it's a battle between online and brick-and-mortar shows. the 3-d revolution and how it's changing the face of entrepreneurship. and what do you need to know if you're hiring and managing today's teens? let's get to work and make money coming up next on "your business." ♪

small businesses are revitalizing the economy. 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," the show dedicated to giving you tips and advice to help your small business grow. if you've never seen a 3-d printer before, i'll tell you, the first time you do, you're going to have one of those moments of wow, that is cool. but the cool factor goes way beyond just how neat it is. the possibilities 3-d printing opens up for small businesses are limitless. here's a quick primer to get you to speed on the basics of 3-d printing, what it could mean for the future of manufacturing, and how several entrepreneurs are already using the technology. if you haven't heard of 3-d printing, then listen up. it's going to change everything. how we design, create, learn, teach, make, and manufacture things. some are even calling it the next industrial revolution.

>> the first industrial revolution was all about large machines in factories and you go to factories to work. now you put the factory on your desk top and it's yours. it's a personal factory just for you. you can become an entrepreneur. you can express your ideas physically. and if they catch on in the world, you've got a business. >> president obama even mentioned the technology in his 2013 state of the union address as part of a hopeful vision of america having a competitive advantage in manufacturing again. >> a once shuttered warehouse is now a state of the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3-d printing that has potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. >> for the savvy entrepreneur, 3-d printing presents a huge shift in the way things are created. democratizing and speeding up the process of prototyping, it ration, and innovation. >> it's an opportunity for

manufacturing. it's an opportunity to give axis to the same basic manufacturing technologies that historically were only reserved for big pocketed companies, so it becomes a real catalyst for entrepreneurs and for start-ups and an opportunity to really imagine every activity around us. >> we visited the first inside printing conference and expo in new york city to get a firsthand look at this emerging technology. >> this is a pretty bracelet ha has moving parts once it comes off the platform. >> if you've never seen a 3-d printer, here's how it works. >> it draws a picture in plastic. and the way it does that is it pulls plastic in from a spool, and squirts it through a little

nozzle and it draws and then it lifts up a little bit and draws another picture in plastic on top of that picture, and layer by layer, it builds up the model. >> bree and a group of gear head friends got together and cobbled together a 3-d printer a couple of years ago, and now his brooklyn based company is at the hub of the 3d maker revolution. >> when we got our prototype to work, we quit our jobs. our goal was to change the game and bring 3-d printing to people, so they could put them on their desktop and actually innovate personally. >> and just like the replicator in "star trek," maker bot's replicator is turning people into entrepreneurs. chris came up with an idea that makes the square, a device that allows you to accept credit cards, work better.

>> we made this contraption that goes between the scare and your ipad and makes it more stable. >> i had a proper prototype made and showed it around. it's a big hit, people need it, people want it. the next question is where do i have this made? i go to china, i look at injection molding. i found the best case scenario is about $4,000 to $6,000 to have molds made and they wanted to charge me 30 cents a piece. >> he could have gone the traditional route of making tooling which is taking a couple months to get up and running, but instead he got a maker bot. he manufactures them on his desk at home. people order them on his website and he ships them out. >> i got a tool instead of a die, and that tool makes all sorts of things. before six months ago, i had

never touched 3-d printing. i now have these tools and i have four new patents for totally unrelated industries just because i have this machine. >> on the other side of spectrum is the professional 3-d printers, which have the ability to print in more than 30 materials, including metal, ceramic, sand stone, and nylon. these high end machines are being made accessible to entrepreneurs at new online marketplaces like shapeways, which has been pegged the factory of the future. >> this is an actual production badge of probably about 70 of our customers' products that are being built in this particular product run. >> shapeways is a 3-d marketplace, which allows users to up load their designs and order a print of the item they select. when we visited, they had self-of their large 3-d printers working around the clock, while

they continued to build out their space for the addition of 50 new printers to meet the growing demand for their service. >> we already have 10,000 entrepreneurs on our website who sell their products through shapeways. you can really start your own small business because we take away so many of the thresholds to start a business. you don't have the worry about production. you don't have to worry about logistics. you don't have to worry about customer service. the only thing you have to do well as an entrepreneur is think of and design the great products. >> so if you're coming to us on shapeway, you take, for example, the bracelet, you can order it in multiple colors and materials, and shapeways will make it and ship it to your house directly. >> the most important thing about on demand 3-d printing is you have no investment in stock or inventory. >> is there anything 3-d

printing can't do? only time will tell. the inherent benefit is the complexity is free of charge and will help us for innovators and artists is gives them a complete freedom of creation without the tooling cost, without the inventory, without the fray, and their ability to create shapes that we haven't even imagined could be manufactured. you put it all together, it's a formula for a great deal of entrepreneurialship and excitement. it is truly astounding to see what one can do with these 3-d printers, and there are so many opportunities for entrepreneurs to incorporate them into their business plan. terry is president of independent consulting firm woolers associates. great to see you, terry.

tell me a little bit about the economics of it. to buy a maker bot or to put something on shapeways versus going and manufacturing it yourself the traditional way. >> it really depends on type of product, the volumes, the size, the complexity. typically, if it's relatively low volumes and very complex, then that's when there's a good match. and also relatively small. they don't do well with big parts because they take so much longer. you can do big parts by getting the expensive machines and assembling. but it really is on a case by case basis. for prototype, especially for scale models, but when you go into production with these types of machines, you really have to carefully evaluate the type of part and the volumes and materials as well. >> how much does a maker bot cost about? >> it's in the range of -- depends. they have more than one version. in the range of $1,500 to around $3,000. there's a lot more brands, all the way down to as low as $200, up to around $3,000, $4,000, and then you get into the

professional grade that are $5,000 and up and over $1.5 million. >> what i think is really neat for entrepreneurs, i have a friend who had an idea for a toy. he was looking into how to manufacture it overseas. instead, he thought let me just put the design on shapeways and sell it that way. so he's actually not printing it, but he's designing it and other people are paying for the printing. >> you know, that business model is brilliant. i think shapeways and other companies like i materialize, pinoco, a new zealand company, and others will develop. who maybes, maybe amazon or some other company will get into this as well. and then you have professional grade industrial machines with professionals in the background producing these for you, so you supply the designs, you can be a shop owner, and they take care of the rest. >> yeah. so how -- in your mind, how are things going to progress in the future? we are at the very beginning of

this right now. is this going to take over manufacturing? >> for certain types of products and parts, yes, it will display some of the old way of doing thing. but if you're manufacturing stadium seats or trash cans, those will be done the old fashioned way for a very long time. >> for entrepreneurs, it's such a neat way to prototype and depending on how you want to distribute your model, maybe actually sell your designs as well. well, thank you so much, terry. we really appreciate you coming on. >> thank you very much. travel can be a complete hassle, but like with so many other things, there are some gadgets out there that can help you out. here now are five business travel tools every entrepreneur should not leave home without courtesy of entrepreneur magazine. one, the power bag instant messenger features a rechargeable battery to fuel up your electronics on the go, usb ports and an ac port for plugging into the wall. two, the liberate is a mobile hot spot available through at&t. this colored touch screen will help you organize 4g connections

for up to ten devices at once via wi-fi. three, neatreceipts is a usb powered device that scans, stores, and automatically categorizes everything from full-sized documents to credit card receipts. four, place trakdot inside your bag and it will tell you whether your belongings made it to the destination city. it alerts you of your luggage's location via text, an app, or by e-mail. five, spareone plus is a cheap emergency call option if you're ever in a bind. it can handle ten hours of conversation on one aa battery. the issue of the internet sales tax has divided the small business community in a profound way. the marketplace fairness act was passed by the senate. it requires online retailers which make over a million dollars in revenue to collect sales tax from customers in states that have a sales tax where the retailer has no physical presence.

that's what's different about this. it now goes to the house. the law was intended to level playing field between local brick-and-mortars and big online companies. but online small businesses oppose it, saying the cost of complying will cost them dearly. kevin hicky is ceo of onlinestores inc. jonah, we've profiled on this program before, and he is in favor of the legislation. great to see both of you guys. this has been an interesting debate because people on both sides of the aisle -- you know, it's crossed the aisle. and among st. paul business owners, there's a big divide as well. so give me in a sentence or two why you are in favor of it. >> well, we're really just -- want to level the playing field between the online retailers and

brick-and-mortar retailers. we felt for years it's given an unfair advantage to the online merchants, and in particular, it's been fortunate in the con consequences to small towns. we live in a small town and we found that it's become harder and harder to run a retail business in a small town. >> is that because people are getting a tax break when they buy online or because it's more convenient to buy online? >> it's fine to buy online, but it's given the online retailers a huge advantage. and given them, in our case, a 7% price advantage. some people come into our store and they look at things and they take pictures and they buy them online. >> when they're not paying taxes. >> exactly. >> you take the other side of this issue. why are you against it? >> this legislation imposes a huge compliance burden on tens of thousands of companies across the united states that will have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to implement software and comply with the legislation. it still has a degree of unfairness that the companies below a million dollars will still be exempt, so there's still going to be an element of unfairness. the legislation has been written without any regard to the people

that are actually going to be involved in implementing this. it's written by the states, and with some influence from very large retailers who are. >> i want to ask you a question about compliance. there is a big compliance issue. i think there are thousands of tax municipalities. it's not only state taxes, but it's local taxes as well that someone is going to have to keep track of. but i feel like in this world, people are entrepreneurial, software is relatively cheap, so will there not be someone who does the back end, amazon, eastbound, google, whoever it is, papal, who will keep all that information for you and actually for the small business, it won't be as big of a burden, or will it? >> well, some of the software will actually be free. that doesn't mean that it costs us nothing to implement it. even if the software is free and we are very suspicious of the state provided free software, they're not renowned for providing high quality software.

it's going to cost us potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars to integrate 20 or more different software packages with our shopping carts and we have multiple different shopping carts. we used the e-bay platform. we use the amazon platform. we have back end systems. >> don't you think they'll integrate it themselves or no? >> no, we have to do the integration. and we have to test it on multiple different browsers, multiple different operating systems, phones, tablets. >> right. and as a small business, i mean, any bit of compliance is a lot, frankly. >> we estimate that our compliance cost is going to be over $300,000 in the first two years. >> for your company itself? >> yes. that involves the configuration of the software and testing of the software. that involves classifying into multiple different sales tax jurisdictions. >> you're a small business person, and you're in the bookstore business. you know what it's like to deal with hard times. so knowing with a you know, saying, you know, the online stores have an unfair advantage,

but having some empathy for this -- >> sure. >> do you still feel like, you know, we need to pass this because it is unfair? >> absolutely. and it's critical for states and municipalities to get revenues from the large online sellers, retailers, and one of the things that there's been some confusion about i think is this million-dollar figure. because a lot of people think it's a million dollars in sales, but it's a million dollars of remote sales. that means a million dollars of online sales outside of the state in which you operate. so it really does not impact small online retailers. we do a little bit of online sales ourselves and it won't impact us at all. in terms of the compliance cost, kevin stated a very large number, but he's got a fairly large -- he's built up a fantastic, large business. i think that's why the number was as high as he mentioned. >> it will be interesting to see, you know, it pass in the senate, but the house, it's going to have a very, very tough battle. so thank you both for shedding some light on this. it's a somewhat confusing -- we just touched it, but it's a

confusing issue with a lot of people with a lot of opinions. >> always great to be a terrific author. thanks, j.j. >> thank you. when we come back, four things you must do when interviews job candidates. and memorial day is coming up and teens are looking for summer jobs. what you don't know about how to manage them could hurt your small business. ♪ i' 'm a hard, hard ♪ worker every day. ♪ i' ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm working every day. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm saving all my pay. ♪ ♪ if i ever get some money put away, ♪ ♪ i'm going to take it all out and celebrate. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker... ♪ membership rallied millions of us on small business saturday

to make shopping small, huge. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. interviewing is an art, and it's hard. how can you really get to know if someone is the right fit for your company by just asking them a few questions? in my company, we have a rule that we always interview everyone three times in three different locations, because you can learn something completely different sitting across the desk from someone than you can by grabbing a coffee with them at a cafe. katherine is an expert at how to conduct the perfect interview. she is the founder and ceo of the muse, a career platform and job discovery tool. great to see you. >> it's great to be here. >> you think interviewing is so easy, right? someone comes in, you see if you like them. but it's the hardest thing to do. >> all of the attention son job seeker, what should they do. but it's really important as an

interviewer, you're representing your company and you want to understand more about this person to make a decision about whether they're the right fit for your team. >> you say you have to first set the stage. >> absolutely. as an interviewer, you need to understand. what are you hoping to get out of this interview? what skills are you looking for for the position? you comfortable with someone learning on the job. you get ready to walk into the interview you want to have a sense for, you know, what questions you are going start out with. silence your phone. great way to give a bad impression to a job seeker if you are suddenly very, very distracted. >> so you know, you can mayor -- narrowed in i need this person to be have this kind of personality and have these kind of skills and learn this kind of thing. you say look for a narrative. what do you mean by that? >> asking questions, start with why or what did you learn from, those questions can really dive into the job seeker's motivations. hair passion and decisionmaking.

many indicates sometimes, you know, they have their rehearsed answers so if you can look for the narrative of why they made certain decisions, why did you decide to move industries, what made you take this promotion, what did you learn from that experience, you know, a great candidate will use that to show you what they care about and how they think and very thoughtful answers. some red flags may be very big answers and can point to a lack of critical decisionmaking skills or self-awareness. >> i like that. big, open-ended questions. >> it creates more personality as well. you give someone a chance to say i was looking for this. and i was excited about, you know, this other thing and -- i think it is much -- really takes it to a level beyond what did you do at your last job and why were you successful. >> be specific. specific about the questions or specific about what you are trying to draw out? >> be very specific about what you are trying to draw out up can't go into every single thing in the resume in detail. they can be very helpful to focus in on a project, experience, and ask questions that get to the meat issue. how would this project have been different if you hadn't been involved? or what would your co-workers say about your work on this project?

because people often -- job seekers are smart. they think about the questions you are most likely to ask and they will practice the answers but if you get specific, one situation, maybe two, dive in and ask those nitty-gritty questions you can get a sense for what did they contribute, what was their role, not just what their team accomplished but as an individual what do they bring to the table. what will they bring to the table as an employee at your company? >> that's a tricky part. getting past the answers that they have already rehearsed. >> exactly. >> what your fault? i work too hard. >> classic what's your biggest weakness is the dreaded question. one of our most popular articles on the muse. i never stop working. exactly. >> then don't hog the interview. >> as an interviewer, up want to be the ambassador for your company, why it is a great place to work. classic interviewing mistake is hogging the interview and talking about yourself and your company and not listening to hear what the interviewee has to say. while it is a very competitive economy, it is for to think that you -- you need to interview this person and learn as much as about that them and making sure

to give them the floor and not hogging the microphone, so to speak. >> thanks four time. >> great to be there. thanks so much. >> some of you may be interviewing candidates for summer jobs right now. and many of them may be teenagers. teen workers are often the lowest paid and most inexperienced people on your staff. but yet, your company's success may rely heavily on them. manage thing generation calls for new approaches. take a look at what we discovered about motivating teens. ♪ >> back if my day i was at work on time in uniform. >> if 56-year-old ken white sounds old school to you that's because he is. >> if i didn't, you know, i would have been fired, back in my day. i remember as a young kid having the automatic respect for a supervisor. >> jeff whiting is old school,

too. he's ken's 30-year-old nephew. >> i would strive and work hard to not only meet but to exceed their expectations and today you don't see that. >> ken and jeff are third and fourth generation family partners at whiting's foods which has been running food concessions at this famous california seaside amusement park since 1953. >> i am a tremendous advocate today's teens are as able as ever but they are far less prepared. employers also are far less prepared to deal with the age group. >> the whitings say this management problem is not limited to santa cruz. based on their consulting business called waves for success they see a national trend stretching from the california beaches to -- the jersey shore. employers like jeff and ken say this difference in attitude is a big problem for small businesses like theirs.

which depend on part-time teenage workers. >> they are the ones that determine whether a -- one of our customers, one of our guests, is going to make a purchase, spend more, or come back again. they impact that. they impact it. >> down the boardwalk from the whitings, joe, owner of marinis by the sea, says pretty much the same thing. >> as any parent would know, they are teenagers so they come with their whole set of teenage issues. >> manage through the eyes of today's teens rather than through the eyes of when they were a teenager. ♪ >> it is a challenge that both ken and jeff met by making changes in their own management team style. >> realize what used to work in the past isn't working anymore. what is it that i need to do to make it work? and -- it can be done but takes a different mindset if you want to gain more from the people who affect your business and affect your performance as an employer, there is -- as a manager, you need to make sure you are guarding your attitude.

>> the whitings put their training material online. >> you immediate to make sure, one, that you are using all the digital things. you are texting information and that your schedules are on the internet and online. you have a facebook page and website that's open 24/7. >> we just got to have -- we have to change the way that we package information and how we deliver it. >> that's when the whitings moved their scheduling online as well. the teens loved it and it cut their management costs in half. >> based on one of our full-time managers in the summer took two full days to do the next week's schedule. now they are down to less than a day. >> puts the responsibility of the schedule in the employee's hands. if they can't make to it work they have the ability to post their shift on the trade board. >> joe quickly adopted it for his candy shop. >> there's no more questioning

of i didn't get the message because i have it and have you the e-mail and you have the text. it is on your phone. i get a feedback of when they looked at it. i know they looked at it. >> another sign of the times came with when they realized their employees did not care about text pence end of the summer thank you party. >> we canceled that program in its entirety. took the budget and moved it into an instant gratification program. >> what we learned is that teenage employees don't look much further past friday night. so telling them to stick around for two, three months down the road then will get rewarded does not work. >> the key they use is a scratch-off card they hand out when a manager sees an employee going the extra mile. >> scratcher. called a start card. this is what we use for instant gratification as i go through my stores, if i catch somebody doing something right, there is no need to make them wait. >> you can scratch it off and get $20. it keeps people going. they work for the star cards. i mean, this kid jasper got like $300 from star cards last summer.

>> easy is not the right word. they're fun. they're fun to be around. there is an excitement and energy there that you don't get with other employees. >> are you a freelancer that could use help calculating how to price your work? check out our app of the week. the my price app figures out the amount you should reasonably charge customers for your professional services. after inputting factors like your educational background, experience, and the location of your client, the app will give you an ideal ballpark figure to charge. my price will also suggest the best charging arrangement for your client whether that be an hourly rate or a per project fee. thanks so much for joining me today. if you want to watch parts of the show again, just go to our website. it is openforum.com/yourbusiness. you will find all of today's segments plus web exclusive content with more information to help your business grow. next time -- teens aren't just looking for jobs. some are starting their own small businesses.

like the three teenagers who took a look at the rental car industry and thought this sure seems antiquated. >> one parking lot with thousands of cars and people paying to have them sit will and do nothing. you have another parking lot with thousands of cars and people are renting. >> taking cues from the economy and revolutionizing the way we think about renting cars. until then, i'm j.j. ramberg. and remember, we make your business our business. ♪ i' 'm a hard, hard ♪ worker every day. ♪ i' ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm working every day. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm saving all my pay. ♪ ♪ if i ever get some money put away, ♪ ♪ i'm going to take it all out and celebrate. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker... ♪

membership rallied millions of us on small business saturday to make shopping small, huge. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. happy friday. it is map time. this is the u.s./canadian border, here in the northeast. you can see, green is land and blue is water. you have the u.s. mainland. you've got canadian mainland. and then a few really dramatic bodies of water. obviously the giant hulking atlantic ocean off to the east on the right side of your screen. but then those really big bodies of water inland. the great lakes. what if you could get from the ocean into those inland lakes on a boat? that would be a miracle, right? if you think about it, if that was true, you could ship stuff across the sea but instead of having to drop stuff off at some