Gib Irons

Irons & Irons P.A.

As the managing partner of Irons & Irons, P.A., I am in charge of running the day to day operations of the business including but not limited to implementing firm policy related to cash flow and profitability, staffing, client development, time management, and productivity systems.  
My practice is focused on personal injury litigation and family law.  As a rule, our firm does extensive screening before accepting a personal injury or family law case.  We seek to limit the number of active clients that we are representing at any given time in effort to streamline the litigation process.  As such, our clients enjoy being able to have regular and frequent access to their attorney and exceptional service.  
In the world of domestic and family law, where tension and stress are all too common for everyone involved, and the burnout rate amongst attorneys in astonishingly high, we provide a client based service that caters to high net worth and upper middle class individuals seeking to reach a favorable disposition in their case within a reasonable timeframe.

Managing Partner

Irons Equity, LLC

Gib Irons is an attorney, entrepreneur and real estate investor.  He is the founder and CEO at Irons Equity and oversees operations, acquisitions, investor relations and asset management.
Gib and his wife, Kate have 3 children, Anna-Gibson (9), Miles (7) and Malene (4).  Gib is an avid surfer and fisherman and loves offshore fishing for tuna, dolphin and wahoo.

Chief Executive Officer

Helping Accredited Investors Passively Invest in Real Estate | Founder @ Irons Equity | Father & husband (and surfer & fisherman, but my wife told me to write that last.)

In 2007, I started my law firm in Greenville, NC.

In 2019, I had a breakthrough.

Being an attorney is taxing.

It's stressful. It's intense. It's a ton of work.

It's all of that — and it's non-stop.

(If you're an attorney, you're nodding your head right now.)

A lot of attorneys work until they die. Not because they want to — but because they don't have an exit plan. 

My breakthrough came when I met a real estate investor during the Big Rock Blue Marlin fishing tournament in 2019.

He started telling me all about his strategy.

- How he invests in real estate.
- How it's saved him 6 figures in taxes. 
- How he built 6 figures in passive cash flow.

I walked off that boat committed to real estate investing.

14 months later, I owned 14 properties.

Today, my mission is simple:

I want to help other high-earners (not just attorneys) experience the same benefits I've seen from real estate investing.

Yes, not paying as much in taxes is incredible.
Yes, the portfolio diversification is great.
Yes, the return potential is wonderful.

But you know the best thing?

Real estate gives you and your family more options for your lives.

And what could be better than that?

Visit ironsequity.com or send me a DM to learn more.

Gib Irons is an attorney, entrepreneur and real estate investor.  He is the founder and CEO at Irons Equity and oversees operations, acquisitions, investor relations and asset management.  Gib is a resident of Greenville, North Carolina.

Gib owns 14 single family condominiums, a commercial building, and a short-term rental (STR) property in Sevierville, Tennessee near Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg named “Smoky Mountain Masterpiece.” 

Gib is a passive investor in a 660-unit portfolio in Arlington, Texas, a 344-unit apartment building in Dallas, Texas, and a 295-unit property in Fayetteville, Arkansas. 

In addition to Gib’s real estate investing experience, Gib is the owner and managing partner of Irons & Irons, PA, a multi-million dollar law firm based in North Carolina and established in 2007.

Gib and his wife, Kate have 3 children, Anna-Gibson (9), Miles (7) and Malene (4).  Gib is an avid surfer and fisherman and loves offshore fishing for tuna, dolphin and wahoo.

Your $75K salary becomes $150K.
Then $250K.
Then $500K.

And you know what happens?

Your stress doubles. Your tax bill triples. Your time disappears.

You're making more but keeping less—and you've got nothing to show for it except exhaustion and a fat tax return to the IRS.

The dirty secret of wealth building isn't about making more.

It's about **keeping more** and making your money work while you sleep.

I see this with every high-earning professional I meet:
- Doctors working 80-hour weeks
- Lawyers billing their lives away
- Business owners trapped in their own companies

They're rich on paper but broke on time.

Real wealth isn't just income. It's options.

The freedom to say no. The ability to take a Tuesday morning surf session. The option to retire—or not—on your terms.

That only happens when you stop trading time for money and start putting your capital to work.

Most people wait until they're 60 to figure this out.

Don't be most people.

What's keeping you from making your first passive investment?

My wife made $250,000 in a year while staying at home with my kids.

When I first started investing in real estate, it was chaos.

-> I was trying to run a law office.
-> I was managing my 14 properties.
-> I was juggling multiple contractors.

Then my CPA made a suggestion:

“Gib, would your wife be open to becoming a qualified real estate professional?”

My CPA told me if Kate managed those 14 properties and logged 750 hours in a year, she could become a qualified real estate professional, and we’d be able to improve our tax situation.

Kate was interested, and in 2021, she earned her qualified real estate professional designation.

Now, Kate is critical to our real estate success as a family.

-> Any time we have turnover, she’s at properties doing showings.
-> She’s constantly juggling maintenance people and tenants.
-> And did I mention she watches our 3 kids under 10 years old?

It’s a ton of work — and she’s incredibly good at it.

In 2021, thanks to Kate’s help and her professional designation, we were able to save $250,000 in taxes in a single year.

Not a bad salary for a Stay at Home Mom.

I quit alcohol 17 years ago because of the metal band Korn.

Why it was one of the best decisions of my life:

In 2002 I met the lead singer, Jonathan Davis.

I thought he was the stereotypical party animal like most rockstars.

But he told me something that changed my life:

“I saw my career going down the drain and I had to make a choice:

Music or partying.

I couldn’t do both so I quit.”

He didn’t drink or do any drugs.

5 years later… I quit.

Since then I:

• Have become healthier
• Wake up more energized
• Built 2 thriving businesses
• Got better at handling my emotions
• Created the best relationships with my friends and family

If you’re stuck in the same miserable job or situation and have no idea how to break out…

Look at how much you’re drinking.

I guarantee it’s holding you back.

P.S. -

If you're looking for an opportunity to invest in medical real estate and build passive income. 

Send me a DM.

I missed my daughter's soccer game to bill $800.

Worst trade I ever made.

And I've made some shitty investments.

But that one hurt different.

Because you can't get that back.

Here's what nobody tells you:

High income is a trap.

You think: "Just a few more years."

"Just one more promotion."

"Just get to partner first."

Then you're 50.

Rich on paper.

Poor in memories.

The math that woke me up:

$400K salary = 2,000 billable hours

Every hour you work = $200

Every game you miss = Priceless

You can't buy those back.

What I did:

Stopped optimizing for income.

Started optimizing for time.

Bought assets that work without me.

The shift:

2019: 80-hour weeks, missed every game

2020: Bought 14 properties in 14 months

2024: 1,200 units GP/LP, never miss a game

Still make the same money.

Work 40% less.

The assets pay me monthly:

Medical real estate → distributions

Build-to-rent portfolio → Cash flow

Multifamily syndications → Equity growth

All while I'm coaching soccer.

The truth nobody says:

Your kids don't care about your salary.

They care if you show up.

Your spouse doesn't want the promotion.

They want you present.

You're not building wealth for later.

You're trading life for money.

Working 80-hour weeks is hard.

Building assets that buy your time back is hard.

Realizing too late that you missed everything is hard.

Choose your hard.

---

Comment "TIME" if you're tired of missing what matters.

Follow me for real talk on buying your life back.

I invested $1.5M of my own money in 24 months.

Not a single dollar from investors.

Here's what that bought me:

The right to ask for theirs.

Most syndicators are broke.

They're raising capital they can't afford to invest in themselves.

Then they wonder why nobody trusts them.

Here's what I learned:

Skin in the game > Slick pitch decks

Real money talks > Fake Instagram posts

Eating your own cooking > Selling dreams

The breakdown:

$500K → Multifamily deal (Arlington, TX)

$300K → Medical real estate fund

$200K → Phoenix build-to-rent

$500K → Three more deals after vetting 100+ opportunities

What happened next:

Raised $12M in 3 weeks.

Why?

Because investors could see my money first.

Not asking them to do what I won't do.

The truth nobody says:

You can't raise capital without credibility.

You can't have credibility without skin in the game.

You can't have skin in the game without capital.

Being broke is hard.

Risking your own money is hard.

Asking others to trust you when you don't trust yourself is hard.

Choose your hard.

Comment below:

Would you ever invest with anyone that does not have skin in the game?

Here's the wealth-building advice I wish someone gave me at 25:

Your friends will tell you to max out your 401(k).

Your parents will tell you to save 10% of your income.

Your financial advisor will tell you to invest in index funds.

None of them are wrong.

But none of them will make you wealthy, either.

Here's what will:

Own things that produce cash flow.

Not stocks that might go up.
Not crypto you can't explain to your spouse.
Not speculative investments that keep you up at night.

Things that put money in your account every single month, whether you work or not.

Real assets. Real businesses. Real estate.

I spent my 20s doing what I was "supposed to do" saving diligently, investing in my 401(k), working harder.

I spent my 30s doing what actually builds wealth buying assets that generate passive income and reduce my taxes.

The difference?

In my 20s, I was hoping to retire at 65.

In my 30s, I realized I didn't have to.

Because when your assets cover your lifestyle, work becomes a choice, not a requirement.

And that's when everything changes.

You don't need to make a million dollars a year.

You need to build a portfolio that throws off $10K-$20K a month.

That's freedom.

Which path are you on the path everyone takes, or the path that actually works?

The Fed just injected $13.5 billion into the economy.

It's the second largest injection since COVID.

And we're barely into December.

Here's what nobody's telling you about what this means for your cash:

If you're sitting in a savings account right now, you're getting destroyed.

Your 1% interest rate has no chance of keeping pace with what's coming.

That's because they're greasing the pipes before they open the firehose.

More money printing is coming. Way more.

When they flood the system with cash:

→ Your dollars will buy less
→ Inflation accelerates
→ Asset prices rise
→ Savers lose, holders win

I'm not saying this to scare you.

I'm saying it because I've watched this movie before.

The playbook is simple:

✅ Get into hard assets
✅ Real estate that appreciates with inflation
✅ Tangible investments that can't be printed into oblivion

With interest rates heading down, the cost of capital is about to get cheaper. Interest rates are heading down.

If you've been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the "right time" to invest, you're watching it happen right now.

Cash is losing value every single day they run the printer.

Don't be left holding the bag.

Holders of cash will get crushed. 

Send me a DM if you want to diversify.

I pay 35% in taxes.

I paid $0 on $1M of income last year.

Legally.

Here's exactly how I did it:

I made a $200,000 charitable donation in 2023.
That donation turned into a $1,000,000 tax deduction on my 2024 return.

Let me break down the math:

Tax I would've paid on $1M at 35%: $350,000

Tax I actually paid: $0

Net savings after the $200K donation: $150,000 in my pocket

Here's the $100K example:

Say you donate $100,000.
You receive a $500,000 tax deduction (5x multiplier).

If you're making $1M annually in the 35% bracket:

Tax on $500K at 35% = $175,000
Amount you donated = $100,000
Net benefit = $75,000 you keep instead of sending to the IRS

How This Actually Works:

You donate to a qualified charitable organization

→ They buy raw materials and create a product (medical supplies, accessibility tech)
→ Independent appraisal values the finished product at 5x cost
→ You get a K-1 by March 15th with your charitable deduction
→ Reduces your AGI by up to 50% per year
→ Excess carries forward to future years

The Track Record:

9 consecutive years of successful operation
Zero IRS audits
$90M raised annually in just 8 weeks

Hundreds of high-earners have used this strategy

Yes, there's risk.

The IRS could theoretically disallow it years later.

You'd owe back taxes plus penalties.

But with 9 years and zero audits, I'm comfortable with that risk to keep an extra $150K.
The Bottom Line:

Donate $100K → Save $175K in taxes
Donate $200K → Save $350K in taxes

The window opens mid-September and closes by Thanksgiving.

If this caught your attention, DM me "TAX".

I'll send you more details on my personal experience with this strategy.

--
I am not a CPA, tax attorney, or financial advisor. This is not tax or financial advice. This is educational content based on my personal experience.

$500,000 Invested → $550,000 K‑1 Loss

Most professionals think “passive income” sounds too good to be true.

But this was my reality on my very first real estate syndication deal.
→ Deal: Aria Ventura (660-unit Class B apartment portfolio)
→ Capital Invested: $500,000 as a Limited Partner
→ K‑1 Loss: $550,000 — thanks to bonus depreciation

Yes, you read that right:

I invested $500K and showed a $550K loss… on paper.

Here’s what most people don’t realize:

→ The IRS allows something called bonus depreciation
→ When structured properly, real estate syndications can pass that to Limited Partners
→ That creates paper losses—which can offset other gains (or even active income if you qualify)

This isn’t a loophole.

It’s a strategic framework the wealthy have used for decades to:
→ Reduce taxable income
→ Preserve capital
→ Build wealth without trading time for money

I didn’t manage tenants.
I didn’t fix toilets.
I didn’t deal with late-night maintenance calls.

I simply deployed capital into a professionally managed, cash-flowing real estate asset—and let the structure do the heavy lifting.

If you’re a high-income professional tired of the grind and ready to make your money work harder than you do:

→ DM me and I’ll show you how to start building wealth without sacrificing your time.

I built my law firm into a prison.

Then I bought my way out with real estate.

Spent 10 years becoming the attorney everyone wanted.

Also became my own worst boss.

The prison I built:

80-hour weeks

Can't take vacation (clients need me)

Miss my kids' games (depositions scheduled)

Make great money (but can't spend it with my family)

The wake-up call:

2019 Fishing tournament. Met a guy with 200 properties.

He asked: "What's your exit plan?"

I didn't have one.

39 years old. Multi-million dollar firm. Zero exit strategy.

What I did next:

Bought 14 properties in 14 months.

Studied real estate like I studied for the bar exam.

Invested $1.5M of my own money.

Built a 1,200+ unit portfolio.

The truth no one tells you:

You can't build freedom by selling hours.

Doesn't matter if you charge $500/hour or $50/hour.

Time for money = prison.

Assets that pay you = freedom.

Today:

Still run my law firm (on my terms)

Invested in 20+ real estate deals

Raised $12M in 3 weeks

Actually see my kids play soccer

Being trapped is hard.

Building an exit is hard.

Staying trapped forever is hard.

Choose your hard.

---

Comment "EXIT" if you're ready to stop trading time for money.

Follow me for real talk on escaping the high-earner trap.

Grateful today.

Not for the deals. Not for the distributions.

For the time.

Time with Kate and the kids.

Time I wouldn't have had when I was billing 2,000+ hours a year.

Real estate gave me options but the best option has always been choosing family first.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Every successful investor I know has a Not To Do List.

Here's mine and some people will hate this:

I don't invest in deals without skin in the game.

I don't chase cap rates without looking at sponsor track record.

I don't take calls from syndicators who won't show me their actual distributions.

I don't invest in markets I haven't personally visited.

I don't respond to pitch decks that say "strong cash flow" without numbers.

I don't work with sponsors who don't invest their own capital.

I don't sit through webinars that are just sales pitches.

I don't buy into deals where the sponsor makes money even if I lose mine.

I don't invest without understanding the tax benefits first.

I don't take advice from people who've never closed a deal.

I don't fill my portfolio with assets that can't show me monthly distributions.

I don't ever invest in something I can't explain to my wife.

Your time is your capital too.

Spend it wisely.

I donated $200K to charity in 2023.

And took a $1M charitable contribution.

Let me show you the math.

My numbers:

Donated: $200,000

Charitable Contribution K-1 loss: $1,000,000

If I'm in the 35% blended tax bracket on that $1M of income:

Tax I would have paid: $350,000
Tax I actually paid: $0 (on that portion)

Money saved: $350,000

Net savings after donation: $150,000 in my pocket

Here's how someone could do this with $100K:

Donate: $100,000
Tax deduction received: $500,000 (5x multiplier)

If you're making $1M annually in the 35% bracket:

Tax on $500K at 35%: $175,000
Amount donated: $100,000

Net benefit: $75,000 you keep instead of paying to the IRS

The Structure:

-> You donate to a qualified charitable organization.
-> They purchase raw materials and create a product.
-> Independent appraisal values the finished product at 5x the raw materials cost.

-> You receive a K-1 by March 15th showing your charitable contribution.
-> You can reduce your adjusted gross income by up to 50% per year.
-> If the charitable contribution exceeds 50% of your AGI, it carries forward to future years.

The track record:

The sponsor I work with has done this for 9 consecutive years.

Zero IRS audits.

$90M raised annually in just 8 weeks (mid-September through Thanksgiving).

Hundreds of high-earners using this strategy.

Yes, there's risk.
The IRS could disallow the deduction years later.
You'd owe back taxes plus penalties and interest.

The bottom line:

Donate $100K, save $175K in taxes.
Donate $200K, save $350K in taxes.

The math is simple.
The strategy is proven.

This post is just here for educational purposes. 

If you have more questions or want to connect on my personal experience send me a DM. 

Disclaimer:
I am not a CPA. I am not a tax attorney. I am not a financial advisor. This is not tax advice. This is not financial advice. This is purely educational content based on my personal experience. Always consult with your own qualified tax professional before making any financial decisions.

17 years of being a lawyer taught me this:

You can make $200k+ and still feel trapped.

Attorney life almost broke me before I found real estate:

→ I was working 60-80 hour weeks
→ Clients were demanding and draining
→ Every dollar required my time and energy
→ I was stressed, exhausted, intense, non-stop

Sure, the money was good. But the lifestyle was terrible.

It all changed when I met a guy at a fishing tournament who owned 200+ properties.

He asked me what my exit plan was as an attorney.

I told him I didn't have one.

The conversation that followed marked a turning point in my life.

14 months later, I owned 14 properties. All while still running the law firm.

Today I'm at 1,200+ units.

The law firm is still running. But now it's a choice, not a requirement.

Real estate gave me perks that practicing law never could:

→ Passive income that flows whether I work or not
→ Tax advantages that actually keep more money in my pocket
→ Equity that builds while I sleep
→ Time back with my family

Most high-earners I talk to are in the same trap I was in:

Making $250K-$500K+ per year but completely dependent on showing up every single day.

One health issue. One burnout moment. One big life change. And the whole thing collapses.

Real estate didn't make me rich. It made me free.

And once you have that, you can't imagine going back.

What would change for you if your income wasn't tied to your time?

You have anxiety because deep down you know you could be doing greater.

It's really just you against the mirror.

You vs you.

I get it. 

I spent years billing 2,000+ hours as a trial attorney while knowing I was trading time for money in a game I couldn't win.

The anxiety wasn't about the work.

It was about the path.

When I invested my first $500K into real estate, the anxiety didn't disappear it transformed.

Now it's fuel.

It reminds me that sitting still is more expensive than any deal I could lose money on.

So when anxiety hits, I do one of two things:

Go small—knock out the task I've been avoiding.
Or go BIG—take the swing I've been thinking about for months.

For me, going big was putting $1.5M of my own capital into deals before asking anyone else to invest.

For you, it might be making that first $50K passive investment instead of letting it sit in a savings account earning 4%.

Which sounds scarier?

That's the one you need to do.

Our team raised $12 million in 3 weeks.

For medical real estate.

People keep asking how we did it so fast.

Here's what actually happened:

It wasn't one big pitch that convinced everyone.

It was 18 months of building trust before we ever opened the fund.

Here's the truth about raising capital that nobody talks about:

The raise doesn't start when you launch the fund.

It starts the first time you show actual results.

Our investors didn't invest in a deal.

They invested because they'd been watching:

→ Monthly distribution updates (actual amounts, not vague "cash flow")

→ Real tax savings with receipts ($250K my first year)

→ Honest conversations about deals we walked away from

→ $1.5M+ of my own capital already invested alongside LPs

When we opened the medical real estate fund, we weren't asking people to trust us.

We were giving them the opportunity to participate in what we were already doing.

That's the difference.

Most sponsors spend weeks trying to convince investors with projections.

We spent 18 months showing them actual results.

By the time we launched, the question wasn't "Should I invest?"

It was "How much can I invest?"

---

$12M in 3 weeks wasn't luck.

It was proof of concept that took years to build.

Do you want to connect and discuss your 2026 investment goals?

Send me a DM.

$152,000,000,000.

That’s what the U.S. travel industry contributes to GDP every single month.

40+ days of delays, disruptions, and uncertainty.

It’s not just frustrating for travelers it’s a major economic red flag.

Here’s what this shutdown is doing to U.S. travel:

1. TSA + air traffic staffing stretched thin overtime halted, sickouts rising, delays spiking

2. Passport + visa processing slowed or stopped backlogs growing, trips canceled

3. National parks + landmarks closed or unstaffed tourism dollars lost, local economies hit

Why it matters for investors:

→ Travel-dependent assets (hotels, STRs, tourism hubs) are seeing demand shocks

→ Markets reliant on visa/immigration flow = instability risk

→ Infrastructure delays can ripple into CRE timelines and valuations

→ Consumer confidence tied to smooth travel and right now, that’s shaky

This shutdown is a sneaky saboteur.

It’s not loud. But it’s quietly choking off the flow of money, people, and opportunity.

If your income relies on systems that *need permission to function…

You’re playing someone else’s game.

I help investors build streams that flow no matter what—

Passive, tax-efficient, and shutdown-proof.

I break it down weekly in my newsletter:

https://lnkd.in/e3dfUJFp

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.

Write in paragraphs if you want people to take you seriously.

Not walls of text — never walls of text. But use two sentences. Even three.

Yeah, white space is good. But if it's all you use, you're telling your audience you don't deserve their attention.

I rarely talk about fitness on LinkedIn, but it's such a massive part of my life that it seems crazy not to. Here are 5 fitness tips that will change your life:

JK I just wrote that hook as an excuse to share this photo. 

You know it. I know it. We all know it. 

Anyway, book a LinkedIn consulting call with me here: 

https://lnkd.in/gXRi8zYd

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.

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.

One morning, I quit my 9-5 job and said, “I’m a writer now.” 
 
Want to do something similar? Listen. 
 
Quitting my job to bet on myself is a decision I agonized over for years. 
 
But when it came down to it, the actions it took to create my reality took me less than 24 hours. 
 
-> Woke up  
-> Printed a 2-week notice 
-> Gave an 8:00 A.M. presentation 
-> Quit at 9:00 A.M. 
 
When you're "stuck" in the day-to-day grind, it's easy to get tunnel vision. And it’s hard to grasp the vastness of opportunity that simply being alive offers you. 
 
And because the years whip by at breakneck speed, it can feel impossible to find the time to break patterns. 
 
So instead of taking advantage of the limitless sandbox of the human experience, you blink and years have passed and you still haven’t progressed toward That Thing You Wanted To Do. 
 
But the life you live is simply a result of the actions you take. 
 
Most outcomes are determined by your input — not by random chance. You have control to change situations you don’t like. 
 
And look — these don’t have to be drastic things. They usually aren’t. I know plenty of people who love their patterns. Their jobs. Their relationships. 
 
But you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t have something they want to change. 
 
So whether that’s quit-your-job-and-move-4,000-miles-away drastic or man-I’m-sick-of-eating-the-same-thing-every-day mundaneness, the actions it takes to change your situation are often less daunting than your brain makes them seem. 
 
Remember: 

Who you are is who you choose to be.

If I were a financial advisor struggling to stand out on LinkedIn, here how I'd fix that in 7 steps:

1. Define my Ideal Client Profile.

When you try to speak to everyone, you end up speaking to no one. Your posts sound like every other advisor. And prospects scroll right past because nothing you're saying feels like it's for them specifically.

2. Redesign my profile.

Your banner, tagline, and featured section should all be designed to get your profile viewers to take the next step in your process.

If you haven't done this yet, do it immediately.

3. Never send out a firm-generated post again.

Sorry Hearsay, sorry FMG, sorry Buffer.

No one gets on LinkedIn to click a link to your Q4 market update.

(I know. I used to post this stuff.) 

4. Stop using ChatGPT to write my content.

You're using an amalgamation of everyone else's voice and wondering why you can't stand out.

I mean? 

5. Stop posting content rooted in zero personal experience.

"You're making $500K and you still feel broke."

Wow. Inventive. No one ever saw that one before. 

Prospects can tell when you're writing faux-pain point content. It all looks the same — generic content written in the second person that literally anyone else could have slapped together. 

You need to be telling stories from your experience that only you can tell. Yes, tweak some of the details, but write from the real conversations you have every day.

6. Learn how to write hooks.

Learn how to write hooks.

7. Lean into controversy.

What are your contrarian opinions?
What do you hate about the industry?
When did you go against the grain with client advice?

You can't hope to stand out when your content is written to blend in.

--

P.S. If you're a financial advisor who wants to 5-10x your reach and start generating monthly leads from LinkedIn, DM me "GPS."

Spots for my January cohort are filling fast, but have a few still left.

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

I tell girls on Hinge that I'm a writer then I spend 20 minutes during prime working hours creating content like this. 

Steinbeck, Twain, Knorr.

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

Only 5 spots left in The Advisor GPS January Cohort.

What you learn from me directly: 

-> Why LinkedIn actually works for financial advisors (and why most fail)

-> How to design a profile that attracts leads instead of repelling them

-> The ICP clarity exercise that determines all your content strategy

-> How to get in front of your ideal clients without spending hours networking

-> Why traditional "selling" doesn't work on LinkedIn (and what does)

-> The Sales Navigator deep dive for finding unlimited ideal prospects

-> How to send DMs that book high-value calls without being salesy

-> The commenting strategy that builds presence in your absence

-> How to escape the "first-degree vortex" where you only see the same 15 people in your LinkedIn feed

-> How the LinkedIn algorithm actually works (with proof from hundreds of posts analyzed)

-> Why "impression posts" vs "lead posts" require completely different strategies

-> How to never run out of content ideas (ever)

-> Advanced AI content creation so you're not spending hours writing (and so you're creating content that doesn't sound like you're a paint-by-numbers book that gained sentience)

-> Why email still wins (and why most advisors ignore it)

-> How to set up the LinkedIn → Email funnel

->  The 5 types of emails that get read

-> How to repurpose LinkedIn content into emails so you're not creating everything from scratch

-> How to create welcome sequences that nurture new subscribers automatically

You also get: 

• Unlimited 1:1 consulting access to me via DM
• Access to weekly group calls + office hours
• Lifetime access to videos, templates, and frameworks

I haven't posted publicly about the January cohort until now...

And 5 of the 10 spots have already been filled just from convos in the DMs. 

I'm sure the next 5 will be gone in no time.

Shoot me a DM if you want to reserve yours.

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."

taplio

The Battle

Gib Irons

Adam Knorr

Followers

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Performance ScoreGib Irons's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAdam Knorr's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Gib Irons

Adam Knorr

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);}Gib Irons's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAdam Knorr's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreGib Irons's LinkedIn Performance