1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,440
Welcome back to Teaching the Unteachables, where we dive into methods for teaching and

2
00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:11,880
learning for professionals like you.

3
00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:14,080
Are you looking for more resources?

4
00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:25,880
Then join us on our live weekly webcast, learn more at escogroove.org.

5
00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:28,320
All right everyone, thanks for joining us again.

6
00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:30,080
Hanging out today with Greg Castro.

7
00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:31,680
Greg, how are you buddy?

8
00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:32,840
Doing great, how are you?

9
00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:36,120
I am doing just unbelievably well.

10
00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:41,080
And I so much appreciate you joining us for this podcast, because this is the whole reason

11
00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:48,040
that we started doing the webcast and now the podcast, is resources, particularly for

12
00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:49,480
new instructors.

13
00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:56,280
So let's talk about investing in yourself and investing in becoming better in the career,

14
00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:00,000
business man, you're exactly what this role is about.

15
00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:04,160
So tell me a little bit about yourself and how long you've been in the industry.

16
00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:05,160
Of course, yeah.

17
00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:07,680
So I want to thank you first off for having me on the show.

18
00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:08,920
Excited to be here.

19
00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:14,200
So I started off in the HVAC industry as an install helper.

20
00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:18,280
I actually went in not knowing anything about HVAC.

21
00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:19,440
How old were you, Greg?

22
00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:22,480
I was 21, about a turn 22.

23
00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:23,480
That's about when I got in.

24
00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:29,000
Yeah, I wish I started earlier, but that's the time the opportunity came around.

25
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:34,760
And so I went in and I came from the automotive industry and I had no idea what gauges were.

26
00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:37,560
I had no idea anything about HVAC.

27
00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:44,120
And I went into the interview and I told them, hey, I have zero to no knowledge on HVAC.

28
00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:45,960
I never touched gauges.

29
00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:49,320
I don't even know how refrigeration works.

30
00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:56,240
But I believe to be a trainable person that will constantly be learning and constantly

31
00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:59,400
looking to invest into myself.

32
00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:05,760
And they said, awesome, come on in, join us and we'll teach you along the way what it

33
00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,320
is to be an HVAC technician installer.

34
00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:10,540
And that's how I started.

35
00:02:10,540 --> 00:02:13,360
No perspective going in where you're going to end up.

36
00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:17,000
None whatsoever, which was exciting.

37
00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:18,560
Yeah, it is, man.

38
00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:19,840
That's one of the great things about the industry.

39
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:21,640
You don't know what you're getting into.

40
00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:22,640
Yeah.

41
00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:27,600
And I was afraid at first because all I knew were automotives and vehicles.

42
00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:30,080
That's your hands on.

43
00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:31,080
Hands on, yeah.

44
00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:36,280
And to go from something that you know to something that you don't know at all is scary.

45
00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:41,520
You know, it's crazy how interconnected the automotive industry and the HVAC industry

46
00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:42,520
is.

47
00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:47,520
I bring this up all the time on how technology is changing and the comparisons that have

48
00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:50,440
happened in that industry.

49
00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:54,080
I worked 16 years part time at AutoZone.

50
00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:55,080
Wow.

51
00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:56,880
I get it, man.

52
00:02:56,880 --> 00:02:58,720
And I couldn't get away.

53
00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:02,840
I loved helping people and I loved the discounts on parts because I'm always tinkering with

54
00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:03,840
my own crap.

55
00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:04,840
Same.

56
00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:05,840
Yeah.

57
00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:12,440
So I stayed on up until five years ago, maybe four or five years ago.

58
00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:16,720
So yeah, I was doing HVAC and I was doing automotive at the same time.

59
00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:19,560
So I 100% get it.

60
00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:23,960
You know, if you like working with your hands, you like troubleshooting, you like fixing

61
00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:28,560
things, you like machinery, electrical, it's just part of it.

62
00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,880
So you get into the field, right?

63
00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:35,360
And you went a long way in a short period of time.

64
00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:37,160
Tell me about how that happened.

65
00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:41,760
Well, as an installer, you know, we started doing these installs and I started picking

66
00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:42,760
it all up.

67
00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:48,040
And I remember the day before that I went in for my first day, I was online looking

68
00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:54,440
for anything that I could find because I had no idea what I was getting into.

69
00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:56,160
And I was like investing in yourself.

70
00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,000
Yeah, I was, hey, let me go on YouTube.

71
00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,240
What does an install day look like?

72
00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:02,680
What do they do?

73
00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,080
And then all these, you know, new things started coming up.

74
00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:07,840
How does the vacuum pump work?

75
00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:09,960
How does refrigeration work?

76
00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,440
And at that moment, I was like, this is deeper than I thought.

77
00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:14,440
The hook was in.

78
00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:15,440
Yeah.

79
00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:19,920
And that was the day before my first day.

80
00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:27,040
And so I went in and after my first day, I was like, hey, I have to learn this.

81
00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:32,360
I can't just, you know, hang out and, you know, not really be the guy that's in it and

82
00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:33,360
actually doing the work.

83
00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:39,240
I really have to get in this and learn it to a T. And so a few years went by of me doing

84
00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:44,720
installs and surprisingly doing as installs, I still wasn't too sure of what I was doing.

85
00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:45,720
Right.

86
00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,240
I was, I was just putting the stuff together.

87
00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:51,400
And at one point I was like, hey, I have to learn this.

88
00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:52,880
I can't just get by no more.

89
00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:54,760
I got to go to the next level.

90
00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:55,760
Yeah.

91
00:04:55,760 --> 00:05:00,040
And at that point I went online again, looking how to become a technician, learning all the

92
00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,680
resources that were out there.

93
00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,920
And during the time, I don't feel like there was too much going on or if there was, I wasn't

94
00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:13,320
aware of it of, you know, Instagram showing, you know, yeah, online and social education.

95
00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:15,720
Yeah, sure.

96
00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:19,800
But I did come across a few YouTube videos and I started learning that way.

97
00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:24,340
And from then on, I just kept investing to myself and I kept trying to find new things

98
00:05:24,340 --> 00:05:26,320
to learn.

99
00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:30,080
And I got to the point where, you know, I became a technician and you come across all

100
00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:34,240
these other issues that you have to learn now and you just spend the time to master

101
00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:35,240
your craft.

102
00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:36,240
Right.

103
00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:39,440
So just a matter of investing yourself further in your education.

104
00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:44,600
At what point along the way did you decide that you wanted to start giving back to the

105
00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:45,960
industry?

106
00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:52,760
So that was after doing the tech work and becoming, you know, a trainer at a company,

107
00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:59,880
I saw what the new guys were coming in, all these students who had just left school, they

108
00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:04,800
were going into the industry and they would come work at the company I was currently at.

109
00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:11,440
And it was how green they were and how they had spent a large amount of money in school.

110
00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:17,480
And at that point I said, hey, I would love to give my input and along that way, along

111
00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:18,480
that way.

112
00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:22,360
And eventually I became an instructor and I've been loving it because you get guys in

113
00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:27,760
here who were just like me, who didn't know anything, but you can see their drive and

114
00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:29,900
you can see how much they want it.

115
00:06:29,900 --> 00:06:34,400
And it just, it fuels me as an instructor to, to kind of look at myself when I was younger

116
00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:40,800
and wish that I had some of these resources and just help them out.

117
00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:41,920
Yeah.

118
00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:49,180
And that's exactly how we end up in this role is giving back and providing some assistance

119
00:06:49,180 --> 00:06:54,240
to people who were in similar places that we were when we got into the industry.

120
00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:55,240
So kudos man.

121
00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:56,240
Yeah.

122
00:06:56,240 --> 00:07:01,280
And one of the big eye openers too was this year was actually my first year going to the

123
00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:02,760
HVAC excellence show.

124
00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:03,760
Yeah.

125
00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:05,120
Tell me a little bit about that.

126
00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,680
What was the motivating factor for that?

127
00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:08,880
Where do you even hear about it?

128
00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:12,240
Cause you know, this is, this is my realm, but I always want to know what does it look

129
00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:14,280
like from the outside?

130
00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:20,680
So luckily the, the school that I'm working for now, they're very in touch with, with

131
00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:21,680
Esco.

132
00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:22,680
Excellent.

133
00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:27,720
And so when I came in, you know, everyone was Esco this, Esco that you can find tons

134
00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:29,160
of resources on Esco.

135
00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:33,720
If you don't know how to teach this particular, you know, subject Esco has a book on it.

136
00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:36,640
And I just kept hearing Esco, Esco over and over again.

137
00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:38,200
And I was like, well, how do I get there?

138
00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:39,200
What do I do?

139
00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:40,800
And you know, they showed me the ropes.

140
00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,020
They showed me the online courses and everything.

141
00:07:44,020 --> 00:07:47,800
And then that's when, when they were like, Hey, we're, they're going to have HVAC excellence.

142
00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:48,800
Had never heard of it.

143
00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:49,960
I never been, we signed up.

144
00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:51,760
We went, it was in Vegas.

145
00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:52,760
Great time.

146
00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:58,480
Got to meet a lot of great people who are out there doing it, who've been about educating

147
00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:01,540
and investing themselves for a long, long time.

148
00:08:01,540 --> 00:08:04,920
And so hearing from people like that, it just motivates you want to be better, to be able

149
00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:06,420
to teach better.

150
00:08:06,420 --> 00:08:10,000
And one of the only ways to do that is to have these resources that the Esco has.

151
00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:11,000
Yeah, absolutely.

152
00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,720
I mean, I'm so glad you reached out to me to talk about this on the podcast.

153
00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,080
You know, I went, I started teaching in 2018.

154
00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:18,120
So I'm the same way.

155
00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:20,960
I just spent a long time out in the field.

156
00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:25,160
I probably spent too much time out in the field, but I had gotten to, you know, kind

157
00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,160
of one of those plateaus, you know, I spent a couple of decades out there.

158
00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:31,180
You know, I just, I got to a point where I was looking to, just like you're doing, giving

159
00:08:31,180 --> 00:08:34,600
back and just doing something from a different perspective.

160
00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:36,080
And I wasn't even a hundred percent sure.

161
00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:37,080
That's what I wanted to do.

162
00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:39,320
I had a recruiter reach out and was like, Hey, I think you missed the ball.

163
00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:40,920
I think you're supposed to be teaching.

164
00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:41,920
I'm like, what?

165
00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:44,120
I'm, I like what I'm doing.

166
00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:46,760
He's like, yeah, but you like people, don't you?

167
00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:48,240
He said, let me ask you this question.

168
00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,520
Why you been working at AutoZone for 16 years part time?

169
00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:51,520
I'm like, dang man.

170
00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:56,040
I hate when people ask me that because I can't get away from it.

171
00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:57,600
He's like, yeah, it's cause of the people, isn't it?

172
00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:01,080
I was like, Oh yeah, actually it is.

173
00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:02,080
He said, yeah.

174
00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:04,440
So you just haven't caught that bug yet.

175
00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:07,960
And so I caught the bug in 2018, January of 18 and 2019.

176
00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:13,360
I went to the conference for the first time for myself and it was like, Oh my gosh, these

177
00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:17,400
are the resources that I need to be successful.

178
00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:23,520
And so we had a record attendance this year, but we also had a record amount of young people

179
00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:24,520
coming into the industry.

180
00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:30,880
I hope you don't mind me calling you young because you're all right with that.

181
00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:34,040
Because you know, we have this explosion.

182
00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:37,880
You just mentioned when we first started talking before the podcast, we had this explosion

183
00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:42,360
of education happening in our industry and people that are wanting to give back.

184
00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:48,300
And that is something that is growing is that desire to give back to the industry, to make

185
00:09:48,300 --> 00:09:50,600
a difference in the world that we live in.

186
00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:51,600
Yeah, man.

187
00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:57,360
I'm just, I'm so excited to be able to, to have you on here and to learn about your drive.

188
00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:02,560
So tell me about things that you took away from the conference and maybe opportunities

189
00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:03,880
that it opened for you.

190
00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:09,760
Like I said, the online stuff, the classes that were being given by these individuals

191
00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:13,160
that they've been doing this for long, long time.

192
00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:17,200
I'm talking double, triple years that I've been in the industry.

193
00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:22,040
So just even just listening to them talk and be able to show you how to explain what you're

194
00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:28,020
talking about because as a technician and an installer and doing this for a little over

195
00:10:28,020 --> 00:10:34,920
seven years, I know how it gets done, but being able to translate that to a student

196
00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:35,920
can be a little difficult.

197
00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:36,920
That's right.

198
00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:39,720
Hey, I'm good at being a technician.

199
00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:42,320
Am I good about teaching someone to be a good technician?

200
00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:46,880
That is the barrier and getting past that is where it really comes in handy.

201
00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:51,440
Having people who have walked the walk a little bit and can help guide along that path.

202
00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:52,440
Yeah.

203
00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:53,440
Yeah.

204
00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:56,720
So that was one of the things that I really took away from it.

205
00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:02,760
Even just for example, we had Tony there talking about the new industry of tools that are coming

206
00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:03,760
out.

207
00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:04,760
Oh, Gonzalez from Field Peace.

208
00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:05,760
Yeah.

209
00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:06,760
Yeah.

210
00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:07,760
Tony Gonzalez from Field Peace.

211
00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:08,760
Yeah.

212
00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:09,760
You got the hook up with him.

213
00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:10,760
Good, good dude.

214
00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:11,760
Yeah.

215
00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:12,760
Great guy.

216
00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:15,920
And he was explaining everything, how we have all these resources too of teaching students

217
00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:18,320
through smart tools.

218
00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,720
And so the industry, it's always changing and it's always growing.

219
00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:27,040
And so I'm glad that there's lots of stuff out there that's growing with it.

220
00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:28,040
Yeah.

221
00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:29,040
And it's been great.

222
00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:30,040
Yeah.

223
00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:33,280
All the resources that I got from there, I definitely want to go again next year.

224
00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:37,520
I'm looking forward to it because I just know it's going to be even better this time around

225
00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:38,520
too.

226
00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:46,000
So being a relatively new to the program educator, do you see things in your own program that

227
00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:48,920
need to be elevated to modern technologies?

228
00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:49,920
Yeah.

229
00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,080
So recently we just got some of the smart tools, which has really helped out some of

230
00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:54,240
the students.

231
00:11:54,240 --> 00:12:01,160
Things in that area, as well as we use our Cengage 9th edition for teaching, which has

232
00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:02,160
been great.

233
00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:05,480
You know, the students, they read it, they understand it, they like it.

234
00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:10,640
And it just puts everything in a perspective where they can go in and study and learn from

235
00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:13,200
a book that they actually understand.

236
00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:14,840
Yeah, absolutely.

237
00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:20,680
So going forward, what avenues do you see as opportunities to invest in yourself to

238
00:12:20,680 --> 00:12:25,440
continue being a developing educator?

239
00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:29,880
So I'll tell you a story that I tell all my students and anybody that I meet in the industry

240
00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:30,880
that's freshly new.

241
00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:34,040
It's the story of the lumberjack, and I'm not too sure if you ever heard it, but it's

242
00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:40,060
about these two lumberjack who are, you know, they're cutting wood every single day.

243
00:12:40,060 --> 00:12:44,560
One of them looks to the other and notices that he has a lot more wood than him.

244
00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:48,240
And so he starts contemplating, he's like, man, we start at the same time, we finish

245
00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:49,240
at the same time.

246
00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:50,560
Let me see what he's doing.

247
00:12:50,560 --> 00:12:57,400
So he looks over and he sees him, and every single day for about an hour, he leaves somewhere.

248
00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,980
And he notices this and he keeps watching him.

249
00:13:00,980 --> 00:13:04,160
So he starts thinking, well, I probably cut more wood than him if he's leaving for an

250
00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:05,720
hour every day.

251
00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:09,880
So he keeps monitoring him and watching, and he looks over again a few months go by and

252
00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:12,100
he sees that he still has more wood than him.

253
00:13:12,100 --> 00:13:15,800
And he goes and says, hey, we start at the same time, right?

254
00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:16,800
Yeah, absolutely.

255
00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:18,040
We start at the same time.

256
00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:19,040
We finish at the same time.

257
00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:20,240
Yep, we finished at the same time.

258
00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:22,240
You're not putting any overtime?

259
00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:23,240
No.

260
00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:28,980
And so he goes, you go for an hour somewhere every day, and yet you still have more wood

261
00:13:28,980 --> 00:13:30,120
than me.

262
00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:32,320
Where do you go for that hour?

263
00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:39,840
And he goes, oh, I go home and I sharpen my axe.

264
00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:44,280
And that's something that I try to tell my students because you have to go home and sharpen

265
00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:45,280
your axe.

266
00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:46,280
Sharpen your skills.

267
00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:47,280
Yeah.

268
00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:48,280
And that's what I mean.

269
00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:52,120
Sure enough, in the classroom we're learning, but there are certain things that you learn

270
00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:55,480
during the day and it doesn't click till you get home.

271
00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:56,480
That's right.

272
00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,840
And sometimes you need to sit down and really sharpen your axe.

273
00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:01,600
Think about how the day went.

274
00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:06,600
Even as a technician, if something got you that day and you didn't understand what the

275
00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:13,200
issue was, you had a hard time diagnosing it, hey, go home and think about it and see

276
00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:15,880
what you did wrong or call somebody and start.

277
00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:21,980
There's no excuses nowadays with podcasts, YouTube videos, Esco.

278
00:14:21,980 --> 00:14:25,760
There's no excuses now for you not to learn something.

279
00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:26,760
That's right.

280
00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:27,960
Other than you don't want to learn it.

281
00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:29,600
Then you don't invest the time.

282
00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:30,600
Yeah.

283
00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:31,600
Yeah.

284
00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:37,800
And so something that I tell my students is you really have to take the time to invest

285
00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:41,840
into yourself and go online and find all these resources.

286
00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:48,520
And whether it's a book, whether it's a podcast like this, whether it's on YouTube, like the

287
00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:52,040
Did You Know HVAC Esco show, right?

288
00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:56,360
There's so much knowledge out there now that there really is no excuse.

289
00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:57,360
No, there's not.

290
00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:00,040
Man, what a great analogy, Greg.

291
00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:06,240
That does put it into perspective that there are so many things that we have at our disposal,

292
00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:10,440
resources that are here and technology is what's changed those resources.

293
00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:14,960
We always get a lot of slack from our instructors, ones that have been around for a long time.

294
00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,360
I don't need to add technology into my classrooms.

295
00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:20,840
I don't need to add technology into my life.

296
00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:24,640
And for us that didn't grow up with technology, yeah, it's a little bit of a change.

297
00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:30,840
But when you find those resources and what they can do for you, technology is a beautiful

298
00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:31,840
thing.

299
00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:32,840
Absolutely.

300
00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:33,840
Yes.

301
00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:34,840
All right.

302
00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:36,620
Well, cool, man.

303
00:15:36,620 --> 00:15:37,920
So what's your plans?

304
00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:38,920
What's the next stage?

305
00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:42,800
I mean, you came into the field in a seven year period.

306
00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:44,980
You have started in the industry.

307
00:15:44,980 --> 00:15:47,940
You're now giving back as an educator.

308
00:15:47,940 --> 00:15:49,420
What's the next game up?

309
00:15:49,420 --> 00:15:53,240
To really just master this teaching stuff because it's difficult.

310
00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:54,240
Yes.

311
00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:56,680
It's got its own set of challenges.

312
00:15:56,680 --> 00:16:02,520
And I've been really just learning about myself more as a person because when you really have

313
00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:08,680
to teach somebody about what you're doing, it requires you not only just teach them about

314
00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:12,920
whatever trade you're teaching them about, but to really care about the student.

315
00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:13,920
That's right.

316
00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:19,440
And to really spend the time to learn who they are as a person, how they learn, you

317
00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:21,100
know what motivates them.

318
00:16:21,100 --> 00:16:25,760
All these things that I feel like as an instructor, if all you're doing is teaching a certain

319
00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:28,000
course, they may understand it.

320
00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:33,280
But if you can relate to them and dig into who they are as a person, what makes them

321
00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:34,280
motivated.

322
00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:35,280
That's right.

323
00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:38,560
I feel like that steps it up even further as an instructor or educator.

324
00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:43,760
If we think about when we were technicians out in the field, to become better at our

325
00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:50,520
jobs, we educated ourselves and we learned how to use new tools, tools for our trade.

326
00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:56,040
Because as we move into the classroom, we sometimes forget that we have new tools to

327
00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:57,040
learn.

328
00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:58,040
Yeah.

329
00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:03,920
And people skills, unfortunately, are some of the tools we have to learn.

330
00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:07,040
A lot of times we're in the field, we work with a group of people and we have certain

331
00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:15,560
expectations and that's about the extent of our emotional and personal development.

332
00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:19,840
Once we get into the classroom, now we have a lot of people, different backgrounds, different

333
00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:27,280
perspectives, and we have to learn to accept everyone and be able to communicate successfully

334
00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:28,800
with all of them.

335
00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:34,040
And that can be a challenge if you're not equipped with the proper tools.

336
00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:35,040
Exactly.

337
00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:36,040
Yeah.

338
00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:41,240
And like I said, that's another thing that I took away from HVAC Excellence Show was,

339
00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:46,120
you had people who were expressing themselves very clearly and talking about how really

340
00:17:46,120 --> 00:17:47,960
engaging the students.

341
00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:49,240
That's right.

342
00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:55,480
Which can sometimes be difficult because we're going over refrigeration and in reality, some

343
00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,760
of the stuff isn't exciting, but it's essential.

344
00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:00,760
It is.

345
00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:02,520
That is so true.

346
00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:03,520
All right.

347
00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:05,560
Greg Castro, thank you so much for joining us.

348
00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:11,800
And man, I look forward to hanging out with you at the 2024 National HVACR Education Conference.

349
00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:12,800
Absolutely.

350
00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:14,800
Looking forward to it, excited for it.

351
00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:15,800
We'll see you there.

352
00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:16,800
All right, my friend.

353
00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:17,800
Have a good day.

354
00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:18,800
All right.

355
00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:19,800
Thank you.

356
00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:48,800
Bye.