The Surprisingly Powerful Catalyst Effect Of HubSpot's Inbound Event

Do you live in a world filled with corporate data? Are you plagued by siloed departments? Are your lackluster growth strategies demolishing your chances for success? Are you held captive by the evil menace Lord Lack? Lack of time, lack of strategy, and lack of the most important and powerful tool in your superhero tool belt knowledge. Never fear, Hub Heroes. Get ready to don your cape and mask, move into action, and become the Hub hero your organization needs. Tune in each week to join the League of Extraordinary Inbound Heroes as we help you educate, empower, and execute Hub Heroes. It's time to unite and activate your powers. Before we begin, we need to disclose that Devin is currently employed by HubSpot at the time of this episode. Recording. This podcast is in no way affiliated with or produced by HubSpot, and the thoughts and opinions expressed by Devin during the show are that of his own and in no way represent those of his employer.

Yeah, let's be honest. Let's be honest. If you're. If you're watching this, I mean, you could be listening to the podcast, but if you're in the community and you're watching this, you know that Devin works for HubSpot just because of his background, but it also looks like he works for freaking Hollywood right now.

I know.

My background is garbage all of a sudden. When? Before. It was amazing. Before we stepped on today.

Anyway, Devin, I was feeling good about myself.

Well, I'm sorry to rain on everyone's parade and flex so hard, but HubSpot's given me no choice. Man. HubSpot sent me some amazing equipment. I'm gonna be on the YouTube channel for HubSpot. Can't wait. Equipment was so good that I just had to up my game all around, so. So we're talking custom lighting. Like it. Like it. A lot of work went into making this. This pretty.

Listen, as us old folks say, ladies and gentlemen, it looks crispy.

It looks crispy. It looks beautiful. I also will need a significant amount of salsa for the chip on my shoulder.

Liz is literally in just no movement at all. So is she back there? She. There we are. There she is.

What happened? Oh, you know what? I was. I. I think I had a rage blackout. Literally said, I'm gonna need a lot of salsa for the chip on my shoulder. And maybe the Internet gods were, like, trying to be like, girl, you need.

A little bit salt your roll.

It was the nsa.

Little bit of chill in your life.

It was the nsa.

I like chill.

We like chill. You know what else I like doing sometimes? Being an agent of Chaos. So what does that mean? Well, cupcakes and kittens, usually George and I get together and smush our brains and make beautiful outlines and we plan things and we plan things far. And, like, we literally have topics scoped out into next year.

Yeah.

We are people who like to plan. Right.

Strategy is good. Strategy is good.

Strategy is good. And then sometimes Liz is going to do something like she's going to. Right now. We've thrown out the outline. Oh, outline's gone. Outline's gone. I have ambushed both George and Devin today with a topic that we literally talked about five minutes before we hopped on.

Yeah.

And I'm really excited about it. I want to set this. I want to set the scene. And Devin, you'll be so excited. You've already heard this story before about 10 minutes ago, but you're going to hear it again. So this morning, George and I had periodically what we literally put on our calendar as human time. Actually, George. Yeah, let's get a good human in there.

It was Liz, actually, it wasn't human time. It was human time.

Yeah, that's what it was right there. Because even though we, I think, like, other than maybe my dog, I talk to you the most out of anyone in my life right now, we still have to, like, segment and say, like, we are going to explicitly talk about human things in this designated block. And we had this fascinating conversation this morning about, you know, you and I have gone through a lot of changes, a lot of growth as humans, as business owners, all of these different things. And this year in particular has been extra spicy. And so when we looked back on this year, what was fascinating about the conversation we had this morning, though, is when we got onto the topic about what happens when you run into a former version of yourself after you've shifted mindsets, learned lessons, shed skin, transmuted different experiences in your life. Like, we're all humans are not static. Right. We are dynamic creatures, and we are continuing to grow and learn and evolve for better or for worse. And so it got me thinking as we were going into today's conversation, we have this beautiful topic that we're going to talk about next week that I'm very excited about. But it made me interested in something. George, going to Inbound is what the kids call a canon event for you back in 2012.

Yeah.

That changed your entire life.

Yeah.

Devin, I know for you, Inbound, going into HubSpot, those are also canon events for you as well and for myself. So I was interested to think about, like, as we are heading into Inbound just a few, few weeks from now, right? Like two, three weeks by the time this episode drops, what are the old versions of our inbound and HubSpot selves that we now see in the rear view mirror? And how have we evolved? I wanted to take a step back from our, like, talking about tools, talking about events, talking about the methodology, and talk about George's favorite topic, the humans that power the inbound community and how much has changed. Like, I'm thinking about our episode last week with Mark Killens where we were talking about, like, we didn't even know what the first inbound methodology you was. Remember that we were all wrong and just thinking about, we take a thousand steps and we'll be looking at our feet and then we'll look up and go, holy cannoli. This is how far we've come. And that's what I want us to take a moment and do today. Are you guys game?

Absolutely.

Yeah, I'm. I'm game. I. I think it's going to get interesting. I'm actually glad that I'm sitting down for this episode. Usually I stand, but this is a sit down episode.

What makes it a sit down episode for you, George?

I feel like while, while we always love talking about strategies and tactics and best practices, I feel like today we're going to get into some of the conversations that might fundamentally feel a little more touchy feely, a little bit more rooted in the human versus the HubSpot. Listen, I feel like I owe a little bit of what you were setting up to the people who are listening and watching this because you told the story and you started to talk about older versions of ourselves and, and what got us here, I think is important, actually. So I want to share this. I was sitting on the couch last night and my wife actually messaged me on Facebook, which, by the way, my wife never messages me on Facebook. She'll text me or she'll talk to me, but she messaged me on Facebook and she said, hey, this came up on my timeline. And what it was, it was a historical video of a show called the Balance back when I worked with Marcus Sheridan at the sales line. And it an episode where I was speaking at a workshop. It was an episode where I was unpacking my thoughts of why we were doing what we were doing and how great it was to be where I was in that moment. And as I watched it, I actually in my brain was like, who is that guy? Oh, yeah, like, who is that guy? Because that guy isn't this Guy, it looks like me. It's. It doesn't even sound like me. Who's that guy? And so that got me on this trajectory of thinking about all the. The things that have been happening around who I am, who I'm becoming, who I will be in the future, which then led us into that conversation of Liz. What happens when you meet another version of yourself? Where does your mind go? What does it do? What tricks can it play on you? How can you leverage the benefits of it? And so now taking that and spinning it to historical inbounds for Devin and me and who we were and who we are and where we're going, I just want people to buckle up a little bit. It might get emotional, maybe. I don't know. I'm super curious where this goes today.

I'm very curious about it too, because, Devin, I actually want to turn to you for a moment and ask a somewhat related question. You know, George and I were banding this topic about, and then you hopped on to record with us, and I told you what I wanted, what I wanted to talk about today, and you immediately were like, yes, I want to have that conversation. And you said it with, for lack of a better word, a bit of gravitas there. Like, that is a conversation that needs to be had. And it. And it's a tone that you only strike when you're in a very particular mindset about something. So I'd love to hear from you why you think this is an important conversation to be having. Where did your heart and mind go when I pitched that to you?

Well, you absolutely hit it on the head when you said humans are dynamic. A lot of us tend to think that who we are is who we've always been. We don't realize or are able to acknowledge the level of growth. And when you look at the level of growth, like, for me, this is gonna be inbound eight for. And when you look at the amount of growth that you've had in that time period, it's a reminder that eight more inbounds from now, I'm hopefully going to look back at myself the same way I look at Devin from eight inbounds ago. I remember being completely overwhelmed, and to say that I was feeling imposter syndrome was an understatement. I know in retrospect that I was doing what everyone else was doing, experiencing the same problems everyone else was experiencing, and just going into inbound feeling like I had no idea what I was doing. And compared to me now, I didn't. I have definitely grown significantly Both personally and professionally since the 2016 inbound. I remember going into Inbound feeling alone, feeling out of place. Even when I went to the humans at Inbound Meetup, it was great for connecting with other people who, you know, were solo. But it didn't change the fact that when I went, I recognized the event for what it was, that it was a phenomenal meeting of people and minds who were all passionate about the same things I were and people who for the most part were probably doing better in life than I was. I won't say what I was doing and how much I was making, but I'll just say that it wasn't. Well, and it wasn't a lot. But I knew that if I wanted to progress or grow, I would have to meet people and get to know people, which for me is nightmare fuel the idea of networking, which is hilarious because that's what everyone knows me for is networking and in talking to people and being out there. But in real life, I don't like meeting people in real life and just being. Feeling like I was on the outside eight years ago as opposed to now. When I go, I'm going to feel like I'm at home. And I'm, I'm exceedingly grateful for Inbound and the impact that it's had on my life. And I'm not just talking about black and Inbound. I'm talking about the workshops and the breakout sessions and the keynotes and how impactful they always are and how game changing and ahead of the curve, like on the bleeding edge of what's going on with marketing, sales, management, who you are as a human. Like there are, there, there are sessions that are just about humanity and being a person and, and, and it's great, you know, just, just. I'm so, so looking forward to being with my people and seeing all the other people who are living the same lives, the same struggles, the same challenges at work, same challenges at home for a lot of us and just being able to just be around this awesome group of people. And I didn't know that that's what it was eight years ago. I just saw that it was an event that I may never end up at again. HubSpot comped us tickets because we were new customers. And I never thought that I would be able to go back to something this amazing. And so I just soaked it in and went at it like I would never see these people again. And now I see them year and it's, it's wonderful. And I won't go into yet how Much I've personally changed since then.

Oh, we're about to get into that.

Yeah, I, I fundamentally though, want to, I, I need to, I need to unpack some stuff there that, that Devin just talked about. I too thought that it was a one tank trip in 2012. We literally won tickets because it was the world's largest webinar. I was a designer, developer, I was not a marketer. I, I wasn't even somebody who got up, spoke on stages that at that point, I like a six pack and a pizza came in one side, a website came out the other side. Like, and, and no, I didn't make a lot of money. It was literally like a little startup agency. So, you know, we won tickets. That's the only reason we were there. I had never been to Boston before, by the way. I walked into my first inbound, like, afraid, like, I don't, I don't know what this is. I don't even know what we're getting ourselves into. We're just here because, you know, we think it might be something and let's find out. And so to think of who that guy was. Fearful when we got there, curious the entire time. But then what's funny is before we left, I can remember Zach Basner and I sitting down at the dock with our legs in the water. Like our feet in the water dream.

Yeah.

And it was the beginning of the dream. Right. And, and sometimes our dreams can actually become our realities. But if you would have told me right then that you'll be back here every year for the next 11 years, 18 years, 22 years, whatever, I would have not believed you. I'd be like, no, no, no, this is a one tank trip. The other thing too, that I want to mention here, Devin said something that blew my mind. Because, Liz, earlier in our conversation before this recording, I said, you know, I wonder if in five I'll look back again and be like, who's that guy? Yeah, who's that guy? And Devin was literally. His brain was doing the same thing. Like eight years from now, I think he said, I look back and, and I think it's just so valuable for people who are sticking around and listening to this episode to realize there's a couple things. This might be the first year you're heading to inbound, but it might be the first year of 12, the first year of 20. You might be going to inbound and be like scared and a little bit of a dreamer and not really know if you're going to fit in. But this might be what Devin now calls home and home is comforting. Home is safe. Home is, like, where you get to hang your hat and hang out with the people that you love. And so I just think there's a lot that people can unpack. And hopefully, if I was heading there and could listen to a podcast like this, I would find it quite refreshing to realize, oh, I'm not the only one that has had these feelings. I'm. I'm not alone in my journey and my growth of, like, inbound and HubSpot, and, you know, going from some discipline that I might be doing to actually being, like, an inbound marketer, inbound sales, inbound service, rev ops, professional. Like, I would. I would find comfort in that.

Well, are we ready to dig into some of my meaty questions?

Oh, boy.

I feel. I feel. I feel for you right now, Devin, because George is used to being on the receiving end of this. From our other show, beyond the Default, we will be starting with the jugular. Hi, gentlemen.

Here we go.

I have a theory about humans that when we look back retrospectively on how we've changed, we tend to do so with a very negative light. Right? It's always about what we discarded, what we did wrong, what no longer serves us. But here's my theory. Nature abhors a vacuum. So usually as you're shedding something, it's because something internally that already existed within you was ready to be revealed, and you needed to create the necessary space for those parts of you to be revealed. I would be curious to hear from both of you instead of focusing on like. From a lack mindset of, like, what did I need to get rid of? What were the things I needed do to. To dump, discard, shed. Da, da, da, da, da. Over the course of this journey. And you can do this cumulatively or at periods or milestones. What have you seen revealed within you that you did not know was there as you've walked this HubSpot and inbound journey?

For me, it's been becoming a leader. I've always fancied myself as a sergeant, not a general. And that was something that I held, you know, pretty tightly. Not, you know, not being the person leading anything or the head of anything. And I still find myself wanting that to be, you know, my default setting is to not be the leader. But as time has progressed, I find myself now leading. I've progressed from being. Well, I'm an individual contributor at HubSpot, but before that, I was on the leadership team of an agency. And before. Before that, I was on the leadership team of another agency. And before that I was a cmo and before that I was a vp. And that started with me being marketing coordinator at the first Inbound and then that ramped up into Director of Marketing. There is a one to one relationship between my HubSpot usage and knowledge and the growth of my career. But I didn't really see myself. Like, if you had asked me back then, it's like, would you manage a team? And it's like, no, maybe middle management, but project management or team management or coordinating multiple companies in order to achieve the goal of a singular customer. I never would have dreamed that that was me. I didn't feel comfortable being out front like that, being the head or even being the figurehead. It's not something like, for instance, look at Black at Inbound. I don't do anything with Black and Inbound anymore. But people still message me as though I'm the person that's running it. And back then that would have scared me. The thought of even being viewed like that was terrifying. But now it's like, well, yeah, I'm still a part of the community, but there is a wonderful team of people like Shayna Summers, Kyle, Malik Foster, Oscar, Cassandra, of course, who can't wait for you guys to see this year's Black at Inbound activation. It's going to be wild. It is dope. But this wonderful team of people are doing these amazing things and even though I don't lead them, just the fact that there is a perception that I do 2016, Devin would have been terrified at the thought of that and would have immediately wanted to run and hide. I was always the. Even in high school, I was backstage, not on stage. And that's where I thought I belonged. And now I know that I can thrive leading a team. Like, I have my own marketing consulting company and I have team members, I have an intern, and that's it. I'm the leader. It rises and falls on whether or not I get stuff done. And that's something that that's definitely grown in the past eight years.

Yeah, I love this. I want to double click on what Devin's talking about because I too, although I'm not going to go in the same direction because I want to do a hard pivot on. On something that I've really never shared that much. But I dub, I definitely double click or double tap on the fact of like the mindset of a number two to a number one, a Robin to a Batman, a person that you have to have high status to be a leader. Versus just, just even leading from the back or leading from the middle. But, you know, nowadays it's like, yo, if I don't lead, nobody's gonna lead. Like, I have to lead in the situation that I'm in now with the community, with the company, with the family. Like, suck it up, buttercup. Put on your big boy pants. Time to rock and roll. But here's the thing that, you know, listen, until you ask that question, I hadn't really given it the. The time to marinate or probably the time to actually share this, this. But I always start telling this story about how I was a designer developer working for an agency, and then decided I wanted to grow up to be a marketer. But if we take it, take a step even further back before I got into agency life, I was actually a youth pastor and an associate pastor to church. And if we take a step back before that, I had to go to three years of school to become that. And it was during that time that I actually learned how to research and I learned how to write sermons and I learned how to present on stage or the pulpit. So there was a lot of, like, these foundational things that were being placed inside of me, placed around me that I had zero clues back then that I would use on a daily basis. And so if I look at this inbound journey, going from that guy who was afraid and kind of dreaming in 2012 to the first year when I stepped on, on stage, 2015, and all sudden, all of the preacher, all of the teacher, all of the presenting, all of the researching, all of the writing sermons, AKA breakout sessions, keynote speak, like, all of that, like, comes flooding forward and now gets, like, amplified and doubled down on. And what's funny is I realize how important of a job it historically was, but to how small of a community it was. And now where I'm at in my life, how massive the community is and how massive the job that is set before me and the responsibility that I have to be who I am and to become the 10, 12, 15 layers, better version of me. Because what's really weird is I'm not serving a church of 250 people. I'm serving a community of, you know, 6,000, 300,000 humans that happen to use HubSpot and are looking for good people, teach good things, to do good business. And, like, the weight of that and the understanding of that 2012, George would have turted himself a little bit if somebody said, this is what's coming, bro.

When you look back on this journey, what the most toxic Self limiting belief you had that inbound enabled you to actually release.

Oh, I'll go first on this one. And it's in a roundabout way, it's because of HubSpot and because of inbound and then because of going from wild boy to the sales lion and because of where that put me in different places in life. So it is inbound and it's the ecosystem that I was sucked into. I had started in 2014 before video was cool, started to do HubSpot tutorials and I'll never forget that I had probably been doing them for like two, maybe three years and I was on this webinar and I think, I think it might have been a Gary V webinar, to be honest with you. This dude is so weaved in and out of my life and things that happen at really weird times. I can't wait till the day I can just sit down and be like, bro, we need to have a conversation. But I was on this webinar and I remember typing these words where I said, this is why I only do tutorials. People care what I know, they don't care what I I think. And multiple people in the chat pane actually voiced their opinion of we care what you think. And it was at that point that I still continue to be the tech, you know, the like get stuff done, the, the let's do the tactics, let's talk about the strategies. But there at that point I started to put these small layers of. And this is why I feel these are the tactics, these are why I feel these are the strategies. This is why I believe in the methodology. This is why I think humans are the main point that we should focus on. It was, it was at that moment. And what's funny is I look back at that dumb statement and that journey through inbound, that journey through self discovery, that journey through self belief, that journey through like self loving of oneself and the ability to give fully of oneself is now why not only do I do the, you know, this podcast, but Liz, you alluded earlier to the beyond your default podcast. I would have never done that because it's, it's almost 100% of what I think, not of what I can do or what I can teach. And so for me, if, if there was no winning tickets, if there was no 2012, if there was no inbound, if I hadn't been absorbed into the ecosystem, I don't know if I would share with so many people on a daily basis as CL or share with so many people as friends on social Media or share from the stage when I speak at events like Inbound. Deeper reason why, yeah.

So the one that is for me, and I know it will resonate with George too, is prior to Inbound, I thought my career had a ceiling because I didn't have a degree. I've lectured at universities more than once and I am in there as an academic layman. And when I was in school it was to be a high school band teacher. And I really thought that because I don't have this degree, that because I don't speak MBA fluently, that I can never get past being an entry level marketer. Like I seriously thought I was going to be a 40 year old marketing consultant and Inbound definitely changed that for me because it gave me access to people that make way more money than I did and had nicer things in life who had these letters behind their names that weren't as good as their job as I am. It was definitely an eye opening experience when I got to sit down with, I think it was the onboarding team that had a breakfast and we're talking about KPIs and I'm listening to these guys, these French collars and cufflinks talking about what they've done and how their things are performing and I am literally triple their numbers wearing a T shirt. And it was an eye opening experience for me. And that's when it was like, yeah, you know what, I do belong here. I don't need to go to the same schools that they went to in order to get things done. I don't have to sound like them. I don't have to try and sound like them. I don't need their vocabulary to be good at what I do because I'm doing it and I'm doing it better. And so inbound was. It definitely chased a lot of the imposter syndrome away. I mean, of course it's still there and it's a healthy amount and I enjoy it because it lets me know that I am pushing the envelope in my own life and that I need to keep being uncomfortable because that just means that I'm growing. But it was a huge validation for me to know that you don't have to have an MBA or dress a certain way or sound a certain way or look a certain way or be a certain color to be successful at what I do.

Yeah, it's funny, Devin, because again, I, I do. I hear you, dude. I see you. It's like so much right now, the first time that I actually went and spoke at a College to college students in the realization that I was a high school dropout. I just, I giggled inside, but it was like scary as I'll get out, I'm like, do I really belong here? And what's funny is I too, by the way, maybe almost daily deal with imposter syndrome. But I have to keep it at bay because I realize I have done the work. I have been on the journ journey. You know, I have come a long way since 2012, 2013, and I, but I, but I don't want to get rid of that imposter syndrome completely because in my world, I think it just keeps me honest, right? It keeps me humble, it keeps me on the educational hustle and that I need to be on to then present the best that I can. The clients, you know, for the stage. And so there's so much that as I'm hearing you kind of talk and knowing my journey, that they're very parallel journeys of learning some of the same things. But it's just again, interesting we're sitting here talking about this and I know it's for you and for Liz, who has been really quiet on this episode, by the way, and for me, this and, and even Chris in the chat, pain, like it's going somewhere. It's going somewhere. We don't know where it's. It's going. We do know where it's gone. And here's one of the challenges I want to give for people. And I'm not wrapping this up, I'm just saying if you're listening to this and you're headed to your first inbound, your fifth inbound, your tenth inbound, I would challenge you to use the drive, the flight to actually pause for a second and just turn around. Not physically, ladies and gentlemen, but just turn around mentally and look at where you've come, look how, how much you have changed. Do some reflecting inward because when you hit that floor of inbound and you start to do the networking and you start to educate, fueling yourself up and empowering yourself with how dope of a freaking human you are and have been and how far you've come from that, you know, 18 year old dishwasher or burger flipper at whatever restaurant or, or, you know, whatever, your hang up is realizing that's no longer you. And this could be the year, this could be the precipice, this could be the canon, the catalyst for whoever you are over the next five, 10, 20, 50 years. That's the mindset you want to get in as you enter inbound this year.

You know, I resonate quite a bit with what you said as well, Devin. I mean, I'm the same thing. I never finished college either. And I actually remember the first agency I joined, Quintain with Kathleen and John Booth. You know, they saw a lot of promise and potential in me, but one of the things we agreed upon is like, hey, I was gonna go back and finish my degree. And what was so funny is that it ended up being moot. Like, once I. Once I got into the inbound and HubSpot ecosystem, you know, there was no time. Not from the perspective of, like, lacking time management. It's just like, what is the purpose of getting the degree? Is it just to have the piece of paper, or is it actually something meaningful? When I thought about how I wanted to be educated, educating myself, self education, work education, all of those different things, I wanted to pour my heart and soul into those efforts. And what I'm finding interesting thematically about this conversation is that it seems like entering this HubSpot and inbound ecosystem by way of the event for each of us. It was kind of like a heart and soul opening moment. Like, we saw. It's like HubSpot held up a mirror to us, and we saw ourselves in a completely different way that we didn't think was possible. And so my curiosity here is piqued. What do you think about what do you think it is either about inbound as a community or the event itself that sets these conditions? Because the three of us are completely different people, completely different backgrounds. Right. And we even have Chris in who's watching live in the comments, going, my biology degree is going to crush it at inbound. You're right, buddy. Let's go. All them amoebas and stuff. Yeah, but, like, what is it about the community or the event that sets these conditions? Why do we think that this happened? Because you and I, George and Devin, I know you have as well. We, our stories rhyme with so many other people.

Why? Yeah, if I take a step back and I think about this, it's interesting. I'm gonna go a couple different directions. I'll try to keep. Keep it succinct, though. One thing is inbound is not easy. Inbound is like freaking triathlon. It's like so many sessions in so little time, and you're walking around the bcec, you know, you're like, there's so many food trucks and there's so many parties and there's so many conversations in the hallway. It's literally like a three to four Day mental triathlon. And so there's these layers of uncomfort, mentally and physically that you have to push through. It's also an incubator because there's so many different mindsets in, like, things being thrown at you from so many different smart people, people who have been there, done that. It's just so much. I feel like you're almost taking yourself and you're like, and I'm gonna microwave my. Myself for three days and beep like. Like, Liz, you talk about. It's funny, you talk about baking a cake. You're a cake in the oven and you're not fully done yet. Right. I feel like if I was to correlate inbound and humans, it's like, let me take that human out of the oven for about three days, throw it in the microwave, knowing it's not still going to be done, but let me go ahead and put it back in the oven so it can still cook a little bit. Oh, next year, let me throw it in the microwave a little bit longer. It's like this. If I look at my life, it's like these expedited, expedited hills of growth. Hill of growth. Inbound hill of growth, inbound hill of growth. And again, I just think it's because it takes courage to go. It takes effort to learn it. It takes the physical fortitude to, like, make it through with such little sleep. It's just this, like, I don't know how to, like, I want to say incubator. I want to, like. I don't know how I'm trying to explain this, but it's just this ecosystem, this vacuum, this, and. And it's the same type of people for so many years. It's getting different now. I'm not gonna go that direction because I can't tell you the amount of people who've reached out to me on the inbound app that have tried to sell me stuff already. Anyway, I'm not gonna go there. I'm not gonna go there. But there were so many years that the ecosystem was just. Just this concentrated flood of great humans that like to help each other and like to help others. And they're doing it from, like, a purest form. I just think. I think that was like a hotbed for what has. Was what has made many of the stories that other people could probably get on this podcast and tell. Like, think about it. The, you know, the. The Hub heroes or the inbound journey. We could probably have a thousand episodes, episodes of people saying things much like, or even quite different or more dramatic than what we're talking about today.

Everything that he said. Yeah, basically the, the. I think it's about the fact that the information is very high level but it's not gated. It's not like you have to have a certain level of education to receive this and you just have to have a certain level of aptitude. And that's one of the things that I love about Inbound is that it levels the playing field regardless of your level of education or your educational background. Like you could have a biology degree, but if you show up to an analytics talk and you're able to wrap your head around it, then you're that much better regardless of where you came from. So I, I think the fact that inbound is about community and it's about learning are two of the major reasons why it's been so impactful and the fact that it's not about HubSpot and it never has been. It's been put on by HubSpot but it's not about HubSpot. That's not. And I can say we because I work at HubSpot now, but that's not why we do this. It's not about us just going out and saying, hey, all these sessions are going to be about how to use HubSpot better and all these sessions are going to be about our tool and they're going to be try and sell you something. It's like, no, we have a space on the floor for that. But 90% of what you're going to learn in the breakouts is platform agnostic. You can apply this stuff to anything, anywhere and buy anyone as long as you have the capacity to do it. And I think that's the biggest thing, is that it's not about big sprocket, it's about being better, it's about growing better.

You know, when I think about it in terms of how I look at it, I know it's become a bit of a, like a gag, you know, when we go, george, say humans, say humans one more time, you know. But I think the key for me when I think about like what the conditions are that HubSpot sets with this event in this community, a lot of it I like. I ditto all around to everything you all have said. The thing that jumps out at me though is I go back to this moment from our episode last week with Mark Killens and I remember I made an observation just out of pocket where I'm like, I think it says everything that HubSpot Academy is considered a community initiative. Initiative, when it could easily be considered like, kind of like a two dimensional, like, content initiative or marketing initiative or like whatever you want to call it. It could be a thousand different things. So when I think about when I. When I go back to my first inbound, which was 2014, and I think about what happened to me and how I. What that unlocked within me and what it revealed within me, it's the overwhelming feeling I had is that. That, Pardon my French. It's not just all about the humans. HubSpot genuinely gives a about the humans. And not only that, it challenges everyone to give a about each other and to stop seeing everybody as an entry line in a database or a CRM. It's all about humanizing what could otherwise be a very sterile, toxic waste heat where the worst of humanity could be allowed to proliferate instead of the best. You know, I know a lot of people, when they think about inbound, they're like, oh, but they have all these big speakers and da, da, da. And like, what does this have to do with inbound? And I miss inbound from a long time ago. And, you know, we can get into, like, what we miss from inbound's past. But, like, first of all, there are still what, like, hundreds of breakout sessions that are all about inbound.

Yeah.

But also they go out of their way to curate conversations that challenge us, to challenge ourselves, to think differently, to grow better, to be kinder to our fellow humans, to be kinder, most of all to ourselves. You know, I. When I think about what the conditions were set for me, it's that I walked in and I came in with a mindset of, okay, I'm gonna try to fit in. I'm gonna try to learn a lot. I'm gonna take a lot of notes. I'm gonna do a lot of this. And all of a sudden, it was like somebody turned on the lights in a giant palace and said, hey, did you know all of this was possible? And we consider you equal with everyone else here.

Yeah. It's almost like they said, hey, did you know this is yours? Yeah, this. Welcome to your kingdom. And it's funny, the reason I think my brain is going that way is because again, in 2000 2012, it was, don't call me customer, call me human. And I feel like mentally I ripped the baton out of HubSpot's hand and have run for the last 11 years with don't call them customer, call them human. It's about the human. It's about, you know, being Good. It's about adding value into the world. It's about education and entertaining content that can move the needle. That can be the cat bad list. And what's funny, Liz, I got hit with a mental 2x4 while you were talking because I used to be a firm believer in the statement good guys come in last. No, they don't. Not anymore.

Not anymore. So a lot of our listeners have been members of the HubSpot community for a really long time. Maybe this isn't their first inbound, but maybe for somebody. What advice would you give to someone, regardless, as to where they are in their inbound journey? Whether they're. That's a question they can challenge themselves with this time or something you'd like to see if they can look at differently. I'll leave it to you all to determine what that advice should be.

I'd say excellent piece of advice is to stop spamming people on the inbound app.

Okay, petty inbound app grievances aside.

Yeah, it's funny because, Noah, make sure you leave that. That long pause in there because I want everybody to realize the. The weight in which Devin and I were putting to the question, because there's a ton that we could say, but we both realize the impact that inbound has had on us, and we realize the words out of our mouth moving forward, the impact that it could have on the listeners or the viewers who happen to see this clip. So here's what I'm going to say. Say because inbound has happened for so many years now, and because I think I do understand how humans work. We go into class, we pick the same seat, we book a hotel, we go to the same place, we go to an event. We want to see the same speakers. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the same people in my session or Marcus Sheridan's session over and over and over and over again. And sometimes we say the same thing, sometimes we say different things, but we are creatures of habit. If this is your first inbound, your second, your 10th, your 12th, whatever it is for you, my honest advice for you is break all of your historical habits and make yourself get out of the comfort zone and go in new directions and learn new things and talk to new people and try treat this like it is your very first. Your very first. Come in like a pupil if you're a master.

Devin, did you want to stick with your petty grievances about selling through the app?

Yeah, of course. But also use the opportunity to meet people, go to meetups, go to networks, exchange LinkedIn information. If you're a sales people person, stop selling. Don't go to inbound to sell. Go to inbound to network and genuinely make genuine human connections. I can tell you firsthand, they've changed my life. It's what it's there for. It's what the people are there for. The networking, the community. It is something that unfortunately, a lot of people don't take enough advantage of because they're only there for the breakout sessions or to think that they need to come back with enough business cards to put into their fodder. Like, I won't talk about the people that are in my inbox right now. Like, this guy who is clearly has no idea who I am or what I do and trying to sell me on his service that newsflash we already use. So, like, why? What. What's the point? I mean, dude, leave me alone. But if he had, you know, questions about literally anything that is human. Like, we have a conversation about, like, the greatest hamburger that I've ever had in my life this past Wednesday. They called it the Greek burger. And it's like, imagine a gyro. Or a gyro, depending on where you're from.

It's a gyro.

Yeah, it's a gyro. Imagine a gyro. But instead of lamb, you have a hamburger. And instead of pita, you have buck buns and, like, the cucumber, roasted peppers, tzatziki sauce, all of it lettuce, like it is, and in a perfectly seasoned hamburger. And it's a double burger at that. So the thing is massive. Like, I will talk to this guy about that all day. But as far as the solutions his company offers, that I'm very well aware of, because again, we're customers. Like, we. That doesn't resonate with me at all. It doesn't matter to me at all. And it makes me never want to talk to this person again. So.

So, Liz, inquiring minds want to know, what advice would you give people? Yeah, I'm not letting you off the hook.

And it's like you knew I was about to literally come to you, George, with a final question. It's like you knew. You could sense it. You could just sense a disturbance in the force.

Stuff didn't freeze.

Now, my piece of advice to you.

Oh, you froze. For a second there, I thought you were. Were trying to, like, you know, fake. I'm going through a tunnel to get out of the question.

What?

You're breaking up. I can't hear you.

I've tried that before. I'm going into a tunnel. Liz, you're standing in a hallway.

Yeah, it always helps if you have a little cellophane to crinkle in it.

Then it really works.

It sells it. But no, seriously, Liz, what advice would you give people?

Ask yourself, who is the version of yourself that you're going to meet there? And that approach, answering that question over the course of those three days from a place of curiosity, not assumptions, that was clean.

It was like she had that in her back pocket the whole time.

Somebody needs to rewind that. Yeah, somebody needs to rewind that. I can just feel it. That somebody was listening to that, and they need to rewind.

George, I want you to take us out with your answer to this question.

Oh, God. Okay.

You have the ability to walk up to George, who has just stepped foot in Club Inbound for the first time. He's looking around. He's taking in all the lights, and you're able to gently come up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder and say one sentence. What is it?

I hate this, by the way.

You're welcome. That's what you get.

Liz knows that I get emotional anytime I get a chance to talk to myself. And so she loves to ask me this question. I really, at this point this year with. With what's happened, I would just put my hand on my shoulder and I would be like, dreams do come true, dude. Dreams do come true. You dreamt about this in 2012. Guess what? You're here now. Go get it.

And on that note, I wish everyone the merriest of inbounds. Gentlemen, I appreciate you indulging me in this conversation this week, because I think these are the types of conversations where, personally, I think this is what makes our show our show, because. And I'm going to say this to the listeners as well. And if there are ever any other big questions you want us to tackle, please don't hesitate to let us know in our community. Community.hubheroes.com But I want to throw this out there. Some version of these conversations should be existing wherever inbound is discussed in your organization, among your teams, among disparate practitioners connected by a community. At some point, you have to hit the pause button and say, how did we get here? Where are we going? Why is this important to us? What's changed? What's stayed the same? Now, today's conversation that we had really was centered around Inbound, but it could literally. The event itself, but it could literally be about anything. So I would ask you all to take a moment and with curiosity, again, again, probe. What are the conversations you're not having? What are the questions you haven't asked of yourself and of others? And next week I'll be back with terrible Poetry. That's right, guys, but not this week. Keeping it clean.

Dang it. I didn't hit the stop button quick.

I know.

Okay, Hub Heroes, we've reached the end of another episode. Will Lord Lack continue to loom over the community, or will we be able to defeat him in the next episode of the Hub Heroes podcast? Make sure you tune in and find out. In the next episode, make sure you head over to thehubheroes.com to get the latest episodes and become part of the League of Heroes. FYI, if you're part of the League of Heroes, you'll get the show notes right in your inbox and they come with some hidden power up potential as well. Make sure you share this podcast with a friend, leave a review if you like what you're listening to, and use the hashtag hubberospodcast on any of the socials and let us know what strategy conversation you'd like to listen into next. Until next time, when we meet and combine our forces, remember to be a happy, helpful, humble human. And of course, always be looking for a way to be someone's her.