Hello. My name is Erica, and I used to think I knew everything.
Yeah...sounds silly to you, right? It’s true. I thought to myself, “Erica, you’ve been in marketing for 10 years—you’re an expert! You know everything.”
This idealist mindset couldn’t be further from the truth, and I was quickly proven to be very wrong.
When I started to think about becoming an entrepreneur and providing marketing services to small business owners, I pridefully thought to myself that it will be a breeze. Again, wrong!
I started my journey with my business a couple years ago. I built a website, I created social media pages, and I did market research. But what I didn’t focus on is how quickly things were changing in the digital world. Before I had my website up and my Facebook page ready to go, algorithms were already different, and people were approaching this idea of online marketing in a very different way.
So, I humbled myself. I said, “OK, Erica. You’re doing it wrong. You need to learn. You need to become an expert all over again. You need help.”
Wow. I can’t tell you how hard that was for me to recognize in myself. But I am SO glad that I did. I began searching for programs, software, and certificates online—anything I could find that would teach me new practices and keep me updated.
I found many—too many. A lot of them were very expensive. Others were from people I’ve never heard of. That’s when I found HubSpot Academy.
I had been getting emails from HubSpot for awhile giving advice and tips. Honestly, I treated it like spam (remember...I was still in the “I know everything” mindset—possibly the most toxic mindset one can have!). So I turned to my email, opened one up, opened my mind, and what do you know: The email was telling me about their newest class in their Academy. Perfect! Exactly what I was looking for—and from a trusted source.
I dove right in.
Since then, HubSpot Academy has helped tremendously. Here are 3 ways HubSpot Academy has helped me build my business online.
1. Current and Effective Social Media Training
The first course I saw was their Social Media Certification course. I figured, why not. That should be an easy place to start since I have a ton of valuable social experience. I started the course and realized they had more information than I have ever considered before. They provided training on topics like “How to Get Influencers to Work With You” and “Measuring Your Social Return On Investment.” These were only two of many topics but were two that I did not know much about as far as social media goes, and they were incredibly valuable.
2. You Can Save Thousands of Your Business’ Budget
After taking the FREE Social Media Certification course (and passing!), I decided it was time to browse the other lessons and certifications HubSpot had to offer. I was waiting for them to ding me with a high-dollar price to take more courses, but IT NEVER HAPPENED. Not all their courses give you a certificate of completion, but a lot do. And as far as I’ve seen, they don’t charge for any of them. So many marketing education options and conferences and classes are listed for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. HubSpot Academy is free. Free is a really great place for me, personally, because I’m still in the beginning stages of my entrepreneurial journey, and let’s be honest: I’m not raking in millions.
3. Unlimited Resources, Quality People, and an Obviously Caring Company
This is very important to me. As I move forward with my business journey, I want to connect with people that align with my brand, my personality, and the fact that I care—a lot—about small business owners. The second I completed my Social Media Certification course and posted about it online, I was congratulated by one of the trainers IN the video! They listened. They responded. They made HubSpot human. That's a company I want to do business with.
So, now here I am. Just a few months from when I had the realization that I didn’t actually know everything (in fact, I sometimes feel like I don’t know anything, even though that’s not true), and I’m writing this blog post to share my experience with other HubSpot users. These are only 3 reasons why I think HubSpot Academy will help your small business, but in reality, I know there are many more. I’m thankful I had that moment of realization many months ago. It opened my eyes to a world of possibilities, and HubSpot was there to provide answers.
