Jeff Humbard first noticed Boulder Designs in 2019 when he and his wife, Kim, attended a trade show in Las Vegas. Kim spotted a booth with a firepit and hoped to buy one. As it turned out, the booth wasn’t marketing fire pits but franchises for Boulder Designs. By Patty Horansky
Jeff Humbard first noticed Boulder Designs in 2019 when he and his wife, Kim, attended a trade show in Las Vegas. Kim spotted a booth with a firepit and hoped to buy one. As it turned out, the booth wasn’t marketing fire pits but franchises for Boulder Designs.
Boulder Designs creates custom rocks of all sizes, shapes and colors, using a proprietary admixture. Its man-made, engraved rocks beautify homes, yards and parks and draw visitors to restaurants, tourist attractions and more throughout the U.S. and Canada.
“We were really, really impressed by what we saw,” Jeff said. But the Humbards weren’t looking for a business. Jeff worked in the oil fields near their home, and Kim was the CFO at a bank. But, when Jeff was laid off in early 2020, he remembered Boulder Designs and connected with the team, headquartered in Waco, Texas.
A few months later, the business was up and running, and even though the Humbards opened at the beginning of the pandemic, they were provided with invaluable support from the Boulder Designs team. While business ownership was new to them, the Humbards were well-prepared by the company’s boot camp, which taught them all aspects of the business, including design, construction and sales.
Their franchise, Boulder Designs by Pony Express, named for Jeff’s hometown of St. Joseph, Missouri, where the historic mail delivery system began, covers a wide territory, including the Oklahoma Panhandle, central and western Oklahoma, southwest Kansas and the Texas Panhandle.
Jeff, who has a background in sales, handles social media and trade shows, and he designs, builds and paints boulders. The couple’s nephew, Tryan Grice, assists Jeff full time, while Kim manages the books in her off hours from the bank. Their son, Colt, helped open a second shop in Amarillo, Texas, in August 2022. They sell rocks as small as address markers and as massive as signs for major businesses.
“Boulder Designs has this phrase ‘boulders sell boulders,’ and that is definitely true,’’ Jeff said. “Once you start getting boulders out there, it’s just amazing how fast it takes off.’’
Even with the success of his franchise, Jeff shared what has been most rewarding for him. “I love doing this, meeting the people and designing their rocks,” he said.
Patty Horansky