the steps she took to grow may surprise you. let's help your small business grow coming up next on "your business."

hi, there, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg, and welcome to "your business," the show dedicated to giving you tips, advice, and a dose of inspiration to help your business grow. i found out about mel leaney barrett and her company mel leaney b. when i look at her story online. i gave her a call to find out the secret to her growth. turns out the it was simply taking a focus on it. ♪ why don't you come with me little girl on a magic carpet ride ♪ >> by many counts four years after she started her carpet

company mellanie b. >> she designed carpets inspired by her travels around the world and had them hand-made in nepal, india, china, and mexico. she earned a client. >> was actually looking for brooklyn designers and i happened to come across her on linkedin, and i took a look at her website and immediately fell in love with it. >> she got press. she had a goal, to get people to buy her carpets, and she went after it with gusto. >> i attended every event related to my industry. whether it was a cocktail for an opening of a product, anything related to a designer, whether the magazines were giving it, i was there. and then i exhibited in trade shows because that's how i communicated.

>> it was about survival. i need to meet this person, go to that convenient. it was an in, in, in. >> so constant melane never had a chance to step back and see how her company was doing. turns out it wasn't doing as well as she thought. while she was working hard and seemingly doing everything right, her sales weren't growing. >> okay. i have all these elements. i have the production, the talent, i feel i have the personality to connect with people, i have the media. so why isn't everyone flocking, you know? and so i felt the foundation was there but there was something missing and that's where i said, okay, i need to take a step back. >> she forced herself to step back and take a breath and with a small company she got into the

weeds of her company to see what she could do to turn things around. the results of her research? this 42-page program. >> it's focused me so much that it's funny, survival, couldn't think. >> it has sections on aspirations, financials, leadership style, the industry as a whole. >> this is the section i really love and it's talking about the competitors that i talked about earlier. i actually listed the different competitors, what they're known for, what type of product category they have, what their website looks like, things like that. >> had you spent much time looking at your competitors before? >> not like this. >> and it's a roadmap of where the opportunities lie. >> so you take all of your potential program strategies, pick the one that looks roseiest at the end? >> exactly. there has to be a match, a fit

to where you are and where you want to go. now i'm focused on the different areas where i want to focus on growing. so my two areas are focusing on my licensing business as well as residential and interior company. that's how i. going to grow and create a trend that's long lasting. >> now she's doing something she would have never done before the plan. she's saying no to people. >> when people say, oh, i want a custom carpet, it's small carpet, i know now that's not going help my business grow. it's a product, but, again, i have to -- i have to turn down certain projects. >> which is giving her time to concentrate on clients who fit into the plan. this man had been following melane for a few years, and while he liked her work, he wasn't interested in doing a

deal. they recently met again. >> she was showing me new ways in which she was growing her company. said, melane, you're there. you're really showing a diversification. you're showing a whole business maturity we can work with. >> melane's focus on meeting the kinds of people that would earn her growth, she ended up at an interior design group. >> i met them at my last trade show and i met them there specifically hoping to connect with more designers like themselves, and so once i learned more about their business, i said, they are right in synch and on target with who i'm targeting right now. >> i think it would be a good exposure for her with the kind of projects we do all over the world. >> melane's company is on the rise. >> i shut down. i used to work till 10, 11, 12.

i shut it down now. i am working differently. >> differently and definitely better. devising a growth plan is an essential tool for any small business owner, but being disciplined enough to keep it is the tricky part. let's turn to this week's board of directors. gene marx owns and operates the marx group, a company that provides consulting services to small businesses. he's also a business and bill rancic. i love how she says she's turning people down. i think that's the hardest, when you start a business. as she said, every opportunity is a sales moment. all you want do is get people interested. how do you get to the point where you can say no to people? >> i think you've got to work smarter rather than working harder. think in the beginning you take everything you can get and then you figure it out. the first year or two, you're

feeling your way in the dark and you don't know what's what. when i started my first business. i don't know about you. then you start realizing this isn't going to fit into where i want to go. but you do it. >> what bill's saying is exactly right. it's not something you can teach somebody, is it? yu've got to learn those customers and projects. look at her. she was doing this for a couple of years. she started turning down work. she started thinking that's not going go a job for me. i didn't do very well on it before. >> it sounded like she got some good advice, you know. i think that was probably the critical turning point for her. a lot of small business owners and entrepreneurs, they get so invested in it, emotionally connected, they can't look from the outside in and say wait a minute. in my mind i think my business is going in one direction. >> this idea that she did, basically saying here are all

the directions my company could go in chrk one is going to drive the most revenue and then let's stick with that and cross off all of these other ones. >> it's a really, really hard thing to do. i looked at my people. i had ten employees. we have the same issue. if you're in the technology business, you could be involved in a whole bunch of different things. i looked at my employees and thought what can we do best. i think focusing on what you do well and keeping shutters on everything else, that's what do you. >> i'd like to see where she is in a year. >> actually i just spoke to her and she just did a deal with product lounge. and so this focus put her in exactly the situation she wanted to be in. >> her problem is going to be finding people to get the work done.

as she grows, that's going to be the biggest problem. >> thanks, guys. she is so incredibly busy. we were talking before the show how business you are. i'm sure you're business too. i'm sure you calendar is important. the app of the week, the calendar. it will pull up e-mails, documents or e-mails related to your particular call. you can get estimates, driving time. tempo also dialled into conference calls by handling the pass code. are the number of e-mails you get daily getting best of you? here are five weighingss to control it. >> reporter: one, disable notifications. unless you have to reply immediately, check your inbox

two to three times a day. unsubscribe to letters you don't care about. it may seem easy to delete them but with important ones mixed in you may lose track of the ones that require attention. 3, learn how to search e-mail. instead of learning how to search folders, familiarize yourself. 4, adopt an archive mentality. move messages you no longer have a need for. five, clean out folders. clean up the e-mails that were in your inbox before you started. if you've been on facebook and twitter lately, you've probably seen a lot of hash tags. by definition a hash tag is simply a phrase or specific key word with a pound sign placed in front of it. smart business owners are using

hash tags on all of their social media platforms to reach customers that are fast, easy, effective, and personal. plus, it's markets that doesn't cost a dime. barry sloane is the president, chairman and ceo of new tech business services. grade to see you. >> great to be here. >> thank you so much for seeing us. when you talk about a business using a hash tag, do you mean using it yours or using hash tags that already exist? >> baflkly you use either. it's a graduate opportunity for business owners to use the internet and social media to attract a very large but narrow use of customers using the right hash tag to be able to communicate. >> i'm going to bathe up for people who haven't used them before. basically a hash tag is something i would search for and nechb who's used the hash tag would come up.

hash tag red wine. anything with hash tag red wine would come up. >> that's correct. they would go on a twitter, click on hash tag red wine and see awe the submissions. >> you would use as a business owner a hash tag to tar get people. >> absolutely. we don't want people coming from los angeles. you want no. so you put #newyorkbagels. >> then you also can use it to promote. >> when you talk about deals do you mean -- >> we have #freejarfriday.

if you go to freejarfriday and you tweet it to other participants you actually get a free jar of peanut butter. >> so you're saying to use it as an actual promotion itself. >> that's right. >> that gets the word out because suddenly everyone is talk about the peanut butter. >> that's right. you might get peanut butter, pickles or other things you're interested in. it's a different way to see different promotions from different business owners. >> you want people if they retweet, they get more incentives. >> if you retweet it, you get a free jar of peanut butter. >> i'll be tweeting it on friday. finally use it as a part of conversation. >> we have business people, let's say they're interested in the patient protection

affordable health care act. what to do, be aware of tax changes, things of that nature. so they might tweet obama care or affordable health care act and they'll all of a sudden get into conversation with other par it is pant and it will say get involved. >> you can use it as research. so you can senior. hash tag obama care just to see what people are thinking about. >> absolutely. it's a great way to find out. you can google it. >> barry, again, it's really simple. >> real common sense. use the tools. and it's free. >> thanks, barry. appreciate you coming on the show. >> thanks for having me. >> when we come back, bill rancic and gene marx answer your

questions and when a small business should retain legal counsel. and today's elevator pitcher has a message of love that she's conveying through her line of apparel and handbags. is like hammering. riding against the wind. uphill. every day. we make money on saddles and tubes. but not on bikes. my margins are thinner than these tires. anything that gives me some breathing room makes a difference. membership helps make the most of your cashflow. i'm nelson gutierrez of strictly bicycles and my money works as hard as i do. this is what membership is. this is what membership does.

it's time now to answer some of you questions. bill and gene are with us again. the first one is about protecting your personal brand. >> what tools or strategies do you have or can you recommend to help people manage their brands online. >> brands meaning your company's brand and your personal brand. yours are kind of mixed so i'll start with you. >> for me it's having the route people on the team and that's where a lot of people get into trouble. they have two or three layers and the wrong messages being communicated and it comes back to bite you from a personal position. >> here's a really good website called socialcrawlitics.com. what that does is monitors the content that's being shared on

your competitors' websites. so it's a good way to look at what they're dealership and if your brand is keeping up with what your competition is doing online. >> i think you need to spend time thinking about it. who am i and what is the mix and what are the messages i want to put out. >> do you use people on the outside to do that stuff? >> we do. and my wife and i run a few restaurants outside of chicago. you have to follow up and make something right. that's something we do. every morning they're checking the sites and if someone wasn't happy, we make sure they're going to be happy the next time they come in. >> if you don't have the time to do it, you probably have to have somebody help you out. >> here's a question. whether or not your small business needs an attorney. >> as a small business, a solo

preneur, when is the appropriate time for me to bring in legal counsel on retainer. i'm never sure when i should do this. >> i play softball every sunday with a bunch of attorneys, they argue strikes. you want to stay away from attorneys as much as you can. >> you need them sometimes. >> i even been in business for 20 years and i've never used an attorney. at the very beginning i did. i only have ten employees. it's not that big a business. if i need an attorney, aisle find an attorney on a project basis. >> for me they come in handy. they come -- not on retainer. project by project basis. i want a cap, i want to know where it's going and not a checkbook to run up the hours. i think that's important. >> i have found there are a lot of attorneys who have left their

jobs and are willing to work things on a project basis for a fixed fee. things are have intellectual property, attorneys, guys on their own, are looking at a little piece of equity in your business. it's an option to consider. i do see some clients doing that. >> let's move on to the next question. it's about using facebook for your business. >> i would like to know how important is it to utilize facebook with my business. and more importantly, how often would i need to go onto facebook and speak to my customer base to be effective. >> that's a great question. i think it's critical. i think facebook, linkedin, twitter, it's an important to connect with your fan base, customer, and it's all about content.

if you go on and promoting your products and yourself, you'll turn people off. if you provide them content, give them information, things they can use in their lives to mick their lives better, you win people over. >> what do you do with your time? are you on your facebook page yourself? do you have a personal facebook page and a corporate one? >> i have a personal facebook page and i have a twitter account. i do a lot more tweeting than i do facebooking. for me it's great. we promote our shows and able to connect with the people who are our customers. if goes a long way. people will tweet me for reservations at my restaurant. i'll get them in if they can't get a reservation. that goes a long way di-- >> you realize you've just given an invitation to your restaurants. >> right. >> it's important to know where your customers are, facebook, instagram. depending on your company. >> i spoke to association of corrugated box containers. their customers are not on facebook. >> that's got to be a wild

crowd. >> yeah, a crazy night. you have to know where your customers are. if you're in the restaurant business, media business, landscaping or something in a craft, if your customers are there, that's where you've got to go. >> before i let you get up from this table we have the elevator pitch later o bill, you're here and doing something very interesting with intuit which a lot of small business owners would like to hear about. >> we're giving the opportunity of a lifetime. i partnered with intuit, maker of quickbooks, looking for small businesses to go to the website small business, big gain. at the end of the road we're giving someone a fully paysed, fully produced commercial that's going to run in the largest football game of the year. it's an opportunity of a lifetime and we think it will have a massive impact on that small business. probably the generations within that family to come. >> that's amazing. >> wow. go to the website sma

smallbusinessbiggame.com. >> we'll whittle it down to 20. all the 8,000 intuit employees will vote, come down to the final four, then america votes and then a commercial in super bowl. you can't ask for more than that. thank you for letting us know about that. thank you for all the advice in this segment. stick around because we need you for the elevator pitch. if you have a question for our experts, all have you to do is go to our website. the address is openforum.com/yourbusiness. once you get there, hit the show link to submit a question for our panel. again, that website is openforum.com/yourbusiness. or e-mail us your questions and comments. that address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. now, we like to check out twitter from time to time to see what's trending about small business. here's some of the latest tweets. next street, which funds small businesses tweets, how much does credit matter for small biz? a lot. new study reports loans increase chance of survival.

"usa today" small biz columnist says nothing is as frustrating as clients who want to stand over your shoulder. keep perspective and communicate with them often. and analyst kim from savor the success has good advice, it's important not to fear mistakes because they'll bring you lessons. >> in this arena of entrepreneurship there's a file pillar concept, what the infrastructure of your business is, and that's leadership, management, marketing, sales and finance. and i always suggest to my clients or colleagues that you don't have to know everything about each one of those pillars, but you do have to know something about them. >> the advice that i would give is to surround yourself with

individuals that have strengths where you have weaknesses. building a strong team is extremely important when starting a company. >> since i'm all about outcomes, my tip is, that which gets measured gets managed. and as business owners we have limited time and limited resources. and so it's really important that we measure. >> social entrepreneurship is booming with more and more small business owners wanting to help both their bottom line and their communities. today's elevator pitcher is doing just that with her line of products that combine function with a positive message. >> hello. my name is kechisha, only of li to love. our messages can be found on shirts, hats, persons and greeting cards and have been delivered throughout the united states and all over the world, reaching as far as south africa and canada. i established the brand in

january 2012 on a personal mission to promote positivetive positivetivety. all of our designs are original and meaningful. we also donate a portion of our proceeds to promote social change and we operate a youth program. it can be found on to liveto lst love.com. i'm seeking a $150,000 investment to take the brand to new designs and apparel variations. it will be used for branding and marketing to establish to live to love. investors will be offered 20% ownership in the company. >> good. can you take a deep breath right now. >> that's a lot of information to get out in a smort amount of time. >> i love how you're throwing it around like it's a football. >> i'm already ready to toss it. this is cool. >> you heard the pitch. did she get everything in there? >> i thought the pitch was good and it's fast but you're trying to remember and get it out in a short period of time. any investor looking to invest

in a company like that, i hear the money part so that raises my flag. if you're prepared, if you're asking $150,000 for 20% of the company, i think that's about the value of your company at $750,000. an investor may saying, wow, that's a big number. be prepared to back it up, what futures coming down the line to sink $150,000 in your business. >> do you think she hit all the points? >> no, i thought you did a great job. i would agree with gene, slow it down, engage and not so rehearsed but i thought it was great. but you have to quantify the numbers. if you're asking for $150,000, give us more specifics. we want a little more teeth into it. what are you doing in annual sales, what's your profit margin, things like that that. >> most important, have you to have a track record. you started this company up

recently, so you have to brace yourself. you may be doing this for another year or two or three so an investor can see there's some profits coming in before they take that risk. >> all right. good luck. thank you for coming and sharing your pitch with us. thank both of you so much for everything today. really appreciate it. >> yep. >> and if any of you out there have a product or a service and you want feedback from our elevator pitch panel on your chances of getting interested investors, all you have to do is send us an e-mail. the address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. include a short summary of what your company does, how much money you're trying to raise and what you intend to do with that money. i'm looking forward to reading through your pitches and then seeing some of you here on the show. thanks for joining me today. if you missed anything, click on our website. it's openforum.com/yourbusiness. you'll find all of today's segments and web exclusive content with more information to help your business grow. you can follow us on

twitter @msnbcyourbiz. don't forget to become a fan of the show on facebook. next time when pitching investors for catch, how do you determine what you'll do with the money? >> we said, let's raise enough money to be able to test these things that we think are going to work to really grow the business and scale it but not have enough money that the mistakes are going to be really expensive. >> we'll tell you how two entrepreneurs are funding their business and why they know the capital is being well spent. till then, i'm j.j. ramberg. remember, we make your business, our business. ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker every day. ♪ ♪ 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. ♪ small businesses get up earlier and stay later.

and to help all that hard work pay off, membership brings out millions of us on small business saturday and every day to make shopping small huge. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. u.s. embassies close across the middle east in response to what officials call a very specific terroristic threat. in just a minute we'll talk about the massive effort to unseat colorado legislators for supporting gun control. first a quick status report on today's developing situation in the middle east where a total of 22 u.s. embassies consulates and in north africa closed after the state department issued a travel warning of potential terroristic