Howard W. Hewitt – Bloomington, Ind. – The summer road trips to visit current students and Wabash alums is always another great story waiting to be told.
Pat East ’00 graduated from Wabash College with what he calls “an almost accidental” degree in English. What has he done with Warren Rosenberg’s inspiration? He’s turned his degree into an internet marketing and business consulting business, of course!
East’s path is not unlike many Wabash graduates, he’s using his liberal arts education as a foundation for growing a successful business. He started Hanapin Marketing three years ago and its recent growth has him thinking about expansion. Part of that success this summer has been Wabash intern, Ben Esbaum ’07.
Esbaum is a Hamilton County native who spent the first part of his summer as a participant in the Ecuador program. It seems rare to find one of these internships where both parties aren’t satisfied, but Thursday in East’s small downtown office neither could gush adequately about the other.
East said he’s treated Ben as he would any full-time employee, giving him any task that needs completed on a given day. Esbaum has learned the level of commitment it takes for one man to start a new business.
Hanapin Marketing helps companies with websites increase the number of hits directed to their site. But then the business consulting portion of the small company kicks in and Pat helps the company turn the increased internet traffic into new customers and more business.
And business is good. East hopes the three-year old company will double from three employees to 8-10 in another three years. And has the internship been beneficial. East said he’s going to have to put someone on full time when Ben leaves because of the company’s growth and the intern’s contribution.
That’s quite a testament to Wabash interns!
