Entrepreneur Giuseppe Cicorella is a self-made businessman with an extraordinary story behind his success. He was born to a poor yet happy family in the village of Conversano, a small community in Puglia. He traveled from southern Italy to the chic, famous city of Milan then found new opportunities upon moving to the United States. Cicorella shares the five most valuable lessons he has learned and how they influence everything he does.
Success Isn’t Measured in Money
Giuseppe Cicorella grew up taking bread and tomatoes to school, his family eating meat only on Sundays. He and his younger brother wore hand-me-down clothes provided by their older cousins. Cicorella began looking for work at the age of 9, yet has fond memories of his childhood as it taught him the value not just of money but of everything he has in life. He used to equate wealth with Ferraris and Rolexes, today success is measured differently for him. Cicorella has adopted ten children from Madagascar, donates to orphanages, and helps the homeless. He claims these actions make him feel more prosperous than any amount of money could.
Prepare Yourself for Obstacles
When he came to Milan from Puglia, Giuseppe Cicorellafaced many challenges. There is a great deal of discrimination between northern and southern Italy. Immediately upon his arrival in Milan, Cicorella found a job as a real estate agent, but no one wanted to rent a house from someone with his accent. He refused to let this get in the way of his goals, and soon, this ambitious visionary was selling properties that topped 500,000 euros. In less than five years, he took over the organization he was working for and opened two more locations in Milan.
Never Give Up
Perseverance can go a long way in defining what we make of our life and what it makes of us. But it’s not an easy virtue or trait to acquire. One, it seems, is either born that way or has todevelop the patience of a saint in order to persevere, to sustain and lie patiently in wait for success. Giuseppe belongs to the former category. His birth in a small Italian village and the constant yearning for more than a decade to get out of there and find a bigger home for his dreams catapulted at age 17 into a world of greater possibilities; Milan. In Milan, he felt a natural pull towards real estate and decided to go head-first into this unpredictable world. For the next 25 years, it was his perseverance that helped him become one of Italy’s most prominent real estate agents.
Your Experience is Your Greatest Asset
Who is to say what drives us? Is it luck, fate or a bit of both? It’s often seen in the lives of those who dare, who believe in the youth of the mind, a desire to take new challenges. When most people would have believed that they’d arrived, Giuseppe would feel that he was just getting started. After 25 successful years in Italy, he decided he needed to spread his wings once more. So at the age of 40, Giuseppe and his wife decided to move to America and explore the American real estate scene. And once again, he found himself in unknown waters, in a world where he did not speak the language or understand the customs; a country that will test his perseverance like no other. But he survived and after failing the realtor test 7 times, he finally found the chance to prove him mettle on the American soil. The experience he gained here, he believes, “sharpened his focus, brought things into perspective and refueled my perseverance. It’s an experience I will value forever.”
Embrace Your Passions
Today Cicorella has not only been a part of over 100 businesses, but he is also pursuing his passion for motivational speaking. He is lauded as one of Italy’s top 10 speakers and has written articles in major newspapers. He calls himself lucky to teach people how to embrace their strengths, realize their dreams, and become successful. Giuseppe Cicorella encourages people to embrace and pursue their passions by using their unique power & potential.
Cicorella came to a new country with a different language, customs, mentality, and way of doing business. Having the skill but not communicating his abilities was frustrating, but he persisted in breaking barriers and becoming more successful than he was in his native Italy. It has been a long road, but Giuseppe Cicorella cannot imagine taking another path to this point in his life.
