27 | Networking Your Way to Your Next Career w/Heather Robinette

Heather Robinette is currently Revenue Operations Manager at Asite, a construction tech company. She is a HubSpot expert across multiple roles for 10 years. She graduated from K State and got her MBA a couple of years later.
 
Connect with our guest, Heather Robinette, on LinkedIn

Transcript

[00:00:00] Islin Munisteri: Great. Okay, let's get started. Hi everyone. I'd like to welcome you to the Rev Ops Careers podcast sponsored by Theia Strategies. I am your host Islan Munisteri and I'd like to welcome Heather Robinette onto the

[00:00:17] Heather Robinette: show. Thank you for having me. Excited to be here.

[00:00:21] Islin Munisteri: It's awesome. She is currently Revenue Operations manager at a site, a construction tech company.

[00:00:26] She is a HubSpot expert across multiple roles for 10 years. She graduated from K State and got her M B A a couple of years later.

[00:00:36] Heather Robinette: Welcome to the show. Thank you. Looking forward to chatting with you today.

[00:00:41] Islin Munisteri: Awesome. So how did you start your career and rev ops journey? It's pretty exciting reading your LinkedIn profile, but I'd like to hear it from you.

[00:00:51] Heather Robinette: Yeah. As far as rev ops go definitely new to Rev ops as far as like kind of career and title if you will. So started out my career in marketing. Came [00:01:00] more of from it from that aspect. Majority of my career has been marketing, marketing coordinator, marketing manager, marketing director, that type of thing.

[00:01:06] So I was able to really learn a lot from that. Had a lot of solo roles. Help, held a lot of different positions wore a lot of different hats, did a lot of those types of things. So learned a lot along the way. From there made the transition back about a year and a half ago, 2021.

[00:01:21] Ultimately for me as kind of an interesting point in time had left one startup for another startup with a director of marketing role. Ended up getting laid off towards the beginning of my journey there just because the company wasn't quite ready for marketing and took that as an opportunity to reflect on where I was at and what I wanted to do.

[00:01:38] Actually decided to make a move into marketing operations just because that was something I really enjoyed doing in my past. The interesting thing is I was hired into my current position for marketing operations and it just became revenue operations overnight. So fell into revenue operations, which I'm sure many people do because it's one of those where some type of role evolves [00:02:00] into it.

[00:02:00] And it's something that now looking back, I can't see my career path going any other direction. I'm definitely where I should be,

[00:02:06] Islin Munisteri: that's exciting. And I guess how did you know, like you said, during, in your LinkedIn profile you had a 60 day period where you reflected on your career.

[00:02:16] So I guess what questions were you asking yourself? What,

[00:02:19] Heather Robinette: how did you go for that process? Yeah, a lot of it was realizing that. I liked marketing, enjoyed what I was doing, but I just felt like there was something missing. And so it was one of those where I could have obviously continued to pursue the same type of roles I was in, but realized this was a, I don't wanna call it a clean break, but an easy time to make a pivot.

[00:02:40] And so I took that as an opportunity to explore different roles. And for me, it was reflecting back on the last role I had, like what were the aspects of it that I enjoyed the most? For me, then I was talking to other people in those types of roles is where I was starting to then understand what were those roles.

[00:02:57] So I was able to actually talk to someone who's been a great [00:03:00] mentor for me. He's in the marketing operations space, was able to share a lot of great information. And that kind of helped me lead in that direction which was super helpful. But it was a lot. I don't know, reflecting and trying to figure out like, what do I enjoy doing?

[00:03:14] Very similar to when you're in college, you're graduating, you're trying to figure out what's next. Very much in that same place 10 years later, trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up. So it's interesting to get to do that again in my career. Just, after 10 years of working, taking that time.

[00:03:30] To figure out what was next, make that move. Obviously it's always tough when you have very specific experience and you didn't necessarily know what direction you were gonna go in to be able to build up towards that experience. But some of my past experience actually helped me get to where I am and has only helped me continue on the path I am today.

[00:03:47] That's exciting.

[00:03:48] Islin Munisteri: And I guess, what's your biggest challenge in your current role now? Doing

[00:03:52] Heather Robinette: Rev. Yeah, great question. And this is, it's an interesting one. So that's a question that I do think about a lot [00:04:00] uniquely. So just because when I was interviewing for this role that was a question I asked.

[00:04:05] Which I'm sure many people ask in an interview, what is gonna be my biggest challenge in this role? And now over a year later, that's still something that has stuck with me. And it was funny when I asked I was the C M O and COO at the time when I was interviewing. I asked that question. We talked about some different things.

[00:04:20] I do not remember what we talked about. But then my boss was like, in reality, those are gonna be challenges. But it was like the main thing that is going to. Really be the thing you need to focus on is burnout. He was like, there is always gonna be something to do, but he is you have to find that balance where he is.

[00:04:37] Like within a year you're gonna get burnt out. You're gonna resent the company and you're not gonna wanna work here. And that's been something that's really stuck with me. And that's been something I've been trying to be very careful of. Not only is it a rev ops role, but I support a global team.

[00:04:51] So quite literally there are always people that I can be helping no matter what hour of the day it is. So it's one of those I do have to be very cautious [00:05:00] cuz if I happen to stay up late for some reason and at 2:00 AM someone in the UK is starting their day. I can answer their question.

[00:05:07] So it's one of those, I just have to be careful with my time and make sure that I'm having that kind of work life balance, making sure that I'm giving myself enough time and making sure not to burn myself out. Wow. . And I guess how,

[00:05:23] Islin Munisteri: what are you, I guess what are the practices that you're doing right now to make sure you don't burn

[00:05:28] Heather Robinette: out?

[00:05:29] Yeah, so a lot of it, the, I guess the one upside of being a global company is definitely don't necessarily work eight to five. It's not unusual for us to sometimes have so like when we have a global marketing meeting because of where everyone is, that sometimes is at 6:00 AM my time.

[00:05:44] So that's not weird. . So it's one of those where using that to balance things in terms of what's going on so late in the afternoon, my time is where the minimal amount of people I need to support are working during that time. And so usually if I have [00:06:00] an appointment or need to do something, I'll try to schedule it at that time.

[00:06:03] So it gives me the ability to still do what I need to do as well as support the people I need to support. And keeping that in mind also then, trying to keep a schedule where at the end of the day gotta have a stopping point, work out, eat dinner. Have that time blocked off at the end of the day, so there's a stopping point.

[00:06:19] We learned early on that it's very easy to, when you're, especially when you're working from home, you just keep working . Yeah. So making sure to find that stopping point makes it a little bit. To make sure that it's, that doesn't happen. There's obviously times big projects, something like that going on.

[00:06:34] You might need to do, that once in a while, but it's, it should never be all the time. It should never be every day. Gotcha. That makes a

[00:06:42] Islin Munisteri: lot of sense to me

[00:06:43] Heather Robinette: to be honest. ,

[00:06:46] Islin Munisteri: yeah. Having a stopping time definitely helps with the balance. Yes. And I guess what's your biggest learning experience?

[00:06:55] Heather Robinette: Man that's a good question. I'd say there's been a lot of learning experiences. Probably one. [00:07:00] one. Interesting one interesting one has been that, so when I started this role, I had never logged into Salesforce before. And yet a month into it, I was given, the admin access and, that was in my domain.

[00:07:15] Not realizing, what that really came with. And then a year later Being certified, having a lot of experience under my belt. A lot of that has just come with, learning along the way. A lot of things that we've went through just in terms of trying to help the organization continue to get better.

[00:07:29] Myself and the other person on the team are very much in the same boat, so that's been a huge learning experience. But aside from that, I've only really worked at companies that have had global customers. It's never been a truly global company. And so for me, a lot of it's been actually working on a global team and just realizing the way I interact with the different teams is it's different.

[00:07:50] Someone I talked to in APAC versus the Middle East versus the uk. Not different in a bad way, just from a culture perspective. Obviously [00:08:00] in, in the US we can sometimes be a little more straightforward and blunt on things. That doesn't always work in other cultures. And so just being mindful of that and knowing who I'm talking to I'd say confrontation's probably the biggest one.

[00:08:11] And being mindful of what that conversation's gonna look based on who I'm talking to. And just knowing what it's like from their perspective and just taking that to consideration. And even too, just. what, I've learned a lot from them Culturally. The Middle East has been a big learning curve for me in terms of just how it is there.

[00:08:27] From a marketing perspective, there's been a lot to learn and, I've really appreciated the team, working with me and me and the other person on the team just helping us learn what is it like to do marketing and sales in the Middle East? Wow.

[00:08:39] Islin Munisteri: Must

[00:08:39] Heather Robinette: be really, It's a bit different.

[00:08:42] There's a lot of political differences between the countries. So there's just a lot of small, little things. So when, for example, when they asked all the other regions have a newsletter. They needed three newsletters because of the address and the footer. So it's just one of those it's just something we do.

[00:08:58] So instead of four [00:09:00] newsletters, we have seven because their region needs three. So it's just one of those where it's based on some of those kind of little quirks with the region. It's just being able to accommodate those and understand why they need them just because it is different than in the us.

[00:09:16] Gotcha. Wow.

[00:09:18] Islin Munisteri: And I guess that the, having to have three different addresses is probably something to do with legal,

[00:09:23] Heather Robinette: I'm guessing. Yeah. And so just there's, we have different offices in different countries and it just has to do with the political boundaries there. And so someone in K S A Kingdom, Saudi Arabia if they were to see, the address of someone from uae, they may not talk to you.

[00:09:40] That type of thing, they look at you differently. So it's one of those like very much the address matters to them of where you are. And so they wanna be doing business with someone in their country. Gotcha.

[00:09:52] Islin Munisteri: And I guess what's the hardest thing you've done with

[00:09:56] Heather Robinette: your tech stack? Ooh, hardest thing we've [00:10:00] done. I'd say right now we're going through a bit of a transformation just in terms of our overall process, like the sales process. So there's a lot of things changing. Everything from the sales cycle, the flow of it. So in terms of like how the sales team handles things trying to.

[00:10:19] Move things around in terms of what that's gonna look like. There's been some big changes around that. So I'd say we're in the middle of a big change is probably the best answer. It's going to be. , interesting when it's done. But it's been good so far. And then just a lot of other changes along the way.

[00:10:33] I'd say the HubSpot, Salesforce combination we have, I'd say that's where most of our big challenges come from. Just in terms of how data flows getting the information between the sales, marketing and CS teams and reporting up just trying to get everyone the information they need. So yeah, even reporting can be interesting.

[00:10:52] So yeah, there's been a lot of small but yet very big projects around all those things.

[00:10:58] Islin Munisteri: That's funny. Small but big [00:11:00] projects. . Yes. And I guess what's your philosophy on rev ops and how the different teams within, like marketing, sales, customer

[00:11:09] Heather Robinette: success should interact? Yeah, so I'm very much of the belief that I guess I look at it as rev ops sits in the middle and we are the team that helps connect everyone.

[00:11:19] I look at it as we work with all those teams and we're the team that can help bring everyone together. That helps break down some of those silos. But even then too, just especially, some of those changes that are being made, making sure, we understand how it not only affects sales.

[00:11:35] how it affects marketing, how it affects cs even with the one project, how it affects finance, how it affects, our product team. Really starting to be that center group and making sure everyone's on the same page from a communication standpoint as well. That communication's been huge.

[00:11:49] But really a lot of it's just trying to get everyone together to, to talk and have those conversations and really just be one, one team. I like to look at it as a revenue team. [00:12:00] We are all moving towards the same direction and the end of the day, we all have one goal and that's to reach a larger revenue number.

[00:12:07] And so that's what we're working towards. My team is gonna help enable them to get there. And so it's what can we do to help all those teams work together to achieve that?

[00:12:17] Islin Munisteri: Seems pretty reasonable. Yeah. . And what's the best piece of career advice you would tell your younger self

[00:12:28] Heather Robinette: career advice? That's a good question.

[00:12:31] Looking back there were definitely a lot of times where, You know, I wasn't always sure if I was in the right job, if it was time to move on, those kind of things. And ultimately, like from where I'm at now, looking back, I think all the experiences I've had helped me get to where I am. So it's one of those where I think I made a lot of the right decisions ultimately, and it helped me get to where I was.

[00:12:56] So I wouldn't necessarily change anything as far as career advice [00:13:00] would just. Can, asking questions. And for me too, earlier on in my career I wished it was one of those where I would've spent more time. I don't wanna say learning but cuz I, I mean it's never that I stopped learning cause obviously I went back to school and got my mba.

[00:13:17] But I take more time now to. Try to learn more of those skills that do help me day to day in my career. But also just taking time to network more. That's something I spend a lot of time doing now and that's really only something that I started doing last year. And I can't imagine had I started doing that at the beginning of my career, what that would look like today.

[00:13:38] Wow. So just

[00:13:39] Islin Munisteri: network more at the beginning of your career. Yep.

[00:13:44] And keep

[00:13:44] Heather Robinette: on building momentum. Correct. I guess like when

[00:13:49] Islin Munisteri: you network with people, is there like a certain number of people you wanna meet or is that I don't know. Or is there, like how do you go about networking?

[00:13:57] Heather Robinette: I never, I don't really have a goal [00:14:00] per se. I, it's not like I set out to meet some specific goal.

[00:14:04] I guess I look at it as The only goal I really ever have is at least once a week to have some type of networking call, whether it's someone new or touching base with someone. That was something I had started last year during that 60 day period. When I had gotten laid off was just, obviously then I was meeting a whole lot new, a whole lot more people at that point.

[00:14:23] But then once I started my job it was one of those, I continued on doing it. So it was just continuing to meet people continuing to talk to them continued every week, like having at least a meeting, if not more. And a lot of that is, through some of the communities I'm in, they have A platform called Mesi, which matches you up.

[00:14:41] So it makes that even easier for me sometimes. I'm able to use that, meet people who are interested in the same things, have those conversations, make those connections. But even then, sometimes it's just coming across people on LinkedIn. I met a ton of people at Inbound and we're able to get to connect with them there.

[00:14:57] And have a lot of great conversations. And then two, it's just a [00:15:00] ton of people I've met over the last two years. It's just continuing to stay in touch. So I actually leverage HubSpot as my own networking tool. I essentially started using it like a business. I use it. Essentially as a network tracker.

[00:15:13] And so I essentially set tasks for myself to follow up with people. So that's been super helpful just to make sure I'm staying in touch with people checking in, seeing, is there anything I can do to help them how have they been since we last chatted? Things like that. So that's also been super helpful for me too.

[00:15:28] Awesome.

[00:15:29] Islin Munisteri: I think. That's great, and I hope that will help our listeners, especially like using HubSpot to be your own, networking, tracking software. Are you on the paid version when you

[00:15:41] Heather Robinette: When I first started, no. Like you can do all that for free. Oh, Yep.

[00:15:48] Don't have to pay for anything. Awesome.

[00:15:52] Islin Munisteri: Cool. It was great having you on the show, Heather, and I look forward to talking

[00:15:56] Heather Robinette: with you soon. Yeah, no, thank you for the opportunity. [00:16:00] Awesome.