will 2014 be a great year or a difficult one for america's small businesses? economy watchers and main street give us their perspectives. and, the owner of a massachusetts landscaping company bridges his seasonal gap financially by investing in a christmas tree franchise. a special year-end wrap up coming up next on "your business."

small businesses are revitalizing the economy and american express open is here to help. that's why we are proud to present "your business" on msnbc. hi there, everyone, i'm jj ramberg, and welcome to this very special year-end edition of "your business." it's been a busy year for all of us, and for all of you in retail, you're still in the heart of the craziness, so we've got some ideas on how to make the most of the rest of 2013, as well on what's coming ahead in 2014. and for all of the entrepreneurs out there with seasonal companies, this story is for you. running a business only part of the year means you have to think

differently than your year-round colleagues. after all, how many people go to summer camp in january or shovel snow in june? if you have too much downtime on your hands, you may want to think about investing in a seasonal franchise. >> it is the number one best investment for our company. >> year after year, arne was having the same problem, he had to pay 12 months' worth of bills while doing only about nine months' worth of work. >> it's very difficult to become a stronger company where you're shutting down from the beginning of december to the beginning of march. >> with high costs and no money coming in, running a landscaping company was nerve racking. >> i guess what really hit home for myself was i ended up getting married and starting my own family and found it was very difficult for us.

>> and that's why arne found a holiday solution to his annual dilemma. the company invested in a franchise. christmas decor was a huge way to cover the seasonal gap. >> start decorating around the beginning of december and fill in that time period, takedown after that, gee, we should be able to fill about another four to six weeks' worth of work. >> we help seasonal companies operate a business during the wintertime. we go out, design displays, install them, maintain them, and take them down at the end of the year. >> he understood the tight spot arne found himself every year. problems like employee retention were bad for business. >> it's not easy for them personally to be laid off year to year. sometimes you'd lose them because they'd find a full-time job that was weekly. >> christmas decor was started in 1986 in hopes to make the decision running year round easier. >> we were a landscape company.

we have grown to a size we had to make hard decisions in the wintertime. it was a need for the service and something people were willing to pay good money for. >> while anyone can be an owner, operations like arne and sons were the best fit. >> they had the setup, trucks, trailers, employees used to working outdoors. >> there wasn't a lot of investment on our side. >> one of the reasons is the amount of support he gets from the home office in texas. >> if you have an issue, whether it be a question from a client, problem they may be requesting or things like that, you're able to pick up the phone and the answers are taken care of. >> owners and installation crews are also required to go to seminars about safety. >> we won't start until they go through in-house training, which was reformed through the christmas decor brand they gave

to us. >> and christmas decor makes an early investment on things like lights to make sure owners have access to the supplies they need. purchasing decorations is just part of the franchise agreement. owners pay royal fees and are invited to pay other events. >> 5% royalty, then a 1% ad fund, which we use for branding throughout the country, administration of website, public relation programs. >> yes, this is a seasonal franchise, but it's grown in some unexpected ways. some decorations are now going up months before christmas. >> for the last five years, we've been starting the first part of october. this year we actually went a little bit into september. >> when we first got into this, we expected it to be a business model up on the shelf that you can pull off the shelf and operate during the fall, but the client wants to engage early. >> as a result, two things have happened, arne has a sales rep dedicated solely to the

franchise. >> we didn't realize we'd be selling this business year round. the bills are paid a lot easier now. we don't wonder where the finances are coming from. >> and he usually has to hire more help in the fall, even though the number of crews no longer fluctuates. >> we actually use the employees on the landscaping year round and work them into the christmas part of the business and use the other help that will come along to help us in the fall cleanup, closing up the landscaping side of things. >> christmas decor may have taken on a more prominent role in his business, but he says the original landscaping name still gets top billing. >> 15, 16 years later with the christmas decor brand and a lot of people recognize our company by associating the brand christmas decor with the logo on all of our vehicles and trailers, they now understand that they are working with a quality company. >> and brandon says that's the way it should be. he believes the success of christmas decor is in

co-branding with entrepreneurs like arne, who know their communities best. >> as much as it's a benefit to brand with christmas decor, it's a tremendous benefit for christmas decor to brand with these local businesses that have been around for generations in some cases. this year, we traveled the country visiting coffee shops, book stores, and barbershops on main street to get a real sense how these businesses are doing. we found again and again main street is still the emotional heart and soul of many small communities, despite an uncertain economy. it's been a true eye opener for me and our producers. we've met so many resourceful business owners and wanted to share with you some of the lessons we've learned. this year we hit the road to visit main street businesses in small towns across the country. we wanted to see for ourselves how things are going. >> are you feeling optimistic

about this company, your ability to shift and keep it alive? >> we have to. survival of the fittest. we don't adapt and change, we ain't going to survive. >> business is always spotty. it's a seasonal tourist town, so during the summer and fall we do very, very well, during the winter is very, very slow, and spring depends on whether it's raining or not. >> does it make you nervous walking around and seeing a lot of store fronts boarded up, vacancies? >> definitely, definitely. i mean, we were nervous anyway to open up a store, because i've never been in this kind of industry, so i was definitely nervous, but very optimistic it would do well. i felt like the town needed this. >> for many, main street isn't easy street, but nevertheless, we found an unshakable optimism in every town we visited. we also found that the biggest issues confronting main street business owners were largely the same as those faced by small businesses everywhere else. and number one was the economy.

>> we're hoping this year we're going to turn that corner a little bit, so as things might be getting better at east and west coast, that's a sign for us that hopefully help is on the way. >> people are holding on to their money longer. they are not making reservations as far in advance as they used to. >> the margins are very thin, very thin. >> it's definitely been a struggle, but one i think we're winning. >> number two is competition from national chains, malls, and the internet. >> the big companies have hurt main street. >> that's competition that's taking people away. >> one thing we have that the mall doesn't is tremendous amounts of charm. you can shop in our quaint shops and stop and get an amazing meal owned by somebody local, who's cooking with local food. it's really just a much more pleasant experience. >> for many, it's just this small town main street lifestyle that keeps them in the game. >> i think that there's a feeling here of taking care of each other, you know, and not just look for the cheapest thing i can find in any big box store.

>> a book store is kind of the quintessential kind of store that has disappeared from main streets across america. how have you survived? >> i think it's basically because i get here early in the morning and i work and stay here till late at night. that's how it works. >> everyone on main street is famous in their own way. i think that's what's neat about here that might be drowned out in a franchise in a big city that wasn't really yours. >> this secret we found to the towns most successful comes when the businesses coordinate individual levels into marketing the whole community as a single consumer destination. >> we needed an organizer, which i love to organize, so that was fine with me. we've gotten over $1.3 million that we've put back into our downtown and we redid sidewalks, put in pedestrian lighting, welcome banners, welcome signage. >> each of the merchants has a responsibility to help make the whole town better, to get nyack

the brand more visible. for me, if there's another coffee shop, that's not competition for me. >> believe it or not, if someone can't find something here, i'll tell them to go to the jewelry store around the block, because i want it to stay in town. if they can't find it here, why shouldn't they be able to find it in another shop in town? 2013 was a tumultuous year, government shutdown and confusion over the new health care law. as we look towards 2014, there does seem to be some hope. business optimism index was up in november .9 of a point from the previous month. they also provided a seasonally adjusted increase in small business hiring in november, so could this be a trend for 2014? john aarons meyer is founder and ceo of the small business majority.

daniel pink was aide to form ee deputy of labor. his latest book is "to sell is human: the surprising truth about moving others." and the change agent of marketing is here, jeffrey is head of the hazlitt group and speaks to and advises small business owners. >> good to be here, jj. >> jeffrey, i'm going to ask you, because you talk to so many small business people every day. do you feel like there is a sense of optimism, that people are excited about next year? >> i won't use the word excited, but you can tell the mood has started to shift, which is really nice. people are getting over some of the issues in washington, i'm sure other panelists will talk about that more, but they are getting into an optimistic mood and we're starting to hear a lot of people who are tweeting me back and writing on social media they are looking at hiring more people and doing other things, so they are getting ready for 2014 and starting to implement

that. >> what are you hearing? >> exactly the same thing. that's correct, not enthusiasm, but optimism. i do think small business owners are pretty disgusted with the dysfunction in washington. the shutdown, obviously, was a terrible thing, billions of dollars of lost revenue, businesses not only directly affected by it, but indirectly affected by it, and the sequester has been a slow bleed taking money out of the economy, out of hands of consumers and small business products. we're pleased to see some bipartisan step in the right direction to turn that around. >> do you feel also, daniel, in the people you're talking to that people are willing to invest in their companies right now, to hire people, to boost up inventory? >> i think there's still a wait and see attitude right now. i think the big issue is some degree of uncertainty and it's all about demand. businesses need customers, and it's not clear whether consumers who represent most of the spending power in the economy are fully back at the table.

they've paid off a lot of their debts, but i hate to be the cloud in the silver lining here, but i think it's cautious optimism with a heavy emphasis on the cautious. >> so if you are a small business owner, what now should you be waiting for? what kind of signs should you be looking for to say it's time to invest in my business, now i feel good about things? >> again, you have to look for demand, make sure you have customers coming in there. i would continue if you're a small business owner to continue to be very focused on costs, make sure you're not overspending, but look to make investments that actually yield some form of innovation, yield some form of higher productivity. >> do you think the environment for small business owners, what do you think it will be next year? >> very good, but at the same time we've got to go back to what john said about congress. i think most small business people are fed up with this. this is the biggest national treasure, natural resource we have, that's our economy, the free enterprise system, and

these guys are squandering it away and most small business owners are saying with their elected representatives, we're not messing with this anymore, stop messing with this. it effects everything, business rates down to the loaning. we're starting to see banks starting to let loose the pursestrings more, which is kind of nice. >> john, do you think the reactions to washington were real, that they were real downsides for most small business owners, or it was psychological, which then turns real? >> i think it's both. i think when the shutdown and the sequester, obviously, that effects certain businesses more than others, then has an indirect ripple effect, but it does create this sort of -- i don't say crisis in confidence, but a sense of, wow, we're not really sure the government's there to keep this growth going. >> okay, i just have two more quick questions then. daniel, when we talk about what's going to happen in the

future or next year how people are feeling, especially for retail businesses, how they do this month is going to really effect their outlook for next year. how is retail doing right now for small businesses? >> again, i think it's a mix of -- i think it's a mix of good and bad right now. i think many cases we overstate how urgent the christmas and holiday season is for retailers. obviously, very important, but i think we end up focusing a little bit too much on that, but i think if we look toward 2014, as we were talking about washington, i also think small business owners need to take a very close look at what's happening in state capitals and cities. a lot of the big policy changers, particularly on minimum wage, are not only coming in washington, but mayors and governors, particularly on minimum wage. that's going to make small business owners forced to look more widely at different levels of government, as well. >> yep. >> when you look at the retail side of this, jj, business is up a little bit on the retail side,

but mostly online. it's up as much as 30%. in fact, you know, amazon up 35%, ebay up 25% over this holiday season, and the average order is up to $187 online. that's telling small businesses, get online. don't just rely on foot traffic, make sure you're getting online. >> and end it with the one nice thing you said, open door for small businesses, is that lending is easing. >> it's better, it's better. >> maybe it never will be for a long time. thank you, guys, very much for giving us a little bit of insight into what's coming next year. really appreciate it. don't go away, we have a lot more information to help your small business, how to target demographics that may be social media challenges. and the end of the year is time for small business owners to look towards the future and get their retirement plan in order. if i can impart one lesson to a

new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. just like your business plan, your retirement plan should not be left to chance. if you don't have one yet, you

are not alone. more than 70% of small business owners they talk to had no written plans at all for what happens when they are ready to kick back and stop working, so if you're one of those people, listen up. jean is an award winning personal finance journalist and financial editor for nbc's "today" show. she's here to talk about where to put money now so you can enjoy it later. >> nice to see you. >> nice to see you, too. >> this is particularly tricky for small business owners, because you're putting your profits back into your business. >> so many of the small business owners that i talk to say, well, my business is my retirement plan, which is doubly dangerous. it's like putting all of your money in company stock, because if something happens to that company, your job is on the line, but so is your future. >> right. so how do you figure out how much you need and then should you be putting that much into it, or should some of that go toward growing your company? >> so, it's a step-by-step

process. first thing you want to do is either sit down with a financial adviser or hit the internet. there are many calculators out there that can help you run the numbers on your own retirement. i have one at my website, which is my name. every financial institution also has one and you plug in how much you earn, when you plan to retire, how much you've saved already. what you're expecting to get from social security. number that says this is how much you should be saving every single month if you want to have enough money to last until you're 85 or 90. that's where you have to start. until you have that information, you don't know what to do. we have to opt ourselves in and that's a challenge. >> so once you know how much you need, where do you put that money? >> so the nice thing about being a small business owner is that there are actually more choices than there are for employees. there is the regular old i.r.a. or roth i.r.a., which if you're doing nothing and want to start small, that's a fine thing to

do. then there is a menu of options starting with a simple, which is a plan that matches employee contributions if you've got some employees, you want to incentivize them to put mostly their own money into the plan, that can kick in up to $12,000 a year and you match some of it as the employer under about 3%. next is a sep i.r.a. which works basically just like a regular i.r.a., except you can put more money into it. this is better for somebody who really is just funding for themselves and for their wives or spouses. and essentially you're a lotted to kick in up to $51,000 a year and if you haven't done anything yet this year, this is a plan that you can actually set up before your filing deadline next year and fund for this year. >> and for simple, the limits are later. >> for simple, the limits are later. there is a simple 401(k), with the simple, the employees make

the contribution. with the sep, the employer makes the contribution. with the solo 401(k), both make the contribution. so if you're a business owner, you can actually make a contribution for yourself as the employer and for yourself as the employee. the other thing to keep in mind is that the other reason that 401(k)s work is because we automate contributions into them. it comes out of your pay, you don't have to think about it. whichever plan you go with, put the contributions on auto pilot so that you don't have to do it over and over and over again. >> you don't have to make that decision every month. saying, should i be doing this or should i not? >> yes. >> this is great. i think at the very least we took from this that everyone has to be thinking about it. everyone. thank you very much, jean. >> sure. 'tis the season to show how thankful you are for all the work your employees do. here now are five noncash perks that will let your team know you're grateful, courtesy of

in inc.com. help with the commute, if you're in an urban area where employees take public transportation to work, offer assistance with the cost. two, invite kids to work. during holiday break or snow days, tell employees to bring their kids to the office and provide an on site baby-sitter. three, offer a fitness program so your employees know you care about their health. four, give to a charity they choose. make a small donation to each employee suggests. and, five, provide time for personal projects. one day a month or a few days out of the year give your employees time off to volunteer or do community service. it is time to answer some of your business questions. daniel and jeffrey join us once again. the first one is about keeping potential clients interested.

>> recently we became a channel partner of a large international brand. and my question is i want to know how do we not scare off potential clients who see that large brand name as possibly being a very large ticket price item. >> any ideas? >> well, first of all, stop selling on price. it should be a positive. the fact you're a small business and got this channel partner who is big, it means you're a really great company and they should be relying on that. sell the benefits of that and i don't think you'll scare them off at all. >> i think if you have existing clients, you prove to them you're going to give them the same service and products, right? >> sure. and i think jeffrey makes a great point. the other thing is, what i would do is i would look for anall jazz, lo a personal computer over a

decade ago where it had your brand inside. it is powered by something else. if you have a small business and said powered by some other kind of larger enterprise, it is the best of both worlds. >> the next question we have is an e-mail from colleen. she writes, i invented a rotating curved shower rod that is doing okay on the internet and in catalogs. i want to get into retail and need sales reps to help. how do i go about finding the right people/company and i suggests she go back to our website, because we just did a story on this. daniel, i'll start with you. finding sales reps is hard or finding good sales reps is very hard. >> it is very much a challenge. i suggest not starting there. what i want to suggest to this small entrepreneur is get your customers, get your most -- your strongest most dedicated customers to go into some retailers and ask for your product. that's a way to stir a little bit of demand. the other thing i would try is start small, maybe approach a couple of small retailers and

offer your product at good turns, maybe on consignment and troy spark things that way. >> the women who we profile who sells jewelry, she said she did all the initial ones herself. she couldn't trust a sales rep. she knew the story best. >> very important for that. if you can't sell it yourself, how can you have somebody else sell it. the other thing i do is go into the retail business, ask them who the best salesperson is they know who is selling. they'll find someone who handles more than one product and that will be a great person to be able to tie to. spend the time and most people, this is where they fail. they don't go and do their homework. they don't go into the stores. go into ten of them. back when i used to work at kodak, i put on the blue shirts and go and work at best buy. i would see what customers would say about our products. and that's a great way to be able to find people that way. >> finally, we have a question about reaching your target demographic. >> our demographic are single people between 40 and 60. social media is -- is not reaching out to those people.

what other traditional ways that we can work within social media or around it to attract those folks. >> the exact opposite question we usually get. how do you not use social media? >> she should be using it. the people are there, but she's not going to the right place to find them. friend busines beget friends. the other place, more traditional, go hang out where they're at. find friends together, ask for referr referrals. go back to the old way of doing things. it is friend sourcing, just online. >> any suggestions of how to reach people who maybe there are a lot of 40 and 50-year-olds who are on social media but not the people she's trying to reach. how can she get them, daniel? >> i think that's a great strategy that a small businesses are using, which has more bang for the buck in many cases than social media like twitter and facebook, which is an e-mail newsletter. get a bunch of people to send out a news let, get people who

are opt in, i want to hear from you at regular interviews, serve them very, very well. build a list that is very -- that can end up being very powerful. using technologies like say mail chip, get excellent analytics on who is opening the e-mail, who is clicking on what and it was -- despite the rise of social media, a lot of us use e-mail a lot and that's an effective tool. >> especially for that demographic, for younger people, forget it. >> they're into texting, other things. e-mail does work. go get your friends. >> and have referrals. all right. jeffrey and daniel, thank you, guys, both so much. so great to see you. really appreciate it. >> thanks, j.j. thank you so much for joining me today. our viewers write us all the time asking where they can review segments they saw on the show. well, go to our website. it is openforum.com/yourbusiness. you'll find all of today's segments, some old segments and

web exclusive content with more information to help your business grow. you can also follow us on twitter. it's @msnbcyourbiz. 2013 was a great year for us. and 2014 is going to be exciting and interesting. we'll be reporting on two very different but controversial trends including how small businesses are taking to the air with drone technology, and marijuana sales become legal in colorado and washington next year. find out how entrepreneurs in those states are getting ready to take advantage of that new marketplace. until then, i'm j.j. ramberg. remember, we make your business our business. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community,

that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. when a job or two jobs isn't enough to get an american worker out of poverty. >> i'm crystal ball filling in for steve kornacki who has the weekend off. as the midwest and east coast wake up after yesterday's big snowstorm, things are looking brighter and clearer this morning and we're hoping to get a clearer take on where a lot of things stand. the deadline for christmas shopping is counting down fast. i can feel my own stressel