Brian Clark: Entrepreneurship in the Longevity Economy

In this episode of 4-Quarter Lives, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox talks with Brian Clark, Founder of the midlife personal growth newsletter Further, of the marketing services business Longevity Gains, and serial digital entrepreneur. They discuss how, after selling his hugely successful digital business Copyblogger in 2018, Brian took time out from his serial entrepreneurship to travel and reflect on his future direction. He recognised how often men struggle silently with midlife transitions, and how men’s voices were lacking in the longevity space. He describes his career to that point and how the content marketing principles he had developed during that time remain powerfully relevant for educating and engaging older consumers. He also recognised how slow many businesses have been to recognise and adapt to the demographic shift of older and more affluent consumers. He outlines how, recognising the need for more male voices discussing both the personal and the business aspects of longevity and midlife transitions, he launched two projects. Further is a newsletter focused on the 50+ audience, providing resources for Gen Xers who reject the idea of a “golden years” retirement and seek to start location-independent businesses to live and work from anywhere as part of their “unretirement” lifestyle. Additionally, Longevity Gains is a service to educate and advise marketers and entrepreneurs on the huge opportunities of the longevity economy.

Brian Clark is a writer, traveler, and serial digital entrepreneur. He’s the founder of the pioneering content marketing website Copyblogger, the midlife personal growth newsletter Further, and of Leading Expert, an educational community that provides smart strategies for location-independent business owners. He’s also co-founder of Digital Commerce Partners, a content marketing and SEO agency for digital business owners.

Brian has started 13 businesses in the last 27 years, either solo or as a co-founder. The first one failed, but every company since has yielded higher revenue, profits, and happiness. He began publishing online in 1998, and by 1999 had his first entrepreneurial success thanks to an understanding of the emerging commercial internet. He went on to launch two additional successful businesses using purely online marketing and digital infrastructure, attaining even greater success. In 2006, he started a one-man website called Copyblogger, which quickly evolved into an influential digital trade magazine for the content marketing industry. The company created software-as-a-service, web hosting, WordPress themes and plugins, courses, and conferences. It’s been the dedicated service to the Copyblogger audience that has been the catalyst for the multimillion dollar tools, training, and service company Brian headed up as CEO, until his sale of the business in 2018. This level of success, plus Brian’s early adoption of online content to fuel startup companies, makes him a recognized pioneer of the now $44 billion content marketing industry.

Useful Links:

* Brian’s newsletter: Further

* Longevity Gains website