a biker check can't get customers to her brick and mortar store so she takes to the highway to bring the business to her customers. plus, small business owners tell us what they're looking for in a presidential candidate. that and more coming up next on "your business." >> small businesses are revitalizing the economy. and american express open is here to help. that's why we are proud to present "your business" on msnbc.

>> hi, there, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg and welcome to "your business" where we give you tips and advice to help your business grow. with empty storefronts and "for rent" signs littering the landscape one arizona business owner found an unusual solution to her failing brick and mortar store. shut it down and go mobile. now instead of waiting for customers to come to her, she goes directly to the customer. in an uncertain post-recession market, her simple commonsense solution has been a boon to her business. ♪ julia hutton is enjoying the great outdoors. talking to customers and selling her motorcycle gear at events and festivals all across the

country. >> we've got all kinds. >> just three years ago she was stuck in a failing brick and mortar store. >> we would literally have days where nobody would walk in the store because there wasn't foot traffic. >> bored with retirement, julia decided to open her dream store. biker babes and beyond. in cottonwood, arizona. on a road frequented by motorcycle enthusiasts. she soon found the store was in a fluctuating state of feast or famine. the weather and an uncertain economy made the overhead associated with the store an anchor around her neck. >> we were there for about 2 1/2 years. and it was a lot of fun. i mean, i really enjoyed it, i loved the people who came in, i liked their response to the store. but still, i was missing so much. >> when it became clear that the store wasn't profitable enough to stay open, julia came up with a clever solution to her fluctuating foot traffic.

she decided, instead of asking the customers to come to her, she would bring the store to her customers. >> i said, okay. you know, with this kind of overhead, we need to close the store and get mobile. and i thought, wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a trailer that was all cute and themed out inside, and then all you have to do when the event is over is close the doors. and drive it to the next place and open the doors. >> julia's idea was simple. with a store on wheels she could set up shop at events like motorcycle rallies, festivals and fairs, and bring her merchandise directly to her target customers. selling to hundreds and sometimes thousands of them at a time. >> you can go to the people, you don't have to sit in a store and wait for them to come to you. and that is, i mean, it's brilliant. it's a brilliant idea and it works. >> in its first weekend, julia's mobile store brought in twice the revenue her brick and mortar store brought in over an entire

week. >> instead of doing $500 to $1,000 a month, we're doing $10,000 a month and up. and it's not even our season yet. it still has to warm up a little bit. >> this simple shift in her approach helped her failing business succeed. she quickly decided to expand her mobile business from one trailer to four. >> so for far less money every month, we're spread across the whole southern part of the u.s. >> julia's trailers started to get noticed by other vendors on the festival circuit who were spending hours setting up and breaking down their weekend businesses in tents. her ability to pull up, open the trailer, and be ready to go in just a few minutes was hard to ignore. suddenly, julia found her business spinning off into another business. outfitting trailers for other vendors who wanted to go mobile. extreme retrailers was born. >> we could help other people who want to become mobile. they can take advantage of all

that we've learned. and boy, we've learned a lot. >> one of those convenient for doors was letha smith. she was selling t-shirts at a debt. she was impressed by the idea of containing her business to a trailer. >> i decided i wanted one immediately. >> extreme retrailers does everything from top to bottom and delivers a ready to go store that can make a merchant mobile in a snap. letha saw her finished trailer for the first time when our cameras were there. >> i love it. this is beyond what i expected. she hit it right on the head. she just knew exactly what i wanted and what would fit with what i do. >> with a $15,000 investment in her bling and things trailer, letha believes she will make her money back quickly. >> i give it six months. honestly, 82. i did well with a tent, can you imagine how well i'm going to do with this? >> at the lake havasu balloon festival the biker babes and beyond trailer set up shop next

to letha to show her the ropes her first time out. >> people come in, they're interested, they're, this is cool. they come in, they buy. >> we bought a balloon, of course. >> in a post-recession market, julia hutton's novel solution to her retail dilemma turned out to be a boon to her apparent business and a lucrative second business. not bad for a woman who was just looking for something to do in her retirement. >> if you're a fan of doing something that's so innovative and new. i just said to myself, the old adage, no guts, no glory. and it makes sense. and our customer feedback has been slept. so let's give it a shot. we hear a lot about small businesses that are now going from their stores directly to their customers. be it at industry events or even right to their homes. so let's talk more about that trend with two of our favorite experts. eric reese is an entrepreneur

and blogger in silicon valley who advises entrepreneurs on business and product strategy. he's also author of the bestseller "the lean startup." barry mults is a small business consultant. you can find him at barrymultz.com and also right here. "lean startup." nothing leaner than ditching your store and putting it all in a trailer. >> it's incredible. not only does it allow the overhead costs to come way down but the speed with which the concept can be tested and changed is really much faster ran that's something we think of as being a phenomenon of high-tech entrepreneurs building crazy platforms like facebook. the same technologies are being applied in a retail environment. it's cool. >> a retail store doesn't make sense, everyone should get a trailer? >> i don't know if everyone should get a trailer but what's important is she took action. hope is not a strategy. if things aren't working you've got to do something different. taking your trailer to a customer really isn't anything new. i guess whatever's old is new again.

many, many years ago people used to have horse-drawn carts they used to bring their merchandise to the folks. and these days, people want it anywhere, anywhen. ever since burger king told us we could have it our way, guess what, we still do. >> this is what food trucks are doing, a lot of restaurants are creating food trucks and taking it right to people. a lot of people are doing this, to your point. i think the other part that's interesting about her story is she created a whole separate business. how do you deal with that? she's got a good idea. it's hard, though, to turn that into a business. >> i think you also have to be careful. because i'm always cautious when entrepreneurs have running two different businesses at one time. because you lose your focus. why entrepreneurs are successful is you've got to be able to be great at doing one thing. now you have a side business. you've got to make sure it doesn't interfere with what you were doing originally. >> it's an example of what we call the pivot which is a change in strategy but still staying true to the vision of what you want to accomplish. in this story we have two

pivots. first the pivot from a retail store to this truck. then what we would think of as a platform pivot, taking the concepts that worked in one truck, now making them available for many entrepreneurs to use. >> you know, so many of -- i think of this in silicon valley terms a lot too. you develop software for your own company, then you realize, actually, there's another revenue stream by licensing the software. she did the same thing, in essence, with her trucks which not everybody would necessarily think of doing. >> clever. >> i still think you've got to be careful. you using your software, then licensing your software to other people, that's a different business. with all the customer support that comes along with it. >> as long as you understand that's what you're getting into i think it's really smart. in fact, most of the entrepreneurs i know who have tried to create that kind of platform for other people, if you start with the platform, almost always fail. you don't actually understand the application well enough to know how to make it useful to other people. starting with your own truck, much better than trying to build a generic tool for all the people to use. >> i think it's a fun story.

she's done an amazing job. thanks, guys. extreme trailers may be booming but its profit margin like that of so many small businesses is being eaten into by rising gas prices. nbc's kevin tibbles reports that gas prices are going to skyrocket this summer. which has a lot of small businesses worried. >> reporter: it's an unwelcome sound heard around this time every year. >> it's too high but it's not a surprise. >> reporter: grumbling round the gas pump. as prices start migrating north. this year, possibly the most expensive gas ever. >> the national average stands about 40 cents higher than where it was one year ago. gas prices increasing across the board. >> reporter: after spiking almost 20 cents a gallon in the last four weeks, gas prices are now poised to skyrocket a further 60 cents a gallon by late may. this year, possibly the most expensive gas ever. by then, predictions are for a national average of $3.95.

but with many cities far higher and reaching all-time highs. $4.35 a gallon predicted in boston. $4.60 in that will that by memorial day. $4.70 in los angeles. $4.85 predicted for san francisco. and the highest in the lower 48, $4.95 a gallon in chicago. by memorial day. dr. soda delivers soft drinks and snack in this the los angeles area. increased gas prices now take a 15% to 20% bite out of the company's bottom line. >> every single day we get price increases from our suppliers. we cannot keep raising the prices day in and day out so we're absorbing quite a few of these hits that we're taking. >> reporter: analysts say the sky-high prices may be here to stay. as consumers cringe every time they pull up to the pump. kevin tibbles, nbc news, chicago.

concerned about rising gas prices is just one issue on the minds of small business owners this presidential election year. so we went to anaheim, california, recently and asked entrepreneurs to sound off on the issues they feel are most important for the candidates to address. >> as a small businessperson, i'm really concerned with the tax base and not getting taxed so much that i can't operate my business. and i'm looking for a candidate that understands business and comes from a business background. and i'm really interested in what mitt romney has to say and i'm really looking at his campaign right now because i think that he might be the man that really understands where someone like me is coming from. >> i think the top two issues that affect small business is the increasing regulations thrust into the small business sector by the government, as well as the reduced capital that's available in the

marketplace because of the economic uncertainties that have gone on for the last 15 to 20 years. >> it's the economy, stupid. you know, we've got to create some jobs out there, we've got to get some capital back in the marketplace. small business drives america and consumer spending drives small business. we've got to find a way to get that process rolling. >> right now i feel something as a small business owner and as a citizen of this country, one of the main things is our national debt. we have a great need to find a leader that will understand that we have to lower our national debt. we cannot continue to spend more than what we make. we need to take care of this country and our national debt, our spending is way out of control. >> with a question of whether the current administration is answering any of these questions of small business manufacturing, i don't really feel that it is.

and the current republican nominee, mitt romney, also is not addressing these issues. the only politician that i've seen talking about manufacturing in the united states is ron paul. approximate whether you're putting in the effort on facebook or twitter or wondering if you should start, one way small business owners can assess their social media reach is with klout, a free online tool that helps measure your online influence on a scale of 1 to 100. it can help you take your social media targeting and interacting to the next level. what is klout all about? denise is here to explain, ceo and founding partner of the s3 agency, a full service agency. thank you for coming. people are talking about klout but a lot of people don't know what it is. explain what klout is. >> klout is a free online tool that you can sign up for with

twitter, facebook. it tell yos how effective you're being in your social media outreach, how influential you're being, who's influencing you. >> first thing you have to do is go on and sign up with facebook and twitter. >> klout.com. you don't need both accounts, choose one. if you have two, that's great. it goes on and you can attach other accounts for social media you're using. youtube, linkedin, google plus. >> what's your score? >> today 51. >> is that good? or no? >> it's fine. it's a good score. but what i'm much more concerned about is the areas of influence i have. so when i look at my score, what i'm really looking at is what does klout say i'm being influential in? i know this morning in addition to things like blogging one of my top areas of influence is dogs. which is not really what i'm influential in nor what i want to be influential in but i tweeted recently about dog commercials from the super bowl.

so that kind of rose to the top. >> because that was retweeted a lot, your klout score in this area of influence got higher? >> right. that's what i want people to think what they say, who's denise and what's she about? i can turn that off. it's a good thing to go into klout and see what you're effective about and monitor it and turn it off if it's wrong. >> for you, for instance, does that mean you're going to stop talking about dogs? how do you use that information? >> no, but better, i think, is if i want to be influential about a specific thing in my industry, if i for example have a green roofing company, then i want to make sure i'm tweeting heavily about things that are helpful in that industry. that people will see me as an expert. if i'm tweeting effectively and doing facebook and other social media about that, when you look at my klout score, it should say i'm influential in green, solar, things like that. then if something erroneous comes in like pizza, i want to turn that off. >> it's a good way to check on your competitors too?

>> you can go and see what anyone is influential about. you can go by area of influence. if i go into green homes and click on that, i can see the top tweeters and social media people in that area as well. >> which is great if you're marketing your own company. you go in and -- say you sell dogware. you can say, who's really influential in dogs, try and connect with that person so they talk about you. >> you can do that, you can see the kinds of things they're tweeting about or facebooking about and use that and repurpose that content, of course giving them credit. be inspired for ideas of things you might want to create original content for. >> setting a goal. this is to your point of you want to be a green roofer. set a goal and figure out a way to get that as an area of influence where you're a big person in it? >> exactly. >> all right. this is very interesting. is there anything that you can get, are there klout perks? >> there are. klout has a pretty unique thing right now where larger companies are using the areas of influence

to identify people, they want to have either new or existing products go out to get them to try and create a social buzz. they will take and look through areas of influence, they take the score. people who are highly influential in certain areas that are appropriate for their product, they will reach out and make what's called a perk available to them. click that yes, you want it. suddenly you're getting new hairspray, or $25 gift cards, things that can be valuable for you to try and talk about if you like it approximate one last question, what is a good score? how high do you have to be? >> justin bieber has 100. so does the president. >> say i'm not justin bieber. >> really, i don't think the score is as important. you want to have something going on. you want to see that you're at least maintaining your activity. if you're growing, that's great. >> all right, denise, thanks so much for explaining this to us. >> thank you, j.j. coming up, a physician asks how to get other doctors interested in her franchise concept. and we test barry and eric's knowledge as they scare off for

a small biz quiz. 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. it's time to answer nerve your business questions. eric and barry are with us once again. the first one is about

protecting your business. >> how does a small company that doesn't have a big legal staff protect its ideas and trademarks? >> should they be worrying about this? >> j.j., i think you always have to worry. your ip is only as secure as the amount of money you have to defend it. if a large corporation wants to come in and swoop down and take your ip to base their product on it's going to be tough to defend it. i want to put that aside because businesses are not really about ideas, right? they're about the execution of those ideas. entrepreneurs that successful, the ones that get out of the office, stop writing their business plan and go out and take action. if you want to be successful in business you have a dedicated sales channel, loyal customers, loyal employees. maybe it's probably a good idea to have a lawyer on the side. >> that's what i mean. even if you get a patent for something you have to be prepared to defend that patent. >> absolutely, yeah. >> is it worth getting a patent in the first place if you're not going to have deep enough pockets? >> except in a rare case of

novel scientific breakthroughs, patents are broken as a matter of policy. getting your idea stolen is not as easy as it sounds. i recommend this exercise to cure yourself of the fear of having your idea stolen. take one of your lesser ideas, idea number three, and try to get someone to steal it. find the relevant manager at the relevant big company and send them your business plan, try to get them to steal your idea. i predict you will be cured of this fear forever. >> fun idea, actually. we should try that on this show. let's move on to the next question from deborah. i'm a physician who created a company to handle administrative and other office functions for doctors. i'm attempting to franchise the concept but i've run into financing obstacles. are there government grants to help, as opposed to loans? how do i convince other physicians to innovate by using this franchise? interesting, right? she needs funding and she needs to prove her concept. >> and really, the key is going to be in that second question. what can she do to create a

repeatable process of getting other fits to innovate? we know people basically resist change. getting people to change their practice, especially when they think of themselves as a professional, that's going to be the challenge. that's going to require a lot of time with other physicians. really trying to understand what does it take to get them to actually change their behavior? i predict if she can answer that question the funding will follow. >> physicians are a very difficult group to sell to. ask the pharmaceutical companies. what she has to do is get referrals from her current physician clients to see if they'll set up dem strayings for her. there are successful medical franchises like health source and the joint. talk to those folks who see how they've become successful. >> i'm agreeing that you have to get the concept, make sure there are customers before you start worrying about getting money. you can bootstrap it for now. this is a question about growing your business. >> how do you balance between aiming for very high growth but running the great risk of

running well ahead of yourself and crashing and burning, versus going for more controlled growth and running the risk of losing momentum or appearing to be dull and boring? >> i love that he's asking that question. all three of us are going, yes. it is the question every entrepreneur struggles with. >> one of the things i call is growing yourself broke. what you have to balance as you grow, you have to keep your fixed costs as low as possible. as your costs grow you've got to try to keep them variable. i've got to tell you, j.j., in this post-recession economy, i think a profitable dull and boring business doesn't seem so bad. >> that's something i call the law of sustainable growth. which is when new customers come from the actions of past customers. that can be because we take the revenue from past customers and reinvest it in acquiring new customers. it can be because in a viral business where past customers act as referrals or in a sticky business where customers come back and they are the new customers. if you follow one of those three patterns, you could always grow

sustainable. you don't have to worry about growing too fast. >> when you see an opportunity out there and you reach for it, assuming, hoping, guessing that customers are going to come which you can't always say no to. you might be missing out if you don't do it. it's a hardball lance when to go after it and when not to. >> i believe every new business you can test in micro scale. before we get a million customers to try this product, let's get 100 or 10 and figure out if on a per-customer basis we're on to something. >> let's get a handful of customers to actually pay for it. that's also key. >> thank you for all this advice. this was really great. if any of you out there have a question for our experts, all you have to go is go to our website. openforum.com/yourbusiness. once you get there, hit the ask the show link and submit a question for our panel. openforum.com/yourbusiness. or e-mail us your questions and comments too. the address there is yourbusiness@msnbc.com.

as a small business owner one thing you no doubt wish you had more of is time. here are five ways to turbo charge your efficiency so you can make the most of the time you actually do have courtesy of inc.com. delegate tasks you don't need to do yourself. this frees you up for things that absolutely need your attention. two, let your phones ring and your e-mails go unanswered. at least for a while. constant interruptions keep you from focusing on the task at hand. designate a specific time of day to return all calls and answer all e-mails. three, close the door. consider having employees come to speak with you during set office hours instead of as they wish throughout the day. four, limit your time on facebook, twitter and instant messaging. they can be secret time-killers. and number five, prioritize your day. schedule your goals based on when you're most productive.

for example, if you're a morning person, tackle the detailed tasks when you first get in. and it's time for another exciting edition of our favorite game show, the "your business" small biz quiz. today it's the consultant versus the entrepreneur. ready, guys? >> all set. >> okay. >> okay. the first question. according to a recent constant contact survey what is the number one social media platform small businesses -- i didn't even get to get through it. >> can i answer the question before -- >> i might even give you 2 points if you get it right. >> i would say "b," facebook. >> does that mean i get to do minus 2 points? >> i'm going with pinterest. >> no, it is linkedin. >> 0-0. second question, according to a new survey what is the number one action small businesses will

take to achieve growth in the coming year? a, increase marketing to attract new business. b, introduce news products or services. c, obtain better prices from suppliers, vendors, and or -- >> i'm going to say a, increase marketing. >> ding ding ding ding ding. >> that's what i was going to say. i'm just a little bit slow. >> yeah, well, you know. too fast the first time, too slow the second time. next question. what percentage of small businesses use mobile applications? 20%, 5% -- the answer? >> i'm going to go with 72%. >> all right. 1-1. parry, you've redeemed yourself. okay, guys. for the win. the question is -- what is the most common type of web videos small businesses use to promote their business? is it executive -- and the answer is? >> i would say product demonstration. >> barry, you are the proud

winner of the "your business" biz quiz. thank you so much for doing it, guys. if you're looking to hire a new employee and want the process to be as smooth and efficient as possible, then check out our website of the week. recruiterbox.com helps you organize all your hiring-related information in one central location. after adding your job posting you can manually upload resumes or applicants can apply directly using the provided link. the site streamlines recruiting process for you by tracking what stage each applicant is in. posting one opening to the site is free. plans that allow you to post more job openings start at $50 a month. to learn more about today's show, all you have to do is 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 you grow your business. don't forget to become a fan of the show on facebook. we love getting your feedback.

you can follow outside twitter @msnbcyourbiz. next week we go 12 to the small business front lines of the big business hollywood glamor machine. >> we do everything. i take tickets most of the time. i clean the theaters. work the candy stand. what has to get done, we do. >> find out what it takes to survive as an independent movie theater in today's mass media market. till then, i'm j.j. ramberg. and 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. we purchase as much as we can on the american express open gold card. so we can accumulate as many points as possible.