Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jake LeGrand. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jake, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

I started plasma cutting back in 2015 and it was just something fun that I did. I never understood the feelings that I had while doing the work. Then as life goes on responsibilities grow and the everyday stress and anxiety got bigger. What plasma cutting/fabrication does for me is really pull myself out of my head because I’m focused on the work I’m doing. With plasma cutting, once you cut something you didn’t mean to…it’s gone. You can add it back but it can be a ton of unnecessary work so focusing on that task is crucial. And same thing with welding, when the molten puddle of metal is swirling around you need to be able to manipulate it to do what you want to create a strong weld. All of this to say, I love the “peace” it gives me so I want to show people that you don’t need a CNC table to create things. You can do things on a very small budget and heck maybe start a business like I did,

Jake, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My story is a bit odd. I went to school to become a structural engineer (which is my day job) but I needed a job while in college so I was able to find something within the research lab of my department. I ended up learning how to weld and fabricate. So when things were slow I’d just weld up scrap metal and also learned how to use a plasma cutter. I started making animal silhouettes and signs with last names and just kept doing that. Fast forward as a graduation gift my dad got me a Hobart plasma cutter. With that plasma cutter in my two car garage and like a 30 amp breaker I just started to create things! And slowly business grew and the signs got bigger. I remember one of my biggest signs, when I delivered it the lady gave me more money than I charged her because she was so happy about it. I think from that point I was hooked being able to make people happy. I’ve always been a people pleaser.

The thing I’m most proud of is that my project complexity hasn’t slowed down. It seems like each project gets harder and harder. Whether that be adding more detail or thinking about more components down the road of the project that need to account for to not have to redo a lot of work. I love sharing with people the process along with me doing all my work on a gravel floor. You don’t need a crazy shop to get started or even tooling. I started out with a $100 Harbor Freight welder and have upgraded tooling every where I can.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I’m not officially full time yet, but I’m getting very close. Let’s start where it all started. Once I graduated in 2014 I was just playing around in my two-car shop and making things here and there. Really was just stuff for my immediate family and girlfriends family at the time. Things slowly started to build and in 2018 I created my first business as a DBA with JL’s Signage & Metal Art. Then once again the projects started to grow and I was upgrading my tooling. In 2020 we moved from our in town home and moved to the country with 10 acres and an old horse barn that had potential, but needed some attention. At this point work slowed down so we could improve the house with home remodeling and property clean-up/management. Then in 2021/22 things really started to heat up. Well in my eyes they did, I believe I reached 2000 followers around that time and started to hit the social media thing hard. From then until I had a viral reel of a firepit I did for a campground up in upstate NY and that’s where things really started to take off again. Social media followers and likes are growing and I landed my first brand deal. Then in 2024 I got the opportunity to partner up with ESAB welders and that is truly opened up doors that I don’t think would’ve been available to me. I now have two paid brand deals and have worked with other companies on some one off projects. Now that I’ve seen what can be achieved with social media I’ve started pushing YT really hard and just trying to post 6 days a week on a handful of platforms to keep growing. I really think in the next year or or so I’ll be almost full-time if not a part time day job. I truly love my day job as a structural engineer, everyday I’m basically solving problems and getting to build things in my head.

How did you build your audience on social media?

This is funny because I just was having this internal talk with myself. As of now, I’ve posted 750 posts on IG and am at 20.5k followers. When I first started it was never meant to be something where I could use my follower count for brand deals or become a content creator and that pay for things as well. The biggest thing I’ve learned is you have to keep at it. When you don’t see any progress, it doesn’t mean you’re not moving forward. You have to keep going. I think it took me 2 years to get to 1000 followers. At that point I knew I wanted to do something with IG. I liked sharing my projects and having the conversations with people. Now at 20k I have so many people message me saying how much I’ve motivated them or inspired them to do something (not always metal fabrication).And that growth is from being honest and upfront with people I’m not here to sell you cheap things. I promote things I believe in and I post videos of me working with inspirational audio in hopes it’ll inspire people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lmwmetalworks.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legrandmetalworks/
• Facebook: LMW LeGrand Metal Works
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuWfnZZU0VfKFViG44iprZw

Image Credits

Moss Marketing group – for reception desk