Self-made businesswoman Nancy Juetten knows about the risks and rewards of launching a new business. The founder of Main Street Media Savvy began her own business venture after years of working in numerous marketing positions for large corporations. When her son was born in 1997, she decided to take a year off and relish the time as a stay-at-home mom.

“I quickly realized, although I loved being at home, my family’s income was suffering,” she said, at her home office in Bellevue. “I remember being frustrated at the grocery store because I couldn’t afford to buy the food my family really enjoyed. Instead I had to buy the cheap stuff. I decided to take control of my own destiny.”

Juetten took her years of experience in the marketing field to create a new business focusing on helping other business owners tackle do-it-yourself publicity.

Juetten now represents large name corporate clients including the Seattle Chocolate Company and La Panzanella.

“I had years of training on how to get your name out there and be heard,” she explained. “I knew I could either keep this knowledge to myself or share what I knew and help countless business owners reach new levels of success.”

When she’s not leading seminars and workshops for business owners in the Bellevue area, she spreads her publicity knowledge through her blog and hands-on tools she created for her clients. She designed the Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Toolkit as a reference guide for those who want to learn more about self promotion.

“So many people waste their time writing bios that will never get read,” she said. “I show start-ups and long-time business owners how to write a bio that will not only catch a client’s eye but will bring in the business to make their venture successful.”

Once a month, Juetten leads Publici-Tea workshops, short seminars created to inspire business owners to take control of media opportunities. She took it one step further when she devised the Publici-Tea To-Go gift bundle, with 10 percent of each sale benefiting Northwest Hope and Healing, a non-profit organization that provides healing baskets and other essential services to women newly diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I was diagnosed with an abnormal mammogram five years ago and I think the experience of having gone through that has impacted who I am today,” she said. “I want to help people be successful not only in their businesses, but in their lives, too.”

Lindsay Larin can be reached at 425.453.4602.

To read Nancy Juetten’s blog on publicity tips, visit www.mainstreetmediasavvy.com.