Dylan Taylor on Finding Your Passion in Business
The saying “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” is a quote many of us strive to follow. However, it’s easier said than done, as many professionals are still trying to figure out their passion and how to implement it in their careers practically and meaningfully.
Dylan Taylor is one entrepreneur and leader who has harnessed his passion for space exploration and scaled it into a reality. After watching Star Trek as a child, he developed a deep curiosity, thinking of space as another frontier to explore.
“My passion is this notion of space as a blank canvas that we can ultimately reimagine ourselves on,” Taylor said.
Today, he is the CEO and founder of Voyager Space and Space for Humanity , two innovative enterprises that help expand humanity’s reach in space with innovative operations and principles.
Taylor shares insights on how other leaders can follow in his footsteps and materialize their career goals.
One of the roadblocks to finding our passions in business is the lack of understanding of what those passions may be and not having the opportunities to explore them. Many people have natural talents that lead to developing passions in their younger years. However, it’s critical to grow these skills, even if not yet developed, and find a route to utilize them in business.
Dylan Taylor mentions how the first step is to focus on your desires, principles and goals; “Identifying your passion is to consider what makes you happy despite going through hardships and what you’d like to see improved upon in the world”.
Next, Taylor advises finding a market or niche where that passion can help innovate or bridge a gap in progress. He says it can be an idea that already exists but can be expanded upon or it may compliment another market or product. With due diligence, learning along the way can make the adventure exciting, and passion can propel a leader’s vision forward.
Taylor says establishing funding can be one of the most challenging aspects when following your passion for business. The popular solution is to borrow money, but it’s not always an easy task. Setting aside one’s finances can be difficult, too. After all, if you want others to invest their money in your idea, shouldn’t you be willing to go all in yourself? However, many people don’t have expendable money or resources to do so. Searching for funding through angel investors, VC firms, and crowdfunding is a great opportunity to further research and present that passion for your idea with conviction. Taylor says,
“Demonstrating why you’re passionate about your idea and why others should be as well can help extend the reach of the investment you receive.”
When you are personally invested in your business, you’re driven to help it succeed and never give up. It’s important to consider all your costs and determine how much money you can save for your goals. Dylan Taylor also offers a helpful tip: “It’s good to sacrifice some time as you learn and grow momentum to achieve these funds, even if it’s by supporting yourself in a job that doesn’t yet perfectly fit your ideal goals.”
The most crucial step to creating your passion for a career is to differentiate yourself and your passion for the idea or business. If your market is already saturated with competitors, it’s vital to highlight your unique value proposition. What makes you unique will help your idea stand out from the other businesses and ensure you find a better way to operate than the rest of the industry.
Taylor advises that it’s essential to consider if your industry has a bad downtown or negative reputation, turn it around and improve it. Remember to always communicate with your employees and customers in a way that builds trust. “Staying true to your word and finding the value in the people who make your passion a reality is key to fostering those relationships and being a great leader,” Taylor says. He believes that staying grateful and transparent with your goals for the company can help build a network of people who genuinely believe in you and your passion.
It’s never impossible or too late to turn your passions into a successful career path. Turning dreams into reality takes time, so stay dedicated by putting time aside each day to reach your goals.
Published by: Nelly Chavez
Originally published at https://ceoweekly.com on April 18, 2024.
About Dylan Taylor
Dylan Taylor is a global business leader, commercial astronaut, thought leader and philanthropist. Currently, Dylan serves as Chairman & CEO of Voyager Space, a multi-national space exploration firm focused on building the next generation of space infrastructure for NASA and other global space agencies.
Dylan has been recognized by Harvard University, SpaceNews, the BBC, the Financial Times, Pitchbook,CNBC, CNN and others as having played a seminal role in the growth of the private space industry. As an early-stage investor in more than 50 emerging space ventures, including Axiom, Kepler, York, Astrobotic, LeoLabs, Relativity, and Planet, Dylan is widely considered the most active private space investor in the world.
Dylan’s technical background, global business experience and unbridled passion for space make him a unique figure within his industry. As a thought leader and futurist, he has written many popular pieces on the future of the space industry for Forbes, FastCompany, Newsweek, SpaceNews, The Space Review, and Space.com. As a speaker, Dylan has keynoted many of the major space conferences around the world and has appeared regularly on Bloomberg, Fox Business, and CNBC.
Dylan has extensive global business experience as both a board director and CEO in several industries, including advanced electronics, finance and real estate. He previously served as a Director for UMB Bank, a Fortune 500 company based in Kansas City and as a mutual fund director for the Jackson Funds where he oversaw assets of $8B across 130 distinct funds. He has also served in the roles of CEO, President and Board Director for multinational companies like Prudential PLC, Honeywell, Colliers and Jones Lang LaSalle. Dylan was recognized as a Fortune 1000 CEO with P&L responsibility in excess of $3B and operations encompassing 15,000 employees in over 60 countries. In addition, Dylan has participated in 4 IPOs over the course of his career.
Dylan is a leading advocate of space manufacturing and the utilization of in-space resources to further space exploration and settlement. In 2017, he became the first private citizen to manufacture an item in space when the gravity meter he co-designed and commissioned was 3D printed on the International Space Station. The historic item is now housed in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
Dylan is an explorer of note. On December 11th, 2021 Dylan became just the 606th human to go to space as part of the crew of Blue Origin’s NewShepard Mission 19. Accordingly, Dylan earned his commercial astronaut wings with the FAA and his universal astronaut wings from the Association of Space Explorers.
He is also one of only a handful of humans to have descended to the deepest part of the world’s oceans, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench as part of the Limiting Factor Expedition in July of 2022. In that mission, Dylan descended with pilot Victor Vescovo to a depth in excess of 10,800 meters (35,500 feet) into an area of the Mariana Trench that had never been visited by humans. Dylan is the youngest human to have been to the deepest part of the world’s oceans and crossed the Karman line into Space. Dylan has been a member of the Explorers Club since 2014.
Dylan maintains an extensive philanthropic impact on the space industry. In 2017, Dylan founded the nonprofit and social movement, Space for Humanity, which seeks to democratize space exploration and develop solutions to global issues through the scope of human awareness to help solve the world’s most intractable problems. Space for Humanity has successfully sent two citizen astronauts to space via Blue Origin including both the first Mexican-born woman (Katya Echazareta), and first African-born woman (Sara Sabry). Building upon his passion and support for the space industry, Dylan serves as a strategic advisor for both the Archmission and the Human Spaceflight Program and is a co-founding patron of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, which promotes the growth of commercial space activity. Additionally, he is also a leading benefactor to the Brooke Owens Fellowship, Patti Grace Smith Fellowship and Mission: Astro Access.
Dylan is the founder and Chairman of Multiverse Media, an integrated global media company focused on science and technology, with an emphasis on space. Multiverse is the parent company of the popular space philosophy website 2211.world as well as the Ad Astra Dinners, a Jeffersonian-style dinner series featuring some of the world’s leading influencers discussing the future of humanity in space. Another subsidiary of Multiverse Media, Multiverse Publishing, publishes books by leading authors including Frank White, Isaac Asimov and Gerard K. O’Neill. Multiverse is also the executive producer of the documentary film, The High Frontier and the forthcoming film, Fortitude.
For his influence as a global leader and his commitment to creating a positive impact on the world, Dylan has been honored with numerous personal and professional accolades in recent years. The World Economic Forum recognized Dylan as a Young Global Leader in 2011 and a full member of the World Economic Forum in 2014. That same year he was named a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. In 2020, Dylan was recognized by the Commercial Spaceflight Federation with their top honor for business and finance, following in the footsteps of 2019’s inaugural winner, the late Paul Allen
and subsequent winners Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.
Dylan Taylor earned an MBA in Finance and Strategy from the Booth School of Business at University of Chicago and holds a BS in Engineering from the honors college at the University of Arizona, where he graduated Tau Beta Pi and in 2018 was named Alumnus of the year. He is also a graduate of the Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century program at Harvard University.
Dylan and his family reside in Denver, Colorado where he is active locally with Colorado Concern and theColorado Spaceport. In his spare time, Dylan enjoys hiking, competing in triathlons and spending time outdoors. As a weekend warrior athlete, Dylan has more than 25 top ten finishes and 25 age group wins to his credit, and he regularly interviews world class athletes whom have shown extraordinary resilience as the host of the Legendary Podcast. He is married to legal expert, consultant and author Gabrielle V. Taylor with whom he has two teenage daughters.
