LEFT:© XXXXXXXX
hereare thosewho fretover
an investmentgonebad
beforemovingon, otherswhoconsidermoney losta
lesson learned.Then there’sJamesHill,whose invest-
ment inanupstartcustombootcompany took this
racehorseownerandretiredequineveterinarian from
Florida toElPaso,Texas, torescuean investment that
wasquicklygoingsouth.
“Iguessmyduediligencewas insufficient:They
spent themoneybutdidn’tmakeanyboots,”Hill says
of the teamhe invested in.Afterheflew toTexasand
gotafirst-hand lookat thebusiness,Hill gave the
management team theboot, so tospeak, andset
aboutgetting thecompany inorderandgettinganew
team insohecouldgetback to thebusinessof retire-
mentandofmanaging the racehorsesheowns.That
was1996.Today,Hill still runs thenow-eponymous
customboot company fromElPaso,wherehe leadsa
teamof craftsmenwhometiculouslydesignandpro-
duceJ.B.Hill custombootseachday forclients
around thecountry, around theworldeven.
TheJ.B.Hill teamoperates fromanondescript
brickbuildingnot far fromElPaso’sairportand, like
muchofElPaso, justastone’s throw from theborder
ofMexico.The frontofficehouses theshowroom,
where“walk-ins”—more likely thoseclientswho
prefer tofly toElPaso togetfittedandmake theirse-
lections than todo it longdistance—canbrowseand
befitted. Inback iswhere the real businessofmak-
BY LORI STACY
PhotographybyTaddMyers
77
celebratedliving.com
WINTER 2012
