You're ready to break out on your own and open a practice—but money's tight. A leasehold may be your best bet for success. Here's how to make it work.

There's more to a good site than the right location. Here's a look at the other factors you need to consider.

Your choice to work in the beauty of the countryside or on the teeming street corner in view of all passersby may influence your state of mind—but it also affects your pay. The Brakke Management and Behavior Study, released in 1999, shows that practitioners who choose to live in rural settings generally earn less than their urban counterparts. For example, practice owners who work in communities of 2,500 people or fewer earn 21 percent less than owners who live in larger communities.

Q. I’ve worked as an associate at an equine clinic for several years. Now I’m ready to start my own mobile practice, but I signed a noncompete agreement with the clinic I currently work for. Can I still practice in this area, or do I need to move to another location? What other legal issues do I need to consider?

If you're thinking of relocating your hospital, your current clients can "point" you in the right direction. Post an area map on corkboard in your reception area and invite clients to mark their neighborhood with a pushpin, says Dr. Sue Summers, an associate in Midwest City, Okla.

Q. I've owned a small animal practice in a suburb for nearly a year, and business is fair. There's one big problem, though: No one can find my practice. It's not on a main thoroughfare or a corner lot, so we don't attract many new clients--if any--from drive-by traffic. Even my established clients complain the hospital's too far off the beaten path. Are we sunk in this location? Is there anything we can do to try and make it work?

Q. After 23 years in the same location, my veterinary practice is landlocked. Parking space is almost nonexistent, and traffic is so heavy clients sometimes struggle to even enter the lot. My wife suggested we move into an area where housing is booming. But our practice is still growing where we are, and I don't want to move too far from this location. In a city with 80,000 people and nine other clinics, how far can I move without losing my client base?

When selecting your veterinary hospital's site, a high-traffic road may not be your best option, says Larry Gates, a senior principal with Gates Hafen Cochrane Architects P.C. in Boulder, Colo. During the 1998 Veterinary Economics Hospital Design Conference in Kansas City, Mo., he showed attendees how to target a market niche and noted that while conventional wisdom suggests busy streets provide the best visibility, clients who can't easily reach your hospital will probably go elsewhere.