It’s February – a time of full-hearts, love, and gratitude. My cup runneth over as I note the sixth anniversary of my growing business and reflect upon its very humble beginnings. I often quip that I transitioned from desperate housewife to PR diva in nine life-altering steps. My public relations, publicity coaching, and information products business was born in February of 1999 out of a desire to earn money to buy better groceries.

Up until May of 1997, I worked my way up the corporate ladder in a variety of marketing, promotion, and advertising positions that required creativity, resourcefulness, and decision making to influence bottom line results. When my son was born in 1998, I left the workforce for a year to learn how to be a mom and serve as the chief domestic officer of our household.

Among my many duties was figuring out how to make our household budget stretch to meet all of our needs with half the money. I wanted to buy Nabisco® brand wheat thins for $2.99 a box, but chose to buy two boxes of generic brand wheat crackers for $.99 instead. What I soon found out was that the savings didn’t compensate for the lack of flavor. My public relations business was my ticket to buy better groceries. Today, I’ve got wonderful clients with great stories to tell, a regular newspaper column to share my expertise, and wonderful prospects. And, I’m too busy to cook. This just goes to show that you can make your way in the world doing what you love if you just have the courage to pursue your passion.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to why business owners want publicity in the first place. It occurred to me that business owners don’t want publicity at all. What they want is to be seen, heard, and celebrated in their own backyards.

As business owners, we all make great sacrifices. We work long hours. We worry about a million things that make us long for our days as employees when things were so much easier. We wonder if our businesses will ever achieve “going concern” status, or if we will forever be destined to worrying about how to make a go of these businesses we’ve started, likely on a hope, a dream, and a prayer.

When you earn recognition in the hometown media for your hard-won business success, expertise, and community contributions, more of the right people show up so you can do more of what you love to do. This is perhaps the most powerful benefit anyone can hope to enjoy from the credibility and impact that editorial coverage provides.

When I started my business, I wanted the chance to dance with clients who would give me the opportunity to tell their stories to the local media. Soon, I was dancing as fast as I could to juggle multiple engagements and deliver “big ink and air” to clients whose success or failure depended on attracting and selling to the right clients. Their success escalated, and mine grew, too.

Once business was booming for my clients, my PR services weren’t as crucial. Clients were booked solid with plenty of quality leads in the pipeline. It was a beautiful thing. Referrals from satisfied clients flowed because I earned the reputation as the PR expert who could bring them into the spotlight and help make their dreams come true. Clients were happy because they could re-deploy dollars prior allocated to public relations to other even more pressing business initiatives.

What I’ve learned on my own entrepreneurial journey is that life is the sweetest and most rewarding when I get to spend the majority of my time doing work I love to do. As business owners, we owe it to ourselves to do the work for which we are most qualified and passionate for the customers who need and want what we have to offer.

My business is all about helping business owners across Main Street USA get seen, heard, and celebrated in their own backyards so they can spend most of their time doing what they love to do. It’s a passion I pursue with purpose for profit – and with heartfelt gratitude for the opportunities I have to contribute to the world in this way.

Nancy S. Juetten owns Nancy S. Juetten Marketing Inc. and is the author of the Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Toolkit, which helps business owners get heard, seen, and celebrated in their own backyards...and beyond. Subscribe to her free Media-Savvy-to-Go ezine by visiting http://www.mediasavvytogo.com today. Get in touch with your media relations questions at [email protected] or 425-641-5214.

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