displays are a strong belief about versatility. find out why these four disney engineers makes everyone else love their job. 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 present "your business" on msnbc.

♪ hi, there, everyone. i'm jj ramberg and welcome to "your business." if you've been to the vegas strip organization lu absolutely recognize the company we're profiling today. you might not know its name, but you sure know its work. ielt tess company that built that amazing fountain in front of the bellagio, and that's only one of the many incredible water sculptures they've designed. so we wanted to see who's behind this art and how do they keep their employees coming up with such innovative ideas? well, it turns up it's all about training, culture, and versatility. drive by the bellagio in las vegas or the dubai found an ocean away and you cannot help

but stop and stare. this is the work of a disney imagineer turned design engineer. after woking on disney's epcot water fountain, they took that experience, left their corporate jobs, and started the southern california-based water feature design firm wet. their first fountain was for fountain place in dallas, texas, and the company hasn't had a quiet day since then. >> the phones started ringing. people are saying who did that, and we're building a shopping center or we're building a project, could you do that for us. >> to them the days of simple statues spouting water are long over. wet creates interactive works of art that elaborately marry natu nature's elements to music. the show at the shopping mall, the americana at brand in california is just one example of their innovative work.

>> what does innovation means? it means doing something new. to do something new it means having to practice something you haven't done before. innovation means learning. what we work very diligently at wet at is creating a learning environment so people want to learn. >> and that learning starts on day one when someone joins the wet team. every employee goes through an intense two-week immersion program. no matter if you're starting as a reseptember nift or head of the robotics team, during the two weeks you rotate through every stage of the development from the model shop to fountain maintenance to the machine shop. not only does this help new employees understand all aspect os testify company, it helps them understand the people they're working with. >> when they graduate from that immersion, they're collegial with all the people all oif the country, they know where to go for help, they know from whom they're getting a piece of work, to whom their output is going,

and it compress as what is a year or more in a traditional throw somebody into a company into two weeks in terms of, you know, an accelerated program snienltd helps break down traditional hierarchical walls that some companies struggle with. >> i think i can pat ours on the back and say that we have completely obliterated the notion of, you know, blue collar, white collar, engineering guy, shop guy here. we make the best innovative interactive collaborative result. >> mark believes if he gets his team to learn new things they'll be inspired to create new things and that doesn't end after the immersion program. on some days you might find some employees not looking at new fountain designs but at an improv comedy class. >> what am i eating? >> i believe that is a snail. >> or taking a workshop on graphic design or welding or whiteboarding. >> like a simple waterline?

>> this is all part of wet you, a constantly changing a series of classes offered to all employees. >> and the fun here is what happens when you get those different disciplines, people together in the same room brainstorming and you come up with something you never get with hundreds of the smartest people in one field all locked together in one room. >> this doesn't come cheap. first of all, it takes time away from meeting the constant client dead looirngs but mark says he gets payback in spades. these courses help create a culture where people are always looking for the best ways of doing things, not the easiest. >> part of our culture here is learning something and perfecting the skill and then deciding what is best. when we hire young people out of college now, a huge amount of them are very, very gifted at doing things on the computer, and we have a lot of classes in hand drawing. once you're really good at drawing by hand and if you think the right thing do is a computer illustration, that's a great. but if you're doing the computer

illustration because you can and you can't do the other, then that's making that decision for the wrong reason. you're shortchanging the product and you're shortchanging yourself. >> and the classes help employees' creativity and creates clear channels across the departments. >> i think it opens up dialogues in general. if you work with somebody and anybody goes and you're doing this class and if you have an idea you're more likely to say, what do you thing about this. you talk to people in different disciplines and there's no barriers especially in classes like improv. >> mark says the biggest advantages isn't internal. the client ultimately benefits the most with wet delivering exactly what each customer wants, a one-of-a-kind experience for every visitor. >> our objective for our clients is to give them very innovative work as rapidly and as excellently as possible. and anything and everything that we can infuse into our company

culture to accelerate that process is an immediate payback to the client. that's what we're doing here. we find we're actually more nimble, faster and more agile when we get all the people working together. >> wet discovered,000 be a more effective company through employee training. well, for a tennessee company that makes iron railings and gates, their road to success was through customer involvement. they discovered that making the consumer part of the process actually made their small business much more efficient. ♪ >> they were there from the beginning. >> it was a fabulous experience. >> roberta said to me, we can create something beautiful. >> they are the definition of satisfied customers. >> i had confidence that they knew exactly what to do. >> they each turned to memphis,

tennessee's, mid south onmental fabricators better known as msw on work for their new homes. annette is building a new house and wanted an original railing for her new staircase. >> i came here because i wanted options. >> while their needs may be different their customer experience they got was the exact same. >> they wanted input from us, of course, and we're welcoming of it. >> roberta and mark pledge, msw owners for over two decades pride themselves on making their business more personal than others like it. >> it is something that we've always offered to people. you have customers that want to take a very active part. you want them to be involved and happy in the decisions they're making. >> it goes beyond just answering phone calls or suggesting designs for residential and commercial clients. >> i have had customers that have sat down and they actually go with me through the building process. and it gives them a sense of ownership. they own that design.

>> the hope is to give clients as many opportunities as possible to provide feedback because it's good for business. the involvement of msw's customers is key to its cash flow. it reduces the chances of making a product that a customer doesn't want and that has resulted in an improvement in the company's overall efficiency. >> there's no money in rework. and as i tell my customer, there's no money in what you work so let's do it right the other time. >> iron and other metals aren't easy to work with. once a cut is made, there's no cost-effective way to undo what's been done. >> sometimes it's more economical to start from scratch and rebuild it. >> that's why roberta and mark make every effort to maximize production. during the first step, the design phase, multiple sketches of one product is the norm. >> that can be one meeting, that can be three or four meetings, that can entail design drawings,

that can entail a mockup sample and showing paint samples. >> roberta and mark have no problem spending hours or even days getting those designs right because it helps manage work later. part of msw's quality control includes customer oversight of production. people like annette can give a thumb's up or thumb's down before work continues. >> much easier to change something on their table, to cut something out, rebend something, reweld something, much easier to change it at that point. >> so why go to all this trouble? the truth is having customers' input every step of the way saves msw money. >> if i was putting a monetary number on it, it might save anywhere from 10 to 30%. >> while the figures vary the significance is enough that roberta and mark would like more clients to follow suit. the customer involvement motto has not only made the company

more business but it's helped msw get more business through referr referrals. >> so much to be said with your customers being involved with you to the point that you build trust and they love the product. >> that's why mark and roberta say other small business owners should do the same because customer involvement can have such a positive impact on your bottom line. if you're looking for an easy way to engage your customers all at once, then you should check out our website of the week. flock is a simple and free way to host twitter q & a sessions. the realtime engagement platform allows you to talk to your customers in an online event. sign in and use your twitter handle and promote your session. then you can play video, answer questions all the from same screen. sharing files digitally is convenient but you know what? it poses a big security risk for your small business. here are five dangerous file-sharing habits you need to

watch out for courtesy of businessnewsdaily.com. one, sharing files via e-mail. encrypt it instead of adding documents. e-mail is not designed to be secure. two, using consumer grade cloud solutions. don't let workers send elements using personal drop box and google drive accounts. instead spend the money for a corporate account that can be regulate and monitored. three, peer to peer-file sharing. installed p to p client ware allows anyone to access the data. set privileges to prevent installing new programs without your knowledge. four, using flash drives. an infected file can wreak havoc to your entire system. install up to date anti-virus systems before plugging anything in directly. and, five, lacking visibility.

your employee shouldn't have to be figuring out how to file shafrmt make sure everyone know as what the company policy is. coming up, some great strategies for you utilizing video to promote your business. we'll answer questions if you need to patent your idea and whether you're getting a return investment onto your staff and today's elevator pitcher hones to make his artist designer footwear into the next must-have sneaker. 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. we had this gigantic store and we had to fill it up, and how do you fill it up with merchandise when you don't have the money? so we went out and we bought empty boxes, empty cases, empty everything, and we had these empty cases and boxes all over the store. everything that was in arm's reach of customers was real. everything that was above arm's reach was not real. so, you know, we wanted the customer to walk in the store and have the feeling that they're overwhelmed with merchandise. >> it's time now to answer some of your business questions. let's get our board of directors in here to help out. marketing expert and change agent jeffrey haze lick is the head of the haze lick group and tonia youk lig is a provider.

great to see both of you guys. thanks so much for being here. >> good to be here. >> let's get to the first question. it's about getting a patent. >> in this day and age of fast ideas and changes, especially online, how important is it to patent an idea? >> i love this question. we get it all of the time, and i hear different responses. so let's start with you. >> well, intellectual property is really important so you should get it patented. don't wait. get out there and lay out what they call pryor art. get the stuff going, start selling, start going and while you're doing it -- because it takes a long time to get a pa tent. >> you think you should. it's expensive. >> you should feel a patent that gets out there. the main thing is to think about your and provent someone else

from patenting it and preventing you from doing it. that's what i think about technology and pea pennsylvanat >> fight them. >> it's expensive. >> it's called hard work because it's hard. it's not supposed to be easy. if it was easy, everyone dwould it. if it's a good idea and it's yours, fight for it and stand for it just like you fight for your girlfriend, wife, kids, whoever it might be. >> got it. let's move onto the next one. this is about investing in good people. >> as a company you probably spend a great deal of money or at least consider spending a great deal of money on talent and leadership development. but have you ever wondered what's the return on that investment and are you frustrated by the fact that oftentimes the benefit of that investment is not seen or sustained? >> it's interesting, right? that means he's hiring the wrong people, i think. >> i think you're absolutely dead on. i believe in investing in your

people, but i also believe in being so careful to hire people who come with their batteries included. development can development great people into exceptional people, but it can't take a bad hiring to convert him into someone who's going to be out there. >> it's the best part about being in business and the worst part but you always have to keep investing in your people. that's the front of thes by and that's the main part. you might have a great idea but if you don't have people to sell it or do it and be out there for your brand, you don't have much. you never stop training your people. all keep making that investment and always look to trade up. you know, you always want to be replacing that bottom 20% of the people that are doing the things you need to do and get where you want go. >> right. and fire quickly if somebody's not working out. let's move on. this question is about finding a meaningful mentor. >> how do you attract the mentors that are going to have the capacity to change your business career for the rest of

your life? >> great question. because you want someone who really is invested in your company or in you, not just somebody who says, oh, yeah, i'll help you out and never does anything i i'm a big believer in getting really clear about what you need help on and what you need mentor. >> shep: on and finding people. it doesn't have to all be one person. it doesn't have to be one person that's going to solve all your problems but get really proactive about finding people that are going to help you with specific things and then keep finding more people who can help you. your needs keep evolving if you're running a business. >> i suspect you get asked to be somebody's mentor. how -- give me an example of somebody who asked it in the correct way that made you actually want do it? >> that's a really great question because most of the time they don't. they're always thinking about what's in it for them and not always what's in it for me because i evil got to take time out of my schedule. i get asked almost every single week so you have to make some decisions about what you want to indeveloping in and where you want to go. tell me a little bit about what i gone doing get out of it because i want to know a little

bit of that too. i want to grow. i want to know that that relationship is going to pay off as well and maybe even i'll get a percentage or two of the company and that's got goij to make me want to do even more for you. >> and when you're looking for mentors, where should you be looking? people you know, people who you think will get to help you? >> sure. i again, i think you can look in your immediate circle but you have to be very proactive about finding people who you look up to who have done whatever it is that you're trying to do and just reaching out to them. i found that people are incredibly helpful if you're very transparent about where you are and what your vision is and how you need help. i found people very willing to actually respond. >> jeff, tania, thanks for your advice. do not go anywhere because we're sending you do the elevator late northern this show. if any of you have questions for the experts like we had for you, go to our website. once you get there, click on

"ask the show" link. again, the weapon sight openen forum.com\your business or if it's easier for you send an e-mail. the address is your business. >> al: msnbc.com. now jeff and tania had helpful advice about how to improve your business. but now let's get some ideas from small business owners like you. >> one of the tips i have for other startups is to leverage what's available in the cloud, and that's easy to subscribe to rather than have to get into license fees and tremendous costs up front in your business. so i would say that using the cloud and cloud tools and getting conversant and comfortable with them is a really key thing. >> my great idea is from day one we took the company 100% virtual. so we never had an office face to worry about or overhead to deal with. and when we have a 100% virtual company rngs we offer our companies a full time w 2

position. >> the best way to gouted out find your customers don't sell them but ask what do they like, how much would they pay, do they like this idea and if they had this idea available today would they buy it and how much would they pay for it? >> it's a competitive market so it takes a leg up to get in the elevator business. he's created what i think is a really cool product. >> hi. i'm bobby stevens. president of buck a feet. buck a feet was found in 2011 two a mission to connect people through art. we produce canvas sneakers that we sell online, to major u.s. retailer and 20 countries around the world but our see cress is our artist platform that features 23 artists from 20 countriets. that ensures we have a market. it's about a $2 billion market. we created unique artist power brand.

in the first 75 days of this year we've surpassed sales from all of last year. we've raised $5 million to date and raised another $2 million in production. we believe art is for everyone and with this investment you can help us support that mission. check us out at buck a feet.com. as you know, i said i think it's so cool. we've given you each of these. from one to ten, i want to hear how much he peaked your interest from the pitch itself and obviously the product. i think those are so great. you missed part which i'm sure is as important. at the bottom bucket feet stiks out so if you walk on sand. >> if you walk on sand, walk through the street. >> how many artists are you working with? >> we have a network of 2,400 artists from 30-plus country all over the world. we've about made shoes with only a hundred. that number grows every day. it allows them to get their art on shoes and that travels the world and tells their story. >> i think they're great.

did you write down your numbers? i'll start with you. >> i ee going to give you a five. the reason is i like the story but i want to hear about the numbers. if i'm going invest, i want to hear about the sales. doan talk about hugging me and the niceties. that's a great but show me how to make money. >> tania. >> i went with a six. i also really like the product. like the idea of connecting artists with brand and content. what i wasn't clear on, though, is how you were going to get your product really out there because it's a really crowded marketplace, there's a lot of competition and i wasn't sure from your pitch how you were going to really differentiate yourself and make sure everyone wants a pair of these. >> i think story is a lot stronger. you've got the sales behind you. tell me about the sales. the story speaks for itself. this is great product. >> i knew you were going to thing it was a great product. the five is very telling. you 3i67 differently if you pitch the product. >> get me around generalities. get me the facts, jack.

>> good luck with everything. you've already done so well. clearly i love the product pause i keep talking about it. you guys, thank you so much for everything. great to see you. if any of you have a product or service and you want feedback from our elevator pitch of getting interested investors, just send us an e-mail. the address is your business. >> al: msnbc.com. include what your company is how you want to raise the money. you never know. somebody may be interested in helping you. create professional looking videos used to be pretty cost prohibitive. now it can take nothing more than just your phone to make something worth sharing. plus few things get people talking more than a viral video, for instance a mass company called save face made a hit out of "harlem shake" to show off their products. ♪

>> the "harlem shake" makes me laugh when i see it. don is the president and ceo of spl splash media. ittal provides award winning video and production. he're here to talk to us about where we should be thinking about using video to enhance our business. great to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> i love that video. nirng it's so funny. >> it is a lot of fun. >> it's cool because it takes something that everyone recognizes and is funny. the rye reality of it is already proorn and shows off their products. >> that was the whole point. save face as you said makes masks for people playing with paintball guns or welders even. had a staff member that had great idea. hey, let's jump on the bandwagon. the "harlem shake." we put on some masks and staff members and grab add camera and shot it. weeks later we had 110,000.

>> when you 're preparing. how much earlier you do have to arrive to ensure that everything is working as it should. >> this explains what your company does. >> amx, we'll have 100 remote controls. i think of the home. they simplify that. it's a very complex product but they give you a single device to control your audio and video and communication. >> and so kind of long text explaining what that does doesn't do what this video does. >> no, no. the video -- you know the old expression a picture is worth a thousand words, i have no idea what a video is worth but that animated video style is great. they use it in a lot of sales presentations so it shows it in a nice concise way. >> hue much does something like that cost on the cheap end? >> on the cheap end it can be done for a few thousand dollars quite frankly.

>> and can really help your sales process to b to b or consumers. >> absolutely. >> let's go to video select and see how they use video. >> i put all my business on select and out of nowhere it seems like all these listings were being hit and i was getting contracts right and left. >> okay. so customer testimonials. >> i always say customer testimonials are probably one of the most powerful videos to use. you know, we all have heard from the company before about how great their product or service is, but there's nothing more powerful than to hear from another consumer about their experience with a product or service. >> and what's so neat about that is that can literally be done on your phone. you see a customer, you're having a conversation, they like it. hey, tell me right now. >> absolutely, absolutely. and, you know, the i phone is a way to start but there are some very high quality cameras for, you know, less than a thousand dollars that give you beautiful hdm images. >> finally, informational videos. let's see this next company. >> what if i told you one of the best things you can do for your

your lawn is to dig holes in it. what? how can that be? well, when those holes are the result of core aeration, that's precisely the case. >> it's almost like creating your own commercial. >> yes. this one, i would give advice to your viewer. >> shep: small business owners, is we did the research here and found out that, you know, true green is a large, juneau, lawn service company. what we do is find out what's being searched online. there are free tools that everybody can find out what is being searched on on google and how many searches a month are being done. in this case, lawn aeration had a pretty high frequency of searches online. we created content in a video, published it and if you tag it proper will i in the title, you get search equity. >> all right. great to see you. thanks so much for stopping by. >> thank you. pleasure. >> to learn more about today's show head over to tour website

it's openforum.com/yourbusiness. you'll find all of today's segments plus web exclusives with a lot more never togs help your business go. you can follow us on twitter. it's @msnbcyourbiz and we'rer on facebook and instagram as well. next week a tight knit family in a small town make an invest maniment for their parents' retirement. until then i'm jj 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. this at first glance looks like a really awesome paint job and detailing job on this car. and this look is kind of a trend in cars now, if you've noticed. the blackout package. where you get a black car, with black trim, and black wheels, no chrome at all, everything's blacked out. it's very stuffy looking. but you know what? that is not what is going on in this picture. and we know that in part because this picture was taken in 2007, and that's before the blackout look was popular in cars. but it's also because what this picture is, is part of the documentation of an oil spill that happened in the vancouver area in 2007. here's another couple angles o