• Beth McRae offers tips from experience

• ““We’ve kept our company very diversified over the years”

As entrepreneurs will say, owning a business provides harsh lessons.

Beth McRae, who oversees the McRae Agency in the Phoenix area, has had a few of those tough lessons but has survived and prospered.

Her company has more than 20 years in the public relations, social media and marketing industries, weathering downturns from the dot-com bust to the Great recession.

What’s the secret?

We asked Ms. McRae to set the stage by telling a bit about herself and her company, which has grown to be one of the best-known boutique public relations agencies in the West….