Right now I’m typing this in an incredible room 30 minutes prior to Inbound 2016 kicking off. When I say incredible, I mean the type of incredible that is defined by recognizable excellence. Quality takes time, effort, perseverance, passion, and attention to detail. This is what quality looks like. Quality causes someone to marvel at something which otherwise would be ordinary.

INBOUND 2016 began today, but before it did, we enjoyed our host city. 

We started our day by visiting the Samuel Adams Brewery.  In 1516, a German law called Reinheitsgebot was adopted which placed regulations limiting what ingredients could go into beer. The four ingredients that were allowed to be used for making beer were barley, hops, yeast, and water. Those four ingredients, by themselves, are unremarkable. But because of time, effort, and passion, they were crafted into something to that can be enjoyed because of it's quality. Though many beers use more than those four staple ingredients now, Samuel Adams continues to craft one of the most well-known beers with just those four ingredients, its Boston Lager. 

After the tour and a bit of a taste testing, we walked to Doyle's, one of Boston's Jamaica Plain's most trafficked restaurants, with some newfound company we met on our tour. I had my first Boston clam chowder and immediately realized why it's a beloved dish in this area.

We had to rush back to our apartment to get ready for INBOUND. We got ready and then traversed a mile and a half of Boston streets to Boston's Convention Center.

When we arrived at the convention center, the atmosphere just felt right. Upon walking into the center, you could just tell that everything was well thought out and planned for. We checked in to the conference and walked around a little bit before they opened the doors to the main room. When they did open the doors, it was like they opened up the gates to a whole new world.

Wow. ↑ this is what not settling for decency, but putting in the work for quality looks like.

Leslie Odom Jr. opened up the conference by singing a few songs with his buttery voice and then keynote speaker, Gary Vaynerchuk, spoke about the state of marketing in an unfiltered, unapologetic, and unabashed manner. More on his talk later.

After the keynote for the night, we were invited to a local bar for a HubSpot partner party. Of the many things HubSpot does well, they make you feel welcome very well. Once the small talk subsided, we were able to meet some fantastic people which we plan on hanging around the rest of the trip.

My brain is struggling to focus, so I'll leave you with this takeaway from today; be good at what you do. Though it takes time and effort, provide something that is defined by quality.