This GenZ entrepreneur started mowing lawns aged 12—he skipped college and now his gardening business turns over $1 million a year

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Phillips recalls being heavily encouraged to apply to universities in his last year in school—after all, it looks good when a high percentage of students make it into higher education—and then getting swept up in the excitement of being accepted.
“I was only 18, I was quite inexperienced in the world and didn’t really understand what other options were out there,” he says, adding that going to university was “less of a scary situation to be in than being unemployed”.
“I’m getting a really good understanding of how to run a business and what being in a workshop is actually like,” he adds.
Instead, he notes that these days, young people are leaning towards feeling “envious” of those getting their hands dirty, realizing it’s a path to both solid earnings and the freedom of being your own boss.