Monday, August 21, 1:15 – 2 pm
Some entertainers make a very good living — but many don’t know exactly how to properly manage that money and invest in their future. The Only Consultant’s Katherine Studley will bring her expertise to EXPO in this seminar designed specifically for entertainers.
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or the Love of Money is another seminar at the 2023 EXPO planned exclusively for entertainers. To discuss financial literacy — why many dancers lack it foundationally, and how she took it upon herself to provide hundreds of entertainers with this tool for success — Katherine Studley, the owner of The Only Consultant, offers a sneak peak into her seminar.
Studley was a tax accountant by trade, working in traditional CPA firms in Buffalo, NY, when, she says, “I realized that I was not fulfilled by that at all, that that was not my story. So I left the accounting industry and moved to DC where I was working at a government contracting firm. But, like most people when the pandemic hit, I panicked. And I was like, ‘OK, if I change my perspective, there’s probably an opportunity here for entrepreneurship.’ On the Internet, I came across OnlyFans, this new platform. I had a friend in Buffalo who was on it, so I called her and asked, ‘What’s this all about?’
“She told me she was making ‘so much money, like 10 grand a month,’” Studley added. “And I just said in passing, ‘Everything you do is a write-off.’And she was super surprised. She had no idea, so that made me think that there was a market for me.”
And that was just the beginning for Studley, who soon found that she had a burgeoning business on her hands.
“I first started taking OnlyFans tax clients in the summer of 2020,” she says. “In February of 2021, I quit my full-time job, and I started working as a barista to build this company. Soon, it became clear that there was a huge need with exotic dancers as well that I hadn’t anticipated originally. So that’s how I started working with dancers.”
The Only Consultant, is a financial consulting firm which caters especially to adult entertainers. In its two years of operation, Studley has seen significant growth already. Just this year, she reports that The Only Consultant has already over 700 clients, 90% of which are either creators or dancers.
Although she’s never personally worked as an adult entertainer, Studley claims that she has a “judgment-free approach” and that she can relate with a lot of clients, “just being a 29-year-old female,” as well as a business founder and self-made woman herself.
“We’re all in the same boat,” she says. “And I can really empathize and sympathize with my client base because I’m also in my 20s, building a business, learning as I go. So that empowers me, and I’m passionate about empowering my clients.”
But because of cultural stigmas, Studley feels that adult entertainers are an especially underserved workforce. When she came to realize that, and that this community was mostly women lacking financial literacy, she felt strongly that this was what she wanted to dedicate her expertise to.
“So, while we are expanding, The Only Consultant will always be dedicated to the adult industry,” shares Studley.
According to Studley, as if filing your taxes isn’t hard enough, there are a number of financial challenges unique to entertainers.
“My goal is to hold space for everyone’s fear and money trauma; it’s a little bit more than tax preparation,” says Studley. “For instance, a lot of clients tell me that they’ve been sexually harassed by tax preparers or that no one takes them seriously. When the preparer finds out what they do for work, they scoff at them.
“And the exploitation goes beyond that with people filing returns in client’s names, especially single moms, because they often get a refund,” Studley says. “Clients will tell me that their tax preparer charged a percentage of their refund, which is literally illegal, but no one knows that because you’re never taught about how taxes work. And that’s a quality of life issue, because if you can’t file your taxes, then you can’t get a credit card, you can’t get a car and you can’t get a mortgage.”
Studley’s single piece of advice an entertainer can incorporate immediately?
“Start a separate personal checking account for your business, deposit all of your cash and third party payment platform tips in it — so, Apple Pay, Zelle, Venmo, Cash App — and all your cash tips would go into that account,” she says. “And then, use that separate debit card for your business expenses. Every dollar you earn is taxable. And that may be controversial, but a lot of times, it’s more advantageous to show money in the books anyways. It sucks upfront, because you have to pay taxes on it, but long-term, it’s going to help your cause.”
For more information on The Only Consultant, visit theonlyconsultant.com and catch Katherine Studley at her For the Love of Money panel at EXPO 2023.
