Sam Ogborn, Founder of Marketing with Sam, is building an all-in-one platform to help founders sell more while maximizing their time and budget.
After spending years in the corporate world, Sam decided to venture into entrepreneurship full time in order to find her true calling. In 2020, she started her own marketing agency to help founders become powerhouse marketers. After realizing that the agency model was not serving her purpose, Sam started a new company, Marketing with Sam, aimed at making marketing education more accessible to everyone. With a belief that anyone can be an effective marketer, Sam’s goal is to help individuals and brands feel more empowered.
We asked Sam about the founding story behind her company, how she saw entrepreneurship as the stepping stone to a purpose-driven career, and why her biggest advice to other entrepreneurs is to “dream big and plan accordingly.”
Q: Tell us the story behind your company’s founding. How and why did you start working on Marketing with Sam?
A: In typical entrepreneurial fashion, my company’s journey has been an evolution. After working on both the agency and brand side for more than 12 years in the corporate world, I ventured out to start my own marketing agency in 2020. But deep down the agency model wasn’t fulfilling what I soon realized was my true calling. My newly launched venture, Marketing with Sam, is a platform with a singular goal: to democratize marketing education. I firmly believe that anybody can become an effective marketer, and it shouldn’t require an expensive college degree or MBA to do so.
Q: What makes Marketing with Sam different from similar companies?
A: Whether a founder needs to learn email marketing, or just wants to connect with other founders doing marketing, our platform solves that problem. I built this community because it didn’t exist, but was a need I’d hear about repeatedly. Let’s face it: founders are multifaceted. They wear every hat in their business, especially in the beginning. One minute they’re a finance person, and the next they’re a marketer. The more marketing tools, education, and community founders have at their disposal, the more empowered they can be around making marketing decisions.
Q: Did you always know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
A: No. My corporate career was my security blanket. It’s hard to leave an incredible salary, lofty bonuses, and, as every entrepreneur knows, excellent healthcare benefits. But the constant bureaucracy and lack of real change in corporate eventually started to wear on me. I always wanted to have a purpose-driven career, and I felt like year after year that vision was slipping away. Starting my own company, I learned, was the only way I could have the impact I desired.
Q: What’s one thing you wish you had known before starting Marketing with Sam?
A: I had heard it repeatedly, but I never really realized the truth behind “your network is your net worth” until I became an entrepreneur. Luckily, communities such as Dreamers & Doers opened doors for me to network with other entrepreneurs. I was in a bubble before, so having access to like-minded communities at the start of launching my business was an absolute gamechanger.
Q: What’s been the hardest and most rewarding part of your entrepreneurial journey?
A: Surfing the waves of highs and lows. Founders know that one day can be insanely good, and then the next day is completely miserable with problems popping up left and right. Once you can start to identify the pattern, you learn what to expect and how to navigate the situation. It gets easier.
Q: Have you struggled with self doubt as an entrepreneur? How do you navigate this?
A: The imposter syndrome is real in entrepreneurship. It’s something I have to work on constantly. But there’s this funny element of perspective as well. We’re our own worst enemy, and if we try to put it in the context of how other people view what we’re doing and judging, chances are, they’re probably too busy to even remember our existence. In a weird way, that’s comforting to me, and helps me overcome that nagging thought from my ego day to day.
Q: What would you tell your younger self if you were to start your entrepreneurial journey all over again?
A: Screw writing out a business plan. Don’t get stuck in the details. Dream big and plan accordingly. Continually gut check with yourself to see if your evolution is true to your own dream or just what you think is the “right” path based on the people around you.
Q: How would you describe the journey you’ve had in a few sentences? Would you do it all over again?
A: It’s a wild, unpredictable ride that’s constantly evolving. Quite frankly, it’s addicting. There’s no security. It’s all one massive risk. And yet I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Sam is a member of Dreamers & Doers, a private collective that amplifies the entrepreneurial pursuits of extraordinary women through thought leadership opportunities, authentic connection, and access. Learn more about Dreamers & Doers and subscribe to their monthly The Digest for top entrepreneurial and career resources.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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Gesche Haas
Gesche Haas is the Founder/CEO of Dreamers & Doers, a private collective that amplifies the entrepreneurial pursuits of extraordinary women through visibility opportunities, resource exchange, and collective support.
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