I Learned 3 Operations Systems in 30 Days, Here’s How…
My name is Matthew Schoenemann and in the month of December 2020, I learned how to use three operations software systems. The three systems are TextExpander, Hubspot, and Zapier. By learning these systems I have a better knowledge of how to run the operations department of any business. For an overview of what operations is, click here to read my blog post about it.
But for more of my project, keep scrolling down to see a detailed outline of how and what I did this month.
Weekly Updates
Here’s What I learned This Month
All of my documentation for this month. Including a blog post and a tutorial video for each system.
My Month in a Nutshell
This month was awesome. For myself, and my portfolio. Learning three different systems proved to be challenging but definitely doable.
Week One: TextExpander
After creating quite a few snippets from Torque Detail’s FAQ page, I can say that I would highly recommend it to anyone in the customer response business. It makes it very easy to send quick predetermined answers (or snippets) by only typing in a short code. It definitely saves a lot of time when responding to customers and I love their statistics page where they have a bar chart showing how much time you’ve saved using their snippets.
Week Two: HubSpot
I didn’t really know what to expect going into HubSpot. I’d heard it was a lot to learn, but I ended up really liking the simplicity of their website. It’s very easy to navigate around, and while there is quite a bit on there, most people won’t be using every tool anyway. Just the things they need to complete their tasks.
My favorite part about HubSpot is the fact that their claim of being an all-in-one platform is very true. They have almost everything you’ll ever need on there to run your business. From contacts lists to landing page creation and chat flows, they really have it all.
Week Three: Zapier
Out of the three systems I learned this month, this is the one I’d recommend the least. It can still be useful for some people, but I wouldn’t pay the monthly or annual fee to use it.
Even though I wouldn’t pay for Zapier, it’s still amazing how much there is to offer. By creating Zaps you can integrate many different web applications so they run in the background and complete trivial tasks so you can focus on more important ones. For example, I created a Zap that connected HubSpot with a Google Sheet so that whenever I add a new row to the sheet, it creates a new contact in the contacts page on HubSpot. And it does this automatically when you add a new row.
This could be helpful if you like using a spreadsheet but your office wants you to use HubSpot.
In the end, I might use Zapier for simple tasks like that, but with only 5 available Zaps on the free version, I probably wouldn’t end up using it for much. And I also found that it doesn’t always work. Most of the time it does, but there were certain Zaps that just didn’t want to work for some reason.
What I Might Have Done Differently
Instead of learning Zapier, it might’ve been better to try something else out. Possibly something like Airtable. But at least now I know I don’t like to use it.
Other than that, however, I think this month was very helpful for me. I gained knowledge on three systems that are used by a lot of businesses (even if I didn’t like one of them). And I have a headstart on using these systems if I end up in a job that requires them. I also gained the confidence that I could learn any system that a business uses. This month proved I can learn something quickly and explain how to use it to other people. Along with this, I also gained more experience writing blog posts, as well as editing a few videos.
Was My Project a Success?
In short, yes. I think my project was a success. Based on my pre-project outline I accomplished everything I set out to do. However, there’s always room to improve and my project is no exception. If I’m being honest it really wasn’t all that hard to learn these systems and I probably could’ve learned a couple more in the same month.
So was my project a success? Yes, I learned the 3 systems and I documented my new knowledge of each one. Was there room for improvement though? Always.
Conclusion
At the beginning of the month, I set out to learn 3 operations software systems. I wasn’t sure what to expect or what I’d learn. In the end, I learned that
- I’m a quick learner.
- TextExpander and HubSpot are awesome.
- Zapier can work for some, just not me.
I’m proud of what I accomplished, and I hope you learned something from reading my blog posts or watching my tutorials. If you’d like to ask me a question about my project or just connect, here’s my LinkedIn.
