Delivering Success: Haus of Logistics

Ruby.

Every boss knows that a call after hours rarely bodes well.

If my phone rings after six, I get nervous.

That's especially true in Q McNeil's kind of work. Her company, House of Logistics, has thirty five trucks on the road. One day, one of her drivers took the truck well a little off roading.

I received a phone call telling me one of our drivers just hit a tree. The first tree he made contact with took the side mirror off, broke the glass, bent the driver's door.

The truck was totaled, the packages were scattered. The driver fortunately was fine, but he was shaken up.

My ops manager, he's standing there with his hands on his wheel. Looking at me, because he's waiting to see me just explode.

They called the police, a tow truck, and medical services to make sure the driver was safe. After they had all the photos they needed from the scene, everyone was sent home. The next day, Q and her ops manager caught up about the accident.

He was like, miss cute, you were so calm out there at the scene of his accident.

Good managers know how to solve problems even when others get emotional. Great leaders know how to solve problems while they manage their employees' emotions and their own emotions at the same time.

So you asked me a question about what do I do to keep it together? That is when you want to go into a moment of silence and solitude.

By this point, Q was well practiced. House of Logistics was only six months old, and she had already dealt with an inventory of challenges. Staff had turned over, some trucks had run into trees, and most notably, her business partner had left just a month into its operations. And there's more to it, just wait. House of Logistics was all on her. Fortunately, Q is a masterclass in resilience. Welcome to the Unshakeables from Chase for Business and Ruby

That is fantastic. Well, we've welcomed you to come down, especially during Marty Gras.

Yeah, I know, come on down. All right, let's get into this show. This is House of Logistics from Birmingham, Alabama. Now I have some personal ties to the state, so I'm really excited to do an episode about Alabama. We were lucky enough to find an incredible business owner, Quanetta McNeil. The first thing I learned about her when we met was that no one calls her Quanetta. Quanetta, it is so nice to meet you. I understand that most people call you Q. May I call you Q.

Absolutely everyone calls me Q.

The second thing I learned was about the name of her company its house of Logistics spelled HAUS.

The foundation of the company was established to keep my team fully informed. I run a transparent operation and typically transparency resides in your home right, and so I have my leadership team that I developed from the start of my operations, identifying them as drivers. They became the heart of the house. So we wanted to be a little different. In the street version for a house means someone that does things ridiculously well.

Q has a ton of experience in business and entrepreneurship, so it was no surprise to hear that she does her job ridiculously well. She bounced around a bit at the start of her career. She joined the military, she worked in HR she taught business to seventh graders, and then started a virtual assistant company supporting small businesses and individuals, an opportunity that took her all the way to the Caribbean.

I loved traveling and started helping couples with planning their special occasions such as their anniversaries, weddings all across the Caribbean market. And while I was in Jamaica, I was approached by Pepsiicola to do contract negotiations for them in the hotel industry.

There, she'd made so many connections with vendors, hotels, and decision makers across the island that another beverage company saw huge potential in her.

Eventually, Heineken came into the Jamaican market and they recruited me to come over and maintain relationships that I had established with the hotel industry. I worked with both the manufacturing and distribution side of the business.

Now we're only about four minutes into this episode and Q has already used the word relationships several times. It's key to her business story, and.

I think that's what keeps me alive. It tickles me. I do not meet strangers.

A lot of folks tend to think of connections as a soft skill, perhaps less important than other things when running a business. I disagree, and Q does too. Her ability to create relationships has served her exceptionally well, both personally and professionally, so much so that it led to what was likely the most important professional call of Q's life.

So I got a call from a large US retailer and they gave me an opportunity to return back to the US. I came in in the corporate space as a senior business coach supporting other small businesses. They were also launching their delivery service partner. These were small business owners that had been contracted out to do their deliveries from their warehouse to customer's door and or to commercial spaces.

Interesting because I think of them as doing their own deliveries, but it sounds like they don't do all their own deliveries. It's a mix.

No, they do not. They use tharred party contractors to facilitate the last mile of their delivery.

So Q is coaching small business owners in what's called last mile delivery. This is what those in the business call it when packages are picked up from a main distribution center and put on the trucks to get to your door. And a funny thing is happening when Q is coaching these folks. They tell her that she should get in the game too. This is people who would be your competitors encouraging you to come compete.

Yes, the small business owners would encourage me to start up my own operation.

Q loved coaching the small business owners, but really wanted to own her own business, so she decided to apply This process is a little more involved than when you click easy apply on LinkedIn.

Well, it starts with the application process, and while you're applying, you really have to be developing your company, like you have to get it to creation mode at the same time, because you have to be able to present your idea in terms of how are you going to run a logistics company, how are you going to overcome the challenges that are going to come your way, how are you going to deal with your fleet, how are you going

Q turned to the small business owners to pressure test all of her ideas. They offered up a lot of advice, and all of them have a different strategy. You have a lot of strong business leaders that have mastered their way of what success looked like for them. I had an opportunity to learn from many of them in terms of what work and what does not work. I also saw some of them have partners such as their spouse for example, that are in this with them. I was

Yeah, I think to work for a company particular, to be in the area where you are helping other businesses to be successful within that company, and then to have the opportunity to actually be a vendor and a part

Thank you, Gia. I want to pivot a little bit to Q for a second. Now she's an employee, but she still has to go through this whole application and vetting process. So she works there, but she has to make a case for why she should be one of their last mild delivery vendors.

I was successful with the application process and they extended a contract to me to leave the business and start my own logistics company. And we launched on the thirtieth of August.

Wow, so just over year ago. About a year and a month ago now because it's early October, so not that long ago.

Not that long ago, all right.

So Q, armed with tons of knowledge from others in the same industry, launched House of Logistics on August thirtieth, twenty twenty three in Birmingham. She returned home CEO of her own company, and of course it was smooth sailing from day one.

Oh no, it is a lot of work to start up a logistics business. They want partners that are willing to accept the challenges and a partner that is willing to grow.

Okay, now, you had something personal going on in your life at the same time, right.

Yes, the personal side of my life, I mean, why you're doing this. Life still happens, right.

Yeah, Life happens all the time. Just before launching her company, Q got married. She and her partner went into the marriage as they launched this company together.

We were married one month before we launched. We didn't have a honeymoon. The business was our baby. You know. We had conversations around the challenges that's going to present themselves. It was a very intense period. It did require both of us to be very committed to what was necessary to get the business up and off the ground running, but led to, you know, this tension.

They had decided prior to launch that Q would handle the business part of running everything, and he would manage the fleet and their operations. She asked him to give six months to get the business up and running and then they could properly celebrate their love. To Q, this was a sacrifice she was more than willing to make.

I absolutely loved my job. And I think when you're doing something that you enjoy, when you're doing something that you're passionate about, I think you come to the table differently. I kind of felt like I wasn't thinking about myself to be because this was part of who I felt like I was, If this makes any sense. I love people so much that I felt like I was investing

Her husband, though, didn't share the same passion for the business.

You have to have your own drive. I can't give that to you. I don't know if the challenge was that I knew more when I was training my team, I was also training him. I don't think we ever really sat down and absorbed and talked about how are you feeling about this? Unfortunately, my marriage did not survive that.

Two months into the life of their company. Sadly, their marriage fell apart.

I had to get up and be at work morning and carry on.

Wow.

You know, by the business being so young, I literally had to go in, I had to dispatch, I had to carry on operations as business as usual. I really didn't have that room to figure out what just happened.

Right, You couldn't grieve essentially, no, Wow, And you also lost a business partner and someone who carried some of that load, correct. I mean, that's a big moment, huge for you for the business, for everything. Tell us how you got through.

That, and even my staff, you know, and even managing you know who they interact with every day. I have to remind myself whenever these challenges come up, why did I start this. The good thing is that part of my business plan that I had written, I did put my heart and soul in this document. I was able to remind myself why, and when things was not working out personally, I had already got this in motion. I stayed'su to the plan.

This is really interesting, Q, because we've had some people on the show who sort of have more of the Mike Tyson approach to life, which is everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face, right, and then you just have to sort of wing it, Whereas you've taken quite the opposite approach, which is I have a plan, and when I get punched in the face, I'm going to go back to the plan. I'm going

This is what I needed to do, This is what I needed to stick to. Now we have also had to make changes because as we've grown as a company, I also had to adjust. But the core portion of it remains the same.

And do you still own one hundred percent of the business and.

I still, oh, one hundred percent of the business.

Gee, I think we have to take a moment here. You know, people generally take time off to deal with personal emergencies. Of course, I encourage my own team to do the same. Family comes first, but entrepreneurship can be a different beast. You don't have a safety net. There's no one else to call or show up and take care of the business if you're not there.

Right, That's very true. It's another sort of relationship, kind of like a marriage, one that absolutely requires one hundred percent commitment in order to succeed.

I'm really stunned by her commitment. I mean, she talked about it a lot, but that commitment to a plan and clearly like what she thinks of as a plan is not what a lot of people think of business plan is a lot of people think of business plan is a few notes on a page. She thinks it's a lot more. And I it sounds like from what she said, if she hadn't had that, she'd have been in real trouble.

Yeah, it did sound that way.

You know.

I think that her having the understanding that you've got to have that strategy somewhere where you can look at it. Sometimes, when you get in the weeds as an entrepreneur, particularly when you're going through challenges and you're in a growth stage, it's really easy to get distracted about why you're doing something and why you made the decision to do it

It was sort of implicit in the story, but clearly she went into business with family. In this case, it was her fiance slash husband for a period of time. Family businesses have their own challenges, but talk to us about what the dynamics are that are different about family businesses and frankly, what kind of protections people might need as a result of that.

The first thing I thought when she said that was attorney attorney. Attorney attorney, like making sure that the details of that arrangement are like etched and concrete. Right, I have a tendency not to hire people that I can't fire. If I can't have a performance relationship and it's going to impact the way that we can address each other at the dinner table, then we probably don't need to

So Q had made this plan on ambitious goals that she had set for the company, but her business partner had just walked out, her relationship had sadly ended, and now her entire livelihood was on the line. Tell me, then, what were the subsequent six months?

Like?

I mean, was it just mayhem? Was it that sounds like a yes?

Oh? Yes. We continue to have a lot of challenges. Growth brings challenges, right, and you have to be prepared for it. We went into November with over thirty five trucks on the road. You also have thirty five opportunities for something to go wrong.

Yep, no texting and driving.

No, we have challenges out there on the road. Flat tires, somebody tore off a bumper, somebody hit somebody's mailbox, to a literal collision with community members or with a tree.

The tree, I just had to ask about it. Sometimes accidents happen, but not usually with a stationary object in front of you.

I received a phone call from my dispatch telling me, Misque, one of our drivers just hit a tree, and they sent me photos and I'm trying to make sense out of this. I went to go pick up my fleet guy, we called the toe truck, get out to the location and there's a stop sign. There's a like a tee So he's coming up to the stop sign and you can only turn left or right. He made a left turn right into a tree like this, kept going and continuing to turn. We checked to make sure the driver

I want to talk a little bit about where you find the energy to do what you do, because you talked about you've done a couple of things that I think we should all be in awe of. You applied for a business, serving the business that you were working for as a full time employee, did your business plan while you were a full time employee, and then we're able to summon the energy to build your business in the middle of a personal crisis, I mean, that's an

Asks myself the same thing, man, I believe honestly, my passion for people has been my driving force. My network has been very influential in terms of positioning me to be able to do what I do. From those that recruited me, those whose teams I worked on, they were such a force of encouragement, the small business owners that I worked with. That positive network was critical when.

It all feels overwhelming. Where do you dig deep? Where do you find that push?

I revert to my face at that point. I do value quality time with myself, and sometimes it's at awkward hours. My staff tease me and tell me they swear I don't sleep, but I do. I always made sure to find an opportunity to retreat and to have those moments of you know, just quiet.

Whatever she's doing, it's working House of Logistics just celebrated its one year anniversary. Q now has seventy five drivers and a devoted leadership team who she's cultivated to fill the gaps. She's also changing Birmingham while she's at.

It this first year. In terms of us looking at our impact across Birmingham, we have at some point provided persons with the ability to pursue their education. We've had people get their CDO. We've had people pursue total different industry credit counseling, medical billing. They have taken up the

Q is the perfect example of why we love small businesses. One of the first things we said when we launched this show is that we celebrate small businesses because they're on the ground across America. They make up large parts of your town or city. They create community, and they have the power to affect real change on a local level. It's amazing stuff. It seems Birmingham is thriving under Q. Oh and before I forget, there's something else that's thriving. House of Logistic under q's leadership.

Within the first six months of operation, we grossed in over a million dollars.

And were you cash flow positive?

Cash flow positive month over month?

Wow, I mean not a lot of people can say that. You know, most people start a business, it takes them a while to start generating cash. It's mostly it tends to maybe it's the nature of that business, but a lot of businesses tend to be cash flow negative for a long time.

Correct, You're right.

I think a lot of people listening today would would love to be able to start a business that could grow that fast. Congratulations on all your success. Thank you for being so generous with your time and so generous with your story. We appreciate it.

Thanks, and I appreciate the opportunity, Gia.

Now that we've heard all of Q's story, I'm just I'm kind of overwhelmed by it. She probably used the word relationship I don't know, three hundred times in that interview, and you could tell number one, she really means it. But too when you have people saying, yeah, we think you should come into our market. You know, you don't usually see people inviting others to come into their competitive set. But they did.

Often tell people. You know, when they say that they're good at something, I say, yeah, well, you know, does somebody other than your mother tell you that?

Right?

And so that was a great example of people being able to see somewhere that she would be really talented. And I think that's truly a testament to her ability to build really solid relationships where people wanted to stand side by side with her, even if that was going to possibly impact their revenue. I mean, how impressive is that.

I want to get a little more into the HR side of things. I mean, that's your background, it's what you and your company, Auditosity does, And Q talked a lot about these HR issues with an ease and a facility that is unusual I think for companies that young. You know, how do you think young companies should think about that.

That's one of the areas that I think people struggle with the most. The Department of Labor is very specific about what the requirements are for companies, and I think that most people would be really surprised about how many employees you need to have to be under the Department of Labor. There are multiple regulations that are compliance related in HR where having one person outside the owner is enough to trigger the Department of Labor for that organization.

So, Gia, let's get real breast tacks for our listeners in the general HR space. Give me a checklist of the things they need to make sure that they need to think about, and then maybe some tools they can use to go find out what they need to do.

Okay, that was a love letter to me. Thank you, I love you too. So I think that one is a couple of the compliance things that I see a lot. If you have more than one employee, you're supposed to make sure that they have an nine nine. If you're in one of twenty two states, you have to also do everify. We go into organizations and we do none audits. The fail rate on that is normally about seventy percent

To do this work.

And so if you decide that you're going to hire somebody specifically for culture, I really like them. You know, we get along. You know, Well, you better make sure that that's not an immediate need, because you're going to need to give them time to be trained and learn the organization and all these things in order for them

I wish we had time for thousands, but I think those are my really useful one. So thank thank you, Gia. Now one final thing before we go, can you let listeners know why Alabama is such a great place for small businesses.

The thing that's really unique about being a business owner in Alabama is the quality of life.

One.

I mean, we're right next to the beach. We have access to go to larger areas when we want to. But the thing that's really interested about being a business owner here is that you have an opportunity to really build a relationship with your potential customers and clients. The whole thing about six degrees of separation, it's closer to

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of The Unshakeables, and thank you to q McNeal and Dr. Gia for speaking with us today. If you liked this episode, please rate and review it. If you know someone who may like the series, tell them about it. Next episode, we'll hear from an entrepreneur whose city was in a big mess and she was the only one able to clean it up. We'll be speaking with Tia Johnson, CEO of