Profit with Integrity: Building an Ethical Business that Sustains Growth with Whitney Owens

That uneasy feeling that your business is growing but something feels off usually isn’t a marketing problem. It’s often a values problem. I sit down with Whitney Owens, owner of Water’s Edge Counseling and Wise Practice Consulting, to talk about what “profit with integrity” looks like when you’re a service-based business owner who genuinely wants to help people and still earn sustainable income.

We get honest about the guilt many entrepreneurs feel around charging, especially in helping professions like therapy and private practice. Whitney explains why “success” can trigger embarrassment, how childhood money stories shape what we think we’re allowed to earn, and why ethical pricing is part of serving well. We also dig into how to clarify your core values before you scale, so your team, your client experience, and your offers all stay aligned with the impact you want to make.

From there we go practical: delegation, building a leadership team, and using EOS (Entrepreneur Operating System) from Traction by Gino Wickman to reduce decision fatigue and prevent burnout. Whitney breaks down tools like scorecards, Level 10 meetings, quarterly Rocks, and “right person, right seat,” plus how she uses AI-generated scenarios to hire for values instead of vibes. We close with a simple integrity audit you can apply to your messaging, policies, and team behavior, and a resource for marketing and networking with churches in an authentic way.

If you want values-based business growth without selling out, listen now, subscribe for more, and share this with a friend who’s scaling. After you listen, what’s one value you want to run every decision through?

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Transcript

Profit Without Losing Integrity

Jenny 0:00

What if the reason your business isn't growing isn't because you need better marketing, but because you've been subconsciously choosing between profit and integrity. In this conversation with Whitney Owens, we're breaking down how to build a business that not only generates sustainable income, but also aligns with your values, your clients, and the impact you want to make. Because real growth doesn't come from doing it, it comes from doing it in a way that actually feels right. Welcome to Practice with Profit with me, Jenny Melrose. This podcast is for experts and service-based business owners who are ready to turn their knowledge into sustainable income without working more hours or burning out. Each week we'll dive into how to transform what you already do into scalable offers like courses, programs, products, and platforms while building a business that supports your life, not the other way around. If you're ready to move beyond trading time for money and build profit with intention, you're in the right place.

Meet Whitney Owens And Her Work

Speaker 2 1:10

Hi Whitney, how are you? Hey Ginny, I'm doing well. Glad to be with you today. Very excited to have this conversation about profit with integrity. Before we actually jump into that, will you introduce yourself and your business to my audience?

Whitney 1:26

Yes, I'd love to. So my name is Whitney Owens. I'm located in Savannah, Georgia, which is on the coast. You can probably hear it in my southern accent. Um, I own two businesses. Um, one of them is local, which is called Water's Edge Counseling. It's a private practice, group practice here in Savannah. We have a second location on Wilmington Island. And then in addition to that, I have another business called Wise Practice Consulting, where I consult business owners around the country, really from a faith-based perspective, but any type of private practice center.

Speaker 2 1:56

Very good. Excellent. All right, so let's just kind of jump right in.

Defining Integrity In Business

Speaker 2 2:00

When you hear the phrase profit with integrity, what does that mean to you?

Speaker 2:05

Well, first the integrity part is obviously doing things well within your values and with honesty in the way that you communicate with your with your clients and the products that you offer. And so having a business that's in line with integrity, but also does well, also makes profit above and beyond. And I think that they're they can go hand in hand. They don't always go hand in hand, unfortunately, but I certainly think that they can if you do it with intentionality. Excellent.

Jenny 2:36

Yes. And I think that integrity piece is such a huge piece as we go through and see so many different things on social media, and it can often be swayed as is this real? Is this not real? And I think when the integrity comes through, it makes such a huge difference. I know that's one of my core values. So it means a ton to me when you talk about profit with integrity.

Whitney 2:57

Definitely. It's actually one of the values of our counseling practice as well. Excellent.

Money Guilt And Ethical Tension

Speaker 2 3:02

So why do you think so many entrepreneurs feel tension between making money and staying ethical?

Whitney 3:09

Mm-hmm. Well, there's this idea of guilt. If you make money and you're rich, whatever rich means to you, that that's wrong. Um, and I specifically want to speak because I work with faith-based practice owners, we see this huge in the Christian community. I mean, this idea of being a practice owner, doing therapy, and actually making money off of it, because it's like your, I'm using the air quotes, like your ministry, right? And you're making money off of it. So that's like an extreme way to think about it. But then counselors feel guilty charging because I should be doing this out of the goodness of my heart. But if you do that, you're not going to have any kind of service to give because you're not going to be able to work.

Jenny 3:50

Right. Yes. Oh my goodness, yes. And I think that we see it too, what like you talked about when you talk about the idea of rich, right? So many of us grew up with different backgrounds. And what was seen as rich and the way in which we talk about money is very much, I think, comes from our childhood, seeing what our parents, the way that we they talked about certain people that had more money than others. And there can just be so many different tensions that come with it. Um, I know personally I've done a lot of mindset work because growing up blue collar, it definitely took some time to get comfortable with making profit and making money, even though, as you said, you feel you're helping people. So, how is that ethical when it comes down to it? So I totally peace.

Whitney 4:35

Yeah, I totally can relate to what you're saying that I, as my business kept growing, I actually feel very uncomfortable talking about it. And and like I'll go to a professional conference, especially if I see counselors that I went to school with or I knew like way back and they know about my success. It's like because profit and success usually go hand in hand. And and it's I find this embarrassment that comes over me, and then I'm like, why do I feel this way? Like it's good that I make profit. It's good that I make money, like I'm able to do more, but but that tension is so real. Yes.

Jenny 5:12

Oh my goodness, yes. So, how does a business owner clarify their core values

Clarifying Core Values Before Scaling

Jenny 5:18

before scale? And kind of talks about that integrity with both of kind of our core values. How do you think that a business owner can help clarify those?

Whitney 5:26

Mm-hmm. This is such a good question. I actually did this recently with my team, so I can kind of share about that experience. Um, when I started my business, like many of us, it's like, go, go, go, get it done. You know, the struggle's real. And you're like, I want to get for me, it was, you know, a counseling practice and seeing clients. So I was like, just get them in the door, just put a name up. So I didn't really think a lot about my values. And then over time, people were like, What's your mission? What's your values? I was like, just see clients, you know. Um, and so we really, as the team was growing, I was like, we have got to get aligned on what we're doing, and we need to hire people based on that. And so we sat down about a year ago and really honed in on our values. We did a survey with the team, got feedback on that, came up with our statements. And so now we've got five solid values that we can like really work through, and we hire based on that. We make all of our decisions based on that. And ever since that has happened, I do see us having a trajectory upward because now we all know here's our standard, and here's how we're gonna function instead of having confusion. We're all in the boat row in the same direction. So yeah, you're gonna have greater success and profit instead of people going in all different types of directions confused about what's going on.

Jenny 6:41

Yes. I think the values to me make a such a huge difference because then I think you can get your not only your people on board with it, but the stories that go along with it, right? Normally our values come from some sort of personal situation, why we do what we do. You talked before about a lot of uh Christian-based therapists feel like it is their mission, it is their ministry. And because of that, if you can explain and be able to tell a story that shows that to your people that you're pulling in as your team, as well as people that you're pulling in as clients, I just think it can make a huge difference to who you attract and the type of people that are going to be coming part of your business and part of your company.

Hiring With Values Using AI Scenarios

Whitney 7:28

Yes. And actually, one thing we did that I've loved is we took our interview questions and we put them in AI and or our values, put them in AI and said, create some scenarios for someone applying to be a therapist to help us see if they have these values. And then we narrowed those questions down to two per value. And now we ask those in the interview. And it's been so helpful to see where people land. And over time, as we ask the exact same scenario questions, we can really see, you know, put people together and see, oh, this person's more like this and this one's more like this. So that's been a game changer for our hiring process. I love that.

Jenny 8:06

Now, do you do that with clients too, like as a client intake form that can kind of figure out their values, who would best work as far as the therapist with them? Or is it primarily just for the therapist right now?

Whitney 8:17

Just for hiring. Because honestly, I would say that it doesn't really matter what the therapist's values are, it's what the client's values are that bring them in. You know, like a good therapist will be able to work with any type of situation that comes in. But um, yeah, it's a little different. Yes.

Jenny 8:33

No, I love that.

Delegation And EOS To Avoid Burnout

Jenny 8:34

So, how do you grow without over-promising or over-delivering to the point of getting burnt out?

Whitney 8:41

I love this question. I am a I love delegating. If I if I don't want to do something or someone else that I have in my organization can do it, I ask them to do it as much as possible. And I think that's what prevents burnout. It's really having a solid team. Now, the team has got to be in alignment with your values, right? Um, or it's gonna be very stressful, you're gonna constantly be butting heads. So you want to make sure you have the right people and the right seats, you know, and when you do that, it is just a game changer for your style and your life. Um, I have really redeveloped my team over the past um year or two. I started implementing EOS, if you're familiar with um with that from the book traction. And it has changed everything. And now I have this solid leadership team where I used to have so much decision-making fatigue and responsibility. Now I got these people that do it with me. In fact, they make hiring and firing decisions. Sometimes they run it by me, but I don't even have to be involved anymore. And so it's just been such a relief because now I can really move the business forward and not get bogged down and all that. Um, so so yeah, delegating and having a solid leadership team is where it's at. A lot of people will say, Well, I don't have the money for that. Well, you know what? You can't, you can't not because your sanity's for me. I care way more about my sanity. Um, fortunately, I I have that privilege, but I I'm worried I don't have to stress so much. I can put my money into that because I still can have enough to survive on. So

When Your Business Stops Feeling Right

Jenny 10:14

Good. So, what advice would you give someone who realizes they've built a business model that doesn't feel good anymore?

Whitney 10:21

Mm-hmm. It's unfortunate. They're not alone. Happens to many of us. And I think about our businesses like our children, they change over time. Yeah, I remember when my kids would, you know, be into one thing, maybe um, you know, they were saying no back to me all the time, or they didn't want to eat this thing. And I always say to myself, everything is a season. So even in your business, when it's feeling not good, lack of profit, you know, you feel like you're going in the wrong direction, everything's a season, and that's okay. And it will change and have different needs over time. In fact, some of your values might change over time as your team grows and changes. Um, so that was be the first bit of advice. And then I would say, take us a few steps back from your business. You know, we're so in it that we don't see it. And so we need to take a step back and say, okay, what is actually going on? How is it speaking to me? You know, what are the things that are happening when I remove myself from it that are saying, hey, pay attention to this, pay attention to this, because a lot of times we're not. So that might be that you go on a retreat. It might be that you join a membership community or a mastermind group to like get advice from other people, but do something different to invest in you and your business. So it's going to give you clarity on the things you need to change. And it could be, at least it was with us, we went all the way back and redefined our values. I mean, we we took it way back and rewrote our mission statement and talked about our vision and recreated our leadership team. Who knows? I might do that again in 10 years. I don't know, but I would encourage them to go back and do that.

Jenny 11:55

Yes. It's so funny that you say that because on my annual retreat that I host, we always start with core values. That's always a piece of it. And then we built out our 90-day plans based on that, those values and where we're trying to go within our business. So it does stay in line. And I think sometimes, like you said, just unplugging and stepping away from the everyday of being in your business can just be make such a difference in your perspective. Because I have had plenty of clients and I always tell people, they'll always hear me saying, do not burn it down over the summer. It the summer is very different for most people because their audience and their people are just in a different phase with kids home and things going on that you have to wait. If you're gonna pivot and change something, you have to wait until after the summer, the summer and just look at those seasons and see where you're at after that. But I think when you do go to look at it and reevaluate, am I going in the right direction? Redefining kind of what you have done over the course of the past 90 days and what can you fix and where your energy and your capacity need to actually stay in order to continue to move forward with it or pivot and change the the way in which you are doing things. Totally.

How To Audit For Integrity

Jenny 13:11

So if someone listening wants to audit their business for integrity, where should they start?

Whitney 13:20

Yourself, you know, thinking about how do I present myself to people. I mean, I guess it depends on what your business is, to people, or how do I talk about my services? Do I explain them in a way that meets the need of someone else, or am I talking about my own needs? You know. So are you are you focused on yourself or on the people that you're serving? Um, you could look at your your policies, your procedures, and just kind of start thinking about is this in alignment with who we truly are or not? Um, and then I would I would go into your team members, you know, really look at their behaviors, their conversations, the way they do their job, are they doing it with integrity or not? Um, another one of the EOS tools that we've used with our team um is about like kind of right, I can't remember the technical name for it. It's like right person, right seat type of thing. And you get all your employees and you give them a plus, a minus, or a plus minus. Um, and now we do that based on each value. So there's all five values on the sheet. Do they show this value, this value, this value? And so I think that that's a really good exercise. And it's not something you stop and think about. And so writing that down and then looking at those employees maybe that aren't meeting the expectation of integrity. Well, why aren't they? Really define what that is and sit and give them an opportunity to prove that to you. Like, here's what we're seeing. Hey, you had this conversation that I heard about that wasn't spoken very highly of another team member. Like, that's not what we do, or hey, you said you're gonna do this thing and you haven't been doing it. How can we improve this and give them an option to show integrity? And if they continue to not show that value, they need to not be in your business because man, one bad apple messes up the whole bunch, right? Yes. Oh my goodness, yes.

Jenny 15:02

So you mentioned EOS and you said that book comes from traction. Okay. Can you actually tell me a little bit more about it? Because I know my listeners are going, wait, who's that book by? What is it specifically for? Um, just so that we can kind of get get a good feel for exactly what it is and how to use it.

Whitney 15:21

Here it is.

EOS Explained Using Traction

Whitney 15:22

And I have it right here because I love it so much. Um, so it's really a business model. The EOS stands for Entrepreneur Operating System. And I will say it's a little bit like the counseling world and the fact of there's all these initials that mean lots of things and it has its own little verbiage you got to figure out. But it is for businesses ideally that are at like the two to three million dollar mark and higher, and it's a way to organize it. So the main concepts are how a visionary, which is the entrepreneur, which is us, gets to a point they can't do it anymore. I mean, it is you are doing the vision planning for your business and you're managing the operations. So the concept is you have an integrator or the operation manager, whatever you want to call it really, but they call it the integrator. And these two people work hand in hand to run the business. Um, and then you create a leadership team over certain areas, and these things are all things that we learn in business. It just puts different words to it. But then they kind of build out what all that looks like. So each employee and each team has a scorecard. So it's metrics that they have to meet. So, like for us, it would be a therapist has to see 25 sessions a week. So you want everybody hitting their scorecard. Um, and it's really big on the way that team meetings run. You know, a lot of team meetings, we sit down and we have conversations, and maybe we come up with a few game plans. But sometimes you walk away from a meeting and feel like it went nowhere. They have these meetings, they call them L10s, which I think is really cheesy, but 10 is for you want to rank a meeting, zero out of 10, you want to rank it a 10, so level 10. Um, but it's a 90-minute meeting and has a very specific structure of accountability that goes with the meeting and issues and really getting stuff done. It really moves things forward. It took a long time to like get the leadership team running and to get the L10s running correctly with the way that it rolls, but it's been game changer. And then once a quarter you meet and redefine your goals for your quarter, which you were just talking about 90-day goals, same kind of concept. They call them rocks. Um, and you define your rocks, and then you go as a team and you each take them, and you have to-dos and dates, and you hold each other. The accountability piece is huge. I think a lot of times in our business, like, oh yeah, I'm working on that. Okay, well, actually, your due date is this, and now we're in front of everybody, and you need to talk about why that hasn't been met and what we need to do, you know. And I mean, we're kind to one another, but we also put a lot of structure to it. And uh anyway, I I mean I can definitely tell you my whole life has been so much better since I implemented it. I did read it three or four years ago when my business was smaller, and I was like, who needs all this? Another business book. I'm so tired of all that. Um, and then when it came back around when I needed it, I was like, wow, this is it. So I'm actually doing it in both of my businesses, even though one is significantly bigger than the other. Um, I think smaller businesses can still use the concepts of BOS.

Jenny 18:19

Okay. Yes, no, as soon as they use that integrator, kind of smirked because I knew exactly what you're, you know, that the terminology um has definitely different people call it different things. But yes, it makes total sense. I love it. So very good.

Marketing And Networking With Churches

Jenny 18:33

So tell me about your four tips to marketing and networking with churches.

Whitney 18:39

Oh okay. Yeah, I do have a um a PDF with a link so that you can get that. But so often people come and they say, like, I want to do networking, and they they feel like they gotta sell themselves, they don't know what to say to people. And I specifically have this one for counselors talking to churches, even though if you have some kind of business that interacts with churches, you would benefit from the handout. But it kind of walks you through how do you talk to a pastor? How do you actually get that meeting scheduled? Because I think a lot of times it's like, well, do I schedule a meeting? How do I schedule the meeting? And then when I meet with them, what do I actually say? And the importance of being authentic, that you're really just listening, meeting their needs, their needs first over your own, so important. And then able to kind of share how you can help meet the need and provide value to somebody. So the handout kind of walks through that process. Excellent. Very good.

Resource Link And Closing

Jenny 19:34

We are going to link to that actually in the show notes that those that are listening that are looking to work with network with churches can make sure that they grab that. Um, Whitney, I appreciate you so much for taking the time to speak with me and share your knowledge with my audience. Yeah, my pleasure.