Today we’d like to introduce you to Tricia Dierks.
Hi Tricia, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My background spans over the last 12 years or so, across hospitality management, event planning, marketing, healthcare, and investment communities, and I’ve built a few businesses of my own along the way. I was always the one managing, organizing, and making sense of the chaos. Leadership teams leaned on me to grow their businesses, organize people and processes, and manage client relationships at scale.
I started my first business back in 2016, but spread myself too thin. A couple years in, I got extremely sick, where I was in and out of the hospital, and as a self-employed business owner with not so great insurance, I needed stability. So I took a 9-to-5 job where I had predictable pay and good benefits. I gave it a real shot, but walked through every day with a cloud over my head and very blurry vision because I knew I didn’t belong there. What I did gain was clarity about my own ability, and managing 100+ clients showed me exactly how good I was at finding better processes inside chaos.
In 2022, I found out I was pregnant unexpectedly. I got married a few months later, and by the end of the year I left my 9-to-5 job on maternity leave and never looked back. I was no longer willing to spend long, stressful hours building someone else’s dream, so I went all in on trusting myself.
What followed was the hardest and most clarifying stretch of my life, both personally and professionally. I was building a business from scratch while also navigating a marriage that wasn’t working, with a newborn baby. We separated after a year, tried again, and ultimately I made the decision to walk away for good. I moved out in September 2024, and my divorce finalized on June 25th, 2025, which is my birthday. (The best day and the most freeing feeling!)
I don’t say any of that for sympathy, I say it because that season taught me lessons I now carry into everything. The people and environment you surround yourself with shape every aspect of your life, including your energy, clarity, especially your future. I wasn’t in a place that was pushing me to grow, in fact it was the exact opposite. Leaving created the space and confidence I didn’t know I needed or was capable of reaching.
Through all of it, I kept building. There were pivots and really hard seasons, but I stayed the course. I wanted to make an income and raise my son, and I’m proud to say I did that.
At some point I realized the work I’d been doing inside other people’s businesses was exactly what I wanted to build for myself. So I launched my own strategic operations and growth consulting practice built specifically for founder-led, service-based businesses.
The short version of what I do: I help founders step out of the day-to-day and build a business that grows without everything running through them. Most of my clients are smart, capable people who built an incredible business, they just never had the space or structure to stop being the bottleneck in their own company. That’s what we fix.
I’m a mom first, and my 3 year old son is my whole heart and a big part of why I built this the way I did. Family and Freedom are the whole point for me. I also host The Reinvention Podcast, which feels fitting, because reinvention has been a recurring theme in my own story, and it’s at the heart of what I help my clients do too.
I’m based in the Kansas City area (Overland Park specifically) and genuinely love this community and I couldn’t be more grateful.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Oh gosh, no! I touched on some of this in my story, but it has been the furthest thing from a smooth road.
Building a business while going through a divorce, raising a toddler solo, and managing real financial pressure all at the same time was the hardest experience of my life. There were stretches where I genuinely didn’t know how it was going to work out. Entrepreneurship can be incredibly isolating, especially when life is hard in multiple areas all at once. There’s no guaranteed paycheck coming on Friday, there’s no one telling you you’re on the right track, but you just have to keep deciding to believe in what you’re building and believe that you are capable of making it happen no matter what.
What helped me turn the corner was being intentional about what I let into my life. Trauma therapy was one of the hardest and most humbling things I’ve ever done, but also one of the most important. Surrounding myself with the right community, building healthier habits, and being honest about what I needed to heal made all the difference. I came out the other side clearer, stronger, more confident, and more grounded than I’ve ever been.
But here’s what I know now that I couldn’t always see when I was in the thick of it, and that’s that this is exactly how character and strength are built. Every hard season has ultimately led me somewhere so much better, including better opportunities, clarity, and versions of myself that never would have emerged without the struggle. I know it sounds so cliché, but it’s something I’ve actually lived over and over again.
The hardest part is holding onto that belief when you’re in the thick of it with no light at the end of the tunnel. The light is always there, it’s just about trusting that this too shall pass, and that what comes next is so worth it.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Tricia Dierks LLC is a strategic operations and growth consulting practice, but honestly the simplest way I can describe what I do is this: I help founder-led businesses organize the chaos and build the structure they need to grow without everything having to run through the founder.
The business owners I work with are not struggling, they’ve actually built a really impressive and successful business, but somewhere along the way they became the bottleneck. Every decision, every problem, every fire that needs to be put out lands on them. They have a team, but the team can’t fully operate without them in the middle of it. That’s exhausting, and it’s also a ceiling on how far the business can actually grow.
Over the past 12 years working inside businesses, I’ve always been in the role of making sense of the chaos, getting the right people in the right seats, and building processes that are organized and actually work. At some point I realized that was exactly what I wanted to build for myself, so I can help more business owners create more freedom and structure in their life rather than let their business run every part of their existence.
The framework I created and use with clients is called the D.E.A.R. Method™, which stands for Diagnose, Engineer, Align, Reinvent. We work through it in sequence so we’re not throwing solutions at problems we don’t fully understand yet.
What I think sets me apart is that I bring both the operational side and the human side to this work. These are founder-led businesses, and the founder’s personality, habits, and identity are woven into everything. You can’t just install a system and expect it to stick without addressing that layer too. That’s where I spend a lot of my time, and it’s honestly my favorite part of the work.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I love this question! And I’ve been thinking about it so much lately too.
My three year old makes me the happiest. He is the kindest, most outgoing, funny little kid and I truly believe a big part of who he’s becoming is because of all the healing work I’ve done on myself and the fun, creative, and safe environment I’ve been intentional about creating. Watching him explore this big complex world and still be so happy and curious through it all gets me every time. Becoming a mom shifted something in me big time. It helped me focus on the good, stay present, and realize how much love and gratitude I get to experience because of him.
I’m also really proud that I built my business in a way that gives me the flexibility to be home with him on Wednesdays and Fridays every week, while he is still little. I always knew I wanted to be present when I started a family, but I also have big ambitions, so finding that balance has made all the difference. It didn’t happen by accident either, I have been super intentional about it.
Travel is the other thing that genuinely lights me up. I’ve made it a goal to travel at least once a quarter, sometimes with my son, and sometimes solo when he’s not with me. I recently went to NYC, Portugal, Malta, and Italy with my sister and it was truly life changing. I had a moment in Portugal where I was just overwhelmed with gratitude that this is the life I am intentionally creating. I couldn’t have been more proud of how far I’ve come.
There’s so much freedom, creativity, and clarity that comes from travel for me. It opens my eyes and heart every single time, and it’s even better when I get to bring my son along. He’s only three and he’s already been to eight states.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://triciadierks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/triciadierks/
- Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-reinvention-podcast/id1822700632
