Out of everything you said, you could have gotten the Galaxy Note 10.1 on Verizon with LTE, 32 GB of storage and an SD card slot. Sure, it wouldn't be free with 64 GB like the iPad Mini, but it sure has and does a he** of a lot that the Mini cannot do. So the tradeoffs are beyond worth it, especially because you could get a 64 GB SD card to put in it. The options are there, people just don't want to see them. You're obviously interested in the Note 8 because you're annoyed that the specs don't match your needs. So you could get it's bigger brother (which would be better for serious business/work needs anyway) and have those needs met. I've never understood people who act like the tablet is essential for business, and then I see them carrying a iPad Mini or Nexus 7. If you REALLY must have it for business, the larger size of the regular iPad or Note 10.1 or Nexus 10 would be much more effective. I could see having the smaller form factor for some travelling purposes, but every serious businessman i've seen with a tablet has had a full size one.
EDIT: I was wrong. It looks like Verizon only offers a 16 GB version. But with a 64 GB SD card and the 12 or so GB avail on the tablet, you'd still have 76 GB to utilize. Which should still be enough for most things. Especially with multiple SD Cards if necessary.