The HubSpot ecosystem didn't abandon independent consultants. It never had a plan for you in the first place.
By Chris Carolan, Founder -- Value-First Team
Gregory Dirick published an open letter to HubSpot this week asking whether there's room in the partner ecosystem for independent consultants. It was thoughtful. It was well-written. It was addressed to the wrong audience.
I know, because I asked the same question -- publicly, on Let's Build Daily in June 2024 -- before I ever brought it to HubSpot. "We've all been coming up with different ways to solve the same problem with the same tool set," I said on that episode. "How much time could be saved if we worked together?" That was before the Solutions Provider tier was sunset. Before Profoundly. Before the Collective had a name. The gap was already clear.
Then I built a deck. I flew to the meeting. I made the case for a "HubSpot Coaches Program" -- shared resources, professional development, a new partner type for independents. HubSpot was gracious. Nothing happened. So instead of asking again, I started building.
Eighteen months later, here is what I've learned: the ask itself is the problem.
They're Not Going to Do It
Since 2020, HubSpot has consistently reduced resources in the Solutions Partner space and moved investment toward enterprise product and AI infrastructure. This is not a complaint. This is an observation of a publicly traded company allocating capital where it sees the highest return.
The Solutions Provider tier was sunset. The new Partner Program costs $400 a month. The message is clear if you're willing to hear it: the partner program is an agency growth channel. It rewards organizations that sell HubSpot subscriptions at scale. If that is not your model, you are not the customer.
Gregory's letter asks HubSpot to consider a path for independents. I understand the impulse. I had it too. But here's what I've come to accept: asking a platform company to build infrastructure for the population that doesn't generate subscription revenue is asking them to act against their own incentives. They're not going to do it. Not because they're wrong. Because they're a business, and their business is not your business.
Stop waiting. Stop asking. Stop writing open letters to companies that have already made their decision.
The energy you spend asking "will HubSpot create a place for me?" is energy you could spend building something that doesn't require their permission.
Stop Calling Yourself a Freelancer
This is the harder conversation, and it's the one nobody in Gregory's comments section is having.
The word "freelancer" is a commodity label. It says: I am available. I have skills. Hire me by the hour. It positions you as interchangeable labor in a market where AI is already doing the interchangeable work faster and cheaper.
If your value proposition is "I know how to set up HubSpot workflows," you're competing with AI tools that do it in seconds. If your differentiator is certifications, you're competing with every other person who passed the same exams. If your pitch is "I'm cheaper than an agency," you've already lost -- because cheap is a race to the bottom and AI just lapped you.
The question is not "will HubSpot give me partner access?"
The question is: what value do you actually add that cannot be automated, outsourced, or commoditized?
If the answer is "I rehabilitate broken implementations" -- that's coaching. If the answer is "I help teams actually adopt the platform" -- that's enablement. If the answer is "I translate between business leaders and technology" -- that's strategic advisory.
None of those things are freelancing. All of them are worth significantly more than hourly technical work. But you have to name it, claim it, and position yourself accordingly.
Stop calling yourself a freelancer. Start calling yourself what you are: a consultant, a coach, an advisor who builds capability inside organizations. The language matters because it determines who takes you seriously and what they're willing to invest.
Differentiation in a Box
Here's what we built while the ecosystem was debating access tiers.
The Value-First Collective exists for independent HubSpot practitioners who are done waiting and ready to differentiate. It provides three things you cannot build alone:
A methodology that separates you from every other HubSpot consultant.
The Unified Customer View framework lets you walk into a room with a CFO and have a conversation about how their customers experience their organization -- without ever mentioning HubSpot objects, properties, or pipelines. In March, UCV closed a $9,995-per-month coaching engagement. Not because it's a sales technique. Because it reframes the entire conversation from platform configuration to business alignment. When you lead with value instead of features, you're no longer competing with agencies or AI tools. You're operating in a category of one.
Infrastructure that lets you focus on the work that matters.
Every session is synthesized. Every meeting is pre-briefed. Every client interaction is remembered and built upon. The methodology is not a PDF you download -- it is built into how we operate. This handles the operational complexity that buries independent practitioners: session preparation, transcript processing, document creation, content distribution, project coordination. You focus on the work that only you can do -- sitting with humans and building their capability.
A community that multiplies instead of competes.
If you are doing this work alone right now -- carrying the full weight of your own business development, your own content, your own infrastructure -- you should know that there is a different model. One where you keep your brand, your clients, your schedule, and your dignity. Several practitioners have already made that transition. There's always a place for good humans over here.
Forty-three shows. Over a thousand episodes. Weekly Office Hours, free and open. Thirteen practitioners already collaborating. A practitioner directory. Revenue sharing on collaborative projects. Content opportunities. And partner portal access through the Value-First Team -- the administrative capability that HubSpot's program change took away.
We all live under our own roofs, but we spend all our time at the community center -- because that's where the value happens.
The membership is $497 a year. Not $4,800. Not $400 a month. Four hundred ninety-seven dollars for a full year of methodology, infrastructure, community, and partner access. Founding Pathfinders get lifetime access for $995. Community membership is free.
The pricing is not the point. The point is: this is differentiation in a box. You walk in as an independent consultant competing on price and availability. You walk out with a methodology, an operational infrastructure, and a professional community that positions you as something the market has never seen before -- a Value-First practitioner.
The Real Question
Gregory asked HubSpot: "What role do independent consultants play in the ecosystem?"
I'm asking you something different: What role do you want to play?
Because if the answer is "I want HubSpot to recognize my value and give me a seat at their table" -- you'll be waiting a long time. Their table seats agencies that sell subscriptions. That's their business.
But if the answer is "I want to build something that stands on its own -- a practice built on methodology, not platform access; on relationships, not transactions; on the value I create, not the certifications I hold" -- then we should talk.
The Collective is not for everyone. It's for practitioners who have stopped asking for permission and started building capability. Who know that the value they provide -- rehabilitating broken implementations, coaching teams through adoption, translating between business and technology -- is worth more than an hourly rate and a partner badge.
HubSpot is an extraordinary platform. Use it. Build on it. Help your clients get value from it. But stop waiting for the company that built the platform to also build your career.
That's your job. And we built the infrastructure to help you do it.
Office Hours (free, every week): valuefirstteam.com/office-hours