Do Hard Things with Gabe Lullo

When you work in sales, you of course want to build trust with your prospects and make them feel like you have their best interests at heart and aren’t simply selling them something just to earn a commission.

Resilience, adaptability, and continuous learning are as important to your success as empathy, patience, and effective communication.

Then there’s the question of whether you enjoy sales and believe in what you’re selling, or if it’s just a job and you’re doing the best you can to be decent at it. These, and other sentiments, are why today’s conversation with Gabe Lullo, the CEO of Alleyoop, is so important.

Gabe grew up in Buffalo, New York, which itself requires a lot of grit because you deal with really cold weather and a lot of snow. Add to that, Gabe and his sister were raised in modest circumstances by a single mom who worked two jobs so her kids could go to private schools and get a great education, even though it cost 90% of her income.

At the same time, he was close to his grandfather, a sports coach who modeled the “coaching” rather than the “bossing” approach to leadership.

When he turned 18, his mother made him go to bartending school. The idea was that no matter what happened with his career, Gabe could always make money.

In college, while taking classes and doing internships, he worked nights as a bartender, a vocation that in hindsight taught him so much about sales, marketing, relationships, and more in a way that you simply don’t get in the classroom. He first considered law school, then pivoted to finance, and then 9/11 hit and all opportunities in that sector evaporated.

Nevertheless, Gabe persisted, and he became a partner in a business venture, got married, and started a family. It was tough going there, but everything seemed like it was going to be just fine.

But Fine is a 4-Letter Word, and his business partnership broke up, sending him back to square one with an infant daughter to care for.

In a moment, when you meet Gabe, you’ll discover how the next pivot in his journey, doing cold-calling as a Sales Development Representative (SDR) at minimum wage, touched off a meteoric journey that less than a decade later landed him in his current position as CEO of that company.

Doing the hard things has paid off, and as a result, Gabe has found a level of passion and fulfillment he hadn’t imagined would be possible while shoveling through those Buffalo blizzards. Now he’s about to lay it all out for you.

Gabe’s hype song is "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins.

Resources:

• Gabe Lullo’s website: https://alleyoop.io/  
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lullo/

Invitation from Lori:

In my special guide, 5 Easy Ways to Start Living the Sabbatical Life, you can discover, step-by-step, how you can stop settling for “fine” and look at your life with a fresh set of eyes. Even if, like many people in today’s high-speed world, you’re not in a position to take a month or year-long sabbatical.

You know how you normally hear the disclaimer “Don’t try this at home!” In this case, you CAN try this at home. And not just “try,” DO.

Once you read it, you’ll

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It’s only 7 pages, so it won’t take you long to get through. When you’re ready to say F*ck Being Fine, this guide is the place to start and it will give you new perspectives that could cha