RevGenius Member Spotlight: Sara Ott

When we launched RevGenius Magazine, there was a lot to organize and a ton of moving parts.

With zero fear, Sara Ott stepped up to the plate to lend a helping hand. Within no time, it was easy to see her passion, smarts, and leadership qualities, and we quickly put her in a position to lead the publication.

She did not let us down. She has masterfully pieced together brilliant writers and topics and leveled up the quality and creativity of the Mag.

She is so much more than a managing editor to us, though. She is an incredible piece of the community and the family that is RevGenius. We love and appreciate her so much.

Here is our interview with her:

Introduce yourself to our audience. Tell us who you are and what you are currently focused on.

Hi there! I’m the one-woman marketing team over at Ombud, a Sales Content Collaboration software. My job encompasses everything from designing a new webpage, creating sales collateral, or writing a blog post. If you see something online from Ombud, there’s a high chance I created it.

I’m from North Philly originally but currently live in Denver, Colorado. Outside of work, you will most likely find me drinking free beer at the brewery my partner works at or, in a pre-COVID world, at a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater (the best venue on earth, not that I’m biased).

Currently, I’m focusing on building my network and Ombud’s market footprint. Before I moved over to marketing at Ombud, we barely even had a marketing budget. So, recently, it’s been a lot of planning and building a foundation that our brand can build upon. It’s exciting to be part of all of these decisions and learn how to build these processes from the ground up.

How did your journey lead you to be the Managing Editor of the Mag?

Weirdly, I kinda just fell into it. I joined RevGenius over the summer, and I started helping edit articles with Ben Haber, the Sr. Editor at the time.

Right around that time, I started posting a bit more regularly on LinkedIn and decided to post about common copywriting errors I saw in writing.

Jared and Tara (the Managing Editor at the time) took notice, and it ended up being perfect timing! Both Ben and Tara got amazing new opportunities and needed to focus on their jobs a bit more, and they offered me the position.

What drew you to working at a startup?

When I was a kid, my dad has his own construction business with only two employees. After swim practice, I’d head over to the job site and help rip up some carpet or paint some walls.

Fast forward to college; I get an internship working for a big telecommunications company. Score, right? Well, I quickly found out that it wasn’t my bag. Going into a giant office and being one of 20 interns doing errands? Wasn’t my thing.

I’ve always wanted what I do to have an impact. It doesn’t always have to be an esoteric, societal impact, but if I can do something each day that puts my team in a better place than they were yesterday, that’s all I can ask for.

That’s the cool thing about startups. Even as a twentysomething, I can have a huge impact on the team, the culture, the product, and the company as a whole. That’s an incredible responsibility I don’t take lightly and one that I thoroughly enjoy.

I also get the opportunity to create processes and be creative in a way I wouldn’t get at a larger company—enabling me to grow and learn that much more.

What advice do you have for other professionals early in their careers?

Learn as much as you can. Ask a ton of questions, shadow as much as you can, and absorb everything.

But, learning doesn’t just apply to job duties. It’s also incredibly important to learn about yourself. Your first couple of jobs out of college aren’t going to check all the boxes. The point of them, mostly, will be to understand what you like about them and what you don’t. More importantly, it’s understanding why you do or don’t like certain aspects.

That will help inform your niche and where you’ll excel in your career. Finding that out sooner rather than later can only help you—but you have to be honest with yourself first.

What gets you out of bed every morning?

My dachshund? I’m mostly kidding, but look at how cute she is.

Other than Winry, it’s the opportunity to learn and grow as much as I can. I’m focused on honing my skills and becoming someone worthy of leading a team, which is my main goal for my career.

What would you say your personal superpower is?

I’d say execution.

If I have direction and context on the problem we’re trying to solve or the message we’re trying to convey, I can create a comprehensive plan and get sh*t done.

(Don’t believe me? Just ask Jared how the Mag is going 😉)

Whether it’s creating a compelling sales deck or putting together an entire webinar series, I have a knack for asking the right questions and getting the correct information I need to get results.

What made you dive headfirst into the RevGenius community?

Right at the beginning of COVID, we hired a new VP to be my boss instead of me reporting directly to our CEO.

Early on, she and I had a chat about my professional goals and what I hoped to gain from her leadership. One of the things I was striving for was to connect and network with other marketers and revenue professionals in a meaningful way.

I’ve always been told, “Hey, you need to network!” but I had never found an accessible way to do so without connecting with someone on LinkedIn and awkwardly say “hey, um, tell me about yourself.”

Enter: RevGenius.

It turns out, a lot of people were like me (almost 8,000 to be exact). RG makes it so accessible to ask for help, foster professional relationships, and build skills. It’s casual enough that I don’t feel weird engaging in conversations even though I’m not an “expert” and doesn’t have the cold pitching and “broems” you so often see on LinkedIn.

It feels less like putting yourself out there and more like just talking to colleagues over a cup of coffee.

But, the thing that made me dive all in was Jared and Galem. Both of them radiate such incredible positivity and kindness. You can tell they care deeply about fostering a real community with a focus on true inclusivity. Who wouldn’t want to help them achieve that?

Why should other marketing professionals join RevGenius?

I cannot recommend RG enough, especially for other one-person marketing teams.

So often, I’d need a second opinion on a marketing strategy or examples of how someone else had found success in an area…and I found myself on an island. My choices were going to my CEO or going to our Sales Engineer—neither being an ideal scenario.

With RevGenius, I can ask dumb questions and get advice from people who have been through it before. That’s been indispensable to me.

Also, at the end of the day: what do you have to lose? As a free community, your only commitment is your time.