Today we’d like to introduce you to Warren Mckamey.
Warren, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My story is an interesting one. One that begins in a way that would make you believe that where we are now in life is a fluke. I like to tell individuals to look at my life. Look at what I have been through. You cannot tell me that you cannot do something, or you cannot become successful. I am a firm believer that success is a byproduct of hard work and determination. Chris Grosser is quoted saying “opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” This is why I am always in competition with myself to become the best version of myself.
I endured a tough upbringing, but I cherish that as it helped me build character and makes me appreciate the smallest of things and is part of the reason I work so hard today.
I was born in Waco, TX but quickly moved to Austin, TX shortly after, I was born as my father was a police officer and that is where his job required him to relocate to. The summer leading into me going to first grade, we moved back to Waco to live with my maternal grandmother for reasons unbeknownst to me at the time but was later revealed to be complications in my parent’s marriage. There were so many people living in my grandmother’s house that it is crazy to think about now. Well, there was my grandmother (obviously), my grandfather, my uncle Wayne, my aunt Denise and her children, my aunt Sharie, her son, my uncle T, my mother, my father, my sister and I. This was a very small house packed with people but in those days a family would pull together to take care of its own. We didn’t have much money, but we were rich in the things that money can’t buy and that is the true meaning of love. This is where I first tried a syrup sandwich. A treat that many call a “struggle meal” but to us, it was a delicacy. Devastation struck early in my life and without warning as my maternal grandfather committed suicide by jumping into the Brazos River. This was the first time I had experienced the hurt of losing a loved one and is one of the reasons to this day I am an advocate of mental health services and I believe if someone is having thoughts about harming themselves they should speak up. Such issues resonate with me as I have experienced such losses first hand.
Shortly after the death of my grandfather, my immediate family scraped up enough money to move out of my grandmother’s house. We moved to University Apartments located in South Waco, TX. I attended south Waco elementary school at that time, and I excelled in the classroom, but my behavior left much to be desired. This sadly became a trait that followed me throughout my years in grade school. It humors me to think about now, but during that time in Texas, the principals could actually paddle students that misbehaved. As I grew up in the era were paddling and whippings were common forms of punishment I was aware that they were something I wanted no part of. When I was sent down to the office to be paddled, I would actually run out of the school before I could get paddled.
Going into third grade my family moved yet again to the northern side of Waco, TX into a small property on Parrott ave. At this point, I began attending Dean Highland Elementary school. I again excelled in my school work there. I was the first student to obtain 1000 AR points in the accelerated reader program there and scored perfect marks on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) test while there. I however still had a knack of misbehaving and found myself being placed in alternative school. There, I was in classrooms with small student to teacher ratios and I felt as if I could get the hands-on attention I sought when it came to my schoolwork. I remember one of the older teachers would actually take the time to mentor me and would work on instilling in me the notion that education is extremely important and could open doors that society has closed. She would also tell me that I needed to get my act together because the path that I was on would only lead to me being in jail or dead. She taught me how to play chess and would drill me in spelling words. This was the first time I actually met a teacher that was interested in seeing me grow as an individual. I wish more educators would have such a mentality. Teachers play such an important role in educating the future leaders of this great nation. Teaching a student the importance of an education is an intangible gift that pays so many dividends in the long run.
Fast-forwarding to the summer leading into my 8th grade school year, we moved yet again to Lacy Lakeview, this is where my parents would live until after I completed high school. My first year of high school, I got a job at a local ballpark after telling the owner I was older than I actually was. In high school, I again excelled in my schoolwork, but I still had a tendency to get into trouble and found myself attending alternative school two more times before my high school tenure was over. Going into my Junior year of high school I left my parent’s home to live with my friend (who to this day is like a brother to me) Trevor Johnson as I thought I was ready to tackle the world on my own. This nurtured the independent nature that I still exhibit to this day. I am an autodidact by nature. That is, I am in many facets a self-taught person. I will much rather work hard at something on my own instead of calling for help. There is a saying if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. In my senior year of high school, I attended dual credit courses meaning I went to college for half the day and did high school work for the other half. This gave me a head start in obtaining the first of several college degrees.
As my father would often be too tired to take me to my college courses, I would have to walk to TSTC from my high school (which wasn’t a pleasant walk in Texas Heat), then back to my high school to attend track practice. It was however at this time I realized that I was extremely good in track and field and it helped me refocus a lot of my energy. My senior year I could run a 4.3 in the 40-meter dash, a 49 in the 400-meter dash and I could go sub 22 in the 200-meter dash. It humors me to think of now, but we were favored to win state in the 800-meter relay before we lost a member of our relay team as he got kicked off for shooting out the front windows of our school with a BB gun. Oh, the foolish things we did as kids. My great marks in track helped me land many offers to run at many big named schools, but I settled on a school in Kansas as that was one of the only places a close friend of mine (which is also like a brother to me) Jacob Story and I could be roommates and run on the same team together. We were expected to come in and set records for the track team. Even though he didn’t verbalize it, I know my father was proud to have me going to college. He actually drove me to Kansas. At this time, smartphones had not been invented yet, so he had to use a map to get me there. I often laugh as many of my younger relatives have never had to use a map in their lives. During my time at college in Kansas, I worked two jobs (I cut the grass on campus and I was a business tutor) to help bring in some extra money. I always had a natural knack at working hard to make sure that everything was taken care of. Unfortunately, Kansas experienced one of the worst snowstorms in its history that year and being from Texas and seeing that much snow and ice for the first time, we had no desire to stick around so we found ourselves moving back during the second semester.
When I moved back to Waco, TX, I quickly found out that there were only very labor-intensive jobs available for me to take that offered very little compensation. I was with my soon to be wife at that time and she had become pregnant and I realized I couldn’t continue to work so hard for so little pay and with no benefits if I was going to take care of a family, so I enlisted into the air force. I am so grateful that I had a chance to serve this great nation as it not only helped me mature but it helped me become a productive member of society. It helped transform my mindset and I believe ultimately made me a more well-rounded individual. The military also helped me pay for a total of 4 college degrees. I was stationed at McGuire air force base in new jersey and was part of a special unit called a CRW (contingency response wing). We did things such as responding to catastrophes around the world to missions supporting the President of the United States. Through my efforts, I was awarded the Air Force achievement medal and I was also fortunate enough to do a 3-month detail serving on the Honor Guard helping give fallen soldiers the proper burial that they deserved. I am thankful for having my wife by my side during my time in the military. The influence of Military Spouses is paramount. As evident in my own marriage a military spouse can empower their solider to continue to march on when they are at their lowest points.
After my military contract was over with, my family moved back to Texas. After working for a few Fortune 500 companies, I realized that I was using my skillset to make large companies richer and I was not benefiting off of said efforts. My time in corporate America helped me see how many top companies were being run and from the knowledge, I obtained en route to my master’s in business and my lean six sigma training I knew these companies could be run more efficiently. I often found myself working harder than my peers to obtain similar success even though I had a more impressive resume than them. I was working extremely hard, but I did not see any vertical progression in my career. Was I just another number to the HR department? Were my efforts being overlooked? Many nights I laid resistless as I knew there was a higher calling for my family, but I just did not know what it was at that time. Being in corporate America, I realized that It takes money to make money. In other words, in order to make money, you must first have some money to invest so I began working two jobs to save up capital. When I felt like I had enough money saved my wife and I began looking for businesses to purchase. After securing our first business my wife and I created Mckamey Group of Companies, Corp. and the rest is history. We now own over 2 million dollars in assets, a 10,000 square foot mansion, we are the top shippers in Dallas for many of the largest carriers in the nation, I help manage teams in Canada as needed, I have roles in my local government and my corporation is in preliminary talks about acquiring another 7-figure producing company. My wife and I give back to the community as we have sponsored free events and have given scholarships to students in our home town. I have also devoted time to the Desoto, Tx Veterans committee and the Desoto historic foundation where I once served as president before moving out of the area. We hold seminars teaching others how to become entrepreneurs and how to gain skills necessary to create better lives for themselves. We just want to leave the world in a better position than what we found it in. I am very family-centric as I have a large family (six children) and one of the main questions I ask myself when it comes to a lot of things is “how will this affect my family in life?” I do not want to disgrace my family and I want to give my children a figure they can look up to. My family is one of the biggest motivating factors in my life.
We plan on ramping up ways to help the community in the upcoming year. I also plan on running for Mayor of Cresson, TX in 2020. Many of my peers have expressed that we help motivate them as they are not used to seeing individuals that look like them and that come from similar walks of life have such success. I will continue to work hard to show everyone that success is not a fairytale and it is something anyone can achieve if they put their minds to it, have unwavering determination and always work on become the best version of themselves. If they don’t believe me, they can look at my own story. The statistics and odds from where we come from lead you to believe that success couldn’t be obtained but our hard work proved otherwise.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I believe that trials and tribulations come to make us stronger. Our journey has been everything but smooth. I often found myself having to work three times as hard as my peers to progress in life. Much progress has been made in fighting for equality, but we still have work to do in that area. Being a millennial and a minority presents a unique set of challenges. Many times, the minority community believes an individual seeking growth is attempting to act like another race and they will grow resentment based on such false pretenses. Then, on the other hand, you have to fight for chances against the part of America that is not ready to see prominent minorities yet. Finding a delicate balance between these factors can be very stressful. Having four degrees and taking doctoral courses while possessing many years of experience in my respective field, I have often been the most qualified person for many positions but was often overlooked due to my image. I remember meeting with individuals to discuss purchasing their business. These are individuals that were excited to meet after reviewing my financial and employment background and then when they see we are a young minority family, their tune changes to “you don’t have enough assets to purchase our business.” We understand that America has made great bounds in fighting for equality and will continue to do so but that does not take away from the reality of what we must fight against today. Having experienced such things first hand is why I find it important to teach others how to carry themselves, how to educate themselves and how to put themselves in a position to overcome similar obstacles.
Mckamey Group of Companies, Corp. – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
what sets us apart from the competition? we don’t solely focus on being better than the competition, we also focus on being the right solution for our clients and on being the best version of ourselves while eliminating waste. We pay attention to every detail and go above and beyond in providing a phenomenal experience for our customers. We do not view individuals that do business with us solely as customers. We want to nourish and build strong partnerships and customize our approach to their unique needs. As owners, we have a great social media presence and we engage with people on a personal level on a daily basis. Our knowledge and keen ability to make sure that our clients are satisfied easily sets apart from the competition.
Mckamey Group of Companies, Corp. is a corporation made up of many smaller companies owned by the Mckamey family. We are a diverse company that looks to be a prominent player in many different fields. We are looking to strategically grow. We are in talks of adding another 7-figure company to our portfolio. We are known for being involved in the community and we have received honors of being top producers in the transportation sector. Our focus on putting the customer first and giving back to the community is unique from other companies.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I am found of two moments in my career. Hearing my oldest son say he wants to grow up to be smart like his dad and own businesses let me know that my wife and I are on the right track. I am also proud of being able to successfully give out an academic scholarship to a graduating senior at the high school I graduated from. Being able to bless others that are just starting to begin working on their careers is extremely satisfying.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 4697474821
- Email: warren.mckamey@yahoo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/warrenmckamey/?hl=en
Image Credit:
joe leyo – Picture this photography 254-548-8335
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