it's a product that everyone uses. so that's why this community decided to use toilet paper to get customers to shop local. find out how this campaign spurred sales and awareness of the importance of supporting community businesses, 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." if you can believe it, the holiday shopping season is fast approaching. and that has small businesses turning up their efforts to get people to shop local. and they're doing this by getting people to understand what it means to spend a dollar locally. how? by highlighting a product each month and telling everyone to head on over to main street to buy it. want to know what they started with the first month? toilet paper. ♪ >> toilet paper. it's a staple and every household and business. but where you go to stock up. one city in iowa's chamber of commerce is hoping the answer is

main street. >> we started with toilet paper because everybody needs it. everybody uses it. >> carolyn is the executive director of the eldridge north scott chamber of commerce. and with the help of a committee of small business owners, she launched a special shop local campaign. every two months, residents are encouraged to redirect their spending around a specific item or service locally. the first campaign was an attention grabber. >> one of our committee members said, wipe local. and we went, ew. you know, it really wasn't what we thought. and then we sat on it for a minute and we went, wait. it will gather a lot of attention. people will remember it. >> wipe local asked shoppers to make the switch from buying toilet paper at big box stores, to businesses in their community. >> we have to change their thinking and their buying habits and we think if we just present them the facts, that what just one simple thing will do, and what the impact on our economy will be, because when you spend money locally, it's going to

stay locally. >> the numbers tell the story. >> kimberly-clark says that the average person uses 105 rolls of toilet paper in a year. if they bought all of their toilet paper in a year that that would be a number of $677,000. the average family spends over $2600 a year on eating out. and if you translate that into how much money they spend eating out that's over $10 million. >> the campaign definitely got people to take notice. from social media to local media, they're grabbing people's attention, even outside their towns. on top of the media coverage, they're also posting signage in places where people have a moment to do a little thinking. and more eyeballs mean more residents who know what a difference their dollar makes. >> i was in the rest room and there it was on the back of the door, and then it got me thinking about what do i spend in the eldridge community? and should i be spending more? >> peggy bowers and mary lee

shaffer own two sisters resalen gifts. it says the campaign shows money spent locally is an investment. >> it's easy to get on the internet and buy things and go to the metropolitan area and buy things. what we're hoping to change with the campaign is to make people start thinking more of buying local as an investment in their community instead of thinking of it as them saving money, thinking it as your money is being put to good use. >> the owner of north scott foods, a local supermarket, says with his business benefits, so does the community. >> we're in the business that everybody comes to when there's a donation or a fund-raiser or the booster clubs, and athletic events, and our sales tax dollars support our school. so, our residents really reward -- are rewarded for that. >> the wipe local campaign was a big success. once the numbers came in, steve found the amount of toilet paper sold at his store in the two months of the campaign was more than 71% higher than what was

sold the same two months last year. that is a whole lot of toilet paper and sales. >> it's got people's attention. and it's a good kickoff to the remainder of what the program's going to be moving forward. >> the whole goal of this movement is to have results that last longer than simply the campaign. many residents have changed their habits for good. >> after seeing the campaign, i got to thinking, you know, why am i going anywhere else for my toilet paper when it's so convenient just to buy it here locally, north scott foods is a great place to shop, so i have definitely changed my buying habits. on that particular item. and will be buying that here in the future. >> but the campaign is not over yet. the next theme is eat local. for bob livingston, owner of the newly opened maloney's pub, being part of this campaign is an opportunity to get potential diners who don't know they're in the neighborhood seated at their tables. >> us only being four months old

anything we can do to get our name out there, location out there, is so helpful. the community has embraced us very, very overwhelmingly. which is so encouraging. every little bit helps. >> with so much success with wipe local, this is only the beginning of adjusting the way the eldridge community thinks about their setting. one item at a time. >> they've gotten so in the habit of just getting in the car and driving into town and when they can really just stay here and shop and sometimes you just need to remind people of that. and if it moons using some crazy thing to get their attention, then that's what you have to do. >> over the past nine years we've been to a lot of cities like eldridge, iowa, that we just showed you, and what we found is that a lot of the stores on main street have been passed down through families, through the generations. if you've ever walked along the new york harbor here in new york city, you will see a fleet of tugboats. but you may not have ever thought about the business behind them. for one family it's been an enterprise that has lasted through several generations.

brian mcallister's family name has dotted the new york harbor since 1864. >> we're the only company that lasted for 150 years in the family. and for that you got to be lucky. >> that was the year his great grandfather james mcallister started mcallister towing, helping big ships navigate to shore. do you think that it is business sense or pure luck that it's been in the family that long? >> there are several things that's had to happen. one, you can't make too much money. if you make too much money, everybody wants to sell it and get rich. if you don't make enough money, they leave. >> you might say he found a sweet spot for the company. somewhere between too much success on the one hand, and too

much stress on the other. >> the most efficient boat in the world -- lines are like a yacht. >> james mcallister started the company in new york's south street seaport as a lone immigrant with a single cargo bite or lighter he launched a transport business which grew large enough to support himself and three brothers. by the turn of the century, the next generation expanded the business beyond cargo to passenger ships, tugboats and towing. as the new york port expanded the family diversified into new areas. with different branches going into different maritime businesses. all with the mcallister name. >> the steam boats, with the paddle wheels, were enormous business. >> in the great depression, the mcallisters nearly went bust. by 1938, brian's great uncle died with just a few boats to his name. >> he watched everything go to pieces. two or three people left in the office. the only thing they took home was grocery money. that was it. there was no salaries no more.

>> in his own lifetime brian mcallister says he's come close to losing the business several times. the first was when his own father and uncle threatened to sell the company to finance their retirement, rather than pass it on to him. brian's generation eventually convinced them, but it wasn't easy. >> there's been a lawsuit every time this company got transferred from the first to the second, second to the third. >> by the late 1980s, brian's son eric faced a different threat. >> the company was basically bankrupt. in 1981. and i graduated from grammar school in 1982. and they just barely hung on. >> he vividly remembers a twin set of crises that nearly cost the fifth generation its legacy. the first was financial. shortly after that the second crisis was a violent union strike which also came close to destroying the business. clearly luck has played a role in their survival. but it's certainly not everything. what is it about your family that's been able to hold onto this when so many other family

businesses leave the family after the second, third, fourth generation? >> i think it's that irish mentality of tradition. the passion for tradition. they just -- they just want to hold onto it. and they just don't need that much money. >> 53-year-old jeffrey mcallister is their first cousin and also a member of the fifth generation. >> a family business runs more on passion than good business sense. >> today, jeffrey is a harbor pilot. he boards the cargo vessels entering new york harbor and commands the fleet of mcallister tugs as they guide these massive ships safely to the docks. at the age of 80, brian is the last living member of the fourth generation. and he's making plans to pass the company on to his sons. beyond that, however, he says the legacy is not his concern. >> in your dreams how many more generations keep this company? >> once you're dead, okay, i don't dream about what could

happen two more generations from now. that's my son's problem. you could end up wasting hours of your time trying to clear out your inbox each day. but what if there was a way to make sorting through your e-mail just a little bit easier. check out our website of the week. inky.com organizes all your e-mail accounts into one interface. you can create special folders, choose what keyboard short cuts you'd like to use and customize the look of the platform so you can quickly identify important e-mail from all that clutter. a good company environment goes a long way in influencing overall productivity and team dynamics. here now are five tips on how to promote a high performance culture in the office, courtesy of entrepreneur.com. one, create private offices. this depends on the kind of culture you have. but in some cases when you give your employees their own space,

you're translating the message that they are valued. two, set an open meeting policy. let workers attend any gathering that doesn't cover sensitive subjects like pay and personnel issues. transparency between departments helps your team learn from and understand each other. three, encourage anonymous feedback. privacy can empower people to address issues they may otherwise feel uncomfortable talking about. but, of course, you have to be careful with this one. four, communicate a clear mission, vision and goal. educate your team on your future plans for the company. this will help them understand where they fit and contribute to the greater picture. five, avoid creating an internal caste system. no one should be receiving special treatment in the office. your employees will notice and react negative to this. one of the biggest challenges that so many entrepreneurs face is scaling up effectively. a lot of founders are really, really good at that start-up stage but then they just can't

figure out how to make it to the next level. our next guest says that knowing yourself and staying focussed while managing chaos and risk is essential. linda rottenberg is the co-founder of endeavor, she is also author of the new best-selling book crazy is a compliment the power of zigging when everyone else zags. so good to see you. >> great to be here. >> this we see all the time because a founder is a different person -- it takes different skills to start something than to actually grow it. >> so i've worked with a thousand entrepreneurs and i started writing on a white board all the mistakes they were having at the go big to scaleup phase so one of the chapters in my book is called the white board with all the common mistakes and a playbook for getting around them. >> i love that. we see this all of the time. let's go through some of the things to put on the board. midovate. >> i think the problem with the elon musks and the mark

zuckerbergs getting all the attention is people are terrified. they think they can only succeed with huge innovations. we found many are as effective as not. one of my favorite companies is w.l. gore. every innovation has been the same product tweaked. it started as teflon, went to gore text, ended up being glide dental floss and elixir guitar strings. all mini innovations. it's now one of the largest privately held companies in the united states. >> by the way, this is what most companies do, right? we're not all going to be mark zuckerberg. >> no. and don't psych yourself out. >> okay. and this brings up the next point, too, which is pivot. also another big word. you started out here and now your company is here and it's not recognizable. but again, for most companies the pivots are small. >> yeah. and you shouldn't have too many. you should be open to some change. studies have found that if you pivot once or twice you're actually better off in terms of

growth potential. but if you over-pivot you're going to kill yourself. one of the stories i talk about in the book is legos. legos goes and does an innovation spree from 7,000 blocks to 13,000. they do innovation suicide and they actually have to bring in a consultant and ceo and go back brick by brick. pivot a little bit. don't take every opportunity. the best thing is to sometimes say no. >> if you're taking every opportunity you're taking time away from making one that you're working on work. >> steve jobs when he failously came back to apple slashed almost every product that they were developing and said we can only do four things beautifully. >> okay. i love this one. dream big. you have to be able to dream big. but execute small because you're not going to get from here to here. you need to go like this. >> exactly. the number one cause of death of scaleups and start-ups is premature scaling. it's your own doing. it's not competition or the chaos around you.

and it's because people bite off more than they can chew. and yes you have to have a big idea to motivate you. it has to be crazy enough that people will give you that compliment. but you have to break it down in manageable sizes. and you know, henry ford didn't build the cars in a day, said any idea can be executed as long as you break it down into small parts. >> but you also have to do that for your team because you need successes along the way. >> yeah. i do that with my kids. we just want mini wins. not perfection. exactly. >> okay finally eat the elephant one bite at a time. >> this is a line actually from flight school where they tell you that don't get distracted by the daunting job ahead. and i think we think of entrepreneurship as this scary thing, requiring leaps of faith. when really if you settle down, tamper down your emotions, zig when everyone else is zagging, but then in moments of chaos, grow calm, eat the elephant one bite at a time and that's how

you get through anything. >> i love it. crazy is a compliment congratulations it's a great book with a lot of fun stories that tell really interesting tactical great advice so congratulations. >> thank you. >> so good to see you. when we come back, guy kawasaki joins linda to answer your questions, including how to balance risk taking with being financially conservative. and mike depatie the ceo of kimpton hotels talks about building an internal culture that cares. 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. being prepared for a lot of rejection if you're starting a business. if you know this in advance it can be much easier for you. the golden words are successful people do all the things unsuccessful people don't want to do. every time you're rejected realize how you could do it better and maybe not get rejected the next time. >> it's the largest boutique hotel chain in the country and it just keeps on growing. founded in 1981 by the late bill kimpton, kimpton hotels and restaurants now boasts 61 locations in 27 cities around the country. while many other companies of the size have gone public,

kimpton is still privately owned. ceo mike depatie joined the company in 2003 and has been leading the brand since 2006. we talked to him about being the most loved, creating the best place to work, and remembering to have fun in this week's learning from the pros. >> our overarching goal is to be the most loved hotel brand by those guests that know us. now you may have noticed that i didn't say largest. i didn't say, the best known. what i said was the best loved. you think about travel today. travel is stressful these days. and it's not getting any better. so you show up to a kimpton hotel, you walk in, this great design. you notice there's a great restaurant next door and there's this friendly, genuine front desk agent that's worried about caring for you, and what your needs are. that makes a big impression on people.

we think it's really important for us to have an exceptional product. and that is a product that people like so much, they actually love so much, and by that i mean, what is the experience that our customers are having. where is customers are having? what is the emotional connection that we are making with them and exceptional product is also one that people talk about. exceptional is having a highly differenciated customer experience, one that is traditional. it is more cookie cutter. we're going to be different. genuine care is really critical. our program is called kimpton karma. you do good things for us, we do good things for you. we may show up to your room and there may be a free drink at the bar or a bottle of wine shows up at your room or a teddy bear shows up at your room.

we try to track what is important to you and we try to do things that surprises you. we think creating a best place to work and having a reputation as the best place to work is really critical to attract the best employees. and part of that is a culture, if you will, where people feel hike they can be themselves and deliver their best selves on the job. part of that is providing opportunities for them to grow professionally but also personally. we help them learn about their own personality or the personality of their co-workers, something we call self-insight, and we've become a lot more empathetic with our guests. we have diversity at hotels. we want diversity of people. because if we have diversity of people, we get diversity of thoughts and then you get innovation and creativity.

it's really important to remember to have fun. most of the people we compete with in our business, they are not that fun. they are more, you know, services by the book, our designs have a whimsical feature. we feature free bikes at all of our hotels so you can travel around the city for free, complementary bikes. we have leopard skin robes in all of the rooms that are fun. new employees have to hula hoop. it says, listen, we don't take ourselves too personally. we don't want you to take yourself too seriously. it is time now to answer some of your business questions. let's get our board of directors in here to help us out. joining us is best-selling author and online graphic design

tool. he's known for his work at goggle and apple. so good to see both of you guys. >> great to be here. >> let's start with the first question, about finding a happy medium when dealing with money. >> in order to grow my company, how do i balance risk taking with being financially conservative enough to keep us profitable? >> great question. these are the companies that you look at. >> well, i love that anna mentioned balancing risk taking. because i think we perceive the risk maximizers that go all in. really, the best entrepreneurs are risk minimizers and whether that's at the start, sarah is selling fax machines getting spanx off the ground, i think her question shows she's exactly on the right path. you have to dream big but execute small. it's about little steps and it's

not about going all in or getting yourself so anxious that you're going to bankrupt your family. she's on the right path. >> we hear these stories about people taking out all of these loans and risking it all. do you believe that's not the right path? >> i'm speechless. i'm absolutely in agreement with her. what people need to realize is that entrepreneurship is a marathon. it's not a sprint. you get the money, you launch, you ship, you cash out and it's an instant burst of activity. and that's a very unusual case. it seldom happens that way. mostly it's a long, long marathon. it's a 26-mile thing. it's not a 100-yard dash. >> we saw that happen also in the recession and all of these companies were doing okay that had no cash. >> exactly. but here's the thing about money even at the beginning. everyone thinks it takes a lot

and you have to max out your credit cards. half started with $500,000 or less. crowd funding allows it to be even easier. you have to not take huge risks with money. the fact that she talked about balancing risk, that's the key. it's in addition to the start-up guide. >> let's move on to the next question. okay. a question about being true to your business. >> how might i scale my business meaningfully but not dilute my brand. >> it sounds like she has tun opportunities to go in a difference direction. >> i am much more of a let 100 flowers blossom. you don't know where it will take root so you have to put it out there. after you put it out there, you see where it's taking root and you pursue those things. this is along the theory of

having a minimal, viable product, this quick get the market kind of theory. i think it's a way to minimize risk rather than trying to take this perfect product. you get something out right away. >> linda, you could have an opportunity in something that seems completely off brand. there's a little nugget in your company that someone says, go after this? >> studies have been done about the right amount to pivot. if you don't pivot at all, you're dead. if you pivot once or twice, you have a better chance of not scaling prematurely and of doing better. if you overpivot, that's the biggest killer. most scale-ups die by killing themselves. it's not due to competition. in terms of the brand, one of the stories that i talk about is a story of an american giant. it gets this pr gift from the god when a story goes out that its hoodie is better than any other in the world. it goes viral within 36 hours.

the shelves are there for six months. they can't keep up with demand. it almost kills them. so being careful about your brand and not getting ahead i have yourself. >> we heard stories of people saying i was invited to oprah and i had to say "no" because i couldn't deliver. that would have been bad. thank you both for stopping by. >> great to be here. >> really appreciate it. >> bye-bye. and if you have a question for our experts, we answer them every week here on this show. all you have to do is go to our website. the address is openforum.com/yourbusiness. hit the link. it's openforum.com/yourbusiness. now, we like to check out twitter from time to time and here are some of the latest tweets from some great

entrepreneurial thinkers. business guru suggests creating a legendary culture in your company by spreading boundless energy, immense goodwill and a burning desire to excel. and sales and marketing rules. it's true you saw the sizzle but you still have to deliver a damn good steak. and ceo of virgin, richard branson says, why do i invest in start-ups? because they are the job creators and innovators of the future. thank you for joining us. to learn more about the show, go to our website. it's openforum.com/yourbusiness. there is web exclusive content to help your business grow. we are on twitter if you want to follow us.

it's @msnbcyourbiz. we learn how one cider maker can hold his own and defeat the mass botlers at their own game. >> they will never do this. we have a sustainable production advantage that they will never be able to recreate. >> but you can and best of all you don't have to be in the cider business to use his advice. until then, remember, we make your business our business.

a new case of ebola in dallas. good morning. thanks for joining us. it we're going to be speaking with two of the candidates in the three-way senate race that exploded on the radar this week and could decide control of the chamber in this november's election. but first, we have breaking news out of dallas, texas, where a hospital worker has tested positive for ebola. it happened