While majoring in international business and minoring in Spanish at the University of Georgia, a career counselor analyzed Kristin Westberg’s behavioral profile and recommended a career in sales. It wasn’t something Westberg had considered. After graduation, she moved to Costa Rica and looked for sales opportunities.
When she landed a position as an advertising executive, her career trajectory was decided and, ultimately, she launched her own marketing and sales agency at the age of 24. Westberg eventually obtained her MBA with a concentration in marketing and held successful positions with Caesar’s Entertainment where she had the opportunity to be part of a turnaround team, creating a marketing plan that included PR, direct marketing, events and partnerships.
“Ever since that experience, I have sought out opportunities to lead teams through change and make a considerable impact,” said Westberg. Her impact continues at House of Revenue, where she began as a fractional chief revenue officer before moving into the role of CEO.
House of Revenue is a Growth as a Service firm specializing in marketing and sales strategy with a mission to empower entrepreneurs and business leaders to grow their passion-fueled venture into a thriving success. The company provides fractional, or part-time, chief revenue officers and chief marketing officers to develop go-to-market strategies, and build, launch, optimize and scale revenue functions within its clients’ companies.
Under Westberg’s leadership, the firm also operates a full-service marketing agency, called Revenue Studio, and is launching a sales agency, Sales House, to better support its clients. During her time at House of Revenue, Westberg has helped countless founders and business owners to stabilize and grow their businesses. Her vision for the next five years is for House of Revenue to reach $5-10 million in annual revenue with 50-100 clients across the industries of SaaS, technology, manufacturing, hospitality, consumer services and more.
The leadership lessons learned along the way, while tapping into her attributes of curiosity, courage and humility, have garnered success and recognition from her staff, clients and the industry.
“Early in my career, I was overly focused on precision and perfection, over-investing my time in creating the perfect plan, accounting for all the potential pitfalls and possible outcomes. I often let perfection get in the way of progress and missed out on opportunities to seize the moment and take the leap,” said Westberg. “I would encourage my younger self to learn how to tolerate rejection, disappointment and embarrassment better because fear of these unpleasant emotions can often drive us to avoid these situations; opening ourselves up to the possibility of failure makes us vulnerable and humble, which are integral character traits for the aspiring titan.”
