Bradenton college students finding their inner entrepreneur during the COVID-19 pandemic

Dec. 9--BRADENTON -- Erik Polin, 19, is a young man in a hurry. The 2019 Manatee High School grad is majoring in criminal justice at Lynn University in Boca Raton, and recently incorporated a new pressure cleaning business, complete with liability insurance.

The motivation? Changing conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's because of COVID, 100 percent. The pandemic has given me more time to run a business. If COVID hadn't happened, I wouldn't have a business," Polin said of balancing work with virtual learning, rather than traditional classroom instruction.

Polin is not alone among college students who have found their inner entrepreneur during the pandemic.

Caleb Duplain and Don Green-Edwards, both students at State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, have accelerated their business plans during the pandemic.

Duplain is a Digital Cinema A.S. major at SCF and has been working as a paid videographer since his senior year of high school. He works as videographer and webmaster at Siesta Key chapel and interns with the SCF Technology Incubator and MarsVision, a Sarasota video production company.

He plans to start Duplain Media LLC, which will focus on providing video and photography services to startups and other local companies.

Green-Edwards has already started an online business named "haf" that sells T-shirts and other branded merchandise. His target market includes those who use medical or recreational marijuana. Florida voters approved the use of medical marijuana on Nov. 8, 2016. Recreation marijuana remains illegal in Florida, but has been legalized in several other states.

Green-Edwards, who is also is also the vice president of the SCF Entrepreneurship Club, came up with the idea for selling branded merchandise in 2014, but it wasn't until the pandemic that he moved forward with the concept.

"Most definitely, the pandemic gave me a lot of time to reflect on what I wanted to do. I started the business due to being in quarantine," Green-Edwards, 22, said.

While he says he is not promoting the idea that everyone should use marijuana, he would like to destigmatize the use of cannabis. For more information about his business, visit www.hafbrand.com/about.

Duplain's interest in video production started in high school.

"The pandemic has given me more work. People are starting to use their web tools more," Duplain said.

In addition to his video work for others, Duplain, 19, has been working on documentaries. His video work and photography can be seen at https://www.calebduplain.com/.

Polin has been working since his high school days, mostly in restaurants and in the retail business. He got into pressure cleaning doing work for his parents.

"A couple of other families began asking if I would do their driveways. I filed for an LLC and got some business insurance. I hope this takes off," Polin said.

He plans a career in law enforcement and calls his company Blue Line Pressure Washing. He can be reached by calling or texting 941-799-9155 or by email at erikpolin@gmail.com.

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