Back in 1980, 25 year old Joe Marconi bought a shuttered garage in Mahopac and put his life-long mechanical skills to work.
“I knew how to take a car apart and put it back together,” said Marconi. One thing the mechanic didn”™t know: how to keep the business growing once it got off the ground.
Because his customers liked his work, Osceola Garage grew in reputation and popularity, but working 17 hour days became a ritual that strained Marconi and his family to the limit. By 1991, the then-36-year-old was burning the candle at both ends. “I realized I knew all about cars, but not much about the other end of business. I wanted to be good at both ends of the business. It was time to go back to school.”
That”™s exactly what Marconi did, devouring books on how to build a business, avoid mistakes, change your personal paradigm and learn to manage time.
“There wasn”™t a book I didn”™t read,” said the garage owner. “I wanted to have a successful business, but I realized in order to do that, I had to educate myself to make that happen.” Night classes, free seminars at local high schools, and a two-year night course on automotive administration helped Marconi learn to formulate the business acumen he needed to clear the next hurdle.
“I wanted my business to be a success. I had a great relationship with my customers, but I didn”™t know how to run the technical end of the business. If I wanted to keep going, I had to learn.” And that”™s exactly what Marconi went out and did.
Reading not only quenched Marconi”™s thirst to better his business, but in the process he developed his own rules for success. Among them: setting clearly defined goals and creating deadlines to achieve them; striving to be the best in your field; surround yourself with great people; and perhaps most pertinent to these tough times, remaining positive and upbeat. “Focusing on the negative will only make things worse,” is part of Marconi”™s 12-step formula for being successful. “When you focus on the positive, you”™ll find a way to make it through the worst of times.”
Although armed with a positive attitude and newfound skill sets, Marconi said the most challenging part of his personal business makeover was creating his business plan. “That took nearly a year,” he said. “So much goes into it, things you”™d ordinarily not take into consideration.
“I had to start figuring out how many others were possible competition, the average age of my customers, what kind of cars they drove, the frequency of service, what I could project as potential business in the future and how to capture that business. So many details to consider and weigh, no matter how trivial, became essential.”
Marconi”™s desire and drive to grow his original three-bay garage and take it to the next level has paid off. When he approached Bill Dunkel, the commercial loan officer at Mahopac National Bank in Carmel, Dunkel was not only amazed at the time and effort Marconi had put into his business plan, “I told him if he ever decided to tutor a course, I have plenty of prospects who could use the help,” laughed Dunkel. “Seriously, he”™s been an amazing and gracious person to work with; he”™s got concrete values and goals. He wants to bring his customers the best and he wants to do it the right way.
“Like most community banks, we watched as others gave away money during the subprime years,” said Dunkel. “We stuck to our core values as a bank, and I”™m proud to say Mahopac had its best year ever in 2008. We are here for our business community, and people like Joe are a perfect example of dedicated owners who want to build their business and have set out clearly defined goals and done their homework.” Mahopac National Bank loaned Marconi slightly more than $1 million to grow his business. “I think his (garage) will be one of the largest in the county now that it”™s completed,” said Dunkel. “And we”™re sure Joe is going to make a success of it. He”™s got the drive and determination to make it. It was a pleasure to work with him and to continue working with him.”
On April 25, the young mechanic who came to Putnam County from the city back in 1980 will celebrate the grand opening of his new 10-bay garage on Route 6, as well as his nearly three decades in business.
“Exciting? Yes!” said Marconi, who said it was worth all those nights of reading, writing and learning a new kind of arithmetic. “It took me time to get here, but it was all worth it. For people who are in the same boat I was in, I have only one suggestion: find out how other people created their own success and learn from their business models. They made mistakes, and are willing to share how they solved them. For people who don”™t have the luxury of going to college and letting someone else run their business, you can do it on their own. It doesn”™t take an Einstein ”“ just the desire to be successful,”
