We would like to introduce the newest member of our Client Services team, Chris Grimmett, HubSpot Strategist and North Carolinian native.

Work-Life

Stefan: Hi everyone and welcome back to the employee spotlight. My name is Stefan. I'm the People and Culture Strategist here at Remotish. Today we're going to be talking to our newest employee, Chris Grimmett. Chris is one of our new HubSpot Strategists and we are super excited to have him on board here. So, Chris, can you tell us a little bit about your role here at Remotish?

Chris: Hey, Stefan, yeah, so I work with teams who use HubSpot, kind of as part of their overall rev ops strategy. For the most part, my goal is to try and help them optimize, maximize how they're using HubSpot in order to be able to make their systems and processes, you know, more efficient, and also, of course, more successful. For me, my main priority is helping departments you know, whether it's sales, marketing, customer service, become more unified, and make sure that the transition between them feels internally as seamless as it's going to feel for the customer itself.

Stefan: Yeah, you know, I think a big call out there's efficiency, right? You know, really making it efficient for our customers. So I like that. Great! So, you know, what does an average workday look like for you?

Chris: Yeah, it's, you know, it's usually a combination. Usually, it's a mixture of things like meetings with teams, and kind of helping develop strategy either for them, or in some cases, you know, with them. I'm also continually having to keep up with whatever's the newest trends and developments because we are in an industry where, you know, almost every day, there's some new thing to be keeping your eye on. So it's a combination of trying to work a lot with clients, as well as make sure that I am honing on my skills as best as I can. So that when I am meeting with clients, they're being able to get someone that is truly, you know, top of the industry knows what's going on.

Stefan: Yeah, the industry is ever changing. Right. And, you know, we see with HubSpot, there's always some new feature coming out or new bata. And, you know, we've got to be at the forefront to learn it. So which is I guess a good segue into my next question, you know, what's your favorite HubSpot tool or favorite thing about it?

Chris: Yeah, I, you know, maybe this is the easy answer, because it's one of the things that HubSpot is most known for, but I just love workflows. You know, when I first found out about them, as I was learning HubSpot, you know, many years ago, I just started recognizing, you know, as someone who myself was overworked, we're kind of understaffed in the specific area that we're working in. And so we had tons to go to get done. But you know, you only have so much time to do it in a day, when all these things are manual. So, for me, I really loved both seeing how it impacted my life and better, or just my everyday routine. But I also just really love being able to brainstorm and plan out with other teams to kind of have them have that same AHA type of experience, where there can be real relief of just saying, thank goodness, I don't have to do all of this on a regular basis.

Life-Life

Stefan: Yeah, and the beauty of the workflow is, you can make it super simple, where it's just a create a task after you know, X, you know, triggered with x, or you can just really go down a deep rabbit hole of a workflow to, to get super specific. So it really just depends on what you're trying to achieve. So let's, let's switch gears a little bit. We've talked about, you know, a little bit about work life, let's talk about life life, you know, what, what's the best thing to you about remote life?

Chris: You know, it's really two separate things. First of all, just kind of having access to be able to have a global group of co workers is a pretty special thing. Because you know, it's nice to be able to work with people that are genuinely best in the industry, best in their field opposed to what often is the case is you just are trying to find the people that are best in your specific geographical area. So that's one thing I really appreciate because it requires you to constantly keep up your game, because you're working with people that are kind of encouraging and inspiring you to also better yourself. So that's part of it. But you know, from the remote side of things in general, one thing that is just helpful is it allows for work to be able to take a much more appropriate amount of priority in a person's life. I think we all know all too well the work to live mentality that most of us are used to and working remote allows you in many cases to be able to more work and live, opposed to work to live. Because it just helps you keep a balance of understanding of, hey, it's not just work, it's, it's about family, it's about spending time off, it's being able to rest, exercise all of those types of things as well.

Stefan: Yeah, where you can really plan work around your life and not feel guilty about it. And, yeah, you make a good point, I think where we've seen, you know, the typical company is trying to, they're used to having office space and at some point, you're gonna run out of talent in your geographical area, versus, you know, working remote and being able to have a wider net of applicants that are experienced for the job. So what kind of blog, podcasts, groups would you recommend our readers and visitors follow? You know, what are some of your favorites?

Chris: Sure. So my tried and true one, when it comes to, especially on LinkedIn, one of the main people of HubSpot Academy is Kyle Jepsen. He's just a really passionate guy. And he gets really excited. And he's, and even within the office, we're constantly sharing his videos, because he's usually one of the first people to announce, hey, this is what is new that's going on in HubSpot in just in this industry, you should keep up with that. So that's one particular thing I really enjoy doing. But a podcast that I personally love and maybe there's some, there's some other reasons outside of the content itself of why I love it. There's this podcast called HubShots, where it is led or co hosted by two owners of Australian partner HubSpot agencies. And selfishly, I love hearing their accents. It's just really enjoyable. But you know, it's really helpful too, because it's usually 20-30 minutes break down. And it's a combination of just saying it's like a tip of the week for each hub, they can highlight any news that has been going on. And they usually will also address a couple questions or issues that either they ran into, or someone that listened to the show has been running into. And so it's a really helpful podcast, and they practice what they preach, because they don't just have you simply listen to the podcast, you can get detailed show notes that are emailed to you. So if you're not able to listen to it, that week, you can still skim through it and understand kind of what is going on. So those are the two ones that I would strongly suggest.

Stefan: That's very cool. I haven't heard of HubShots, and I have to check them out. And who doesn't love a good Australian accent? It's a win win. And Kyle's very big on his tips and tricks and his energy is just through the roof.

Chris: Yeah 100%.

Stefan: So, you know, what do you do when you’re not HubSpotting for our clients? You know, it's a little bit about what, what do you do when you're not wearing your Remotish hat?

Chris: Yeah. Well, I spend a lot of time with my wife and dog, of course. But you know, outside of doing that, I am a huge video gamer. I thought I got over it as a child and realized no, this is my this is the part of who I am. Just embrace it. And so I play video games a lot, particularly with friends, as you know, a way to continue to connect with people whether or not I get to see them on a regular basis. I love traveling, do a lot of games and movie nights, often bad movies. Just because it's more fun that way. And then, because I am a true nerd, I play Dungeons and Dragons as well, with a group of friends. So a lot of nerdy things, I think is what I'm realizing.

Stefan: No, that's all, that's all good stuff. I'm gonna put you on the spot. What's your favorite bad movie?

Chris: Oh, I'll tell you exactly what it is. It's one of the most recent ones I've watched. And it's called “Dancin’:It’s on!”. And it is a horrendous movie. But it's so funny. And yeah, I'll have to tell you about that a little bit later.

Stefan: Fair enough. Fair enough. So what would you say is your, your personal motto or mantra?

Chris: Well, I'm stealing it from you know, the, the wisdom of Ted Lasso. Just because you know, it's such a well known phrase, but it's one that even when I first heard it, I just kind of was like man, this really embodies a lot of kind of how I feel about so many different areas of life and that's you know, “be curious, not judgmental”, the idea of being able to, you know, whether you're working on your personal relationships, or especially when working with clients, and kind of seeing how people have certain processes and set systems set up, you know, you may initially be like, why in the world is it this way, this seems like to me at least, this seems completely the wrong way to go about it. But being able to really embody that curiosity of understanding why they do the things the way they do, and being able to help better the process that they're trying to do is something that means a lot to me, and, you know, all the different areas of my life.

Stefan: I love how just that statement can be can cover like so many different areas of life and work. And I love that show.

Chris: Oh, yeah, for sure.

Stefan: Well chosen. What would you say is your guilty pleasure?

Chris: You know, kind of, as I was talking about bad movies, also with this, I'm not as I don't feel quite as embarrassed by the bad movies. But I do feel embarrassed about the really horrible reality TV shows that I watched with my friends. You know, there's just something about it. When you need a little bit of levity, and maybe when you're feeling bad about yourself, sometimes it's nice to be able to just say like, you know what, they've got some stuff going on, too. So I can't help it. It's, it's something I truly love watching.

Stefan: And do you have a, you know, a top reality show?

Chris: Oh 100%. It's called Love Island. It's gotten real popular recently, thanks to things like Hulu, but it's, it's started as this British TV show. It's probably one of the biggest British reality TV shows there is. I mean, one you get to hear, again, a bunch of great accents, but it's just so good. I can't help it. I'm embarrassed but also I'm proud.

Stefan: I'll throw another one out there. Have you watched “Welcome to Plathville”?

Chris: Stefan, it’s as if you and I were meant to be friends. Because yes, of course, I've watched all “Welcome to Plathville”. It's one of the shows that I just recently finished with my friends. And we're very excited about the new season.

Stefan: All right, we can, we can continue that offline.

Chris: Very excited.

Stefan: So do you have a unique talent?

Chris: Um, I thought a little bit about this one in advance. And I think there's a couple different ways I could go. But I said it just kind of speak to one that I feel truly is a little bit more unique. I've always really liked geography. And as I explained earlier, I'm a video game nerd. And there's this really popular game for geography nerds out there that, that just in general, you kind of continue to test your knowledge and learn more and more about kind of what is out there in the world different type of things. It's called GeoGuesser. So essentially, my skill set is, you know, I need a little bit of practice, it's been a while, but in most cases, you can drop me somewhere on a Google Maps street view and that would have a pretty decent chance of telling you, at least what country you're in. And is it knowledge that I should have? No, I don't really know what I'm supposed to do with any of this outside of this game. But I know far more about Eastern European road signs, than the regular person should, let's just say that.

Stefan: Hey, I mean, that's pretty impressive. I'll give you that. I'm gonna have to look at that game, but I'm not sure I can probably match your level.

Chris: Well it takes it, it takes quite a bit of practice, I will admit that.

Stefan: I can imagine. You know, I can hear a little bit of a, you know, southern twang to, to your voice. So you know, where do you live? Why do you love living there?

Chris: So I live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It's probably about 30 minutes from where I grew up. I've lived in most of the state, though I've actually never lived out in North Carolina. You know, I think that everyone has their moments where they kind of are like, man, I want to live somewhere else I hate like where I grew up or whatever. But as you get older, you start realizing kind of the things that you're really grateful for. And I think, for me, North Carolina is a place that has access to so many different types of geography, from mountains to the beach in such a short, you know, distance, which is really, really awesome. And then I think just there is a level of kindness that a lot of times I've been able to experience and you know, I'm by no means the largest extrovert in the world, but it is kind of nice to be able to often kind of when you're at a store or something kind of run into somebody and either you know them or they're just kind of being kind and showing you compassion back. So it's, it's a, it's a cool place. And I've grown to appreciate it much more as I've gotten older.

Stefan: That's, you're gonna get like, best of both worlds. You get mountains, you get beach. And I imagine like winters aren't too terrible there.

Chris: They've never really, really isn't. I mean, really, the only part that can be rough is, you know, that humidity in the summer, but to some degree, everyone's got that. So.

Stefan: Yeah, I'm not sure that compares to Houston. So.

Chris: I would also agree with that. I'm not going to compete with you on that for sure.

Stefan: Well, this has been great, speaking with you today. This kind of concludes our employee spotlight. You know, I want to thank our listeners for tuning in. I really want to thank Chris for, for sharing your story with us today.

Chris: Yeah, thank you, I really appreciate it as well. I'm excited to be able to be a part of the team and just see what type of fun, cool things that we're going to accomplish together.

Stefan: Likewise, we're stoked to have you. So if you all enjoyed this interview, you can head over to remotish.agency. Check out our other Employee Spotlight Interviews. These can be found by heading to the header of the website, clicking on the resources link, and then clicking on the blog option. So this will take you to our catalog of blogs written by the team members, including our other Employee Spotlights. So again, my name is Stefan. That's it for today. Until next time, happy HubSpotting!