Biography of David Tinney
From the time I was seven years old, my father was in business for himself. So I grew up in an atmosphere of entrepreneurism. It was my dream as a boy to own my own business like my dad.
After high school, my dad employed me in his oil distributorship. I watched first hand how to take care of and treat customers that caused them to keep coming back. Dad sold the business a few years later, went into semi-retirement for a few years and went on to start three more successful businesses.
Looking for a better paying job, I went into route sales for a regional dairy. Boy, was that an experience! I spent sixteen years in that industry and received a double practical arts degree in customer satisfaction and how to get along with upper management. I wasn't in the top ten percent of the class, but I learned lessons in business life in the most practical ways I've never forgotten.
Still inside of me, though, was the desire to own my own business, to live the American dream and be the captain of the ship of my financial destiny.
In 1991, dad and I together started my first business, a niche travel agency selling wholesale airline tickets. We enjoyed double digit growth the entire decade. However, by the late nineties, the travel industry was changing, mainly because of the gross mismanagement by the major airlines and it was getting more difficult to turn the kind of profit we had in the early nineties. Then 9/11 came along and nearly knocked us out cold. Most Americans aren't aware that by December of 2001, forty percent of the travel agencies in America had gone out of business in less than 4 months! We struggled along for a couple of years but finally found some firm ground in 2004. I eventually sold the travel shop to my manager a few years after that.
Hurricane Katrina tore into the Gulf coast in August of 2005. I responded by forming a company to trim or remove fallen trees from roadways, houses, yards or wherever. Purchasing equipment, I hired some young men and ventured to New Orleans to find fortune as a contractor. We were there almost nine months and it proved to be a valuable experience. I received a crash course in contracting and was able to put into practice my marketing and sales skills in a wild west atmosphere.
In 2009, I became a sales contractor for a regional roofing company. Today, I'm now a partner in the business, managing the office and sales people.
In my spare time, I teach small business tactics seminars in Ukraine, where my wife and I founded an organization in 1998 to help orphans and under privileged children. Crappie fishing and duck hunting are two of my favorite pastimes.
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