Reaching the end of the DMSC Chartered Marketers Course—Successfully

It wasn’t what I expected; it was better

This essay was the last—non-graded—assignment to complete all my coursework to earn my Chartered Marketer designation from the Canadian Marketing Association. The assignment was to write a memo to a current or former boss about the program, what I got out of it, and how it will help me in the future. Essentially it was a “can you write a good memo” exercise. Since a) I hate memos and b) I’m a little beyond that in my writing, I took a totally different—and very “Tris”—take on the assignment.

I feel like writing this essay/memo is like the letter from the the end of The Breakfast Club. Since the essay they turned in wasn’t what the teacher was looking for, but actually what he needed to hear, I thought I’d do the same here.

I’m going to turn what you’re looking for a bit on its head. I know you’re looking for how well I can write memos, but since I have four books and nearly 10,000 blog posts under my belt, writing a pretend memo isn’t actually going to give you what you’re looking for. Because what you’re looking for is for me to tell you what the course meant to me; how it has—and will—make a difference in my life. You might even want a nice quote for the CMA website.

I’ll happily oblige you.

Confessions of a self-taught marketer

I didn’t come into marketing on purpose. Truth be told, I didn’t come into very many of my careers over the past thirty years on purpose. I started learning marketing because I wanted to evolve from a “blogger and social media guy” into a more well-rounded marketer—before even the concept of the “T-shaped” marketer was born. I’m proud to say that a lot of the social media and content best practices we follow now, I helped create in those early days of businesses using social media. You might not remember, but around 2005-2006 it was controversial for a company to have a blog. It was even more controversial for a fictional character to have a blog.

By 2009-2010 everything had matured. Professional blogging had become “content marketing” and having a social media account for your business was de rigueur. I saw the writing on the wall, if I wanted to be gainfully employed, I need to expand my skillset; I needed to learn the fundamentals of marketing.

And so I did.

Positioning statements. Value propositions. Personas. ICPs. Product-Market Fit. I learned on my own, read a lot of books, did a few workshops—exactly what you’d expect from someone who was picking up new skills in a new discipline to throw into the toolbox. But in the back of my head I was always a little afraid to call myself a marketer. I didn’t have a degree in marketing or communications. I learned Anthropology, Geology, and Global Climate Change. I was a scientist before any of all this “internet stuff” came around.

I always felt like I was faking it. Like I couldn’t possibly know what I was talking about. How could any self taught marketer claim to really know marketing when they hadn’t sat through all the classes, took the exams, did the projects, and did the internships learning at the feet of masters of the craft?

There’s a new game in town when looking for work in 2025

We flash forward many years and I was laid off from my job in March 2025. Finding a job in marketing as an senior professional without all the qualifications and titles is a huge challenge. Daunting. Humbling. Humiliating. It’s a hard row to hoe and I saw as clear as day that I needing something else to give me an edge.

I don’t remember when or how I saw the notice for a scholarship program for the Chartered Marketers program from the CMA. I know I was interested. I knew I had to give it a shot. I attended the intro seminar and thought it sounded great until the part of about being in agriculture or manufacturing.

Drat.

Undaunted, I still reached out. I made my case. I’m an older worker. I’m unemployed. I know this could give me an edge and legitimacy when applying for senior marketing roles. I was encouraged to apply regardless because you never know.

About seven weeks ago I got the email that I got into the program on scholarship—there is no way I could afford paying for the courses on my own. I was thrilled. Excited.

And pretty much scared out of my mind.

Nope, no way I can pull this off

Thankfully as part of the accelerated program I didn’t have to take the Tools for Success or Finance modules. I started the Tools for Success and the Finance modules though (didn’t finish when I saw I had enough of what I needed). I thought I needed more grounding before I took on the Summit Presentation—especially in the Finance department. The Finance Module was tough. During the whole thing I kept thinking that it’s a good thing this doesn’t count, because I’m flunking every quiz.

Then I read the case study for the Summit Presentation, and I thought I was well and truly hooped. I started to be okay with not getting my CM. It hurt. It made the imposter syndrome voice in my head yell, “See, I told you so. You’re not a real marketer. You can’t hack it.”

But I stuck with it.

And I’m glad I did.

Something clicked and it was all okay

As I worked through the modules and quizzes for the Summit, I realized that, I did know a lot of this. I might have needed some structure and rigor to my approach, but the pieces were all there. With each quiz things came together better and better. I used AI study guides to work through questions. I created a “super-expert-marketer” to pose ideas and questions to. Let’s test this alternative. How big is that market? Let’s model what would make the numbers work. Challenge me on the weak parts of my arguments (for the presentation). I have an idea, let’s do some deep research on this topic.

My presentation started to come together. I went to office hours. My financial forecast was solid. My slides had a good structure. I was in good shape.

Maybe I could pull this off.

New found confidence and insights

My presentation is done, recorded, and submitted. A friend who coaches startups to success took a look at my “dress rehearsal” recording, and while he had some notes, he said it was solid. I covered the bases. I made my case. It looked good. The math mathed. And the strategic choices made good, reasoned sense.

I still don’t know if finance will ever be my thing, but I understand it better. Financial statements make more sense now than they did seven weeks ago. Most of all, this course has given me confidence. It’s given me confidence speaking with my clients about the marketing plans I’ve developed for them. I’m not second guessing my recommendations—because I’ve already tested them against best practices—and a few specially tuned AI models—to challenge all my ideas.

I have confidence pitching my services to a business, because I know that I know what I’m talking about. I have no doubt in my mind I am a sharper, savvier, and more focused marketer than I was just a few weeks ago.

I have more legitimacy as the “marketer in residence” with a startup helping small businesses with their marketing. I have something on my CV now that shows I have the qualifications as a marketer, not just all the marketing roles I’ve had, but the fact that I’ve made it through the program and I have what it takes.

So, what did I get out of the course and becoming a CM?

Everything.