We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Evan Wesley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Evan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?
Sooner! No doubt. We’re a leadership and mentorship organization and we work with hundreds of thousands of students every year. During my second year at my former job, I was working for a charity in the water development space and quickly realized that I came to work at that job because of the water crisis, but I stayed at that job because of the students. I got the privledge to work with thousands of students in different capacities, helping them develop skills so that they could raise money and awareness for a charity.
We then found out that students care about a lot of different problems in the world, and we wanted to help all of our students work to solve as many problems as possible.
We started our organization, ironically enough, in 2020, to build better leaders who will build a better world. We run free leadership and mentorship programs in schools to help students solve problems in their school, local, and global community.
Evan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Legacy Youth Leadership (“Legacy”) is a nonprofit organization that is building better leaders who will build a better world. Legacy knows that young people are not just the future, they are the present. Legacy runs free youth leadership and mentoring programs in low-income school communities that teach students how to use their time, their money, their voice, and their vote so they can be leaders TODAY. We prioritize making our programs available to students living in low-income & underserved communities. Legacy’s Programs develop, mentor, and equip young people with the skills & experience they need to reach their academic goals, make a REAL impact on the world around them, and thrive.
We’re leading an educational revolution where we teach students things they’re not learning and school, and we’re challenging them to apply it in the most meaningful ways possible.
We’re proud of the fact that our students have gone on to advocate for immigration reform, education equality, our students have helped to protect over 1,000 acres of rainforest, and more.
Our students are moving the needle when it comes to the development and growth of this world.
Any advice for managing a team?
People over everything. Profit, process, product. But every person is different. So the better you can understand your people, the better you can motivate them.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Existing clients. Referral businesses are huge, and I don’t know a business that is not in the referral business. Get to know the people who you work with so well that they are chomping at the bit to introduce you to others!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://legacyyouthleadership.org
- Instagram: @legacyyouthleadership
