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 Nehemiah Israel, of Atlanta, GA, is the owner of Big Beard Cargo Services.  

Established in October 2018, his company provides home delivery services, assembly services (for various products and not just furniture), junk removals, haul-aways, relocations, and in-home moves, of which he assists his clients with moving heavy items in their homes.

     At just 38 years old, Nehemiah has always had a business mind.  He is originally from Fayetteville, NC, but has called Atlanta home for several years.  There, along with his wife, he raises three sons.  

     Big Beard Cargo Services all started when Nehemiah first moved to Georgia in 2014 with his wife and then only oldest son, who is now 16.    He says, “We were able to get a home in Lawrenceville, Georgia, but it was tough being unemployed.  On just my third day in Lawrenceville, I got a call from a temporary agency to work with a company called UnderPriced Furniture.  Of course, I went.  I only knew how to drive forklifts, pallet jacks, and cherry pickers; however, when I was assigned to offload semi-trailers of furniture.  I had never lifted heavy stuff like that before outside of my own home, and I remember telling my wife I was going to quit after two weeks.  I considered it to be hard labor, but she told me to hang in there, and so I did.  Soon, I was hired for a permanent position, and I am so glad that I stayed, as I eventually moved up the ladder and became one of the fastest assembly guys on the line.  I was soon presented with the opportunity to become a helper to do home deliveries.  This is when I realized my calling.  I became one of the top delivery personnel and was featured on the delivery team website to welcome new teams coming into the company.  After two years of working with them, I came up with a company name and told myself I could run a delivery service independently and make it way better than what I’d seen out here.  So by the fourth year, I stepped out on my own.”

     Once out on his own, Nehemiah was faced with the reality of entrepreneurship.  Things don’t always happen as planned.  He made his transaction from a five-dollar Craigslist ad and Facebook posts focused on furniture assembly.  He shares that little did he know so many people needed that type of service.  Things would eventually take off.  Today, his company caters to all types of people: single women, elderly, those who don’t have time to do it themselves, and those who don’t know where to start after seeing all the hardware and confusing instructions.

     Big Beard Cargo Services is a one-stop shop, Nehemiah says, and what he loves most about his business is seeing how happy his clients are when they see their finished products.  “I love providing a quality and speedy service like Chick-fil-A, but in the lane I’m in.”  He also shares that he finds inspiration in his wife for being a constant source of support and encouragement.  “My wife believed in me and told me that I could work for myself.  She knows that I have never been a quitter and that I always try to find solutions to any problem.  Additionally, my family has had the biggest impact on my journey to becoming successful.”

   Anyone who might be thinking of starting a business such as Nehemiah’s should be aware of the challenges that come with it.  For Nehemiah, he says, the biggest challenge he faced was the start-up cost.  “It took a year of saving,” he says.  “The insurance is so high in the trucking industry.  I worked two jobs, in the beginning, to fund the business and provide for my family to allow my wife to become a stay-at-home mom with our now two-year-old.  I wanted her to enjoy her pregnancy and not have to work during that time.  It worked, but it was tough on me.  I got around many of the costs by renting trucks and establishing corporate accounts with the rental companies to get better pricing.  I still continue to lease my trucks, but I was able to get better insurance coverage to go with the business.”

     In the future, Nehemiah plans to expand with more business-to-business opportunities.  This, he hopes, will provide more employment to hard-working men like himself.  “I dream of becoming a contractor for bigger companies to hire third-party teams to do everything I learned and love to do.  One day I’ll have 100 trucks running under the Big Beard Cargo Services brand and be the biggest service provider in the state of Georgia,” Nehemiah professes.  With his grit and ambition, this will happen.

  To learn more about Big Beard Cargo Services, please visit their website.

www.bigbeardcargoservices.com

By Terry L. Watson

Photos Provided by Nehemiah Israel