The Blueprint by Smoking Gun Creative Agency8 Jun

All-American WR, NFL Draft Pick, Now Building Businesses: Mark Clayton | The Blueprint

Mark Jermaine Clayton grew up ducking family chaos in Oklahoma City - he ended up an All-American and a first-round NFL Draft pick. This is a pro athlete's post-career story that's less about what he lost and more about what he built next.

When we straight up asked him before the pod, Mark Clayton described himself to us as a “former baller turned entrepreneur” - he was a wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens and St. Louis Rams, a two-time First-Team All-American at Oklahoma, and a first-round pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. After football, he spent the next decade designing and developing LIVV Audio - a performance over-ear headphone brand built from the ground up for athletes, starting with a sketch he made while trying to run on an underwater treadmill with the Rams.

In this episode, Mark walks through growing up in a volatile household in Oklahoma City and using sports as his way out, his recruiting process as a "little bitty guy", what it was actually like to be drafted and play for the Ravens organization, the injuries that shortened his NFL career, and how a frustrating headphone experience turned into a business idea - LIVV Audio.

LIVV Audio: livvaudio.com

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Listen to the full uncut versions of all our episodes on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2FYwcQ6bj5IfrvRUP2m7AN

https://www.nosmokenofire.com

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Intro/outro music courtesy of Pierre DeJournette (https://www.instagram.com/beatsbypd)

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Episoder(84)

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