Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk is a serial entrepreneur and serves as the Chairman of VaynerX, the CEO of VaynerMedia, and Creator and CEO of VeeFriends, and 6x New York Times Best Selling Author. Gary is considered one of the leading global minds on what's next in culture, business, and the internet. 

Known as "GaryVee," he is described as one of the most forward thinkers in business. He acutely recognizes trends and patterns early to help others understand how shifts in consumer attention impact the realities of the business world today. Gary's approach sits at the intersection of business and pop culture. He keenly understands how to bring brand relevance to the forefront. He is a prolific angel investor with early investments in companies like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Venmo, Snapchat, Coinbase, and Uber.  

Gary is an entrepreneur at heart – he builds businesses. Today, he helps Fortune 1000 brands leverage consumer attention through his full-service advertising agency, VaynerMedia, which has ofﬁces in Amsterdam, Bangkok, Chicago, Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Miami, New York, Tokyo, Toronto, Singapore, and Sydney. VaynerMedia is part of the VaynerX holding company, which also includes Eva Nosidam Productions, Gallery Media Group, ChukMedia, VaynerSpeakers, VaynerCommerce, and Tingley Lane Trading. Gary is the Co-Founder of VaynerSports, VCR Group, VaynerWatt, Resy, and Empathy Wines. He guided Resy and Empathy to successful exits -- which he later sold to American Express and Constellation Brands, respectively. He also owns a Major League Pickleball team called the 5s, is part owner of a Big3 basketball team, and is an investor in the revival of the SlamBall League. 

Gary is also the founder and creator of VeeCon – a contemporary super conference that converges business and pop culture with innovation and technology. In addition to running multiple businesses, Gary documents his daily life as a CEO through his social media channels, which have more than 50 million followers and garner more than 2+ billion impressions per year across all platforms. His podcast, "The GaryVee Audio Experience," ranks among the top podcasts globally.  

Gary serves on the board of MikMak, Bojangles Restaurants, Global Citizen Forum, The Paley Center, and Pencils of Promise. He is also a longtime Well Member of charity: water.

Gary's life ambition is to buy the New York Jets.

Vayner3 was founded to help the world’s leading enterprises navigate the next era of connected consumer behavior. Our mission is to grow your business by helping to build new markets and revolutionize digital engagement, charting a new course for enterprises. 

Vayner3 partners with leading brands to shape the next era of the internet; leverage AR, Blockchain, AI, and immersive digital experiences to future-proof your business.

Please listen to this carefully ...

so many of you are putting an ideology of "success" on a pedestal instead of your own ACTUAL HAPPINESS.

Everybody's balance is different ..

everybody's version of happiness is different ..

There are 300 million ways to do it ..

find the way that works for YOU! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Chairman – VaynerX, CEO – VaynerMedia, Creator – VeeFriends

What a lot of people don't understand is, speed in business comes from great internal culture. The biggest things that will make your company go fast are 1) continuity and 2) lack of politics.

That's why it doesn't matter how "great" an employee's numbers are if he or she makes all the other employees miserable. If they constantly spread negativity or drag other employees down, it doesn't matter to me how good they are on paper.

If you're the CEO of a company, it's imperative that you go audit every single employee in your company, and figure out which ones make the other employees miserable. It doesn't matter if it's your number one salesperson, your best developer, or even your co-founder.

Cancer spreads.

And if you have people in your company that are cancerous, you have to get rid of them no matter how much revenue they bring in.

Back in the day when I was starting they swore that being nice was a weakness …

A lot of people actually tried to talk me out of turning employees into family .. they said, "Gary, you're too nice. It's not gonna work out."

But I never believed them, not for one second .. no matter how much money they had or how much I believed in them.

And more importantly, I was willing to leave unbelievable amounts of money on the table to feel good about my day-to-day, my life, and who I was.

My friends .. kindness is ROI positive .. you can build an empire and be an unbelievable business person without compromising kindness.

Pls share this with one person who needs it today!

The biggest truth in the world 🌎 is that you're 100% in control of your life and you are not trapped or stuck ... and yet ... the world has got you all convinced that it's the reverse

As we head into 2026 .. pls remember .. you are in control ❤️

If you're unhappy at your job .. if you hate your boss .. instead of doing whatever the f*ck you normally do for 4 hours .. go on LinkedIn and email 100 people. 

Update your LinkedIn account .. post content about your expertise. You can do sh*t instead of just complaining. 

Complaining is, “My boss will never let me succeed.” Are you out of your f*cking mind?? Your boss at a random company? There are 87 trillion companies .. quit! 

At the end of the day, if you want to be happy, pls understand .. you're in control.

You have ONE life. Do something about it.

Stop micromanaging dumb sh*t that actually doesn't matter.

Owners and managers .. the micromanaging of "Whatya doing right now?" or the obsession over if employees are being productive at home is hurting you!

When it comes to managing my employees, giving them space to breathe, knowing who they really are, being respectful of their time and privacy matters the most to me.

Leading with fear, scaring people, or controlling people is messed up .. that negativity needs to be flipped to get the outcome you need.

Trust wins, spying loses.

Give your people room .. don't micromanage .. all this f*cking intensity that just brings no value.

Let your employees f*cking breathe and then you'll really see who they are!

Building a great culture starts with surrounding yourself with individuals who show humanity, kindness, and positivity.

As a leader, it's important to not "look the other way" when certain individuals are negatively impacting the team's culture, especially if they are "top performers" on paper.

If you're looking for something special to happen, it's supposed to be hard.

The second you allow the word "easy" to come into your head when you're building something, it's game over.

I see all of these kids and they're like, "Gary, this is so hard..." I'm like, do you understand that you're asking for a 1% life in being an entrepreneur that stands on her or his own feet?

Everything's out of whack. Do I think there are many unlimited opportunities out there? Yes, I do. But do I think there's anything easy about standing on your own two feet and having all of that pressure on your chest in perpetuity? No, I do not.

The second you want something fast is the second I'll show you something that's vulnerable: a relationship, a business, a platform... Speed is the enemy to so many right now.

Life is ups and downs for everyone...

The reality is most people aren’t joyful because they aren’t reacting to the “down times” well…once you get cozy with the dirt, the bad, the garbage, the issues, that’s when shit gets good 😉

Audit the sh*t out of what you consume and who you hang with.

It's just real! Who you hang out with determines your future success... so surround yourself with positive people who support you.

Support paired with accountability is always a winning formula.

New rule ‼️‼️‼️‼️ no looking back anymore! So many of you didn’t have the 2025 you wanted because you….

Dwelled
Over analyzed
Regretted
And most of all … BLAMED everyone but yourself ….

Friends, it’s time to change your perspective… no looking back .. adjust and adapt to whatever is given to you … because …. You’re capable of it ❤️

I fire every single person that is not a good human being regardless of how much money she or he makes for me. 

If you’re a leader, I promise you this… you better go home and audit every single employee you have and figure out which employee makes the other employees miserable. I don’t give a sh*t if it’s your number one salesperson, your best developer, or your cofounder… cancer spreads. 

There is no quicker way to f*ck everything up than to look the other way when you have someone who is talented and contributing, but is a garbage human. 

Period.

I know a lot of companies and employees are trying to figure out how to balance in office/ remote work … pros and cons to so many of the sides .. but man .. the osmosis to learn and the efficiencies of learning and getting certain things done ✔️ really plays out so differently in person than on zoom and slack .. interesting times ahead for CEOs and employees as we all figure it “out”

There's no right or wrong, there's just what works for you

Comment below .. what are your thoughts on remote work?

#companyculture #remotework #workfromhome

It’s action time … you all know what you need to do .. it’s time to actually do … the talk time is over - go do .. show up.. put in the time and work and effort and don’t fear the failure, fear the regret of talking and never doing anything about it … you got this … I believe in you ❤️♥️

Taking a job for less pay…
Selling your big house for a smaller house when appropriate, or even renting…
Leaving a job that isn’t right for you even though you’ve been there for 7 years…
Taking a lesser title even though the business is better…

The fear of “going backwards” is hurting people.. but the “step back” is often the thing that launches people into happiness .. but their fear of judgement on the step back is stopping them from that happiness.

It’s unfortunate because a lot of that is based on society's current POV and judgement - not people's true decisions. 

Time to block out the noise and lean into your truth. Choose humility and grit and inconvenience for a period of time to get to your joy ❤️❤️☀️💛💛💛

You don't build culture by offering free snacks or a gym membership.

You build culture by talking to people and understanding what they care about.

Leaders work for their employees, not the other way around. That means you have to understand what your employees want at a deep level. You have to be constantly adapting to their needs and what they want from the organization.

Listening to employees, having one-on-one meetings, catering to what they want, taking the blame, and being the bigger person... that's how you win.

It doesn’t matter what you call your company.

McDonald’s is a junk food restaurant. But if you didn’t know McDonald’s and heard the name, it sounds like an Irish pub. Like, what is Google? The f*ck is Nike?

People are overthinking things that don’t matter.. Like a name. What actually matters is that you’re going to execute on that name. 

My personal brand name, publicly, is the stupidest thing of all time. It’s GaryVee, with two silent e’s.

My friends, it’s not the name. It’s just execution.

Finding the balance between work and family is a challenge for so many.. the reality is, when it comes to work-life balance, you're your only judge!

Make sure you're making decisions that make sense for you and your circumstances, and don't listen to pressure from outside voices of where you "should" be spending your time.

I hope this convo on work life balance hits for some of you and really allows you to be kinder to yourself !!!

I'm not a big fan of dwelling without action.

I've got a very basic thesis: if I find myself in a situation where I'm unhappy, either I do something about it, or—if I've decided I don't want to do something about it—I keep my mouth shut, because there's too much energy wasted on dwelling.

It's pretty simple, my friends: complaining gets you nowhere.

If you're super unhappy—if you wake up every morning dreading going to work—you have several options. You can, while you still have that job, start something else on the side and let it build... or you can quit and start something new right away... or you can stay the course and have regret when you're older... or figure out how to get your joy elsewhere.

That's it. That's the game.

You’ve got options—you just need to take action. Dwelling and talking about it does nothing.

If this hits for you, let's use this post to inspire you to address that sh*t once and for all. Who’s in?

You have to make a decision: are you going to stay at a job you hate just to maximize your salary and not give a f*ck about the cons, or are you going to go find a job that pays you a little bit less but gives you the freedom you’re looking for?

For a long time, it was “maximize money.” Now, it’s about maximizing happiness and opportunity. Nobody’s forcing you to work anywhere. Life is about decisions. The great thing is, you’re in charge.

LIAM DARMODYᵍᵐ

Personal Brand Strategist & Networking Coach → I help entrepreneurs, executives & teams build brands to attract clients, talent & opportunity | Family Man | Connector | AI & Blockchain Bull | Hot Sauce Aficionado🌶️

I help founders, entrepreneurs, and executives build businesses by becoming trusted, visible, and referenceable in their space. My work sits at the intersection of personal brand strategy, go-to-market execution, and AI-enabled operations. I help people understand how to show up across LinkedIn, search, and AI-driven discovery and how that visibility turns into real opportunity over time.

Currently, I'm working with Brandi (mybrandi.ai), helping companies understand how they show up inside AI-generated answers and recommendations, and how brand visibility, trust, and demand are increasingly shaped by systems they do not directly control.

Seeing this shift up close has changed how I help individuals and teams show up online.

A core part of my approach is what I call Voice Enablement with AI.

Instead of writing for people, I teach them how to use AI to think, draft, and create content in their own voice. Most clients stop writing from scratch and start editing instead. Content creation becomes faster, more consistent, and still unmistakably human.

How? Because we are using your actual voice!

What I help with most often:

• Founder and executive positioning and LinkedIn profile strategy
• Personal narrative clarity for humans, AI systems, and decision-makers
• Relationship-based networking and social selling without pressure tactics
• Using AI to streamline content creation, engagement, and workflows
• Measuring what actually matters in brand and go-to-market efforts

Alongside my advisory work, I take on select fractional go-to-market and operations roles, supporting teams during growth, transition, or strategic realignment.

I’m known for helping people:

• Clarify what makes them meaningfully different
• Build trust before asking for anything
• Turn visibility into opportunity over time
• Turn chaos into organized chaos ;)

I call this manifesting serendipity.

It’s not luck. It’s intention, consistency, and showing up in the right conversations long before you need something. It's being in someone's orbit often enough that you become the first person they think of when they need your product or service. 

It's about being top of mind. 

Outside of work, I’m a husband, a dad of two, an early-morning lifter, and a proud hot sauce aficionado 🌶️. 

If you’re building a brand, a business, or your next chapter, I’d love to jam with you. 

Hi5, 
LD

Founder

I help executives, founders, and their teams build magnetic brands that attract clients, talent, and opportunity on LinkedIn. 

My services include: 

My services include: 
- Profile Optimization
- LinkedIn feature training
- Core content strategy
- Ghostediting (ask me about it)
- Content performance analysis 
- Sales Navigator training

Liam's Brand Stand was born out of my passion for personal branding and belief that LinkedIn is the ultimate platform for professionals and organizations to manifest serendipity and unlock opportunity.

This passion started as a fascination that turned into a hobby, then to a side hustle, and now, my full-time focus. I started creating content and being more intentional about building my brand here in January 2020 and since then I've amassed 35,000 followers and my content has garnered ~23,000,000 impressions, ~600,000 reactions, and ~100,000 comments. 

Completely organically.

Pretty crazy, especially when you consider I'm just a suburban dad who took to LinkedIn as a way to have conversation with other adults while cooped up in my house with my wife, a toddler, and an infant during a pandemic. 

That's the kind of opportunity that exists on LinkedIn and I'm on a mission to help more people experience it for themselves. 

If you're interested in doing so, visit: 

liamsbrandstand.com to learn more 
-or- 
calendly.com/liamdarmody to book time with me

Thanks for stopping by! 

Hi5, 
LD

LIAM DARMODY

Today I stepped on the scale & clocked 278lbs. 

I know that sounds like a weird flex, but I have not been in the 270s since August 2016.

Nearly 10 years. 

When I started my business in August 2023, I was 347lbs. 

I couldn’t walk a mile without running out of breath.
I couldn’t walk upstairs without the same.
I feared my kids asking me to play because I knew how hard that would be for me. 

I had spent the better part of 30 years using food as medicine to heal wounds from childhood, which started at A&D burgers in Mississauga, Ontario. 

I decided enough was enough. 

Joined a gym.

Started with 3x per week, which was all I could do back then. 

Then 4x per week. 
Then 5x per week.
And now 6x per week (sometimes ;)

it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do, not just because of how challenging the physical workouts are, but because it hasn't garnered massive results overnight.

I've been an all or nothing kind of guy since the beginning of time and I've started and stopped trying to lose weight many times before.

I wanted three months of hard work to magically undo 30 years of unhealthy habits.

It doesn't work like that.

I'm at the point now where the scale doesn't even really matter that much to me because I've realized that which really matters is that I'm showing up in that gym every weekday.

putting in the work to be healthier.

day by day.
Week by week.
Month by month. 
Year by year. 

I may still be round but I'm in the best shape of my life. 

And it feels amazing.

My advice to anyone who has struggled with weight loss is to try this: 

1) Find a gym with coaches & classes. Expert accountability and community are massive motivators. 

2) Go 3-5 days per week for 3 months. Non-negotiable. 

3) Meal prep. Every Sunday I throw 4 lb of ground chicken, a bag of hash brown potatoes, and 15 eggs on a blackstone flat top and make a meal for myself that has 100 g of protein. That's breakfast after the gym every day. 

If you do that, you will notice a change in yourself, not just on the scale but mentally. You will start to believe that you are capable of things you never thought you were capable of. 

And that will motivate you to keep going.

I’m still on my journey. I’ve got a long way to go, but I have zero doubt that I will get there now. 

And that is something I haven’t felt ever before. 

It’s liberating as hell. 

Good luck. 

My DMs are open if you ever want to jam about it.

I’ve got to go carry both of my kids up the stairs now, and I’m proud to say I won’t be winded. 

Hi5,
LD
🌶️

Personal Brand Strategist & Fractional GTM Operator helping founders build their businesses with LinkedIn & AI 🌶️ Hot Sauce Aficionado 🌶️

No alternative text description for this image

HUGE NEWS! 

My incredible wife Megan Bailey Darmody has a new job! She’s swapping floral fragrances, petals, and stems for wax, wicks, and fragrance sticks by joining CandleScience to lead performance marketing. 

CandleScience is one of the largest suppliers and educators in the candle making industry and I am so excited for her (and to have more candles around the house…;)

Megan is an absolute boss and I’m so proud to be her husband. She inspires me every single day. 

Please join me in congratulating her on the new role!

Hi5,
LD
🕯️

Brand Strategist and Fractional GTM Operator helping founders grow their businesses with LinkedIn and AI • Hot Sauce Aficionado 🌶️

This is not okay. 
This is not what America is supposed to be.
This is not what “law enforcement” looks like. 

This is not “the land of the Free”
This is not “the Home of the Brave” 
This is not “one country, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”

This is barbaric.
This is cowardice.
This is fear mongering. 
This is absolutely devastating.

This is the execution of an American citizen exercising his unalienable constitutional rights. 

And it’s f*cking unacceptable.

I am astounded that this continues to happen with seemingly zero repercussions. 

What are we doing? 
How did we get here?

And most importantly, how do we stop it? 

I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on politically, if you are willing to stand by and watch this without speaking up or taking action, you’re not my kind of people. 

Political differences are acceptable—appreciated, even. 

Staying silent as American citizens are murdered by masked “men” beating their chests and brandishing weapons to fuel their bravado is not. 

My heart goes out to the families who have been impacted by these devastating displays of government overreach. 

I cannot begin to comprehend your pain and nothing I say could possibly fill the void left by such a tragic loss.

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t say something. 

I will never forget this image. 

Especially not at the polls.

☮️&❤️

This one's for my fellow dog owners... 

The other day, a weird triangle box showed up on my doorstep while I was working and when I opened it, I found this AI-generated portrait of my dog, Lucky DarmoDoodle, looking far more classy and refined than is reality. 

Turns out my wife found this site called Vogue Paws that will turn any photo of your hound into a portrait worth framing. 

This is not an ad for that service, I just think it's cool. 

I'm curious...

Do you have a pet? 

Hi5,
LD
🌶️

Dear Leaders, 

Please stop putting random hour-long meetings on people's calendars without context. 

Sincerely, 
Everyone who's ever worked for someone else.

Underrated life hack: 

Make others feel seen, heard, & understood.

Too many people think that all you have to do is show up a few times per week on Linkedin, write a few posts, and start drinking from a lead firehose. That doesn’t work here anymore.

5 years ago it may have, but not now. 

Building your brand/business on Linkedin requires so much more than simply publishing content.

Linkedin is a signal farm and your ability to pay attention to and engage with those signals is what determines your success here. 

I view it as a funnel exercise.

Once you see it that way, you can’t unsee it. 

I always say that Linkedin is the world’s largest CRM, and the leads are already built in and pre-qualified for you (if you build your network right). 

This is the Linkedin Signal Funnel. 

Do you view it this way, too? 

Hi5,
LD

graphical user interface, text, application

Today I went for a 30-minute walk and talk where I actually held my iPhone up to my ear the entire time like it was 2007. It was weird. Do not recommend.

I bet I’ve said “I wish I knew how to code” hundreds of times over the last two decades. I definitely have had no shortage of app ideas. 

I’ve been hearing so much about vibecoding and dabbled a little bit, but never built anything that actually worked on my phone.   

Until last night, when Sitting in front of the TV watching football, I vibecoded my first functional mobile app using ChatGPT and Claude Code.

I:

-> installed Node.js
—> used it to run Expo from the terminal
—->used Expo Go on my phone to preview the app

Things I knew nothing about prior. 

And in 2 hours I coded a functional MVP of an app I’ve been thinking was a good idea since becoming a father. 

It ain’t pretty (yet), but it’s functional. 

And I’m feeling pretty proud of myself, not to mention I really enjoyed the whole experience. It’s kind of like solving a puzzle.

All in my native tongue. 
No programming knowledge necessary. 

What a time to be alive! 

I’m curious… 

Have you used AI to build any software yet? 

Hi5
LD
🌶️

Are you a generalist or a specialist? 

I spent the better part of the first twenty years of my career feeling pretty insecure about the fact that I was more of a Swiss Army knife than a specialist. 

I was genuinely surprised when I would get new opportunities with higher titles because we've been taught to believe that you don't climb the ladder unless you have a very specific set of skills and scope. 

But being a generalist has always been my natural motion. I’ve always been too curious and too fascinated by too many things to just focus on one. 

These days I see articles about how “the future belongs to generalists” and companies are focusing on cultivating T-shaped talent—people with depth in one area and breadth across many others. 

I'm excited about this narrative and a lot more comfortable embracing that jack-of-many trades moniker nowadays than ever before.

Excited about the future.

I’m curious: 

Do you consider yourself more of a specialist or generalist? 

Hi5,
LD
🌶️

P.S. this post started as a comment on Conor Grennan’s recent post about generalists. Go follow him for fantastic AI thought leadership content.

I don’t know about you, but I’m seeing a lot of new faces viewing/following/connecting these days and for the most part they are exactly the types of people I generally want to be talking to:

Founders at tech companies
Fractional executives 
Executive coaches 
Marketing folks
Comms folks
Ops folks
AI folks 

Come to think of it, that is a lot. I guess I like to talk to a wide variety of people, but regardless, I’m seeing a lot more of them and I like it. 

I think LinkedIn’s new 360Brew AI system is brewin! 

How’s LinkedIn treating you these days? 

Hi5,
LD
🌶️

I just crossed 300,000 words whispered through Wispr Flow 
(apparently that’s the equivalent of three books!) 
Over the last six months, I’ve dictated an average of 103 words per minute, across 79 different apps. Slack. LinkedIn comments. Emails. Texts. Notes. Everywhere.

Wispr Flow is the best tool I found in 2025. 

It’s one of those special products that revealed a problem I didn’t realize I had—I didn’t realize how much mental load typing created until I didn’t have to do it anymore.

Same way Uber changed how I thought about taxis.
Same way Tesla changed how I thought about driving.

Once I stopped typing and started thinking out loud, everything just felt so much more natural.

With AI, I can dictate stream-of-consciousness thoughts and let the machine do the cleanup. The result is faster output and more authentic writing. I’m no longer switching modes from “thinking” to “typing.” 

I just think and talk. 

That’s a massive unlock.

I’m usually an early adopter with a pretty high bar, which means I moves on quickly from most new products I try. 

Not this one. 

Wispr Flow is now core to how I work.

If you want to try it, you get 2,000 words free. Fair warning though… there’s a very good chance you’ll end up paying the $15/month.

(Sorry, not sorry)

Check it out here and get in flow!!!! 

👉 https://lnkd.in/epMgJFez

Hi5,
LD 
🌶️

P.S. Not a paid partnership. I just genuinely love this product!

It's now been a little more than three years since ChatGPT launched on November 30th, 2022. And it's so wild how much AI is changing virtually every aspect of our lives. 

I started using ChatGPT the day it came out and was a paid user within a week.

Then Claude hit the scene and I started using that. 
Then Perplexity. 
Then Gemini. 
Then Grok. 

ChatGPT's first mover advantage is strong in my case, which gives it an unfair advantage over the others because I do use it as my default for most things. 

I like Claude better for writing. 

I'm intrigued to see how much market share Gemini is gaining though I haven't really committed much time to using Gemini myself.  

I don't really mess with Grok. 

I know some people who are all-in on one thing. I know other people who use different LLMs for different purposes. I think I fall into the latter bucket but ChatGPT remains my primary for most things. And I struggle to balance usage across all effectively. 

I'm now at the point where I might be looking for that thing I did the other day and having to check multiple LLMs. 

One of my goals in 2026 is to streamline my AI stack and focus on deciding which one is really the best one for me all-around rather than defaulting to ChatGPT because it's been around for me the longest.

And so, I'm curious...

If you could only use ONE of the major AI LLMs going forward, which one would you pick? BONUS POINTS for telling us why in the comments. 

The author can see how you vote. Learn more

If I had to pick just two social networks to spend time on, it would be Substack and LinkedIn. 

Why? 

Because they're pretty complementary to one another and most people on Substack link to their LinkedIn profile, you can easily find and follow in both places. 

Admittedly, I spend more time on LinkedIn than I do Substack right now, because I’ve built a larger and more engaged following here. But I plan to increase the time I spend on Substack significantly.

Why? 

Because Substack lets me build a more direct, owned connection with my audience and because it’s a much better platform from a usability standpoint. 

It’s like Substack has gone to all the other socials, taken notes about what sucks, and built the solution. 

I’m increasingly starting to view the two this way: 

Linkedin is where you build your personal brand. 
Substack is where you build (and monetize!) your personal media empire. 

Linkedin is top of funnel.
Substack is middle of funnel. 

Going forward, I’m: 

Incredibly bullish on Substack. 
Incredibly bullish on LinkedIn. 
Insanely bullish on the two of them paired together. 

Are you on substack? 

Drop your link below if so. 

Here’s mine: https://lnkd.in/eEZA6RHN

Hi5,
LD
🌶️

“DAD!! Stop using ChatGPT to play Monopoly!” 

Whoops.

You had one job…

I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve gone to an ATM in the last 365 days. Today was one of those rare visits (to get money for babysitter tonight, which is literally my only use case for cash anymore), and of course…

Looking for a job in 2026? Read this. 
 
On Thursday January 8th, my good friend Angie Callen, PCC, MJSC and 25 of her closest career coaching friends are hosting the 2026 Job Seeker Summit, a FREE virtual event showcasing expert advice from globally-recognized career coaches, resume writers, recruiters and... 

Somehow me. 

Fun fact: my first foray into Linkedin coaching was in 2009 when I launched TalentFish Consulting on a mission to help jobseekers cast a wider net. It was after a layoff and I thought: "teaching people how to network their way into their next opportunity sounds fun... let's do it!"

Only it was short lived because I networked myself into a new job shortly thereafter and didn't have time for side hustles. 

But the principles I taught then are even more valid today and 2026 is going to be a big year on Linkedin, so you might as well jump into some of these sessions to learn from those who know it best. 

The 2026 Jobseeker Summit starts at 9am MOUNTAIN time on Jan 8th and here's the lineup: 

9AM: Event welcome + resume AMA
10:30: Resume Breakout Sessions
11:30: Interview AMA: Real talk on Modern Interviews
1:15: Job Search AMA: Beyond the Boards
2:30: Job Search Breakout Sessions
3:30: AI Panel: From ChatGPT to CareerGPT (this is the one I'm on!)
4:15: Mindset Panel: Bounce Back & Burnout Recovery

Hear from 25 different career coaches, resume writers, and recruiters. 

For free.

Don't pinch yourself. It's true. 

Whether you're looking for a new job or not, the things you'll learn at the Job Seeker Summit are worth the time and price of admission (remember, it's FREE). 

Pre-register for access to giveaways during the day and ALL recordings from the event here: https://lnkd.in/eeGfPgdG

See you there! 
LD
🌶️

2026 Job Seeker Summit - Jan 8th - 9AM MT - FREE!

Unexpected benefit of taking two weeks off of LinkedIn: “it can only get better from here” 🤪Happy to be back. I love this place.

After 14-days of kids being home for the holidays, Megan Bailey Darmody and I decided it was high time for a bit more structure around the things our kids do around the house. 

We’ve tried fridge lists and white boards, etc, but they never really stuck, so I enlisted the help of Google’s Gemini to help me create a master tracking sheet that is more interactive and satisfying than a simple checklist on a fridge. 

Here’s how it works:

- Kids aren’t allowed on iPad on weekdays, unless it’s to update their to do list. This will happen on my iPad or with Mom or Dad’s phone. 

- Each day they complete 💯 of their tasks, they unlock 20% of their weekend iPad time allotment, reflected by a green progress bar atop their tasks and a big “TOTAL EARNED” tracker.

- If they hit all 5 days, they unlock a celebratory badge and all of their iPad time. 

The beauty of this is that I created it entirely with the help of Gemini. The formulas are definitely more complex than anything I knew how to create myself but it was able to tell me what I needed based on the inputs that I was giving it. 

And of course it also gave me a prompt I can use for building a prototype app in Lovable.  

(Stay tuned for more on that front)

What a time to be alive.

Parents, I’m curious… 

How has AI helped you improve around the house?

Hi5,
LD
🌶️

__
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+Follow LIAM for AI, branding, & business innovation content

Appreciation post for founders who value operations & core operating principles: 388 impressions. Post about ATM not functioning: 10,000 impressions. Checks out. 

Remember: exciting or frustrating as they may be, impressions are not the metric that matters most on Linkedin. Far from it. 

Fill your network with active people who might be interested in seeing your content and post about: 

Who you are
What you know
Why you're here
How you help

Start conversation with those who show interest

Consistency & patience compounds over time.

One day that 388 impression post might bring in a opportunity. 
Or maybe the 10,000 impression post does it.

The point is: 

When in doubt, zoom out. 

It's not about the performance of each individual post. 
It's about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. 

We're building personal brands here, folks, and those last as long as we do (and beyond), so don't let short-term frustration prevent long-term success. 

How do you handle ups and downs? 

Hi5. I'm rooting for you, 
LD
🌶️

taplio

The Battle

Gary Vaynerchuk

LIAM DARMODY

Followers

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Performance ScoreGary Vaynerchuk's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreLIAM DARMODY's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Gary Vaynerchuk

LIAM DARMODY

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);}Gary Vaynerchuk's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreLIAM DARMODY's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreGary Vaynerchuk's LinkedIn Performance