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On this episode of Small Towns Unscripted, Nicole and I sit down with 25-year-old Jake Lodwig, a young entrepreneur who has called the Chelan and Manson area home since he was eight years old.
Jake graduated from Manson High School, and like a lot of young people, his path after graduation wasn’t exactly a straight line. He considered getting his real estate license, spent some time pursuing modeling and talent work in Seattle and California, and eventually found himself back home trying to figure out what came next.
That next step started with a job painting for a local contractor. About a year later, Jake decided to take a chance on himself and started his own company, Paint, Inc.
Five years later, Paint, Inc. has become a growing local business right here in the Lake Chelan Valley. Jake will be the first to tell you that building it hasn’t come with a perfect roadmap. It’s been a wild ride filled with mistakes, lessons, relationships, long days, and a whole lot of learning along the way.
And that’s part of why we wanted Jake on the podcast. Small towns are filled with talented people who are really good at what they do, but doing great work and building a successful business aren’t always the same thing. We want to see local entrepreneurs like Jake succeed—to help shine a light on the people who are willing to take the risk, build something of their own, employ local people, serve their community, and hopefully thrive doing it.
But there’s more to Jake than painting. He’s developed a real interest in financial markets and futures trading, reads regularly about finance, philosophy, and psychology, and when he’s not working, you’ll probably find him golfing, dirt biking, snowmobiling, working out—or hanging out with his charcoal Lab, Odin, who Jake refers to as his son.
What makes Jake’s story interesting to us is that he represents a younger generation trying to build a life and a business right here in a small town—without necessarily having the entire roadmap figured out.
Today we’re going to talk about growing up in Manson, life after high school, taking the leap into business at a young age, building Paint, Inc., some of the successes and mistakes along the way, and what Jake sees for his future here in the Lake Chelan Valley.
Jake, welcome to Small Towns Unscripted.
