20 Under 20s | Interviews With The Business Minds Of Generation Z

Mikey Taylor is a professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and real estate investor.   Mikey started skating, like most kids do, when he was a teenager and his friends were doing it – but it really connected with him. He worked with the one kid on his street who owned a camera and started filming tapes (on VHS) so that he could find sponsors and make it a job.   His first attempt, around the age of 16, took six months... and no one called him back.   So Mikey tried again and tried harder, and this time he got a shoe, clothing, and skate sponsor – and, as it turns out, this determination is the same thing that makes Mikey a great entrepreneur today. He doesn’t take failure as a no, but instead a reason to try even harder.   “Failure doesn’t mean the end. Failure is just part of the process for you to get where you want to go. Once I learned that… and started looking at failure as an everyday occurrence, I really started having more success in things other than skateboarding.”   Now Mikey is working o