Selling a YouTube Business at 75 Years Old

In this episode of Humans of Flippa, 75-year-old retired graphic artist Marty Geller discusses how his YouTube channel began as a hobby, grew to 1M+ subscribers, and turned into an exit.

In the video below, Marty discusses how online business can serve as both a creative outlet and a financial resource leading up to or during retirement years.

Whether you’re approaching retirement, already retired, or simply interested in turning creative skills into online income, Marty’s story provides practical inspiration for anyone at any stage of life.

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From Traditional Media to Digital Creation

Marty’s career in visual arts began long before digital tools became the norm. After graduating from Pratt Institute in the 1970s, he embarked on a 35-year career at major television networks, including ABC and ultimately NBC. His career trajectory mirrors the evolution of visual arts production itself—starting with traditional analog methods in the 1970s, transitioning to early digital tools like the Quantel Paintbox in the 1980s, and finally embracing Adobe Photoshop in the early 1990s.

“I went to art school back in the early days, analog days of the 1970s,” Marty explains. “My career went through three different phases in terms of how I produced artwork. In the beginning, it was all analog… and then in the 80s, it went into the digital realm… and then Photoshop came in the early nineties.”

This expertise in digital design tools became the foundation for what would eventually transform into a successful post-retirement business venture.

Finding a Creative Outlet in Retirement

When Marty retired in 2010 at age 60, he wasn’t looking to start a business—he was simply seeking a creative outlet. At his son-in-law’s suggestion, he began creating instructional Photoshop videos on YouTube, a platform that was still relatively new at the time.

“My son-in-law recommended… why don’t you do sort of like a video on this YouTube thing and I said, sure, why not? You know, it seemed like fun,” Marty recalls. This casual beginning evolved into something much larger than he had anticipated.

What started as a hobby soon developed into a genuine pursuit with three distinct benefits: creative expression, helping others learn, and eventually, a revenue stream. Marty remembers the excitement of receiving his first earnings from YouTube—literally two cents—and feeling thrilled at the potential.

Building a Channel from Passion, Not Market Research

Unlike many modern content creators who meticulously research keywords and trends, Marty’s approach was driven purely by his passion for teaching and creativity. He focused on creating tutorials that would be accessible to beginners, remembering his own learning challenges.

“I always do my tutorials keeping the novices and the beginners in mind because I know how it was when I first started to learn any new software,” he explains. This audience-centered approach, combined with his genuine enthusiasm for the subject matter, proved highly effective.

His philosophy highlights an important lesson for creative entrepreneurs: authentic passion can sometimes be more valuable than strategic market positioning. While Marty acknowledges that his growth might have slowed because he didn’t embrace keyword research and other optimization techniques, his channel’s success came from staying true to his teaching style and creative vision.

Over 13 years, Marty produced nearly 1,000 videos, gradually improving his techniques based on viewer feedback while maintaining his commitment to clear, step-by-step instruction. This dedication eventually led to the significant milestone of one million subscribers.

Recognizing the Right Time to Sell

After years of steady growth, Marty began to notice a plateau in his channel’s performance. This realization, combined with his advancing age, led him to consider selling his business despite having declined a similar opportunity years earlier.

“I kind of made it to the top of Mount YouTube… and then back down to its foothills in terms of new subscribers and viewers, and I felt it was kind of frustrating for me in that sense,” Marty shares. He recognized that taking the channel to the next level would require skills and energy he wasn’t interested in developing at this stage in his life.

This illustrates an important concept for business owners: understanding your own limitations and recognizing when a business might benefit from new leadership. Marty realized that while he had successfully built the channel to one million subscribers, he wasn’t the right person to take it further.

“I always knew I wanted to sell the business,” Marty notes. “As I scaled the business from nothing up to seven figures a year, one of the trade-offs that I was comfortable making during the scaling process was allowing myself to be a bit more involved in the success of the business than an acquirer would like.”

Navigating the Sale Process

When Flippa reached out about potentially selling his channel, Marty found himself in a position where “the planets aligned” for an exit. Despite having limited business acumen by his own admission, he found the process surprisingly manageable with proper support.

Marty highlights several aspects of the selling process that proved helpful:

1. Organizational structure: “Flippa is really great in the sense that they’re very, very organized and they make it easy for people like me who don’t necessarily have great business acumen.”
2. Communication channels: “They have a whole chat section in there where interested parties could contact me through Flippa and I answer them through Flippa… so there’s an actual paper trail.”
3. Buyer verification: “Flippa vets these people… they check their credit card… names and addresses. So as a seller, I feel more confident than just having some random person contact me.”
4. Transfer assistance: “The buyer wanted to also have access to my channels… Facebook or Instagram… my manager was able to go through which one was the brand account… and handle all of that.”

For Marty, one of the most important aspects of the sale was finding a buyer who would respect the channel’s core purpose while expanding its potential. The eventual buyer had plans to maintain the educational focus while introducing new content around related software and technologies, including AI applications in graphic design.

Lessons for Retirees and Creative Entrepreneurs

Marty’s experience offers several valuable insights for anyone considering an online business, particularly those in or approaching retirement:

Start with passion, not expertise: Marty emphasizes that he “flew by the seat of his pants” when starting his YouTube channel, learning as he went along. Technical knowledge can be acquired, but genuine enthusiasm cannot be manufactured.

“The main thing you have to have, I think, is the passion and the enjoyment of what you’re doing,” Marty advises. “If you keep pursuing it, no matter what roadblocks come in front of you, you’ll handle it.”

Don’t underestimate the value of life experience: Older entrepreneurs bring decades of professional knowledge that can translate into compelling content. Marty’s extensive career in visual arts provided him with insights that resonated with viewers of all ages.

Consider the exit strategy from the beginning: While Marty didn’t start with selling in mind, he acknowledges that planning for an eventual exit earlier might have saved him time. “If you do this from the start, any business should probably be transformable into a sellable asset in a matter of months,” he notes.

Look for multiple creative revenue streams: Marty’s combination of YouTube education, digital art sales, and limited edition prints demonstrates how retirees can leverage one creative skill in multiple directions.

The Value of Creative Entrepreneurship in Retirement

For many retirees, the traditional vision of retirement—endless leisure and disconnection from productive work—can become unsatisfying over time. Marty’s story illustrates how online business can provide meaningful creative engagement while potentially generating significant income.

While financial considerations are certainly important, Marty’s experience emphasizes that the greatest rewards often come from the creative process itself and the opportunity to share knowledge with others. His YouTube journey gave him purpose, community, and creative fulfillment during his retirement years.

“It’s the journey, not the destination, as they say,” Marty reflects. This sentiment perhaps best encapsulates the potential value of creative entrepreneurship for retirees—a way to continue growing, learning, and contributing while enjoying the flexibility retirement provides.

Want to connect with Marty?

For those interested in following Marty’s continuing creative journey, he can be found on YouTube at his channel, Photoshop Art House, where he continues to share his passion for digital art and design with a new generation of creative individuals.

You can also find Marty’s other creative works and artwork at his personal site here.

Making It Easy to Sell Online Businesses
Flippa provides owners and investors with the tools and expertise to sell.

400,000+ Weekly Active Buyers

15 In-house Brokers and 120 Broker Partners

Negotiate and Receive Offers Fast

Integrated Legal, Insurance and Payments