Resa Gooding is the author of Empowering Marketing & Sales With HubSpot; we got the chance to sit down with her and find out more about her experience of writing with Packt.
Q: What are your specialist tech areas?
Resa: Marketing Automation, CRM, Sales processes
Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Resa: As HubSpot continues to expand its platform there was a need to create one single source of truth that can guide users how to approach the setup and execution of the platform in order to see ROI on their investment. Although HubSpot has a vast number of resources there isn’t any one place that takes you from A-Z in a methodological way.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Resa: Before writing this book I used my 8 years experience working with HubSpot customers to know what was missing and to inform the content of this book
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Resa: I think the biggest challenge was the many updates that were happening with the platform as the book was in preparation. We had to reach a decision though to get the book published before INBOUND where big announcements are usually done.
Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Resa: For sure CRM systems will only continue to advance and become a crucial took for businesses in the future as they rely on data to make more informed decisions about their business goals.
Q: Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Resa: I think the biggest difference with my book is that gives very detailed explanations how to do something within HubSpot and also combines it with best practices.
Q: What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away with from the book?
Resa: The main takeaway I would love readers to come away with is knowing how to execute their first campaign successfully on HubSpot. Many people are afraid to touch the platform in fear of breaking something so I hope this book provides the necessary guidance to give them the confidence to at least try.
Q. What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
Resa: Understand that tech is a self learning discipline. There is no need to depend on a school or formal education system to learn it. Most of what you will learn will come from trial and error and reading best practices from people who have done it before.
Q. Do you have a blog that readers can follow?
Resa: No
Q. Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Resa: HubSpot’s blog is the most comprehensive – https://blog.hubspot.com/?_ga=2.24570874.1320208871.1655458126-1959998010.1655458126
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Resa: Definitely. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of feedback and detail the team provided. Not to mention the support they gave in order to help authors succeed with their projects.
Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?
Resa: Not really
Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?
Resa: I mostly follow blogs and listen to podcasts. Some of my favorites are Neil Patel’s blogs and his podcast Marketing School. I also love the podcast CMO Moves
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Resa: The planning of the book was mostly done using my experience on how customers approached their onboarding with HubSpot and the problems and questions they asked. However, I don’t think I was very successful in my planning of writing the book. I underestimated how time-consuming it would be and often times conflicted with my work schedule or personal commitments with family and kids. Not to mention unplanned illnesses or personal crisis. So writing this book was very challenging for me but eventually I managed to carve our time at least 3 half-days a week, mostly in the mornings, that was dedicated to writing and that helped me complete this task
Q. What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Resa: Wowww just start. I often used to think I have writer’s block and couldn’t come up with the ideas or thoughts needed. But once I sat in front of the computer and wrote the first line everything else flowed.
You can find Resa‘s book on Amazon by following this link : Please click here
