where's waldo? he's with small businesses who are using him to get customers to shop local. and it's back to the future with a 19th century flavored elevator pitch. all that and more 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 and welcome to "your business." we came across a great shop local event while one of our producers was vacationing with their family this summer. and when we dug in a little deeper, we discovered that it was happening nationwide. the owner of a bookstore in falmouth, massachusetts, launched a find waldo local scavenger hunt to get people to visit her neighborhood stores. and today, if you've ever wondered where's waldo, you might actually find him shopping in a local downtown near you. now you see him. now you don't. for the past three summers,

waldo, that intrepid and unusually elusive children's book character has been spotted shopping locally in stores all across america. >> we've had major cities use local. we've had small towns. they've been on main streets. they've been in shopping malls from asheville to austin, from yakima, washington, to zimmerman, minnesota. >> in just three years, this special campaign anchored by a local independent bookstore has had more than 10,000 local businesses participate. and the whole thing started here, in falmouth, massachusetts, in 2011. with this woman, the owner of a small bookstore called eight cousins. >> like many good ideas, this one came from desperation. every summer we tried 20 do programming, because it's our busy season and we want to encourage people, of course, to be involved with the store. and kind of thought, well everybody knows waldo. maybe we could do something with

waldo. and then i thought, a scavenger hunt. that could be fun. >> she got in touch with candlewick press, the publisher of where's waldo and asked them what they,000 of the idea. they loved it. and said if there's success in falmouth they would create a find waldo shop local campaign nationally. >> they went to the american booksellers association, formed a partnership that way and it went national the following year with 250 different stores in 250 different towns in every state. so i was so, so pleased about that. >> the idea was simple. get 25 local businesses to gather in your area to participate in a scavenger hunt by widing a cardboard cutout of waldo somewhere in their retail store. >> you never know where you're going to find him. like today, he's hiding in the shark's mouth but some kids think that's absolutely hysterical. >> waldo spotters young and old are given a passport that gets stamped by each store where they find a waldo. the more stamps on the passport

the better chance they have for winning a prize at the end of the month-long campaign. >> let's get that stamp. >> stores participated because it was a great way to get new potential customers through their door. >> they liked the idea that it would bring more people through their doors. more walk-in traffic. that was appealing. they like the idea that they wouldn't have to do a whole lot. and then, pretty soon, it took on a life of its own, because they could see that it was really working for them. >> there. >> not only does it drive traffic into the store, it just creates a fun environment within the store. our employees love it. they love when the kids come in. we'll play hot and cold with the kids, to help them find waldo. >> for 7-year-old agnes buhl the actual path to finding waldo was a big undertaking. >> i go in to the store, and i was always like looking like

this. and i'm looking up, and down, and all around, and it's very hard work. but at the end of the day, it pays off. >> and for her mom, it was an excuse to do a little shopping. >> i enjoyed it, because i got into some different stores that maybe i wouldn't have stopped in if there hadn't been a waldo hiding there somewhere. out of the 20 stores we visited, i purchased something at 11 of them. and there's one store that she found waldo right away and i said i have to go back. i loved everything in there. and so i'm planning on returning the next rainy day. >> in other parts of the country, like new orleans, the timing of this event in july is perfect since it's typically one of the slower times of the year. >> july in new orleans is very slow. and it's also the first month of hurricane season. so a lot of people tend to vacate the city. since we've been plays waldo for the last three years, the stores that have participated have

actually seen a rise in the business. >> judith has been the local organizer of the find waldo event there. she's made a point of approaching shops in her area that might be a little off the beaten path. >> i wanted to get attention to shops, and stores, that maybe didn't get a whole lot of attention during the month of july. and they have great things to offer, and you know, why not check them out. >> philip has been searching for waldo all month long and came by octavia books for the end of the month i found waldo party. >> he won a gift card. >> i think it's a great thing. >> i think anything that makes children participate with reading and writing and experiencing things with their imaginations helps them to be better and having the parents relate to the children, and then all of us as retailers relating

to these people that are coming in as customers and what we can do to make it more fun or more interesting for them. it's just a big circle that actually works well for everybody. >> you know, people can find merchandise anywhere, including nowhere. and yet people can only have genuine experiences doing real things. >> the where's waldo campaign is just one of the ways small businesses are getting customers to shop local as the holiday shopping season approaches. here are five ideas to help prepare your online business for the hustle and bustle of the fourth quarter courtesy of entrepreneur.com. one, anticipate your bestsellers. build an inventory of products now. analyze your past sales results, and keep a surplus of your top items in stock. two, plan promotions. come up with campaigns you're going to offer and map out sales

early on. three, test your online shop. the holidays often bring increased web traffic and transaction processing. so make sure your website can handle it. four, add layers of packaging. stand out from the competition by infusing seasonal spirit. you can use customized wrapping paper or include a festive image or message on your shipping label. and five, take a look at your shipping tactics. you'll be sending out a lot more packages as we get closer to the holidays so make sure your current mailing process is the most efficient and affordable option for your business. there is a reason big companies have a department because it takes a lot of time to deal with benefits and payroll and all sorts of other things currently piling up on your desk right now. our website of the week will help you, zen fittings.com is a free cloud based hr software

system that automates and eliminates all your businesses benefits related paperwork. it allows you to manage payroll, health insurance, time off and more all in one dashboard. also you can tweak the onboard members by having them sign all of the necessary documents through the online portal, and they'll be directly processed in to your payroll and benefits system. there comes a time for many of us when we are done running our businesses. maybe want to retire, maybe want to move, maybe some life event is making it necessary that you change things and when that time comes, and you are looking to sell your company, our next guest says that you better have all your ducks in a row. so best to start planning for it long before that day arrives. michael schwerdtfeger is managing director at a firm that specializes in middle market mergers and acquisitions. >> hi, j.j. >> you talk about in general just invest in people and

processes. don't run your business willy-nilly. you're not going to be able to sell that. >> right, right, absolutely. what we find is that in many cases, business owners tend to wear a lot of hats. they lot of business owners like to run the company, keep the financial house, be the keeper of all the customer relationships. that makes it very difficult to sell. a company owner should really bring in, in to the company a good, competent management team. bring in the cfo, bring a manager of sales. similarly, on the process side, a lot of companies tend to run by the seat of their pants, because that's what entrepreneurs are able to do. but as the company gets larger, in order to really bring the value for that business owner, they really need to put practices in place that allow the company to be sustainable, and create a lot of value for the buyer, as well. >> okay. so that moves in to the next thing that you talk about, which is just do what you do best. and outsource everything else. >> right. right. and that goes for transactions, as well. i mean, most business owners

that we work with, it's really the only transaction they'll ever do in their lifetime. so every minute that a business owner spends working on a transaction, they're really not spending time doing the thing that creates value for them. so, i really recommend early in the process, i mean even years in advance, talking to a good m&a adviser to help you understand where the value propositions are in your business and what you can do to make it more valuable. also bring in a good, competent merger and acquisition lawyer, an accountant with transactional background. you know, similarly on the planning front, bring in a trust lawyer, or an estate planner. bring in some tax planning help. all of those types of things enable you to really create a lot of value early in the process that you probably aren't going to be able to do when the transaction is imminent. >> and then, you talk about recurring revenue streams because a buyer is going to be much more interested in your company if they know money is absolutely going to be coming in. >> i think the big issue for us is that in dealing with our kind

of -- our clients, we've learned that buyers hate risk. so anything you can do to manage risk inside your company is going to be worthwhile. tying down long-term relationships, putting recurring revenue plans in place, making sure your customers are sticky, even down to, you know, making sure you have a long-term lease in place, your vendors relationships are long-term. anything you can do to reduce risk is going to make your company more valuable. >> yeah, and finally getting your house in order, because a buyer's going to come in, no matter how great a company looks from the outside, they're going to lift the curtain, and if things look like they are a mess or you don't have these recurring revenue streams or there is a lot of risk, suddenly you are much less valuable. >> yeah. that's right, j.j. what tends to happen is i've heard from many, many clients, well these financials are good enough for me. they enabled me to run the business and i understand that approach and that's completely valid approach when you're

running a business. but when you're dealing with a transaction, most of the time you're dealing with professional investors, you're dealing with lenders, banks, that are going to be interested in very keen business practices and financial practices that you need to make sure you have that financial house in order. adopt financial practices that you can live with over the long-term. you know, adopt good accounting practices. and then lastly in the last year or two before you're ready to sell, think about getting an outside accountant involved, getting your financials reviewed or maybe even audited. >> michael, great talking to you, thanks so much. >> thank you very much, j.j. >> when we come back we'll look at whether you should be sharing information about your company's financials. lynn tilton, ceo of patriarch partners which owns companies ranging from style la to rand mcnally on making great products beautiful. even helicopters. and an old fashion the elevator kitsch for a ketchup like the kind your great great grandmother might have head. 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 don't want to sell somebody something they can't afford. we don't want to sell somebody something they don't need in their home. so if we can really learn and think about what they need in their home to make things better for them, we'll get a repeat

customer. i have a simple saying, your success is our success. if we have a customer that successfully shops in our store it's our success. they'll be back for more to tell their friends. >> do you remember how great catsup tasted in the 1800s? neath do i. but today's elevator pitcher does and he thinks there's a market for a retro kansas im. jeffrey hayzlett and mike michalowicz take the taste test. >> hello i'm daniel hooberry. since 1876 catsup has been brabded as one flavor, tomato. in 176 we're bringing back some of the victorian flavors that were popular back then starting with our first four offerings, cranberry, grape and tomato ginger made in small batches with whole fruits, all natural ingredients. >> daniel i got to say food is a

big deal where i come from, brooklyn, or where i'm living right now. how much money are you looking to raise? >> 60,000. >> what are you going to do with that money? >> work with a co-founder and be -- have -- be able to increase my production while reducing my costs and being able to have reserve capital. >> i'm going to ask one more question, which is have you seen any success so far? >> yes. at farmer's markets and different farm-to-table restaurants that i work with, they're enjoying the catsup very well. >> okay, great. i'm going to give you guys this -- i didn't even let you taste it yet. >> we have to taste. what's the use of coming on here, having food, without having this. >> okay. while you are eating that -- >> which one is -- >> there's one that's ginger. which one is that? >> i'll having the cranberry habanero which has a little bit of spice to it. a little kick. >> you guys give one to ten on the pitch. and some suggestions for working it better. when did you start the company?

>> in may of this year. >> okay. well you definitely get a ten for best costume here. okay, jeffrey, how did he do? >> i'm going to have to give you a five. the reason is you've got the stuff, you know the stuff, you just have to get over being able to give me all the facts and figures. this is a one-time deal. you only get one chance. >> right. >> so i also gave you a 5.1 just to up -- >> 5.1. >> 3wu9, too rehearsed. right? so you weren't going in to tell us the honest truth. you were going through your sequence of words. that's what threw you off. the product is phenomenal. i love what you're dealing but the pitch -- >> if your pitch is as good as the real sauce, you're going to get a lot more than $60,000 for that kind of product. >> all right. great. great advice. good product. work on the pitch. practice, practice, and then people will pay attention to the product more. good luck with everything. thanks so much for coming on the program. you guys stick around. >> thanks for the hats.

>> now if any of you out there have a product or a service and you wouldn't feedback from our elevator pitch panel on your chances of getting interested investors, just send us an e-mail. yourbusiness @msnbc.com. please include a short summary of what your company does, how much money you're trying to raise, and what you intend to do with that money. we look forward to reading your pitches and seeing some of you here in the elevator. it's time now to answer some of your business questions. i got jeffrey and mike out of the elevator to help us out. the first one is about getting help with your tech needs. >> that's one thing we struggled with, finding the correct tech talent and who can really marry our skills and our services with that right person or that right firm. so how do you know when you found that right person? >> you know what about this, mike, we don't speak the same language, right? and so you are so reliant on your tech team. you have to trust them.

trust that they're doing the right thing because you can't look at their work and say that's right or that's wrong. >> no. but you can measure the end result. >> sure. >> so how you find the best person is you look at their past history. we're all human pattern kind of people. if that makes any sense. what we did in the past is what we're likely to do in the future. the best way to gauge a performance or company is look at their past work. give them a test, too. so when you bring them on board, put them through probationary period even if it's only a few weeks and have them perform the type of work they need to perform and measure the end result. >> the other big thing is we don't spend enough time to get to know those people. i don't like to hang around most of them anyway. but getting to know them a little bit or take them to dinner. put them in a social situation because you're going to have to have conversations with these folks. the other thing is to think about outsourcing. go to teamlogic i.t. or somebody else and go to places where they do this all the time for others. >> i would also say, go read some books and understand the language. you know what waterfall means.

you cannot talk to a tech person if you can't speak the language. >> you'll never know what they're doing or how they're doing it or what they're doing to you. >> right. >> it is a great point. it's about cultural fit. an extraordinary person at just might not be an extraordinary fit if they're not a cultural fit. >> let's move on to the next one. about sharing your financials with others. >> how much of the financials, the p&l should i share with those people so that they can make decisions understanding the impact of those decisions in the context of the profitability of the business? >> it's a really interesting question. we did a story on open book management a few years ago and from what i learned from that is that you just can't share the information, you have to make sure people understand what they're looking at. >> we're making money, where is mine? that is a big, big problem for the business owners and the people that work for them. at the same time, you don't want

to share everything. when you are starting to pay for goods out the back door with cash, things aren't going well. or you're going on vacation or going or bought a brought new car, they know things are going well. i didn't share that information with my manager and bought a truck load of paper for my printing business and almost put me under. >> i remember when we first broke a million in revenue, one of my employees came up and said, you're making a million dollars here? no, i didn't pay the salary yet. we did keep the salaries kind of together so we didn't know individual salaries. your top line is not the bottom line. >> bottom line, they all know anyway. they know which each one is making and they get around and talk about it. as much as we'd like to put a

lid on that, they know. always to educate and say here's why we're doing this, here's why we're not getting a bonus this year, here's why we are getting a bonus this year. >> i must say for people who really practice open-book management. here's our revenue, shades of gray there. but if you really practice it, it is a lot of work. and employees like it and don't like it to different degrees because more work on them, also. you have to go to classes and understand this. >> major educational component. i tell you, if you don't tell you what the numbers are, they'll still assume the numbers and that could be dangerous. >> communicate. that's the biggest thing. >> let's move on to the last question about finding the right mentor for your business. >> what would be a good way to find a mentor to help take your business to the next level? >> i know both of you guys mentor a lot of people. what gets you interested?

>> people interesting, people i respect. when i look around the community, i can can point back in sioux falls, south dakota, who are the real people that really do great business and who i respect and adore and admire and say, man, my business can be like that or even here in new york city. i have the big thing with those guys on wall street. i tell you, if you ask them and say, would you help me? would you partake some of that and give that knowledge back? i've always found that most people want to do that. >> i think you have to be specific about the ask. big, would you help me is too scary. >> jeff gets ten times the volumes i do, hey, mike, would you do this for me. i'd love for you to be my mentor. no, i'm not going to do this for you. the ones who admire what you're doing and here's what i mitt to doing it to make it really easy on you, mike. those are the people i team up

with. >> a lot of people say, let's do coffee. i don't drink coffee, what do you want? i don't drink coffee, what do you want. tell me, i'll help you do it. >> thank you, guys, so much. all very, very helpful advice. but, it was a little bit too short. so, we are taking this off air and online. mike is going to be answering all your pressing small business questions in our live twitter chat tuesday, 5:00 p.m. eastern time. just tweet us your question today to @openforum and #yourbiz. and then join us tuesday at open forum as mike and i provide you with some answers. we've had a lot of really good advice from jeffrey and mike on how to improve your business, and now it is your turn. here's some great ideas from small business owners just like you. >> when i first started the company, we had very little money, but i invested in having a photographer take a beautiful

picture of our first product and then we ehad postcards made. very cheaply and sent them to all the best retailers and that's how we made our first sales. >> i've always been surprised at how powerful instagram is as a sales tool. we use instagram to build our brand, but customers seeking to purchase our products and wholesale accounts looking to purchase because they've seen us on instagram. >> i have, i'll be back cards. whenever a customer leaves my card, i say, madge,ic words and i hand them a business card. i printed coupons for $5 over $20 worth of sales. this gives my business card value. they hold on to the card and they know to come back and see me, again. for the past 14 years, lynn founder and ceo of patriarch partners had ownership in and restructured more than 240 companies. with combined revenue of $100

billion. from cosmetics to rand mcnaly her company expands 14 business sectors. she's all about saving american jobs. she took time out to share with us what everybody can do to build an empire of their own in this "learning from the pros." >> 243 companies, more than $100 billion of revenues and 700,000 jobs gives me an incredible advantage to be able to create new product and industries that have never seen that technology before. everything begins with product. there are only two things people want, they want design and disruption and developed in elegance and excited by innovation and technology. if you don't understand where the world is going. if you don't understand the drivers of technology that are changing the world, you can't create the right product.

i'm constantly trying to create beauty. in everything i do. if it's beautiful, it's really made well. even with my helicopter, i don't think we should ever manufacturer a part that i wouldn't put on my shelf. whether you see it or you don't so it. helicopters have historically been black interiors, so we're doing a lot in midnight blue. i think streamlined elegance is essential in everything we do. you have to work from the customer fwback. ward. at the same time, you have to know what the customer wants. if you spend a lot of time in market research, by the time you get started, it is going to be obsolete or somebody else is going to have that product. never before do we have such

instini instant reaction. miami swim wear fashion shows. and instagram was so quick with people and likes and how they felt about it. it was wonderful and it was such a relief that people were so excited about it. you really need to have that right brain, left brain of being able to do it all. businesses are both qualitative and quantitative. people who run businesses have no creativity now, how do you dream in product? in the end, you have to be able to do what others do and lead by example. you really have to develop that side of you that's weakest. if you want to be a leader. if you want to own your own business. if you want to make sure it's successful. >> to learn more about today's show, just head on over to our website, it is openforum.com/yourbusiness. you'll find all of today's

segments plus web exclusive content with a lot more information to help your business grow. you can also follow us on twitter @ msnbyourbiz. next week, a small business cannot succeed without knowing who its real customers are. find out how this children's party place became profitability when the owner realized it was the parents, not the kids who he should be ecatering to. until then, i'm j.c. 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. the march for climate change. good morning, thanks for getting up with us, we are waking up this morning to news that the united states government suspects there is another terror group in syria that poses an even bigger threat an isis, at least potentially. who they are, who that group is and why they may be a threat to us here in america. we will get to that in a few minutes. today is also another nfl sunday. not much has changed since the last nfl sunday although we heard this week from