By way of explaining her approach as an entrepreneur, Mireille Bierens recalls what an employer once told her.  

When standing on a cliff looking down at the ocean, there are two types of people — the ones who stop to think about whether they can swim and check that their lifejacket is secure before making the leap, and the ones who, after jumping, wonder whether they can swim.  

“I’m good at jumping in the ocean and paddling,” Bierens said, referencing the second type of person who is willing to risk a jump into the unknown. “It’s why I’ve ended up where I am.”  

Bierens is the owner of Mountain Physical Therapy and Fitness Center in Evergreen. It’s a business she bought five years ago in the middle of a pandemic and though she had experience in marketing physical therapy businesses, she is a unique owner in the industry in that she is not a physical therapist herself.  

“Five years down the road here we are and we’re growing,” she says while offering a tour of the clinic that includes four providers and a list of physical therapy options, including aquatic therapy.  

Growing up in the Netherlands, Bierens was CEO of a real estate company when she met her son’s father and feeling unhappy in her job, followed him to the United States in 2000. Eventually, she ended up in the Flathead Valley raising her son, Sam, as a single mother. At times, she held down multiple jobs, including cleaning houses to make ends meet. 

She sold memberships at the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce, which provided the opportunity to meet many people. Later, she worked as a regional sales manager for Glacier Stone Supply.  

With a degree as a physical education teacher, she ended up teaching classes at The Wave Aquatic and Fitness Center, where she also began working as the membership services and marketing manager. Connections led her to a marketing position at Professional Therapy Associates physical therapy.  

“On my first day, I realized I was selling a product I knew nothing about,” she said.  

But as is indicative of many of the leaps in her life, she put in the hard work. When restructuring rendered her position obsolete, she looked to the next opportunity and, along with partners, started Berube Physical Therapy in Columbia Falls. After selling her shares in the company she helped found, she purchased Mountain Physical Therapy and Fitness Center when the previous owner was looking to retire.  

She took the business over in June 2020 when patients began returning to physical therapy and elective surgeries, having returned after a pause during the pandemic. Still, it was an “interesting time,” she says, noting that at one point the clinic shut down for a week to disinfect following a Covid-19 diagnosis. Pointing to a whiteboard mapping out the year, Bierens says she’s committed to better predicting operations in the challenging area of health care.  

“I fell forward into the medical industry and it’s not for the faint of heart,” Bierens said.  

While running the business, Bierens volunteers with the Rotary Club of Evergreen, the Flathead Valley Exchange Club, the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Flathead and is a board member of the Evergreen Chamber of Commerce. Investing in her community and, in particular, the community of her business has been a priority. 

“I believe you have to give before you can receive,” Bierens said. “Being in this community as a business owner means helping to make it the best it can be. I’ve been so welcomed by passionate people who love Evergreen.” 

There was a time, Bierens said, she would have been nervous about taking on a task like emceeing a chamber meeting. But now she has the confidence to admit when she doesn't know something and seek out advice — it’s become routine as she navigates being an entrepreneur.  

“I would never want to trade it in for the 9-to-5,” she said. “I feel a high sense of responsibility to my boss or the higher-ups if I make a bad decision. But with this, it’s my thing and I have to fix it.”  

Deputy Editor Heidi Desch may be reached at 406-758-4421 or [email protected].