Join the Refrigeration Mentor Hub here
Learn more about Refrigeration Mentor Customized Technical Training Programs at www.refrigerationmentor.com/courses
In this conversation, we’re joined by Tony Mormino, host of HVAC TV to discuss content creation and using social media and online platforms to educate the industry. Tony shares his journey, starting from sales to becoming a content creator, and offers tips for those new to creating content. He also talks about about the importance of providing value, maintaining authenticity in your content, and how platforms like LinkedIn have evolved as a way to uplift the entire industry by providing education and valuable information to masses of people in a way we weren’t able to before. Have a listen and be sure to Tony’s socials and subscribe (links below).
In this episode, we discuss:
-The rise of online content
-Creating value through content
-The importance of personal branding
-The evolution of HVAC TV
-Content creation tips and challenges
-Learning and teaching in hvac
-Engaging with your online community
-Getting comfortable on camera
-Content creation strategies and inspiration
-Editing and video quality
-Using content to train and educate
-Advice for new content creators
Helpful Links & Resources:
Book: Think & Grow Rich by Napolean Hill
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Trevor (00:00):
Welcome back to the Refrigeration Miter podcast. Super excited you're here. Thank you for taking the time. I really appreciate you taking the time to come and listen, hang out with the different guests that I talked to from all around the world.
Tony (00:01):
Great. First of all, thanks for having me. This is a lot of fun. And , we're, I was just explaining to you, we're back in our, our podcast office, so we are near Asheville, North Carolina, and we get hit by a little, well, a little like a biblical flood, , back in September.
Mm-hmm. Or it is a commitment as well. But you're doing a great job out there and I love seeing that more and more people going out and doing that, , capturing what's happening at these events and, and given the idea of what people can learn at, at coming to an event like that.
Right? Yeah. So we started doing it all on when that was right about the time LinkedIn Live came out. So I was like, Ooh, we ought to go on LinkedIn live. And of course, , I. As in with anything else that's new. There's like a lot of fear and hesitation should we be going and give it away all this content.
Trevor (00:04):
Yeah. That's what I love about it too is like getting the emails or the messages or people finding out about refrigeration med and coming to a training course and be like, holy smoke, no, there is this much. And it's just getting that, , that comfortable comfortableness of using these tools, right?
Like that says it all to me. And when you do that. You're not just out there selling all the time and you're like, look, here's how I've seen a hundred of your videos and I love the receivers and you got the, the part. Oh, some of it don't understand. 'cause I'm not on the refrigeration side, but, but they're very educational and they're, I like that they're quick.
But I just stayed on LinkedIn and now I see technicians and service managers and more contractors, which is good because this is a. It is a business type platform, but I, I feel like it's a very good educational platform. Mm-hmm. Where you want to come and learn specific stuff on it.
And I think so too. It's like that's where you can connect with people and ask some good questions. And you build your brand. That's a huge thing that's that's important. You, you are a technician in the field or a service technician, or you work in sales, a product project manager.
Yeah, exactly. So I, I know it's all good for about you in those rooms, but I know it's all good about, about you. So let's talk a little bit about some of your journey that going on, because back in, was this before or five years ago you started the HVAC tv?
Oh, let's do the, what I'm saying? It just kinda like, it just evolves when you follow these paths of, of giving back. And I remember my boss was like, we'd done some videos from like the lobby. He's like, man. What do you think about a podcast, Tony? And I'm like, who would listen to a podcast on HVAC?
well, it is, it is new and, and it, we gotta continue to evolve in those pla as the new platform comes out, we need to continue to make content. And it's different audiences. It's totally different people looking at it. And the same content doesn't work at all, all places. And, but the biggest thing that I know what works is just being real and true to, , your.
What I mean? It doesn't, yeah. Yeah. A person watch it if they got something from it, I'm happy about that, , but it's like, oh man, I thought I put a lot of work and effort in that. Yeah. Yeah. You got nowhere.
What I mean? Yeah, yeah. And I've done so many trainings over the last, say 10 years working for manufacturing, not, and even then they would do it even with the manufacturing themselves. And I went to this training a few years ago by, I. So-and-so, and man, it felt way different when I, you did the training because it, there was you, you weren't pushing anything on us.
So I, I did a newsletter and one of the things I was talking about is the, the reasons, the reason most people fail on online for content is because they're selfish. Like they're self, they're about, they're self-centered. They're not thinking of how is this valuable to the person I'm talking to? Not how am I gonna get a sale out of this post?
Because at the end of the day, I know I can help so many people out there. They just don't, some of them just. Don't know that there's op, there's options out there like that because the industry has been changing. Like there is way more like training online right now. Like the, I feel, the way I do it and the way people are telling me, it's like it's working.
Tony (00:15):
Yeah, a hundred percent. I don't get out enough around equipment anymore and it's really, I, I'm really losing my edge to be honest with you. I, I know psychometrics pretty well 'cause I teach it all the time, but my refrigeration side has been very lame and with me coming on here and like, we're gonna talk tomorrow on our podcast.
And boy, you wanna really understand the processes of air conditioning. That's a great way to do it. So,
I've been helping in teaching people how to create content as well. I did a, a course or two on creating content and using different app, and I think that there, what you said earlier was a, a good one is the, like the PT chart. Well, I get the PT chart. I made a post about it. So I had learn it a little bit and then share that knowledge and doing some research.
Am I wrong? Am I right or wrong? And it's just a great way to make content. And it's a humble way to say, look, I think this is right, but I'm not a service tech. I'm not in the field all the, all the time, so what do you think? So I was right, by the way, so it turned out, so it's good. Yeah. Good for you.
I've never seen this kind of pump. I just did that post the other day on TikTok and it did real well. But those kind of things and just be genuine and don't overthink it. Like I'm the worst overthinker, , engineers by nature. Like my wife says I could complicate a ham sandwich, right? Let's just like, gimme that.
Trevor (00:20):
And I think, I think that's great. I used to definitely overthink that stuff. It's like, oh man, I bought cameras. Lots of different cameras. Different mics and all trying all this stuff and spending all this money. And then that, it always came down to just if you got the latest iPhone, like their cameras are just incredible and a good, good mic like I use road right now.
They're, yeah. Yeah. Their quality. You notice, like, I don't notice as much as my wife. She's a photographer and stuff, and she does love the video for her, but she can tell in the images and the pictures, like the Christmas crisp. And stuff where, when you use like an iPhone or say an Android that has a good ca camera, there's a lot of AI in the background that's happening that we don't know about it, where a professional photographer will go in and they will just go into Lightroom or one of these platforms to really fine tune the picture.
They're a little bit boring. They're stuck in the old ways, and it's not a slam against them, it's just they haven't, they haven't done it a lot. So what I look for is that just try to have some fun, try to bring some value try to. See the equipment. I love when the equipment's there rather than just a, a, a flyer.
I think that's something that I do really well. I'm pretty sure that you do it quite well too, because having a big camera up in front of you is and the mic's in it, you don't use to that. It's, it's a lot. What I mean? So I think I think I, I heard a lot of comments from people or feedback to me.
I had a good time. Like, oh my gosh. How did you do that? Because I was, I did not wake up one morning and say, let me go live in front of 300 people on LinkedIn, all my peers and. Friends and everything. I mean, it's, it was, I, I, I had many times where I thought I was gonna pass out. Like that's how nervous I was.
And the thing is, is I was the same way when I first started when I was doing training for the manufacturer for the first time, I was felt sick to my stomach butterflies. And even after I've done it dozens of times. I would get up and I'd be practicing the night before for hours. Yeah. Presentations like so it's not, it is not like you just go and you wing it every, every time.
Like I wasn't learning. What I mean? So I think that's important too, is like how to do that research, how to find the answers quicker. And I, I'd preach that in my training programs because at the end of the day, I'm not there with them. And then it could be six months down the road. If you don't really always remember this one little 0.6 months ago in a program that you never really went and put your hands on, but they were like, what?
Tony (00:27):
So I, yeah, great question. I a couple different ways. I'm a big firm believer in something called document Don't Create. I do a lot of that. In other words, I explain my refrigeration. Education journey I'm reinvesting in, so I'm just gonna document that as the content, right? So that becomes the content, the life, the day in the life.
So creating it is, E is honestly creating, it can be easy. Bringing value is easy. It's the afterwards, the editing, that then is this the right messaging coming across? Because you, I wanna make sure that it's, , it's bringing the, that person, whoever's watching a lot of value. And I, I think spending a little bit more time for me and making that that video resonate is important.
Trevor (00:29):
Oh, yeah. No, I think that's huge. I've done that so many times. Mm-hmm. But it's like I've go out and we just shoot, just start recording. Let's just chat and let's see where it goes. And then it's like, man, that stuff was good.
So you can build, like I teach guys to build like little training videos for their company. So you're going up to the store and you're going into the system. It's gonna be that same store each time. So if you have someone else going to that store and you're not there, it'd be available. You've got this document of all these different things, okay.
Then I started getting it. And then I started reading faster. I started doing like speed reading and stuff, trying to learn how to read faster and , you're looking at lines and filler words, like a and the, and then you don't read those ones anymore because you're getting all the main points.
What are some of the tools that you use to, to get better? Do you do a lot of reading? Do you listen to a lot of podcasts? How do you kind of grow your knowledge within the industry itself?
To learn a whole new style. I remember it was only a couple years ago I got on TikTok 'cause I was like, I don't know how to make a vertical. I don't know how to do this. How do you do it? So I started doing it and if you look and like I love going back and looking at people's feeds who are real famous, who are doing well, and everyone starts the same way.
And, and it wasn't easy. Like he started out so long ago, the early mid two thousands, what I mean? He just seen it and just kept at it, and it didn't happen overnight. Like where he is at now is just. Yeah. In away, plugging away. All right. Because it was just him in the, in the wine store, right? How do, how do I market this a little bit better?
And just re, and it's so hard to rewatch your own watch, re rewatch my stuff. I'm just like, oh man, look at my face. What was I thinking at the time,
? That's the worst one you I did. I did that too. I did a video and I called it a weird. We're in front of a 2000 ton centrifugal chiller, which is a beast, right? And I was like, let's do a quick, , the four parts of the refrigeration cycle, compressor cycle, compressor, condenser, yada yada. And I called it a chiller coil rather than a chiller barrel.
I try to be my best at, at. Clarifying to you because it's easy to take. Mm-hmm. At a con context, especially in our industry. Well, I said that I can take this much soup eat, and then realistically that could be for a different refrigerant and causes issues in the system. So it's really getting that right information out there.
Just plug, I got tons of training 'cause summer's coming up. So usually from now till about June, beginning of July, it's just gonna be full on with training. Mm-hmm. Good.
just get it off the whiteboard, turn your camera on and talk about what that's important to your audience. That brings value. That's it. That's it. To start, my name is Tony. I've never done a video before. I'm gonna record this video. I'm gonna talk about A, B, and C. Here you go. I hope you find value in it.
That's how I posted my first video. My friend called me and said. I wanna do this. How do I do it technically? How do I record this and post it? I said, well, let's play around with it. And he go, I go, you're really gonna do it? 'cause at that time I was like, oh my gosh, you're really gonna do a little YouTube video.
And it is just, I don't like scripts. I'm not a script person. Me either. Yeah. I like to be natural when I, I have people that I, like, I do videos for, and they send me these, they spend time on this big, thick things that they want. Okay, we need to hit this point. Can you ask these questions? Like, no.
Tony (00:42):
Final thoughts? Man, thanks for having me. I love it. I love what you're doing. I can't wait to have you on the podcast, I think tomorrow 'cause I want to delve into refrigeration 'cause I don't know much about it.
Welcome back to the Refrigeration Miter podcast. Super excited you're here. Thank you for taking the time. I really appreciate you taking the time to come and listen, hang out with the different guests that I talked to from all around the world.
Tony (00:01):
Great. First of all, thanks for having me. This is a lot of fun. And , we're, I was just explaining to you, we're back in our, our podcast office, so we are near Asheville, North Carolina, and we get hit by a little, well, a little like a biblical flood, , back in September.
Mm-hmm. Or it is a commitment as well. But you're doing a great job out there and I love seeing that more and more people going out and doing that, , capturing what's happening at these events and, and given the idea of what people can learn at, at coming to an event like that.
Right? Yeah. So we started doing it all on when that was right about the time LinkedIn Live came out. So I was like, Ooh, we ought to go on LinkedIn live. And of course, , I. As in with anything else that's new. There's like a lot of fear and hesitation should we be going and give it away all this content.
Trevor (00:04):
Yeah. That's what I love about it too is like getting the emails or the messages or people finding out about refrigeration med and coming to a training course and be like, holy smoke, no, there is this much. And it's just getting that, , that comfortable comfortableness of using these tools, right?
Like that says it all to me. And when you do that. You're not just out there selling all the time and you're like, look, here's how I've seen a hundred of your videos and I love the receivers and you got the, the part. Oh, some of it don't understand. 'cause I'm not on the refrigeration side, but, but they're very educational and they're, I like that they're quick.
But I just stayed on LinkedIn and now I see technicians and service managers and more contractors, which is good because this is a. It is a business type platform, but I, I feel like it's a very good educational platform. Mm-hmm. Where you want to come and learn specific stuff on it.
And I think so too. It's like that's where you can connect with people and ask some good questions. And you build your brand. That's a huge thing that's that's important. You, you are a technician in the field or a service technician, or you work in sales, a product project manager.
Yeah, exactly. So I, I know it's all good for about you in those rooms, but I know it's all good about, about you. So let's talk a little bit about some of your journey that going on, because back in, was this before or five years ago you started the HVAC tv?
Oh, let's do the, what I'm saying? It just kinda like, it just evolves when you follow these paths of, of giving back. And I remember my boss was like, we'd done some videos from like the lobby. He's like, man. What do you think about a podcast, Tony? And I'm like, who would listen to a podcast on HVAC?
well, it is, it is new and, and it, we gotta continue to evolve in those pla as the new platform comes out, we need to continue to make content. And it's different audiences. It's totally different people looking at it. And the same content doesn't work at all, all places. And, but the biggest thing that I know what works is just being real and true to, , your.
What I mean? It doesn't, yeah. Yeah. A person watch it if they got something from it, I'm happy about that, , but it's like, oh man, I thought I put a lot of work and effort in that. Yeah. Yeah. You got nowhere.
What I mean? Yeah, yeah. And I've done so many trainings over the last, say 10 years working for manufacturing, not, and even then they would do it even with the manufacturing themselves. And I went to this training a few years ago by, I. So-and-so, and man, it felt way different when I, you did the training because it, there was you, you weren't pushing anything on us.
So I, I did a newsletter and one of the things I was talking about is the, the reasons, the reason most people fail on online for content is because they're selfish. Like they're self, they're about, they're self-centered. They're not thinking of how is this valuable to the person I'm talking to? Not how am I gonna get a sale out of this post?
Because at the end of the day, I know I can help so many people out there. They just don't, some of them just. Don't know that there's op, there's options out there like that because the industry has been changing. Like there is way more like training online right now. Like the, I feel, the way I do it and the way people are telling me, it's like it's working.
Tony (00:15):
Yeah, a hundred percent. I don't get out enough around equipment anymore and it's really, I, I'm really losing my edge to be honest with you. I, I know psychometrics pretty well 'cause I teach it all the time, but my refrigeration side has been very lame and with me coming on here and like, we're gonna talk tomorrow on our podcast.
And boy, you wanna really understand the processes of air conditioning. That's a great way to do it. So,
I've been helping in teaching people how to create content as well. I did a, a course or two on creating content and using different app, and I think that there, what you said earlier was a, a good one is the, like the PT chart. Well, I get the PT chart. I made a post about it. So I had learn it a little bit and then share that knowledge and doing some research.
Am I wrong? Am I right or wrong? And it's just a great way to make content. And it's a humble way to say, look, I think this is right, but I'm not a service tech. I'm not in the field all the, all the time, so what do you think? So I was right, by the way, so it turned out, so it's good. Yeah. Good for you.
I've never seen this kind of pump. I just did that post the other day on TikTok and it did real well. But those kind of things and just be genuine and don't overthink it. Like I'm the worst overthinker, , engineers by nature. Like my wife says I could complicate a ham sandwich, right? Let's just like, gimme that.
Trevor (00:20):
And I think, I think that's great. I used to definitely overthink that stuff. It's like, oh man, I bought cameras. Lots of different cameras. Different mics and all trying all this stuff and spending all this money. And then that, it always came down to just if you got the latest iPhone, like their cameras are just incredible and a good, good mic like I use road right now.
They're, yeah. Yeah. Their quality. You notice, like, I don't notice as much as my wife. She's a photographer and stuff, and she does love the video for her, but she can tell in the images and the pictures, like the Christmas crisp. And stuff where, when you use like an iPhone or say an Android that has a good ca camera, there's a lot of AI in the background that's happening that we don't know about it, where a professional photographer will go in and they will just go into Lightroom or one of these platforms to really fine tune the picture.
They're a little bit boring. They're stuck in the old ways, and it's not a slam against them, it's just they haven't, they haven't done it a lot. So what I look for is that just try to have some fun, try to bring some value try to. See the equipment. I love when the equipment's there rather than just a, a, a flyer.
I think that's something that I do really well. I'm pretty sure that you do it quite well too, because having a big camera up in front of you is and the mic's in it, you don't use to that. It's, it's a lot. What I mean? So I think I think I, I heard a lot of comments from people or feedback to me.
I had a good time. Like, oh my gosh. How did you do that? Because I was, I did not wake up one morning and say, let me go live in front of 300 people on LinkedIn, all my peers and. Friends and everything. I mean, it's, it was, I, I, I had many times where I thought I was gonna pass out. Like that's how nervous I was.
And the thing is, is I was the same way when I first started when I was doing training for the manufacturer for the first time, I was felt sick to my stomach butterflies. And even after I've done it dozens of times. I would get up and I'd be practicing the night before for hours. Yeah. Presentations like so it's not, it is not like you just go and you wing it every, every time.
Like I wasn't learning. What I mean? So I think that's important too, is like how to do that research, how to find the answers quicker. And I, I'd preach that in my training programs because at the end of the day, I'm not there with them. And then it could be six months down the road. If you don't really always remember this one little 0.6 months ago in a program that you never really went and put your hands on, but they were like, what?
Tony (00:27):
So I, yeah, great question. I a couple different ways. I'm a big firm believer in something called document Don't Create. I do a lot of that. In other words, I explain my refrigeration. Education journey I'm reinvesting in, so I'm just gonna document that as the content, right? So that becomes the content, the life, the day in the life.
So creating it is, E is honestly creating, it can be easy. Bringing value is easy. It's the afterwards, the editing, that then is this the right messaging coming across? Because you, I wanna make sure that it's, , it's bringing the, that person, whoever's watching a lot of value. And I, I think spending a little bit more time for me and making that that video resonate is important.
Trevor (00:29):
Oh, yeah. No, I think that's huge. I've done that so many times. Mm-hmm. But it's like I've go out and we just shoot, just start recording. Let's just chat and let's see where it goes. And then it's like, man, that stuff was good.
So you can build, like I teach guys to build like little training videos for their company. So you're going up to the store and you're going into the system. It's gonna be that same store each time. So if you have someone else going to that store and you're not there, it'd be available. You've got this document of all these different things, okay.
Then I started getting it. And then I started reading faster. I started doing like speed reading and stuff, trying to learn how to read faster and , you're looking at lines and filler words, like a and the, and then you don't read those ones anymore because you're getting all the main points.
What are some of the tools that you use to, to get better? Do you do a lot of reading? Do you listen to a lot of podcasts? How do you kind of grow your knowledge within the industry itself?
To learn a whole new style. I remember it was only a couple years ago I got on TikTok 'cause I was like, I don't know how to make a vertical. I don't know how to do this. How do you do it? So I started doing it and if you look and like I love going back and looking at people's feeds who are real famous, who are doing well, and everyone starts the same way.
And, and it wasn't easy. Like he started out so long ago, the early mid two thousands, what I mean? He just seen it and just kept at it, and it didn't happen overnight. Like where he is at now is just. Yeah. In away, plugging away. All right. Because it was just him in the, in the wine store, right? How do, how do I market this a little bit better?
And just re, and it's so hard to rewatch your own watch, re rewatch my stuff. I'm just like, oh man, look at my face. What was I thinking at the time,
? That's the worst one you I did. I did that too. I did a video and I called it a weird. We're in front of a 2000 ton centrifugal chiller, which is a beast, right? And I was like, let's do a quick, , the four parts of the refrigeration cycle, compressor cycle, compressor, condenser, yada yada. And I called it a chiller coil rather than a chiller barrel.
I try to be my best at, at. Clarifying to you because it's easy to take. Mm-hmm. At a con context, especially in our industry. Well, I said that I can take this much soup eat, and then realistically that could be for a different refrigerant and causes issues in the system. So it's really getting that right information out there.
Just plug, I got tons of training 'cause summer's coming up. So usually from now till about June, beginning of July, it's just gonna be full on with training. Mm-hmm. Good.
just get it off the whiteboard, turn your camera on and talk about what that's important to your audience. That brings value. That's it. That's it. To start, my name is Tony. I've never done a video before. I'm gonna record this video. I'm gonna talk about A, B, and C. Here you go. I hope you find value in it.
That's how I posted my first video. My friend called me and said. I wanna do this. How do I do it technically? How do I record this and post it? I said, well, let's play around with it. And he go, I go, you're really gonna do it? 'cause at that time I was like, oh my gosh, you're really gonna do a little YouTube video.
And it is just, I don't like scripts. I'm not a script person. Me either. Yeah. I like to be natural when I, I have people that I, like, I do videos for, and they send me these, they spend time on this big, thick things that they want. Okay, we need to hit this point. Can you ask these questions? Like, no.
Tony (00:42):
Final thoughts? Man, thanks for having me. I love it. I love what you're doing. I can't wait to have you on the podcast, I think tomorrow 'cause I want to delve into refrigeration 'cause I don't know much about it.
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com