"To me, my team is most important. You can't be a good manager or a leader without a successful team behind me," the 29-year-old sales manager of Dubbo's Western Plains Automotive said.

"I can't claim all the results I've had in the past 18 months without my team."

Humble, hardworking, driven and a gentleman seems to be an apt description for the young father of two who married his high school sweetheart, Jessica, and whom an independent panel of judges chose as 2022 Business Western NSW's Employee of the Year.

He was among the regional winners who received the award at a gala event at the Western Plains Taronga Zoo last week. He also earlier received the Rhino Awards Employee of the Year sponsored annually by the Dubbo Chamber of Business and Industry.

"It's not me doing physically going out selling the cars and I don't do all the running around. My team sells the cars, they talk to customers and we work together.

"We do training together and talk about different ways we can do things better. So if your team is growing, then I am growing and the company is growing.

"If you lift your team up, you get lifted up in the process and the company grows with us together."

He gives huge credit to his employer, mentor, and boss Grant Spencer and Autopact, one of the largest car dealerships in Australia that represents most of the world's top car badges for the enviable success he has had since joining the company.

Last year, the company's top brass picked him and 19 others to undertake a future leadership course that requires a strict vetting process.

"It is like the baby steps for potentially having to run your own car dealership one day. Not everyone from every dealership gets nominated. The head office asks for your results and why do we deserve to be there, what have we done to deserve to be in a class of outstanding staff," Mr Willetts said.

"I'm grateful they give me the tools...my big picture is to get my own dealership one day."

Mr Willetts's first job after Year 10 at Dubbo South High School is as a welder but after four years as a full-fledged qualified tradie, he realised his talent is in business.

"I got the gift of the jab, I just love talking to people and I love making money so I thought that will get me into sales whether it is a car or real estate, it didn't worry me, I just want the sales aspect," Mr Willetts said.

He thinks highly of his late maternal grandfather, Frank Zumbo, a grocery shop owner in Coonamble, who showed him what makes an ideal entrepreneur if he were to succeed in running a business. He died when Mr Willetts was 14.

"I've always believed in buying cheap, selling hot so it's probably my Italian heritage from my grandfather. He worked a lot at the grocery store," Mr Willetts said.

By age 35, Mr Willetts 'tunnel vision" as how he prefers to describe his dream goal, is to operate his own car dealership. In his current role, he showcases to potential buyers why they should buy a Mazda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Mercedes, Honda, or Great Wall.

Selling cars is a tough gig but for this young man who made a lucky break in the business, "anyone can succeed in anything if you are determined to succeed".

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His career direction from a tradie welder, a car yard salesman, and now managing a sales team of top brands of cars was a goal reached in stages, an impressive calibre.

"When I get into my tunnel vision, my eyes are on the prize. There is nothing that can get my eyes off the prize and that is to take on as many car brands as I can to learn more and grow.

"I want to take on things to get better, to get on top of my career."

Mr Willetts is now among the winners who will represent the western NSW region for the statewide 2022 Business NSW Awards in late November.

The awards recognise and celebrate the success of a diverse range of businesses across the state. It also highlights the important role businesses in regions play in helping to grow the state's economy.