Practical Solutions for Problems That Don’t Fit the Usual Advice

Most difficult problems do not suffer from a shortage of advice. They suffer from a shortage of useful options. 

At The Missing Option, we look closely at the problems people are already trying to solve—the ones that leave them searching through article after article, calling organization after organization, or following the standard advice only to discover that none of it quite fits their circumstances. Sometimes the usual solution is too expensive. Sometimes it is unavailable where they live. Sometimes it assumes family support they do not have, physical abilities they no longer possess, time they cannot spare, or resources that simply do not exist. For caregivers dealing with cognitive decline in loved ones, finding effective dementia resources can feel particularly overwhelming. And sometimes the conventional answer is technically correct but practically useless. 

That is where we begin. 

The Missing Option is a research, resource, and problem-solving platform from Bottom Line Solutions, LLC. We investigate complicated real-world issues, identify the gaps between the solutions people are routinely offered and the realities they actually face, and then look for better ways forward. 

We are less interested in repeating what everyone already knows than in asking the questions that often get overlooked: 

What if the standard solution is not available? 

What if someone cannot afford it? 

What if geography, health, family circumstances, bureaucracy, or another barrier makes it impossible? 

What alternatives already exist but are difficult to find? 

What pieces of several existing solutions could be combined into something more workable? 

And where no good option currently exists, what could one look like? 

Our investigations are designed to go deeper than surface-level advice. We look at research, government programs, nonprofit resources, professional guidance, emerging models, real-world experiences, and overlooked possibilities. Just as importantly, we focus on the barriers that determine whether a solution is actually usable. 

Because finding a resource is not the same as solving a problem. 

A program that exists three counties away may be useless to someone without transportation. A service that costs $35 an hour is not a solution for a family that cannot afford it. For caregivers seeking help with Alzheimer’s or dementia resources, merely telling them to “ask family for help” accomplishes very little when there is no family available. And giving an overwhelmed person a list of 47 websites may technically provide information while creating even more work. 

We want to do better than that. 

That is why many of our investigations lead to practical tools—guides, workbooks, decision aids, checklists, planning systems, templates, scripts, and other resources designed to help people move from “I understand the problem” to “I know what I can do next,” particularly in areas as complex as dementia caregiving or book publishing. 

Some resources are free because the information should be easy to access. Others are more comprehensive paid products designed to save substantial research, organization, and decision-making time. In either case, our standard is the same: 

It should add real value. 

The Missing Option will not focus on only one subject forever. Our first major area of investigation centers on dementia caregiving because it is an extraordinary example of a problem in which families are frequently told what they should do without being given realistic ways to overcome the barriers that prevent them from doing it. But the larger mission is broader. 

Wherever people are being handed the same limited set of answers, we want to ask whether something important has been left out. 

We are not interested in being contrarian merely for the sake of being different. Sometimes the conventional solution really is the best one. When it is, we will say so. But when evidence, experience, or simple logic suggests that another possibility deserves serious consideration, we are willing to investigate it. 

Because sometimes the answer is not hidden. 

Sometimes it is simply the option no one thought to look for. 

That is The Missing Option.