"When I was 14, I started in the masonry trade," Hicken explained. "I worked for a few stonemason contractors, and from there I learned the trade as far as stonemasonry goes. In 1988, I decided I wanted to go on my own, and that's when RJ Enterprises started. I started out with just one employee, and our first stone yard was in the back of my grandfather's corral in one of his sheds. Each year, we've grown into what we have now. We currently have about 125 employees."

Six years after setting out on his own, he met his eventual partner while taking college courses in Utah. "In 1994, I was going to college and I met Paul Ballif," he said. "We were both in the construction management program at Brigham Young University, and at that point we started to work together. At that time, we were at 30 employees, and our main focus at that time was masonry -- fireplaces, stone veneers, stone chimneys -- all from the installation side.