A Few Words from Jim

June 2023

I almost called this issue “Grants Pass has got it going on.” Because last month I featured Nathan Miller on the cover and this month I’m featuring Trever Yarrish. 

Both are CEOs of cool tech companies and more in Grants Pass. 

When I visit Grants Pass, I can see and feel the vibrancy. Lots of people walking, driving, doing business and going from place to place. The age seems to be low 20’s to mid 40’s. I rarely saw “old” people. It wasn’t always this way, but something changed in the last 10 years. I like it. 

I was invited to meet my friend Trever Yarrish for lunch and catchup on all the wonderful things he has going on. We ended up spending most of lunch talking about AI and Apple’s Vision Pro which was just announced a couple days earlier.

Trever runs a custom software development shop, just like I do, called Zeal. It’s very hip and cool. Very Trever. 

He also runs the Hivve. A hybrid co-working space (filled with young entrepreneurs) and public event space with live music every Friday night. 

He’s a passionate visionary and works hard to make Southern Oregon a better place everyday. He’s about 15 years younger than I am, but I want to be just like him when I grow up. 

The fun lunch conversation turned into a story, which wasn’t our intent, but his words haunted me for several days. Not in a bad way necessarily. Read the story on page 44 and let me know what you think. 

The day after our lunch, I surprised another friend with a private meet and greet with her favorite artist that she didn’t know was her favorite artist. 

She saw a painting on the wall at the Rogue Valley Manor, took a pic and showed it to me one time. She said the painting moved her. I recognized the work right away and set upon a plan to surprise her. The planets aligned and I was able to arrange the meeting with rock star local artist Gabriel Mark Lipper (https://artofgabriel.com/) and it was an amazing moment for all. While setting this private showing up, he apologized to me that his studio might not have a lot of works available in it because much of his work in featured in a museum from June 1 to July 28. Can you guess which museum? That’s right, the Grants Pass Museum of Art. 

Like I said, Grants Pass has got it going on. Go check it out. 

 Jim
Jim@SouthernOregonBusiness.com