The Road to UNBOUND - Three Weeks Out: The Word, Not the Event

First time I played with the band they put me on a guitar banjo, then a cajon — neither of which I had any business touching. My friends were snickering in the corner. Same lesson as the first video: you're going to suck the first time. Get it out of the way, laugh at yourself a little, and it gets better from there.

Someone asked me what UNBOUND means to me and I didn't say sessions or announcements. I'm remote. It's the one week a year I'm actually in a room with the people I only ever see on a screen. That's the whole thing for me. See you in Boston.

A trick that made filming a lot easier: I talk to Greg. Greg's our video editor. I'll be recording and just say, hey Greg, this one's going to be a long one. Or, sorry Greg, go back and snip that. He's non-judgmental, and he occasionally lies and tells me something I said was funny to keep me going. Pretend you're talking to a friend. And don't script it — until you're genuinely good with a teleprompter, everyone can tell.

If you misspeak or jumble your words, you don't need to go back and reshoot everything. Leave the human element in. You'll see it in ours. The amount of times I've called segments "lists" in HubSpot and had to correct myself mid-take — I butcher about ninety percent of the words out of my mouth. It doesn't need to be perfect.

The most basic advice I've got for anyone who wants to make content and hasn't started: Press record. You don't need a professional camera. You don't need a mic. You don't need lighting. Don't be too hard on yourself, post it, and see what happens. Everyone had a first one, and everyone's first one was bad. You want to get in shape, you go work out. Same deal.

My first HubSpot Hack was a DocuSign integration. No camera, no mic. You can tell by looking at it. Ali said: record yourself setting up a DocuSign integration, I want to see if you're any good at this. I sent it to her. She said great, we're putting it on YouTube. I did not know that was going on YouTube. Find someone who'll push you like that.