You could do it on 50k running real lean. Talk to Mike Crosby, he can outline a plan for you.
This is possible if it's a cheap rent area, but you probably also want at least that much in LOC/savings just in case.
The other alternative is the part-time nursing homes or house calls or whatever to keep the lights on.
A decent staff member will eat up $5k or so in salary + benefits just on their own.
You don't want to be anywhere near that situation of missing payroll vs moving into the office.
Try thinking of it as an intern year for business. Be relaxed and don't work too hard since you aren't getting paid much anyways. Spend a year learning billing and asking lots of questions to the office manager. Look up the best advertising agencies and who does the best website hosting. Look for locations to open your own practice. Look at different EMR and billing agencies. You may find that one year of crappy pay has a few benefits.
^^^Yes, this is the best way:
Learn a bit about office logistics and staffing and billing/coding, get some money saved, see how an office runs, practice marketing/networking, sometimes get a few connections in the area (assuming it's an area when non-competes don't hold up... Cali, NJ, DE, RI, NM, RI, others).
Fyi, if it's a state with weak non-competes, getting fired - as opposed to quitting when you depart - makes you a lot more able to litigate to stay in the area ("had no choice"), but that's a big risk to take. The best move is typically to do whatever you want (if non-competes don't hold up) or to go at least slightly outside the radius if it's a state where they're enforced.
