SHOWCASE
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14 | JAN/FEB/MAR 2012
HONESTY AND COURTESY PAVE MICK CIPOLLA’S JOURNEY
By Chary Southmayd
Mick Cipolla is quick to tell you that he’s not all that smart. That’s just before he paraphrases Albert Einstein, explaining that part of what led to his business success is his total disdain for authority, and the fact that he has “ADD, ADHD, HBO and all that stuff.” This is not a guy who professes to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. This is a guy who learned early in life to embrace challenges and to find a way around every brick wall that he might encounter. And, he insists that there is always a way to get around every obstacle.
Cipolla, 49, is the owner of Courteous Car Care of Largo LLC, which he purchased in February of 2003 by way of an ad on the Internet. The previous owner was asking $160,000 for the business and though Cipolla wanted to relocate to Florida from upstate New York, he knew that the asking price was way out of line.
So he walked away, which is a key to his success and problem-solving ability. “Sometimes you just have to walk away,” Cipolla said. “Come back to it later. Don’t ever give up.”
The shop owner eventually contacted Cipolla and told him to make him an offer of anything over $1 and the place was his. This savvy guy (the one who insists he isn’t all that smart) did the necessary due diligence and wound up offering $65,000 with $5,000 down. The offer was accepted.
An uncanny twist of fate secured the $5,000 Cipolla needed for the down payment. The night before he left to fly down to Florida from New York to make the deal, Cipolla was notified that he had won the first place prize in a fundraising drawing at Union Endicott High School, where he had graduated years before. The prize was $5,000. By the way,
he also won the school drawing the previous year. Clearly, when opportunity knocks, Mick Cipolla is the one answering the door.
So, at age 40, with his two children grown and now ready for a life change, Cipolla began his bold adventure in Florida. “I packed up everything I owned in my truck. I didn’t know where I wanted to live, so I hooked up my travel trailer and moved to a city where I knew one person who I hadn’t seen in 13 years … no customers, no nothing, he said”
Cipolla had been told the shop did about $20,000 a month in business. Not even close. For the first 10 days he owned it, the phone never rang - not once. He was beginning to second guess his business decision, but he also knew it wasn’t all bad. The heavily traveled location on Ulmerton Road had high visibility and he could see potential.
“I saw the forest through the trees when I bought the place,” he said. “I knew the guy (previous owner) had a lousy reputation, but I knew I was in the most populated county in the state. I did all my demographics.” Step one was to change the name from Courteous Car Care Inc. to Courteous Car Care of Largo LLC, thereby allowing Cipolla to retain the good relationships that had been previously established, while separating himself from the bad. The shop was a mess, so Cipolla launched an extensive cleaning and remodeling. He was off and running.
Mick Cipolla learned about cars, self-sufficiency and to embrace challenges as a boy growing up in Endicott, N.Y. His father, Mike, who had a huge influence on Mick’s life, taught him that car repairs are all based on logic and engineering. Mike would take a broken part out of a car and tell his son to rebuild it. It was a terrific, hands-on lesson. Later, as a teenager working in an auto parts store, Cipolla started his first business, installing car stereos and alarm systems for customers who had bought the equipment, but had no idea how to install it.
Eventually he accepted a job from a corporate-owned Goodyear store in Binghamton, N.Y., where he quickly ascended to management. “That’s where I learned I never want to work for a corporation again,” he said. Recalling those nightmarish years in corporate life, it becomes clear that total honesty is another aspect of Cipolla’s character
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