Pivoting My Way into a Path of Entrepreneurship- Featuring Beth Riegger

Beth Riegger helps female Entrepreneurs who are tired of DIY'ing the tech needed to run their business (websites, automations, etc.) by setting up and managing systems & processes to allowing their technology to run seamlessly while giving them the freedom to joyfully run their business.

Beth is here as a guest to prove no matter how many times you pivot in your life/career, this just means you are one step closer to landing your dream job!

I grew up in a small town in northern MN where my parents were Entrepreneurs themselves, owning a hardware store which is where my journey began. 

When I was around 14-15 years old working at their store, I had a carpet cleaning sales guy pitch me his “amazing” product by first spraying paint on our carpet and second, attempting to clean it off with his ‘amazing” spray. To no one’s surprise, it did not work! Clearly this was a sales guy accustomed to taking advantage of poor unsuspecting young employees.

I knew this was not the person I wanted to be or the career path I wanted to take. This was a defining moment for me and so I began my path of pivoting.

Like many others of my generation, I did what was expected of me. Graduate High School and then off to college where I majored in Accounting. Zzzz…

After my first year, I had more freedom to pick and choose my classes so I chose an American Sign Language course and I loved it! This is where my next pivot began.

No more Accounting for me as I graduated with my ASL Interpreting Degree and set out to find my dream job! Where did it land me? Fargo, ND, “you betcha’!” Luckily, I had family in the area so after two years of working in the school system, I blew the rest of my college savings on a car and a trip to Norway! Traveling across the world helped me realize, I did not enjoy working in the school system… so what next? You betcha,’ another pivot!

I went back to college at North Dakota State University for Business Administration. I got a job working at a hotel during school and they had a MIT (Manager in training) program. Sign me up, I thought. Hotel Management, here I come! Turns out during this time, I met and started dating the man that would later become my Husband who happened to live in the Twin Cities. What did I do? I moved to Minnesota and while working there in the hotel industry, I came to realize, I didn’t like working in hotels either! Pivot…

Along came a job with a small bank offering loans for home repairs, etc. Pivot…

Then I worked for a lender processing loans for cars. Pivot…

After a few years of that, I decided to work directly for a car dealership because I knew could make a lot more money! Pivot…

When the housing boom was at it’s peak, I went to work for a mortgage company. Again, loans.  Pivot…

A few more miscellaneous jobs later, pivot…

Next came a business partnership. My friend and I decided to open a spa. She was an Esthetician and I was the business & marketing muscle. At the time, websites were thousands of dollars and we were bootstrapping our business and ended up charging the website to a credit card.

When they gave us the “keys” to the website we were like, uh.. what do we do with this? Where do we go from here? Being the geek that I am, I dug in and I loved it! Finally, something that came naturally to me and felt right. Pivot…

 After working on our website, I had friends approach me asking about their own website. They knew how easy it was for me and wanted me to replicate my success for them. That was how Keys 2 Success was born. Pivot no more! 

I love what I do now, helping my clients with their websites, marketing and even the technology they use to run their businesses. There were many tears, trials and tribulations as well as joy and celebrations. My resounding theme is to be open to pivoting. You never know where you are going to land so sit back and enjoy the ride!

Here's to pivoting yourself straight into your dream job,

Beth 

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