Be a leader, live how you feel is right and who cares what the trolls say.
Dylan Gallagher was languishing in a 9-5 engineering job in South Carolina. It wasn’t meeting his needs and he wanted something more. “I remember I was sitting at my desk after my boss assigned me (in my opinion) a meaningless task, and it dawned upon me: my life was meant for something more than busy work. So I wrote on a piece of paper all the things I felt were important in my life—family, friends, travel, freedom—and looked for a job which provided it”.
He found a job in California as a tour guide. He started showing people around North America to places like the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and New York. Once he learned the industry, he decided to start a tour company of his own – Orange Sky Adventures.
Three years later, after law, permits, insurance, writing, marketing and a lot of lessons learned, Orange Sky Adventures is going strong. Recently, because of requests, he began a second tour company called White Wolf Private Tours. ” I’m not completely free yet, but I do enjoy being captain of my own ship. I do what I think is best and have nobody to listen to—at least when it comes to White Wolf and Orange Sky Co. Then, if things go sour, I am the one to blame too. It goes both ways but I like it”.
Challenging on Your Own
Starting a tour company wasn’t easy, and to this day it continues to be challenging. But for Dylan, it was rewarding, fulfilling and taught him a lot about himself and what one person can do. ” Never give up. You only lose when you quit. If you try long and hard enough you will eventually figure it out. I am still figuring it out”.
Dylan created his companies by putting a product into the market and then fine- tuning until it sold. Of course nobody wanted to buy what he offered right away. That rarely happens. Those were the first mistakes he learned from. But Dylan never gave up, kept changing his product or the way he marketed slightly until he figured out what worked. To this day Dylan continues to refine and grow the best he can.
Dylan continues to grow both of his businesses so he can provide security for his family. He also tries to remember that original piece of paper that got him started and save his time for the important people in his life. Check in on Dylan’s adventures at his web sites.
