Philip Olson and Julia Lorenz-Olson are working hard to dispel a common myth among creatives—that being an artist and being business-savvy are mutually exclusive skills. In fact, they argue, the more business-savvy you are, the more freedom you have to practice your craft.
This piece of wisdom was hard-won by the couple, as they struggled after graduating from UT, and they’re working hard to decrease the learning curve for their peers through the Art of Finance, their financial advising company aimed at artists.
“Our method works for pretty much everybody,” Julia said. “But we tend to package it for creatives because we understand that mindset and that particular set of struggles.”
The duo met at UT in a sound booth in Oscar Brockett Theatre during a production of Changuita Perla when they were both undergraduates, and they married 18 months later. As a young married couple, they both worked side jobs while auditioning for anything that came their way around the state. Philip (B.A., Theatre and Dance, 2007) took up teaching theater, and Julia (B.A., Theatre and Dance, 2008) discovered her entrepreneurial spirit as she launched a series of businesses, from personal organizer to selling vintage clothes on Etsy.
When Philip started to burn out on teaching, he began exploring other career options, and a career counselor suggested he consider financial planning. While Philip notes the connection between theater and finance may not sound obvious, the field allows him to use his theater training—active listening, strong verbal communication skills, emotional intelligence—and his teaching skills.
He spent the next few years working for a financial advising company, learning everything he could about the business and prepping for his financial planning certification exam. Once he passed the exam, he started thinking about how he could use his skills to work with clients on his own.
“There’s a large focus in financial services on people with a lot of money—retirees, people who left a really great CEO job—they have a ton of attention,” Philip said. “But most of American can’t afford to have that kind of attention from a financial planner.”
But when Philip heard a podcast by a financial planner who advised millennials, he reached out to her to learn more about her business model. Instead of the traditional model of managing clients’ assets, she charged clients for advice, much like a counselor or a doctor.
A switch flipped in Philip’s mind, and when research showed no financial planners targeting artists and creatives, he and Julia saw an opportunity. They launched their company with Philip working on the financial advising side, and Julia working on the marketing side.
“We’ve done it. We’ve been in their shoes, and we can emotionally empathize with what their journey is like, as opposed to most financial planners who kind of look down on creatives,” Philip said.
When they looked at financial advising videos on YouTube, they found a lot of really bad examples—and, again sensed opportunity. They launched a YouTube channel, and their theater skills are on full display in their scripted, edited videos that share financial advice, both general and specific to working artists—what it means to self-incorporate, advice for managing finances for side gigs and how to create a budget.
The videos help get them market their company, but they also help serve viewers who may not be able to afford their services.
“We care about this,” Julia said. “We need to make a living and value our time, but there’s a community, pro-bono element that we do all the time.”
Both Philip and Julia are still actively involved in the arts. Julia has performed with Hidden Room and Penfold theater companies, and Philip has produced two shows on his own dime and directed a couple of shows that Julia acted in.
“Now that we have a fulfilling career that allows us to scratch that creative itch while growing our business, we’re financially stable enough that when people approach us with theater projects, we can ask ourselves, ‘Do we really want this? Would we do this if we didn’t get paid?’” Philip said. “That’s a stronger position to be in because then you get to do the good stuff.”
They’ve worked hard to strike a balance between business and creative endeavors in their lives, and the couple agrees that managing both requires intentionality on their part. They both work hard so they can occasionally scale back on business to focus on creative projects. Right now, they’re focused on growing their business and building a larger client base.
“I really want to start a movement for the creative class—an empowerment of the creative class is really important to me,” Julia said.
Photo of Philip Olson and Julia Lorenz Olson by Diana Lott.