{"id":22093,"date":"2022-05-24T12:04:07","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T19:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/remarkablemag.com\/?p=22093"},"modified":"2022-05-30T08:32:25","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T15:32:25","slug":"erick-rodriguez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/remarkablemag.com\/erick-rodriguez\/","title":{"rendered":"Erick Rodriguez\u2019s Story: From Boys Scout Candy Bar Salesman to a Serial E-commerce Entrepreneur."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Erick Rodriguez<\/a> is a Colombian-American born in Long Island, New York, and raised in Deland, Florida. He was an ambitious child and a member of the Boys Scouts of America. Like every boy scout, Erick sold candy, but he was an exceptional candy salesman. Starting trade on eBay at age thirteen, Rodriguez is now an official e-commerce seller and a public speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His Formative Years<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

He credits his membership in the Boys Scout of America for shaping him into the man he is. One of his early feats was as a top-selling candy bar salesman, having been recognized for 2 years in a row as the #1 national candy bar salesman within BoyScouts of America, at the age of 12 & 13; having sold more than 1,600 candy bars both times!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the age of thirteen, during a recession in Florida, was when he first got the entrepreneurship spark. The curiosity came after he saw the high prices of OtterBox iPhone cell phone cases. As he sold his first refurbished phone case for $25, and in 3 months, he had made $24,000. This endeavor marked the beginning of his entrepreneurial life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he was sixteen, he was grossing as much as $25,000 monthly.\u00a0 At seventeen, influenced by his mom to invest the earnings, he bought a house instead of a car. Shortly afterward he got into the University of Florida at the age of eighteen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formal Education<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. Freedom Elementary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freedom elementary was where Erick attended elementary school, and in the process was 3x recognized as a top reader in the school\u2019s annual book reading contests, and 2x recognized as a chess champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Father Lopez Catholic High School<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was here from 2008\u20132012 and graduated as Summa Cum Laude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. University of Florida<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was here from 2012\u20132016 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management. Here he attended the Warrington College of Business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a freshman, Erick co-led a business class for a semester, where he implemented lesson plans and lectured two-and-half hour-long classes, assisting with 25 students. He was also a one-on-one student mentor for 20 students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his junior year, he was a teaching assistant to Professor William J. Rossi and helped in classes of up to nine hundred students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While at UF, Erick joined entrepreneurship club. At a time where they had low attendance and poorly organized events. Shortly after joining Rodriguez was voted in as president of this club and turned it around within eighteen months!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the president, Erick convinced speakers\u2014like the co-CEO of Fed-Ex\u2013Rob Carter, Mike Delazzer (co-founder of RedBox), former COO of Microsoft\u2013Kevin Turner, founder of tripod.com\u2013Bo Peabody, and multiple ABC shark tank competitors\u2015to speak at club meetings. Convincing all of them to attend at no cost to the University and in many cases getting substantial donations for both the club and University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Rodriguez\u2019s leadership, the entrepreneurship club received recognition as the number one student organization in the Warrington School of Business. In 2015, the same club was runner-up for the number one entrepreneurship club in the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time Erick was graduating, he had won the Warrington student of the year award, a student organization of the year award, and an outstanding program of the year award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Harvard Business School<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his sophomore year, Rodriguez got an invite to attend a week in the life of a Harvard MBA student. It was a summer program at Harvard for prospective Harvard MBA students. He was among about 80 handpicked students who engaged in daily case studies with Harvard professors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n