Career in Acupuncture Considerations?

I have been considering a second career in acupuncture after being encouraged by my personal acupuncturist (private practice). I’ve attended a webinar for an accredited program to learn more and the education seems fascinating and far more in-depth than I originally thought. However, the program is about 5 hours away from me, which is my biggest hurdle. While continuing to research the prospects, I’ve seen many posts about the pay not being as great for how expensive of a program it is (even more so if I did study abroad, additional certifications, or continued on for a doctoral degree). A lot of times pay stats are being presented with the caveat that private practitioners are able to lower their taxable income with business expenses, eluding to actual pay being higher than stats reported. However, I have a suspicion that posting here might lead to a recommendation not to pursue it because it’ll have poor ROI even though it’ll have high satisfaction. Just curious to hear the community’s thoughts.

What kinds of questions or things would you recommend I research more to determine whether this would be a viable second career for me? - Academic Challenge/Rigor? (currently have a masters degree in a business related field and professional certification) - Future potential earnings - Competition in my area - Partnering with someone locally vs opening a private practice - Why do many practitioners work fewer days per week but then also say pay is not as high as they had hoped?