By Eliza Mcphee For Daily Mail Australia
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A young entrepreneur set to make his first million has claimed new generations are sick of boomer bosses ‘telling them what to do’, after he dropped out of school to build his own company.
Wil Massara, 20, from Western Australia, founded his company Youth Leadership Academy Australia when he was just 15 years old.
In his high school years he became less interested in what the education system was teaching him and ended up failing Year 12 at the age of 16.
Disregarding the need to have a formal education, which he said had been pushed on him by those from older generations, Mr Massara decided to forget about school and university and pursue his business full-time.
He now regularly speaks at schools across Australia helping students set goals, become better leaders and make sure young people ‘had a seat at the table’ when it came to their futures.
‘Young people are less ready to sit and be told by executives what to do and be bossed around by them,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘We are ready to take action. We are the least quiet generation that’s existed.
‘Those who have no interest in learning about our generation and our values should have no input in what they expect of us.’Â
Wil Massara, from Western Australia, founded his company Youth Leadership Academy Australia when he was just 15-years-old. His program is now used by 770 schools across Australia
Mr Massara never finished high school but his business is helping students gain leadership skills is expected to rake in $1million by the end of next year
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Mr Massara was told by his school principal he wouldn’t ever get a university degree after he admitted further education wasn’t his priority.
But as he’d completed seven years of management in a professional capacity during his teenage years, the 20-year-old has now almost finished his Master’s in Business Administration.
He started his first business at the age of 11 called Planeapidea, an aviation consulting website that he dubbed the ‘Wikipedia of Planes’.
This venture saw him partner with Qantas and Singapore Airlines, and at 15, Mr Massara was invited to Qantas’ first Boeing 787 flight from Perth as a media representative.
‘I was standing there in shorts and a T-shirt surrounded by all these executives when I decided I wouldn’t let age determine what I could do,’ he said.
It was then that Mr Massara turned his focus to YLAA, which has now expanded to 770 schools all over the country.
As well as holding full-day leadership programs at schools, Mr Massara also runs a series of events that students can go to to learn skills to help them step into the workforce.
The 20-year-old said he was fed up with how he and his peers were being prepared for life after school
Determine what you define as success because it will be different to others
Choose something to do that fulfills you
Create a network around you that is supportive and you can lean on
Learn to take the ups with the downsÂ
A full day session with YLAA for around 150 students at an elite high school can cost up to $5,000.
Mr Massara said lower socioeconomic schools were given a smaller fee.
For an event held by his business, tickets cost $44 each, with the team’s last event gaining a crowd of 7,500.
‘The reason why we’ve grown so rapidly is that we respond with what young people need at the current stages of their lives – the education system sucks at that,’ he said.
But just as his business was finally thriving, the Covid pandemic hit.
Coronavirus paired with recent floods around Australia’s east coast this year forced Mr Massara to put his business on hold and lose $100,000.
He said that the pandemic was the ‘most important time’ for young people to come together and over three weeks in March last year Mr Massara coordinated eight events across six states.Â
He enlisted the help of The Entourage, one of Australia’s biggest business coaching providers, and managed to boost the number of schools he conducted talks at from 50 to 750.Â
Mr Massara said his business gave ‘hope’ to students who may feel overwhelmed with life after high school
The 20-year-old said he and his team have been left ‘overwhelmed’ by much of the feedback they received from teenagers.
Some students who had been battling mental health issues told he and his team they now felt equipped to start the next phase of their lives.Â
‘We acknowledge that we change lives, we’ve seen the results but when you hear them sharing their stories with us, of how they told their parents they’re going to be ok – it’s overwhelming,’ he said.
Mr Massara recently enjoyed some time off travelling around Thailand and Bali but insisted he doesn’t ‘like to waste money on flashy things’.
‘For the past five years I’ve probably taken away from the business less than a full year’s salary at minimum wage,’ he said, adding he enjoys the flexibility of his career.
YLAA has visited 35 schools so far this year. Mr Massara employs two staff members and six contractors that help run the school programs.
He has a series of events lined up for next March with his business set to hit $1million in revenue by the end of 2023.
The 20-year-old is now working to reform YLAA into a social enterprise where 100 per cent of the profits go to youth suicide prevention programs.Â
‘I think we provide hope and we highlight opportunities. We give young people the skills to create the changes they want to see,’ Mr Massara said.
The 20-year-old is now working to reform YLAA into a social enterprise where 100 per cent of the profits go to youth suicide prevention programs
Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd
Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group
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