CRE Digital

Head of Content & Ghostwriter

Take Action Copy

www.takeactioncopy.com

I write words that make you money.

Founder, Ghostwriter & Copywriter

AllianceBernstein

Team Lead | Assistant Vice President - Regional Consultant

Assistant Vice President - Regional Consultant

Jackson

Covered southeast Pennsylvania, working with financial advisors to identify variable annuity solutions for clients. 

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

Replaced my finance salary in 18 months by writing online. Follow me to learn how to become a better writer and make $ on LinkedIn.

Worked in finance.

Quit. Moved to Hawaii.

Surfed, led coffee farm tours, and started writing online.

I'm not surfing or leading farm tours anymore.

But I'm still writing online — bringing you leads, making you money, growing your personal brand.

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

credigital.io

A 10-year-old asks you, "What job will pay me the most?"

What do you say?

My guess is most people would default to:

• "Doctors."
• "Lawyers."
• "Bankers."

Which is crazy.

Most of us are terrible at predicting future trends, so we default on what we knew to be true in the past.

But the biggest money-making opportunities today — and going forward — are created with a laptop and a WiFi connection.

And to make things even better...

• These opportunities are more accessible.
(No degrees required.)

• They don't put you in 6-figure debt in your 30s.
(Test an eCom biz with $20K.)

• They don't require 80-hour weeks away from your kids.
(You can work those 80 hours from home.)

It has never been easier to build something.
It has never been easier to start a business.
It has never been easier to do your own thing.

Teach kids to align themselves with the future.

Not the past.

Adam Knorr

Getting you millions of eyeballs on LinkedIn. | Ghostwriting your book. | 30+ million client impressions on LinkedIn, $10+ million in capital raised, $500K+ in client courses sold

Quidditch doesn't make any sense.

J.K. Rowling still sold 600 million copies.

The rules of Quidditch are absurd:

• Snitch is worth 150 points.
• Goals are worth 10 points. 
• Game ends when the Snitch is caught.

That means Gryffindor could score 14 goals and Ravenclaw could still win if they caught the snitch, even if they scored 0 goals.

One player matters.

The rest are just wizarding window dressing.

And you know what J.K. Rowling did after she came up with the most nonsense sport of all time?

Just published the damn thing anyways and it became the best-selling book series in history.

Stop stressing.
Nothing is ever perfect.
You're going to make mistakes.

No one cares.

Hitting "post" can change your life.

So let it fly.

How a book jumped from No. 552,709 to No. 1 on the Amazon best-seller list in 48 hours:

On Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles played the Green Bay Packers in the NFL playoffs.

During the game, Eagles wide receiver AJ Brown was seen reading a book on the bench.

It was strange. People noticed.

After the game, reporters asked Brown about it.

The book was Inner Excellence by Jim Murphy.

"(Football) is 90% mental and 10% physical for me," Brown said. "I read it between each drive to lock in, no matter what happens."

When the broadcast spied Brown reading Inner Excellence, the book was No. 552,709 on the Amazon Bestseller list.

Since then, sales of Inner Excellence jumped over 53 MILLION percent. 

And it's currently the No. 1 best-selling book on Amazon.

Murphy wrote this book back in 2020. 
5 years later, it went nuclear.

Put your stuff out there — and be proud of the stuff you put out there, no matter what the numbers or the engagement or the charts say.

Just because it doesn't hit today doesn't mean it isn't going to hit tomorrow.

You just never know.

AI will replace 99% of creatives by 2035.

Unless you learn from Rick Rubin:

In case you missed it, OpenAI recently announced its o3 model.

People are arguing whether or not it qualifies as AGI.

AGI refers to AI that can perform any task that humans can do, and is a precursor to superintelligence — AI that surpasses human intelligence.

ChatGPT was released publicly in November 2022. That's 2 years ago.

In just 2 years, AI has gone from:
Novelty -> Mainstream -> Can't live with out it

And now we're flirting with AGI and, soon, superintelligence.

I will almost certainly be replaced as a writer. So will most creatives.

Unless...

Rick Rubin is a music producer — the most influential one of the past 30 years. 

But he doesn't sing, play instruments, or mix tracks.

In his own words:

"I have no technical ability. And I know nothing about music."

So what makes him so valuable?

"I know what I like and what I don't like... [I'm being paid] for the confidence I have in my taste."

For creatives, the future is going to shift away from the ability to create.

Creation will be commoditized. This will be true of any field where AI is an option. The question isn't "if," it's "when?"

If you're a creative who wants to survive in the creative field in an AGI future (which we might be living in right now), you need to spend more time understanding what inspires people, what repels people, and why certain things are cultural phenomena while others get lost in the ether.

People will continue to want to do business with people. At least until generations are born into a world where superintelligence has always existed.

For you, me, and the other creatives, that means the ability to build a personal brand and craft a cult of personality is one of the only ways you'll be able to maintain this career path.

It will no longer be about what you create. 

Success in creatives fields will rely solely on personality, taste, and intuition. To survive in the industry, you have to establish yourself as a tastemaker, a trendsetter, and someone worth listening to.

Learn *why* people like what they like.

• Study cultural phenomena.
• Write about what you like and don't like.
• Learn how people feel and what motivates them.
• Take strong stances to build a following.
• Become a known voice.

The future of creation will have little to do with creation.

It will have everything to do with *you.*

Getting you millions of eyeballs on LinkedIn. | Ghostwriting your book. | 25+ million client impressions on LinkedIn, $10+ million in capital raised, $500K+ in client courses sold

It's 5:18 on Christmas morning and I'm working.

You have to grind if you want it.

KIDDING. Kidding. Kidding. 

I mean, it is 5:18 on Christmas morning and I am working. But it has nothing to do with grinding or hustle culture or being Alex Hormozi-lite.

I'm working on 5:18 on Christmas morning for a few reasons:

1. I don't have kids.
2. I'll be with family in a few hours.

And, most importantly...

3. I want to be working.

I wake up at 4:00 or so most mornings without an alarm. 
(This is also not a flex, it generally sucks.) 

Today, I made my standard liter of coffee, sat down, and read a chapter of Mark Twain's "The Innocents Abroad."

Then, I decided I'd rather spend a couple hours working than reading more.

Here's the point of this post:

-> You really can do something you love for work.
-> Or, at least, something you're *excited* to do.
-> Work does not have to be something you hate.
-> You do not have to stay stuck. 

When I look back at my finance days, it's funny to see the juxtaposition. I used to dread work every morning. I used to relish getting to take PTO the last week of the year. I used to get heart palpitations thinking about clearing out my inbox of 147 emails after Jan. 1.

And now I'm *choosing* to work at 5:18 on Christmas morning.

Because it excites me.

Idk man.

Maybe you should just try to do that thing you've always wanted to do.

It's pretty cool.

My name is Adam Knorr.

Wanted to reintroduce myself at 10,000 followers.

I have a journalism degree.
I worked in finance for 6 years.
I quit finance to start writing online in 2022.

I've been to all 50 states (and 21 countries).
I speak decent Spanish.
I like Mark Twain.

I can name 135 world capitals (just tested it).
I have been on 2 game shows (won 1, lost 1).
I shot an 83 in golf one time.

I lived in Bilbao, Spain for 6 months.
I lived in Kona, Hawaii for about a year.
I lived in Nashville, Tennessee for 6 years.

My life revolves around the Detroit Tigers.
I owe 99.99% of my success to my family. 
I do CrossFit. I am legally obligated to bring that up.

I reinvented myself in 2022.
Now, I'm a freelance writer.
I ghostwrite LinkedIn content, X content, and books.

(Also some emails, some speeches, and some tour scripts.)

I adore writing.
It's my favorite thing in the world.
I like teaching people how to be better writers.

If you want to learn how to grow on LinkedIn...
Or how to quit your 9-5 to work for yourself...
Or how to become a better writer...

I'd love for you to send me a connection request. 

--

What's one fun fact about you most people don't know?

I wrote 2,000+ LinkedIn posts in 2024.

5 lessons I didn't expect to learn:

1. Your posts are still too long.

Yes, even your shorter ones. 

2. Formatting is less important than you think.

A+ formatting can't make up for D+ content.

Focus on making your audience *feel* something — and less on bullet point structure.

3. People can't help but view things as personal.

If you've ever gone viral, you get this. 

Everyone should be required to write online to get a front-row seat to the human psyche. Most people walk around thinking everything has to be about them in some way.

4. Writing with nuance kills your reach.

I will never be intentionally inflammatory — and I will never write something I don't believe — but I will delete sentences that acknowledge nuance. 

-> You don't have to like this.
-> It's just the truth. 

5. Visuals matter just as much as text.

Selfies work for some people.
They don't work for others.

I'll let you deduce why that is ...

But no algorithm in the world has a line of code saying: if image_type =="selfie": multiplier x10.

It's not the selfie. It's having a visual that stops people from scrolling and keeps them engaged.

--

I spent 6 years sitting in a cubicle.

9-5s are dangerous. 

Why?

Because most 9-5 jobs pay you just enough to give up on your dreams. 

- My degree is in journalism.
- Journalism doesn't pay well.
- So I got a job working in financial sales.

Turns out, the easiest way to make 6 figures is to work in sales.

It’s pretty cool...

For a bit.

But then, that 𝗟𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 pops up.

• “Is this really what you want to do?”
• “Can’t you do more with your life?”
• “Shouldn’t you follow your dream?”

And then that 𝗕𝗶𝗴 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 chimes in:

“Yeah, but look at how much money you’re making.”

And every few months, 𝗟𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 finds enough courage to pipe up again…

And 𝗕𝗶𝗴 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 shuts it up.

For a lot of people, 9-5s are a solid option:

But for a lot of people, they're a trap.

Because in 30 years, what are you going to regret?

A) Quitting your 9-5 to pursue your true calling

OR

B) Picking comfort over your potential

Most 9-5 jobs pay you just enough to give up on your dreams.

Is that paycheck worth it to you?

--

P.S. In 2025, I'm going be writing more about how I went from working in cubicles to working in coffee shops as a freelance writer.

If you want to learn how to do the same, follow me Adam Knorr.

My post got 5,552,068 impressions last week.

Here's what you can learn from it:

First, an important note — I believe every word of the post. I don't believe in writing posts to go viral for the sake of going viral.

OK, so... Why did it blow up?

1. It latches on to human tribalism.

The "Doctors, lawyers, bankers" bullets are the sticks of dynamite that sent this post to Kingdom Come.

A lot of people in those professions took offense to it.

Others agreed with it.

Money and work tie in closely with self-identity, so people have strong opinions about them and want to pick sides.

2. It makes a bold statement.

"The biggest money-making opportunities today ... are created with a laptop and a WiFi connection."

No qualifiers. I didn't say "I think" or "Might be."

3. It talks about kids.

Virality is built on emotion. People are emotional about their kids.

4. It eliminates nuance.

A lot of the comments said something like:

"I'd tell the 10-year-old that there are more important things in life than money!!!!"

If I acknowledged that nuance in the post, it would have attracted fewer comments and gotten less reach.

5. People don't read.

Ah, Old Reliable.

Many of the comments were yelling at me about how the world needs more doctors and fewer WiFi Bros like me.

These people are right.

These people also failed to process the hypothetical posed in the post.

It's a good reminder:

No one is ever receiving your content the way you think they are.

Misinterpretation is inevitable.

This post reached millions of people, all with their own:

• Cognitive biases.
• Selective attention spans.
• Experience and frustrations.

You cannot try to anticipate the reaction of your theoretical audience and neuter your writing to be as agreeable as possible.

You will lose this game.

Accept that you're going to take some heat when you share your thoughts online.

It's OK to have people upset with you.
It's OK for people to disagree with you.
It's OK to be the target of mean comments.

This site is full of false positivity.

A lot of the time, people in your comments are pretending to agree with you because they are:

A) Terrified of being perceived as disagreeable.
B) Wanting you to comment on their posts, too.

If everyone on LinkedIn was as brilliant as their comment section claimed, we would have solved hunger, disease, and the deterioration of the NBA a long time ago.

As long as your stance is authentic, lean into it.

(P.S. Check out the comments for more reasons this post went viral.)

I gave up on my dream in 2016.

Why? Money.

In 1994, I was born.

By 1999, I knew I wanted to be a writer.

In 2016, I graduated with my journalism degree.

After school, I had 3 job offers in journalism:

-> International Falls, MN — $28,000/year
-> Brownsville, TX – $31,000/year
-> Grand Haven, MI – $33,00/year

None of those sounded too appealing.

So I landed an interview with a financial firm my brother worked for and got the offer:

-> Nashville, TN - $ More Than Journalism

And I took the job.

-> Worked in finance for 6 years.
-> Never felt fulfillment doing it.
-> Dreamed of writing for a living.

In 2022, I finally got fed up.

-> Quit my job.
-> Decided I was a copywriter.
-> Started started writing on LinkedIn.

My "Dream Job" was always to be sitting in a quiet coffee shop, writing on my laptop or editing with a red pen.

And now my Dream Job is my Real Job.

Dreams are funny.

When your eyes are open, your vision is full of the life that's in front of you.

But then you shut your eyes, and dreams takes the place of reality, reminding you they never really went away — they were just hibernating.

And because we idealize our dreams, they idealize us right back.

And they tell us it's ok that we ignored them for a little bit. After all, they're made up of our love. So how could they abandon us?

So yeah, I gave up on my dream in 2016.

But in 2022, I found my way back to it.

Think it's too late for yours?

It isn't.

It never will be.

In 1997, Jakob Nielsen dropped a truth bomb.

And it's why so many LinkedIn posts flop:

People don't read online.

They graze.
They hunt.
They flit. 

THAT'S WHY GREAT POSTS ARE NOT ABOUT WRITING.

They're about painting.

Picture someone perusing a Picasso or a Pollack.

Do they dissect it left-to-right, analyzing every brushstroke? 

Or do their eyes dance across the canvas, drawn to what sparkles?

Your posts have to do the same.

Yes, you need formatting.

But you also need:

• Proper nouns that crackle (Tesla, Manhattan, Gatsby).
• Numbers that anchor (37 seconds, $2.1M, 864 days).
• Words that burst off the screen.

The trick?

• Skim your next post like a stranger. 
• Watch where your eyes drawn. 
• Notice where they glaze over.

Build your posts around the eye-catchers.

Delete the eye-glazers.

I watched a guy make $30,000 in 5 hours with a tweet yesterday.

The tweet below is from Nat Eliason.

Nat is known mostly in the crypto space and has 73,000 followers on X.

He also knows AI & software — AKA the future of work.

Yesterday, Nat asked if he should make a course about "building custom software with AI."

Dozens of people replied "yes."

3 hours later, Nat tweeted out a sign-up link for the course.

It's $500 and 60+ people have already signed up.

My 2 big takeaways:

1) Build an audience.

And prove your expertise to that audience.

Nat uncovered a massive demand thanks to a random suggestion and had the trust built in to capitalize on it. All because he has an audience.

2) Move fast.

The guy saw demand and had a course sign-up link ready within 3 hours. No delay — he just executed.

Is the course built yet? Probably not. But he didn't hem and haw — he gave people a chance to enroll, and now he'll build it. 


$30,000 in 5 hours.
From a tweet.
Because he has an audience.

Remind me again why you're not building your brand yet?

I cleared $100,000 from LinkedIn in 2024.

You'll hate the change I'm making in 2025.

I've made most of my money on LinkedIn in 3 ways.

1. Ghostwriting
2. Coaching/Consulting
3. Other writing opportunities 

And it's great.

But I've been making a mistake.

When I started, I bought into some bad advice:

"Give away everything you know for free."

So I did.

But now, I'm realizing that's a mistake.

I was looking at some numbers for my clients yesterday.

• 25 million+ impressions
• $10 million+ in capital raised 
• $500K+ in product/coaching sales

Knowing how to do that is worth a lot.

Giving away value and information for free is great when you're trying to prove that you know what you're doing.

But once you get  results, giving away free value just attracts followers who will never have an incentive to pay you for your knowledge.

So in 2025, I'm going to be giving away less for free.

Mistake?
Maybe.

But as your business grows, your business should shift.

So it's time to shift.

--

P.S. I recently released my "5 Underground Growth Secrets" PDF. I've been giving it away for free, but I'm going to take it down on January 1. 

If you want it before I delete it, this is your last chance.

Comment "Secrets" and I'll send it to you.

Public speaking is my favorite thing in the world.

I would like to do more of it.

I would like to be compensated for it.

What's the best avenue for this?

I gave a business writing presentation for a large company last year and it went well. I'm curious about how people *become* public speakers — or book consistent speaking gigs.

I haven't climbed Everest or overcome rickets or survived a plane crash in the Andes due to Donner Party inspiration.

Does that disqualify me?

Anyone out there have experience in this space? Would love to hear about how to break in. 


Credentials: 

• Highest-rated tour guide in Heavenly Hawaiian, LTD. history.
• 2x best man, 1x wedding officiant (pending this Saturday)
• Dozens of presentations given during W2 days.

I've been flexing too much recently.

Check out these L's: 

The only way to make it as a freelancer or a business owner is to get kicked in the teeth so frequently that denture companies have to underwrite you into their insurance policies.

Embrace it.

And get ready to drink from a firehose (with a straw).

Want to quit your 9-5 to write online?

I did. Here's what you should know:

1. Creative outreach > cold outreach

I sent thousands of cold emails.
I got a few clients.

I delivered 10 handwritten letters in person.
I got 2 clients.

2. Agencies work with freelancers

The hardest part is getting your 1st client.

Reach out to agencies. Hundreds of agencies.

Even if you don't have experience, an agency owner can tell if you're talented or not by the sample portfolio you put together.

3. You're not allowed to miss deadlines.

Tattoo this on your brain.

I've delivered 4,000+ pieces of content in the last 2.5 years.

I have never missed a deadline or asked for an extension. Not once.

This shouldn't be rare, but it is.

4. Communication is king.

Market yourself as the most responsive, communicative freelancer the world has ever seen.

Then make good on that promise.

5. You can do this and make a great living.

Ignore negative people. Laugh at them. 

• "But AI!"
• "But no experience!"
• "But that's not how it works!!!!" 

7/10 people are too scared to do something that requires testing themselves.

2/10 people will fall off once they don't see immediate success.

Yes, it requires a lot of work, sacrifice, and resilience.

But the bar to succeed is low because most people find an excuse to disqualify themselves before they start.

--

P.S. I'm considering writing everything I know about going from Corporate America to building a successful freelance business.

If I wrote it, is this something you'd be interested in?

“Look at the fish.”

The students stared. It was still a fish.

“Look again,” the teacher said.

The students looked again. And they stared some more. And for some, the fish remained a fish.

But slowly, a few students started to see the textured scales of the fish. The way its fins swished as it glided around the bowl. The rhythmic flow of water streaming through the mouth and out the gills.

And for those students, the fish was no longer a fish.

It was a complex creation, beautiful and flawed. It went from an everyday creature barely worth a glance to a remarkable combination of art, engineering, and life.

And the students began to write.

This story comes from David McCullough, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who passed away in 2022. McCullough was a literary titan and a master of detail — the only man who could spin out 800 pages about the Brooklyn Bridge and leave you feeling like the book was too short.

As he wrote, McCullough kept a sign above his desk:

“Look at your fish.”

January 1 is the cleanest date there is.

When the clock hits 12:00:00, the fireworks go up and the champagne goes down. And the chipped, worn-out slates that we recorded our last year on are renewed. And where they were once dingy and yellowed, they gleam like Nordic snow.

And we vow to make big changes in the New Year.
And we vow to leave bad experiences behind.
And we vow to keep our slates clean.

But what if we didn’t?

What if instead of redesigning our lives, we simply looked more closely at them?

Change doesn’t have to be dramatic to spark dramatic change.

What in your life do you do every day?
What do you think every day?
Who do you see every day?

Do you do those things the same way?
Do you ever challenge those thoughts?
Do you make an effort to connect more closely with your people?

When we struggle, we want change.

And when we map out our goals in the fresh air of a new year, that change usually takes the form of addition or subtraction.

But who says building something new or dismantling something old is more effective than renovating what’s already in place?

What if you have enough? What if you are enough?

What if everything you have in your life right now is enough to spark daily joy, enough to provide nightly comfort, and enough to make your slate one you add to instead of one you wipe clean?

Internal change will always be more powerful than external change.

Look at your fish.

Stephen King has sold 350,000,000+ book copies.

Steal his 7 tips for gripping writing:

--

Repost to share writing tips with others. ♻️
Follow me Adam Knorr to become a better writer.

7 Skills from the King of Horror

Day 1 posting on LinkedIn vs. Day 501 posting on LinkedIn

5 advanced techniques to make your writing stand out:

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P.S. This took me 2 hours to make. 

Please repost it. ♻

Taplio

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