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APPOMATTOX, Va. (WFXR) — Nathan Simpson got his first government contract two years ago at the age of 17.
“That’s one of those moments I’ll never forget,” he said. “It wasn’t for a lot of money, but it was just the proof of concept that we could do it.”
The now 19-year-old has made bidding on contracts a career.
“That led me into exploring the creative side of federal contracts, which most people think that doesn’t exist.
His latest contract is for five years of work and $2.1 million.
“When you break it down it sounds a little bit less insane, because it’s $2 million over five years, so it’s not like it’s $2 million in my pocket right now.”
His ten-person team, which is spread out all across the country and Canada, will be producing recruitment videos for the Marines.
His skill in bidding for contracts came from developing the website for the town of Appomattox and learning what government buyers are looking for.
“That can be kind of difficult, because the solicitation packages are this thick, and they’re 80, 90,100 pages for a project that might only be 20 grand.”
His mentor and producer Jon Long says there’s value in young people like Nathan making their voices heard.
“He’s just an amazing person for, an example of that,” said Long, “and we’re seeing that a lot in the world these days, of younger generation is stepping up and really showing why their voices need to be in the conversation.”
Nathan has no plans to go to college. Originally, his father was worried about his teenage son’s work trips across the country.
“You’re going to get pitches thrown at you,” said Donald Simpson, “you’re going to swing, and you’re going to miss. You’re going to miss a lot. But every once in a while you’re going to hit it, and I think he’s definitely hit some home runs.”