A Serial Entrepreneur Shares Her Story!
WBL interviewed Olivia Austin and learned all about her and her business! Her story is inspiring! We’re grateful for her and all that she brings to the WBL Community!
Tell us about you!
Olivia Austin is a Brand Strategist and Designer, Serial Entrepreneur and Business Consultant specializing in creating impact-driven brands. She is the Founder of three businesses, most notably Current, a design studio crafting high-converting brands for small businesses, which started her entrepreneurial journey in 2017. As a business mentor, she helps creatives build thriving businesses through courses, group programs and podcast, Behind the Design. In 2022, she launched Motive Deck™, a brand promoting positivity through an affirmations deck for entrepreneurs. Olivia’s savvy, practical woo approach to business, inspires others to ditch the glass ceilings and create a purposeful life and business. Most days you can find her crafting the perfect latte, playing with her daughter or coming up with her next business idea.
How did you start your business?
I actually started my business in a pretty unconventional way! I had moved to California right after undergrad working in Marketing and by all of society’s standards I was “living the dream” with a stable job and living by the beach in my early twenties. But after two years, I felt unfulfilled. THIS is what everyone was talking about? I looked around the office, and not only did I not want any of my superior’s positions, but I didn’t want this life. I didn’t want to work 50+ hours/week for someone else’s dream, have only two weeks of vacation each year and not be creatively pushed in any way… for the rest of my life.
So I got to work. I started brainstorming ideas and thinking of business plans, until one day the urge was so strong I couldn’t resist it and I quit my job. Without a real plan in place or clients or anything figured out, all I knew was that life was too short to not be obsessed with what you do and be aligned with the impact you’re making. Fast forward to now (6 years later) and I get to work with dream clients helping them develop their brand foundation and expand their online presence through brand and website design. It’s been a long road of trial and error, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way!
What are you most passionate about in your industry?
We primarily work with women-founded and led businesses that are greatly impacting their client’s lives. Our clients are therapists, nutritionists, business coaches, health coaches and service-based businesses whose mission is to impact others and help them live their lives to the fullest. A lot of our clients, however, have bootstrapped and/or do not know how to build a solid brand foundation that will help them expand even further into the market and really position themselves as the go-to in their industry. This is where I come in. I am most passionate about helping our clients take the ideas that are in their head and bring them out into a streamlined brand strategy that translates into a beautiful identity and website that their ideal clients can’t help but hire them for. Our work helps them achieve that and then their mission to help others is what transforms their lives, which is what makes this work so rewarding. I am so much more than a brand designer and I’m passionate about helping my clients achieve their goals by infusing strategy and design.
What is your favorite thing about being part of the WBL community?
Entrepreneurship can be really lonely, even amongst your friends and family because there is so much heart that goes into building, running and scaling a business that is hard to relate to. WBL has brought an amazing community of like-minded women into one place that is a continuous support system both professionally and personally.
What do you hope for in 2024?
My words for 2024 are Visibility and Lean! Every year I set one or two words that will be the theme for the year and every decision I make in both my personal and professional life are based around them. I’m hoping to become more visible in 2024 in my local (thanks to WBL!) and online communities, to expand my reach for everything amazing we have going on at Current. I am a new mom to a 9 month old, so my free time is super limited. I am hoping to lean down in every area of my life and business (think: automation and trimming the fat), so I can focus on what really matters – my family, community and clients.
Follow Olivia Here:
Melissa Gilbo & Amy Pocsik
Co-Founders of WBL