Linda Tarpley, D.C., grew up just 20 miles outside New York City, but she credits her decision to establish a home practice far from busy city life with allowing her more time to spend with her husband and children while also developing a satisfying career. Having a rural office has also provided more than a few unusual experiences. Located in the Holly Springs community of Upstate South Carolina, she’s treated a variety of patients in need of chiropractic services. But she’s also had people walk into her office with broken bones, sprained ankles, twisted knees and even heart palpitations.

“I’ve had to send a patient to the emergency room, and I’ve sent the ones with sprains and broken bones to be x-rayed,” Tarpley says of a practice in which she has earned the trust of the farmers, builders and often self-employed residents of the community.

When working in the high-pressure world of real estate in New Jersey, what she calls a “rat race,” she couldn’t have envisioned the life she lives now. After leaving a 14-year career in real estate to attend another chiropractic college, Tarpley embarked on what she calls “a whirlwind 10 years.” First she met Bob, the man who would become her husband. Then she transferred to Sherman, graduated, married, had their first child and began building her practice.

Since she didn’t want a “shopping center location,” Tarpley and her husband, who has worked for Michelin North America for the past six years, decided to build a home to their own specifications. Tarpley credits her many years in real estate as an asset when designing and building a home office to suit their needs. The 600 square-foot office, with its own outside entrance, is part of the 2,500 square-foot home, conveniently connected to their kitchen and laundry room so that Tarpley can work on a pot of vegan chili between patients, spend time with her family and even home school her children — Grace and Faith.

“The layout is perfect, and I have a loving person to help with the children right here in our home while I see patients,” Tarpley says of the arrangement that not only gives her more time with her family, but also provides tax advantages and countless other conveniences. “My husband works swing shift, so having a home office gives us more time together,” Tarpley adds. “And it’s nice having a live-in handyman to change my sign bulbs too.”

She established Tarpley Family Chiro-practic, LLC, on an “affordable fee system,” because the overhead of a home office is less than that of a separate office space, and she is able to pass the savings on to her patients. Because of the fee system, her patients can come in regularly to be checked, something they might not have been able to do if she had a practice with a higher overhead. For her, it is con-venient to see patients on a walk-in basis, no appointments necessary, and opening for four hours in the afternoon suits her schedule of homeschooling Grace and Faith in the mornings.

“I’ve structured my practice so that it’s more like a service and less like a business. It’s been a real blessing for me,” she says. “Being right here in the neighborhood has helped me to get to know people more personally and has allowed me to rely solely on word-of-mouth to grow the practice.”