one man's crazy identify for an obstacle course, that's coming up next on "your business."

welcome to "your business," where we give you tips and advice to help you help your business grow. the culture of the company may be one of the most overlooked business areas.

you have to challenge yourself. that's why we have no clothes. >> 42-degree weather, and 10,000 people who are about to jump into nearly freezing water, scale walls covered in oil, run through fire, and that's just the start. welcome to tough mudder. >> it's a group of people doing crazy things together. everybody is crazy and it's awful. >> that's the brainchild of mr. dean, and he wrote the business plan for the company while getting his nba at harvard. >> i thought we could mix it all up into a run and make it about teamwork and camaraderie. >> challenge people they do. it's a 12-mile obstacle course, which lasts two to three hours,

and take it from me, this course is tough. and it has to be about camaraderie, because frankly you can't get through it alone. it's those two things challenging people and teamwork that form the backbone of these events and of will's company. will's goals center around creating a culture, an authentic experience that resinates with people and inspires them to do more than they thought they could. why do you think so many people are attracted to the insane event? >> well, i think it's for them to push their limits and do something different. it's a tremendous sense of accomplishment that people have. >> you get dirty, and crazy, and the crazier the better. you feel like a superhero. >> did you expect tough mudder to stand for something? >> i thought it was something that i could see myself getting into. i remember one of the things i

was taught in business school, 95% is execution, and 95% is marketing, and that's empathy. >> for many people it stands for determination, friendship and grit. will has created a brand that has transcended the name itself. >> the tattoos are an expression of myself. and this, you don't get it unless you complete it. >> it's something to commemorate that accomplishment, and something to say hey, i did this, you know, i was here. >> everything will brings to the courses he starts in his office. within 18 months, tough mutter grew to having 50 employees, and while everybody is not compelled to run through fire to get to their desks, they are constantly

challenged to push themselves. >> we do a case each month. >> yes, you heard him, once a month he tells his employees to put down work and come together and have a discussion about a issue. >> what is it about starbucks that made them so successful in the 1990s? >> it's not going to the local doughnut shop and getting a 50 cent cup of coffee, and they are encouraging you to really spend some time there. >> once a month they have a book club as well. they have read everything from "good to great" to "the one minute manager." >> what if you don't finish? >> that's not an option. >> some people might say, that's a lot of work, you're asking me to do my job and now asking me to read a book and have a discussion about it and now reading a case from harvard

business school. why can't i just do my job? >> it is a lot of extra work, but at the same time it's nice to know the company is investing in our own development and our future. >> in the same way you can't get over the oil-slicked wall without the help of your peers, you can't be a company employee without the help of your colleagues. >> we have weekly team meetings, and the idea of team week and camaraderie is infused in the country. >> everybody in the company is welcome to get on the course whenever they want. will has done it himself dozens of times, and while he enjoys it, he has moments. >> the thing i cannot stand is the tunnels, so i am bunched in tight and have to crawl on my bell yo, and that's a mental challenge. >> there were 15 tough mudder events in 2011, and in 2012, there will be more than 30.

talking to the participants, it seems like that's a fraction of what the company will become. they asked everybody if they would come back again, and every single person told us -- >> as soon as possible. >> tough mudder. you heard me. what are you about? >> now, we're probably all not going to be harvard business school cases to work or running through fire, but there are definitely things we should all be doing to make sure we have a strong company culture. mr. silver is with maverick business adventures, and michael port is the author of "book yourself solid." >> what is up, j.j.? >> this is one of my favorite pieces that i have done, a, because it was so fun, and b, because will created a strong

culture. he has a group of 20-somethi 20-something-year-ol 20-something-year-olds, and does this business school case. and suddenly my heart was pounding, and it was like, owh, know, he's going to call on me. the time he takes to develop them makes them love the company. we all can't do that, but what can we do? >> you notice they are about culture, whether it's the customers or the people who are working there. they have this desire to be more than they currently are. i have a feeling his hiring practices, he's looking for those people. he's not just anybody that wants to work here come work here and we will put together the hard core learning opportunities and etc., and these are probably people that want to be superstars, just like in the package. you heard the woman say, i do this because i want to be a superhero, right? >> uh-huh. you know, i said this, i do think culture is one of the most

important but often most neglected piece important business owners, do you agree? >> i had a company that was a one man band for a long time, and i thought culture was bs and it didn't matter, but now as i got to know how much more powerful it can be, i think it's everything if you want to have an impact in the world with your business, and they have a great culture there. you know the great thing about it, it's polarized, the great thing that love it, they become zealous and passionate and it starts with their own internal customers and employees. >> how do you create a culture? >> you have to be opinionated. you have to have a strong point of view. you stand for something specific and do not deviate from that. you are creating an environment that people want to be in because they are cooler, and they are part of the club. so when you look at the people participating in this, they are putting tattoos on their body because they feel -- >> yeah, the customers. >> not the employees, that's not

a requirement. but for the customers, that level of commitment means you are part of the club, you are on the inside circle, and it all starts with story telling. they are telling a specific story, right, this is not running some marathon and not going to work out in the gym where it's air-conditioned, but only really special people can do this, and only real special people can work here as well. >> what i found so compelling about this, is will believes it so deeply, he believes in what he does for his customers and for his employees so deeply that it makes it easy for him, i think, to build this culture. >> it does. you know, i think when we worked together, high level executives and intrapreneurs, it's about the shared intensive experience brings them together, and the tattoos, you see that as an indicator, people that put tattoos of apple and harley davidson, brands that matter to

them, they are doing something right to them because this brand matters to them. >> and i don't think they put it in the piece, they started the company with $20,000 of their own money. it's a real success story. >> thank you so much for all of your help with this. more and more of your customers are using their smart phones to get information about things. so here are five ways to make sure your website is ready for mobile visitors courtesy of mashable.com. number five, keep it simple. they are looking for your service and fast. focus on providing just the top things customers need. four, don't use a lot of images. large images slow down your page. get rid of most of the images on your home page except the once that are absolutely necessary. three, design for multiple hand sets. don't assume everybody has an

iphone or android, and instead design your site to look good on any mobile phone on the market, and two, use an m-dot url. and then one, test and listen to feedback. talk to your customers about their complaints and suggestions. sometimes intrapreneurs get so caught up in wanting the sale that they tend to lose sight of the fact that getting the business at all costs are worth it. majerle major is the ceo of the party goddess, and catering company and author of the book "but are you making any money? stop being busy and start creating cash." i love this, because we have

people saying fire the clients and the bottom 20%, and you are telling us how to do that. >> yeah, that sounds great and when it gets to the conversation, it's sort of like, uh, you know. >> you don't want them to bad mouth you? >> yeah, i liken it to when you know you need to fire an employee, you have to lay the ground work. i talk about laying the foundation, and setting the stage, and having a conversation with them, and i notice we have the contract and we are outside the parameters, and maybe i was not clear about what the parameters were, and getting them engaged and teeing them up that there's an issue. the next part about it is creating a script. you have to have this kind of script in your mind, so you know what you are going to say. if all of a sudden, the client is here, and you are like, uh, uh, and it's not easy so you have to be prepared. you have to practice it a little

bit. you have to have solutions for the customer. you can't just say, i am firing you. that's when they will bad mouth you, because nobody wants their ego bruised or like they have been left high and dry, so come up with options like there are a couple other companies that would be a great match for you, and they have room on your calendar, and maybe it's your competition and this person is high maintenance, and head them that way. a lot of times it's great, because they can be your advocate. remember, sometimes it's a personality thing. it could be timing or personality, and something is not gelling. it's your job as a professional to get the best as your customer. you have to give them options to move on. >> and this anticipation of objections is like writing the script. what you have to do is come up -- what are the top three things they will say to you. they don't want to be fired, or

they would have fired themselves as clients. they will say, but, wait, i thought i could do that within the parameters. anticipate the objections and come up with a couple believable answers, and then you can't do it in front of the client. you can't waiver. if you are firing a client, maybe because they are a bully, and maybe it's because they were really going outside the parameters of your contract, they are used to this, right? they will think if i apply a little extra pressure, the person will cave. you can't cave. you have to know, i have made up my mind, and be calm and nonemotional and come back to the fact that this is not a great match, and you want them to have the best experience, and they will not have it with you. >> the real key, remembering your own resolve. if you got to this point, firing and getting rid of money coming in, it must be bad.

>> absolutely. but how many times when you are in the middle of the situation whether it's the boyfriend or anything else, you give it one more chance, and you can't give it one more chance because every time you give it one more chance you are closing yourself to the really amazing customers that are a great fit. the wrong client is like pushing water uphill and it's annoying. >> and the new clients take away time from your current clients, and everything starts to suffer. >> well, thank you so much. this was great advice. >> thank you for having me. still to come, an exterminating company that uses dogs to sniff out bedbugs is itching to get new customers. you are never too old or young to start up new businesses, as these under 30 success stories found out. ♪ shazi: seven years ago, i had this idea.

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prau inner annual. a bit ago we caught up with two whose businesses are booming. ♪ sophia drifted from job to job before she became her own boss. when she started her san francisco vintage clothing company at age 22, she had no money and no college degree and no small business experience. >> i was almost forced into it to survive and find something that i enjoy what i am doing. >> she started her business when she was 11. >> all i have done is work for myself. it would be hard to get used to working for somebody else. >> both are young and have successful businesses. and neither can imagine ever working any other way.

>> sometimes i would buy things for $20, and at auction they would sell for $100 or $200 or $300. >> the power of the brand comes from the community of fun-loving 20-something fashionistas. with the thriving business on ebay, she started to get the restless feeling that led her to jump from job to job. ebay was crimping her style. in 2008, she made the risky decision to leave the online auction world and start her own commerce website, shopnastygal.com.

she is racing to keep up with demand now. >> the business is growing at a pretty alarming rate. it's actually growing faster than we can control. it's pretty insane. ♪pittsburgh, pennsylvania, company, simple sugars, is also grappling with the challenges of a fast-growing business p five years into starting her all natural sugar company she has juggled her homework, crew practice and running her business during her summer and after school. >> it is really hard to balance everything. pit get up at 6:00 in the morning, go to school, i generally don't get home until 7:30 at night and i still have homework and simple sugar work to do. >> with products already in her local whole foods and a thriving business on online, the time has come for her to relocate simple sugars out of her parents' basement. her next move is renting office space and hiring employees. big steps for a teenager running

a business in her spare time. >> it is starting to be too much volume for me to handle it by myself. >> ron morris, professor of entrepreneurial studies, host of the radio show "an american entrepreneur," says that the novelty of her juth what makes her business exciting. without it, simple sugars would just be another cosmetics company. in order to have her best shot at making simple sugars into a million dollar company, is yo surprising advice. >> i would drop out of school, okay, immediately and spend the next year two trying to push this koefr the top. because as i said to her right now you have one shot in ten of hitting a home run. >> and although it may seem to break all of the conventional rules to become a full-time entrepreneur, like sophia is, and put myself on hold, that's what entrepreneurs do best. break the rules. >> i really want to take advantage of all my opportunities with simple sugars

but i also don't want to completely give away my high school experience. but i really think that i have a lot that i can learn from taking a year off and working on my business. that would be equally as valuable as what i could learn a year in school. >> it is time to answer some of your business questions. michael and yannick are with us once again. the first question is about new employees. >> what are some effective training strategies for new employees to sort of get them into the mix of the company as well, obviously, make them as productive as possible in the beginning? >> this is -- this is particularly interesting in the context of this show. because once you get somebody in, you want to train them in their cast and in the culture of the company. so yannick, what are some onboard strategies. >> what happens is we get so wrapped up in finding the great employee and sort of forget about it once we bring them in. it is -- almost just as

important to think about having maybe a first hundred days or 60 days to really reemphasize what they came in for. share the vision. share the big picture of what they are building something is bigger than them. and then also, you know, think about how not micro imaging but how are they going to be independent and give them match their task they can and be bigger be part of something bigger. >> i think it starts with good hire. you hire slowly. right. and what is the best indicator of future performance? past performance. you try to -- you work out a way to get people to do the work that they need to do before you hire them as officials, probation airy period. but it is the ongoing long-term training. it is not hey, let's get them up to speed in two weeks and then off on their own. i think every single person should have a mentor inside the organization. >> great idea. >> absolutely. >> one of the things we do in my company, small enough to do, any time somebody new comes, the first couple of days they meet

and sit down with every single person in the company. because it could -- weeks, months could go by, you realize two people haven't even spoken to each other. >> the other thing you can do is you can bring them into the december its making process. every month i send an e-mail to my team. what am i doing that's working? what do i need to improve? and they feel comfortable saying, you are totally messing this thing up. good work here. do whatever it is. if you don't feel like you can do that with the people you work for it is not a good place to work. >> good for you. that's something. that says something about your personality, too. this is an e-mail from michael. we are service providers of a k-9 scent detection to eliminate pests. we need to increase branding and awareness. what suggestions would you have to help successfully achieve this business goal? okay. so to explain that in english, i believe this company uses dogs to sniff out bed bugs. yannick, for people that don't know about this service, you can

even do this, how do they get the message across? >> the biggest thing the branding and awareness. he doesn't need the branding now. he needs -- service that people need when they need it. no one will be thinking about bedbugs unless they have that issue. so that means he needs to show up in places where they are search ping which is online and going for long tail key words that are like bedbug elimination, bedbug whatever, infestation. then taking off on the regions, too. he needs that and then he will double up by having a branding. since they show up at his site then there is a good looking site and a reason for what they are doing and what their proposition is. it is not beforehand. it has to be at the point of the problem that's a great point. big search engine strategy. >> i don't think anybody cares that it is dogs doing the sniffing. i have bedbugs. i don't care how you do it. get rid of them. the focus is about them and not them. i focus a group of places and very, very local in my search.

do a lot of click. >> on the dog front they made testimonials. once you can get someone on the site, then you get a lot of the testimonial. >> it is still results. >> yeah. >> how you get there. >> once they hit the site that's where you -- matters about the dogs. right? because that's the -- benefit they are showing that's nonfumigating or who knows. >> right. okay. let's move on to the next one. this is a question about >> is there a wrong place to lawn launch your business in the united states? in other words, is there one place that's better for you like silicon valley or can you -- launch a business in florida? >> love this question. >> if you want to go to real estate florida is probably not a great place now. but, look, it is conditional. so -- you know, there are marketing conditions that are important. tax conditions that are needed to considered. lifestyle conditions you need to consider. where do you want to go? hiring considerations, what kind of work force do you have in that particular area? so there's a lot of different

conditions that need to be considered. i don't think there just -- one answer. >> would you suggest that you are starting a pet company, for instance, silicon valley is better just because you have all the resources there or no? >> yeah. i mean, exactly. just like michael said, it is so conditional. i mean, depends what you want to do, who your marketplace is, why you are starting the business. but as far as i know, that there has been successful businesses in all of -- every state of the union here. and i think we will con to have it that way. >> right. i guess what you could do then is list them, what do you need and can you get that in the city and town you are going. >> i like lifestyle. what's important to you? you make that list change. >> exactly. >> okay. great. thank you so much for all of your advice. incredibly helpful. if any of you out there have a question for our experts all you have to do is go to our website. address is openforum.com/yourbusiness. there just hit the show link to submit a question for our panel. again, the website is

openforum.com/yourbusiness. or if you would rather you can e-mail us your questions and your comments. the address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. we are launching new product or entering a new market, gauging potential demand is key. if you need help getting feedback from your target audience, check out our website of the week. yousamp.com have tools to analyze online surveys. creating and sending out surveys is free using the survey builder. for a fee, usamp allows you to use the site from 600 panel members. the cost depends on the depth of your study. to learn more about today's show, just click on our website. it is openforum.com/yourbusiness. you will find all of today's segments includes web exclusive content with more information to help your business grow. and don't forget to become a fan of the show on facebook. we love getting your feedback. you can followous twitter.

next week one small business owner scales down her family jewelry store in order to cultivate a more customerized e customized experience. >> the big boys are so big and have such deep pockets. how can you butt heads with them? who wants to even? >> we will tell you why she's focused on making sure her clients get the most personalized service she can offer. until then, remember, we make your business our business. 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.