Diana Dibble’s Origin Story & Lessons Learned Since 1996

This is Diana’s story and it’s told by her in first person. It’s a great story. And heads up – you might need some tissues.

When I’m at a speaking engagement or networking event I’m often asked how I started my business. They’re usually asking about the business I’m “representing”. Instead of a simple answer, I take them on journey visiting the milestones of my entrepreneurial life.

Is starting a small business consulting firm what I really wanted to do?

Nope, I didn’t want to be an entrepreneur, but the CFO in the company I was working for saw potential that I didn’t see. He gave me a project saying it was the first job as an entrepreneur. I told him I wasn’t interested.

Two years later I got laid off from my job on a Friday. My boss, who was a VP and hired me, left the company. I called him on Monday looking for a job. He said he couldn’t hire me as an employee but he could hire me as a consultant. Friday I was unemployed, Monday I was an entrepreneur.

My first business was born not on purpose, but out of necessity. I needed a job, but fate had other plans for me. That was in 1996. What I didn’t know was this was the first step in my entrepreneurial journey, that bore another business in 2001 (I merged my first business into it) that is still open and successful in 2025. In the interim I opened other businesses and today I have 5 businesses.

Plot twist: What I also didn’t know was the decision to start that first business would play a part in the events that occurred in 2021. You’ll see what I mean as you keep reading.

Small business consulting became my lifeblood

My story is unique to me, but it’s not totally unusual. Many business owners start their company out of necessity like I did. The difference might be that I could have gotten a job. I had a lot of contacts and a solid reputation. People knew that I was good at my job and I used to get offers from companies trying to poach me.

For some reason – and I don’t exactly know why – I decided to take the leap and start my own company. My ex-boss, who was a long-time friend, would be the starting point. Having his company as a client gave me credibility in front of potential clients.  It also gave me confidence knowing that I could not only get more clients, but also to know that I would be OK.

Turns out that I was more than OK. I made more money, had control over my schedule and could say no to clients that I didn’t want to work with.

I wanted to start a business operations consulting firm

You may or may not know Tripod’s origin story. There is information on our About page, but there is more to this story… more to my story. And it started back in 1994. A simple conversation would change the trajectory of my life, but it didn’t happen until 2 years later.

Before going back to the beginning, let me start with how Tripod Coaching and Consulting LLC® came to be in 2022.

I was thinking about starting a business operations consulting firm for years. People frequently contacted me with “oh sh*t” moments seeking my advice and help. Some were people I knew and some people who were referred to me. I happily helped out and I figured that I’d start a business operations consulting firm “one day” and in the meantime I’d do it on an ad hoc basis.

The spark so Tripod Coaching & Consulting LLC® could finally be born

Most companies start from an event that triggers its creation. For me, it was an event that I didn’t seeing coming or as I like to say “I didn’t have it on my Bingo card.”

The trigger for me was brain tumors. And not just one brain tumor, but two brain tumors. And one of them was a rare tumor type of a rare tumor type. And they became the catalyst for me to finally start this company. Fortunately they are both non-malignant, but even so, it was a scary time.

This all started in 2021 when I was diagnosed. A month later I had brain surgery on one of the tumors. After a very long surgery, I came out of the anesthesia and apparently said “something good has to come from this”. People say wild things coming out of anesthesia. The nurses apparently chuckled, but later that night they did tell me what I said. They didn’t realize that a spark happened at that moment and it stayed as an ember until one day it became a bright flame.

8 months after brain surgery, and less than 3 months after finishing radiation, I filed the incorporation papers for Tripod Coaching & Consulting LLC®, purchased my domains, reached out to my web developer, and contacted a trademark attorney. I was ready to take my business operations consulting services to market and expanded my original idea to include business operations coaching.

From brain tumor diagnosis to starting another business after arain surgery

Part of my story starts at my brain tumor diagnosis. It continues where I become a brain tumor survivor who starts another another business post.

Blog posts can only cover so much of my story [I’ll save some of it for my book]. I was interviewed on the Spared Change Podcast about “Starting a business after an unexpected diagnosis“. This podcast provides more context and is worth watching.

My story as a brain tumor survivor was also featured by Johns Hopkins Medicine when they did a patient video about me. This video is a deeper dive into my brain tumor survivor story.

This is one of many podcasts and videos. You can find more of them on the Tripod Speaking webpage.

Planning for the “What If”® becomes a reality

Prior to starting Tripod Coaching & Consulting LLC® I spent more than 2 decades building Design To Delivery Inc’s (D2DInc) business operations infrastructure. My business partner, Molly Gimmel, and I co-founded D2DInc in 2001. I took over D2DInc’s business operations functions and found that I exceled in these activities. One important area was documenting all of the company’s activities to create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). My goal was to ensure that company activities were compliant and consistent no matter who executed them.

I didn’t know at the time that I was building a sustainable, scalable infrastructure that would allow me to be out of the office for an extended recovery. This meant D2DInc continued to operate smoothly because the internal systems and SOPs had already been built, and I cross-trained our VP of Business Operations so she could handle most of my tasks.

Planning for the “What If”® is more than just surviving a crisis. It’s proof that a well-built operations foundation allows a business to endure, adapt, and persist, even when the unexpected hits. It’s the essence of Planning for the “What If”®.

What’s Next?

I want to keep helping small businesses while growing my speaking career around small business and business operations consulting. I have ready-to-go topics as well as customized topics. More info is available on the Speaking webpage.

I also want to use my story as a brain tumor survivor to give hope to those facing the same or similar challenges. It’s a humor filled story of resilience (I believe in finding the funny). I didn’t focus on “why me” when I got my diagnosis. I instead asked myself how I could use this to help people.

It reminds me of the saying that my story could be someone’s roadmap for survival.

Small Business Takeaways

Diana’s story provides insight on her journey as an serial entrepreneur and why she founded Tripod Coaching & Consulting LLC. It also show why business operations is important.

Throughout her career and since founding Tripod Coaching & Consulting LLC, Diana sees a trend of small business owners and entrepreneurs often focusing on sales, growth, closing deals and that’s great. However, revenue isn’t the only benchmark of a company’s success. There are other factors that directly impact a company’s longevity. So ask yourself:

What’s your foundation built on?
Without strong operations (finance, HR, contracts, compliance, documentation, infrastructure, etc.) you might be building your business on sand.

What can you do?
Invest in your operations now. Document your processes. Build your policies. Plan for the “What If.” Because when revenue generation slows, or something unexpected happens, your operational infrastructure with its solid foundation should carry your company forward.

That’s not sexy or flashy. Most entrepreneurs and business owners think it’s boring. But it’s what makes a business sustainable, scalable, and truly built for the long haul.

Need help with next steps with your business or have questions about our business operations services?

We know that a lot of businesses struggle with their business operations, particularly if this area isn’t in your sweet spot. This means that this part of the business is “put off until later” because the company doesn’t have the ability — or desire — to handle these activities.

That’s where Tripod Coaching & Consulting® can help and fill the gap for small businesses. Check out our services page for details about what we offer. Our blog has more business operations insights.

If you need help or have any questions about our services, please reach out via the contact page. We can set up a call to talk and we’ll then develop a strategy based on our initial conversation. You can use the contact page if you’d like Diana to speak to your organization or at your next event. Make sure to select the correct line in the drop down box and include as many specifics as possible.

We’re also happy to answer questions about this post. Leave us a note in the comment section or reach out on the contact page.