Carm Capriotto
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[00:00:00]
Barry: Carm, welcome to the podcast. Carm. Capto has been one of the people in my life that has been around for a very long time, and he gave me my first shot at. being on a podcast and, he gives a lot of people their shot, but he gives back more to the automotive aftermarket than anybody I've ever seen.
And he's the most, he's at least one of the most respected people in the automotive world, and I do count him as a friend. So welcome to the show, Carm.
Carm: How are you? Oh. Thank you. Those are, I'm gonna have to live up to those words. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. I'm great. I'm great. Ne never, never been busier or never been happier.
Thank you.
Barry: I love it. Busy and happy. He's productive and happy. I love it. So tell the folks. where did you get your
Carm: start? Oh, God, family business years ago. You know, the old story is, is we lived a block away from the business. And we'd come home from school, you know, the, the, the, the bus would drop us off and dad would say, you know, you'd have to be close to [00:01:00] teenager world.
And he said, what are you doing now that you're home from school? And I said, well, we're gonna go play BA baseball at this, you know, the, the diamond across from the house. And he says, no, you're coming down to work. And so of course all of this one day will be yours. So you just went to work because that's what it was.
It was a working entrepreneurial family. Yeah. What was the business and, It was an automotive, automotive parts distribution. And, you know, grandfather came over from Italy and started a feed store and, and then, yeah. Yeah. So, so you're second generation. I'm third, third generation. Okay. Yeah. I'm third generation.
Yeah. And, it was, it was amazing when I looked back and knowing what I'm doing now, knowing all the different roles that I've had almost every decade of my life. And when I look back, And I think of the entrepreneurialness of the family. They sold blocks of ice. Mm. They had a service station, a hardware store, a grocery store.
They were in construction. [00:02:00] They dug cellars. They delivered coal and fuel oil. And as, as, as life and technology in the world evolved, they just kept meeting. The call helped build the local church. It was grandpa who did all that while his two sons were off building, continuing to to run the businesses and.
Ultimately became an auto automotive distributor. When, when then, then I started to, come on the scene. But it was, my grandpa mm, who really was my mentor. I learned so much from him. I learned honesty and integrity, hard work. to this day, I think I do things in the effigy of Grandpa John.
Barry: Well, I'll tell you, you know, I've known you for a while and we've had, you know, we've been on podcasts, we've been, um, to, to dinner together.
You, me, my wife. Yeah. We have, yeah. Yeah. And so I, you exude this level of, [00:03:00] um, Core values, we would call it, we talked about it before we started the recording, but, and, and I was talking about how core values are just such a, sometimes they're just used to say, oh, these are our core values, and people don't really exude them or live them.
And I, and I can tell you that the things that you just said, from my experience, you exude them. And so that. Gives me hope because I have children. And to hear you talk about your, your granddad and your dad and, and then how you live. Like, I, I, I'm excited about that. And matter of fact, I, I know your daughter too, so I love this, um, how you're just, I, I, I just see this great family going down and I see it as a family business, and it gives me hope for other people in their family business.
Carm: So, Yeah. Thank you for that. So, so here I, here I was in a family business, grew up in it. Of course, we ended up selling the family business to a much bigger company and I went to work for them. And that's an interesting story and an evolution. But now I am, you know, Tracy is, Tracy is, is working for me in the, [00:04:00] you know, it never, it didn't become a family business until she said, yes, dad, I'll come to work for you.
And, and now, now, now we're a family business and having a blast working together. Just a blast. And she's becoming, you know, my role is to make her as, as an important influencer to the younger generation of our industry. And so we have her and a couple of other young millennials creating a podcast, not it's going to just kind of fit into what we're publishing, but we were at Apex hanging out and talking about this and I, and I said, what about the cool Kids club?
There you go. And she says to me, dad, what about the kids' table? And I looked at her and I said, oh, Thanksgiving. And we put the kids over at the kids' table. Yeah. And, and then we went to a meeting together and there's all these youngins hanging out with all these olden Yeah. And, and they're all looking at me like, oh, there's something here.
So [00:05:00] they did. Tracy and two others did. Their first episode hasn't been released yet, where they're just talking about the young perspective and the young view of the industry and. There's more and more young shop owners out there that are getting that second generation kick, or, yeah, buying, buying some of the, you know, some 30, 40 year old.
There's this great evolution going on in our industry. And the interesting thing is, Barry, the younger people are deciding to get educated, go to school, get a coach, get in a networking group because they don't know. That they don't know.
Barry: I love that. Or what They don't. And so she's leading, other young people, are they all on her panel?
I don't know if she does. She has a, she has a panel.
Carm: Well, she, her partner, she started with one. She started with one panel. And I think, I don't know if they're gonna change it up or not, Barry. I don't necessarily want to give every ounce of guidance to them. I want to watch it evolve because hundred percent.
yeah. I don't wanna pull every lever [00:06:00] level I want to see. I wanna see where the creativity of these people, and ultimately, you know, I may go out and say, well fix this, change that, do this. But I'm not ready to tell. I'm not, I don't wanna be the director to tell the actor how to play that role.
Barry: I love that.
I don't want, I don't wanna do that. So we, we skipped over and, and you're, you're pretty sly like this. We skipped over years of blood, sweat, and tears. So I'm gonna go back cuz you sold the business, the distributor business. Yeah. Yeah, right. Yeah. And
Carm: then what happened? And then I,I wanted to work at the next level.
It was the right thing for the family to do, and I sold it to, the, the large distributor that we were buying from. Mm-hmm. They wanted to continue to grow and buy stores, and they said, come in and help us do that. So I did and I wanted to work at the next level. Yeah. I had no clue what that meant. It was just something in my belly, Barry.
Yeah. There was something in my [00:07:00] gut that said there's, you know, living in a family business, we got four operations and you know, I think we were doing maybe 6 million, something like that. Signing a lot of paychecks every week. Yeah. It was before you could ever do a signature back, right. That sign all the paycheck.
Yeah. So it was like, okay, so I sell, I. I get moved into the corporate headquarters of this company, which happened to also be in Buffalo, really big, large national company. Yeah. Headquartered out of Buff and, um, it didn't take me long. To realize I was ill prepared, way Ill prepared, but I, there was one of those imposter syndrome things that was going on with me.
Oh my God, I can't believe it. I've got all these reports now and I'm, I'm actually working for someone and I never thought that I could or would it, I had to come to Turb with all of this stuff. What, what was
Barry: it that made you ill prepared?
Carm: Ill prepared for what? To have the kind of [00:08:00] reports and the territory that I was never going to be home and that I, and that people were gonna look to me for a level of leadership mm-hmm.
That I thought I knew and owned and had and, and that's when my gut, my intuition is one of my strongest things. Barry. Yeah. Good. You know, my, my sense of the world, my sense of my surroundings, your discernment. Thank you. Very good. Yeah, so I, I'll never forget it. It is so crystal clear in my mind right now.
I went to a Borders bookstore. Mm. I went to the leadership section and I said, pulling books off. I had no idea who any of these authors were, but I fell in love with this one book called Developing the Leader Within You. From John Maxwell, John C, and then right next to it was developing the leaders around you and bought both of them.
And I devoured them. And I said, this is [00:09:00] exactly, and then I started to follow Maxwell. I mean, I, I just became a disciple of his and started to realize that I didn't know what, I didn't know about leadership. It wasn't about, it wasn't about what I, what I did in this industry, what I was tasked to do. Right.
It was leading people. That's the run. And I thought I, and I thought I was a good leader back in my own business, but through osmosis I had a position. Yeah. Mm. And I think it was respected, but I'm not sure it was earned.
Barry: So level, level five leader. This is John Maxwell. Right? So you, you entered this new corporation.
At what level do you think.
Carm: Vice
Barry: President? Well, level one, level two, like level one, level two, level three, level four level. The five levels of leadership by John Maxwell.
Carm: Yeah, I, off the top of my head, I just can't remember 'em all right now, but I think I, it's fine. I, I probably entered it maybe a level three.[00:10:00]
Yeah, level. And,
Barry: and, and so level one is the, um, people follow you because of your position. Right, right. You, you have been given a title, it's positional Leadership. Right? Right, right. And then level two would be people follow you because of, of what you have done for the company. So, Level three. No, that's level that.
Level three is, is, is they follow you because of what they, you have done for the company. So I'm, I'm blanking on a couple of 'em right now, but they all begin with a p I'll just tell
Carm: you that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're,
Barry: you're right. I've never memorized anything. Can access. I can
Carm: look it. Yeah. It's, it's been a while.
It's, it's just been a while. Oh, a hundred percent. It's been a while. It's been a while for me on them books, but, but, I did at that time, and we're talking about 1998 here, Barry. That's little bit ago, right? A hundred percent. Yeah. It's a little bit ago. And you gonna see this hair? It was nowhere near this [00:11:00] color.
Yeah, it was, it was brown. Absolutely. And so I realized that if I was going to hold my position, if I was going to, you know, again, I. Leadership has influenced nothing more, nothing less. First paragraph, first chapter of that book. And it, it's like so hit me so hard. It was like I had got hit by brick wall.
Yeah. And I realized that I, I knew what I knew, but I needed to influence people to follow and I needed to get them to become better leaders too. Yeah. And, but, but anyway, those were some monumental moves in, in my life to, to do that. And, I'm not sure if you're happy with where my answers are, but here's, here's the thing that happened five years later, they sold to a public company.
Mm. And then what? And then, um, Number one, it was a French Canadian public company. Okay. So I just want you to throw all that around in the mix master and [00:12:00] realize what comes out the other end. It's, it's, it's more interesting than if it was a domestic public company, but it was French Canadian and they were, they were really looking for a huge piece of, of North America in the us markets.
Anyway. Great president at the time, I really respected him a lot. And now you are accountable to a whole new, um, if you will, top dog. And that top dog is the shareholder. Mm-hmm. Yes. And so I, that's a different level. I had to learn, thank God I had the five years before they sold and I was with 'em for 10 mm and as, as a vice president, so.
You know, on the strategic planning committees and all the quarterly reviews to support the CEO to go up to, you know, The shareholder meeting each and every quarter.
Barry: Yeah. So you, you said I wanted to be the next level, and then you went two levels up and that, so you got your wish two levels up.
Carm: They had, they had, they had me 7 24.
[00:13:00] Yeah. and, and I enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun, but it was so, so, so much work. Uhhuh and, and I, I don't. You know, part of the problems in, in many companies is this isn't working. So there's a new president, this isn't working, there's a new c e o, this isn't working. And yeah, you know, everybody goes out and they give it their best shot and lot of volatility in the, in the automotive distribution side during those years.
And I have been able to use all of that. Um, Conditioning molding. Gardening. Yeah. No osmosis, to do what I'm doing today. Yes. Because I, as, as much as, yes. Years and years ago, we did have a five Bay automotive service shop and a distribution company and a. Bulk oil plant. We, we, we were [00:14:00] very entrepreneurial in what we did as a family business.
And I took all of that. Now all of this other stuff is hitting me. So I'm sitting here in an industry with a business pod, business acumen podcast for people that really don't know what business is about to help them with it. Yeah. And I'm sitting here sometimes holding back. On much of the experiences that I've had, and recently, just today I had this great chat about strategic, plans and literally in the planning evolution of what happens, you know, strategic is the what and the planning is the how, and we were, you're just having this discussion.
Had I not had that work, like I had, I don't think I could have participated in that discussion. Yeah. What makes you that I, go ahead. No, go ahead. That you what? No, that. I've been there and done that, and I knew how tough it is in a very large company to get it done. In fact, I would can't imagine how tough it is [00:15:00] to have a strategic plan and a planning initiative and a smaller company, you know?
Mm-hmm. You know, four or five people, but yet, And the company's the size of AJ's. Mm-hmm. You know, you, you're talking a critical component to his success. Oh
Barry: yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. That's AJ Neely, who is, yeah. Yeah. really, he has five locations now. He went from one to five and it really 5.3 seconds it seems like.
But um, yeah, that, that another level of strategic planning, it's big. You said that sometimes you have to hold, that you hold back. What causes you to hold back?
Carm: Wow. Um, God, that is, that's a great question. What causes me to hold back? I, I don't wanna be overbearing. Yeah. I, I don't want to be the smartest kid in the room.
I. Yet, I will state my opinions in a soft, nice way and sometimes in a very gregarious way if, if, [00:16:00] if I'm passionate about something. But I, I want people to decide on their own. I want people to find the moment that changes them, without me pushing them too hard to realize it. So I, and, and I hold back because I'm really a humble person and I, I don't want anybody, well, it was Carm who, who helped me do that.
No, I, I wanted you to help you do that. Yeah, that's good. So, so I may hold back until they see the light.
Barry: So, yeah. So when you, so when you left the company, the French Canadian Now Company Yeah. Right? Yeah. The Distribu. Is that when you started your
Carm: podcast?
Barry: Yes. And, and what was, what was that like? Tell us
Carm: about that.
it was, it was, um, it, it is so deeply emotional, realizing that this crazy idea that I had, that I had to sell myself on, but here's how it happened back. When I was a young [00:17:00] man, I was on the radio in Buffalo and I was a DJ at clubs. I met my wife while I was clubbing and DJing. And so I, I had a portable, I did not know that I, I, yeah, I worked my butt off, with burning the candle at a million different ends, including being on the radio, doing all these other, other things.
And so when I got out of, when I got outta work, Barry working, working, I, um, I didn't wanna leave the way I left, it was an offer made, and, and I won't even go into how it happened, but that's another interesting story on its own. Yeah, it may, people may not be interested in that, but I'm all done and I say, okay, I got X amount of money.
I gotta learn to live off for certain amount of time and I gotta figure out what to do. Okay? I'm gonna become a voice actor. Really? Yeah. So I went to New York. I went to New York City for four days at the top studio, and I [00:18:00] participated with like a dozen other people in a, in a voice actor school and to say, can I do this and can I, and critiques, and we would, you know, we were playing as if we were actually doing voiceovers commercials and video stuff and everything.
And they come up to me and says, Hey, you may have a shot, but. You gotta hire a coach and you gotta develop a reel. And so I did. And then I said, oh, okay. Bought an expensive microphone, took this little area in the basement of my home and I built a nice sound condition studio and I worked for 30 days online doing um, auditions.
And I only got one in about. Let me see. 10 a day, 30 days, about 300 auditions a night. Sent out. You, you do 'em, you do 'em, you, you follow the director's things. You, you take the two sentences and you read 'em, and you send them up and you send them up and you send them up. And I got one. Hmm. And it was a local gig that I [00:19:00] ended up getting at a local studio.
And it was kind of fun. It was cool. I played a priest in a. P T S D environment Interesting kind of thing. Mm-hmm. I thought it was a lot of fun to do. And then I said, this isn't gonna cut it. The company, you're dealing, you're com, you're competing with like 17,000 people all over the world for, you know, yeah.
A job. And I looked around and I said, what else can I do this for? So don't ask me how I stumbled across the thing world called podcasting. It was maybe three years old at the time. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah.
Barry: It was a long, it was a while
Carm: ago. So, um, I said, wow, this would be so cool. What if I picked up the phone and I called somebody who's not my friend?
Mm-hmm. And I sold them on this idea. What do you think? So, Dave Riegel owns a shop in Pittsburgh. Been to his place a couple of times. He doesn't remember me for anything. I picked up the phone, he was writing in motor age, doing some really cool things, been following him, and I says, Dave, you don't remember [00:20:00] me, blah, blah, blah.
And I said, Hey, I'd love for you to come on. I've seen all the things you're doing and all the things you're writing. Come on and talk to, my podcast, listening audience if I ever have one. And tell 'em, tell 'em about your remarkable results. Wow. And that's thus
Barry: the name, thus the Markable Results Radio.
Carm: That's, that's remarkable. So he says, he says, yes, I do a fist bump. Hang up the phone, go to Anne, give her a big hug. Yeah. And say, I, I, I don't want to over anticipate this, but we may be on our way here. Cause she was believing, she was believing in me that, that I could do this. Yeah. And, and that was, eight years ago.
And 1200 some episodes ago. Yeah. Nice.
Barry: That, that, that, and now you're an entrepreneur again cuz you started out one, because you're basically, your family's like, Hey, guess what? You're an entrepreneur. Yeah. And now you're like, you jumped back into it. And so where are you guys today? [00:21:00] Like, what are you, what are you into?
I know that you're, you like, you, you said it earlier, like, my daughter, has a podcast and I'm like, you just skipped.
Carm: A long time. Well, so now, yeah, go ahead. Trace. Um, during a period of her, her life, she was, she, she moved back home for a while and, and I says, Hey, um, you wanna edit some podcasts? Yeah.
well, what's that like Dad, she watched me, she do one. She says, I can do that. So she started, Hmm. Most invaluable thing she ever did. Yeah, I remember she kept doing it. So I remember when, when that was happening. We talked. She did it. Yeah, she did it. She did it for years and she had another job so, We were growing and we were doing things and you know, Carm started with one podcast and then he did another one, yeah, a week.
And then I did another one, and then I did another. So I was doing four a week and I needed all this work and all this help. Wow. And, and then I finally said to her, come on. And you know, I, I made her a couple of offers over the years, [00:22:00] but she just wasn't ready. And then, I, I caught her at the right time when she was ready and I said, you know, when you come on?
I said, maybe within a year, once we get, you get your sea legs and we get this thing really working together, I've got this really wild idea to create the aftermarket radio network. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Now you've got multiple personalities, right? Yeah.
Barry: Well, not the disorder.
Carm: Not the disorder, not a disorder. That's really good.
But yeah, I, so I approached, Matt, Technician. Yep. My vision was that Matthew could talk about just about anything. Mm-hmm. I got him on and you know, we've done some of the most. Interesting and intimate podcasts with crying and weeping and stories that I never knew and the industry never knew. Mm. And interviewing people, it just, one of the most human sides of the automotive aftermarket than ever.
And the, the reason we call it diagnosing the aftermarket A to Z is because it's not all about the technical side of [00:23:00] the industry. It's about the, the personal side. Of of life that that exists in our industry. Then I approach, you know, then Chris Cotton, the coach and Hunt Demmer the accountant, and Kevin Brian Walker, the marketing people.
So we've got this incredible group and we produce eight shows a week. That's so good. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, and, and of course then Traci not having her own podcast, but getting intimate with what the shows that we're doing and, and adding this millennial perspective, which I think is, I, I, I'm a thinker. I'm a deep, I'm a strategic as my number one Gallup Clifton Strength strategic.
Yeah. And ideation is in there. Yeah. And responsibility is in there. And back, back when I took Strengths Finders, for the company, and I looked at that and I said, wow. that, those are very interesting. I'm not sure what they all mean and how they work and how they fit into my current job. And a year into being a podcaster, I took all those [00:24:00] notes back out.
I signed up for Gallop and I, the, it's on my phone. And I looked at that and I read it all and I go, oh my God, I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed
Barry: to be doing. Yeah. That's
Carm: good. And my, and your daughter knows this about me, by the way, and so I think she tolerates dad's ideas and think, and all this stuff.
I mean, just kind of driven, so she's just riding the rails with me. If I
Barry: had one word for you, it'd be multiplier. You're a multiplier. And so you've done that with your podcast. You, you, you've done that your whole life. You've done it with the company that you sold, you've done that with the company that you, that you that bought that, that, that bought your company.
Yeah. Yeah. Then you multiplied again, and now you, you're multiplied. Now you got multiple personalities. You're a multiplier. you have been that for me, I have grown and be able to go where I'm at because of, partly because of your influence. So, You're a multiplier.
Carm: Well, I never thought that through, but thank you for grounding me in a little [00:25:00] reality here.
I just, I can't wait to call Tracy and says, I figured Barry figured me out. Just for now.
For now. That is
Barry: just too cool. That is good. So where are you headed now? What, what's next for Carm? wow.
Carm: We're, we're, we're building a community. Yeah, an online community. Um, we're, we're, we have a, we're doing a cruise. We're actually doing, what are you doing? A cruise, A networking cruise on the Caribbean.
Oh, are you really? Yeah. Yeah. For, for our listeners and our podcast alumni and everything. Yeah. We're doing a, we're doing a cruise. These are these, these are these multiplier things. I never even thought of that. You know, I'm hanging out at a, at a, at a wake. And a good buddy of mine who used to work for me who, you know, left to go out and, you know, find some other parts of his career, went to Atlanta.
He came back for this particular wake and I'm standing next to him and says, didn't you do the travel agency stuff? He says, oh yeah, and I'm doing this, [00:26:00] and I'm doing that. I says, great. Kinda like me and I said, how tough is it to have a cruise? And it's that strategic? Think of mine. I wasn't ready.
But I'm always asking questions and I'm always taking those answers, and I'm always putting 'em in some kind of file cabinet. Barry, that is so good. Okay. And all of a sudden I talk to Tracy the next day and I says, cruise networking, cruise, a calm cruise on the high seas, calm cruise. When is that? In December.
December, we're getting
Barry: on a ground. We're going on a cruise. Just the family.
Carm: Yeah.
Barry: June 17th. So, we'll, we'll be, we're gonna be rocking. I
Carm: love cruises. Yeah. Yeah. Cruises are great. I love Good. It's so good. And so besides that, I, it's just the development, there's other people who wanna do shows on our network.
We've, we've actually, people are coming to us now. Yeah. And, and, you know, we may even go into production. And not just, you know, pro [00:27:00] producing for people that do their own thing because we're good at what we do. Yeah. So I'm not sure where the, the entire business is going to go. we, but our mission to advance the aftermarket and to help people be better at what they do mm-hmm.
In every. Possible area of life and business. Yeah, and I, I'm sure Barry, that there's a rock or two we haven't overturned yet. As, as much as we've done a lot of stuff. we, and, and I love to do live. I just love, love to do live interviews, you know, ver versus virtual, you're great at it. And,
Barry: and, and I've done some live interviews with you and it's just, it's a different energy, isn't it?
Carm: It is, it's, it's a very different, it's so, it is so much fun here. Here you and I have eye contact. Mm-hmm. But I don't think there's anything better than being in the same room. And, you know, you're three or four feet away. From that actual individual. Yeah. And you're seeing so much more [00:28:00] than just the facial expressions.
Barry: Well, the, here, here's my, my take on it. Like, one of the things that I know, like the first thing if I walked into your studio, or you, or, or you came into mine or, or we walked into a room, the first thing that I would grab is a hug from my friend. That's right. And that sets up a different, um, you know, a different vibe.
Just like, Hey, how are you? It's just a hug. You know, in our bar motto, we say, hugs not drugs. You know, that's the Right, that's the deal. And then so then, and there's, there's the just the, just the exchange and just the warmth. And, and then you, you're there, you, you, you laughing and it's just different. It's just different.
Carm: Yeah. And that's how I prefer to do. Yeah. That's how I prefer to
Barry: work with people too. And so it's, it's, it's done well. Yeah,
Carm: I'm a, I'm a hugger. And so yeah. Next steps is, succession with Tracy and, I wanna reinvent the aftermarket podcast genre. I, I just think there's, there's something, there's other things that can be done, [00:29:00] Barry, and the entire world of podcasting is going video.
Yes. And so we have to be in video and I think right now we may be at 50 to 55% of all the stuff that we're doing is going out video and we've gotta have one minute shorts on social media. And so, you know, thank God for trace and knowing and feeling and seeing that and having her technical prowess that she can produce all this great stuff for us.
So, um, yeah, that's, that's where we're headed. I'm really looking to reinvent the aftermarket podcast, John. Not for, you don't know what it means yet, but it, it's, it's in one of those drawers that. That I have in my mind one day I'll open one up and say, Hey, what do you think of this trace? And she'll say, no, dad.
And I'll say, okay, honey, I'll, I'll, I'll ask you in three weeks.
Barry: Let the, yeah. And let the multiplier do what he does. That's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Calm. It was, fantastic having you on. [00:30:00] I mean, time flies when I'm talking to you and,thank you so much, and for being on, so thank you
Carm: all. Great success to you and Nancy.
thank you so much for having me on. I'm honored. All right. See you later
Barry: buddy. Thanks, man.
I.
