Lost everything. Rebuilt one day at a time.

1. Eastern Oregon

   Jake grew up in a middle-class family in eastern Oregon. He shoveled snow, mowed lawns, and sold the Oregonian and greeting cards door to door. At 14 he worked in his dad's carpet cleaning and fire restoration business — and told his mom he'd be a millionaire.

2. Bend & college

   In high school in Bend he washed dishes, worked at a pizza parlor, and worked the Sunriver golf course. He earned a BA in business administration from Southern Oregon University, with a marketing focus and an economics minor.

3. Enterprise

   He went through Enterprise Rent-A-Car's management training and made assistant manager within a year.

4. The Osprey

   He left a $30k+ salary to buy the failing Osprey Brew Pub — listed at $50k, $8k down, seller carrying the note. Evening hours, live music and food specials turned it into one of the hottest spots in Southern Oregon.

5. 2004–2007 · Rockwell Billiards

   He started Rockwell Billiards from his garage and grew it into one of the largest online billiards retailers in the country. He sold rockwellbilliards.com together with a pet products company for $2.1M total — a millionaire in his early 30s. Then he started ValleyBoys AutoSales, a buy-here-pay-here car lot.

6. Losing it all

   Partying and overspending followed. He lost the $2.1M and went through bankruptcy.

7. July 2013

   Jake quit drinking. He's been sober ever since.

8. 2013 · Day one, again

   He got his real estate license and worked about 80 hours a week — 36 sales his first year. He showed up sober and prospected every day in a town that knew him for the wrong reasons.

9. 2014–2018

   2014 John L Scott Rookie of the Year. In 2015 he launched Rockwell Real Estate, an independent brokerage. In 2018 he brought the team to eXp, and has been an eXp ICON Agent 2018–2026.

10. Today

    Founder & CEO of Rockwell Group, headquartered in Medford with offices in Albany, OR and Scottsdale, AZ — about 50 agents, management and staff, nearly 500 transactions a year, 80+ rental doors, and the acquisition of Grants Pass Storage. He's writing a book about the comeback.

“Progress not Perfection”