Inspire Me Culturally Interview with
Hugh Culver 7/17/2013:
A
highly sought after keynote speaker and corporate trainer, Hugh D. Culver is an
Ironman Competitor, Mountain Climber, 10 time Marathoner and successful
businessman. His powerful keynote presentations and training programs are
thoroughly researched, content-rich and delivered with a passion for creating
lasting change in audience’s lives.
Hugh’s
humor and insights will entertain and educate your audience to the powerful
choices that are always available in their work and their lives. His programs
focus on Leadership, Motivation and Inspiration, Conflict Management, Time
Management, and Personal Leadership in the workplace. Since 1991 Hugh has
presented his special blend of street smarts, humor and passion to over 450
organizations, including: Imperial Oil, Royal Bank of Canada, Sun Rype
Products, Telus, Red Cross, KPMG as well as three universities and four
colleges.
Hugh
has an MBA from Simon Fraser University, is a CSP (Certified Speaking
Professional, one of 40 in Canada) and CFP (Certified Facilitation
Professional, one of 88 in Canada).
OH: What exactly is an “expert community”?
HC: It’s actually quite a new phenomenon. 18 years ago when we first started on it, we
didn’t use that term, but rather called it simply “expertise”. An expert community captures a lot of
different people…and an expert is paid by other people so that they can learn
how to help and serve their own customer base.
OH: I like when you talk about having a “hungry market”. The analogy that comes to mind is the one
about fish not liking lasagna. It
doesn’t matter how mean a lasagna you make, if that’s what you put on your
hook, you’re not going to catch anything.
They prefer worms. Thoughts?
HC: When people come to me with an idea for their
business, there are always 3 questions we need to address:
1)
Is there a need for that
product?
2)
Do other people recognize
that need?
3)
Are those people hungry for
it?
A good example of a need that most people recognize but many
are not hungry for is wanting to get in shape.
The need is there, most people recognize that need, but how many are
really ready to commit themselves to doing what it takes in order to accomplish
that goal?
Another example is someone who wants to write a book. Where is the proof that people are already
buying a book about that topic or something near it? If you don’t know this piece of information,
you’d better find out, and if the answer is yes…where are they buying it? I met with a friend today who’s a
quadriplegic who wants to write a book.
My advice to him was not to write about what it’s like being a
quadriplegic, but rather, what’s been his journey since becoming a quadriplegic
10 years ago. That is what’s going to
catch people’s interest.
An even more subtle example is a woman I’m helping who wants
to be a professional organizer. What I’m
doing with her is to help her understand that that’s not a hungry
audience. It’s just too expensive to go
and find the few people willing to pay $90/hour to get their closet space
organized. As a speaker too, that’s just
not an audience. What I asked her was, what
about clutter? Her challenge is
to get away from talking about physical clutter, and get deeper and talk more
about spiritual clutter. This is
why most people have physical clutter in their houses – their mind, spirit and
heart are already filled with it. That
is what interests people and makes them hungry for more.
OH: How do you “find” the experts?
HC: A number of things work really well. Webinars, blog posts, and podcasts work
best. And it’s always best to go to an
audience with the most urgent need.
OH: What to you are the main differences between an
entrepreneur and a “wantrapreneur”?
HC: An entrepreneur takes the risks without any
certainty of their success. A
wantrapreneur may talk about creating things, but they will not take the necessary
risks. I was recently listening to an
interview with Jay Baer. One of the
things he said is we need to all get away from being “hunters” and become
“farmers”. He also talked a lot about
the need for successful entrepreneurs to get more eyeballs watching them. One of the things that really helps is if you
just enjoy helping people – without expecting something in return.
OH: I’m somebody who loves to find free stuff on the
Internet. What does it take to turn
somebody like me, who often will look at an article or hear a podcast, say “oh,
that’s interesting”, into a person who’s light gets turned on and says “I see
value in that, and I’m willing to pay for it”?
HC: That’s the ultimate question! What I’ve found consistently is that if I can
help someone out – that’s when they become a loyal fan. If I respond to someone personally when I’m
contacted, we find that actually works.
What absolutely do not work are broadcasts. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook – they’re not 1x1
contacts. What I like is texting,
emailing…basically any kind of personal contact. Always be looking for ways to make that type
of contact.
OH: One of the things you talk about that really
resonates with me is getting “stuff up on your calendar”. My own personal example today has been
preparing for this interview, along with another one I did earlier in the
day. Can you talk about how you get your
clients to take this step and execute it?
I’m sure it’s hard for some “free-thinking experts”.
HC: Actually, what we are striving for with our
clients is for them to get up to an annual calendar. If you can get yourself up to making an
annual plan on your calendar, you’ll be much more proactive.
As an example, I know there are nine months out of the year
that are best to do business. If you
take those nine months and look at them carefully, you’ll find there are really
only 37 open client dates available during that time. How much time do you think you actually
have? My goal is to get my clients to
start thinking of time scarcity and create a sense of urgency – to themselves
and to their clients.
OH: One of your ideas I’ve already used to my benefit
is the one about dealing with procrastination, and making the reward for
getting a task done more worthy than putting it off. Would you explain it a little further?
HC: It wasn’t my idea, but rather it came from
research data conducted at MIT. It comes
down to the response, the execution, and the reward. A common example of a task rarely ever
executed is the person who says “I want to write a book”. The reward for this person is in the “want”,
not in the execution. The idea is that
if I want to change a habit in my life, I need to ask – what is going to be the
reward if I do so?
(Note: Hugh explains this concept thoroughly in the
following webinar):
OH: How can people best get ahold of you?
HC: Best way is through my website at http://expertsenterprise.com/
OH: Thanks so much for your time today, Hugh.
HC: Thank you, Ovadia.
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