hi there, everyone, i'm jj ramberg and welcome to "your business" where we give you tips and advice to help your business grow. when evelyn anderson, of a just for fun playgrounds wrote to us, she had no idea her email would spark our next business makeover. her question was simple, what do you do when you sell a once in a lifetime product that doesn't generate repeat customers? when we dug deeper, we found a really interesting business in need of some serious help. we decided to send a rescue team

to give them a push in the right direction. ♪ >> when evelyn anderson and her husband, jerry bought just for fun playgrounds in asheville, north carolina, five years ago, business was booming. >> the first three years that we were in business, we worked summer and winter. just straight through the year. we had four guys in the shop, we had two salespeople. and then we had a winter where we went, four months without a phone call. >> the company was known for their high-end custom-designed playgrounds, but by 2009, the recession had eroded two-thirds of their business. forcing them to let all of their employees go. after two difficult years of scraping by, evelyn wrote to us. here at "your business" asking for help. >> i wondered how do you get business when you don't have

repeat customers? when you're selling something that is a once in a lifetime business? >> to answer those questions and help get their business back in full swing -- ♪ we assembled a rescue team. led by mike mkalowitz. >> i'm the author of the toilet paper entrepreneur and i'm here to get your business back on track. we'll finish up and let's stop working on playsets and let's start working on your business. >> here's our showroom. >> first things first, we got to change that to open, right? >> so why don't you take me for a quick tour so i can get a quick sense of what's going on. and then we request go to work. >> this is a showroom. mike's tour got stopped in its tracks when he realized that

jerry and evelyn were living behind the showroom in a motor home. >> we're just really happy we have a roof over our heads. we're lucky. >> and it's paid for. >> so what can be done to resuscitate this once-healthy business and get them back on track? mike and his team quickly honed in on a few things jerry and evelyn should fix. including improving first impressions, online and off with a name and branding change. finding an industry insider to serve as a sounding board and mentor. and getting more exposure with customer reviews and local media. first up, is denise, who was given the task of clearly defining jerry and evelyn's business. her first suggestion to eliminate confusion with another local playground company. was to rebrand their business, were a name change. >> we've been through a lot and have come up with two names we want to present to you and see how you felt with them. the first one we come up with is asheville playgrounds. what we like about this is asheville is really well known

for their quality craftsmanship. with this logo, it's almost a little bit churchy-looking like a steeple. and we know that's a growing portion of your business, we thought that was fun. and there's a lot of fun we can do with that logo. >> i think i fool reserved, because it seems a little too sophisticated from the little bit perhaps goofy just for fun playgrounds and the goofy train and the bubbly smoke and all of that stuff. >> and that's, that's a good point that you're bringing up. that's something we kept in mind because we saw what you had going on. but we also know these are not low-end and it's not low-priced and it's not kids that are looking on the website. it's adults looking on the website making the decisions. so we wanted to make sure we were reaching out to the right audience. this one, i don't know if you're aware, but the state mammal of north carolina is the gray squirrel. and we thought, calling it gray squirrel and having a tag like from playgrounds to parkgrounds

would really allow you to say what you do. and see, everyone smiles when they see gray squirrel and you think outdoors. we thought having a card that looks like wood and having a fun ruler on here. >> the gray squirrel makes me chuckle. i like that it doesn't have playgrounds in it and i don't like that it doesn't have playgrounds in it, you know? matt miller, third generation owner and ceo of play world systems, offered to mentor jerry and evelyn, who were still relative newcomers to this complicated business. >> so, matt, did you have a chance to check out their website and see what evelyn and jerry are doing? >> i looked through it and they're making some really interesting pieces of equipment. >> thank you. >> yeah. that's completely your strength. but when i pulleden your website, i wouldn't have known that right away. >> interesting. >> yeah, you got to lead with that. that's something that somebody can really latch on to and say, you know what, i can make this

look like my church. or i can make it look like the playground that i had when i was a child. >> matt also emphasized the importance of selling fun and not just the equipment when it comes to marketing their playgrounds. >> when you're selling a playground, you're selling an experience. you're not just selling a piece of equipment. so try to capture the imagination and the image and the excitement of what it was like when you were a child and you first got to go to the playground. >> our next rescue team member, dana, is a marketing and pr expert who is tasked with getting jerry and evelyn some exposure. >> i have another surprise for you tomorrow. a reporter from the "asheville times" will be here to interview you. >> and i want to sit down with you and spend some time refining your messages and looking at your traditional media and social media and looking at how we can blend in your customer reviews with that to get you additional exposure.

>> mike gave jerry and evelyn a homework assignment for the day. >> we've got to identify the top ten clients. the people who bring in money and who you love. and the second thing is the mentor schedule. we have to work with the mentor and it's our responsibility as the meantees to manage the schedule. the third thing is clearly this, we've got to pick the logo we love and maybe change it a little bit. i think it's changing, pushing the limit of what we normally are can make all the difference. all right? >> okay. >> we'll give it our best shot. >> team break. >> we'll find out whether the asheville couple can overcome their business problems later in the show. if anyone knows about persevering in the face of hardship, it's people of new orleans. being in the middle of hurricane season reminds us of the challenges that community faced after katrina's devastation six years ago. but, that city's small business community has rebounded and is booming.

six years after the devastation from hurricane katrina, new orleans is experiencing a renaissance and small business owners are leading the way. >> new orleans is becoming this national laboratory of a next-generation of entrepreneur leaders. >> it's created sort of an interesting synergy, if not an a alchemy of committed natives. and idealistic newcomers. >> two entrepreneurs were considered pioneers. >> it felt like the wild west and it made us feel like we were pioneers rebuilding something from the ground up. >> when everyone else was fleeing the city and businesses were closing left and right and the news was piling on about who is leaving town next, i said, you know, i'm going to do something right. >> and today, while other cities are struggling to stay afloat during this tough economy, new

orleans has been growing. thanks to a low cost of living, generous tax credits and a rich culture. >> you can start a business here for 30 to 40% less than new york or san francisco. so why offshore to bangalore when you can offshore to new orleans. you can come here, do it better and do it cheaper and do it with more enthusiastic people than almost anywhere else in the country. >> louisiana is number three in the united states in terms of film production behind only california and new york. >> at the epicenter of all of this entrepreneurial activity is the ip building, entrepreneurs row and the ice house, inspired by silicone valley in new york, the three house some of the most innovative companies in new orleans. >> what you have here is a community of entrepreneurs, that have moved into this building in the last year from the fastest-growing companies in the country, what this board represents is the

entrepreneurial community within new orleans, and it's just one of the few innovative hubs that sprang up all around the community. >> kyle of feel goods and craig cord ez met at the ip building and found that they could collaborate on the packing of kyle's flip-flops in cordes warehouse space. >> the joint venture was formed and we're now shipping out feel-goods flip-flops. >> this woman's desire to help rebuild new orleans was so strong, she left her job in new york as a sweater designer to follow her dream of starting her own clothing company. >> the enthusiasm for a new business here is incredible. i mean, they rolled out the red carpet for us. and it was like whatever we can do to have you succeed, we want you to succeed. >> new orleans is on the rise. a recession-proof haven, eager to support new businesses with entrepreneurs working together to succeed.

>> new orleans is my huge business partner. it's on the label and it will stay on the label. business partners invest in your business and new orleans invests in my business, people on the street, in the community, my friends, the businesses here. i mean, they want me to succeed. and you know, and in ways that are beyond just capital investments. >> stick around, when we come back, we tell you what you need to know to export your products overseas. and what name did they choose for the playground business? we go back to asheville, north carolina, as we complete our small business makeover. shazi: seven years ago, i had this idea. to make baby food the way moms would. happybaby strives to make the best organic baby food.

in a business like ours, personal connections are so important. we use our american express open gold card to further those connections. last year we took dozens of trips using membership rewards points to meet with farmers that grow our sweet potatoes and merchants that sell our product. vo: get the card built for business spending. call 1-800-now-open to find out how the gold card can serve your business. earlier, we introduced you to evelyn anderson and jerry hayek, the owners of a custom playground company who needed our help. when we visited their showroom and workshop, we saw firsthand some easy fixes to spruce up their business. in part two of our small business makeover, you'll see the outpouring of support from the entrepreneurial community to give this business a boost. >> so yesterday we were sorting out what's going on here and

there's a lot going on. but today, is where the rubber hits the road and we're going to do some heavy lifting and get things cleaned up. first up, checking to see if jerry and evelyn did their homework. ha about the top ten clients, did we figure them out? >> we've got a list of 15, actually. >> any common trend that you identify of any type? >> yes. i think that they're all really creative, interesting projects that we've done. >> that commonality is a seed for finding other clients just like that. it's perfect. tell me about the mentor. how did that go? >> i'm inclined in the beginning to like to meet every two weeks. >> now the big reveal, what is the name of the new business? the new name of the current business. >> asheville playgrounds. >> yes, we decided to go with that, because it's a little less playful and a little more to the point of what we do. but we're going to play with the graphics in that we like what graysquirrel looks like. and if we take the backgrounds from graysquirrel and put it with the asheville playgrounds

logo, i think it will be a nice blend. >> it's not what i expected, but i love the decision of speaking to the customer. well done. >> with their homework done and a new company name chosen, they got to share the news about the changes taking place at the business with the local paper. the "asheville citizen times." >> is this mentor allowing you to -- >> of course. >> the resulting story was front-page news in asheville. which was exactly the kind of local exposure dana was looking for. building on that momentum, dana approached the customers on jerry and evelyn's top ten client list and asked them to do an online review. mike took the business owners aside to talk a little more about their original question -- how to boost sales when they sell a product that doesn't have repeat customers? >> you've got to increase sales. here's how you do it. tip number one, i want you to start asking for vendor referrals. it's unlikely customers are going to refer them to other

customers, instead, ask them to refer you to vendors and tip number two is trade shows. took in the booth, guess who is at the trade shows? other vendors. so start walking the trade shows. it costs nothing, you have an opportunity to meet all of these others and start building relationships. third tip is growing by saying no. you grow by saying no. what you have to do is start saying no to the projects that are not within your wheel house. not your specialty. we have to stay in our sweet spot. okay. and if we stay within our sweet spot. we can start hitting what's called a con consecentric circl. if you have a presence in those three or four spots, they will perceive you as being everywhere. and the fifth and final tip i want to share with you, i think there's a huge opportunity for what's called additive sales. when you do a project and install a set-up, a whole new

playset, i think there's an opportunity to offer maintenance. in the moment when they buy a $10,000 or $20,000 play set. you can say for $100 a month we'll check out and make sure the safety standards are met, it's clean and give you a report on it. if it needs to be fixed or adjusted, we'll do that, too. >> the next order of business was improving first impressions at the showroom and the workshop. perched at the intersection of two busy streets, it was time to spruce up the newly-renamed business with a little help from friends. >> everyone has volunteered to help clean this place up and clean up the signage outside. are you guys ready? >> come on in, come on! ♪ ♪ >> with the entrepreneurial community taking an interest in

helping boost asheville playgrounds, several local businesses contributed not only their time, but also some much-needed items. like new signage. >> that is so cool. >> they also planted flowers and provided a new phone system to finish the transformation. >> we wanted to give you a lifetime virtual phone system. to make sure that when people call you, your first image is professional. and when they try to reach you and try to call you, the calls are going to forward to wherever you are. >> i really didn't know this kind of thing existed. so this is really cool. >> after some tweaks to the asheville playground's logo and branding. karen of studio 88 built jerry and evelyn an entirely new website. >> i want to show you your website. >> all right. >> packed with lots of pictures and information, the old site was busy and sprawling. the new design is organized and easy to navigate with the custom-designed playground images taking center stage. in galleries separated by category. residential, commercial, and

churches. >> it's online now, it's interactive. you can click on some of the pages if you'd like. >> in just a few short weeks, the extraordinary transformation of just for funplaygrounds was almost complete. >> i have a special delivery for you, we've prepared your business cards for your new business. >> look at these. >> we found our two business owners more confident and ready to turn the page in a new chapter of their playground business. >> i have absolute confidence, i see it in you. maybe you don't hear it in your own mind, but it's in your heart. you got it. it's going to work, you're going to do it. >> it's an honor. >> jerry. take care, all right? >> we appreciate all that y'all have done for us. >> thankfully, we were able to get mike mccalowitz to come in and talk to us. he's the author of the

best-selling book, "the toilet paper entrepreneur" and the power behind city launch. and jason goldberg is the founder and ceo of fab.com, a website that offers sales on items from leading designers and manufacturers. but that doesn't begin to describe you, because you are a serial entrepreneur, you've sold two companies, this is your third and fourth, i guess, they blended into one. >> number four right now. >> great to see both of you. mike, amazing piece, you did a great job with that. >> it was wonderful to be out there. they are really true american entrepreneurs, their hearts are into they had so much given to them under your guidance and lee, our producer, so open to it now what? do you think it's going to work? >> i think it is going to work. to me what the amazing moment was when the mentor came on, matt miller from a major playground manufacturer i saw on their faces they change thards thinking in that moment. they decided to break the pattern that's been getting them in trouble and take a new path. i think it's going to attack a year, two, five to play out, but i'm confident they're on the

right pattern now. >> jason, you've been extraordinarily successful. how do you get yourself out of tough spots when something happens? >> i like to say focus on one thing, and you know it's -- as you said, draw a circle around one thing. that's outside bounds of that circle, just don't do it. you talked about things they shouldn't be doing, taking on business that's not profitable, honing in on how to emphasize what might be working in the business now. that's really key to, i think, when you're in this kind of stage. >> taking on business. >> we say it a lot on the show, saying no. especially now in the economy, saying no to a customer. >> sounds counter intuitive, doesn't it? you grow by saying no. a struggling business typically starts grasping at straws, taking on any business. they're making bridges, gazebos, signs, that's grasping at straws. we've dug into the numbers we saw all of those projects make nothing revenue or in some cases, actually a lot of cases, losing money. >> a lot of what you did you

fixed up the look of things. they got this amazing new website. you started all of these websites. for a company like theirs, it makes to sense to go there, they have a great showroom, how important is making the website as nice as it can. >> a couple things struck me. one was the imagery of how beautiful their playgrounds are. it struck me, that is their centerpie centerpiece. the whole story is the objects they're building. and just focus on those objects. and another thing that struck me was, i think it's great we got them a new website, but one thing that maybe needed the next step with them is that in a bad economy there's not many people doing web searches for build a new playground. so the traffic might not be coming naturally to their website. instead i would encourage them to look for ways and businesses like them take that great imagery and put it places where people will see. >> find other vendors. >> take pictures of the playgrounds and put them on your facebook page, a different one

every single day, get people who are actually, you know, taking advantage of and using playgrounds to share with friends. >> great idea. well, i'm excited and mike, we're going have you back in a year from now, so we could go back and see how these guys are doing. i have faith in them, from watching this, and you do, too, from being there. mike, thanks so much for the great work. >> thank you. >> making mistakes while running a small business is inevitable but some errors are avoidable. the five biggest financial mistakes businesses make courtesy of ink.com. hiring in advance of revenue. decide how many people to hire based on what money you actually have in the bank. borrowing money when it's not needed. just because a bank is willing to lend you money doesn't mean you should accept it. borrowed money adds a huge burden to your business. pricing too low. it's almost always bettor sell fewer units at higher prices than sell more units at a lower

price. offering credit terms. unless there's good reason, you should not offer credit to customers. businesses often fail because they can't collect receivables and manage cash. finally, counting on one major source of revenue. depending on one source can be dangerous for your small business. instead build multiple source of revenue so when one stream dies off, as it often does, you're still building your overall business. doing business abroad is helping a lot of entrepreneurs get through tough times here at home. this year the obama administration launched an effort to get more small businesses to pursue exporting their goods. our guest says that getting small business export financing is on the rise and he's going to share tips for expanding your foreign sales outside the united states. fred hoford, great to see you. >> thanks for having me on the show. >> we get a lot of questions about this, particularly

recently, people making something and want to start selling their stuff overseas. one of the things you say you have to pay attention to is reduce your risk of not being paid. that makes perfect sense, but how do you do that? >> well, you know, when you're a company and located in chicago, you are selling product to new york or arizona, if there's some reason you don't get paid, you know what to do, you know how to collect, you know what the laws are, it's not difficult to collect on sales so it's not a risk to the business. difficulty is when you have a company and selling products to india or saudi arabia or brazil or colombia and they don't pay what do you do? you can't afford to hire lawyers. >> where what do you do from the start so you make sure that doesn't happen? >> what we do, one, most importantly, know your customer. you should know your customer, have some knowledge of what their businesses and their reliability. two, we help you step in by providing insurance. we'll insure their receivable.

so if you -- if there's a company we work with in miami, they sell surgical supplies, where do they sell them to? egypt, libbia, iraq, sri lanka, we ensure that receivable. >> got it. okay. and then, you suggest you offer foreign buyers finances because a lot of people don't have the cash to pay up front so this is some incentive for them? >> right. so in a case like that sometime -- usually it's for a capital goods. we just sold solar technology to india. well, in that case we provided the buyer with financing, and they can pay for that over 18 years, so they can amortize the cost. >> when you say we, you mean your import/export. >> thank you, thank you. sorry. the export/import bank there. independent government agency, we do this at no cost to the taxpayer. we collect a fee for work from our customers, the foreign buyer, or the u.s. exporterer

and that pays all of our costs. we dpanguarantee or in this cas guarantee the loan. >> secure working capital loan from your bank without tying up collateral. people will listen to me and say that now and just laugh because everyone's having trouble getting loans. >> at the export/import bank we look at your receivables, look at your inventory and work with your local bank and we'll provide that bank with a 90% guarantee so they'll make the working capital loan. so the bank has little risk and therefore to induce them to make the loan. >> competing against foreign companies, you might not be cheaper but maybe you'll have better qualify than something they find in their own country. >> what the united states excels at is we make some of the most innovative products technologically advanced and i would say on many products longer lifetime cost. maybe the actual cost of buying it initially might be more

expensive but but if you look at total lifetime cost, be locomotives, airplanes, solar technology, lifetime costs are far less. we're selling high-quality products. >> just one last question. if somebody's interested in this, where do they go? you're making it sound easy, we guarantee financing, we find people for you. it can't possibly be that easy. where do you go to at least take the first step. >> let me say this, it's not that easy but it's not nearly as hard as people make it out to be. if you want to figure out where the buyers are, the department of commerce is the first place to go. they'll help you identify buyers. if once you've got a customer and need financing, working capital, insurance, go to the export/import bank exim..gov. >> we've been getting so many questions about this particularly right now. so i really appreciate it. it's very helpful. >> thank you. happy to be here, j.j.

>> a strong business plan is very helpful to launching any successful small business. want help writing yours? check out our website of the week. enlop.com automatically writes a customizes business plan for you. the site will rate the strength of your business plan, and generate financial forecasts. it provides limited services for free, premium services available for $40 a month. to learn more about today's show, just click on our website. it's openforum.com/yourbusiness. you'll find all of today's segments, plus web exclusive content with more information to help your business grow. don't forget to become a fan of the show on facebook. we love getting your feedback. also follow us on twitter. it's @yourbiz. we make your business our business.