This is one in a weekly series of profiles on locally owned and operated businesses in Southern Oregon.

Tina Janke of TJ Consults Inc. in Medford evolved from running her own business to running a business that helps other entrepreneurs run their businesses.

What do you do and how long have you been doing it?

I'm a marketing consultant. I do publicity, promotions and public relations. I'm like a small PR agency. My target is small- to medium-size businesses - ones that that can't afford a big firm. Most of my clients can't afford $2,000 to $5,000 a month. My clients pay about $250 for a national press release. I also do in-house contract public relations for $45 an hour. Sometimes I'm hired part-time and I work within that budget.

I also solicit sales through my database of agencies or through actual buyers. Not all sales agencies buy. Another part of the company does funding services; I grow clients to a point to where they take on investment dollars. They've created a product and want to do a national push and need investors, such as "investment angels" and venture capital. I've been doing this for a little over 20 years.

How long have you lived in the Rogue Valley?

I've lived here for 11 years, moving here from Burbank, Calif.

What inspired you to go into this line of work?

I was previously a small manufacturer with a product. The main reason I was doing that was that I didn't like the rules that you have when you work for somebody else. You're told the hours, what to wear and what you can and cannot say.

Because of the Internet, you don't have to do your job at the office anymore. Most of what I do, I can do online. The mode of communication today is e-mail, where before it was phone and fax.

What decision or action would you change if you could do it again?

When I was first starting out in consulting I had an individual offer me a large sum of money - $500,000 - to grow my business. I was in my 20s and I was afraid of the money. I didn't know how to structure myself.

One of the gag gifts I had was a dinosaur hunting license. The offshoot of the toy company I started was a consulting business, and I didn't know if the money was for part of the company, a loan or a percentage of sales. I didn't know what questions to ask or what to do with the money then.

What's the toughest business decision you've made?

Whether or not to hire an employee. I need the help, that's true, but to get all of your ducks in a row and everything in order is expensive. I had employees a long time ago, but not since I've been in Oregon.

Who are your competitors?

If you look in the Yellow Pages there are some listed, but you often get them at home offices. There are ad agencies, but they aren't a marketing consultant. Lanphier & Associates is what I would strive to be if I wanted to grow that big. Most marketing consultants only do one portion of the marketing - PR or sales. The funding side is generally called a business consultant.

How do you define success for your business?

When my bookkeeper tells me I made a profit after my salary and all my expenses. The first year I started doing this in Oregon, my bookkeeper said "You made a profit," and I said "How much?" And the bookkeeper said "$1.47." I want to make a substantial profit.

What are your goals?

I've been working on two projects the last eight years. One is www.buyerhookup.com and the other one www.pr4-you.com. These two locations are related to what I do for my clients. But this will be on a bigger scale.

Everything I do on PR level for small business, the PR4-You will do public relations for the small-business person, teach the small business how to write a press release and how to create a database for distribution and use my personal database of contacts, as well how to place per publication. It will teach them everything they wanted to know about PR for small business. It will be designed for product-driven companies.

BuyerHookup will hook clients up with wholesale buyers. I have a database of buyers, and I will teach them how to find buyers and representatives. A lot of people say they are intimidated talking to sales reps and editors.

What training or education did you need?

Most consultants have a marketing degree; the school of life gave it to me. I was a marketing secretary for more than 20 years.

I went as far as a I could and at my last job, my boss said I should go into sales. The only place that would hire me to do sales was a janitorial company and I helped build it up from $12,000 to $600,000 in contracts.

When I first came to the Rogue Valley I went to work for KBOY radio, when Bob Estes owned it. What I learned was that a lot of small companies had never heard of co-op advertising and those companies then had dollars they never had for advertising before.

What's your advice for budding entrepreneurs?

Keep your day job. If you really believe in your ideas and products, stick to it. You'll never make a million dollars in the first two or three years.