FIVE BIG TAKEAWAYS
1. Laura's biggest learning experience is not to be afraid. She would have made the move sooner from the lab into RevOps.
2. There is a grieving process with changing careers and growing out of the grief.
3. The research experience helps her differentiate between high-quality content.
4. Be flexible within boundaries with the RevOps role.
5. Failure is just another data point. Laura had a lot of failures in the lab. If you mess up, there's always time to make a change.
GUEST BIO
Laura Rasay Siasoco is the revenue operations systems administrator for Learning.com. She started out as an analytical chemist and became well-versed in revenue operations over her 5-year career. She also is an avid volunteer. She has a master's in Chemistry from California State University East Bay.
Connect with our guest, Laura Rasay Siasoco, on LinkedIn:
This podcast is brought to you by Islin Munisteri. Connect with her on LinkedIn
RevOps Careers is powered by Theia Strategies
[00:00:20] Islin Munisteri: Hi, this is Islin Munisteri. I'm the host of the Rev Ops Careers podcast, and we're sponsored by Theia Strategies. Today I'm excited to have Laura on our podcast with us. So Laura Rasay Siasoco is the Revenue Operations System Administrator.
[00:00:39] Not to be confused of it, Administrator for learning.com. She started out as an analytical chemist and became well-versed in revenue operations over her five year career . She is also an avid volunteer. She has a master's in chemistry from California State University East Bay. So I'm excited to have you on the show.
[00:00:58] Laura Rasay Siasoco: Thank you for having me.
[00:01:01] Islin Munisteri: Awesome. So let's get started. How did you start your career and your RevOps journey and how did you switch from like chemistry to
[00:01:08] Laura Rasay Siasoco: So my rev ops career began as a grants assistant in the private philanthropy field, and I moved on to the nonprofit science space as a sales and marketing associate. And in that position we were using Salesforce and I became an accidental admin. And that brought me to where I am today at learning.com as the Rev op Systems administrator.
[00:01:45] Islin Munisteri: That's exciting. Yeah. So It started out in the nonprofit
[00:01:49] Laura Rasay Siasoco: world. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting cuz my last role in chemistry was actually in the nonprofit space as well. I worked for [00:02:00] nonprofit contract research organization and I did a lot of. Bio defense research in the lab. And I just got a little bit bored of it.
[00:02:12] So of the chemistry, and I had this vision when I was in grad school in my last year in grad school that, hey, I don't really wanna be stuck in the lab. And I wanted to be able to work remotely and be able to. Have that autonomy with my time.
[00:02:33] Islin Munisteri: That's exciting. So you didn't want the eight to five lab job anymore.
[00:02:36] You wanted
[00:02:37] Laura Rasay Siasoco: A remote position where you know, I could go anywhere and not be tied to like huge. Metro areas like this San Francisco Bay area. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:02:47] Islin Munisteri: That's exciting. Yeah. And yeah, you actually made the move to Portland.
[00:02:51] Laura Rasay Siasoco: Yeah. Yeah. It was it was a spur of the moment It's one of those things where you call up, a lender and you just ask 'em a question like, Oh, so how much can we afford?
[00:02:59] [00:03:00] And then it just snowballed into, Hey, we're signing on , we're gonna live in the Portland area. So here we are.
[00:03:08] Islin Munisteri: Oh that's exciting. And I guess moving to Portland and, did
[00:03:15] Laura Rasay Siasoco: you switch roles at the same time, or were you Yes, I did. It was, the timing wasn't the greatest, but at the same time, it's one of those, I think it was one of those things where it's like, when is there a good time?
[00:03:31] So we I had been thinking about making a move along for a long time we got our chance and. Yeah. Yeah, it's been actually very challenging starting a new role, especially in the rev op space and not just strictly doing Salesforce, but the text, our tech stack includes like HubSpot and Gain site and outreach and those [00:04:00] connectors and.
[00:04:04] Islin Munisteri: Yeah. That's exciting. We'll go into that later. Okay. And so I guess what's your biggest challenge, speaking of challenges in your current role? Is it the data connections? Like what is the biggest
[00:04:14] Laura Rasay Siasoco: challenge? So right now, my biggest challenge is I think in the greater context, it's data.
[00:04:23] And making sure the data that's coming into our system, into Salesforce, to that it's clean and that, it's talking to our other systems and that information's clean, but we're running into a lot of duplicates. I'm also working with our. Marketing list firm, trying to clean up things there.
[00:04:44] So it's definitely been a lot to juggle, but I've been enjoying the challenge.
[00:04:52] Islin Munisteri: Awesome. That's great. And what's your biggest learning experience been in, in New York, Chemistry or rev [00:05:00] ops or where you are?
[00:05:03] Laura Rasay Siasoco: That's a good question. I would say my, as a career, looking at my career, just being open to new opportunities and not being afraid, I think I probably would've made the move sooner if.
[00:05:27] I didn't have a fear of, Hey, this might not work out. Moving out of the lab might not work out. But I was very slow, and I don't wanna say calculated, but I just, I I had to really dig deep and really understand what I wanted to do, what I wanted to gain, what would be fufilling what my passion was, and just really understand those needs and I.
[00:05:53] Taking the time out to really look at those, [00:06:00] I guess goals or aspirations. Just really solidified the change. I now, I don't look back and miss the lab before I thought I would, but there was a lot of guilt, I think involved as well cuz I spent 10 years studying chemistry and then I just jumped out of it and I was.
[00:06:21] I was a little bit sad as well, it's of like you go through a grieving process, but in the end it's been a very positive change.
[00:06:30] Islin Munisteri: Yeah. I have to admit, like I spent four years studying patrol engineering and eight, nine years in the field. Doing that. And then we made the switch to revenue operations and it's Quite a big change.
[00:06:40] I, I would have to say,
[00:06:41] Laura Rasay Siasoco: Yeah. You got all these books in chemistry, right? And you have all these terms you have to learn and processes. But what I'm finding now, it's, I'm learning from just what I'm finding online and. Make hoping that it's these people are, top of their game or at least, [00:07:00] worthwhile to be learning from.
[00:07:01] You know what I'm saying? So I have a lot of influencers that I follow and yeah, it, it's I think my research, the research that I gain, the research experience that I gained in the chemistry lab has really helped me understand. What's good content? You know what's knowledgeable, Like something that could help me, content that could help me learn in my role versus that doesn't seem too good.
[00:07:28] Yeah, learning a lot.
[00:07:32] Islin Munisteri: That's great. And I guess who are the influencers that you follow? Who are the people you lean on? In the RevOps
[00:07:39] Laura Rasay Siasoco: space, it's it's been an interesting journey in that respect. So my main social channel is LinkedIn. . And
[00:07:51] I wanna say that when I first started at learning.com and I put revenue operations into my, my, [00:08:00] my experience. It seemed to trigger a lot of people coming to me. A lot of influencers coming to me and I that as well as, attending. As many webinars that I could find. That brought me to you. I think I, I attended a webinar, That's how we met.
[00:08:20] Yep. We
[00:08:21] Islin Munisteri: had
[00:08:21] Laura Rasay Siasoco: HubSpot user group . Yeah. So it's been very, it's been a very organic experience. And to answer your question
[00:08:29] yeah, I'm just I'm very, I feel very privileged to be. Connected to my influencers on LinkedIn most, and following others. And I'm not just looking at the rev op space, I'm looking at the marketing, sales, customer success some finance. But that's really put piecing things together for me.
[00:08:51] Islin Munisteri: That's exciting. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, I would, yeah. I have to say, when I look at my LinkedIn, the people I follow or [00:09:00] am connected with, it's a lot of, it's a lot of rev ops, marketing, sales, customer success folks and understanding those processes deeper and gaining more knowledge from
[00:09:12] Laura Rasay Siasoco: them.
[00:09:12] And I mean it, that's the cool part I think coming from the chemistry space, I actually have a lot. Chemist friends, and even those that worked in the business and operation side of chemistry. So my span is pretty broad , but it's cool. I love it. That's
[00:09:28] Islin Munisteri: exciting. Yeah. And I guess like speaking of like resources and like folks you lean on, what's your single source of truth in your tech stack?
[00:09:37] Like who, how do you use your tech stack?
[00:09:40] Laura Rasay Siasoco: So I became a Salesforce administrator, like certified last July, and that's, that was one of the main reasons why I got into this role at learning.com was my knowledge there. And I would wanna say that's, we have. [00:10:00] Multiple places. So we use HubSpot for marketing.
[00:10:04] We use gain site for customer success. We have Salesforce as the hub and things are, other systems are connected to it. We use NetSuite. For billing and stuff. And there's Zendesk, we have outreach for sdr, our sales development stuff, and we're looking to get a few more tools on board.
[00:10:30] It's hard to say we have a single source of truth, but I feel that for the most, Inheriting the systems at learning.com has been. Okay. I've seen systems where it's not okay and there's a lot of siloed, siloed pieces, and. Yeah, so I've actually seen I think of it as in my career so far, I've seen like three different systems.
[00:10:54] One that's like pristine Salesforce, and another that's totally the [00:11:00] opposite, like everything was siloed. And then learning.com has been well adjusted, connected. The teams are, I feel, they respect each other and they understand each other's goals. So it feels okay. There's just these small nuances like data cleaning and like
[00:11:22] Islin Munisteri: that duplicates.
[00:11:25] Cool. That's, yeah, that's exciting, man. I'm like it's cool to, to learn about these different
[00:11:31] Laura Rasay Siasoco: systems. It is definitely is. I have to learn fast. I have to say that I have to learn quite
[00:11:37] Islin Munisteri: fast. . Oh yeah, definitely . What are like the biggest like KPIs for you in your role? Do you have certain KPIs or is it just random, like helping different teams succeed or
[00:11:49] Laura Rasay Siasoco: how's it work?
[00:11:50] That's a really good question. Operations at Alcom is, so I'm the [00:12:00] system administrator for revenue operations. Then there's my manager. Who's the manager of Revenue Operations and he oversees myself as well as the sales support team of two. And then there's a director of operations. So there's really just.
[00:12:20] I would say there's really just three of us, the director of operations, my manager and myself that kind of are really into the systems at EL com. Regarding KPIs, it I. , I have to say we haven't really talked about those and it seems like I we actually came up with some goals that I need to be working on and I, I, wanna say a lot of things are in place, but at the same time, I'm still learning about revenue operations, so I.
[00:12:53] I can't say I really know what the KPIs are, . I just try to do my best and hold on. I dunno if [00:13:00] that's the best way, but that's what I'm doing. . That's awesome, man.
[00:13:04] Islin Munisteri: That's okay. Sometimes when you're just put in a role like you're, you just need to perform, right? You just need to. Get your fingers around the systems and go.
[00:13:12] Laura Rasay Siasoco: Yeah, that's what I'm doing. I think, I touch everything. I've done implementations, I've done some training for all three teams. I work with upper management, improving their dashboards, what they like, and Yeah. And then there's the small stuff like, Hey, I need, this is my record, not so and so's, and just change ownership type thing and syncing errors.
[00:13:39] So yeah, it's more of, I feel like it, my KPIs are probably around getting stuff done.
[00:13:45] Islin Munisteri: Nice. . I like it. And what's the best piece of career advice you would tell your younger self? I Know we went, we talked about the grieving process that you had be like when you're leaving [00:14:00] chemistry, coming into to revenue operations.
[00:14:02] Is there anything you would share with your younger self other than leaving earlier
[00:14:06] Laura Rasay Siasoco: or. . Yeah, I would probably say, it's gonna be okay. If you mess up, things are always, there's time to fix things. There's time to make that change and to move a different direction. And it's not, in the lab I'll say that I've had many failures in the lab, many experimental failures, and.
[00:14:29] When I was in the lab, I learned that, failure is also a data point and it's a, it's one to really consider, and it's not a bad one, it's just a data point. So not to be afraid of failure and to be really positive,
[00:14:51] Islin Munisteri: I like. Yeah. Yeah. I've been working on 10 for 10 years to be more positive.
[00:14:57] , No, it's like trying [00:15:00] to go of like the fear and all the other stuff that drives suppression and anxiety. It's
[00:15:05] Laura Rasay Siasoco: just, it's hard. It's hard. Especially like coming into this role, enormous amounts of imposter syndrome. There's days where I'm like, Okay, I got this, and other days I'm like, What am I doing
[00:15:18] It's like I think I got it and then I go to sleep and it's a new day. So just keeping things in perspective really helps. Yep. Yeah,
[00:15:28] Islin Munisteri: that helps a lot. and I guess the, do you have anything else to leave with our listeners or like anyone considering the rev ops path
[00:15:40] Laura Rasay Siasoco: for their careers?
[00:15:42] Sure. I would say it's definitely.
[00:15:44] It's a challenging role being in revops being able to understand how to triage your time and your energy to be able to understand, how to. be able to do tactical work as well as think [00:16:00] ahead and be strategic. There's a lot of things like, I feel like there's a lot of things playing on me from different directions and just being able to be flexible in the role.
[00:16:13] Flexible, but as, but actually, within boundaries, you don't want people like walking all over you. Hey, I want you to change, or add this field or something. You don't want that . Yeah, but it's just under, I think for me. The biggest thing was understanding what I like to do.
[00:16:32] So I really like to work with data, whether it's numbers or qualitative data and just helping people understand it and telling a story to help them get their work done. So I think for someone coming into this role, being willing to help others the customer relations aspect, being able to think [00:17:00] beyond what the question is.
[00:17:02] I'm working on that still. But there's just so many things. It's like, it's almost overwhelming in it but it's doable. If you feel like you can help these people, you feel like you can help drive sales and understand. Systems, in my case systems. There's different roles in revenue operations, but for me, for systems being open and to learning, being not afraid to fail, it's okay.
[00:17:29] It works out. Yeah, it
[00:17:31] Islin Munisteri: does. It does work out. Yeah. That's. That's so exciting. Yeah. It all it always works out.
[00:17:38] Laura Rasay Siasoco: It always does. Life goes on .
[00:17:43] Islin Munisteri: It's okay. You may have blown up one field in Salesforce. It's okay. Yeah. You can fix it and then the world goes on .
[00:17:51] Laura Rasay Siasoco: Yeah. There's always data loader.
[00:17:53] It's a pain, but there's always data loader and other things. But yeah, it's been, it's definitely been a [00:18:00] learning and growing experience for me.
[00:18:03] Islin Munisteri: That's awesome. Yeah. Thank you Laura, I that this has been a great podcast and look forward to talking to
[00:18:09] Laura Rasay Siasoco: you again soon. Thank you. Islin
[00:18:13]