i'm jerry and i'm evelyn. see how msnbc got our playground back in business.

hi there, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg. welcome to "your business" where we give you tips to help your business grow. when evelyn wrote to us a few months back. she had no idea her business would spark our next make over. what do you do when you sell a once in a lifetime product. we found an interesting business in need of serious help. we decided to assemble a rescue team to give them a much needed push in the right direction. when evelyn anderson and her husband bought just for fun playgrounds in asheville, north carolina, 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 sales people. 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. by 2009, the recession eroded two-thirds of their business forcing them to let all their employees go. after two difficult years of scraping by, evelyn wrote to us at "your business" asking for help. >> i wondered how you get business when you don't have repeat customers. when you are selling something that is a once in a lifetime purchase. how do you continue to find new customers? >> to answer those questions ant get the business back into full swing, we assembled a rescue team led by mike to surprise the

owners with a small business makeover. >> i'm the author of "the toilet paper entrepreneur." i'm here to help you get your business back on track. i'll help you carry your roof in. let's start working on your business today. >> here is our wonderful showroom. >> we have to change that to open, right? >> sure. >> yep. >> take me on a quick tour then we can get to work. >> this is the showroom. the train is here for parents to let the kids play on it while we talk to them about their playground. >> the tour got stopped in the tracks when he realized they were living behind the showroom in a motor home. >> we are happy we have a roof over our heads. we are lucky. >> and it's paid for. >> what can be done to resuscitate this business? they honed in on a few things jerry and evelyn should fix

including improving first impressions 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. she was given the task of defining their business. her first suggestion, eliminate confusion with another local playground company was to rebrand their business with a name change. >> we have been through a lot of brainstorming and came up with two names we wanted to present to you. >> okay. >> the first one is asheville playgrounds. what we like is asheville is really well known for their quality, craftsmanship. with this logo, it's churchy looking. we thought it was fun. there's a lot you can do with the logo. you can have kids climbing over it. >> i feel reserved. it seems too sophisticated from

the little bit goofy just for fun playgrounds and the goofy train and the smoke and all that stuff. >> it's a good point you are bringing up. it's something we kept in mind. we know they are not low end and they are not low priced, what you are doing. >> that's true. >> it's not kids looking on the website. it's adults looking and making the decision. this one, i don't know if you are aware, but the state mammal of north carolina is the gray squirrel. and we thought calling it gray squirrel and having a tag line from playgrounds to park grounds would allow you to say -- everyone smiles when they see it. you think outdoors. we thought a card that looks like wood and a fun ruler on here. >> yeah. >> 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, you know. >> with a vast knowledge of the business, a ceo of play world systems offered to mentor jerry and evelyn. they are relatively newcomers to the complicated business. >> did you have a chance to check out their website and see what evelyn and jerry are doing? >> i did. they are making interesting pieces of equipment. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> that is completely your strength. when i call up your website, i wouldn't have known that right away. >> interesting. >> you have 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 like the playground i had when i was a child. >> matt emphasized the importance of selling fun, not just the equipment when it comes to marketing the playgrounds. >> when you are selling a playground, you are selling an experience, not just a piece of equipment.

try to capture the imagination and the image and the excitement and what it was like when you were a child, when you first got to go to that playground. >> our next rescue team member, dana, is a marketing and pr expert who got jerry and evelyn exposure. >> i have another surprise for you tomorrow. a reporter will be here to interview you. >> oh, that's awesome. it's fabulous. >> i wanted to spend time with you refining your messages and looking at your traditional and social media and how to blend in customer reviews with that to get additional exposure. >> after a very long day, mike gave them a homework assignment for the next day. >> identify your ten clients. the people who bring in money and who you love. the mentor schedule. it's our responsibility to manage the schedule. the third thing is the logo we

love and maybe change it a little bit. pushing the limit of what we normally are. all right? >> okay. >> okay. we'll give it our best shot. >> team break. we'll find out whether the asheville couple can over come their business problems later in the show. >> if anyone knows about persevering, it's the people of new orleans. being in the middle of hurricane season, we remember the devastation from six years ago. that city, 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 the next generation of entrepreneur leaders. >> it's created an interesting

synergy of committed natives as well as these enterprising newcomers. >> those that stayed in new orleans, like matt from turbo squid and ken from iseatz were considered pioneers. >> we felt like pioneers rebuilding from the ground up. >> when everyone else was fleeing and the news was piling on about who is leaving town next, i said i'm going to do something right. >> 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 san francisco. you can come here and do it better and cheaper and do it with more enthusiastic people

than anywhere else in the country. >> louisiana is number three in the united states behind california and new york. >> at the epicenter of all this entrepreneurial activity is the ip building. entrepreneurs row and the ice house. inspired by silicone valley in new york. >> we are in the ip building in new orleans. you have a community of entrepreneurs that moved into this building in the last year from the fastest growing companies in the country, iseatz to feel goods. this represents the entrepreneur community within new orleans. it's one of the few innovative hubs spreading. >> kyle burner of feel goods and craig cortez met at the ip building and found they could collaborate on the packing of kyle's flip-flops in the large

warehouse space. >> we have shipping margaritas anyway. sure enough, a joint venture was formed and we are shipping flip-flops. >> the idea to rebuild was so strong, she left her job in new york as a sweater designer to start her dream of starting her own clothing company. >> the enthusiasm for a new business here is incredible. they rolled out the red carpet for us and was like whatever we can do to have you succeed. you know, 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 will stay on the label. they invest in your business. 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. you know, 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 and we complete our small business make over. 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, the owners of a custom playground company who needed our help. when we visited we saw easy fixes to spruce up their business. you'll see the outpouring of support from the entrepreneurial community to give them a boost. >> yesterday was sorting out what's going on here. there's a lot going on. today, where the rubber hits the road, we are doing heavy lifting to get things cleaned up. >> first step, to see if they did their homework. >> good to see you. what about the top ten clients. did we figure them out? >> we got 15. >> any common trend that you

identified? >> yes. i think they are all creative interesting products we have done. >> that is a seed for finding other clients just like that. perfect. tell me about the mentor. how did that go? >> i'm inclined to like to meet every two weeks. >> now, the big reveal. what is the new name of the current business? >> asheville playgrounds. we decided to go with it. it's less playful, more to the point of what we do. we are going to play with the graphics. we like what gray squirrel looks like. if we take the background and put it with the asheville logo, it's a nice blend. >> not what i expected but i like it. well done. >> with their homework and a new company name chosen. they got to share the news about the changes taking place with the local paper. the asheville citizen times. >> this has been overwhelming for you?

>> 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, she approached the customers on their top ten client list and asked them to do an online review. mike took the business owners aside and talk about their original question. how to boost sales when they sell a product that doesn't have repeat customers. >> you have to increase sales. i want you to ask for vendor referra referrals. it's unlikely customers are going to give you any. ask for vendors they like. if you go into common customers as a team. trade shows. they cost a lot of money and don't yield many results. other vendors are there. walk the trade shows. it costs nothing.

you have the opportunity to meet other vendors. third tip is growing by saying no. you grow by saying no. say no to projects that are not your specialty. we have to stay in our sweet spot. okay. if we stay within the sweet spot, we can hit a concentric circle. people in the same community stay in the same circles. it's usually two or three spots. if you have a presence in those spots, they perceive you as being everywhere. the fifth and final tip, opportunity for additive sales. when you do a project, there's opportunity for maintenance. when they buy a $10,000 or $20,000 play set, for $100 a month, we'll do a check, make sure safety standards are set, if anything needs fixed or adjusted. knowing your quality of work, it's rarely going to happen.

>> the next part is improving first impressions at the showroom and workshop. it was time to spruce up the newly named business with help from friends. >> everyone here volunteered to help clean this place up. >> wow. >> thank you everyone. are you ready? come on. whew! ♪ >> with the entrepreneurial community taking an interest in helping boost asheville playgrounds, several businesses contributed not only their time, but 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.

when people call you, the first image is professional. when they try to reach you, the calls are going to forward to wherever you are. >> i didn't know this existed. this is really cool. >> after some tweaks to the 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 site is easy to navigate. galleries separated by category, residential, commercial and churches. >> it's online, interactive. you can click on the pages, if you would like. >> in just a few short weeks, the extraordinary transformation of just for fun playgrounds was almost complete. >> a special delivery for you.

we have your business cards. >> beautiful, look at these. >> we found our two business owners more confident and ready to turn a page in a new chapter of their playground business. >> i have confidence. i see it in you. maybe you don't hear it but it's in your heart. you got it. it's going to work. you're going to do it, all right? it was an honor. take care, all right. >> we appreciate all you have done for us. >> thank you. >> take care. >> thankfully we were able to get mike to come in from the playground to talk to us today. as we mentioned, he's the author of "the toilet paper entrepreneur" and the founder of city and launch a company that provides online behavioral marketing. jason is the founder of fab.com. that doesn't begin to describe you. you are a serial entrepreneur. you have sold two companies this is your third and fourth.

they blend into one. 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 true american entrepreneurs. they are heart is into this. >> they had so much given to them under your guidance. they were so open to it. now what? do you think it's going to work? >> i think it's going to work. the amazing moment was when the mentor came on. he went in there and i saw they changed their thinking that moment. they decided to break the pattern getting them in trouble and take a new path. i think it's going to take a year or two or five but i am confident they are on the right patte pattern. >> jason, you have been extraordinarily successful. how do you get out of tough spots? >> focus on one thing. as you said, draw a circle around that one thing. outside the bounds of the circle. just don't do it. you talked about what they shouldn't be doing, taking on

business that's not profitable. honing in on how to emphasize what is working in the business right now. it's key at this stage. >> taking on business. you said this. we say it a lot on this show. saying no. especially now, saying no in this economy. >> it sounds counter intuitive. they are trying to take on any business. they are making bridges, gazebos, signs. we saw all the projects were making no revenue or losing money. >> a lot of what you did is you fixed up the look of things. they got an amazing new website. you started all these websites. for a company like theirs how important is making the website as nice as it can. >> a couple things struck me. one was the imagery of how beautiful the playgrounds are. that is their centerpiece.

get rid of the words on the page. the whole story is the objects they are building. focus on the objects. another thing that struck me was, i think it's great they have a new website. i think one thing that maybe, the next step with them, in a bad economy, there's not many people doing web searches for building a playground. the traffic may not be coming naturally. look for ways and businesses like them to take the imagery and put it places where people are going to see. >> find other vendors to partner with. >> take the pictures of the playgrounds and put them on facebook. put on a different one every single day. get the people taking advantage of and using the playgrounds to share with their friends. >> great idea. i'm excited. mike, we are going to have you back in a year from now to see how they are doing. i have faith in them from watching this and you do, too. all right. again, mike thanks so much for

all that great work. >> thank you. making mistakes while running a small business is inevitable. some of those errors are avoidable. here are the five biggest financial mistakes businesses make court se of inc.com. decide how many people to hire based on what money you actually have at 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. borrowing money adds a burden to your business. pricing too low. it's almost always better to sell fewer units at higher prices than more at a lower price. offering credit terms. unless there's good reason, don't offer credit. finally, counting on one major source of revenue. depending on one source can be dangerous for your small business.

instead, build multiple sources of revenue. when one dies off, you are 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 export their goods. our guest says getting small business export financing is on the rise and is going to share tips for expanding your sales outside the united states. fred is the chairman of the export/import bank of the united states. great to see you. >> thanks for having me on the show. >> we get lots of questions about this. people making something and want to start selling 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. how do you do that? >> well, you know, when you are a company and located in chicago and selling products to new york

or arizona, if 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 the sales. it's not a risk to your business. the difficulty is if you have a company selling products to india, saudi arabia, brazil and columbia, if they don't pay, what do you do. >> what do you do from the start so it doesn't happen? >> most important, know your customer. you should know your customer and have a knowledge of what their business is and their reliability. two, we can help you step in by providing insurance. we insure the receivable. there's a company we work with in miami that sells surgical supplies. they sell them to egypt, libya, iraq -- what we do is insure the receivable. >> got it. then you suggest you offer foreign buyers financing.

a lot of people don't have to cash to pay up front. this is incentive for them. >> sure. in a case like that, usually it's for capital goods. we sold solar technology to india. in that case, we provide the buyer with financing. they can pay for that over 18 years so they can am torize the cost. >> when you say we, you mean your import/export -- >> thank you. the export/import bank. for an independent government agency, we do it at no cost to the taxpayer. we collect a fee for our work from our customers, the foreign buyer or u.s. exporter. that pays all of our costs. we will guarantee the receivable or in this case, the loan. >> you also suggest you secure capital loan. some people are going to listen to that and laugh. everyone is having trouble getting loans.

>> what we provide, we will look at your receivables, look at your inventory and work with your local bank. we'll provide them with a 90% guarantee to make the working capital loan. the bank has little risk to endeuce them to make the loan. >> competing against foreign companies. you might not be cheaper but maybe better quality? >> i think, what the united states excels at is we make some of the most innovative products, technologically advanced. lower lifetime costs. maybe the actual cost of the buying it initially might be more expensive. if you look at the total lifetime cost, the locomotives, airplanes, solar technology, lifetime costs are far less. we are selling high quality products. >> just one last question. if somebody is interested in this, where do they go? you are making it sound easy. we guarantee the financing.

we find people for you. it's not that easy. where do you go to take the first step? >> it's not that easy, but it's not as hard as people make it out to be. if you want to figure out where the buyers are, department of commerce is the first place to go. if you need financing, working capital, insurance, go to the export/import bank. exim.gov. >> thank you for coming on. we have been getting so many questions about this particularry right now. it's very helpful. >> 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 the website of the week. enloop.com writes a business plan for you. they rate the strength of your business plan and generate

financial forecast. limited services for free. premium services are available for $40 a month. to learn more about today's show, click on our website. openforum.com/yourbusiness. there's more information to help your business grow. don't forget to become a fan of the show on facebook. we love getting your feedback. follow us on twitter@msnbc your biz. i'm j.j. ram berg. remember, we make your business our business. frds sam: i'm sam chernin. owner of sammy's fish box. i opened the first sammy's back in 1966. my employees are like family. and, i want people that work for me to feel that they're sharing in my success. we purchase as much as we can on the american express open gold card. so we can accumulate as many points as possible. i pass on these points to my employees to go on trips with their families.