Jacque Riehl
We met Jacque Riehl, of Riehl Events, at the Utah Museum of Fine Art. Having taught in several art museums, and knowing how protective they can be about having their property photographed, we were a bit anxious about getting a property release signed. No need to worry though. Jacque strolled in, dressed to the nines, and all the staff immediately recognized her. Within minutes she had a property release signed by museum administration and we were setting up for the interview and portrait session in one of their main galleries. Only someone with an outstanding reputation could accomplish this, and over the next hour we uncovered how she’s built this and other vendor relationships.
Jacque Riehl, owner of Riehl Events, at one of her favorite venues in Salt Lake, the Utah Museum of Fine Art.
Riehl Events is one of the premier event planning companies based in Salt Lake City. A successful event planning business, with a corporate and private client base, can take years to build, but Jacque has been able to accomplish this in five years. Given her answer when asked how her business is unique, her success shouldn’t come as a surprise. Jacque shared that “Riehl Events is unique because we are very customized. A lot of event planning and production companies have packages and have a set way of doing things. When our client comes to us, they are pampered. The second they walk through our door we become their personal assistant.”
For Jacque and her company, the economy is not presenting an obstacle. As with all of the entrepreneurs we are interviewing, Jacque is not seeing challenges in front of her, only opportunity. Jacque tells us, “I don’t want to be fearful. I don’t want to be pulling back. If anything, this is the time to outshine everyone else, and I feel like we have the ability to do that.”
This is exactly what she is doing. In the past six months, Jacque has hired 19 staff and projects that this year she will have four new divisions. At the time when everyone seems to be stepping back, she is stepping it up. She went on to say about the coming year, “A lot of people say this is the time to hunker down and weather the storm. I don’t want to hunker down. I want to get our there and show off and show what we can do.”
As we drove away from the museum, Trent and I mulled over all that Jacque shared with us. We both left with the feeling that we could do what ever we wanted. The reason, just as Heidi Uhl also told us, is that Jacque continues to play to her passion, taking art and design classes to give her clients the best that she can deliver. It was her confidence in knowing that when you love what you do, and you do whatever it takes to fulfill your creative drive, your clients and vendors will love working with you.
Jacque said it best, “When opening a business you always want to know where your competition is, who they are, what they’re doing, and then don’t worry about it. If you love what you do, you are going to be better at it than 90% of what’s out there.”
For any burgeoning entrepreneur that desires to launch their own business, Jacque reminds us why it is so important to find your passion and love what you do. “If you really want to be an entrepreneur, you have to find what your burning desire is. It takes a lot of time, a lot of work, a lot of effort. There is no social life, no family life. All of that gets put aside until you can get that base to glide a little bit. If I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t be here, because it’s too much. You are putting other people’s lives in your hands, their livelihoods and their success. “
An Intimate Portrait of the American Entrepreneur Project is sponsored in part by the automated marketing gurus at Infusionsoft
and is championed by the spirited zeal of The Toilet Paper Entreprenuer and TPEs across the universe.
