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Success Stories: George TinsleyGeorge Tinsley has worked hard all his life. As a Yum! Franchisee, Tinsley has found both financial security and a sense of accomplishment. Today, his message is: Success can be earned through hard work and dedication. "Don't be a prisoner of your own mind," he says. "If I can do it, you can, too." 
Tinsley’s Pengeo Inc. has owned as many as eight KFCs while his Tinsley Family Concessions operates Pizza Hut Express units in several Florida airports. Tinsley grew up poor in Louisville, Kentucky. Early on, he displayed the talent and determination to be a success in basketball. He led Louisville's Male High School team to several regional finals and later helped coach his alma mater to two state championships. He was inducted into the Louisville Male High School Hall of Fame. At Kentucky Wesleyan College, Tinsley helped the Panthers win three Division II national championships in four years as a starter, making All American two years. In 1968, he was an alternate on the U.S. Olympic team. Drafted by the NBA’s Chicago Bulls and the Oakland Oaks of the American Basketball Association, Tinsley chose to play in the American Basketball Association and played four years, one in his hometown of Louisville with the Kentucky Colonels. After his sports career ended in 1972, Tinsley taught high school at his alma mater. He left teaching to become a training instructor for Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). That's where he finally found a true path to financial and personnel satisfaction. "I got the burning desire to be a franchisee early as a trainer," he says. "I was working with franchisees, helping them learn how better to run their businesses while all the time I saw them taking money to the bank. I knew I could do it." In 1984, bought his very own KFC in Auburndale, Florida. That restaurant, today, is the chain's No. 2 restaurant in Florida in terms of sales and its No. 2 in the country in towns with populations of 10,000 or fewer. Learning about teamwork, competition and studying the opponent are some of the skills Tinsley carried over from the basketball court. The most important element, he says, is the ability to work well with people. "Some people come out of school with master degrees in Finance and are great making the numbers work, but they don't know how to handle people," Tinsley says. "Your employees and your customers may arrive in a bad mood, but you have to motivate them and make them glad they spent money in your restaurant. You have to make sure they go away happy with a great experience. That's a skill that you do not learn always in a book." |
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