Dealing with the Past and the Next Chapter

I figured this might take a few more characters than a post would allow...

Heck, the people that make up the characters alone might just take up the whole dang post, so you are getting an article.

I invite those of you who know me to read, reminisce, comment, and share and I welcome those of you who are new here to my life, a place where the personal and professional often blend, and where I hope you will become part of the inner circle of great marketers who have become even better friends over the coming weeks and months.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm Garrett Cannon D'Entremont. For the last 7 years I've held various roles at DigitalMarketer.com . I spent half that time working directly with agencies, helping them grow; during that time we saw tremendous success for the agency owners and the company as a whole. For the last three years I ran our coaching and mastermind programs. Starting the coaching program was one of the things I am most proud of during my 7 years at DM, we helped hundreds of businesses either get their idea off the ground or, pour marketing gasoline on a fire that was already burning in their business, leading to hundreds of businesses doubling in size over the tenure of that program. It is this coaching program that'll you'll continue to hear a lot from me about over the coming weeks and months.

For those of you who do know me, I want to take this opportunity to drive y'all over to garrettdentremont.com and check out the site. In particular I'd like to ask you to head to the reviews page and drop a testimonial on that page using the form there. If you would then copy/paste that testimonial and drop it in the comments of this article and share that with your network it would really mean a lot to me.

I have no doubt some stories will come from that exercise, but now it's my turn to tell my tale...

Parking Cars: The Start of My Professional Journey

I came to Austin after the summer of 2006. I had spent the summer counseling at Laity Lodge Youth Camp , a place I spent many of my summers of youth worshipping God, getting to know him and his word better, and of course doing what I do best, building relationships. I'm sure some of my crew of the LLYC days will read this, I'd love to reconnect. Feel free to drop my a line on the site.

But once Labor Day hit it was time to find my next chapter, see, I wasn't going to school like many of my other friends, frankly, I didn't do very hot at Klein Oak High School. My brother Grant Dentremont , invited me to move in with him in Austin, rent was cheap and so were the beers (ahh the good ole days). But to stay in Austin I needed a job, and quick. Grant suggested I apply at the gig that gave him his first shot, Towne Park . I did, and was immediately put on as the Overnight Valet Manager at the Courtyard By Marriott and Residence Inn Downtown Austin . I've gotta give Kari Laywell and Brian Walker a shout out for taking a shot on an 18 year old to run the overnight valet operations at, what was at the time, a brand new hotel in downtown Austin. I remember one of the first nights I worked Ohio State came to town to play UT and it was a sell out at the hotel, we had more cars than we had spaces to park them. We didn't know what to do. I remember calling Brian and telling him, I've got an idea, let me run with it and I'll get these cars parked. I made arrangements with one of our sister hotels down the block to park the cars there, they had plenty of room for additional cars. I can't say the plan went on without a hitch, it was a lot of work and a lot of coordination but, we got those cars parked and we got them all out on Sunday morning. All this to say, even at 18 I was displaying some pretty impressive high-stakes, real-time problem solving at a professional level. Shoutout to an old friend from the valet days, Matt Cisneros who I've already got to catch up in the past week, I love to see you are doing so well for yourself brother. I know there are some other people still in Austin like Jimmy Dyer I'd love to reconnect with from those Towne Park days, feel free to drop me a line. Also, shout out to Sandi Fredrickson, M.S. , the front desk manager there at the hotel that I still consider a friend to this day.

My time at Towne Park taught be all sorts of skills. First and foremost, being a valet is about more than parking cars, you are the first person a guest sees when visiting a hotel and generally the last associate they have an interaction with when leaving. As a valet it is your job to be the first line of hospitality for the business. While this interaction may be relatively short, it can set the tone for their whole stay. I learned to smile, be efficient, and say "howdy" (I wanted to make sure everyone got a true Texas welcome). I still use "howdy" as a salutation to this day in the majority of my correspondence, I'm proud of my Texas roots and the southern hospitality for which my fellow Texans are known for.

But while parking cars I couldn't help but think there was more for me out there, so I decided it was time for me to go to school.

The Roller Coaster: My Academic Career

I've always approached this part of my story with a little trepidation, it's obviously a story of ups and downs, but one that ultimately ends with a happy ending and I hope can be a story of inspiration for those who may not have found school the easiest thing in the world.

As I mentioned earlier, I was not the best student in high school. Heck, I barely graduated. I spent my time doing what I love doing most, building relationships, a lot of those still last to this day. Shout out to all my Klein Oak friends, I know I've got a lot of you here in my LinkedIn network. Please drop me a line.

Anyways, high school is rough academically, I move to Austin, get a job, and then decide it's time to continue my academic career and do more with my life.

I enroll at Austin Community College . By this time I know I love Austin, Texas and there is only one school I really want to go to, my mother and my grandparents' alma mater, 美国德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校 . Well, as some might be able to attest to it's pretty hard for a guy that didn't do great in high school with a middling SAT score to get into one of the most respected universities in the world, but I was going to try with everything I had.

Fortunately, when applying to transfer into a school from a community college your high school transcripts and your SAT score do not matter, they only thing that matters is how you do in your college courses that are transferring in, I knew there was only one way I was going to achieve my dreams, get a 4.0 at ACC and there is no way I would be denied into the school of my dreams. So that is what I did.

For the next few years I did everything I could in every single one of my classes to get an A. It took longer than I wanted, it took a lot of hard work, but in 2011 I was accepted into that prestigious university I now call my alma mater.

As an English major...

Now I know, I know, you are probably thinking what the heck can you do with an English degree? Teach? And there was a time in my life where I thought my life might head in that direction, but I've seen how taxing and unfair the school system is after watching my mother go through the wringer for the past 40+ years, I did not want to teach.

Interestingly enough it was a fictional character that led me to want to explore a profession further, Don Draper. Don is the main character in the show 'Mad Men'. He is a complicated character but his job looked like the coolest in the world, pitch cool ideas, work collaboratively with a team of rockstars, and of course the three-martini lunches, all while making exorbitant amounts of money for themselves and their clients.

UT boasts THE best advertising program in the country, if not the world. It is one of the hardest majors to get into and nearly impossible to internally transfer into, but I knew from day 1 on campus this is where I wanted to be. So one of the first classes I signed up for was Gary B. Wilcox 's 318J "Introduction to Integrated Brand Communication." It was a tough course, one that is designed to be a "weed out" course for advertising majors, I made a solid B and I learned a lot that I still take into marketing strategy meetings today.

But I never got into the advertising program, I took about every class you could without being a an advertising major and when I finally did get my degree from UT I had more than enough credits for that to be my minor.

As you may have noticed I said FINALLY above because it took a lot longer than I had expected.

While I had a lot of passion for advertising and marketing I did not have a lot of passion for english. I thought the only thing I could do was be a teacher with it, remember? So my grades slipped in those classes where my passions wained, while an additional passion was brewing on the side, a girl.

I was distracted.

I wanted to do more with my degree, over the months things had gotten rocky with the girl, and I was losing a lot of motivation in school.

But a friend of mine worked at a company called Macmillan ESG , I figured the whole point of school was to get a good job, so I dropped out and became an Account Manager for them. This was more of an outbound sales role than traditional AM role, but I was just happy to have a good-paying job and benefits. Whoa boy did I learn a lot there. I learned a lot about what not to do. I learned about sales. I learned about working cross-functionally with a team. I learned how to use Salesforce . And I learned that not all leaders are created equal. Shout out to some of my people from the Macmillan days Steve Platt , Tiffany Kennedy , Maureen Schwartz , Quinten McMillian , Ali Reaves Pinaire , Tory Lindsay , Andrew Jones, MBA, CIPM, CIPP/US, FIP and the dozens of others I had the opportunity to work and grow with over my time there. For those on my team you'll see one name conspicuously missing from that list (see comment about leaders above, lol).

Now, I know we jumped into a little professional story while I'm supposed to be on the academic train, but all that to say I left school to take a job that I thought would put me on the right path career-wise, and I truly know it did, but still had a hole, I had unfinished business, so in 2015 I went back to school.

I decided to hunker down, take all those skills I had developed to get me into UT, and finish my upper-level English classes. This time there was not stopping me. After the spring of 2016 I had enough credits to graduate and so I did.

While I don't have the fancy advertising degree I wanted I got a degree from one of the best dang universities in the world. It wasn't easy for me, it was not some linear path. I had bad grades in high school, went to community college, wrestled with my major of choice, got my heart broken, left, came back, and ultimately finished the job. If college taught be one thing, its resiliency. That to set big stinkin' goals you gotta take big risks. It ain't always going to be easy, but if you put down your head and do the work, big things can happen in the most unlikely of places. Some people say a college degree ain't worth it these days, and with them, I disagree. It shows that you can put 4+ years of hard work together to get something that is important to you, it shows you are willing to put in an inordinate amount of time into studying one thing, even if that thing might not be a transferable skill (you'll pick those up along the way). And for me, it taught me how to write, which if you've made it this far kudos and thanks for sticking through this with me.

Which leads me to DM...

DigitalMarketer: A Chapter of its Own

You've seen how long the previous chapters have gone, I'm nervous to even jump down this rabbit hole, but stick with me, and for those of you who know me, give me some grace as I've got a lot of people to tag and thank throughout my nearly 7 years at DigitalMarketer.

It all started after getting that degree. I spent the summer having fun. I was making some money, enough to support myself, was doing some work with an agency at the time shoutout to Jordan Slover and the team over at Neon Ambition for believing in me and teaching me so much over there.

But I needed a real job, I had this shiny new degree and I wanted to do some work with it. So at the end of summer I began applying in earnest to jobs. I had a goal, one application per day once I got in the job-seeking mode. Now I know some of you are saying, "those are rookie numbers, you gotta pump those numbers up." But with every application I wrote a completely unique cover letter, from scratch. I would research the company and I would write and let them know why I would be a good fit for the role. It was during my research that I came across a company that I had never heard of before that I felt matched my experience and where I saw myself headed career-wise, a little place called DigitalMarketer .

I LOVED the application process for DM. Not only could I submit my cover letter but they gave me additional opportunities to express myself and my desire for the role throughout the application process with additional writing prompts peppered in. I've gotta give credit to Sophia O'Rourke for her awesome HR skills when going through that process. Since I was able to express where I was and where I wanted to go I got the phone screening pretty easily, then the interview process, and before I knew it I was on the DigitalMarketer team.

This is where both Michelle Knight and Marcus Murphy enter my story. See, I came in as a customer care person, the majority of my experience up until this point had been in a customer service capacity, but I think Michelle, Marcus, and I all saw a path forward for growth once I got into DM's doors. For the sake of time I'll save the fun story amongst us three for a different time, but if you wanna know, feel free to ask. I was hired in October and by December I was knocking on Marcus' office door to see if I could join the partner meeting at the Hyatt in Austin later that month, he found a spot for me and a way I could help, my first strike at opportunity to grow in my role at DM.

So I went to the meeting, began meeting some of the Partners, and taking notes. I heard what they needed, where they thought the company can improve, and what direction they would like to see us go in next. That event would mark my first time on the DM stage, but certainly not my last. It's also where I first met Dave Albano , he was being his jovial self, giving out hugs to everyone, I said, "where's mine" and he gladly passed one down my way. He's still a friend, colleague, and mentor to this day.

Geez, I remember meeting so many people during that event I think that is where me and Sonya Keenan first crossed paths. Maybe event Michael K Redman and Kathryn Redman too. Once again, many people that I'm still friends with today.

One of the people who really helped make that event a smashing success for my career was Vin Featherstone who took the time to text Ryan Deiss to tell him I was going to do great things for the company, I like to think I made him a man of his word.

I'm not sure if I also met Beau Haralson at this event or not, but I do remember right around the same time I was working on a big project with him and Mike Worley that was bringing in a lot of new customers for their business and for DM as a whole, really it was my first foray into wondering how the heck I can help our Partners out by using the resources we had available to us at DM and aligning it with the needs their customers. That was a cool project fellas, I loved working on that with y'all.

All this to say, it didn't take long, a couple months at most, before I was given the opportunity to serve our Partner community and began helping them with their business-growth objectives. I would be remise if I didn't shout out Marcus Murphy and Ryan Deiss again for giving me that opportunity so early in my career and offering their expertise and guidance along the way.

Over the next three years I was planted squarely in the middle of all things DigitalMarketer Certified Partner. We made a lot of money for the company and for our clients. Some of the metrics I'm most proud of are:

• Produced over $3,000,000 in renewal sales for the DigitalMarketer Certified Partner Program
• Had an average retention rate of 80%
• Pioneered the first live event training programs for the Certified Partner Program, a program that still exists to this day
• Spoke on numerous stages
• And helped hundreds of agencies double in size, representing tens of millions of dollars in growth for his clients

Heck we even developed a software in-house to deliver out training content and license that to our Partners that I was instrumental in help rolling out to the Partner Community. Here's looking at you Natalie Nichols , Stuart Ross , Michael King , Susan Sly , and Bryan Plumb just to name a few of those that rolled it out successfully.

I even got to work with some really big brands like 联邦快递 and ActiveCampaign on rolling that software out in an enterprise capacity shoutout Kallie McConkie for always being a rockstar, I've loved seeing your growth at AC.

I was also a DM brand ambassador at so many live events. From our homegrown Traffic & Conversion Summit , to INBOUND , to IMPACT Live (shoutout Bob Ruffolo ). We travelled the continent preaching the DM word and growing the brand.

Heck, I even got to meet and talk with Gary Vaynerchuk !

I drop some the big names in for clout, but it's really some of the names you might not have heard of that made my time working with the Certified Partners so special. To see people grow, to help their businesses grow, and ultimately see the results they are getting for clients is what drove my passion for the program.

I think that was why, in 2020, Ryan tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to get our coaching program off the ground. This is an idea that had been "circling the drain" as one executive put it for several months but nobody could get liftoff on, I stepped in right as the pandemic started and we hit the ground running.

I've got a lot or people to thank for helping me get that program off the ground but I've got to thank the team first and foremost. Scott Cunningham , Kasim Aslam , Dave Albano , Amara Omoregie , Monique Morrison , and ?????? Lauren Petrullo, MBA . Without you, this idea would have never got off the ground, and hundreds of businesses would not be where they are today.

I truly believe this was the biggest impact program we ever rolled out at DM and I'm excited to announce that we will be rolling out a new version of it soon (more on that in a bit, but if you want to be the first to know when we launch, sign up here ).

We made marketing coaching accessible to a wide swath of people by offering it in a group format, it cost us less to fulfill so we could help the entrepreneur just starting their journey or ones looking to level up their current campaigns. We had an amazing system for onboarding that would get you speaking our lingo and get the essentials in place so we knew where to place you with a coach, and we created a community that was inclusive of everyone no matter where they were on their business growth journey.

If you don't believe me, once again, I urge you to head over to my website to read some of the reviews from Ivan Ivanka , Eric Saunders , Jeff Craft (Kali Das) , and some that I know are forthcoming from the likes of Jacqueline Hill , Atiba de Souza , Kira Goller , Jay Vics , Manny Torres , Linda Maglionico , Uzair Kharawala along with hundreds of others that it would take me forever to list them all (I told you the characters alone would fill a whole post).

Please, once again, if you have a story of transformation to tell while using the ELITE Coaching Program, please drop it on my the reviews section of my site here. I will make sure to get it up ASAP.

However, all good things must end and the decision to sunset the coaching program was made in order to make room for a mastermind at DigitalMarketer, this is what I've been working on for the past 9 months.

To be honest, my heart was never in the mastermind. I LOVED serving the avatar we were serving with our coaching program. We had really smart people that were serious about their businesses and marketing activity in ELITE. We saw people take what was at first and idea and create a whole business around it, hiring folks, growing their own net worth, and providing awesome products to people that really wanted it.

So that about closes my chapter at DM but I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of the direct team members that helped me over the years at DM. I've mentioned Ryan Deiss and Marcus Murphy . To the team that is still there Mark de Grasse , Richard Lindner , Michelle Knight , Bonnie Stoneman , Byron Dickard , Cameron Miller , Brian Smith , Nick Marts , and Dustin Lien I wish you the best of luck in growing the business, remember that growth comes from loving on your customers with the best of your abilities. To Taylor Nelson who I think is truly the technical glue of the whole company. To Michael Meola for mentoring me in the early days of account management. To John Grimshaw who always let me nerd out with him when there was something I didn't understand. To Justin Rondeau who I find as a friend and confidant now even through some of our public jousts in the past. To my ex-workwife and dear friend Justina Fenberg . To Carey Naab still holding down the sales and fellow Longhorn for life. To Ray Plain , Justin McKelvey , Bill Kernan , Jimmie Jackson , Tate Janek and the whole development team at Praxio, thanks for letting me bug y'all with questions all the dang time. To team Tom Litchfield , dude is the most organized person I know, truly inspiring. To my friend and golf partner Ben Griffin . To Ben Jinkins , Douglas Bloom , Kevin Kramer I always loved your creativity. To Molly Pittman and Russ Henneberry , y'all are some smart marketers. To Autumn Rome King , Kyle James , Lloyd Poku , Rob Hegarty , Sunny Williams , Devin Coor , Neal Tricarico and all my sales homies, loved ringing that gong with y'all. Special shoutout to my boy Skip aka Layton Schiffman , thanks for the rings, can't wait to see you walking down the aisle yourself brother. To Keenan Shaw a man of numbers, I loved the way you think analytically, not just emotionally. To Perry Belcher thanks for supporting me already in the transition. To Bethany Cowan and Jenna Snavely and all the people of "This side". To Darren Clarke the podcast wizard. Suzi Nelson , Callen M. , Matt Donaldson , Matthew Hayes , Matt Parmely . To DeAnna Rogers who throw the most amazing events. And to my friends Sam Clark and Jakob Christensen the most dysfunctional yet most effective team of content producers in the game. I thank you all for being a part of my life, I'm thankful for the company bringing us together and helping us hone our skills. As with life, everything has its ups and downs, but I have no doubt we have all become better people for our time spent together working on a shared mission to double the size of 10,000 small businesses around the world. Let's grab a drink soon.

I have no doubt I missed a few in there, but hopefully I can make some amendments to this if needed.

Thank everyone from the staff to the customers for being part of my life what has been one of, if not the, most exciting chapter of my life thus far. There is a gear-shaped hole in my heart where DM belongs, but I have no doubt it is making room for something bigger and better.

Which leads me to figuring out what the heck is next...

What's Next: The New Chapter

I've spent the last couple of weeks closing out my time at DM, handing stuff off to the current team and trying to figure out what is next.

After talking with the team and my close circle of confidants I've decided it's time to start my own entrepreneurial journey. Something always encouraged by the leaders at DM and my network of amazing business leaders.

I've been working on my personal brand at garrettdentremont.com . I encourage everyone reading this to visit the site, poke around, schedule some time on my calendar, or shoot me an email. At the very least I would appreciate your feedback, but at the most maybe there is something I can do to help you out. Big shoutout to Christina "Blue" Hooper ?? for your expeditious help on the site.

I'll be launching a new version of my marketing coaching program in the coming weeks. You can read some of the reviews of the efficacy of the program on the reviews section of my site. If you want to be a part of the program or learn more about it when when we do launch get on my email list here (we'll have some early mover discounts for people).

For now, my calendar is open to any and all who are looking for a chat. I have no doubt I'll have to start gating that sooner rather than later so jump on the line for a convo with me ASAP. If I can't help you find an answer to something I generally have someone in my network who can help. If we find an opportunity to work more closely together I'm all for that too.

So this next chapter, this next chapter is just beginning, but I have no doubt it will be the biggest and best adventure yet. I hope you'll be a character in it.