Longevity Gains

Other than my dad, my biggest inspiration in life is a man named Brian Clark.

Brian was the founder of Copyblogger, which as you know, I am now the owner of. As I was learning how to become a great marketer and writer, I would read Copyblogger every day and soak up everything that Brian would publish.

Copyblogger is how I learned how to do everything I know how to do, and that’s why joining the company, and being partners with Brian (for even a short while before I bought out his share) was such a big deal for me.

My entire career has been based on one principle. That principle is this …

“Watch what Brian Clark is doing and then copy it.”

I mean this literally. I’ll show you some examples.

When I made Sober Nation, I would read what Brian published on Copyblogger each morning and then restructure his content to make it about sobriety and not content marketing. So for example, if Brian published an article called “5 ways to tell better stories”, I would write an article called “5 ways to tell your recovery story at an AA meeting.” I would then find inspiration from his headers, put the bullet points in the same place, use quote blocks in the same way. This is a top of mind example, but you get the idea.

I didn’t plagiarize, but I copied. Great artists steal.

Eventually, Brian created Rainmaker.FM, which was a podcast network of podcasts in the marketing space. When I saw that, I created Sober Podcasts and created a podcast network of podcasts in the recovery space.

Brian eventually created a site called YourBoulder.com, which was a local media site that published stories, events, and local businesses in the city of Boulder. When I saw him do that, I created Bocadigest.com.

Finally, Brian started a newsletter called Further, and when he did that, I decided to create TimStodz.com. Further was a “business and wellness” newsletter tailored towards gen Xers, and the original concept of TimStodz.com was to create business and wellness content for millennials.

None of this would not have been possible without Brian. I have spent the last 13 years stealing his ideas and making them my own.

And guess what? I’m still doing it.

Brian’s latest (and in my opinion, his most insightful) project is called Longevity Gains. It’s a newsletter and podcast all about the demographic changes in our country and in our world. So much of “marketing” is tailored towards 18 - 35 year old’s, but something like 80% of the wealth is controlled by boomers, and that number will only increase.

So as usual, Brian is ahead of the curve, and I’m right behind him, turning his ideas into my own.

I’m ready to launch my latest media brand that focuses on the behavioral health industry. I see the future. There is an explosion of products, services, technology, and demand for these services. But no one else sees it. I feel like I’m looking into the future and everyone else is looking at the present.

As I’ve watched Brian start and grow Longevity Gains, I’ve been watching how he presents his material and I’ve been taking notes. Yep, the moment has come. I’m about to steal all of Brian’s ideas … again.

I’m ready to launch. I have a name, I have a domain, and I have a concept. Most importantly, I have a strategy.

I’ll continue documenting my work on this blog, so you can follow along.

In the meantime, check out Brian’s latest project and I recommend listening to the recent podcast episode.

“The Most Consequential Megatrend” with Futurist David Mattin