Leela Cosgrove

Welcome back to another year of crazy antics and no-good-nic behaviour with the cast of the Leela Show (all Leela, all the time – 24/7 Leela … Leela! LeeLA! LEELA!).

It’s been a while between drinks, I know – we spent 6 weeks out of November and December overseas … took the first two weeks of January off … and now we’re settling back into a work-rhythm – which is kinda like a jungle rhythm, only less frenetic and more phone based.

But now we’re BACK, bringing our own brand of sassy non-conformism and hilarious escapades to the small screen. The REALLY small screen. I.e. Your computer.

So I thought – why not begin the year right with a good old fashioned Leela rant? It’ll be ranty. It’ll be fun. And everyone will learn a valuable lesson.

So, if you’re connected to Thor and I on Facebook (and if not, why not? We’re very friendly and accept all friend requests. Unless you’re a politician or a Channel 9 “celebrity”.  Leela: http://www.facebook.com/leela.cosgrove Thor: http://www.facebook.com/saleswarlord), then you’ve no doubt heard us waxing lyrical about the joys of our Pool. Normally at around 2pm when we start to get the arse of work and want to chill out (also when the house starts to get really hot). Now, when I said above that we took “2 weeks off” in January, what I really meant was that we only worked 20-30 hours a week (that’s SO time off for us!).

It really is an abnormally awesome pool:

Sometime between 2pm and 4pm we would write on our walls

“That’s it! We’re off to the pool!”

We’d rendezvous downstairs, pour ourselves a Bacardi and go and sit in the pool and …. business plan. Yah. We really are that boring and don’t have that many other topics of conversation. So, we’re working on strategy, talking through things for the next 12 months and enjoying the cool water.

One day we arrived back at our desks to an email from a client who was complaining. Said client has worked with us for a couple of years. Said client has, until now, avoided making sales. Said client was FINALLY on the phone and had been calling for two or three days and doing pretty well – making some sales, garnering some interest. But said client said it was NOT FAIR.

NOT FAIR that we were sitting in the pool while THEY had to work.

That made me think.

I didn’t bring up, as much as I wanted to, the fact that the amount of time said client had spent sitting on their arse while I was working was far in excess of all of the time I’ve EVER spent in my pool.

But it did raise a question:

Is it better to position yourself as someone who never works – who spends all day in the pool while others are working – who has the dream lifestyle and just gets to fuck around all day OR – is it better to tell the truth? That while you may have a lifestyle many people envy, the price for that is that you work harder and take bigger risks than most. That you sell your house and empty the proceeds into your business. That the time you spend in the pool is spent business planning AND that you take the phones down with you in case anyone calls.

We, of course, discussed the answer and came to a conclusion – whilst in the pool.

The conclusion we came to is, as with so many things in business – it depends.

We’ve spent a bit of time this year with Frank Kern, after joining one of his programs. Now, Frank is like the ultimate “Lifestyle Business” salesperson. But you KNOW the dude works like a mofo.

I’ve been told by many people i have to stop selling “You can have the life of your dreams if you’re willing to do the work” – because “work” is an unsexy sale … the people who have told me this are FAR more successful than me, so they probably know what they’re talking about.

But at the end of the day – I’m happy to keep my business a bit smaller and to attract clients who are, on the whole (and with the exception of the client mentioned above, obviously) ready to work and who have a dream, a passion, a mission big enough that they want to work it (I believe there is no such thing as a lazy person – just a person with impotent goals). So I continue to sell hard work. Despite the fact some people seem to think I sell “Be a Millionaire” – for the 20th millionenth time – I’m not a millionaire. I won’t show you how to be a millionaire. But I do have a life that rocks and I can show you how to figure out who you are, what you care about and then to fashion your business so that it truly reflects who you are and what you stand for.

Funnily enough, I’ve always referred to those people who sell “Make a zillion dollars in your underwear while on a beach snorting cocaine off the stomachs of 18 year old lingerie models” as “pissing in the pool” – they muddy the waters, make the pool unsanitary for the rest of us by selling the dream that it’s easy and takes no work … reminds me of a sign my parents had on their pool when I was a kid:

12 Responses to “Welcome to Our “Ool”. Notice There is no P in it. Please Keep it that way.”