Show Them Pearly Whites Savvy entrepreneurs have publicity photos on hand. Here's how to be ready for your close-up.

You've just won an award. You've just been invited tospeak at a gathering of professionals. You've just been quotedin a newspaper article. In each of these cases, a photographer issent to take your picture to accompany the written material. On thedesignated day, the harried photographer dashes in, snaps a fewshots and flies off to his next assignment. The photo appears,and-well, Charles Manson's mug shot probably looked better.Your eyes are pouchy; a patch of hair is sticking up. And can youreally be hatching a double chin?

Savvy entrepreneurs have a publicity photo on hand to submit onsuch spur-of-the-moment occasions, says Joan Stewart, publisher ofThe Publicity Hound, a Saukville, Wisconsin, newsletterdevoted to marketing and public relations issues. "Ifyou're going to seek a lot of media coverage or do a lot ofmarketing, it's imperative that you have a publicityphoto," she advises. "I know that when a newspaperarticle runs about me, people always say 'I saw your picture inthe paper.' If you leave it up to someone else to take yourpicture at the last minute and you're having a bad hair day,it's a lost opportunity."