tv Your Business MSNBC September 21, 2013 2:30am-3:01am PDT
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how do you get customers to take you seriously when you're operating your business out of your home? and they started a business out of their basement with $10,000. find out how they stretched that investment into the rainbow loom bracelet phenomenon. that's coming up next on your business. ♪ >> small businesses are revitalizing the economy and american express open is here to help. that's why we're proud to
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present your business on msnbc. ♪ hi there everyone. i'm jj ramberg and welcome to your business where we help you fulfill your entrepreneurial dreams with information and advice to help your small business grow. now, when i started my company, like many entrepreneurs, my office was my kitchen table. even when i hired my first employee, we were still at my apartment. but nobody in the outside world knew it. today there are so many things you can do to keep your company looking professional even if you may be having snacks out of your home refrigerator. >> desk, chair, computer. a typical office setting for a growing business. but in this case, the room next
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door isn't another office, it's a bedroom. >> when you start from the humble beginnings, you make do with what you have. >> in 2011 john carrier and two classmates from the university of virginia's business school started 501 auctions. a charity auction management company that takes the entire process digital. providing an online auction site for each event, a mobile bidding system and support throughout the entire process. they found their system works. >> we take them from pen and paper to a mobile format. the average improvement is 38%. >> like many entrepreneurs, these founders are starting up with very little. with most of their available funds going into the immediate needs of the business, they've taken up headquarters in the cheapest place possible. home. >> it was really just a function of necessity. we needed a place to work. and the home was the best option for that. >> but how do you present yourself as a reputable company when your conference rooms doubles as your dining room?
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for starters, nobody has to know what your office looks like. these days, most people find you first online. so it's important to make sure your site looks professional. >> our first website was, i mean, i think you could have drawn it with crayon. i think it was. that's what it looked like. upgrade your website, that's the first thing you can do to profession professional ayes your offering. i don't think anybody will go with anything too barebones. if you have an established name, you can get away with it. if it's something that clients aren't already familiar with, prospective clients aren't already familiar with, you need to have a nice looking site. >> you can be strategic with the phone number. the founders got an 800 number that makes them look bigger than they are. if you're in d.c., you want somebody working locally. if you have an 800 number into a call center, you're not cutting yourself out of that business.
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>> as for face to face meetings, they meet their clients on site or go to the customers' offices. >> we can kill two birds with one stone. do an on site walk through and then talk about the event itself. it means that we can have that office space somewhere else. in theory. >> not having offices allows 501 auctions to be in multiple markets without paying multiple rents. teddy's based out of new york, while john is in richmond. >> it's a matter of being close to where our clients are, to meet with clients in richmond easily, make a day trip up to d.c. and put in face time with them. coordinate staffing. it's really invaluable. ultimately people trust people. >> as they expand, there are plans to bring on more employees in the major markets. >> there are so many options around the country. we're looking to expand, grow into new cities. when we bring someone on in that market, i think there's going to be an expectation that they find what works best for them,
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whether a separate home office, whether that's working out of their home as is. whether getting space in a shared place. >> they've brought on one employee in new york. some people may find it disconcerting to work out of their boss's home. but teddy says it helps to create the company's culture. >> you're building a lot of things that are new and that requires constant dialog. and being in your home gives you that sort of convenient and comfortable space to interact with your peers. >> and the new employee has given some structure to the workday. suddenly, they have offices hours. >> when we hired eric who works in our office as well, that changed the dynamic where you're starting earlier. there's a lot more structure. >> but because there's no distinction between home and work, the founders are available pretty much 24/7 for their clients. >> you don't have to go through this process where somebody goes back and asks somebody else a question when you have a question. everyone knows the answers which has been great.
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the fact that they've been anyone to act quickly is important to us. >> so far the home office has been working for the founders, thanks in large part to technology. >> we try and get anybody working remotely to come together and work together for at least a couple of days out of the month. i think that's so important to getting everybody on the same page. if you can't do that, video conferencing, do a little hangout, you skype. use ichat. just seeing face to face and working face to face goes a long way in improving commune chags. >> though they have future plans to grow into office space in their major markets, they plan to hold on to the nimbleness and resourcefulness they've developed now in their home offices. >> you're creating something out of nothing. the biggest thing you can do is make do with what you have, whether that's bartering, whether that's renting a space in someone else's garage.
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>> running a business from your home can be a great way to lower your overhead costs, but in the long run, could it hurt your credibility with potential customers? let's turn to the board of directors. barry mulch is a small business consultant. you can find him online. and angela kim is the co-founder of savor the success, a business network for women entrepreneurs. great to see you both. >> great to see you. >> i was having flashbacks. i started my business in my apartment and it looked just like that. i, for one, am happen that i we've moved up. we did a lot of things so that the outside world had no idea where we were working. you do the same, right? >> your sofs so fluid in today's world. your office really is -- your website is your storefront. just as he said, you have to invest in a great website. >> i think what he did with the phone number was important also. you have 1-800 number. it can look professional and
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sound professional and go directly to your phone. >> it's not just the phone number. you have to have good professional communication image. think about your e-mail address. is it barry 1999, that doesn't look professional. you need your first name, last name, company. that's easy to set up, even with g-mail or hot mail or something. it shows it just isn't a hobby. you're ready for business. >> i think if somebody is hiring you for somebody big and they find out you're working out of your living room, they may start to think, okay, this company is not big enough. >> right. but i think there are positive toss that as well as the gentleman said on the clip before. it can add to the company culture. it can be a lot of fun. is your personal space delineated carefully from your personal quarters. i think there is -- there are ways to make it work. >> i don't think people really care, jj. people work anywhere any time. folks want to know who are your
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customers, what kind of references you have. if you have brand names as references, they don't care where you work. >> on the personal sield, when i worked out of the my house, i would roll out of bed in my pajamas, gets to my kitchen table/office, work all day. this is before i had employees. it would be 11:00, i'm still at my pajamas at the computer. do that enough time, it gets a tiny bit crazy. >> as an entrepreneur, you can go crazy. i like to call it a hard stop. wine at 5:00. >> 5:00, wow. all right. >> you set office hours for yourself. make sure it looks like an office. put up your diplomas, have trophies there. so you know you're ready to work. >> then you take them down if you don't have space. so many people are doing this. not even just a startup. you still work from home. >> i have an office space, i have a spa and i have home. it's fluid for me. you know what, an office can be starbucks for a coffee shop,
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right? >> you want to do that because you have to as a small business owner, you got to keep your fixed costs low and that's perfect. >> a fun topic to talk about. we've all experienced it at one time or another. there's another small business. this started in the basement much a home in michigan. it has become a nationwide phenomenon right out of that house. if you're a parent, i'm sure you've seen the colorful rubber band bracelets all the kids are wearing. i for one keep finding rubber bands all over my kid's room. it was the brainchild of a ma lay malaysian immigrant. they've sold over one million thanks to you-tube and the internet. >> coming soon on a child and parent near you, rubber band bracelets. >> here's your bracelet. >> a trend made out of 19th century style loom by tweens who are normally attached to electronic devices.
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designed not by the toy industry but by an entrepreneurial midwestern family who built a business out of their basement. >> this started from weekend project with my daughters and that's when they say dad, this is so cool. >> the family posted how-to videos on you-tube to sell it online and assembled rainbow loom kits from their home. >> i would put rubber bands in the bags. >> they had so many orders to fill, they had to install an elevator to get boxes up to their garage. >> it's very mind blowing because we didn't realize that this product would get so big so fast. >> and when michaels stocked -- 20 stores sold out immediately. a rare overnight sensation in the billion dollar toys and crafts industry. >> rainbow looms have more than 3 million hits on you-tube and homemade how-to videos. >> you can make it like this. >> have popped up all over the united states. kids are making bracelets for themselves, their friends, even
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their parents. >> how easy is that? >> an old skill with a modern twist turning this simple rubber band into all the rage. >> from g-mail to hangouts, google is definitely more than just a search engine. in fact, if you know where to look, you can find really useful resources to help grow your business. here now are some google tools that help you in your everyday marketing and business operations courtesy of inc..com. >> one, google trends. language is important when marketing both online and off line. consider plug not guilty some of your company's key words to see howser chs for these terms have changed over time. two, think with google is a free marketing resource that gives you insight on useful consumer trends and industry research. three, gomo. take your existing website through a diagnostic test to make sure it's mobile friendly for your customers. four, you-tube's my business
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story. after uploading video clips and photos, the cool will guide you through templates to add graphics and music. five, trusted stores. if you offer an online shopping experience, trusted stores have to pass a tus for reliable shipping and customer service. when you pass, you earn the right to display a trusted store badge. when we come back, what you need to know about creating banner ads that work. and we'll talk about how women who are moms and entrepreneurs can deal with potential customer prejudice. and angela and barry will have less than a million seconds when they face off in an action-packed edition of our infamous biz quiz. has it's ups and downs. seasonal... doesn't begin to describe it.
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my cashflow can literally change with the weather. anything that gives me some breathing room makes a big difference. the plum card from american express gives your business flexibility. get 1.5% discount for paying early, or up to 60 days to pay without interest, or both each month. i'm nelson gutierrez and i'm a member of the smarter money. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. there is an art and a science to creating banner ads that actually work. the beauty of the web is that you can test, try one thing, and then try something else to see if you can do any better. miles younger is the ceo of canned banners, a company which helps advertisers quickly and easily create banner ads for online campaigns. he's here to give us tips on how
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to create effective ads. great to see you, miles. >> thanks, jj. >> the most important part is what i said before is test things, right? you're going to give us tips but keep trial and error. >> yeah, yeah. absolutely. that's part of the beauty of online advertising. it is very, very easy and especially with banner ads to split test them is what it's often called. test one idea against another, see which does better and keep iterating over that until you can reach whatever your performance goals might be. >> let's give easy tips. the first one you say is don't use gimmicky fonts or weird colors, right? >> it's typically something to stay away from. this banner ad we're looking at. the james carpenter is in this font called comic sands is universally reviled by graphic designers. below it, just for fun, i used an old english font. unless you're selling yeag
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yeagermeister, there's not much call for that. there's a script that's impossible to read unless you squint. >> someone just learned you can change the fonts for the first time. you have to make is something they can see. let's move on to the next idea. make sure that your ads look and feel like your website so it's not jarring when you go from the banner to the website. >> you want to make that transition really as smooth as possible for whoever clicked your banner ad. a good a nolg might be a fast food restaurant that has one logo on the sign outside, another one on the uniforms for the employees and another on the drink cup. it's going to turn people off. if you do that kind of thing with your banner ads, people will land on your website and leave. >> what's interesting about that, too. the click-through rate is going to be low. it just is across the industry. at least this way you get some branding out there even if you don't get people to come to your
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site. >> that's true as well. also to the point that the click-through is low, that's absolutely true. you want to get the most value out of all the clicks that you do get. >> you also talk about creating different size ads. why? >> uh-huh. the three most common banner ad sies rs 160 by 600. 300 by 250 and 728 by 90. those are all pixel dimensions in width by height. the reason you want to stick with those, they're an industry standard, virtually every website will run at least one of those. the thing is not all website will run all three. as we're seeing now, there's with the screen shots, there's different websites that run different combinations of those ads. >> do any work better than others, miles? i feel the big ones might work the least effectively. >> you know, that's actually not true. it really depends on the
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campaign. i have tests showing the 300 by 250 does the best. it's also the most common. the best idea and what's going to give a business the best coverage is to run all three. >> okay. and then finally, have a call to action. give people a reason to click through. what's an example? >> so an example would be, if you have an ad for a pizzeria and the ad just says delicious pizza, that doesn't really do much. but then we're looking at an example here where we're showing them an offer of a large two-topping for $9.99 and the call to action is to order a pizza online. it's clear what the customer is supposed to could. >> i love your final point that says ignore all of these points. break all the rules. >> for everything we've discussed here, there are a thousand very successful exceptions. there's the dancing belly fat ads that you see all over the web. those are highly effective but really offensive to the eye.
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whoever made the ads tested them heavily, i'm sure. myles, thank you so much. great to talk to you. we love getting this advice from you. sometimes you may need to be able to make a presentation on the fly. well, for those moments, check out our app of the week. mighty meeting is a free app to up load presentations to the cloud and access them nearly any time anywhere using the near cast meeting feature, meeting members can see their slides from their own device as you present. you can annotate slides with drawings using the interactive white board also. it's time to answer some of your business questions. barry and angela are with us once again. this first one is about entrepreneur who is are trying to break the mold. >> three women in our 30s who founded a company. my co-founder dana has a toddler at home. i'm about to give birth next week. how can we sort of disrupt the
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sort of business community's mind-set that the typical entrepreneur needs to be single and working night and day? >> i will start obviously with you on this one, angela. you have a 3 1/2-year-old at home you're an entrepreneur. do you find it hard? >> not so hard. i call it my gorgeous chaos. timex pands. if i have two months to learn something, it's two months. if i had someone who said can you learn this in two weeks. you do it. you have an hour, you have to accomplish in an hour what others need to accomplish that takes them all night. >> i have to say, though, i have spoken to some female entrepreneurs out there looking for funding who have gotten pushback from funders venture capitalists who say i'm worried about you having a kid. you might be pregnant, about to be pregnant, have a baby at home. >> i think capital sources care
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about one thing. they want to know, do you have paying customers. if you do, you could be green living on mars, be married to a tree and people wouldn't care. they want to know, do you have cash flow? >> i would say also, guilt.com. the women who started that had children while funding it. you have children. i was working from -- >> the right investors. >> okay. great. >> next up. a question about the potential pitfalls of crowd funding for the owner of a hardware startup. >> a lot of times companies put kick-start campaigns online without really fully fleshing out their supply chain and sort of their business model. they end up committing to things that they can't deliver. and so we want to figure out if that's the right path for us if it's not. >> i think he's asking if crowd funding is the right path for him. not whether he should not have the supply chain. >> i think that crowd funding is just another form much marketing, right? it's not a panacea.
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most people on kick-start or india go go. they raise less than $10,000. it's really a way to get your message out to the people that you already know to leverage your own network. >> how does he decide if it's the right way to go? >> he needs to figure out if this is the right marketing machine for him. to strategize, putting out an x amount of product that he can deliver the perks. when can he deliver it by, the dates. and then there are websites that can help you determine if this is really the marketing method you want to follow. crowd fund with ease.com is one of them. let's move on to the next one. this is a question about getting customers to keep shopping small. how do you attract new customers when introducing aig new product line without alienating existing customers? >> you've introduced lots of product lines. how do you do it? >> you have to speak the language to that target client. i always say a great business has a tiered business model.
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the top is the vip and then how do you serve the mass frs that. you need to be able to speak the language of each target client. >> one thing you don't do is offer the new customers a lower price. cable television companies do this all the time. it's a problem. what you have to do is roll out the right product for the right customers. you may even have two different brands. for example in the rental car industry, hertz has one brand for business people and dollar and thrifty for the budget conscious consumer. >> i was speaking to a woman who has a product jewelry, she made a cheaper line and decided to keep it under the same brand which i thought was an interesting dee stigs to mean. >> like savor the success. we have where are you in business, that's where you go. that's your posse. that's your community. i do think you can put it under the same umbrella, but you have to give them each a different title and for different -- >> know what you're getting paid for.
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thank you for the advice. don't go anywhere. we're having you back for the your business biz quiz. if any of you have a question for our experts, go to our website. the address is open forum.com/your business. once you get there, all you have to do is hit the ask the show link to submit a question for our panel. again that website is openforum.com/yourbusiness. if it's easier, e-mail your questions and comments to the address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. let's turn to social media to see what's trending on twitter for entrepreneurial leaders. technology marketing jennifer shahin sweets, it's important for us to reevaluate businesses to move forward. if it's not broke, break it. small business expert and attorney nina kaufman with this advice. surprise people. take on the unexpected tasks and projects and deliver a great result. frequent your business panelists dave anderson tweets
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inspiration. great ideas are normally killed not but outside forces but by the idea's originator talking himself out of trying. go for it. now that we've heard great tips from experts on how to improve your business, let's get great ideas from small business owners like you. >> so you're usually never going to get it right the first time. you have to make sure that you have the team and the resources and the skill sets in place to learn from your data after the first iteration. and make iterations accordingly. >> understand that do not build the product for yourself. we're building an application. initially, our hunch was the more products we have inside the application, the better user experience will be. what we heard from customers after we started really going out and talking to customers, people don't necessarily want more options. >> at the end of the day, it's really just a numbers game. you want to expose yourself to as many potential customers.
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saying hi to them at an event or reaching out via e-mail or through the telephone it's really the only way to get new customers. don't be afraid of the no. it's not that bad. it's time to put our panelists small business knowledge to the test. we're pitting barry and angela against each other in the your business biz quiz. may the best entrepreneur win. you guys ready? >> ready. >> question number one, according to the nfib, in july 2013, what was the single most important problem facing small business owners? was it taxes, cost and availability of insurance, quality of laborer poor sales? >> barry? >> i'd say b. >> nope. >> can i go? >> you have a chance, angela? >> c, quality of labor. >> no. zero to zero. it was taxes. that surprised me also. >> in a recent e-commerce study which is the top source of
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lifelong loyal customers. facebook, organic search, twitter or banner ads. >> facebook. >> facebook, no. >> i'd say organic search, jj. >> one for barry. >> number three, which of the following metro areas has the highest tech startup density. san jose, sunnyvale, santa clara, seattle, washington, washington, d.c., arlington, zandry, virginia or boulder, colorado. >> i say seattle. >> smart not to pick the first one. that was too obvious. >> what was the first choice? >> it was san jose, sunnyvale and santa clara. >> that was all one. >> san jose, first one. >> that's the one i said would be too obvious. >> can i get another shot at it snoo. >> i'm terrible at this. >> another try tore barry. >> i would say boulder. >> if you had a 50/50 chance. i'm giving you half a point for
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that one. >> are we really going to air this? >> angela has zero. you can save yourself. >> okay. >> which of the following was the main source of funding for new business this is 2012? family, friends, personal savings or banks? >> family and friends. >> no. >> personal savings. >> personal savings. >> you won, barry. >> 2 1/2. snooim terrible at this. oh, no. >> thank you so much for joining me today. i hope you learned a thing or two. if you missed anything, all you have to do is click on our website. it's openforum.com/yourbusiness. you'll find web exclusive content to help your business grow. you can follow us on twitter. it's@msnbc your biz. do not forget to become a fan of the show on facebook. next week, we pay another visit
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to main street usa to find out why small business owners in one town knew they had to work together to save their community. >> one of the very first meetings we had, someone brought a picture that a local elementary student drew of our downtown. it was a picture of walmart. we just said you know what, we have to do something now. >> we'll take you to bedford, pennsylvania where a main street manager is leading the charge. until then, i'm jj ramberg. remember, we make your business our business. building animatronics is all about getting things to work together. the timing, the actions, the reactions. everything has to synch up. my expenses are no different. receiptmatch on the business gold rewards card synchronizes your business expenses. just shoot your business card receipts
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and they're automatically matched up with the charges on your online statement. i'm john kaplan, and i'm a member of a synchronized world. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. good evening. thanks for being with us tonight. they put on blue helmets and body armour, got into suvs they, they braved sniper fire that hit its target that disabled their lead vehicle, but they got in there and did the science that needed to be done. this 38-page report, those inspectors turned in on monday of this week, this shows what they scientifically documented and it is terrible. it's the effect of large scale apparently military grade chemical weapons in the civil population in syria. u.n. inspectre
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