Conundrums & Dilemmas.. What to do?

Well the last two days have been interesting. Doc Softy and I have been planning out our options so that we can get the ball rolling on our first private practice. We knew we were going to extend our contract for one more year with the seniordoc we currently work for. I actually asked her for a raise. I was expecting a counteroffer but to my suprise, thats not what I got.

Well here's whats changed. They accepted my raise but proposed a counter offer. If we extend our contract for two years, it would effectively be giving us a $40,000 raise annually!! Damn! I wasn't expecting that. For them, its a smart move because it keeps their practice stable and they dont have to go through the energy of finding new doctors.

So we quickly had to decide what we were going to do:

• Extend our contract for one year and try to startup cold next year in "Smalltown"
• or Extend our contract for two years, save more money.. but possibly lose our opportunity in Smalltown if another doctor opens up before us

Thinking we had to make this decision quick, we decided to visit Smalltown this weekend. When we got here we toured the location's main streets, spoke to a few locals, walked into the Wal-Mart to get a feel of the community mix, and met up with a realtor.

Heres our next problem... we calculated that we could open up in Smalltown and do well our first year BUT (theres always a but right?) we cant find a good location!! We want to be open close to Doc Competition and on the main drag, but after our recent search there seems to be nothing available for sale, or lease :(

What to do...