Copy of STP 26 | Tips for adding a Courses, Coaching, and Consulting Services
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​James Marland: Welcome to the Scaling Therapy Practice. This is James Marlin. I have another special guest for you. This week we're gonna be talking about. Conferences and running a conference and what all that entails. And we have Whitney Owens, who is a friend of the show.
James Marland: Hi Whitney.
Whitney Owens: Hey James. How you
James Marland: doing? I'm doing awesome. Really, really good. The weather has started to turn here in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I, I did have my window open before, before we were podcasting because the weather is so nice. I feel like I talk about the weather every time I open the show, but what's it like there in, uh, Georgia?
Whitney Owens: Well, the weather is very important. It's actually hot here. Hot and um, yeah, I'm gonna go on a walk in a little bit and it's gonna probably be about 76, which is, I mean, I think it's great. My daughter was at the pool yesterday. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So it's funny, but it should be getting cold again next week, thank goodness.
Whitney Owens: Cause I can't, I can't sustain this. Long term
James Marland: in Pennsylvania, we have, uh, the, every, every season of the year in like ev every the week, it takes a week for the seasons to change. And so I think yesterday or two days ago we had snow flurries. Uh, today it's 65 or something tomorrow. Who knows? Uh, I don't know.
James Marland: So, um, well let me, let me do a little introduction and then you can, uh, tell us a little bit more about yourself. But, um, Whitney Owens is a licensed professional counselor. She's a group practice owner and faith-based private practice consultant. She's located in the beautiful Savannah Georgia where she manages a private pay group practice with 14 clinicians along with running her practice.
James Marland: She consults practice owners around the country on how to start and grow a successful faith-based practice. She hosts summits a weekly podcast. Membership communities for faith-based pr, faith-based practice owners called The Wise Practice. Whitney, welcome to the show. Thank you James, again for the second time.
James Marland: So what, what, what, what would you like the audiences to know about you?
Whitney Owens: Sure. Um, well, I definitely have my southern accent, so you can't, can't ignore that. But I'm from, I am from the Georgia area and I have two little girls. Um, one is Abby and she is six, and Anna just turned 10. She keeps reminding me that she's a, uh, tween.
Whitney Owens: I believe her pre-teen, I'm not, I can't remember what she says. Um, and definitely is acting like it. And, uh, I'm married to actually a man named James. So same name,
James Marland: don't you? It's a great name. I, I, I'm fond of it myself.
Whitney Owens: Yes. And he is a Methodist minister right now. He's a youth pastor. Um, we'll be moving into a pastoral role hopefully soon within the Methodist Church.
Whitney Owens: Um, yeah, so that's, that's a little bit about me. I like to run, I like to read non-fiction. I like to be silly. Um, and I love coffee. How's
that?
James Marland: Okay, great. Uh, do you. Do you, uh, so coffee, do you grind your beans or do you, um, press them or how do you make it like
Whitney Owens: Yes. Well, I just put the dr put the coffee in the night before.
Whitney Owens: Okay. This is a good question though, but I used to work in coffee shops and, um, my husband worked at Starbucks. I worked at like, A local coffee shop mm-hmm. And we ground 'em ourselves and made the latte art and stuff. So that's, that's my history. But, um, now that I have two kids and I'm working like what, three jobs?
Whitney Owens: It sounds like based on what you read, like I just do the nice
James Marland: strip coffee. Yeah. We, uh, we buy, we buy normally the, either the, the. Grocery store Branda just put it in. Or when the Starbucks breakfast blend is on sale, we get that. Mm-hmm. Just some sort of mellow, I'm a mellow coffee drinker. Like a smooth, I guess, is that the right term?
James Marland: A smooth coffee drinker? Mm-hmm. Like, I don't mm-hmm. Like the hard acid, um, french roast is not for me.
Whitney Owens: Yeah, actually my husband likes all that, which makes it hard for us. We have different types of coffee, like as far as the strength of it. So I'll be like, yeah, I'll preset the coffee.
James Marland: Well, if you, if you do it the night before, you know, you can't complain too much.
James Marland: Mm-hmm. Uh, so, um, I met. I met Whitney at some conferences and she's just been a really great friend, um, just with advice. And, uh, I listened to her show and um, I listened to her show a lot.
Whitney Owens: She's used to my southern
James Marland: accent. Yeah. Um, and I got my wife listening to your show, even though she's not in, um, In, in, she's, she works with therapists, but she's not a therapist herself. She just enjoys the, the conversation that you bring there. Uh, we're gonna talk about conferences, but bef and, uh, before we do that though, I want to go into our first segment of your, the tool tip or tech of the week.
James Marland: Just something we found useful that we've used this week. Either refresh us or remind us or to help us with our work. And one thing that. I was, I was thinking about it today that I don't think I've recommended yet. It's just an audible subscription. Um, I love my Audible subscription. I get, I get one book a month, and so at least once a month I'm listening to something new to refresh my, my mind and soul.
James Marland: And then if I finish that book ahead of time, they have the whole library of books on demand that you don't, that they cycle through, that you don't have to pay for. So, I've listened to some really great classics that way. Uh, I've gotten all the, um, Donald Miller books, the all the recent Donald Miller books on Audible and listened to them.
James Marland: Um, I listened to the Mike McColl's books, prophet First. Um, uh, I just bought two weeks notice from, uh, that was, uh, Two weeks notice was from Amy Porterfield, which is some really great, uh, information. And I just, you know, if there's something I use almost every day, it's my audible subscription. I got it a couple years ago, and it's something that I, I, I just love and, and, uh, I as somebody who loves to read, but my eyes, you know, my eyes are not as great as they used to be.
James Marland: Uh, audible has really kept me, uh, learning and growing. In at just ev any time of the day. So that is my tip of the week. Uh, do you have a tip, uh, or tool or tech? Whitney,
Whitney Owens: does it need to be something I learned this week
James Marland: or can it just be no. Something that you use or think other people could use?
Whitney Owens: Mm. Okay.
Whitney Owens: So, I love Squarespace for my website. Okay. Tell us about Squarespace. Yeah. Yeah, so I, you know, I have two businesses. So I've got the private practice, which is WordPress, um, which is funny. I made that website like 10 years ago and I could do it. But then when I started the consulting business and I tried WordPress, I was so bad.
Whitney Owens: I was so bad that I erased everything somebody else did for me. Oh, mm-hmm. Okay. So I wasted like $500 on this one page that had all gotten done, and then she calls me and she goes, Whitney, did you not like what I did? And I was like, oh my gosh. No. I thought it was so good. In fact, I accidentally erased it all.
Whitney Owens: Oh no. I was so embarrassed. So anyway, she was like, Whitney, you can do Squarespace. I promise you can. I was like, no, no, no. You don't understand. I cannot do technology. I cannot do a website. Do you see what I just, did she go, actually, it was a WordPress website that I had
James Marland: erased every, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I've done, I've done bad things with WordPress two.
Whitney Owens: It's so different than it was 10 years ago. And so she's like, you can do this, do Squarespace. And we got on there and I love it. And so you're talking about. Summits, I'm in the, I am in the thick of summit planning. Mm-hmm. And I have to go on that website all the time and change things. Mm-hmm. Where a speaker will change something.
Whitney Owens: And so I need to update. In fact, I have an update I need to do right now. And it has been super great to have Squarespace, cuz I can do it all myself. Yeah,
James Marland: I, I have a Squarespace page two and I agree you can, you can do it yourself. WordPress I figured I could figure out, but Squarespace, I could do.
James Marland: Quicker. Mm-hmm. Just with my limited time. Uh, and, and I, I do love Squarespace for beginners. I do have a Cajabi page right now that's similar to Squarespace, but every once in a while I, I wish I, I was just like, oh, I can do this in Squarespace. So, yeah. Great, great tip. So we're gonna move into our, our main segment, which is talking about conferences.
James Marland: Uh, And Whitney has run a, a conference before and she's gearing up to run her summit. And then she's always, it feels like, I hear you're doing like, you're either going to a conference or planning a conference or you've been to a conference. And so, uh, I thought, what better way to start thinking about, you know, either running your own conference or go to somebody's conference to kind of refresh your soul and scale up your own business.
James Marland: So I wanted to interview Whitney on that. So we're gonna, we're gonna just start out with, uh, just a, hopefully a softball question about conferences. But, uh, can you tell me your story on how you decided to start doing conferences? Mm-hmm.
Whitney Owens: Yeah, so I'm big for in person. I love being with people. I love the energy.
Whitney Owens: I'm extreme extrovert. So that's, that did it for me. I remember when I was little, when I was little, I was like, I wanna get married one day. Not, not necessarily cuz of the marriage part, but I wanna throw a big party. So my wedding was a party. I mean, I had a life band, which I always wanted. Of course, I married the man of my dreams, which is a plus, but, I got all my family and friends in one place and it was special.
Whitney Owens: Mm. And even as I planned my last conference, I kind of would laugh to myself being like, this is just like wedding planning, like picking the venue, um, you know, marketing the event or like sending out your invites, kind of, um, figuring out the theme of your event, you know, and all these things. Getting the hotel rooms reserved like it is, like planning a wedding.
Whitney Owens: And so I, I love getting people that I love together and that's, One of the reasons I wanted to do one, I also just think that amazing things happen when you get amazing people together, and so we find that people are growing their businesses or they're getting new ideas, or they're meeting people they had never known.
Whitney Owens: Um, yeah. In fact, that there's a group of friends. Uh, one of the guys I keep in touch with that was at my summit, and he is connected to other guys that were at the summit that they would've never known each other if it hadn't been for that summit. Mm-hmm. You know? Mm-hmm. And that makes my heart so happy to see those connections forming.
Whitney Owens: Yeah. So those are some of the reasons why I love summits. Yeah. You,
James Marland: uh, that, uh, I love getting people I love together. It's just, it, it's, but that's why we do these things. Like, that's one of the reasons why I have Thanksgiving and Christmas and those types of things, is we don't always get together and just making it, uh, an amazing event.
James Marland: Just to see people and to be energized by those people. And then the second thing you said was amazing things happen when you get amazing people together. And that if there isn't, uh, a, a better phrase for conferences that I, I don't know what won because, uh, I know amazing things have happened for me.
James Marland: When I've come, gone to conferences and getting and connecting with you and Julie Harris and Daniel Fava, and Gordon Brewer and Uriah, like, all those people were at your conference and I, I'd never met some of them before and now I can email them. I'm not saying you're gonna be a, you're gonna find your own people.
James Marland: You might find, you might, uh, find that same group of people when you go to your conference, but just it seems like, and you, you were saying, You saw a group of people form that wouldn't have formed if they hadn't gone to a conference and that, that's my experience too.
Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Definitely. Yeah. And even in my own experience of conferences, I've made some really cool relationships.
Whitney Owens: Um, I. And even as I've been more in like the consulting realm, I kind of started out right before Covid, a few years before Covid. And so I didn't have tons of opportunity to go to events. Mm-hmm. And then after Covid, I've had more experiences. Um, but even I went to the not your typical psychotherapist in Nashville last May.
Whitney Owens: And that was game changer for me, like finding my identity. You know, as who I am in my own business, I was able to meet a lot of other faith-based therapists that I had not met before. And that was really cool. Um, it was actually during, and, and this is kind of a cool story, and I'm gonna share this at the summit, I'm sure that I'm hosting in October, but when I was sitting in Laura Long's talk and she was talking about getting unstuck and doing things and being adventurous and bold, and I was sitting there like, okay.
Whitney Owens: I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna start consulting. Like, I knew I wanted to do some more consulting on my own, but I was still very nervous about that. And so I purchased my L L C during her talk and she motivated me. And so that was so cool to look back and think of, and now she's gonna be one of the speakers at the Wise Practice Summit.
Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Because she inspired me so much to do this work.
James Marland: Great. Yeah. And, and it's, it's, uh, it's those types of experiences that if you were just in your own. Bubble in your own office, doing your own thing, grinding away that you wouldn't, you wouldn't get, you just wouldn't be exposed to those people. So I'm sure you, I'm sure you have fears though, like, oh, let's just be adventurous.
James Marland: But what's, what, what are some of the, the fears that you had to overcome and how did you overcome them? When you're talking about throwing this big party?
Whitney Owens: I haven't overcome them yet. Well,
James Marland: you, you're faking it though. Like I don't sell it, but, uh, let, just, let, let us in just a little bit. I'll
Whitney Owens: tell you about my fears.
Whitney Owens: Um, okay. So my biggest fear is money. Yeah. Let's just get, get real with it. Um, and now that this summit that I'm doing for October is bigger than the previous one. Mm. It's scarier because you have to put more money down. Um, and then that means the ticket prices have to be higher because you're at a better place and a better experience, you know, and obviously I want to continue to offer better experiences to people attending my summits, but I also don't want it, you know, you don't wanna have ticket prices that are so high.
Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Um, so that is a huge fear is what if I don't sell enough tickets to break even? Um, and of course I wanna make something at the end of the day cuz it is, I mean, planning a summit is way more work than you can ever anticipate. Um, but it's such an amazing reward in the end. So anyway, um, so my other, my other part is just, uh, logistics.
Whitney Owens: I'm a logistics girl and so, you know, something's gonna fall through with the logistics. Um, I am working on getting some continuing education, which is not, Um, not, has not happened. So it is not a c u event, but I'm working hard on trying to get all those accreditations through and it's, that's really challenging.
Whitney Owens: But once I get used to how this process works, I think I'll get better at it. But that's a big deal, you know, and that's scary. Like, I'm gonna do all this work and have all these speakers present all this stuff, and then I get, I don't, I don't get it. I get denied. That would be really bad. Mm-hmm. So hopefully that'll all work out.
Whitney Owens: Um, so yeah, logistics was probably the number one thing that in the money.
James Marland: Uh, so you're, are you going for n b CCC or which for
Whitney Owens: Yeah, that is, that is what I'm gonna try to get, try for.
James Marland: Okay. Yeah, I looked at the, so I do online courses and I was looking like, how can I add this component to the online courses and help therapists get there?
James Marland: Mm-hmm. It's a process for sure, with some paperwork. And, um, uh, and I, um, Lisa Mustard and I were talking about this. She does the therapy show and she was, she's trying to figure out how she can start teaching people to do that. Um, it's in, it's in the back of her mind. Lisa's very energetic. Yes. She's just like, she has a lot of energy and is very inspiring, but, uh, But, so I, I'd just been looking at that, but that would be neat for the, the conference, um, to be offered to be able to offer cus um, but also a lot of, just another layer of complexity right.
James Marland: For you. That's, that's
Whitney Owens: right. That's right. Um, and if you don't mind, I wanna take it back a step cuz I didn't say this earlier when we were talking about reasons for having a summit. Yeah, yeah. The other thing that I think is so important, cuz I can get really stuck in all these logistics, is just how much fun it is.
Whitney Owens: And so when, when I think about Nashville, like for me, I need to get outta my box. I'm an Enneagram type one. Ones need to go out of town to relax and have fun, and it's very true. And so we were in Nashville, like getting to go out every night. I never get to go out and do fun things like that. Like I have little kids at home or I gotta worry about getting up the next day.
Whitney Owens: Like, man, I'm not saying I go get. Crazy or anything. Mm-hmm. But like we went to, um, like the Wild Horse Saloon and did line dancing, um, and got to eat out. I got to go on a jog downtown Nashville, which I love running in cool places. And so I think there's just something to be said for also that exploration piece and having a good time.
Whitney Owens: That I don't normally get to do. Um, in fact, here in Savannah there is a piano bar very close to the hotel. So if I can get enough people registered, my hope is to go and rent out that piano bar and figure out what that would look like. Cuz I think it'd be so much fun to get a bunch of Christian therapists in a piano bar.
James Marland: Sure. And, and the experience though is something that will, will stick with you. Yes, it, I think it's making those, making time for those experiences and the adventures and doing it with the people you love and wanna hang out with, that's gonna, that it pays off. Like it's, it's much better, you know, I could buy myself a new tv, but no, the experience, uh, is not the same.
James Marland: Like, you can spend your money on other things, but the, the experience and like what you're earn learning from those things and just having a good time. Um, that's something that's gonna stick with you much longer than if you just buy stuff, you know, stuff for yourself. Mm-hmm. Um, so it sounds like you've learned a lot from your, from your conference and you're still learning.
James Marland: Um, what are some of the takeaways from your first conference that is helping you build your second conference? Hmm,
Whitney Owens: that's a very good question.
Whitney Owens: I mean, I think that, Having experienced good speakers is important, which I feel like I did the first time and doing again. Um, having your own uniqueness to your conference, like you don't want it to be what everybody else is doing. And so for me, There are a lot of other Christian counseling conferences out there and I will say last year I incorporated a little bit more clinical components within mm-hmm.
Whitney Owens: The talks this year I'm focusing a lot more business and the reason is cuz there are a lot of other Christian counseling conferences, there are not that I'm aware of, any conferences focused on building a Christian practice, like the business side of that. Mm-hmm. Um, so not that we won't have some clinical talk within that, but that is what is making my conference unique.
Whitney Owens: I also have a passion for doing Christianity differently in the sense of like, we don't have to be in this bubble and follow all these rules and let God's beyond all those rules. And so another big part of what I want to convey through these events is that you can be a Christian, you can have fun and you can do good work.
Whitney Owens: Right. Mm-hmm. Um, and that was my first event. I ne I came out on stage and I wrapped, or I did a parody to Eminem. Lose yourself. And let's just, let's be real on this too. That's probably what I spent the most time preparing for.
James Marland: So if I happen to have a copy of that, uh, should I put that on the end of this episode?
Whitney Owens: That's funny. Well, you feel free to do whatever you'd like to do with it. I mean,
James Marland: you know, I might just have a copy. I'm a poor copy for sure on my, on my iPhone, um, of that rap, uh, that was. That was, uh, bold, Whitney.
Whitney Owens: Well, and, and, but that's like, that's what I wanted the conference to be. I wanted to set the quote stage, you know?
Whitney Owens: Yeah. I was on a stage, but wanted to set the stage that we can be silly and we can have fun. Yeah. And honestly, I did it because I thought it was fun. Yeah. And I think when we as hosts embrace who we are and what we love, people will find it. People will be drawn to us, the right, the right people, the people that.
Whitney Owens: Want that. Right? And there's, there's a right therapist for every person. There's a right consultant for every person. Not every match is gonna be right. And so for summits, I think it's the same. Like some summits are gonna be good for certain people and other people they're not. And that's okay. And so I'm gonna embrace who I am and the kind of summit that I wanna run, and hope that it brings in the people, you know, those people that I love and that are gonna benefit from it.
James Marland: Yeah, being authentic is, uh, it's, it's the best way to bring about the people who, who love who you are and to be true to yourself. We, um, you've, you've hit it several times in several different ways about like finding your, your niche, I guess, like that's the business term. You know, your niche. The, if you, if, um, you're not appealing to the mass market.
James Marland: I'm using my hands here for the audio listeners. I mean, you're not appealing to the mass market, like everybody. You're not even appealing to the submarket, you're appealing to, like the sub submarket. The, the people who are, are therapists and counselors, business owners, Christians, but who enjoy fun and, um, you know, are, um, who are attracted to your, your style and your brand.
James Marland: And that is authentic. That is just a way for people to, uh, know they are in the right place. Like if you're authentic, people hear it, feel it, and they're like, oh, they get me. They know who I am. They understand me. They, they answer my questions. They might know the questions before I have them. Like, I should stick around here because this is where I get fed.
James Marland: Mm-hmm.
Whitney Owens: Definitely, yeah. One of the attendees at the last year's event, we had some time at the end where everyone kind of shared what it meant to them, and she said she had been really traumatized by church and religion and having to be within this. You know, the bubble, the rules and feeling like she couldn't be herself.
Whitney Owens: And the fact that I was like, Hey, if you want to go by the pool instead of attend an event, it's okay. And if you wanna bring a drink in here and listen to me talk about faith and you know, business, like that's okay too. And she just had never felt that freedom within her faith and it changed the way she thought about it and that that was pure gold
James Marland: for me.
James Marland: Yeah, that's a, that's a beautiful story. Um, and that, that person was attracted to that, what you bring. Mm-hmm. You know, what you, you brought to the, the table. So, uh, let's, let's turn our attention to some of the thing. Um, Like, what are the problems going to a conference solves for a private practice or, you know, there's a, there's problems of doing therapy alone in a bubble.
James Marland: How does a conference sort of help help that person who is, has just been struggling by themselves? Mm-hmm.
Whitney Owens: Well, the connections are important. You know, it's in, it's in relationships that we find ourselves. And others fund us. Um, and so that vulnerability piece as therapists and as business centers is super important.
Whitney Owens: Conferences also have tons of content, so that's when you, um, create new things. I find that when I'm at a conference is when I get inspired and I see problems more clearly. Like this is a simple example, but last week I was so stuck on a problem going on and I. Man, I couldn't figure it out. And then yesterday I had slept, I had rested and then all of a sudden I figured that thing out in five seconds.
Whitney Owens: Like I was like, like it was actually five minutes, but I was like, dang. Like just when I leave something for a little bit, that's when I get inspired. And I feel the same way about conferences. It's like we need to leave our business to be able to think more clearly about our business. And so that's another reason that I travel, try to travel more, is cuz I, I personally, need that
James Marland: leave our business to see our business more clearly.
James Marland: I, I totally embrace that because week after week, day after day, you know, Monday comes around you, you gotta do all the things right? You gotta like, okay, this list that's a mile long. I have these projects coming up, these people to see the meetings. Assignments, uh, the therapy clients like all these things.
James Marland: And you just go and go and go. And I find the, the weeks and months that I'm most productive is when I do take a day or a half a day or something out to like journal, get alone with my thoughts, get into a place where, okay, what are the three big things you wanna do this month, James? Okay. Those are the things now.
James Marland: Break 'em down and, and start working on 'em rather than running around doing, doing all the things. And it, and it works for me when I go quarterly and yearly, like, okay, what are the big things I wanna do for the year? And then I break 'em down by quarter and by month. Those are when I feel most productive.
James Marland: When I feel lost and stuck is when I never take any time to figure out where, where I'm headed. I just do, do, do. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I think. The conferences allow some of that time for you, right? I mean, that's what you were saying?
Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Definitely, definitely. Yeah. It, it also provides, um, the attendees with more resources, so I.
Whitney Owens: I love having sponsors at my events. And yeah, it's great that they give me all this money to help host the event, but then also I get to help them build their businesses. So my hope is that they all walk away with more connections and more product services sold than when they got there.
James Marland: Right? And so, That was my computer beeping.
James Marland: Haha.
Whitney Owens: Yeah. So then we'll
James Marland: leave that in. We're just gonnas, right? Leave that in.
Whitney Owens: Yeah. And so then people can walk away with more connections to other great businesses, um, to be able to grow their practice.
James Marland: Mm-hmm. That's great. So if, if somebody wanted to start a conference, what advice would you give them?
James Marland: Or a summit like, or even just a little, you know, a little get together. Where, where should somebody start? Yeah,
Whitney Owens: I mean, I would start on your purpose. Okay. Why do you wanna get something together and what do you want it to look like? Like I would identify what you want people to walk away with, what kind of person you want to attend.
Whitney Owens: Um, and then I think it's important that you think through your capacity. Um, do you have the capacity to put together a summit, like just emotionally and time-wise? Um, because if you want to plan an in-person event, it doesn't have to be a summit, like you can do a retreat or you can do a one day event or something like that.
Whitney Owens: I would, I would encourage planning something smaller to see how that goes. Before you're planning something larger. Um, I think it's really important, especially if you ever do a summit that you developed off following. And I hate talking like that cause it's a
business.
James Marland: Yeah. You gotta talk, talk about it though, cuz that's, that's without an audience.
James Marland: You can have the best conference in the world, but if you don't have an audience, nobody's gonna show. So go ahead and talk about audience building a little bit.
Whitney Owens: Yeah. Yeah. And that's actually the same for anything you're gonna offer. You've got to have people that know who you are, that are interested in it.
Whitney Owens: Um, and so building that following, if it's through your email list or your social media or through other connections, I mean, I would say your email list is probably one of the most vital things that you can have in selling anything. Mm-hmm. Um, I mean, I think social media is great, but I think most people purchased things from me through my email list.
Whitney Owens: But I'm definitely gonna tell you, don't do as I do, because, because, you know, I didn't start, I started the consulting, my own consulting business in May, and I'm already hosting a summit that's absolutely insane. So I think my email list is like 280 people now. Okay. So, but I, I wanted to do it. I had done it before.
Whitney Owens: And I knew I had people on board and I have mm-hmm. 14 amazing speakers and then I have 10 sponsors, nine or 10, you know, and so those have been pivotal in me feeling supported in moving forward in what I'm doing.
James Marland: Great. That's great advice. Uh, especially about the thing about like, do a test one or start small.
James Marland: Mm-hmm. Think that's mm-hmm. That's good for a lot of things. I read this book, uh, great by. Great. By choice, I think. No. Nope. It's, it's one of the Jim, Jim, uh, Jim Collins books. He has good to great, great by choice in how the Mighty Fall. And I think it's great by choice. And in that his, his, his tip, that's what you said is, uh, fire bullets before your fire cannon balls.
James Marland: Mm-hmm. Which means, you know, you're like fire. Like little things that have little resources, but approximate what you're trying to do before you invest major resources. In, you know, firing the big cannon shot at something for big impact. Uh, and so that start small and build until you, you know, exactly whe where your resources are going and if it's gonna hit the target.
James Marland: Is, is, uh, key to, uh, viewing, doing, making great impact with your investments without wasting, wasting it. Mm-hmm. That's good. Um, so do you have any, any last comments, uh, any things we didn't cover about conferences? We've sort of just, uh, meandered through a little bit about your journey. Um, but what, what, uh, what do you want people to know about conferences in general?
James Marland: And then after this we'll tell, we'll have people, um, find out where you are online.
Whitney Owens: Yeah. Yeah. I think. I'd want people to know that you can make it work financially. As far as attending a conference, I, a lot of people will say to me that, that they can't make it work. And I guess I wanna say that you have no idea what you're missing out on by not attending.
Whitney Owens: You know, those business relationships, those deals that you'll get on, something that you'd use in the future or potentially you getting ideas to start a business. I mean, look, I, I started Whitney Owen's Consulting while I was at a conference, and now it's this business that's making money. And, you know, I would've never have made that money or had that impact on people if I hadn't done that.
Whitney Owens: Um, and there's so many easy ways, like just put away 20 bucks a week for a while, like that's not much money. Mm-hmm. Or put away a hundred dollars a month and by the end of the year you've got $1,200 to spend on something. Um, get those credit cards, get the free points. I mean, I, I can't believe I didn't use credit cards for a long time.
Whitney Owens: I got a Chase card. I can send you all that, James, if you want links to anything, but like, I got one and I was so mad that I never had gotten one before. And just through my regular group practice expenses, all I did was move them over and I got a thousand dollars free at the end of three months. Well, that's money I could use towards attending an event.
Whitney Owens: And so I, I just think those things are game changer. They help me not be burned out. They give me things to look forward to, so save the money and make it work.
James Marland: That is an amazing tip that, that's our last, that's our last segment, by the way. One thing you want people to know is that, is that the one thing you want people to know or do you wanna come up with another one?
James Marland: No,
Whitney Owens: that's fine. I, I think it's, I
could
James Marland: go on, on what? Let, lemme talk about that for a second. That is a great way to, it's like a double bonus. You know, you're earning money back on what you spend already, but then you have a reward, like a meaningful reward to save up for yourself to, to go to these conferences.
James Marland: You, you save that money for the, for something for yourself, not for. You know, to not for some, you know, pens for the office or whatever, but for your own, uh, personal growth. And I think that's a really simple but doable way to save up some money. That was a great idea. Uh, my one thing, I think it is, it also is just where you were wrapping up, is there's a cost to not attending.
James Marland: Like, we always talk about the cost to attending. Like, oh, I gotta spend this money to do these things, and where am I gonna get the money? Oh, I, I'll just skip it. But there is a cost to not attending because you're not being refreshed, you're not exposing yourself to new ideas. You're not just getting away, let's just say nothing happens at the conference.
James Marland: But you get away and like you come back clearer and uh, you have a story about going to this piano bar in Georgia or wherever. You know, those things are gonna stay with you. So, um, I'm always, and I talk about this when I interview other people, I'm risk averse. Like I'm not that out there, you know, person jumping at every risk and every chance I get, I'm more analytical and.
James Marland: Slow. I think it's slow, but, but then I miss out on some of these great, uh, opportunities, um, that I could have had. If, if I just said, you know what, there is a cost to not doing this as well. So I'm not saying go to every conference, but I think it people should, would, would, would you agree? You should go to one a year?
Whitney Owens: Oh, definitely more than, you don't wanna know how many I'm going to this year. Um, but I think it's important that you figure out what it is that you want out of a summit. Okay. Or outta a conference. Out of a retreat, and pick the ones that you're gonna get. What you're looking for, where your people are.
Whitney Owens: Yeah.
James Marland: Or your relations. That's better advice. Yeah. No, pick, pick what you want, but you're, you're not gonna get it if you don't go. So that's, that's right. That's the, uh, that's the message there. Okay. So, uh, Whitney, thanks for sharing with us today. Where can fe, where can people find you online?
Whitney Owens: Yes, well, this is easy.
Whitney Owens: It's whitney owens.com. Um, it's there that you're gonna find all the information for the Wise Practice Summit, which is a summit for faith-based practice owners wanting to start and grow and scale their business. Um, that conference is gonna be here in Savannah, Georgia, October 5th through the seventh of 2023, so you can get your tickets.
Whitney Owens: Um, there's a dropdown for summits. Um, I'm not sure when you're airing this episode, but I'm also hosting a retreat in April. Um, which is called retreat and rethink your practice. So this is gonna be a much smaller, intimate group. It's gonna be right outside the mountains in Asheville, North Carolina. And it's to help business owners, faith-based practice owners, slow down, but also really think about where they wanna go next in their business.
Whitney Owens: Um, and learning how to rest, like, because really the concept of rest. It's like we can rest on the weekend or whatever, but I wanna teach business owners, how do we rest and work at the same time? Because that's what's gonna allow you to go further and we're resting in the Lord while we work idea. So anyway, that's gonna be in April.
Whitney Owens: Um, so you can also get that on my website under retreats. Um, yeah. And then I host a podcast which you're well aware of, James. And you do a great job editing and promoting my show. Thank you. And it's The Wise Practice Podcast. Yep. Um, yeah, and I have a membership community, the Wise Practice, um, community where faith-based practice centers get together every week and week where our practices together.
Whitney Owens: And so you can get all that information on my website.
James Marland: Great. Uh, thanks so much for sharing that. Your, your, uh, your, your, uh, rest and retreat or retreat and rethink your practice. Made me think about how I, when I was managing people, I would always tell them to take a lunch, take breaks, and go home at the right time.
James Marland: But I, I really struggled as the owner to, to listen to that advice myself. Yes, that's right. It was, it was tough. Mm-hmm. So, great. Thanks. Thanks for all that, uh, Whitney, this was really a delight for me. It was an amazing interview. Thanks for being on the show today.
Whitney Owens: I enjoyed it, James. Thank you.
James Marland: Thanks.
James Marland: Thanks to everybody listening to the show. I appreciate you, the listener, for taking the time to be with us. We, this week, uh, I really do appreciate, uh, just, just spend, uh, the hour or half hour you took to, to be with us. Please check out, uh, whitney owens.com for all the resources and I'll have a bunch of links in the show notes below.
James Marland: So this is James Marlon with Whitney Owens and the scaling therapy practice. Remember to keep making those small steps that lead to big results. We'll see you next time,
James Marland: Thank you for listening to the scaling therapy practice. I hope you enjoyed the show. I want to remind you that the content shared today is for general information and entertainment purposes only. Opinions given should not be considered as legal or tax advice. If you need a professional advice in those areas, please consult with a licensed attorney or accountant, but thank you so much for listening.
James Marland: The scaling therapy practice is part of the psych craft network. ​ ​
