similar businesses ... is that you may have substantially less "own" time than working shift schedule in a 40 hr week for somebody else. If you haven't been in a small/independent business before, you may find that the grass isn't quite so "green" on the other side of the fence. I'd also caution you that a one person shop may not necessarily have the income potential and net cash flow that you envision when you're in a small town. A lot will depend upon what effort/energy/capitalization and expense you're willing (and able) to justify for your ROI and ROtime.

Good luck with your location search.

[jkb826]

As far as the age limit I have no idea. but you can probably go to city of Sheridan or Sheridan County web sites for that info.
As far as your business there are a couple of like business here in town. Couple of places for massages and health food stores and a place for yoga and such. We do have a nursing school as well as dental hygenist at the college

[letsgobucks!]

If I may chime in, I'm in Ohio and and in a similar situation/mode of thought as ehoyle79, (tired of lieralism, excessive crime, 4 kids under 10, etc.) and I'm curious about what the teachers do on those Fridays off? Do you know if they are in meetings doing some sort of professional development?

Also, I'm a bit surprised to read about the amount of gardening that occurs there. Or at least CAN. It's very important to our family...especially vegetables but we also have a few chickens and are interested in goats... I have been eyeing up Sheridan and Gillette and have been under the impression that it's really tough to garden and/or do any small scale farming.

I'll keep tuned into this thread for any more info and insight. Thanks!

[jkb826]

I do not know what the teachers do on the Fridays. Maybe someone else on this forum can answer that question.
As far as gardening here, it is done quite alot. We have farmers markets in the late summer and fall to sell the excess. We raise alot of corn, tomatos, pumpkins, summer and fall squash. One of the standing jokes around here in late summer is that the main reason you need to keep all your car doors locked at all times is not to keep things from being stolen but to prevent anyone putting excess zucchini in them. The season is not real long mainly from late May to middle of September. Although we had a hard frost here second week in June. Lost some garden and had to replant.

[ehoyle79]

Well, my husband used to be a police officer in Suffolk, VA, which hasn't some of the more crime/drugs ridden areas, and they seemed to have a high turnover also, so that can be a reason, or bad administration is always a good guess as well.

[ehoyle79]

Originally Posted by jkb826

As far as the age limit I have no idea. but you can probably go to city of Sheridan or Sheridan County web sites for that info.
As far as your business there are a couple of like business here in town. Couple of places for massages and health food stores and a place for yoga and such. We do have a nursing school as well as dental hygenist at the college

So how well do those businesses do if I may ask, and in such a small town I would think that three of such business would be a little too much, as far as being able to turn a profit??
How many hospitals are in the Sheridan area? Is there a good demand for trained RNs??

[jkb826]

I really dont know how well the busineses do. We do have spa that is connected with a doctors office that really does quite well I think. They do everything from Botox to facial to massages.
There are 2 hospitals here in Sheridan. Sheridan Memorail and then we have VA hospital. I think there is alway a demand for RN's but we do have a nursing school here so there are lots of gradutes that stay in the area. We also have 2 nursing homes with a 100 beds or so. Buffalo which is about 36 miles away also has a hospital and a nursing home.

[ehoyle79]

Originally Posted by jkb826

I really dont know how well the busineses do. We do have spa that is connected with a doctors office that really does quite well I think. They do everything from Botox to facial to massages.
There are 2 hospitals here in Sheridan. Sheridan Memorail and then we have VA hospital. I think there is alway a demand for RN's but we do have a nursing school here so there are lots of gradutes that stay in the area. We also have 2 nursing homes with a 100 beds or so. Buffalo which is about 36 miles away also has a hospital and a nursing home.

Well, thank you again for the info, that is very helpful. Right now I'm just starting in school not too late to change a major, I know that i don't want to stay in Indiana, so I don't want to get a degree in something that will not be applicable where I'm wanting to move to.

[WyoNewk]

A good RN can find a job almost anywhere. Another good profession in the medical field is pharmacy. My daughter graduated from UW with a pharmacy degree about 12 years ago and had dozens of offers in the $75-$80K range. I'd imagine starting pay now is $100K+. Good hours, nice conditions, plenty of openings.