If DesignWorks was a person, we would be at the age when baby boomers start telling us, "you're still young;" making youth a relative term as opposed to a set time in our life while completely failing to minimize the fact that time marches on regardless of our perception. Are we old? Not necessarily. Are we young? Compared to the seemingly endless number of new digital marketing agencies that open their doors every year,  I think it's safe to say we've grown out of our training wheels. 

 

So, imagine our delight when we got an email notifying us we were awarded "Rookie of the Year - North America" by HubSpot. Words escaped us; replaced by jumping, yelling, and a couple poorly executed T.O.-style celebration dances. After the shit-eating grins and nervous laughter subsided (neither has - I'm just saying that for the purpose of this blog), Jared, Logan, and I started working through how we got to this point.

DesignWorks has won an outrageous amount of awards throughout its history. We literally have an entire wall of just the trophies we've won. Why? Because DesignWorks generates a phenomenal product. Churning out award-worthy work is our goal day in and day out. So why does a Rookie of the Year award hold so much weight for us? For the same reason ROTY is so important to athletes. We have been playing this game for a long time before getting this award. We invested more time and resources into this than most people will ever know. We've adapted to the game without declaring any one system as our religion.  And, most of all, while the award has an obvious focus, it represents the time and effort of everyone involved. The award is affirmation of the journey we've been on since the start. 

 

What does "since the start" look like? I'll have to "yada yada" over some of the good parts and keep it more specific to inbound, but it looks a little like this:

 

1982 - DesignWorks started by Craig Draper (still Owner & CEO)

1982 - April 2016 - Recipient of over 500 awards and recognitions (Also, 5 Star Wars movies were  released)

May 2016 - Became a HubSpot Partner

August 2016 - Became a HubSpot Silver Partner

September 2016 - Became a HubSpot Gold Partner

November 2016 - Awarded HubSpot Rookie of the Year - North America (also top 3 in HubSpot's 5k Challenge)

 

So, while HubSpot Rookie of the Year may only encapsulate the past 6 months, it's just the latest chapter in the long story of DesignWorks. 

 

Obviously, we would be remiss  without a HUGE thank you to our clients. Some are just joining the team, while others have been with us for almost as long as we've been around. Every day we strive for excellence because it's what you demand of us, and it's pushed us to the level to win such an award. 

 

And, while we're incredibly happy about winning this award and getting to add to DesignWorks' legacy, it's hard to sum up how we feel in just a couple of words. For that, I think Stewart Smalley said it best. "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me." 

 

Zima?