WP170 | Staying the Course (Part 4 of 4): What Faithful Investment Actually Looks Like This Year
Today’s episode is the final part of our January series, Staying the Course, and honestly, it might be the most grounding one yet. We’re talking about what faithful investment actually looks like—especially in seasons where things feel uncertain, noisy, or just plain overwhelming.
If you’ve been wondering, What is actually worth my time, energy, or money right now? or feeling pulled in ten different directions by advice, programs, and opinions… this conversation is for you. Because investment isn’t just about dollars. It’s about stewardship. It’s about discernment. And it’s about learning how to lead steadily instead of reacting out of fear.
In this episode, I’m slowing us down and inviting us to look at investment through a faith-based lens—not reckless growth and not fear-based shrinking, but thoughtful, sustainable leadership over time. We’ll talk about where investing really matters, how to tell the difference between fear-based and faith-based decisions, and how to stay rooted in what God is asking you to tend right now.
If you’ve listened along with this series, thank you for being here. And if you’re just jumping in, I’m so glad you are. Let’s close this series by talking about the kind of investment that brings peace, clarity, and steadiness—not just for your practice, but for you too.
Why “Investment” Feels So Stressful
When most people hear the word investment, they immediately think money. Big commitments. Long contracts. Risk. And while money is part of it, investment is so much more than that. It’s your time, your energy, your emotional capacity, and your spiritual bandwidth.
That’s why these decisions feel personal. You’re not just choosing a software or a hire. You’re deciding what gets your attention in a season where everything already feels full.
Faithful Investment Isn’t All or Nothing
One of the biggest misunderstandings I see is that you’re either growing aggressively or pulling back completely. But faithful investment lives in the middle. It’s not reckless growth, and it’s not fear-based shrinking.
It’s steady leadership. It’s stewardship. It’s asking, What helps my practice stay healthy and sustainable over time? not How do I grow the fastest right now?
Fear-Based Decisions vs Faith-Based Decisions
Fear-based decisions are loud. They’re urgent. They want immediate relief. You see your numbers dip, you feel uncomfortable, and suddenly you want to cancel everything or change everything.
Faith-based decisions tend to be quieter. They move more slowly. They involve discernment, wisdom, and often a little waiting. That doesn’t mean you won’t feel fear. Faith doesn’t remove risk. It just changes how you carry it.
A lot of practice owners get stuck because they’re afraid of making the wrong move. Hiring the wrong person. Investing in the wrong thing. Starting something and realizing it’s not for them. But most of the time, those decisions are fixable. What keeps people stuck is not failure. It’s the fear of moving at all.
Investment Is Stewardship, Not Ego
Faithful investment is not about looking impressive. It’s not about saying you have a huge practice or checking boxes other people think you should check. It’s about tending well to the work you’ve been given.
You’re not investing just to make more money. You’re investing because you’re called to serve well. And that means making thoughtful decisions that support the long-term health of your practice, your clients, and you.
Investing in Systems That Actually Help
Systems aren’t glamorous, but they matter. Good systems reduce burnout. They protect your energy. They help you make decisions based on clarity instead of chaos.
If something is taking up too much of your time or mental space, it’s worth asking if a system could support you better. Tracking things by hand often feels cheaper, but it usually costs you more than you realize.
Support Is Not Selfish
A lot of practice owners believe they should be able to do everything themselves. That belief leads straight to exhaustion. Faithful investment often looks like bringing in support instead of sacrificing yourself.
That might be admin help, a bookkeeper, leadership support, or supervision. Support doesn’t mean you’re failing. It usually means you’re leading responsibly.
Keep Investing in Learning
Most of us are good at clinical education because it’s required. But business leadership requires learning, too. Coaching, consulting, conferences, podcasts, and conversations with other practice owners—these all matter.
As your practice grows, your learning needs change. That’s normal. Investing in your leadership skills is one of the most faithful things you can do for the people you serve.
Pace Matters More Than Pressure
Faithful investment moves at a pace you can sustain. Scripture talks about planting, tending, and waiting. None of that is rushed. If everything feels urgent and pressured, that’s worth paying attention to.
Faster isn’t always better. Sometimes, slowing down is exactly what allows growth to happen in a healthy way.
Better Questions to Ask Before You Invest
Instead of asking, Should I invest or not? try asking:
Will this create more stability in my practice and my life?
Will this still support me six months from now?
Is this decision reducing fear or feeding it?
Does this fit the season my practice is in right now?
Does this align with my values?
Those questions usually lead to much clearer answers.
Staying the Course Looks Steady, Not Flashy
Faithful leadership doesn’t mean saying yes to everything. It means saying yes intentionally. Often, it looks like strengthening your foundation instead of chasing constant growth.
You don’t always need something new. Sometimes the most faithful investment is tending better to what you already have.
Links and Resources
Get my book, The Practice of Becoming, at my website https://www.wisepracticeconsulting.com
Join the Wise Practice Membership Community
Learn More about Wise Practice Consulting
Connect with Wise Practice on Instagram
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[00:00:00] Whitney Owens: Before we jump into today's episode, I wanna share something I am super excited about. I have released a lit devotional called The Practice of Becoming. It's now available on Amazon. This book was written especially for you. You are spending your life caring for others, practice owners, therapist leaders, and you want a steady, reflective way to move through the linten season.
[00:00:28] This book is for you. If you're looking for a devotional that invites you to slow down, notice what's unfolding in front of you. And stay grounded in your faith during a busy season. I would love for you to check it out. You can go to Amazon and search for the practice of becoming, or you can head to the Wise Practice website wise practice consulting.com and grab your copy.
[00:00:55] Hi, I'm Whitney Owens. I'm a group practice owner and faith-based practice consultant, and I'm here to tell you that you can have it all. Wanna grow your practice, wanna grow your faith? Wanna enjoy your life outside of work, you've come to the right place. Each week on the Wise Practice Podcast, I will give you the action steps to have a successful faith-based practice while also having a good time.
[00:01:17] Now let's get started.
[00:01:21] Jingle: Where she grows your practice and she don't play. She does business with a twist of faith. It's Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast. Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:01:39] Whitney Owens: Welcome back to the Wise Practice Podcast. This is the final episode. Of our January series staying the Course Faithful Leadership and a practice that ebbs and flows.
[00:01:50] So this is the last of four episodes, so I would love for you to go back over the previous weeks if you haven't already, where we discussed when the numbers are feeling unstable, how sometimes pulling back actually costs you more. And last week we talked about how to lead when you feel tired. Today we're gonna close it out, talking about something that sits underneath it all, faithful investment.
[00:02:17] Because when things are feeling uncertain, one of the hardest questions to answer is what's worth continuing to invest in? Right? There's so many options in front of you. What do you put your time, energy, money into? Because investment is not just about money. It's about a lot more than that. And what do you not invest in?
[00:02:37] The world is giving you so much advice on how to do this. In fact, the other day I was speaking with a practice owner and she said, I was involved in this coaching program and this coach told me to do this, and now I'm in this program and this coach is telling me to do this, and I just don't even know what to do.
[00:02:54] So you were not alone. When you're wondering where do I invest in the world, and all these voices are telling me different things. And for faith-based practice owners, this is especially important because we think of our spirituality and where is the Lord asking us to invest? What opportunity, opportunities is he putting in front of us?
[00:03:17] And sometimes we can feel so much guilt and fear because we're tying our faith into the process. So today we're gonna talk about. Going slow in this conversation as we're slowing down in the month of January and really thinking and talking about faithful investment and what that actually looks like.
[00:03:35] Not reckless growth, not fear-based, shrinking, but steady, thoughtful leadership over time. I can tell you as a consultant, I have definitely seen some reckless growth over time, and I want to keep you from that. That is when you're growing so fast. There's not a lot of thought behind what's happening, but then sometimes the opposite happens where you're too scared to invest, so you're not really growing at all.
[00:04:00] We wanna find that perfect medium balance, and I've seen it on the spectrum. So let's dive into this topic today. For many practice owners, that word investment, woo. It brings up immediate pressure. You might feel that right now. So investment. What does that bring up for you? To me, it makes me think about diving deep into something which actually does make me kind of excited, but also can make me a little nervous.
[00:04:33] Like am I actually gonna be able to keep the commitment? Right. That could be the financial commitment, the energy, the time to you. It might also sound like risk. It sounds like spending a lot of money Right in investment. Committing before you know you're ready, or maybe you don't even know if you're ready.
[00:04:54] And sometimes it feels like investment is something you can't undo, that you're gonna make a mistake and not be able to get out of it. Especially in seasons where money, energy, and time is tight, investment can feel irresponsible and at times, even unfaithful. Right? But investment at its core. It's not about necessarily expansion, even though expansion can come with that as faith-based practice owners, investment is stewardship.
[00:05:29] You have been faithful with little, and I will set you up with much from Matthew 25 21, right, the Parable of the Talents. So as faith-based practice owners. Faithful investment asks the question, what's gonna help my practice remain healthy, stable, and steady over time. Not just because you wanna be rich, not because you wanna look good.
[00:05:56] Hey, I have this great big practice, or, Hey, I've been around for this many years, y'all. That is not what this is about. We're investing in our practice because we wanna do God's work in the world. And we've got to have mindful decisions about that investment. And I, I do like referring to that concept of, as you're investing, well God will give you more because you've been faithful with the small things, right?
[00:06:25] And so even when I think about what I was like in my practice at the very beginning, taking those calls, getting clients scheduled, caring well for people. Continuing to do the good work and the practice continues to grow over time. So one of the most important distinctions I wanna make here before we keep going is the difference between a fear-based decision and a faith-based decision.
[00:06:51] One of the most important distinctions is the way we're thinking about the decision and where we're coming from in that decision. So a fear-based decision is often driven. By short term discomfort, it doesn't feel good. So I want immediate relief of this thing. We talked about this in, I believe it was the second episode of this series about money, because a lot of times we feel uncomfortable when we see our bank accounts go down.
[00:07:21] Or we're not bringing in as many clients, our caseloads go down, and so then we start to freak out and we pull out of our investments, right? We want that immediate relief. We also oftentimes make fear-based decisions out of our anxiety. We're scared we're gonna get it wrong, and if I get this wrong, what am I gonna do?
[00:07:45] One of the most common times I see that fear-based decision. Is with starting a group practice that therapists will think, well, what if it doesn't go well? What if I hire the wrong person? Or, I see this with hiring an admin. What if the person doesn't take the calls? Well, the truth is you're not gonna know.
[00:08:08] You can do every background check, every interview question, you know, multiple interviews with different people, and you still aren't gonna know all the things. You can make the best decision with the information in front of you, but what we don't want is we never move forward in what God is calling us to 'cause we're constantly in fear of making the wrong decision.
[00:08:28] Most of the time you can go back and fix it. Hey, you make the wrong hire. It happens. In fact, most people make the wrong hire when they start a group practice. They end up quitting. You end up letting them go and you move on and you know better of what you're looking for, right? It's through those mistakes that we get better.
[00:08:47] Or I've seen people start a group practice and realize that, hey, this is just not for me, and that's okay too. So then you go back to being a solo practice, right? There's nothing wrong with that. At least you tried and figured out what you wanted and you made a faithful decision. Moving forward and what God was putting within you.
[00:09:06] So if a faithful investment though in a faith-based decision is a little slower, usually it's not usually a quick decision, it's usually quieter. I wouldn't say that's always the case. 'cause sometimes you might feel it in your gut, and my gut is oftentimes how I experience the Holy Spirit, but I do have to slow down and say to myself, okay, am I making this decision?
[00:09:30] Based on something that I'm uncomfortable with, or do I truly feel like the Holy Spirit is in my gut, or is my gut really my anxiety? Right? But a faith-based decision usually is a little slower and a little quieter. It's grounded in long-term wisdom and the wisdom from others. I see this often as well when we're talking about that, that group practice dynamic.
[00:09:54] Another thing I wanna say about that is. You're not starting a group practice necessarily because of money. Not that that's a bad thing, but a lot of times as faith-based practice owners, we're doing it because we wanna have a great impact for the kingdom, right? So if I invest in these clinicians, they invest in their clients.
[00:10:13] It's the ripple effect. Or I think about wanting to write a book. I have been wanting to write a book for a very long time, but talk about something that's scary. Putting a book out into the world. What if there's a typo, right? Lemme tell you, there's gonna be a typo. I could read that book a million times and I'm still gonna have mistakes, right?
[00:10:33] Or something else happens in the printing of the book, the getting it out there, the marketing, or maybe no one even buys it, right? I could let fear keep me from putting it out there, but then I'm keeping myself from putting out something that I believe God wants to put out. Right. We're starting a podcast.
[00:10:54] Talk about another fear-based decision. When I started this podcast, I was very scared. I didn't want, I didn't know if I had the time, the energy to make another podcast. I didn't know if people would listen to it, if it would be successful, but imagine if I hadn't. And all the information that's been able to get out there, and as I've discussed on many of podcasts, it's about the work God does in me, right?
[00:11:18] The podcast changes me. So faith does not eliminate risk. All those examples I just gave you were risks that I took, but it does shape how I carry my risk, right? I have a faith in knowing that God is calling me to something, that he's with me in it. I have a supportive community. I have discerned and considered all the options, and as we've talked about in this series, used database information to make a decision.
[00:11:50] I haven't avoided something, but I've chosen to face it in faith and move through it, right? So faithful investment doesn't look the same for every practice owner or for every practice. There are gonna be various degrees and categories where it tends to matter most. So here's a couple of of points to make here.
[00:12:13] Investing in systems to reduce your load systems. Most people don't find them very exciting, especially therapists. 'cause we didn't go to business school, we went to become therapists. But the more your practice grows, and if you want things to be successful, you've got to invest in systems. Systems can get expensive.
[00:12:34] I literally was just talking to my COO about what we pay for our EHR, but we need it, right? What would we do without it? So we wanna make sure. That we're tracking our data and we're investing in systems that are working well for us because that is gonna reduce your load so you can make better decisions in your practice systems keep you from burning out.
[00:13:00] Right? I remember I used to track churn ratio, which actually we're gonna talk about in the next episode about how churn ratio improved my practice by by watching it. But I used to track it by hand. It took me a significant amount of time to count up the number of intakes, discharges, therapists, who they saw all the things, but now I invest in practice vital, and you can get a code in the show notes for that or a link, but that software tracks it all for me.
[00:13:36] And let me just tell you, tracking something in by hand is never as successful as a system that can do it for you. So not only is it more accurate. But I am saving my time and energy by having it. So practice Vital is where I get all my data from my EHR sinks to practice vital, and it shows me so many things about churn ratio, retention, average cost per session for the practice, our revenue.
[00:14:06] And I could go on and on about all the great things that it shows me. So great investment. If you haven't heard of it, I really encourage you to check out the show notes and grab that link and check it out. So more ways of what faithful investment looks like in a practice. The second one I have here is investing in support rather than self-sacrifice.
[00:14:27] You know, oftentimes we think we have to do it all as the practice owner. This is certainly not the case. You can invest in other people that can help you along the way. In fact, I strongly recommend it to me. Not only is it about helping me with the different aspects of the practice, but it's also the emotional component, the spiritual component, to pray together to support one another.
[00:14:54] So whether it's administrative help or maybe leadership support, faithful investment often means not doing it yourself. You might wanna consider getting an office manager, someone to answer the phones, maybe a clinical supervisor, people to help you along the way. Or maybe it's you find a commercial real estate agent so that you're not the one online looking for the properties.
[00:15:19] It can be smaller things. Maybe you get a bookkeeper. So that you're not managing your books anymore. Believe it or not, I managed my books for the first, I don't know, four or five years of being a group practice owner. I, I can't believe I did that, but I actually really love numbers, but a bookkeeper does it way more accurately and better, and my time could be better spent elsewhere, so I don't have to sacrifice that anymore.
[00:15:43] So the third faithful investment in your practice is investing in learning and clarity. Now, I think practice owners are generally pretty good about continuing education. I mean, we have to get continuing education, but I think sometimes we don't invest in our business acumen right now. You obviously do because you're listening to this podcast.
[00:16:10] But I think that it's important that we're investing in not only our clinical work, but also our business coaching, our conferences that we attend, our connections that we're making, learning from other people, forming relationships. Those things go very far for you and your practice. Just hearing else somebody else is doing their practice right, can give you new ideas for things that you might wanna do.
[00:16:34] So as I've grown as a group practice owner. I have learned to scale back more on my clinical learning and invest more in my business learning because I've gotta run this business well if all the clients are gonna be served here. Right? So I would encourage you, especially if you are a large practice, like a group practice, but even, even everybody, solo practice owners as well, like invest in.
[00:17:02] Business coaching, consulting, listening to podcasts, learning from emails, blogs, whatever it is, make sure that you're investing in yourself and your business growth. The fourth one is investing at a pace that you can sustain. Faithful investment does not have to be rushed. It moves at a pace that honors your capacity.
[00:17:22] We are prone to running fast as entrepreneurs, that's for sure. And for me, as I move into 2026, I am going to slow down my pace so that it's more sustainable and enjoyable over time to bring me more clarity and understanding. So think about how can you invest in things so that you can slow down, and how can you pay attention to what you shouldn't take on running slower.
[00:17:52] And having less responsibility in scripture, growth happens gradually, right? Seeds are planted. Fruit appears. Faithful. Investment comes with time. Trust the process. Even if your results are not immediate, they can grow over time. So rather than asking yourself, should I invest or not, maybe you could have some other questions because that question is loaded and hard to answer.
[00:18:21] So I have a few other questions that maybe you might wanna think about. Does this investment that I'm considering making create more stability in my practice and in my life? Or is it just an activity that makes me feel better? I'm laughing because oftentimes we invest in things 'cause we think it's the right thing, or it seems like that's what everyone else is doing, but it really isn't accomplishing what we wanted to accomplish.
[00:18:49] So is this gonna create more stability and enjoyment from our practice? Will this support sustain six months from now? Right? You don't want just quick answers. We want things that are gonna grow with time. So the things you invest in, make the investment in your practice basically, so that your practice continues to grow.
[00:19:11] Does this choice that I am making, reduce my fear or reinforce my fear? Am I making it from that fear-based mentality? When I think, another thing I like to think about is if I make this investment, what could my life look like three, six months from now? What could the practice look like and does that make me excited or does it make me scared?
[00:19:35] Does this decision align with the season my practice is in right now? Do we need to invest in marketing? Do we need to hire people? Do we need to change our niche or make a new website? Is that the season my practice is in right now? Another question that I like to ask is, is this investment in line with my values?
[00:19:59] So once you've created those values and that mission statement for your practice, it's something you can compare all your decisions to, and this is definitely one of them. Is this something that I actually want to do? Am I excited about it? Yes. Not everything we do is exciting and fun for sure, but y'all, we made a business.
[00:20:20] Let's have fun with it. We are Christians and I think Christians should be able to have a good time. The Holy Spirit is within us. I think about the summit, the Wise Practice Summit, and that's one of the reasons that it's there is to learn, educate, business owners, but also to have a really good time. So when I think about the summit, it is one of the hardest things that I do in my job.
[00:20:43] It is something I have to prepare for. I, I prepare for about 18 months for each event, and it's a significant amount of time and energy, and I can assure you the amount of work I put into the event is definitely not worth the amount of money that I get in the end. But that investment is not necessarily about the money, right?
[00:21:06] I invest in the summit because I love it when we are all together. It is the most special time of my work here is being with all of you. When I hear the stories of what God does in the lives of practice owners at that event, it is incredible parts that I'm not even involved in. All I have to do is set it up and let the Holy Spirit take the reigns, and it is an amazing event.
[00:21:35] So do I feel scared? Certainly. I still feel scared when I sign a contract for a hotel. I still am scared that no one's gonna sign up or that it's gonna flop. Every year, God pulls through and does something amazing, and I keep doing it because I genuinely love it, and I get to see the investment in your lives.
[00:22:00] It's amazing. So faithful investment doesn't require certainty. In fact, I've always thought that doubt exists because of faith. You would not have faith without doubt. If you were certain about something, where's faith, right? Faith is when we're a little unsure, we're taking a little bit of a risk, but we're relying on God in the process.
[00:22:26] Faithful investment is honesty, prayer and wisdom in your decisions. So one of the fears in me, practice owners. When they invest is that they'll lose control or overextend themselves. They're gonna run outta money. Run outta energy. Run outta time. But staying the course doesn't mean saying yes to everything.
[00:22:44] It means saying yes selectively. Saying yes consistently and choosing what things you're gonna say yes to. So faithful investment often looks like continuing what already is working. You don't always have to be creating something new. In fact, that's another one of my goals for 2026. Is doing everything I can in my group practice to not do anything new and to really work on my processes and getting things more streamlined.
[00:23:12] A faithful investment often looks like deepening your support and expanding your reach in your community and strengthening the foundation instead of chasing after growth. You do not always have to chase after growth. People want more clients, so they invest in marketing. But the thing is, if you want growth, sometimes it's looking at your foundation, it's looking at your intake process.
[00:23:35] It's looking at what you're already investing in and not doing more things, but sometimes slowing down and doing less things. We're actually gonna talk about that in the coming episodes about what I've been able to basically redo or update that I've already been doing that brought me more peace. More revenue, more movement.
[00:24:00] An intake process is one of those. So I'm gonna talk about that in marketing. But faithful leadership, it honors your limits, it respects your capacity. You're able to say no, and you're able to be consistent over time. So as we come to a close here on this series, I first wanna say I've really enjoyed these solo episodes with you.
[00:24:23] In fact, I'm gonna do a few more. I enjoy diving deep into these topics and sharing what I'm learning with you, but as I prepare, I learn and I remember and saying it to you empowers me to, because I certainly do not have it. Perfect. So as we close up here, I wanna remind you of some important things you do not.
[00:24:46] Need to necessarily be more faithful. It's not like you're doing it wrong, so don't beat yourself up for it. You don't need to rush and be like, oh, I have to be more responsible. I have to do things better. 'cause you're probably already doing it really well. You don't have to have everything figured out, and you're certainly gonna have doubt at times.
[00:25:06] Faithful leadership is about staying grounded. Rooted in your faith especially, and it ebbs and flows and you certainly know it's gonna ebb and flow. Sometimes that's a sign of some change you need to make, but sometimes it's just the nature of private practice. You don't have to jump. Scripture often uses images of planting and tending and waiting, and none of these are a fast process, tend well to what God's given you and wait on him to grow it.
[00:25:34] What you choose to invest in quietly now often becomes the stability. That you're grateful for later. So as we move forward in this series, here are some final reflection questions for you. What investments have quietly supported you over the past years? Where might fear be shaping your decisions? Now?
[00:25:56] What does faithful study leadership look like in your business? And if you've listened through this entire series, thank you. I really appreciate you and if you wanna shoot me a line and let me know what this meant to you, what you found the most helpful or ideas that you wanna hear about on the podcast.
[00:26:14] That means a lot to me. Just yesterday, as I'm recording this, this episode, a few weeks after the first one in the series came out, a practice owner that I've worked with texted me a picture of her by the water and she said, I just listened to the first episode in the series and it was so good. I'm so excited about it.
[00:26:32] And boy, that made my heart so happy. So I'd love to hear from you. You can email me, you can go through the website, fill out a contact form, whatever it is, write a review. I'd love to hear about how this series helped you. My hope is these conversations have helped you feel more grounded, more steady, and less alone as you lead your practice faithfulness over time.
[00:26:56] But before we close. A quick reminder that the Lin Devotional book, the Practice of Becoming is now available on Amazon. If you're looking for a thoughtful grounding companion for the Lin in season, you can find it by searching the title on Amazon or heading to wise practice consulting.com and grab your copy.
[00:27:15] Thanks so much for your support. Look forward to being back with you next week.
[00:27:21] Jingle: So click on follow and leave a review and keep on loving this work we do with Whitney Owens and The Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owens and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:27:40] Whitney Owens: Special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the Site Craft Podcast Network. A collaboration of independent podcasters focused on helping people live more meaningful and productive lives.
[00:27:53] To learn more about the other amazing podcasts in the network, head on over to site craft network.com. The Wise Practice podcast represents the opinions of Whitney Owens and her guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only, and the content should not be taken as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please consult an attorney.
