Hometown Wyoming, pop. 25,000

Unknown asks:

"I am going back to my hometown in Wyoming (population 25,000). Just curious why you think starting a practice in a place like this (Nome was your example) is a bad idea?"

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As Joe Friday in Dragnet says: “Just the facts, ma’am...”

1. What other towns are in close proximity to Home Town, WY? Can you poach of off them? Will they drive to come see you?
2. Are you planning on joining an established practice with a chiropractor or massage therapist? This could work to your advantage. 
3. How many other established chiropractors, acupuncturists, massage therapists are there in town? How many of them will be willing to refer to you? (See also my post “A Tale of Two Cities”) 
4. How well liked are you in Home Town?  If you are well liked, assume you can attract a few more people to your practice.
5. How many people in Home Town, WY are going to think that what you do is voodoo and will never come to see you no matter how poorly they are sleeping or how bad their back is hurting?
6. What is the median income of the folks in Home Town? I ran the numbers for  what I considered to be an average four-person family through http://www.disposableincome.net/. It was quite humbling to see that this family would need to be making $65K a year to afford weekly acupuncture for one family member. Also keep in mind most folks don’t have an “acupuncture budget”, a chiropractic budget and massage budget, they just have X number of dollars at the end of the month to spend on their health and wellness. (or clothes or video games or mini golf)
7. How hard are you willing to work to promote your business? Nights, weekends?
8. Do you want to do acupuncture full-time or part-time? Would it be acceptable to work at the bank two days a week and work at your practice three days a week to live in the place you love?
9. Based on the information you’ve assembled above, how many patients do you think you can get in the door each week? How much are you planning to charge each patient? Are you planning on starting a community clinic? If so, you will need to get 3 or 4 times as many butts in chairs as a conventional acupuncture practice!
10. How much money per month can you survive on? (rent, food, utilities, necessities) Are you going to be living alone? Are you going to be living with your life partner, that happens to be a much sought-after video game designer making triple digits? 
11. How much money are you going to be spending on overhead? Rent, utilities, supplies, general and professional liability insurance, taxes, advertising (to name a few)

Now crunch the numbers and tell me if starting your dream practice in Home Town, WY  looks like a great business idea, or a poor one. I hope it still looks like a great one!