When Hughes & Co. became a HubSpot Partner Agency, Inbound 2013 was days away. My schedule didn't allow me to join Allie at the conference that can only be described as life changing, so I had to wait a year before it was my turn. It was a long year, but it was worth the wait.

From the minute we walked through the doors of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, I knew Inbound 2014 was going to get me thinking, creating and marketing in new ways.

Getting inspired

Full disclosure, before Inbound 2014, I desperately needed inspiration. I was creating content, managing accounts and working to ensure client success, but something was missing and I didn't know what it was. I was doing everything right, but some of the excitement was missing. I needed someone to motivate me. It turned out, I needed 10,000 someones to motivate me.

There is something about being in a space with that many like-minded people, sharing ideas and listening to inspirational change makers that just lights a fire inside you. Suddenly, you just have to be better and the ideas about how to be better don't stop coming.

Key takeaways

It's all well and good to say, "Yes, I went to Inbound and yes, I was inspired." But I'd be doing you a disservice if I didn't share my key takeaways from the conference that changed me as a marketer.

1) Leaders Eat Last

I'd watched his TED Talks and had every intention to read his book (it's in the pile beside my bed, I swear!), but I wasn't prepared for the inspiration that was going to come from journalist Simon Sinek. For those who don't know him, Simon Sinek is a journalist and speaker who focuses on the psychological and physiological systems behind effective leadership. Based on the idea that in the Marine Corps, meal times are organized by rank, with the lowest ranking eating first and the highest last, Sinek emphasized the need for leaders to take responsibility to build a safe and motivating workplace. It means listening, sacrificing and devotion, but it results in the growth of employees. In return, employees are happier and more motivated to work for you. Sinek demonstrated exactly what it takes to be a great leader, one that I will strive to be.

2) Get Strategic

Being the content creating machine that I am, I attended many sessions to make content and user experiences remarkable. And there was one underlying message in all of these sessions: content creation marketing has to be strategic. In fact, it was this message that had me walking out of my very first session confident that Inbound 2014 was a game changer for the way I market. I left that session (How to Map Content to the Buyer's Journey) with a new content strategy for all of our clients floating in my head. I couldn't wait to sit down and start reorganizing every piece of content Hughes & Co. had ever created and figuring out where each piece fit in our clients' success stories. Even better, with this road map laid out, continuing a successful strategy was about to get easier.

3) We are Transforming the way the World does Business

After listening to the Guy Kawasaki, Malcolm Gladwell, Martha Stewart and HubSpot co-founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah speak so passionately about what we do, one thing was absolutely certain: we are transforming the way the world does business. Over are the days of disrupting people's day to get your message across. Gone are sales calls to people who don't need, want or know about your services. These are the days of educating your consumers, the days of honesty and the days of knowing exactly what your potential client is looking for. It's time to be consultative, informative and informed. And the world is taking notice when it comes to inbound marketing.