This is part of a series called "One Entrepreneur's Journey," where I'm talking with solo entrepreneurs about their successes (and failures) along the path of entrepreneurship.

In this interview, I talked with Nancy Juetten of Main Street Media Savvy.  Nancy helps business owners everywhere quickly get up-to-speed on do-it-yourself publicity to share their messages in the media.

She's a publicist, “Media Savvy” newspaper columnist, DIY publicity blogger, speaker, and creator of the popular Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Toolkit and Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide.  She's also a Publici-Tea™ workshop trainer who inspires business owners to take control of their media opportunities through consistent, winning actions every day.

What do you think you're getting right so far as a solo entrepreneur?

One of the things I've done really well is craft a very compelling brand message that really resonates emotionally with the customers I want to serve.  My brand message is "Get seen, heard, and celebrated in your own backyard and beyond," and my brand is Main Street Media Savvy.  Getting to a real, emotionally-charged, and unique selling proposition, or brand strategy, has been a huge "aha" for me, and it's been a very magnetic tool to invite more of the right people to do business with me.

Did anyone help you develop this brand message?

Sure, it's pretty compelling the way this came to me.  I get thank you notes from people all the time.  I have my whole office wallpapered with thank you notes from people all over the world that have said, "Thank you, Nancy.  Because of what you showed me or what you did for me, I am now known in my own backyard."  It was right under my nose all along that people were paying my fees and doing whatever it is that I'm doing, but they were going a step beyond and actually taking a piece of personal stationery with a pen and saying, "Thank you" and using words that were far more complimentary than I ever could have thought, and I thought, "This is really personal for people."  That was sort of my "aha" moment, that I'm not getting people free publicity.  They don't care about free publicity.  They want to be seen, heard, and celebrated.

For anyone who is struggling, what is it that you really do for people?  How does it matter to them?  There's probably a pearl of a brand idea residing right there.

How did you fine tune your vision?

Suzanne Falter-Barns runs a site called GetKnownNow.com, and she helps people craft their brand strategies.  I signed up for her extraordinary business-builders course, and it wasn't for the faint of heart.  She really has you go through all these exercises to get clear about who your ideal customer is, and then you have to figure out what you do for them and why it matters.  As a result of going through that course and doing the heavy lifting, I came out with this brand strategy.  I can't say enough for her Get Known Now program.  I think it's really helpful to work with someone who has a vision bigger than yours to make you see what's possible.

Once you had your strategy in place, how did you start to get your brand out there?

Funny story, I have always been very interested in comfort and joy products, and I was having a pedicure with one of my good friends, Michele Lisenbury Christensen of WorkingWithPower.com, and she said to me, "As good as you are at explaining publicity to people and helping them do what needs to be done, and as much as you enjoy drinking tea and eating chocolate, why don't you create an event that brings all those things together?  You can call it Publici-Tea and bring people together over tea, chocolate, and conversation."  It was like someone hit me over the head with a crowbar!

So, shortly after Main Street Media Savvy brand launched with the tag line "Get seen, heard, and celebrated in your own backyard and beyond," I launched my very first Publici-Tea half-day workshop.  I did it as simply as sending an email out to my newsletter list that said, "I thought it would be fun to bring some of my publicity-seeking friends and fans together to learn how to use publicity to serve their business."  Ten minutes after it went out, I had twenty-two people sign up, and I thought, "Oh my goodness, this is really striking a nerve.  I'm just going to build on it," and that's what I've done.  Just about every month since then, I've had a sold out Publici-Tea workshop.

It's really been fun just to sort of go with my own authenticity, things that I love and things I'm committed to, and make it available in the ways that are convenient and delicious for the people who want that information.

What has been your most important lesson so far as a solo entrepreneur?

The most important lesson I've learned is that the why I do what I do has to be bigger than the how or the what.  The why is the biggest thing.  I have to be mission-driven.  I have to have a bigger idea that's beyond products and services and that I can be proud to share with others and that can help them in a bigger way.

When you're starting a business, you just want to make enough money to buy the better groceries and pay the bills, then you want to have better clients and dance with better partners, and then somewhere along the line, you have your "aha" moment and realize that what you're doing is bigger than products and services and it's a mission well worth fighting for, and then all of a sudden, you have advocates who are willing to do what they need to do for you.  All of a sudden, you have something you're really proud of.  You can build a tribe around whatever your mission is, and people will be happy to advocate for you, and you can grow a lot faster than you could ever grow by yourself.

The other thing that I've learned is to assemble an extraordinary team.  Building a quality team of quality partners is really important.

What do you wish you would have known earlier on or before starting a business?

When you work for an employer, you go to the job, you do the job, you go home, you probably think about it a fair amount if you're a top performer, but you're able to have a better separation between work and home.  When you run a business from your home, the separation between work and home is really difficult to achieve, and the differentiation between life and work is very unclear.  The one thing I've learned is how really all-consuming running a business can be, and that's challenging.

It's always easier to work for someone else.  When you work for yourself, the buck always starts and stops with you.  The pressure is always on, and there's no easy button.  You really have to want it bad, or it's easy to go back to work for someone else.

There's also a fair amount of isolation running a business like this, because you're in your office making it happen.  It's not like there are folks at the water cooler you can go and chat with and brainstorm with.  It takes an incredible amount of discipline and focus to make things happen everyday on your own.  You need a community of friends and colleagues and people you can connect with to just bounce ideas.  The isolation that a solopreneur can feel can be a little bit suffocating at times, so it's important to join a professional or mastermind group.

What's your best advice for new solo entrepreneurs?

Read Michael Gerbers The e-Myth Revisited and be really clear about what your commitment is.  Running a business because you're good at something is not necessarily a sustainable way to be successful.  You've gotta be in it for the long haul.  You've gotta be willing to make sacrifices and work really hard and make mistakes.

Update on Oct 27 by Amber Singleton Riviere

Attention Upstart Smart subscribers: Purchase the Bye Bye Boring Bio Action Guide and Nancy has generously offered to send you 147 powerful e-tips to boost business and profit with free publicity.  Just put "Amber Singleton Riviere" in the comments section of the online order form.