Take Action Copy

www.takeactioncopy.com

I write words that make you money.

Founder, Ghostwriter & Copywriter

CRE Digital

Head of Content & Ghostwriter

AllianceBernstein

Team Lead | Assistant Vice President - Regional Consultant

Assistant Vice President - Regional Consultant

Jackson

Sold variable annuities. Yeah. I know. 



Attained Internal Wholesaler Level 3 status -- the highest level available.  

Was named Internal Wholesaler of the Quarter for quarter 3 in 2017 for the Northeast Region, and was awarded "Top Gun", an internal award given to the top performer in a two-day showcase.

Internal Wholesaler

Grand Valley Lanthorn

Assigned and edited stories, wrote up to four pieces a week, and ran the Lanthorn sports Twitter account. Covered beats for GVSU football, men’s basketball, and baseball.

Sports Editor

Wrote and edited stories and briefs while covering a variety of games and athletic events.

Assistant Sports Editor

Local Sports Journal

At this Muskegon prep website, I wrote feature stories profiling high school athletes and teams. My main focus was football, though I branched into soccer, volleyball, and tennis. I also helped with editing, which involved monitoring our WordPress page, reviewing stories, and posting them to www.localsportsjournal.com.

Sportswriter

FOX 17

With FOX 17, I shot video at local sports events, edited the clips for broadcast and wrote scripts. I covered high school basketball, Grand Rapids Griffins hockey, West Michigan Whitecaps baseball, and various Division I and II sports. I also wrote news releases for the FOX 17 website.

Freelancer

Grand Valley State University

More than 4,000 incoming students went through freshman orientation during summer 2014, and 
I assisted every one. Over the course of 40 orientation dates, I worked closely with faculty members, professional advisers and other student assistants to help freshmen choose courses and ease into college life.

Orientation Assistant

During my time as a staff writer, I covered golf, lacrosse and cross country, as well as club sports like hockey and rowing. I wrote two stories a week, either features or game recaps.

Staff Sportswriter

Getting financial advisors millions of dollars & impressions | $20+ million in capital & AUM raised from LinkedIn | 100+ million client impressions | 400+ meetings booked | $1+ million in client courses sold

If you work in finance or real estate and want to add clients or capital through LinkedIn, send me a DM.

If you want to write a memoir or lead-gen book, send me a DM.

Adam Knorr

Last Wednesday, I knocked on 11 doors and invited 11 strangers to dinner. But the story doesn’t start there. 

In October, I was on a flight from Houston to Austin. 

When I’m on a flight, I like to honor the miracle of air travel by becoming the least approachable human I can be. Hood up, laptop out, headphones over the ears. I’m Simon Cowell with a toothache, Gordon Ramsay judging a toddler bake-off. I’m the Grinch — stuck in economy. 

But on this particular flight, I was sabotaged. 

Her name was Kay, and she was in her 70s. 

Kay caught me with my headphones down and started chatting me up. 

After a few minutes of small talk, Kay looked at me:

“This is nice,” she said. “No one talks on airplanes anymore.”

“Tell me about it,” I beamed. “A travesty.”

Kay went on to tell me how she puts on social events for her friends back home in New Mexico. She talked about how community is dying. How we're all in our phones to stay in touch, forgetting that those phones just keep us out of touch.

Six months before this flight, I had been invited to a dinner in Toronto by Tony Albrecht. 

Tony got some people from LinkedIn together and treated us all to a family-style dinner. 

I told Kay about this — and about how cool it was — and she asked me:

“Do you have anyone you could do that with?”

“Well,” I said. “I have 11 neighbors on my apartment floor, but I never see any of them. I guess I could put together a dinner and knock on their doors.”

So Kay made me promise that I would. She even gave me her personal card — the one she started carrying after she retired and no longer needed a business card — so I could tell her when I did it.

And that’s how, last night, I hosted a dinner with nine new friends. 

Turns out, knocking on doors gives you what tapping on screens promises you.

Gratitude post for all writers who continue to use the em-dash in the face of libelous AI allegations.

We will rightfully protect what's ours.

Do not surrender ground.

I stand with you.

My profile appeared 87,495 times across LinkedIn from Nov. 11-18. 41,018 of those appearances were from comments.

Every week, someone sends me a DM saying:

"How do I get more engagement on my posts?"

And I respond saying:

"How often do you comment? DM? Engage with other people?"

And then, 9 times out of 10, they don't respond.

The irony.

Goodness, gracious.

The irony.

Elementary schools should be teaching personal branding, not biology.

Everyone laughs at Gen Z/Gen Alpha for wanting to be influencers.

Do you realize how much of a cheat code having an audience is?

I made my first post on LinkedIn in October 2022.

Since then, I have:

• Made more than $500,000 from writing.
• Created 5 different income streams.
• Been hired to write books. 
• Charged $400/hour for consulting calls.
• Worked with founders, CEOs, and celebrities.

And most importantly, I have built a distribution network for my future work.

When you build distribution, you create optionality and flexibility for yourself.

If every single one of my clients fired me tomorrow, I'd create a new offer and push it on all 15,259 of you so fast you'd think I was Pablo Escobar at a Korn concert. 

I imagine in 2035, I'll be making money online in a way I never considered in 2025.

And that's a heck of a lot more valuable than learning about peas and some guy named Gregor.

I edited 75 posts from financial advisors.

Here are the 5 most common mistakes: 

1. You're burying your hook. 

So many people bury their best content in paragraph 3. 

I'm constantly telling people to move their most compelling line to the front. 

Most common hook fixes:

• Replace vague statements with specific dollar amounts
• Kill the setup — get straight to the point
• Lead with emotion, not explanation

2. You're posting Google-able content

No one goes to LinkedIn to learn that the 2025 401k limit is $23,500.

Instead, write about the emotional reality of money decisions. 

The client who had $2MM and still couldn′t sleep at night. 
The couple fighting about a $400 purchase.
The specific mistakes you've prevented. 

3. You're not being specific enough. 

Instead of: "I saved a client a lot of money" 

Write: "I saved a client $34,317 in taxes with one phone call in August."

Specific numbers stop the scroll. 

4. You're writing white papers. Stop doing that. 

Most advisor content reads like a braided leather belt gained sentience.

If I ever see you write "strategic plan" again, I am kicking you out of my cohort.

5. You're mixing Impression Content and Lead Content 

Trying to make every post convert kills your reach and makes you sound salesy.

You don't need to shoehorn every personal storytelling post into, "Here's what watching the Ryder Cup with my toddler taught me about Roth Conversions."

It comes off as reallllllllly disingenuous. 

You need to give your audience credit. They're not dumb. They can tell when they're being rope-a-doped into a pitch and when you're sharing a genuine story or thought. 

--

P.S. When's the last time you added an unrelated photo to a hyper-specific post to try to game the system and rack up impressions?

I sold this truck for $2,500 yesterday.

It marks the second business I've failed.

Three years ago, I was a brand new freelance writer.

More accurately, I was calling myself a writer, but I barely had any work. 

So, to sleep better at night, I decided to hedge my bets.

And I started a second business.

I opened an LLC — 616 Event Rentals. I bought a truck, a trailer, tables, chairs, and a dance floor, and started taking calls and emails.

I figured it my writing business failed, I could fall back on this.

Luckily, my writing business didn't fail.

(Knock on wood.)

I started getting more and more business as a writer, so the idea of hauling a 4,000-LB trailer across Grand Rapids at 6 AM to set up 8 tables and 40 chairs by hand all of a sudden didn't appeal like it once did.

So I stopped doing it.

When I stopped, I was $20,420 in the hole.

I had made $434 in revenue.

And I started selling everything.

Took a bath on all of it. And not like the kind of bath you give your newborn in the sink. This was a cannonball into the Roman Baths — during Nero's reign.

And, as of yesterday, 616 Event Rentals is officially dead.

This is the second business I've "failed."

I also once launched a writing service called The Emergency Editor that I made a grand total of $0.00 from.

I also once sunk a couple thousand into potentially buying a landscaping business before bailing. 

This cockamamie writing business thing where I write LinkedIn posts for people happened to work, but  this is the first business venture I've had any success with since I illegally sold candy marked "not for individual sale" in 5th grade. 

I've launched just as many things that have failed as things that have succeeded.

And if I have any sense in me...

I'll keep trying to fail as often as I can.

You should be DMing 10 prospects a day.

But not to get leads.

You should be DMing 10 prospects a day just to start conversations.

Because when you have a conversation with someone in the DMs, LinkedIn makes it more likely that they'll see your content.

And when they see your content, they're more likely to convert. 

I mean, that assumes your content is good, which, well, it's usually not because most of you are just using stock ChatGPT and deluding yourselves into thinking people don't notice because you're the anointed one who can get results with no effort.

But you get where I'm coming from. 

DMing people doesn't have to lead to a booked call immediately to be valuable.

--

P.S. I'm Adam.

I help financial advisors grow & add clients on LinkedIn.
DM me to learn more.

Every year, I work from my dad's office over the holidays. It's a good reminder that I've had more advantages than 99% of freelance writers.

I've been writing professionally three years. I'm finally sort of comfortable claiming I've had a little bit of success — but if I want to claim success, I have to tell the truth about where it came from.

And the truth is, I have had every single advantage.

My dad was a freelance copywriter. It was the first job I knew you could do. Before I ever dreamed about playing shortstop for the Detroit Tigers, I saw myself alone in a quiet office, armed with a red pen and an AP Stylebook.

My parents were both entrepreneurs — my mom in real estate — so I grew up watching early mornings, stress, sacrifice. But because it was all I saw, I didn't realize it was remarkable. It just was. That's how everyone works, right?

As a kid, I wrote a lot. Since the guy who determined my bedtime was also a professional writer, I had access to high-quality feedback. I charge $900/month for that now, but he did it for free.

I'm good at writing. It's what I'm supposed to do with my life. But it certainly doesn't hurt that I got professional guidance before I ever put down a Junie B. Jones book for the last time.

I studied journalism, but took a job in finance. It hurt my heart to stop writing, but it helped my bank account.

Six years later, when I finally walked away to try freelancing, I had the thing most new writers never get: time. Runway. Margin for error.

I knew I could go a full calendar year without making any money and still be OK.

Most people trying to make it as a writer don't have this breathing room. Turns out, it's easier to score goals when you aren't white-knuckling the stick. Yeah, I was still tightrope walking, but my safety net was so close it was scraping the rubber off my soles.

For my first 20 gigs, my dad edited everything before I sent it. He introduced me to his contacts in the industry. 

The first time I charged more than $2,000 for a project came when my sister-in-law put in a good word for me at her company.

Yeah, I've worked hard. But I never had to work scared.

My family wanted to see me win, friends wanted to see me win, and strangers wanted to see me win. And instead of just golf-clapping from the sidelines, they each got in the game and dished me some assists.

So, yeah.

When you're comparing yourself to other people, remember that you're not seeing the invisible advantages baked into someone's default assumptions.

Anthropic (the company that created Claude) is hiring two writers for $255,000-$320,000. 

The ultimate irony:

AI is making the best writers *more* valuable.

The more people lean on AI for writing, the fewer talented writers exist.

The fewer talented writers exist, the more valuable they are. 

The more valuable they are, the more they get paid.

AI is making writing a high-income skillset.

I suggest you learn how to do it.

I have been paid $30,000 in a single day for a writing project, but nothing will ever beat closing my first client for $500.

It was October 2022, and I was living in Basecamp — a one-story, tarp-covered house on the bottom of a Kona coffee farm.

There were eight of us living in the house. At 28 years old, I was the Old Man By the Mango Tree, nearly a decade older than all my roommates. 

Often, I would wake up at 4:00 AM to start my day, fist-bumping a couple of roommates I passed in the hallway on their way to go to bed for the night. 

Between the eight of us, the farm provided two vehicles. I figured if I was going to be living in Hawaii, I didn't want my adventures to be constrained based on vehicle availability, so I found a guy with a car rental business.

I also figured if I was going to wear Hawaiian shirts and sport a mustache, I owed it to Tom Selleck to drive something better than a Hyundai Sonata, so I signed up for a long-term rental on a silver Dodge Challenger.

I met the owner of the rental business in the parking lot of a Shell station in Kealakekua, Hawaii.

When he handed me the keys, I pounced:

"Hey man. I respect what you're doing with your own business. I'm actually self-employed, too. I'm a copywriter — I write websites and things like that. I noticed your website still needs to be written. Would you be down with me sending you a proposal for what I would charge to write it?"

His website existed, but it was full of Lorem Ipsum placeholders. He agreed to take a look at my proposal, so I cruised back to the shack and fired it off.

A day later, my phone rang.

"Hey Adam. Let's do it."

I was breathing like I had just done a Polar Plunge into the Pacific, but I managed to choke out:

"Sounds good. I'll send you the invoice."

Then, I hung up, sprinted out to the living room, and high-fived every 19-year-old roommate I could find.

Since then, the numbers have gotten bigger and the projects more exciting, but I have never felt the same high as that first client — and I don't ever expect to again.

Not everything you post on LinkedIn has to be shoehorned into a fake lesson about what you learned. 

You can just tell good stories because it's fun to tell good stories.

And as a bonus, people won't want to vomit you when they read your content.

If you want to learn how to consistently break 10,000 impressions on LinkedIn, read this:

I’m sending out an email tomorrow to 828 people that breaks down the easiest way to create viral content on LinkedIn.

It’s too long for LinkedIn, so I can’t post it here. 

DM me your email address if you want to be added before it goes out at 9:00 AM EST tomorrow.

graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message

What would 21,018,197 views do for you?

What about a measly 3,546,825?

These are some screenshots from content performance for myself + clients.

(Note that the ones around 3.5 million are less than a year into working together.)

These are all folks in commercial real estate and finance (and me). 

And before you ask...

Yes, this does lead to results.

-> 500+ booked calls
-> $20+ million invested
-> $1+ million in paid transactions

I'm going to tell you something that risks cannibalizing my business:

This stuff isn't hard.

Writing great LinkedIn content is literally:

• Applying hook formulas
• Understanding topic selection
• Telling stories and sharing controversial opinions

I can teach you how to do all of this in just 30 days.

As of today, enrollment is open for the Q1 2026 cohort of The Advisor GPS starting in January.

If you're a financial advisor who wants to learn how to do this stuff yourself, send me a DM today.

Spots are limited.

--

P.S. From current Advisor GPS students:

"I loved it!!! I thought it was great. Super useful stuff in there and I want to go back through a few times to really sink in a lot of these new ideas about writing content. My only regret is not working with you sooner"

"I thought the program was great! Definitely a lot of information that I will be revisiting."

"Seriously though this course and community is awesome. I am learning so much and stretching my comfort zone more than I thought possible."

Always makes me laugh when people get mad that hooks matter on LinkedIn. No — having “educational insights” isn’t enough. 

Who are you? 
Why should anybody care? 
Why do your ideas deserve to stand out?

(Nobody.)
(They shouldn’t.)
(They don’t.)

You could be Einstein mixed with Ghandi with a touch of Marie Curie thrown in and no one will care what you have to say until you either:

1) Do something that gives you enough clout/fame for your reputation to precede you 

Or 

2) Write great hooks that make them care. 

You are not owed attention. 

You have to earn it.

I've helped people land 1,000+ clients on LinkedIn.

3 simple DMs will book you the most calls:

I'm breaking them down in my newsletter at 9:00 AM EST tomorrow.

Join 821 subscribers here:

(And get a free gift!)

https://lnkd.in/gM87JAVf

Yesterday I taught a session inside Mando Sallavanti III, CFP®'s LinkedIn community — 83 financial advisors who are already investing in their growth on LinkedIn.

If you were there, you got a preview of the system I use to help advisors generate leads and smash impressions in 30–60 days.

If you want to go deeper, I’m opening up 5 new spots for my 30-Day LinkedIn Accelerator in January.

This includes:

• the complete Advisor GPS LinkedIn system
• weekly live coaching with me
• access to our private community
• templates, scripts, and growth frameworks
• and full support for 30 days

DM me "GPS" and I'll send you the details.

Stuff My Clients Say

I've written 4,100+ hooks. One mistake kills engagement more than any other: 

Assuming your audience knows who you are. 

Most creators have a "World Revolves Around Me" mindset.

You think people are paying attention. You think people have been following along. You think people have been reading your stuff, connecting the dots, building a mental map of your expertise, your offer, your point of view.

They haven't.

Most people skim. 
They catch a post here and there. 
They don't remember what you wrote yesterday.

So every single post, you should be starting from scratch.

When you write a hook that skips the authority, skips the context, skips the problem-naming — because you assume your audience already knows — it has zero chance at getting inbound leads.

Yeah, it's going to get comments from the same 15 people who show up every day...

But they were going to be there regardless. It doesn't mean the content was actually good — it just means you successfully clicked "post."

It's an inconvenient truth for 99% of creators, but you actually have to be good at copywriting if you want inbound leads.

You have to understand:

• Audience awareness levels
• Problem awareness levels
• Solution awareness levels 

This is why persuasive writing was destined to become a high-income skillset since Johannes Gutenberg started monkeying with his tiles in the 1440s. 

And this is why most people are deluding themselves into thinking ChatGPT can "write" content well enough to get inbound leads.

If you understand this stuff? 

Sure.

If not? 

You're going to keep showing up for another year wondering why no one is DMing you "financial freedom."

Anthony Carlton

Founder @ CRE Digital | Helping commercial real estate funds raise capital with premium branding and investor acquisition systems

I built my personal brand to escape the corporate grind.

After working with clients across finance, private equity, venture, and real estate—I doubled down on one clear problem:

Most CRE firms struggle to raise capital online.

That’s why I founded CRE Digital — a content and brand strategy partner for capital raisers, fund managers, and private equity firms.

We turn your expertise into influence, using systems that drive:

• Brand authority that builds trust
• LP investor leads and committed capital
• Off-market deal flow and JV partners
• Speaking invites and top CRE podcast features

What sets us apart? 

We’ve sat on both sides of the table — advising high-net-worth investors and partnering with top CRE operators.

Now, we build digital brands that attract capital at scale.

If you’re serious about raising capital and want your brand to do the heavy lifting, book a call in my featured section or visit credigital.io

Founder & Brand Advisor

Build Your Brand @ FinGhost.io

You don't have to chase jobs in 2025...

𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 (𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀↓):

1. Start writing & hitting publish on Linkedin
2. Develop the creator > consumer mindset
3. Teach something and infuse it with story
4. Figure out a way to be hyper-consistent
5. Listen to your audience as you grow
6. Play 10-year > 10-week games
7. Fight thru imposter syndrome
8. Try to enjoy the process
9. Meet tons of cool people
10. Unlock opportunities

I got my last 3 jobs with LinkedIn DMs.
I earn more writing online than my W2.
I meet new people every single week.
I built a fully remote internet business.
I unlocked A LOT more freedom.

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱...

Here's your nudge.

The opportunities, connections, and money are worth 12 months of building.

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓?

--

P.S. If you want to grow your brand and learn high-paying skills...

Follow me and join 3000+ reading my best advice at: antcarlton.substack.com

I use SIX systems that help me write 5-7 LinkedIn posts in 90 minutes (steal 'em): 
 
Here are my favorite writing systems: 
 
1️⃣ 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 
 
Use 90-minute deep work sessions to write without distractions. 
 
2️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲 
 
Separate the tasks of coming up with ideas, writing them down, and editing. 
 
I write in a journal first, then edit everything in Taplio. 
 
3️⃣ 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝘀𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 
 
I like the "bookends" of the day when there are no interruptions. Early morning or late evening. 
 
4️⃣ 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘁-𝗚𝗣𝗧 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀 
 
One of my favorites: 
 
Audience: [insert target audience] 
 
Give me a list of the biggest pain points for the audience 
 
5️⃣ 𝗗𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 
 
It slows you down. If you feel a post is 80% of your highest quality effort, hit publish. 
 
6️⃣ 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 
 
Package these up and create a system for yourself to 10X your writing. 
 
 
What systems do you use that I missed above? Share 👇 with me and others.

taplio

The Battle

Adam Knorr

Anthony Carlton

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreAdam Knorr's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAnthony Carlton's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Adam Knorr

Anthony Carlton

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Adam Knorr's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAnthony Carlton's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreAdam Knorr's LinkedIn Performance