10 Questions With James Desmond
We’re shining a spotlight today on one of our very own, James Desmond, Director of Consulting, for Mole Street. James Desmond leads…
1. How would you sum up your expertise?
I’ve spent the last 11 years helping companies implement HubSpot into their business model, but I wouldn’t consider myself a HubSpot expert - because this software updates itself almost every week with new tools, features and betas!
However, I would consider my expertise to be in helping businesses (and agencies) grow, and HubSpot has been the environment that has allowed me to constantly test, refine and share my experience with other businesses along the way.
2. What type of work do you lead at Mole Street?
When I was first introduced to Mole Street I was actually running my own HubSpot consulting business. So, naturally, when I came over to Mole Street I quickly built up a team of super talented individuals, grew a book of clients and eventually was promoted to the Director of Consulting position, joining the executive team in 2022.
As the Director of Consulting, I wear a few different hats, but my focus everyday is on supporting our team, listening to our clients and helping to grow this organization alongside the leadership team. I would say I spend half my time working in the business, and the other half working on the business - which has been my mantra for scalability in the HubSpot Partner ecosystem.
3. What types of clients do you support the most?
Over the last decade I’ve worked with businesses of all shapes and sizes, from billion dollar companies to one-person startups. As long as you have HubSpot and a growth mindset, I’m always open to a conversation (seriously, here is a link to my calendar). As for our clients at Mole Street, our team does a fantastic job of supporting our clients day-to-day, so I’m usually brought into conversations around new projects that our clients or team need advice with, exploring new integrations/migrations for our clients, and helping our Consulting Department exceed the expectations of our clients, year over year.
4. What is a current project you’re working on?
I get bored easily, so I usually have 5-10 projects running at the same time (and way too many tabs open on my browser), so I try to work towards a weekly sprint, prioritized as follows:
What can I accomplish this week to support our clients, our teams and the overall organization?
5. What do you enjoy most about your work?
Without a question, I wake up every day fired up (and probably over-caffeinated) to work alongside some of the brightest individuals in this industry - we are all constantly looking to improve our own processes, exceed the expectations of our clients and establish Mole Street as the leading consultancy in the HubSpot Partner Directory. I spent years and years working with HubSpot customers and nobody knew what I was doing. I actually dreaded having to explain what I did for a living at those family reunions, holidays or quick chats with old friends.
However, times have changed and HubSpot has exploded into the mainstream over the years. Whew!
6. What is your superpower?
I think my superpower is listening (although my wife would probably disagree here), but it’s why we have 2 ears and 1 mouth - we should all be listening twice as much as we speak. I try to understand where someone is coming from, what their mindset is, the environment around them and respond accordingly with assurance, support, advice and sometimes just empathy. At the end of the day, we’re all humans - but we’re all different too - and there’s a never-ending learning curve to the art of communication!
7. What’s one Mole Street value that has special meaning to you? Why?
Accountability. Without accountability, we can’t build trust with each other…and without trust - we can’t help each other grow, build, push ourselves or succeed. This isn’t just a company value to me, if I say I’m going to do something - you can count on me to at least try my best.
8. What’s inspiring you now?
I’m inspired by the challenges our clients present to us and the solutions our team works so hard together on to achieve those goals. I’m also inspired by continuing to build a team around me of the most talented HubSpot experts in this world. PS - we’re hiring!
9. What is one fun fact about you?
A cruise ship left me and my family in France (Day 1) on one of those day-excursion trips and refused to turn around to pick us back up. We actually got driven out by French police boats alongside the cruise ship (while it was still moving) and hoisted back in via ropes and a ladder - it was straight out of a movie and would have 100% gone viral these days!
10. Where can we catch more of your expertise?
I’m always up at HubSpot’s Inbound Conference in Boston, if you're planning on coming up this year - please reach out to me directly so we can make sure to link up! If you ever want to chat HubSpot, or pick my brain, here is my email address. Don’t be a stranger!
