At a time when many teenagers are figuring out weekend plans, Jack Pascual and Wyatt Andrade are deciding how much product they can produce in a week, which client to follow up with next, and how to turn a backyard shed into something bigger. They are 16-year-old students at Redondo Union High School and proof that ambition does not come with an age requirement.
Their story is about business, but it is even more about friendship, identity, and two young men discovering who they are by building something with their own hands.
It started with Mr. SooHoo’s business class. “First semester, we didn’t really talk much,” Jack said. “But second semester, we had to start a business for the class. I wanted to do window cleaning. Then [Wyatt] joined me and that’s how it all started.”
At the time, they were from different worlds. Jack was on the surf team. Wyatt played baseball. They had gone to the same middle school without ever really crossing paths. Then one class project changed everything.
In a room full of students, Jack nervously stood up to pitch his idea. “Hi, I’m Jack. I want to do window cleaning. If anyone wants to join, they can.” Wyatt walked over. The partnership—and friendship—began.
It turned out they had more in common than either expected. Both had separately bought window-cleaning supplies before they ever met. Both wanted more than the ordinary after-school job. And both loved country music.
Ask them for favorite artists and the answers come quickly: Alan Jackson, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Morgan Wallen, Lily Fitts. But the music was only part of the connection. Wyatt had a skill that would soon shape their future. He had been woodworking since he was eight years old, inspired by his grandfather. Jack recognized the opportunity immediately. Wyatt could build. Jack could sell. Together, they started Wyatt’s Woodworks—a small woodworking business focused on custom pieces and closing gifts for real estate agents.
“We’re kind of like the yin and yang,” Wyatt said. “He’s the marketer so he gets all the clients, talks to all the realtors… I’m the labor. I make everything and then design, ship out, logistics, stuff like that.”
Jack sees it the same way. “If he knew everything I knew, it wouldn’t make sense, but he does stuff that I don’t know how to do and I do stuff he doesn’t know how to do,” he said. “It allows him to make an amazing product and just focus on that. It allows me to convert customers and find them as best I can so we’re not stretched thin.”
Their business journey has included plenty of pivots: tables, incense holders, military coin displays, and now custom closing gifts for real estate agents. They speak openly about mistakes, missteps, and what they call their “business ADHD.” But instead of hiding the messy middle, they own it. It’s part of the story. “It’s never really mistakes, it’s a lot of experience,” Wyatt said. “The secret sauce from now on is to just stick with something,” Jack explained.
Today, Wyatt’s Woodworks focuses on handcrafted boards, trays, and personalized gifts that solve a real need for busy real estate agents who want something memorable, made locally for clients. The business is growing, but the heart of it still lives in the shed.
The shed itself is almost a character in their story. Wyatt spent two years asking his dad to help him build it. Now it is packed with tools, machines, wood scraps, and layers of sawdust so thick Wyatt jokes it feels like walking through snow. It is cramped, loud, and imperfect. It is also where confidence has been built alongside products. “It’s kind of always been a dream,” Wyatt said.
And for Jack, what was built there went far beyond products. “I was never great at school. I’ve never been known for something, so this was a nice change,” he said. Then he says something many adults still struggle to articulate: “I felt like I didn’t have an identity. I didn’t know who I was. This gave me a sense of direction. This is what I do.”
There is wisdom in that honesty. Many people spend years searching for purpose. Jack and Wyatt found theirs by showing up, trying things, failing, learning, and trying again. And they dream big—beautifully, unapologetically big.
Ask where they see themselves years from now and the conversation shifts from CNC machines and brokerages to wide-open land, horses, cows, boats, and freedom. They talk about owning 10,000 acres. Jack imagines North Carolina, close enough for a quick drive to the Outer Banks. “If I didn’t have the ocean, I would go somewhere Midwest or somewhere Northwest, like Montana or Colorado,” Wyatt said.
“We would love 10,000 acres,” Jack said. It sounds ambitious, maybe even impossible. Then again, so do two 16-year-olds building a real business out of a school project.
That same belief in possibility shapes the advice they give other teenagers. “The best time to start a business was yesterday, the second best time is right now,” Jack said. Wyatt added, “Speed is king… Start right now. Why not?”
Maybe that is what makes their story resonate beyond their age. They are not waiting until they feel ready. They are learning by doing.
In an era of endless scrolling and distraction, Jack and Wyatt have chosen something tangible: sawdust on the floor, music in the background, and a future they are building one piece at a time. “We would be fine without each other,” Jack said. “But I’m so glad we did [meet], because we made something.”
Built by hand and driven by hustle, they are not waiting for the future—they are already building it.
“We’re kind of like the yin and yang.” - Wyatt Andrade
“The best time to start a business was yesterday, the second best time is right now.” - Jack Pascual