high flying entrepreneurs take drone technology and adapt it for civilian uses. the small businesses that are making them, and the small businesses they're serving. 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 j.j. ramberg. welcome to "your business." when you hear the word drone you likely automatically think of the military. which makes a lot of sense, as most of the drone industry is dominated by large-scale military contractors. but that is rapidly changing. thanks to the internet, and low-cost electronic components, almost anybody who sets their mind to it can build and fly state-of-the-art drones by themselves. some entrepreneurs estimate that once the faa sets up rules for civilian use, the commercial unmanned aircraft industry will reach more than $13 billion, and create more than 70,000 jobs within the next three years. we thought you should know what's going on and how small business owners are getting in at the ground floor.

>> many people do think of drones as remote controlled sewing machines. there's a long tradition of technology beginning in the military and then being demilitarized. >> today drones are stealing the news. from international military incidents, to high-tech futuristic nonmilitary delivery systems. for entrepreneurs, it seems like the sky is the limit. >> any time you put powerful tools in the hands of regular people, they suddenly will find uses for the technology that we've never thought of before. >> one of those dreamers is chris anderson. founder of 3-d robotics, the california-based drone developer supply company. he's one of many entrepreneurs who have jumped in to a industry which is poised to take off in many unknown markets. >> we're the worst people to figure out what the commercial applications are. it's our job to make the technology easy enough, cheap enough, accessible enough, so that people who are experts in

their own field can start to answer those questions. >> chris has taken an interesting approach. he sells the equipment, and then lets his customers tell him how to use it. >> all you can do is get it out there, and then listen to the customers. >> and what does chris hope to hear? he says he's listening for the newest commercial applications, those investors are discovering. >> lady gaga wanted to have a dress that would basically fly her around, so i was asked to be part of that team. >> gus calderon, a commercial pilot and self-taught inventor was part of the team that built this enormous experimental drone to publicize the singers latest record release. >> we had to do a lot of flight training and a lot of this was really groundbreaking. >> he's also the owner of isis copter where he custom designs, builds and pilots all sorts of drones used for various purposes. >> one of the best uses is for search and rescue, actually. many people are not aware that

these aircraft can be used to help find people who are lost or missing. >> amazon's founder jeff bezos generated huge amounts of free publicity when he showed off his prototype drone delivery vehicle during an interview on "60 minutes." >> it will work, and it will happen, and it's going to be a lot of fun. >> other developers like san diego based camp ross, owner of air droids, say even richer opportunities will be found in developing apps for drones. software which controls drones the way phone apps control smartphones. >> so what that means is that you'll be able to go to an app store, for instance, and download an agriculture app. or a surfing, follow me app. >> like many of those who jumped in early, chris anderson, who was then editor of "wired" magazine, wasn't looking for business opportunities. >> i did not set out to build a drone company. i simply set out to get my kids interested in science and technology. >> six years ago, chris was a tech obsessed father, seeking to

share his enthusiasm for robots with his kids. >> i thought, oh, my god, dad and his kids just built something that's kind of, you know, essentially regulated -- it's a cruise missile controller with plastic parts and toys. >> he tested the waters by setting up a website to find out who else was experimenting with this technology. >> it was called diy drones and it was the place for me to ask stupid questions, like what the heck? >> he discovered many tech buffs hacking apart their smartphones and repurposing the sensors, the processors, and gps to create their own homemade drones. >> they started answering my questions. and asking their own questions. and sharing information. >> these were people who were excited to find others experimenting with the same technology. >> we realized that we basically had a kind of a drone innovation platform. and i said, huh, i guess we should start a company. >> one of those who joined chris' online drone community was jordy munoz of tijuana, mexico. >> i create an account and

started posting my developments and that's when chris contact me. >> back then jor di's talents drew a lot of attention and chris asked the young high school graduate if he wanted to cofound a business with him. >> the only way you can find the smartest people in the world is to let them find you. to basically create a platform by which people are magnetically attracted to it. and you know, jordi had the instincts. >> 20 years ago it would have taken a large corporation with very deep pockets to be able to manufacture something even close to this. and certainly one individual would not have had the capability 20 years ago to do this. >> reporter: the new drone economy is being driven by this kind of grassroots vendor who is using open source code and low-cost new technology. >> upload your files to a service that will run a factory for you. i thought it's a new industrial revolution. it's going to change the world. >> he compares the state of the drone industry today to 1984. that's when apple first introduce the macintosh and

regular consumers took over the new personal computer economy. >> and you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984. >> as they got into the hands of regular people, regular people figured out what they were for. spreadsheets, and e-mail, and the web and all that and video games all emerged. same thing happened with the internet. >> and just as with the internet back then, today, there are valid concerns with drones. that they may be dangerously abused. but those concerns don't seem to worry these pioneers. >> like any technology, there are good purposes, and there are bad purposes. just like guns or technologies that are out there, it all depends on how the user approaches this technology. >> what they're for, where they are. that's for the marketplace to decide. but it's our job to make it possible. there's a fascinating mix of

issues surrounding the entrepreneurial issues of drone technology use. will it take off? well let's turn to this week's board of directors. brad harrison is the founder and managing partner of scott ventures a firm focused on great ideas in entertainment, media and technology. and guy kawasaki is a best-selling author. his latest book is "ape: author, publisher, entrepreneur - how to publish a book." and he's also the founder of an online magazine rack of popular topics on the web. so glad you call it a.p.e. or ape as i just called your book. >> ape. >> okay, good, that's what i've been calling it. guy, you are based in silicon valley in the heart of where people's imaginations turn into reality. >> yes. >> before we get to the business issues i just want to know the sort of fanciful issues. do you envision a life where we're going to be seeing drones everywhere. is this what you think about out there? >> i -- probably.

you know, the interesting thing is, the parallel that chris drew between 1984, and where drones are today. i would say it's closer to the apple 1 than the macintosh. and in a sense, if you think about what happened with the apple 1, steve wozniak wanted a personal computer. and it seems like there are the equivalent of steve wozniaks who want to use drones. and so they decided to empower themselves and do it, and lo and behold, you know, 30 years later, or 40 years later, there's an entire industry based on this. so, it's entirely possible. it may be difficult for someone to grasp what exactly everyone's going to be doing with the drone, but, back then it was dive cut for everyone to figure out what they would do with a personal computer. >> it is really fascinating. as a small business person, entrepreneur, it's just kind of the wild west out there, right, brad, let's step back a little bit from the ooh how neat it is and talk abouts business issues. a couple things that chris anderson really struck me.

one of them was that, hey, we are the worst people to figure out the commercial applications. >> well, i mean, i think just like with personal computers, people were worried about hacking and all these other things. but you had all of these commercial applications come out of it. and he mentioned spreadsheets and some other things. and i think you're going to see the same thing with drones. you're going to see all sorts of use case scenarios that people create in their own backyard, and all of a sudden it becomes a commercial application, and then it will take off, and then a company will fund it, and then all of a sudden you're going to innovation around fire rescue, all of these different permutations that currently don't exist. >> and if you extrapolate that, guy, to everyone's business, we can all be doing the same thing, right? we have invented something, we have a service and our customers are going to use it. they might be using it in a way that we didn't foresee. >> yes. this is the concept of, you know, letting 100 flowers blossom.

you really don't know when you create an innovation, when you create this platform, i don't think any of us in the macintosh division predicted that the macintosh would be used for desk top publishing. we thought it would be data base and spread sheet publishing. that is the beauty of silicon valley we have the sort of, if you build it they will come and then they'll do something with it that we never anticipate. i think chris anderson is absolutely right about that. >> and as a result you have to really listen to your customers. >> and you have to take a lot of shots. and be open, if we had stubbornly said no you must use a macintosh for spread sheet data base or word processing and not been able to desk top publishing apple would not exist today. >> well, but i also think that the collaborative nature of the way people interact today is really driving innovation at an accelerated rate. so now people can get these ideas, or problems that they have, developing on this platform, they can share them, get them answered quicker so innovation is actually moving

quicker. so chris is in the great spot by providing kind of the, you know, pickaxes and shovels for the next innovation site. >> unfortunately we don't have time to talk about this but another really neat thing he said was he set up this website to find out who else was interested. and finally, gets these people who before the internet he may have never met and now he gets a whole bunch of people who are in his community, his industry, and his co-founder whap we could probably talk about drones forever but unfortunately we have to stop right now. brad and guy, thank you so much. >> all right. >> j.j., i can see you flying around in one of those things, you know. that's -- i anticipate that happening very shortly. >> me, too. >> lady gaga has nothing on you. >> oh, it's one of those things. if the online retail game it is no easy task to stay on top. here now are the five biggest complaints online shoppers have about their retail sites of

choice courtesy of matchable.com. one, price. consumers are more sensitive to price online than in stores. so, make sure your site numbers are competitive with the rest of your market. two, product range. shoppers want to have an easier time discovering and finding items online. consider investing in site resources like recommendation engines, and dedicated lists for new and seasonal products. three, size. customers want reliable sizing charts. a basic measurement chart can drastically reduce the amount of complaints you'll get from peeved shoppers. four, site functionality. if you have a feature on your site, make sure it works. when there are issues, be transparent about the problem. and five amagery, if your site isn't pretty you're doing yourself a disservice. adding video content and multiple images raise the chances your customer will make the purchase. the beauty of social media is that if someone has a great

experience with your company, they can get the word out instantly. the hard part about social media is that if they've had a bad experience they can do the same. and then whether your company is at fault or not for the thing they're complaining about, the comment is out there for all to see. so, how do you deal with online criticism? howard bragman, founder of 15 minutes public relations and vice chairman of reputation.com is here to give us some ideas. so great to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> this is complicated because i think a lot of companies don't know, do i respond, or don't i respond to that criticism. >> yeah, and i take a step back. companies have to understand, 85% to 90% of customer decisions are made based on these kind of results. they will google your company, they will google the category, be it restaurant or dry cleaners, and they will look at your reviews. >> yep. >> and that's how they're making decisions. >> okay. so you don't want that criticism out there if you can help it. any kind of criticism.

you say get ahead of the game. how do you get ahead of something -- >> well, first of all, you have to have a strong social media presence. you want to be on twitter. you want to be on instagram. you want to be on facebook. you want to constantly put out positive messages. if you're a restaurant show a new dish that you've created, or a special you're doing for a holiday. if you're another type of business, be very timely and give them tips and good information. >> got it. so you think, get -- make it easy to give good feedback so then that kind of dwarfs any bad feedback? >> all right -- well the second part is on the customer review site, you know, people often call and go, oh, my god, i got three one stars, and you know, my ratings are very low, what do i do? well, the propensity is, if you have a good experience, you go, of course i want to have a business -- >> you don't do anything about it. >> and you don't do anything. so the question is how do you make it easy? a lot of our clients, we said, put an ipad next to the register.

and say, if you have a good experience, would you mind putting this, one thing do not ask for a good review. just say thanks for shopping today, we'd love if you review us. kind of steer it towards the customers that you know have the good experience, if somebody's very unhappy, i wouldn't point it out. >> you know what? i was just at an airport, i forget which airport i was in and they asked how was your time here waiting in line? and they had a happy face and a sad face. and you could just click on it. >> and it's fun because people often in these lines are looking for something to do. >> i did it. and i had a good experience and i clicked the happy face and the percentage of happy faces was much higher. >> you can also send the e-mails to your favorite customers and say we really value it if, you know, you could review us online and put links to them. we'd be so grateful. >> okay. so this one i'm confused about. respond privately to concerns. because sometimes you meet these people, you hear about them in a public forum, how do you get to them privately? >> well, most of the customer review sites allow businesses to

respond privately. >> okay. >> if they don't put their name and most of them are anonymous and you say, you know what? i'm so sorry you had a bad experience. we have that flu bug. we had three of our staff was off that day. could you guys come in and let us treat you to a meal, and make this right. what you want to do is not go public with it, and really just by responding to them so many people are so excited. well, somebody's listening to me. >> that's what i found. people just want to be heard. >> and a lot of times they'll come in and they'll go, you know, i had a really good meal. they had a bad day like everybody does, and they will up their ratings. >> mended fences are sometimes stronger than those that are broken. now they'll both say that company was great, i complained about them and then they gave me this whole dinner yeah it's great. and then finally publicly respond to inaccuracies. >> okay. we've seen a lot of things like, we'll see a restaurant and they'll go oh, my god i had the worst duck there i've ever had in my life.

well we don't serve duck. >> right. >> you know. and you're in business, i'm in business. some of the criticism on social media is not accurate. >> mm-hmm. >> they may have gotten confused with another one. they may just be feeling mcnasty that day. >> right. >> so if it's a total inaccuracy, say, it must have been another restaurant, we've never served duck at this restaurant, and protect yourself. >> right. and be really nice about it. howard, so great to see you. >> thanks. >> this is great, great information. appreciate it. there's lots more ahead on this grammy weekend. as 2010's best pop vocal winner and entrepreneur jason mraz gives us some innovator insights. and jiffy mix ceo howdy holmes says business is easy, it's the people who are complicated. 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. one of the things i've learned in both, you know, as an after kaudo grower, and as a song writer and a touring artist it is as important to ask for or take the 5d vice of those who've been in the business longer than you. after i performed at farm aid i got to know willie nelson quite well and i relate to him so much, because i feel like i'm in that same game of songwriting, of touring, of agriculture.

and you know, i couldn't be who i am if i didn't look up to others. you know. if they didn't give me a template and a map to follow. >> for 83 years, the chelsea milling company has been proud to call itself the best little mix company on the planet. while you may not recognize this family business's name, chances are you know its product. the iconic brand jiffy mix. we sat down with howdy holmes, the ceo of chelsea milling company during a visit to the company's manufacturing headquarters in michigan. he talks about the wisdom used to build this household name in this week's learning from the pros. >> i think a lot of people overcommit, and underperform. and then overperform, you reach those goals, everybody's happy.

and then you just set the bar a little higher next time. but i think that a lot of us are guilty of trying to do too much. being unrealistic with our goals. and as a consequence, we don't reach them. and that's frustrating. you have to get outside of your comfort zone. no one likes to be vulnerable but that's the only time that you learn. we found out that if you provide resources to people and then encourage them to pursue them, they will and it becomes, i won't say a routine or a habit but who doesn't want to be a little bit better tomorrow? we stay in our safe zones and that's fine. we've learned how to manage that, but the world doesn't stop. the world continues to change. so we as people need to change along with it. you have to separate your heart

from your head and in a family situation families are all about keeping the peace. so as a result people don't always tell the entire truth. you can't be emotional in business and you can't be objective in family. don't make family decisions with your head, and you don't make business decisions with your heart. life is about balance and life is about moderation. too much of one thing is not a good thing. and so balance is hard to ascertain often because as human beings we have favorites and tendencies and we're stuck to our routines and we have to str struggle to add balance, but it's important. change is one of these things that everybody sort of thinks is okay as long as it's for somebody else. change is good. you go first. but you have to find a way to embrace change, get outside you routine, and create a balance.

i think that everybody thinks over extends the idea of business. it is simple. you make a product, you make a service. you provide information. you have to sell it for more than it costs you. essentially that's what it is. but behind all of that are people that need to get along, need to cooperate with one another and, so, people are complicated. all of these people in a business setting have to collaborate and respect one another, otherwise the goal is not reached. so people are complicated. business is easy. it's time now to answer some of your business questions. brad and guy are with us to answer them. the first one is about your company's sales strategy. >> when is the best time to bring on a full-time sales person? typically a small business will start off where the owner is the

sales person. >> this is a hard question. when do you bring on a full-time one, brad, and do you bring on a full-time person? >> we're always focused on trying to get revenue earlier in the life cycle and i think once the company has validated that they have a product and they understand that there is a market demand, it could be a good time because the founder normally needs to free themselves up to deal with all sorts of other issues. so i always say earlier in the process once you've validated that you actually have a product you can sell. >> what do you think, guy? >> i think even earlier. i think you can make the argument that you should bring in a sales person so that sales person can help you shape the prototype and the final product. and make it truly saleable. in my opinion there's only two true functions of a startup. somebody has to make it and sell it. that should be a co-founder. steve jobs, steve woz knee ak.

>> you're thinking of a co-founder and not someone who works below you. which might be more of his question. should you be hargiring a contractor? >> normally the found earp is the sales person. one is helping to shape the product. the question was more like when do i hire the next guy? once you get it, then you need to expand that and that's what i was saying about freeing up time for the founder to focus on other issues. >> right, right. okay. let's move on to the next question from benny. he wants to know about marketing. his question is we do collections. how do we not come across as aggre aggressive in our marketing and advertising? okay, guy, this is a tricky one, right? collections by nature is a company that at least the

targets don't like to hear about. but even the customers that need to hire them, it's an uncomfortable topic. >> this is a nontrivial question. by definition if you're collecting, you're probably collecting from people who are trying to avoid so i guess i would try to not overstep the bounds of privacy and be too much in your face. i'm going to yield my time segment here to brad. >> thanks, guy. i appreciate it. i think actually that, you know, maybe you want an aggressive marketing message, right? the actual nature of the business of collections is that you're going to go out there and get done what you need to get done to recoup that money. maybe they're asking the wrong question, how do i present a professional, aggressive marketing message that conveys

i'm going to do all i need to do for my potential customers. >> don't try to sidestep what you do. be up front about it. >> i think you need to be true to who you are. >> so great to see you here on the set, brad, guy. hope to see you here in new york some time soon. for all of you watching, if you have a business issue and you need some expert help, all you have to do is send your quest n question. just go to our website, openforum.co openforum.com/yourbusiness. once you get there hit the ask the show link to submit a question for our panel or e-mail us at your youbusine youbusiness @msnbc.com. snooth what else is going on in small business? some great entrepreneurial mind on twitter. always insightful marketing strategist david tweets advice to content creators. don't be boring. don't be predictable. don't try to sell. "usa today" small business columnist steve strauss advises employees today like freedom, interesting work, and the ability to learn and hone new skills. give them that. and oklahoma retailer and r

rancher becky mccray says no matter how small your town you can grow a big business. the number of potential customers accessing your site from their phones is growing. is your business making a good first impression? if you're not sure, check out our website of the week. businessapps.com helps small companies like you design and customize your own app and include features like gps, sharing options, and reservations. even without any technology it's a quick click and drag to customize the items you want. thanks so much for joining me today. if you want to learn more about any of our segments, just advice the our website openforum.com/yourbusiness. you'll also find some web exclusive pieces with a lot more advice to help your small business grow. you can also follow us on twitter. it's @msnbcyour youbusiness. next week we introduce a bridal

search engine that uses interns as are more than just affordable help. >> 0 our interns are the demographic that we're building our product for. they're the future prize. they're the ones that are super tech savvy. they're up on social. so we heavily rely on them for their insights. >> we'll see how this startup has upgraded the traditional internship program to get the best talent through the door. until then, i'm j.j. ramberg and, 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. welcome to hoboken. welcome to the north end of hoboken. we are standing in the middle of three blocks at the heart of this whole story involving the christie administration and dawn z zimmer, the mayor of hoboken. the mayor says members of the christie administration say they would hold up sandy unless she approves the development deal. do you believe her? >> i do. >> i don't know why she would wait all this time to say anything. >> of course she's telling the truth. she's not a politician. >> the rockefeller group owns this block. they own another block around here and most of a third block. they want to develop it into something big. >> this is precious real estate for the city of hoboken as well as all of north je.