From Rock Bottom to Rock Solid: Why Butch Mogavero’s Franchise Journey Is Striking a Chord With Entrepreneurs

In 2010, Butch Mogavero thought he had secured the deal of a lifetime — a handshake agreement to help franchise two promising brands. But when that deal unexpectedly fell through, he pivoted, built his own business, and five years later bought the companies outright. Today, Mogavero leads Boulder Designs and Border Magic, and his story is inspiring a new generation of franchisees.

“If he’d honored the handshake, I would’ve never owned the company,” Mogavero said. “I would’ve helped him build it, but I’d be a franchisee — or doing something else now. Looking back, it was the best thing that could’ve happened. At the time, I thought it was the end of the world. But it made me work harder. It worked out.”

Mogavero recently joined 1851 Franchise’s Nick Powills on “Franchisor Hot Seat,” a podcast that highlights the growth stories behind successful franchise brands. In their conversation, Mogavero recounted his journey from laying carpet in Galveston to becoming the top franchisee at Rainbow International, to eventually acquiring and rebuilding Boulder Designs and Border Magic. Boulder Designs specializes in customizable concrete signage and memorial products, while Border Magic focuses on decorative landscape curbing — both providing high-margin, low-overhead business opportunities.

“It’s a fun business,” Mogavero said. “Once you get product out there, it sells itself. Boulders sell boulders.”

By staying committed to marketing, hiring franchisees who lead with passion and integrity, and restructuring the franchise model after early missteps, Mogavero transformed the business. Under his leadership, the system now includes around 150 units and is expanding internationally. He emphasizes simplicity, profitability and giving back — from selling six-figure signage to donating memorials to local law enforcement families.

Mogavero’s story is a reminder that timing, resilience and passion are essential ingredients for franchising success. For those on the fence about taking the leap into business ownership, his journey offers a clear message: sometimes the best opportunities are the ones that don't go as planned.

A transcript of Powills’ interview with Mogavero has been provided below. It has been edited for brevity, clarity and style.

Nick Powills: All right, Butch, let's start with your story first.

Butch Mogavero: How I came into franchising originally, I was out of business or out of work, and a guy asked me if I could go help him lay carpet. He asked if I knew how to lay it, and I told him, yeah, of course I do. I had no idea how to do it, but I needed the job.

So I went with him. It was in Houston in 1986. The sales apartments in Galveston had got damaged by a hurricane, so I went and helped him and worked for him about a month or two and learned the trade pretty good.

I ended up calling this company in Houston that said they did carpet cleaning, but they wanted somebody to do carpet repairs. So I did that and got a job there. It was called Rainbow Carpet.

I decided I wanted to move back to Illinois. I called up there, and they happened to have a Rainbow Carpet. I called them and said, "Hey, you know, I'm the number one guy in this company down here. There’s like 60 employees, and I'm the top producer."

He goes, "Well, man, we need somebody right now."

So I got in my car, moved to Illinois — barely had enough money for gas to get there. I get there, and the guy says, "We need three carpets dyed right now."

I said, "What do you mean dyed? You can't dye carpet."

He goes, "I thought you said you work for Rainbow."

I said, "I do."

Rainbow International Carpet Dyeing and Cleaning was a big franchise company. The company down in Houston just kind of traded off their name, and I didn’t realize it was two different companies.

They said, "If you’re not trained by Rainbow International, we can’t hire you."

I said, "Can I just get some work to get enough money to get back home?"

They said, "We’ll let you do all the repairs we need done."

I did that and made more money for them in two weeks than they had made in the previous three months. They said, "We think we just want to keep you — let you do cleaning and repairs."

So I stayed there a little bit, then moved back to Texas and started working for another Rainbow International. I moved up to manager, bought the franchise from them, became the number one franchise in the nation, and took the carpet cleaning into restoration. Now it’s Rainbow International Restoration and Carpet Care. It used to be Rainbow International Carpet Dyeing and Cleaning.

They were going to take my franchise because I was doing things not in the scope of the business. I found out later I could do more on one truck doing restoration than they could with five or 10 trucks cleaning — with 10 times less headaches.

I went that route for quite a while and started doing franchise shows all over the country. Don Dwyer moved me to the home office when I started doing well. I started selling franchises for the Dwyer Group. I was all over the country doing franchise shows back in the ’80s and early ’90s. They were a lot bigger than they are now.

I kept seeing this curbing at the show and kept telling the guys, "I'm gonna get that one day."

One day he says, "Butch, if you don't get it, we're gonna sell it to somebody else."

Anyway, I bought it and ended up doing more curbing than anybody in the world. I had junky equipment — just a trailer with some sand on it — but I had a lot of issues with it cracking. So I changed my name from Quick Curb to just The Curb Guys.

I saw this ad for curbing they called Border, and they guaranteed it not to crack. I called to tell him he was nuts — concrete doesn’t not crack.

I said, "Hey, this is Butch Mogavero. I'm in Waco, Texas."

Before I could say why I was calling, he said, "I know who you are."

I said, "No, I’m in Texas. You're in Illinois, right?"

He said, "Yes, sir. I know who you are. Everybody that looks at my franchise talks to you and doesn’t buy mine. They think if you're doing well, anybody can do it. But most guys who buy those machines go out of business."

Before I could say I’d gotten out of Quick Curb, he said, "If you'll change your name to Border Magic, I'll give you a franchise."

I said OK.

He flew me up there and showed me the difference between our system and everybody else's. When we pulled in, there were big rocks, signs, fire pits — all this stuff that Boulder Designs creates.

I said, "What's that?"

He said, "Don’t worry about that. We just need help with Border."

I said, "No, I want that."

I ended up staying there for three days. I made a deal to get both — Border Magic and Boulder Designs — and I was going to help him franchise and market.

I called my wife and said, "We’re going to be so rich, we’re going to need machines to count our money."

I flew from Chicago to Atlanta to Dallas. When I landed in Atlanta — this was 2010 — I called him. I had three pages of notes of where I was going to sell this stuff.

I said, "Hey, what about headstones?"

He said, "We're canceling the whole deal."

I said, "What do you mean?"

He said, "You told me you had 40 to 50 jobs lined up. You should have told me the exact number."

I said, "That’s nuts."

He said, "We did business with someone in Texas before. It didn’t work out."

So the deal was canceled. That was 2010.

In 2015, he calls. I wasn't going to answer, but I did.

He said, "Well, you answered. We’re halfway there."

I said, "I’m still stuck on your handshake being as good as gold."

He said, "I know you don’t believe it, but I’m pretty honest. When you pulled into the driveway, your eyes lit up more than anyone I’d ever seen. I truly thought you’d take the company from me. You scared the hell out of me."

I said, "I’m sure you need paperwork to take a company. I wouldn’t do that anyway."

He said, "We’re going to sell the company, and we felt like you’d be the best person to take it over."

Over about six months, I acquired the company in 2016 and did a lot of changes. Originally, most franchisees had bought themselves a job. They weren’t running it as a business. So we had to change that culture.

It used to be a dealership. The FTC made him become a franchise. He was reluctant, mainly because of the special sauce and the ongoing relationship — that made it a franchise.

He didn’t like it. He was older — sounded like Mr. Ed, the talking horse. Very country. Really nice guy. Good person. But he just wasn’t into the marketing side. I had been taught by the Dwyers.

I bought back a lot of franchises because they weren’t going to grow the business. I budgeted to sell 12 franchises that first year. We sold 67. It was a disaster — not because we couldn’t support them, but because I let in anybody who had a check. They were uncoachable.

Once you get a cancer in the system, it’s terrible.

So we changed the culture and who we brought in. It took about two or three years to clean that up.

Now, even franchisees who fail don’t blame us. They just say they didn’t market or something was out of their control.

Franchising is marketing. Flipping burgers, building rocks — that’s not what makes you successful. Everybody can do that. Marketing is the main thing.

We focus on bringing in good people — work ethic, integrity and passion. That’s what separates the best.

We’ve had people say they can’t sell anything, and a few months later they’re the top salesperson. If you have passion, you’re just explaining the product.

People can tell the difference. I always say, if you don’t call me and tell me you didn’t sleep well last night because of this opportunity, I’m probably not going to sell you a franchise. Kind of joking — kind of.

It’s a fun business. Once you get product out there, it sells itself. Boulders sell boulders.

Powills: So how many locations do you guys have right now?

Mogavero: We’re around 150. I’ve just come back from several countries — Qatar, Abu Dhabi, London. We’ve got someone looking at all of Europe, someone for Asia. We’re cautious with international. The first ones have to do well. We started in Canada. One of our top franchisees is there.

Headstones and monuments are going really well right now. We can make something 10 times nicer than granite for a fraction of the cost. Granite is expensive and can take over a year to get. People are discovering us now.

We were at a headstone convention in Galveston. I told them, "We’re getting all the customers who didn’t buy from you because they couldn’t afford it. One day you’ll be with us one way or another."

It gives people another option.

Powills: What’s the all-in investment?

Mogavero: A little under $140,000 — for either one. That includes equipment, supplies, training, everything you need.

A lot of people ask if Boulder and Border are the same. They’re not. Same concept — once cured, it won’t crack — but different process and materials. Boulder is indoors in a controlled environment. Border is extruded directly onto the ground.

Powills: Do you have an Item 19? What are you reporting from an earnings standpoint?

Mogavero: That was one of the big challenges. It was a flat-rate royalty system. We just changed it to seven percent or a minimum royalty. We don’t have a POS in place yet, so Item 19 doesn’t work too well. I think we do have one, maybe just based on our local franchise. We tell people: Call as many franchisees as you want. Our boulder designs have 90-plus percent profit margin. You can make a $2,000–$3,000 boulder in just a couple of hours.

Powills: Think back to 2010 versus 2015. If they’d honored that handshake agreement back then, would the business have turned out differently?

Mogavero: If he’d honored the handshake, I would’ve never owned the company. I would’ve helped him build it, but I’d be a franchisee — or doing something else now. Looking back, it was the best thing that could’ve happened. At the time, I thought it was the end of the world. But it made me work harder. It worked out.

Every franchisor I’ve met at the Titus Center has struggled at some point — bankruptcy, failure, whatever. I think I heard recently that 80-something percent of franchisors fail. You’ve got to get up and hit the ball again. That’s what separates success from failure.

COVID almost wiped us out. We made money doing shows — and those were shut down for a year and a half. But our franchisees did great — they were in home services. Now, shows are back. I just left IFA in Miami — probably the best one I’ve done in five years.

Powills: Let’s close on this. What do you want a candidate listening to this to know? What’s going to make them reach out?

Mogavero: A few things. First, the profit margins — they’re literally 95 percent. Second, the simplicity — you need one employee, no big building. Indoors, no weather issues. Boulder Designs requires some sales skill. You can do $50,000 jobs regularly. I sold one two weeks ago to a high school. We’ve had five or six over $50,000 this year — and we’re putting 90 percent in our pocket.

It’s a fun business. We teach people how to build boulders in two or three days. Monday morning, they’re nervous. By lunchtime, they’re joking and relaxed. It’s fun. It’s profitable. It helps the community.

I had a tough upbringing, so giving back means a lot. I know Governor Abbott. I’ve given rocks to senators, congressmen, sheriffs. I support local charities. It makes you feel good about what you do.

Powills: From carpet cleaning and hustling — just give me enough on this job so I can get back home — to being a successful franchisor.

Mogavero: It was a tough deal. I was playing pool, backyard fighting sometimes. Tough for a short white guy. But I learned a lot in the streets. I left home at 14.

I help underprivileged kids now. I don’t cut them any slack. I tell them, "I know your dad’s in jail, but you still know right from wrong."

If they really want to get better, I’ll help them. I enjoy seeing a kid like I was make something of himself.

Powills: Love the story, Butch. Thanks for sharing some of it with us today. Good story from Butch. I’m Nick. This was another Franchisor Hot Seat.

Watch the full interview here.

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