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on october 29th, floodwaters were up to here at this bagel shop in rockaway beach in new york. while the storm may have destroyed this property, it did not destroy the owner's resolve. we're here to help them with a business makeoverer on "your business" coming up next.

hi, there, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg, and welcome to your business. today is a milestone for our program. it is our 300th episode, and so i want to thank all of you for welcoming us into your homes every week. this has been a really amazing job for me. i've gotten to meet so many incredible on tre pre nurs and have been able to tell their stories so everyone, including me, can replicate their success. this morning we have the most heart-warming stories to tell on this makeover show. it's a comeback show. scott and tim are two of new york's city's bravest firefighters who put all of their savings into a seaside bagel shop in order to make more money to support their families. they almost lost it all from hurricane sandy.

see how a little from our makeover team and generous help from others turned their luck around. a couple of years ago, scott edwards and tim keenan, two new york city fifemen with a hank hankering to be entrepreneurs risked everything they have to open a bagel shop in rockaway beach, new york. >> we felt it would be a good spot to have a breakfast-type place and tim being from this neighborhood felt it would fill a void here. >> rockaway is a very unique community. we love the beach. we have an old saying. once you get the sand in your shoes, you can never get it out. >> soon after opening the economy took a nosedive and the business dramatically struggled as people changed their spending habits. >> it affected our business. all in all, even through those hard economic times, we were,

you know, able to keep it going. >> after weathering the economic storm the last few years, things were looking up but another storm was on the horizon. they opened up before hurricane sandy would hit the area. >> it's been sitting out in the atlantic now. insteading of making that northeast move, it's making a northwestern turn. >> it was busy. we felt if the storm's not that bad, we'll open up the next morning. >> as city cruise in rockaway park set up their barriers, residents stock up on their storm supplies. >> they closed early and expected some minor damage. but nothing prepared them for what would happen next. >> we had security cameras here in the bagel store. i turned them on, and i could see the water was in the store. and i was like, this is bad. >> that night the atlantic ocean and jay may ka bay met.

every car, home, and business in the rock abayh peninsula, were under several feet of water. neither scott or tim were able to get to the store when scott's friend received an okay muss message. i just passed the store, i'm sorry. >> you were, in essence, seeing your life savings go out to sea. >> absolutely. when i came into the store, i couldn't believe it. everything was wrecked. everything had water damage. the appliances and equipment was thrown around the store. it was basically all thain vestment, all that time, all that energy in an instant was gone. >> while scott and tim filled out paperwork and searched a way to reopen, the news went from bad to worse, their insurance wouldn't cover the flood damage. >> so you had a struggling business that then was hit by a storm and you have to invest all

this money into it again on top of the money you had invested and it was already struggling. how do you make that decision. >> not easy. >> it wasn't easy but we felt the original investment was too large to walk away from so we made the better decision to try to make it open. we knew we could do it. we needed help doing it. >> help came from a totally unexpected place. a long island-based facilities firm called front street was looking for a way to support a small business in this hard-hit area that would buoy not only the business but the community as well. they took on the daunting task of rebuilding the space from ripping out and rebuilding walls, redoing the electrical and installing the floor all for free. >> we liked their stories. what better way to give back to

support them. >> we knew we had found our next makeover. so we assembled a rescue team to make recommendations to help shore up the business as they got ready to reopen. scott and tim, i know you've had an incredibly tough year. i'm going to introduce you to the your business makeover team. denise is a marketing guru, michael, pup kin strategist extraordinaire. mike and denise immediately sat down and started delving into the details of the business. the first problem, scott and tim weren't taking a salary. >> we had to struggle week to week to cover our bills, you know, you know, at times we were able to take a small salary, but at other times we had to forgo that to keep the lights on. >> being firefighters, you have

to throw on that protection before you go into a burning building. business is the same way. you have to protect the owners first if you're going to keep the company going. i see that too often. they worry about themselves last and the employers go down and the whole business goes out. >> issue number two. food delivery. >> so tell me about the food delivery. i understand that you guys were going out and getting food. >> in an effort to cut costs we chose to do the shopping ourselves and it was good because we did save money, but the amount of time that we were out of the store and the wear and tear on us and our vehicles, in my mind wasn't effective. >> the two most expensive employees are sitting right here. you are the key employees and you're taking yourself out of the office, away from interfacing with the customer, on the road, getting food.

i think we're going to find a way to get the food here without anyone going out. let's talk about this menu up here. it's hunl. is that the old menu? >> that's the old menu. >> so there's a thing called analysis paralysis. it actually takes more energy for consumers to pick something. sometimes they won't buy something. sometimes they see so much, they'll leave. the less options you have the more they'll buy? the next area needing attention, marketing. with an outdated plan, they had little time to focus on their primary customer, the commuter. denise presented a bunch of ideas to focus their markets message and cater to the busy butstop outside the door. >> we created this stamp, surfside bagels, home made with

love. you can take something like this. take, put it on things and you can write on it. cheese bagel belongs to -- write their name on it. if starbucks can make their employees take time do it, certainly a community run business can do that. >> we talked about having imprinted bags it was so expensive aet the time. we didn't do it. >> next up in denise's marketing ideas. loyalty cards. >> they loyalty programs. let's give them a loyalty program where they can get punches and stamps so they get a certain amount. >> there's something extremely cool you can do with loyalty cards. studies have shown when there's a little bit of progress, consumers buy faster. so instead of giving a blank set, give them two punched

spots. >> a revamp of the surfside revamp. >> a word press template, you don't need to be a designer. you can pick up what we've done and make changes. we've created kind of the bagel rising in the sunrise. we translate that look over to social media. you can tape in what your specials are. that's going to go right to your website. >> mike and denise had one last trick up their sleeve to cater to the commuter. >> you selling comfort and trust with having a station up by the door that has an urn of coffee and cups and an honor system. people put two bucks. you expect that they're going to give you love back. will everybody do it? no. but will a lot of people do it? we think so. >> this is the commuter special.

you have your box there, two bucks slid in and because there's a mirror behind it, people see themselves taking action. >> the last member of the makeover scene is kevin burke from the food distributor, j. kings. they weren't sure if they could afford it. >> before the storm you had it set up as c.o.d. we're going to extend your terms to 21 days. we also worked on your pricing. i know that was an issue. what i've done is take the contracted pricing that we have for a large group of bagel stores and we've copied those contracts into your order guide so you'll enjoy their buying power but in your own place. >> theat's unbelievable. >> kevin arranged for their first food delivery at the store

that afternoon. another benefit of consolidating their shopping order through j. kings, is the added value they offer. instead of running to the store, scott and tim can now order online, consult with their culinary team and gain access to their independent university to learn more about food service management, finance, and hospitality. >> we do recognize that the independent store owners, restauranteurs have a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to competing with national chance out there. we have professionals from the community coming in and teaching the independent guys, you know, this is what you should be doing. >> all right. so your first day is coming to an end. what's your thoughts? >> it's been an unbelievable experience and we've only just begun. >> yeah. i'm a little overwhelming honestly, but i like every idea that was pitched and every

comment that was made. >> i don't want to add to it, but i do have three home work assignments for you. first is the menu. we need to cut that down to the bear bare bones. i want you guys to take care of yourself. you're firefighters. you know you need to protect yourself. when you work on that menu, when you work on everything here, i think about yourself here, how are we going to get more money to you? if it means moving the prices up a little bit, that's okay too. >> that's good. >> got your home work assignments? >> yes. >> i'll see you in a few weeks. >> since first responders have come to the rescue of so many new yorkers, we were so thrilled to help them get back on their feet. knew it's the community's turn. when we come back, we'll take a look and see if our advice

helped to bring back much needed customers. we've all had those moments. when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect, is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership. after many months of

rebuilding, surfside bagel was ready to open. would the customers in the hard-hit rock away beach location come out? we'd find out if they would be taking our advice. sol today is the day. it's the grand reopening of surfside bagels. denise snuck out and put this sign out. let's go inside and see how it's going. >> good morning, everybody, and welcome back to surfside bagels after hurricane sandy. >> as somebody who lives in the area, every store that opens is such a wonderful thing. it gives everybody like an uplift. >> three months after hurricane sandy devastated the rockaways,

surfside bagels became a small beacon of hope. >> i ran in there yesterday and i saw them meeting and i was like, are you guys open and they said we're opening tomorrow. i was so excited. it feels like things are getting back to normal. >> mike, denise, and i were on hand to help and finally got a chance to taste those famous bagels. adding to the euphoria of the day, a grant check from the city of new york for $5,000 was personally delivered by commissioner robert walsh to help them pay for equipment that was lost during the storm. >> $5,000 check for you to have. >> thank you so much. >> don't spend it all in one place. >> after the excitement of the grand opening mike and denise checked in with scott and tim.

>> you guys had three homework assignments. condensing the merch you. >> we stripped it down to five, six items, meat loaf, fish, comfort food people really need. >> i notice tons of commuters coming in here. it was what are you doing for the community. what did you guys come up with? >> we had talked about having a television screen that used one of our cameras that are outside that shows the street going up the block so when the commuters are in here getting breakfast, they can see the buses coming down the street. we weren't able to incorporate it in today but we'll get it done. >> it takes the rush out of the rush. >> the third thing is pricing. >> for grand reopening, we held the pricing on most of our items the same. however, with the new menu we pushed forward with new pricing.

we followed the same price point as them. we bumped them up a bit because we need to bring in more money. >> tim, do you think you're going to be taking a salary now? >> i hope so. >> tell me about the marketing? i saw the mirrors in place. denise is back. how did the marketing go up to this point. >> and what about did you think anybody about putting the honesty box with two bucks a box? >> we did. honestly, we're very skeptical on how it would work but we purchased mirror and installed it. it's been good so far. it will have to be something that we watch, but i think it will be okay. >> if anything elsing you're going to get a lot more coffee moving because commuters can run and run back out. >> with the loyalty cards in use, the new menu created and the honor system cove in place, our job was done. >> where are you meegsally? from nervous to optimistic?

>> very optimistic. >> i would say optimistic. the nerves, that's over. it's been a roller coaster the last couple of months but the nerves have subsided a bit. we're just thankful for you and for your crew for helping us out. >> wow. good things happen to good people and you guys deserve it. everything you've done for your employees, for the neighborhood. as i told you, when you cut the ribbon, i couldn't stop crying. i'm surprised you guys didn't. i have to give you guys a hug, sorry. good luck, you guys. >> that grand opening was a great day for scott and tim. here with me are two member of our makeover team. mike and denise. you guys did a great job. that was such a nice story.

i'm so happy that i got to be a part of it and you did so much to help them. >> yeah, it was great. >> it was an absolute blast and so good to see good people doing well. >> so tell me. we were there at the grand opening. will they be successful? what do you think this. >> i think they will. they have 40 customer load as day being dropped off by the bus right at their door. i think they've got an excellent shop and everyone loves bagels. >> these guys -- i know you know this. the hurricane hit, the store close and they racked up debt paying their pleas. >> they were firefighters through and through. they're saving other people and at that time their pleas were struggling, they were saving employees. >> yeah, absolutely. and it's really neat on sort of a more tactical part. some of these psychological things i loved.

put up a mirror. it's proven. >> go look in the mirror. you'll never do a bad behavior in front of the mirror. we don't want to see ourselves in front of that light? and the loyalty card, sneaky, smart, right? >> it definitely works. scott punched out two. she lit up and said, oh, thank you so much. it makes appreciation come about. >> so they were having a hard time before hand. have things changed enough for them so that it will be a little smoother now? >> well, i think they're fortunate to be one of the first businesses to be coming back to life in that area. everybody loves to hear that story and locally they're going to support it. i think once the summer comes around, they'll have more of an opportunity. >> they were 95% successful. they were living check by check, this is the 5% making them more profitable. >> i want to given a kudos to

front street. i think it with uith us $100,0 worth of business. >> they're great guys and a great community. >> we've done a lot of these together. thank you, guys, for all of your help. >> my pleasure. >> thank you. >> it's tax season again and you should know that seats are your audit protection. here now are five ways to keep receipts organized for tax time courtesy of entrepreneur.com. >> one, take notes, write notes, especially for your dining and entertainment expenses. two, scan receipts. the irs can audit you up to six years back in some cases, so keep an electronic version. three, take a picture. find an app that can help you better track your expenses so that no receipt is unaccounted for. four, keep a business journal.

use your outlook or google calendar to keep a detailed schedule of your business activities each day. this way if a deduction is every questioned you can quickly look up the date and vouch for your clachlt number five, stay away from karchlt it's easy to spend and nearly impossible to recognize with receipts. stick with dead it and credit cards to better track your experiences. it's time now to answer some of your business questions. our make overteam mike and denise is here with us. the first is how to market your brand. >> i would like someone to explain the dwiens markets and public relations and how they're interconnected. >> right up your alley. how do you answer her? >> sure. we get that question a lot. the best thing to think about is if you're watching tv, commercials, somebody's paying. public relations is what feeds the stories that's going to be

covered on the actual tv show or when you read noose paper articles. >> i like what you said. marketing is guaranteed. public relations kind of a crapshoot. >> exactly. but when you get that coverage, the people who are reading it. th they also know it wasn't guarantee. the mix is really the i deal thing. you want to have a budget going out and the public relations where you get the third-party endorsement. >> there's a real is way to see this. public relations are how the public relates to you. it's tess communication going on around and behind the scenes. >> okay. this next one is about scaling up your business that we've had a lot of interest from larger companies, and we didn't know the next step to take, so we wanted to know whether we should look into hiring people for

production, sales, or marketing. >> you know, i've heard a couple of these questions recently who did not expect their companies to be successful. you get people who are interested, but if it's not definite, how do you know you have the money to scale up? >> i would say sales and marketing, sales and marketing. i've changed my to e ed my tune. something else has changed. marketing is more integrated. it's the experience they have that gets the word of mouth going. everything pointed to production. >> so you think it's a good investment anyhow and some potential deals fall through. >> get better at making stuff more efficient. that markets itself. >> there's nothing else. it's better to not do that at all. >> okay. let's move onto the next question.

this is about building bonds with your client. >> when you're building a brand it's important to build a customer connection, experience, and brand identity. however, as you grow, you ultimately distance yourself from that. how do we stay connected to our customer? >> we did a story just last week about a guy who built a great aquarium company. hid commerce trusted him. he had trouble growing because they wanted him and not necessarily people working for him. so how do you maintain that kind of small business, keeping in touchness as you grow? >> well, that's the great thing about social media? you can still have your entrepreneurial spirit going out any time you want to your audience as big as it gets. if you always intend to be a one-person shop, you should do everything. but if not you should try to pull yourself back and hire as quickly as you can.

that being said, you want to be able to have that internal spirit going on so people know curt rally how to continue growing your company the way you would. >> yeah, even still, even if it's not you, when you're starting out, all you want to do is talk to your clients. it's the best thing as you get bigger. i'm going to steal from denise's bag of tricks. what she did for us was made the community talk amongst themselves. they continued the story amongst themselves. set up a platform where the customers talk and take some from you. >> that's a great idea. social media. thanks so much for answering all these questions, and if any of you out there have a question for our experts, all you have to do is go to our