Tommy Hilcken, Tommy Hilcken Productions

Tommy Hilcken, www.TommyHilckenProductions.com

Tommy Hilcken, Presentation and virtual meetings coaching.

Video transcript:

Elizabeth: Hi, I’m Elizabeth Gearhart with Fireside. I’m here with Marcella, Gencarelli who is going to be helping me interview Tommy Hilcken, Tommy Hilcken Productions. So Marcella, why don’t you ask Tommy the first question?

Marcella: Oh, absolutely. Oh my gosh. I’m thrilled to have the privilege to interview Tommy on Fireside today with Elizabeth Gearhart. Tommy, tell us why do we love you so much?

Tommy: This is nice. I hope my wife doesn’t see this. No, it’s fantastic. You know what? I love people and I give that out. The reason I give it out is because more importantly, I get it back. So when we see each other and we’re together with each other, you know, it’s enjoyable. I’m one of those people that I enjoy people and I enjoy life. So that’s what I bring to the world. I feel the same about you guys, when I met you guys, we enjoy being with each other and that’s a great, great way to look at life to me.

Elizabeth: So people like to work with you because, what’s your catch phrase?

Tommy: Oh, “The benefits will always outweigh the cost,” you know? And that’s the challenge people have. So I always remind them of that. The benefits of working with me will always outweigh the cost.

Marcella: Yeah. As I understand, you’re moving to an online platform for virtual learning.

Tommy: Yeah, and I’ll tell you why.

Marcella: Could you tell us about that.

Tommy: Yeah. I’d be glad to. You know, the problem was, I’ve always considered myself, you talk about the paradigms you build throughout life and the mindset that you have and your beliefs in yourself. I always believed I was a live guy, and truly I Excel being live. Give me an audience that’s where I’m best. That’s where I’m most comfortable. That’s what I enjoy. But when this all hit, when the pandemic hit and we all had to go online and connect with each other, my mindset was still on, I’m a live guy, I’m a live guy, I’m a live guy; I refused to let it go until I realized that, wow, you know, I’m going to have to do something.

So I started to do virtual shows, comedy magic. I didn’t like it. Without an audience those two things don’t work for me, comedy or magic. But what I discovered was with my presentation skills and my sales training I could teach online. So the success came when I realized I could teach online, where I don’t have to be over the top. I don’t have to have an audience reaction. People could put questions into the chat box. So really what happened was, I discovered a great thing for myself. I love to teach. So I’m doing more teaching online; sales training, communication skills, and presentation skills.

Marcella: Wonderful. I remember our first lunch and learn was about the presentation skills that people would table for when they’re doing an in-person presentation. Then we transitioned to the part where you own the room virtually. Can you expand a little bit?

Tommy: You know what, it’s funny. I just got this phrase and I tried to buy the URL because I just did a blog on it. You know, when I first started doing public speaking, my only goal was to ‘own the room.’ So I went and I learned from people who would teach me how to ‘own the room.’ Because I always say to people, the one thing you can do, if you lose an audience it’s much harder to get them back than it is to keep them. So I always understood that you need to own the room at all times, then the phrase hit me own the Zoom. So I was like, how funny is that? I had to learn how to own the room, then I had to learn how to own the Zoom. It’s fascinating to me. So as much as I don’t enjoy it, as much…and like I say to everybody, most people right now are doing what they like second best because we can’t do first best. You know, you and I both know, we’d rather sit down and have lunch and have a conversation together and then do the program. Right now we’re having virtual lunches, second best.

Elizabeth: So Tommy, what kind of things are you teaching in your classes and are you doing them one-on-one with people like this or are you recording them and sending them to people? How are you working that?

Elizabeth: Well, I have a recorded session for public speaking, which is over two and a half hours. I studied with my pal, Brian Flanagan. He was my coach and my trainer when I was with Ziglar and the Ziglar Corporation. So we curated that over this pandemic, over the last few months, we created two and a half hours of content. So if you want to learn about public speaking, we held the conversation on public speaking, that’s on the internet. You can just grab that and watch that. But I also do live training, which I really enjoy. I’ll do one-on-one coaching if you like, but it’s much easier to grab a group and do classes, just like virtual classes are terrific, because the reality of it is you can teach online. You really can. There’s no reason not to do it online anymore the way I look at it.

And it really made me go, you know, more national, I’ve met more people from Oregon and all over. So instead of just focusing on going to a networking event in New Jersey, I can send my product all around the world with all actuality. So I’m doing a lot of sales training and presentation skills training. What we’re seeing here now is I developed the communication skills training. People need to communicate more than they ever did in their lives.

Marcella: That’s so true. They really do. This is the venue that you’re able to teach people about. For people to actually take the time, invest in themselves while coming to see you, and coming to meet with you for the benefits of the program that you offer.

Tommy: Right, and you know, teaching here, again, I had to change my mindset and I think most of us have, you know, since, since March. We had to change our mindset. What are we going to do? How are we going to get this done? You know, I’ve been, self-employed 31 years. I’ve had the ups and downs and the sideways, I’ve seen it all. But this one was pretty much I’m powerless over this. I love a phrase that I’ve always used in my business when I talk to people and it’s a little tough, but it works. It’s “So what now what?” That’s my approach to life. So what now, what? Wow, we got hit with this, business went away. I heard all sorts of entertainers losing their mind. What am I going to do? And the answer is, so what now what? What am I going to do now to keep myself self-employed? That’s a great question but I’ve been asking myself that for 30 years. And I remind people, and if anybody’s self-employed listening to this, you’ll understand it’s not for the faint of heart. It is not because the ups and downs, this is the life of an entrepreneur, it’s ups and downs, right? And you have to learn how to be the line. You have to not get too low, not get too high. That’s the secret I’ve learned.

Elizabeth: So Tommy, can you pretend like Marcella and I are taking a course from you, any one of your courses and just do the short intro for like two minutes. Just so people get a flavor of what it’s like.

Tommy: Well, my background is in presentation skills. I’ve always loved people. So how do I connect with people? What I teach people is how to own the room, how to present, how to be a public speaker. I look at it this way. The thing that holds people back, they always say that there’s a tremendous fear of public speaking, but I share with all my clients and I changed that like this, because there is no fear of public speaking. Most people suffer from the fear of being judged. So their mindset, they lock up, they freeze because they’re thinking about what everybody in the audience is thinking about them. Oh my God, what do I look like, right? And they get all locked up and they freeze up. But in reality, what I share with people, are presentation skills, and I think this’ll be helpful for you.

Most people, if not, everybody wants to see you succeed. They’re not sitting in front of you wanting to see you fail. That’s not what they’re there for. But our stinking thinking kicks in. So when I talk about presentation skills, here’s what I always say. When I started doing this, I thought it was all about me, me, me, me. What are they going to think about me? What do I look? What am I wearing? How am I going to act me, me, me. You know, right, if we focus on ourselves, the world gets a little difficult. So what I had to do was I had to start thinking about how can I focus on others? So it went from me, me, me, to me creating this great message that I was going to bring to the world. Now the world can’t wait to hear my message. But then again, it’s still me, me, me, my, my, my. My mentor, Frank Hawkinson told me life will never change for you as a public speaker until you realize it’s all about your audience.

So it went from me, me, me, my, my, my to you, you, you. Once that happened, then I realized I was just there to help people, maybe brighten their day, present myself to them, to change their state of mind. When I realized it was about them. That’s when presentation skills changed for me.

Elizabeth: Well, Tommy, I’ve just got to say this. I have been doing tons of interviews for the last two years. I’ve been doing tons of interviews since March on Zoom. I think you personally are able to convey yourself, like you’re, I feel like I’m talking to you almost in person, you, you are the most Zoom adept person, I think, that I’ve met with. Like, I feel like we’re really talking in a room together. So if you can teach people how to do that on Zoom, that’s huge.

Tommy: Yeah. It was me adapting. I told you, I fought this tooth and nail. I’m a live guy. Stay away from me, I’m a live guy. I was praying this was only 10 days, 15 days, you know? So I had to adapt and that’s what most people have to do. One thing I said to myself, and you guys will appreciate this. I wasn’t going to allow Zoom to hurt my brand. So let’s think about it. I’m a presenter, I’m somebody who communicates and all of a sudden I’m on Zoom and I’m not presenting well, and I’m not communicating well, I hurt my brand. I see too many people, and I mean this, and you’ve seen them, who are actually hurting their brand by going on and presenting on Zoom. Because they don’t look good, they’re not speaking well, they’re not clear, and they’re hurting their brand. So my suggestion was, either get better at it or stop doing it until things clear up and that was my thinking.

Elizabeth: Right. But things aren’t going to clear up any time soon. So the option is get better at it, right?

Tommy: Yeah. You know bring you to the game. That’s another thing. People feel they have to be somebody else. My greatest asset is, years ago I realized that I stopped fighting it, you know and it’s weird, I say Tommy Hilcken in the third person, but I had to be Tommy Hilcken. You know what, that’s what people know, like, and love about me. You know, my friend just called me earlier and we were discussing this. And you’ll love this. He was like, he goes, you know, sometimes I think I’m really messed up. I looked and I said, well, here’s the best thing about it. I know I’m messed up. I embraced being messed up. Because when we think about it, everybody you’re sitting next to at a networking event, they’re messed up. Just the bottom line is nobody wants to admit it. We’re all messed up. Look at it, come on. It makes my life easier. I embraced that years ago, you know, my sense of humor, who I am as a person, you know? And I embrace my Hudson County because I just heard myself say ‘huma,’ how many people say ‘huma,’ not too many, right? So I embrace everything about myself and I can share it here. I like myself. I hope everybody can do that.

Marcella: Yeah. I think that personal touch and that approach that you have where it’s like, speaking or learning from a best friend is huge when you’re coming to the table for a learned experience.

Tommy: Oh, thank you.

Marcella: That’s a wonderful, wonderful asset that you’re bringing to the table.

Tommy: I appreciate that, and it really comes back to my care. I care, you know, I think the more successful people are, it’s a more successful world. You know, I’ll share everything I have if it’s going to improve your life. I mean that, I always have. I’ll share it with anybody. If I’m doing something that you want to do, ask me how. I learned that long ago. I met Zig, I met BB King. Now these were legends in the world, you know? And I always tell people when I met BB King and I kneeled down next to him and I said, thank you for the music and all the joy you brought in my life. He looked at me and said, no, thank you. There is no me without you. Now here’s the King of the blues looking at me saying, thank you. What a lesson I learned. So it’s not about me. It’s a, how can we help everyone else? And I do that all the time. I tell people, they struggle with sales, what do I say? What do I do? Sit down across from somebody and say, how can I help you? That’s not that difficult. All of us, we think about our business, look at someone and say, Hey, how can I help you? Change my world.

Elizabeth: Well, I think Marcella hit the nail on the head too, because it feels like you really like the people that you work with, you don’t judge them. You realize you’re not perfect and none of us is perfect. I actually said to somebody, I don’t want a friend who’s perfect because I’m so far from perfect to live up to their expectations. But to approach people that way, as in, I know you’re not perfect. I’m not perfect either. Let’s be the best we can be. I’ll teach you this skill and friend like you said, right?

Tommy: You know, you just said something. It’s not about me, somebody often says to me during training, you’re a natural and I have to remind them, you know, you weren’t here when I started doing this and my knees were knocking, I was shaking, and my heart was racing, sweat on my brow. The fear, the doubt, the uncertainty. I’ve been where you are, embrace that. This is a learned skill. What I’m doing, sales training, public speaking, training, communication skills, it’s a learned skill. I learned how to do it. I embraced it. I got very good at it. That’s all it is. Just like, anything else. I even relate it to juggling, you know, people look and go, Oh my God, I could never juggle. I look and I go, if I can juggle, you can juggle because what am I a juggler? No, I know how to juggle. I learned how to juggle. So it’s a learned skill. Most people have to remember that they look at other people with such awe, and it’s fine. But if that’s what you want to be ask them how they did it. That’s exactly what I do.

Marcella: Amazing.

Elizabeth: Yeah. So I have one more. I have one more comment. I think that actually all this Zoom work has helped a lot of people, but most people hate being in front of a group. They hate being on video. They do feel judged. I think that you’re trying to help people realize that you look fine on video. You know, nobody’s really judging you the way that you think they are. If they are judging you that way, then they’re a jerk, let’s face it.

Tommy: Alright. I’m going to put that in my next book.

Marcella: And I want to elaborate on that just a little tiny bit because you also find that people are scared of presenting online as well, because they’ve never done it before. It’s part of getting over that fear that they should seek a professional as yourself and come and seek you out and say, by the way, I need help. Help me.

Tommy: Can I say something that happened to everybody and you got to give them the benefit of the doubt. Most people were thrust into this. They would have never dreamed of doing this. It was never part of their sales team, their networking team. It was never part of who they were. We all got thrust into this. Think about it. Boom! Get on Zoom. Make sure you’re there. Do what you gotta do. So I’m very forgiving with that. I understand most people didn’t want to do this and literally have to do this. Now I’m one of those guys, I don’t really like to do things I have to do. I like to do things I want to do. So again, I learned how to do this. That’s what happened to people. We were all thrust into it. Who would have thought we would be sitting here? I got Zoomed out a couple of weeks ago. I stopped Zoom for a while. You know what I mean that. I imagine everybody’s felt that. I was feeling like Zoom fatigue. It was doing me more bad than good. So I took a little break. I took a Zoom vacation.

Marcella: A Zoom vacation.

Tommy: Yeah. I put it on, I went to Google, put Zoom vacation, and put myself on an Island. It was beautiful. I think everybody needs a Zoom vacation if you know what I mean. I really do.

Elizabeth: But as Marcella said, people have to learn how to do it and you’re the right person to learn from.

Tommy: Thank you.

Elizabeth: Because you’re passionate, you’re friendly, you’re warm. You know, you’re not, you don’t act like you’re so perfect that you’re intimidating to other people. That’s really, for people that have just walked into this, you know, it’s hard.

Tommy: Well it is, I get it. But again, I’ve been where everybody has. You’ve been where everybody has. So what can we do to ease it, to give them a path, a process that we followed. Just think about it. You know, recipes get passed down from family to grandma, to mom, they get passed down. It’s a process of doing something. So I learned the process and that’s the way I look at it all the time. I’m going to give you the process I use to get where I am. So you’re going to get the process. What more could you ask for?

Marcella: The recipe for successful online business presentations, we got it.

Tommy: There it is.

Marcella: It’s awesome.

Tommy: You know what, because really what it comes down to, if you do the same thing, repetition is the mother of success. It’s a learned skill. You got to continue to do it. The more you do it, what do we do? We learn by our mistakes. We learn by our failures. Failures are great. You one of my mentors used to always say, used to sign off all the time, go out there and fail. I love that. Go out there and fail. As long as you learn from it, you’ll never do it again. That’s life in a nutshell. I’ve failed more than I’ve succeeded that’s for sure.

Elizabeth: A lot of us. So I think the other thing too about this though, is that these skills that people are learning from you today on Zoom are transferrable to the real world when we’re all meeting each other again and standing in front of each other.

Tommy: Right.

Elizabeth: The problem is that Zoom’s probably going to be around for a while because as somebody said on another call I was on, (*muffled voice)”We’re all going to be like this” We’ll all be wearing masks.

Tommy: Yeah, somebody hired me to do a show, comedy show, entertainment for a family and I didn’t know it. They made me wear a mask. From now on, I’ll never do one with a mask, and it just doesn’t work. There’s no emotion if no facial expressions, you know what I mean? And I live on that live. Facial expressions is a big part of my life. So yeah.

Elizabeth: Yeah. You can get a face shield. I just ordered a face shield.

Tommy: Right, thanks. We should have done the interview today with face shields on. Now that wouldn’t be good. We’re going to do the space helmet on, on captain video. There you go. The Honeymooners, there you go. The next one we’re doing, we’re going to wear a shield.

Elizabeth: Okay.

Tommy: Marcella, you might have to mess your hair, but you’re wearing a shield.

Elizabeth: I’m wearing a shield.

Tommy: That’d be great. This is our way of life right now. So we have to accept it and embrace it. You know, it’s not the ideal life. It’s not the ideal way that I want to do business, but I have learned a lot from it. I’ve actually come to enjoy it, especially to training online. It’s really nice. It’s easy. It’s the same thing. It’s the same thing as having live. I don’t need to be live to do the teaching, like I mentioned earlier. So that’s why it’s worked for me.

Elizabeth: Right. Is there anything else that we want to cover before we say farewell?

Tommy: I don’t know, I feel good. I think I’ve covered just about everything.

Elizabeth: Marcella?

Marcella: Elizabeth, I think we’ve covered it all. Tommy thank you, thank you so much.

Tommy: Good to be with you guys as usual. Always good to be with you guys. Thank you.

Elizabeth: Thanks.