About Dean McNeely
We work for each other.
To get to know about Dean McNeely is to know that when we work, we work for each other.
Sure, you might work to earn the money you need to get by, or to get the things you want in life. But what you do…well, what you do impacts the customers of the business you run or that employs you.
One way or another, everything you do impacts everyone around you.
My goal for every customer – and for their customers, is to do work that improves their lives. Maybe it’s their business lives. Maybe it’s a family’s life. But at the end of the day, the work we do should be for each other.
It’s the motto I live and work by.
Where we start is not nearly as important as where we end
Like many kids, I started with manual labor in high school. Nothing beats hard work or teaches good life lessons. In high school, I also got started with a lengthy internship at Prudential Securities, learning from many of Texas’ most talented and knowledgeable brokers.
After college, I took my BA in communications with a business background and went to work managing a multi-million dollar investment portfolio for clients.
Five years of that and it was time to move on. The entrepreneurial itch drove me out on my own.
Now, it was time to have fun.
A partner and I created the proprietary Jackel brand of ATVs and scooters, along with dirt bikes and generators. An idea for high-quality but reasonably priced recreation vehicles turned into a national distribution network with revenues exceeding $4.5 million.
We adopted an ecommerce model early, enabling us to run this national business with a total team of twelve.
Though business thrived, my daily involvement with logistics led me to recognize a serious problem.
We should always put our customers first
Shipping a product (or container or truckload of product) from point A to point B was costly and complex. Sure, we could call any freight company, but they didn’t always offer the best rates or the delivery times. Or, to get the delivery time desired, it would cost us.
The thing about our distributed economy…where the goods we buy come from all over the world…is that the logistics of getting something from one place to another plays a big role in the customer cost.
We could have passed the higher prices on to our customers.
But I was certain we weren’t getting the best deals.
I was right.
It’s not that any of the freight companies were necessarily overcharging.
Rather, there wasn’t a business that brought all the shipping options together to match service to need, for the best rate.
LTL Freight Center was born.
And the need was real.
Before the end of the first year, LTL Freight Center achieved more than $1.3 million in revenue.
Business across Texas and the U.S. flocked to the lower rates and better supply chain solutions we offered, despite a heavily competitive market.
A few years later I sold out my share of Jackel to become a solo-preneur with LTL Freight Center and a new truckload firm, Longshot Logistics.
Helping businesses, helping people
Around the same time that I went all in with logistics, I also started investing in and renovating run-down real estate throughout Southeast Texas.
You see, Texas means a lot to me. My family has lived in Texas since before it was a state. In fact, I belong to the Sons of the Republic of Texas, a group committed to the memory of the men and women who helped Texas achieve independence.
For more than a decade I helped businesses solve the toughest supply chain challenges, protecting their margins and keeping them competitive, not to mention keeping their customer prices lower. I was also helping families that might not otherwise have the opportunity to find affordable housing.
As I did, I discovered something. There’s an amazing satisfaction in helping people realize their dream of home ownership.
Today, I’m focused primarily on real estate redevelopment through my company West Fork Group. I sold LTL Freight Center and Longshot Logistics in 2019, although I still provide consulting and logistics services when companies come knocking. With more than 20 years of logistics experience, I am glad to help when asked.
Ultimately, I like to work to help people. After all, when we work, we work for each other.
If I can be of any assistance to you in the areas of real estate or logistics, please visit one of my sites and contact me.
Or, you can return to my home page.