[Closed] Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

[jennysowyrda]

Small businesses were hit hard during 2020. They have adapted, learned and persevered through the challenges placed in front of them. In honor of Small Business Day on June 27th, we've brought together a panel of four HubSpot users and small business experts to answer your questions around small businesses. With experts from the United States, Spain, and Brazil, there is an expert here to answer any question you have. 

Ask your questions now and join us on June 27th at 1pm ET | 2pm BRT | 7pm CEST to get answers from our panel of experts. 

Chantelle Marcelle, Head of Growth at PromoPrep (United States) - @ccmarce 

Rafael López, Marketing Director at Odontonet by Glintt (Spain) - @rlopez 

Dan Moyle, HubSpot Specialist at Impulse Creative (United States) - @danmoyle 

Carol Giacon, HubSpot Specialist at Suno Research (Brazil) - @carolgiacon 

Not sure what to ask? Start with these questions: 

1. What do you recommend for someone thinking about launching a small business? 

2. What lessons have you learned about managing small businesses in 2020?

3. How have you seen the small business landscape in recent years? 

4. What business resources do you recommend for small businesses?

 Open for questions from June 18 - June 27, questions will be answered between 1-2pm ET on June 27th on this thread by our panel of experts. 

[PamCotton]

Great event team! Thank you @carolgiacon @danmoyle @ccmarce @rlopez for participating ! 👏

[jennysowyrda]

This was such a fun event! Thank you so much everyone for your questions and to our panelists for participating!

[danmoyle]

Coming back today, I'm struck by how generous the overall HubSpot community continues to be. From user to contributor, I'm so blessed by this amazing group of humans every day. And it's been that was since my early days waaaaay back when. Thank you for including me in this AMA with a terrific group of people! 

@carolgiacon @ccmarce @rlopez you're fantastic! @jennysowyrda @ThatChristinaG thank you again, you're rock stars!

[ThatChristinaG]

@danmoyle thank you for being such a kind and generous member of the HubSpot Community. We are incredibly grateful for our amazing customers and partners. 

[carolgiacon]

Thank you @rlopez @jennysowyrda @danmoyle and everyone that joined in!

I am happy to say my first AMA event was pretty amazing. It is really good to interact and get to know other cultures, thoughts and expectations!

Thank you @PamCotton for remembering me and allowing me to join so many great people in this community!!

Have an amazing week ahead!

Thank you!!

[rlopez]

Hi, community! 🙂

I would like to thank all of you for the interesting questions you have asked. It has been enriching to know the opinion of fellow guests. I would also like to thank the HubSpot Community team for the opportunity to participate in this event. I have learned a lot from all of you.

Regards,

[AngelaIke]

What impact does company culture have on the way you operate? Has your culture changed over the past year due to the pandemic, and do you foresee any long-term changes or adaptations in response to the temporary changes you may have had to make during the last year?

[danmoyle]

I love this question @AngelaIke! Culture is such a huge factor in any business.

I think what the pandemic has shown is just how critical it really is. In addition to living wages, culture— things like personal mission/morals, trusting employees, autonomy, encouraging growth, compassion— can make or break a business. I do believe we will see long term effects of this on how businesses will compete in the market for talent. They will begin to foster cultures that employees help direct and are mutually beneficial, not just cultures that "get the most out of" the employees. 

I've worked in sales-only, money focused cultures and cultures that foster growth for all and I can tell you I'm happier and more productive (and more loyal) in the latter. 

That's my $0.02. 😁

[ccmarce]

For me & my business partner, we've gone into things knowing exactly what kind of culture we want to build and foster. So all our actions support that. We're definitely making adjustments coming out of the pandemic. I think every business has to be flexible right now, and keep in mind everything we learned about our humanity over the past year plus. It's really just about being willing to listen and learn.

Chantelle Marcelle

https://promoprep.com

https://chantellemarcelle.com

Twitter: ccmarce_writes

[carolgiacon]

@AngelaIke , this is an important topic of discussion!

Company culture should be always flexible to the enviroment. We can't stay stuck to what was written or decided on a different time. Even without the pandemic, the staff profile changes (Z gen, Millenials) all have different ways to adapt and work and the company must be aware of that. That doesn't mean to just loose your core, loose your beliefs, but it means to be able to understand the world around us and make sure we can evolve with the current situation.

The pandemic has been a challenge for everyone, but it also showed how much productive we can be when working from home. Should we start at 8am and stop at 10pm? No, not from home and not before on the office. The company needs to understand that people are living and breathing work these days, there is no break. You wake up to your computer and goes to sleep on your computer.

This is where company culture comes in, you have to understand the NOW and work to improve while holding to your beliefs.

My personal culture changed, as an employee I now try and add more limits to my demands. Not to leave my colleagues with all the hard work, not at all, but simply to try and have a healthier mind in the middle of all the chaos. 

Best Regards!

[danmoyle]

I love this question @AngelaIke! Culture is such a huge factor in any business.

I think what the pandemic has shown is just how critical it really is. In addition to living wages, culture— things like personal mission/morals, trusting employees, autonomy, encouraging growth, compassion— can make or break a business. I do believe we will see long term effects of this on how businesses will compete in the market for talent. They will begin to foster cultures that employees help direct and are mutually beneficial, not just cultures that "get the most out of" the employees. 

I've worked in sales-only, money focused cultures and cultures that foster growth for all and I can tell you I'm happier and more productive (and more loyal) in the latter. 

That's my $0.02. 😁

[rlopez]

Hi @AngelaIke 🙂

It is evident that the pandemic has accelerated the digitization processes of companies, and I think that will not change in the future. There has been a lot of growth this year in that sense, and these processes have proven their efficiency. It has also conditioned us, and of course, we have had to turn circumstances into an opportunity. We must all learn at all times from everything that happens to us, both the good and the bad. Of course, teleworking and family conciliation are here to stay. But also other skills such as the ability to remotely coordinate teams, for example.

Regards,

[BOguzie]

What ESP do you recommend for someone to launch a small e-commerce business in Esty?

[rlopez]

Hi @BOguzie 🙂

I totally agree with my fellow guests. There are a variety of options on the market, but I have such a great experience with HubSpot that I recommend with my eyes closed. As long as an SMB can afford the investment, I can't think of a better choice. In addition, it includes more tools that are supported by the CRM. Having it all integrated is priceless!

Regards,

[ccmarce]

@BOguzie Hi! I absolutely think HubSpot is great, especially if you're using the CRM and other tools they offer. Keeping most things in one place also promotes scalability, visibility and team-wide communication/collaboration. I've also used numerous other ESPs depending on the company I've been at. I'll also add that HubSpot support is among the best I've encountered, which to me is a make or break on a SMB team where I've often had to work on email projects alone and need to fix bugs or issues quickly. Having that support to help me navigate problems makes things less stressful.

Chantelle Marcelle

https://promoprep.com

https://chantellemarcelle.com

Twitter: ccmarce_writes

[danmoyle]

Good question @BOguzie. I'm (of course) a big fan of HubSpot. I've used other ESPs like MailChimp and it's a good solution for microbusinesses and nonprofits, but if you can afford the $45/month for HubSpot Marketing Hub Starter, I think it's one of the best on the market. I love the intuitive and powerful nature of it. 

[rlopez]

Hello!

I know I'm a contributor too as @danmoyle said, but I also want to hear from the other panellists their opinion:

• What is your favourite argument to convince your boss to buy HubSpot? (Small business environment, of course)

Regards,

[carolgiacon]

@rlopez I like your boldness!!

I LOVE HubSpot, but in Brazil it is not the easiest platform to convince bosses to purchase. We suffer with out billing coming in dolars and our economy not helping our case.

For me, the way to convince anyone (specially bosses) is to show the platform and all it's possibilities. Along with this, make simple math of cost efficency. How much money will the company save when working in a all-in-one platform? How will this impact revenue?

I feel like CEOs and Owners are really interested in numbers, in ROI and being able to grow. So they rely on the staff to build an effective plan, they trust the knowledge of those working with them to bring the best solution to the table.

I my experience, showing the amount of reports and automation you can bring usually works out well. 😄

Best Regards!

[danmoyle]

Making a business case for HubSpot... that's a good one @rlopez! 

For simple numbers, I would look at what creating a good website would cost, what the cost for making changes to that website looks like, how you want to create conversion opportinuties on that site, where the CRM data goes, how you email them and how social media tools would help... and see how much all that costs. Then I'd create a proposal that highlights cost and value, along with why having your data in one place is even more valuable. Then I'd probably sprinkle in how intuitive HubSpot is compared to other tools and hopefully that would help. 

[victoriaharkes]

How do you best manage competing priorities for your time? In any small business, every role will wear many hats, but how do you decide which hats are worth wearing and which can be put back in your closet for another season?