Finance pro by day, novelist by night

Outside the Grind is our occasional feature that spotlights the unique passion projects, side hustles, and hobbies of finance professionals outside of the office. Let us know if you know, or you are, a CFO or finance pro with an interesting, weird, or unusual side gig.

Richard Brown has had, as he describes it, an exciting international finance career. He’s worked  as a controller for Walmart in Mexico, traveled around the world as a consultant on Sarbanes-Oxley, and was a long-time CFO in New York City. Today, he is the director of finance for New York City-based Champion Elevator.

But that’s just one half of his work life. He is also a novelist, publisher, and member of New York City’s famed Writer’s Room.

Writing as Rip Brown, he published his first novel, American Faust, in 2022 and is planning to publish his second, The Goat Herder’s Tale, in 2024. Brown also founded Ibex Press, an indie publishing house.

CFO Brew talked to Brown about how his finance career influenced his writing, how he found the time to write a novel while traveling around the world, and what busy finance professionals can do to chase their creative dreams.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity

How did your creative path start?

My creative path, as you called it, started when I was at Walmart in Mexico. My daughters were getting a little older, and one of our providers of newspapers and magazines knew this American writer who had workshops. I took this woman’s [Jennifer Clement] workshops in Mexico for creative writing and I loved it. I just learned so much from her.

When I came back to the US, I went to the Harvard Extension School for creative writing, all while working.

The old saw is to ‘Write what you know’: Did you start off writing about finance and people working as controllers?

I could have gone down that path. Instead, the stories I wrote were far removed from finance. Normally, you write what you know. The CFOs that I know that write, they write what they know, and they’re very successful at it. But I went with a different approach. I was more into fiction.

I’ve always kept my worlds apart. To this day, at Champion, nobody knows I wrote a novel. I haven’t promoted myself within the finance community as a writer. It’s something I'm interested in doing because I have this interesting background: A guy who goes to work as a finance guy in the day, and at night, he's in the Bohemian clubs in New York. And he’s writing.

But it’s like I have these two different identities. If you look at my book, you’ll notice it's written by Rip Brown. Rip, that’s the writer me; Richard by day and Rip by night, if you will.

You wrote a novel in the middle of a busy finance career. Where is the time and mental energy coming from?

When you work internationally, you’re on a plane a lot and you’re in a hotel room alone. And I can’t tell you how much writing I got done then. Having that international role gave me the free time, really.

It wasn’t till the pandemic hit and I had a lot of free time that I was able to finally get my book picked up. Full disclosure here: I started up an independent press. I learned the business and I wanted to do it right. I wanted to do it professionally. I know business, I know editors, and I wanted to do everything at the highest level of excellence.

I see that as where my business and creative sides come together because I know how to start a business. I think eventually, one day, that’s what I like to be doing.

Is there anything in your finance work, or the discipline of finance, that informed your writing?

Where I see two points in common is focus. I’m the kind of finance guy…I can focus on something for hours at the office. I can focus on one project until I get it done. And you have to be the same way as a writer. I can sit here for six hours and just write and not realize the time went by. That’s something that I have in common in both worlds, is my ability to focus and problem solve.

When you’re writing the opening of the story, for example, and then get stuck, it’s like, “How am I going to solve this plot issue?” That's just as challenging as at work: How am I going to clean up this accounting mess when there are no records? I have to learn everything and put it back together again. And it’s the same thing when you’re writing.

And I’ll tell you, in both worlds, it’s very satisfying.

What’s your advice for finance professionals thinking about a creative passion that they haven’t pursued yet?

My advice is start now. Start getting involved. You don’t have to be at the center of the world, but if you like cooking, take those cooking classes. You don’t have to become a world-famous chef overnight, but start getting involved in the community of your passion.—DA