STEFANO DUTTO
Entrepreneur | Doorbusters
The story of STEFANO DUTTO - Entrepreneur | Doorbusters
My name is Stefano Dutto and my business was born out of a dream, three children, a wife and a small van with a few tools.
I didn't have much, but I had one conviction: I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to build something great, starting from nothing.
At the start I wasn't alone. The company was founded together with my brother-in-law: two different visions, but the same desire to build something important. Then, within less than a year, we went our separate ways. It was a fast but decisive turning point, because it forced me to take full responsibility for my dream and for the direction I wanted to give my business.
The first years were an uphill race, full of sacrifices but also of enthusiasm. The results came, and for a while I thought that was enough: work, run, always do more.
Then, two years ago, an opportunity came my way that I hadn't really gone looking for, but which I immediately felt as a calling: joining Private Community. I didn't know exactly why I'd said yes, but something told me it was the right moment to stop and understand.
I still remember the first shock: the Mindset Booster and the Skillset Booster swept me off my feet. They weren't simple courses, but experiences that forced me to look within. I understood that I hadn't started my business on a bet, as I'd always thought, but out of calling.
Private gave me something I'd never truly had: awareness. It made me understand I was already an entrepreneur, with a vision, a heart, and the drive to grow.
Today I have three vans, a warehouse, a real team, my wife by my side, and two employees I feel are part of me. But the most important thing isn't what you can see. It's the calm with which I face things, the clarity I've built along the way.
One of the deepest changes was with my wife. I thought she wanted to be an active part of the business, while she just wanted to help me, without feeling the weight of it. That misunderstanding had created tension and frustration between us. In Community I was able to talk about it honestly and listen to other entrepreneurs going through the same dynamics. That's where I understood: she didn't want to be my business partner, she just wanted to be by my side. From that moment, everything changed. Today we work together in harmony, with mutual trust and respect.
There were tensions in my team too. One member of staff kept trying to outshine the others, and that had created resentment. During a Community discussion, someone told me: "Ask Combine®." So I decided to try it. I took the company's mission and vision, literally tore them into pieces, and asked each member of staff to pull out a part. That exercise, which started as a technical one, brought everything to the surface: the problems weren't about the business, but about the relationships. And we untangled them. One person chose to leave, and the others became my true right hands. Not just staff, but allies.
Another powerful lesson came on a Saturday morning, at seven o'clock. I had a complex problem and a Community member offered to help me with a financial analysis. By the end of the session I felt almost guilty and asked him how I could repay him. He answered: "Every time I see you, you help me out." Those words struck me deeply. I've always seen myself as the joker, the one who makes people laugh, and I understood that lightness can be valuable too, that even my presence can be of use to someone.
Private also taught me to protect my time. Today I share my calendar with my wife and my staff. It sounds trivial, but it changed everything. It's made us more organised, more present, more aware. And it's given me back space for myself. I've gone back to playing football, aches the next day and all, but with the joy of someone who feels alive again.
When I started out, I took jobs anywhere: Paris, Palermo, Ancona, Tuscany. Today I want Doorbusters to grow in my own territory, Cuneo. I want people to know who we are and what we do. And on this too, in Community, I received a lesson I carry with me: "Learn to say no. It'll help you sleep better."
In Private people often tell me that when I speak, I get "a few slaps". And they're right. They're the kind of slaps that wake you up, that bring you back to who you really are. Because when everyone tells you "well done", you don't grow. But when someone looks you in the eye and asks: "Have you thought about this? Are you sure?", that's when you really start to fly.
Private isn't just a place. It's a mirror. It's honest dialogue. It's a space where a craftsman can sit next to an entrepreneur with five hundred employees and feel like an equal. Because here it's not about how much you do. It's about who you are.