she expected her security guard business to grow by 5%. to her surprise revenue skyrocketed by more than 600%. how simply changing her perspective changed everything. 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." growing your company has a lot to do with your skills, and those of your employees. but, it has just as much to do with attitude. i recently met the owner of a security guard company who showed me that a simple change in her perspective turned her slow growing company into a fast-growing one. to jessica johnson, who grew up in the bronx, new york there was no question that when her father died she had to take over johnson security bureau. the security guard company his parents, and then he had run for more than 50 years. >> the bronx had one of the

highest unemployment rates for the entire state of new york. and some of the highest unemployment rates across the country. it was incumbent upon me and my brother to make a contribution back to the community that had helped us. >> her mission was clear from day one. but her sights well they weren't set very high. at the time the company had 16 guards. and she put together what she thought was an optimistic projection. 5% growth each year for five years. >> i didn't have the scope right. and i think that's what stops a lot of small businesses, or at least keeps a lot of small businesses and entrepreneurs where they are, is they don't realize the size of the opportunity that's out there. it's all about perspective. >> her perspective was way off. today, she has 150 employees. and her revenue has increased more than 600 times. a far cry from that 5%. so what changed?

he's been with the somebody since the early days. >> he went from a narrow vision to a very large vision. >> basically an adviser asked jessica what she would do if money were not an issue. >> at that point a lot of bells went off. so now since i would say about 2010, we've been working on all cylinders, because we have that realization that it's much big irthan we think it is. >> they started bidding on jobs they didn't think they'd get. >> even when we didn't know what we were doing, we were talking like we did, and you know what they say? fake it until you make it. we faked it for a long time. and then after awhile we weren't faking it. >> early on when you guys were picking big clients and you hadn't had very many big clients or any before were you just sitting around a conference table saying oh, my god, what are we doing? >> no we didn't have a conference table. we had some -- we had a card table and some folding chairs. so it wasn't that complicated. but we figured what did we have to lose? the worst they could do was tell us no. >> it was hard. it was tough.

there were a lot of late nights. there was some crying. there was a little laughing. but we stuck to it and we did it. we figured if we could do the service, why not try and go after that business? >> soon someone didn't say no and that was the beginning of this nonstop growth. >> they called us i believe, it was on a wednesday and said that they wanted us to start the following monday. so we had to hire people have them trained, have them certified, along with the site-specific training and have them ready to work for that following monday. >> johnson security bureau went from 16 employees to 36 employees overnight. they expanded their services providing both armed and unarmed guards. >> she went out and got the necessary certifications for johnson security here in new york state as well as other states for us to partner with other security firms. >> but all these changes meant they had to look hard at the way things were being done internally. >> lots of things had to change. i mean i have a friend who has

a saying if you can't change the people, change the people. so there are people that started the trip with us that are no longer on this ride. because they didn't have the vision. >> we're constantly evolving from the employee handbook policies and procedures, and just coming up with new ideas that will better service our client. >> jessica and her team are still out there pitching. and when i asked her how big the company could be. she told me this. >> i think this company can rival some of the largest security companies in the world. >> you are telling me right now i think this company can be as big as the biggest security companies in the world, when you got here you said i think we could have 5% growth. that is a big change in attitude. >> it is a big change in attitude. but i've seen big things happen and i've seen big things happen in a small amount of time. so, why not? why not? >> as we just saw jessica johnson's company is doing well because she has figured out how to grow it. but growing is not always the right answer. one cincinnati family-run

jewelry store is alive and well after 100 years in business thanks to their decision to do the exact opposite and scale back. barbara jo foreman, better known as b.j. says that her customized jewelry store is her own creation. boris litwin jewelers was founded by her grandfather. this cincinnati institution was run by her father and then her brother before foreman took over. >> it seemed to me that there were enough jewelers out there who did platinum gold ruby sapphire diamond. i was in the arts and i wanted something a little different. >> foreman gave it a try with her mother's emotional and financial support. no one had expected the business to last after her brother's death. >> he had pretty much prepared the business to close after he died. he never guessed that i would run it. >> so what did foreman do? >> we changed everything.

>> foreman's daughter liz, who works in the family business says the timing was right for her mother to introduce rings, pendants necklaces, and bracelets that people might not find anywhere else. >> when you think of a brand, no matter what industry it's always evolving and always changing. and this is a great example of a business that has really evolved. >> to make the turn foreman followed her heart. she didn't want to follow what she calls the industry standard. >> i didn't feel like going in to millions and millions and billions of dollars and being on that level. i didn't want to do it. >> what she did want to do was create a scaled-down, yet more personal operation. >> we do a lot of custom work. we repair. we restring pearls. we change people's jewelry so that it's wearable. and we sell them jewelry. >> foreman knew the way litwins had done business needed to

evolve. >> i wanted to hire people who knew what they were doing or i could train them to do what they wanted to do so that they should do for me and then they would just go do it. >> and foreman knew how to warm up to better suit her personality and welcome her clients. something else you'll notice about litwins is that it's on the second floor. while the decision to move up has deterred foot traffic, customers actively seek out the business now. >> you could pop in and pop out really quickly, and you could still do that. but most people don't really want to do that when they come here now. they want to -- they want to sit down. they want to talk. they want to see what's happening. >> the space is smaller than former litwins locations. but employee sarah says the setting is actually more inviting. and customers spend more time looking. >> this is a business about relationships. not just about, you know jewelry. >> with the move to the second floor, litwins adapted a more web centric marketing strategy.

blog posts, facebook updates and an e-newsletter drive customers to check out the selection. >> customers that came here decades ago are still coming. and new customers, really they're coming because some of them are coming because of the social media and networking and because of things they see an facebook. >> foreman even cut her hours and started taking appointments. she's only open four days a week. foreman says she has no plans to grow any further. even when taking into account lit wins's success. she's scaled down for now and she's liking it. >> i just wanted to be small and be nimble. i think you have to find your own niche. the big boys are so big, and they have much deep pockets, how can you butt heads with them? who wants to, even? every year angel investors deliver billions of dollars to start-ups nationwide. some of the most successful companies were funded by angels. for example, ford aol and

amazon.com. here now with three secrets for winning over angels is david s. rose the chairman and ceo of gust, which operates a deliberative platform for early stage equity investing and he is a founder of new york angels. he's also the author of the new book "angel investing: the gust guide to making money and having fun investing in start-ups." what more could you want besides making money and having fun at the same time. >> that's the goal. >> you've been doing this for a long time. you see so many pitches. and there's something about the successful ones that pique your interest that a lot of other ones don't have. let's get to your tips. know everything about your business. isn't this a given? you say a lot of people don't know everything about their business? >> you would think it's a given. but you would also be amazed to see how many companies come in and can't answer the simplest questions about their competitors, about their costs, about their margins, about their projections. about their products about their supply lines, about their employees, about their growth path. you really have to know absolutely everything. investors are betting on you and

your ability to lead this company. and so you cannot possibly be overprepared. >> and then if you don't know the answer they lose confidence in you. >> if you don't know it it's all right to say i don't know and i'll get back to you. do that more than once or twice or on issues that are really important like what are your margins and you'll be in real trouble. >> have a business with goldilocks projected financials? >> remember goldilocks and the three bears. the business that you are presenting to angels for funding when you do your projections to show how much revenue you're likely to get over time if you show too much and you're saying we'll do $50 million in revenue this year from a standing start nobody's going to believe you. >> right. >> on the other hand if you do too little and say after ten years of working really hard at this business we'll do $50,000 a year in revenue. >> this porridge is too cold. >> the goldilocks predictions are just right, now that doesn't mean you fake your projections to meet the goldilocks number. it means that the business has to be rational and for a

business to be investable by angels it has to be something where there is a significant upside. >> okay. and then finally don't reinvent the wheel. i cannot say how important this is. lots of this stuff has already been done. >> absolutely. everything has been done. there are very few new things under the sun. so if you come in to an angel investor with a very strange capital structure or you're looking for weird notes or terms, or you've done strange deals with friends and family, it's just going to screw it up. >> yand it looks weird. it looks questionable, right, what's the point? >> there are ways of doing this so don't reinvent the wheel. use existing standard kind of term sheets and deal structures. >> great. thank you so much for giving us insight. i know a lot of people are looking for money. how do you find good angels? >> on gust.com or going to your local angel group. there are hundreds of angel groups in every state in the u.s. and virtually every company in the world. and those are angels who are pro-actively looking for new businesses like yours. >> okay great. thanks, david. great to see you.

>> thank you. we all depend heavily on the opinion of others when we make our purchases. in today's crowded app store you'll need lots of positive reviews in order to give your app the ranking boost it needs. here now are five things you can do to help stay on top courtesy of entrepreneur magazine. one, use a review pluggen. one popular plug-in makes it easy to prompts using to review your app. two, incentivize users. reward them if they choose to leave a review. a good way to do this is by providing points or credits. three, offer exceptional customer service. a good experience is a sure way to get a positive review. consider integrating help which allows you to communicate directly through your users through a two-way instant messaging window. four time the prompt. wait to ask for a review until after the user has accomplished something within your app. or has finished with his or her

intended task. asking them to leave a review when the app first loads can often annoy people and make it less likely that they'll do it. and five, run a contest. give out prizes to randomly selected users who leave a review. when we come back we'll talk more about growing your business, as we answer your questions about expanding from a local company to a national one. plus how to deal with posts on social media that could be causing some upsets. and our experts decide whether today's elevator pitch for a magnetic pocket to wear while jogging will have a good run. 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. you need to put away your pride. you have to be willing to really put your neck out there at every single turn. i remember after one event where i was speaking at his glamorous fashion show and i'm like this is great, it's a good marketing opportunity. it was on an incredibly rainy disgusting day in the basement of a hotel, four people turned out. but you have to put your pride away because there are bone-crushing, humiliating moments in being an entrepreneur. >> time now to answer some of your business questions. let's get our board of directors in here to help. les mcewen is the president and ceo of predictable success, an

incubation consulting company. he is also author of the new book "do lead: share your vision inspire others achieve the impossible." jim placing game is host of the small business advocate show. he is also author of the new book "the age of the customer: prepare for the moment of relevant." some of my guests who've been here since the very beginning and new books for both of you so congratulations. okay let's get to the questions. the first one is about social media. >> my question would be how to deal with social media, and the platform that it's giving employees and contractors, even consumers, when they go out and they become emotionally upset. >> interesting, right? because you want to empower your employees to talk. but you kind of want to control what they say. so how do you do that? >> don't. people can smell it a mile away when i try to artificially jig that stuff. and my view about social media not just in terms of what

employees are going to say, but customers, client says just do good work. it will work itself out in the end. you know i see so many people chasing down rabbits. we've got a local coffee shop close to town and the folks that own that spent forever chasing down two bad reviews. and they had something like 780 really good positive reviews. just do good work. nobody cares about small stuff like that. >> but you have to have a policy for your employees, though? >> here's what i kind most business owners do. they invoke that type of a clause, because they don't want to hear bad news. to me if i was running a business where an employee went and put something negative online, that's a massive wake-up call. and i'm the one who has to go and fix something. not the employee. >> but that's where you want them to come to you about that. you do not want -- employees, nonnew yorkable. employees don't get to put negative things up about the company. the company the way you solve that, you have to make a lot of

good deposits in your social media bank so if there is a negative one it's overpowered by the good ones. >> neither of you guys are saying that you should have a talk with your employees about here are our guidelines. for the way to use social media. >> that's what i said. i mean talk to your employees -- >> but your guideline is don't do it, right? >> well that's the first thing. nonnegotiable. you don't go post things about the company that are negative. then you have a conversation about what they have to say. if you have something to say about my company, if you have something to say about the product, then let's talk about that in-house. if you're taking my paycheck, you're on my side. >> all right. >> otherwise -- >> i got a job -- >> but some things are nonnegotiable. >> let's move on to the next question. this one is about expanding your brand reach. >> i'd like to know some more ffgs about how to expand our business from a state business to a regional or national business. we really have been in one area and we'd like to grow and see

how we can constructively move in to other areas without overwhelming ourselves. >> good question. >> well first you have to understand, you have to determine whether your business is ready to grow or not. whether your organization is ready to grow or not. just because you want to grow doesn't mean you're ready to grow. you have to have the capital. you have to have the people. you have to have the right reasons to grow. so let's say you're at that point. you've said okay we're ready for all those reasons. then you have to decide okay do i want to capitalize that growth? or do i want someone else to capitalize that growth? that's where you have the work in the road where you go and you get investors, you borrow money and when you manage all the operations, the other option is franchise. >> let's say money is not an issue they want to do it internally how do you start you have to find a good manager somewhere else you find good sales people do you go yourself and move to a different state for instance for a few months and set it up 43 >> i like to have two principles. try as much as possible to use the ripple effect. just keep pushing your boundaries. and the second thing is make sure that the market is telling you. i peen the market is a clear

beast in the capitalistic world that we live in. and when the market's telling you you should open in chicago, open in chicago. what tends to happen with small business owners is this. we need something -- we say, hey, you could work with us couldn't you? and they say, sure and we start something up and six months later, seven months later, we're trying to knit this thing to the. so working ripples, rather than chess moves. and listen to the market. is the market telling you to do it? >> customers you'll never go wrong listening to customers. that's what he is saying. >> think of it almost like you're starting your company again. >> i do not want to be one of those irritating people sending their newsletters out done standly. my sense is we moved some years ago away from being really of any utility in getting new customers.

we're spinning against the wind. i like the way anna put it. you know you scroll through your e-mail list delete delete, delete, what i believe. customers and clients. building sales, building in cross sales, just keeping in touch. making sure that -- because those people have already put their hand up. they like your stuff. >> and you were talking so much about customers a minute ago. maybe just ask your customers is this information to point out to the young lady there, don't send your newsletter to people who didn't ask for it. that's when you become one of the irritating people. make sure you send it to the people when have actually asked for it and then make sure your content is good making sure it's what your readers want. >> it's all about content. i open the newsletter that i get that is going to have something important. >> jim and les, thank you for this advice. stick around because we need you

in the elevator in a little bit. if any of you out there have a question for our experts, go to our website, the address is openforum.com/yourbusiness. and once you get there, hit the ask the show link. you can submit a question right there. or if you'd rather just send us an e-mail. yourbusiness@msnbc.com. do you have sensitive material you're sending digitally that you want to keep private. if you want complete control, check out our website of the week. ditchtrucks.com is an online platform that lets you set self-de self-destruct timers. recipients are not able to print, save or even screen capture them. if the file is forwarded you can control if any other people can view it. tracks how many times your file is viewed and by whom. millions of online website and mobile apps promise you to be efficient with your time and

money. which ones are actually helpful. we ask some of our small business owners which online tools they're using to help them stay ahead of the pact. >> one of my favorite online tools i love to use is online accounting tool that managing your incoming and outgoing expenditures. it's great for small businesses when they're just starting out and don't have a lot of funds for accounting services. >> we use a free app called cloud app. send attachments to our client and make it easy within an e-mail to access that content without using an attachment. >> one of the apps i use all the time is called text end pander. so instead of typing my phone number i type hph and it types

it pops out my whole e-mail and goes right out. >> the app for me that runs my life is ever note. it allows me as i start to get ideas that get into my head. as i have ideas, i can just get them out of my head and directly einto an application so i don't have to try to remember everything in my head. >> my recommendation for a free or cheap website app is use rescue time. the basic version is free or the upgraded version free. rescue time is fantastic to help you figure out what your most productive hours are and what your big time wasters are. everything that is not critical to your business or your core competencyies you can outsource or push to someone else's plate. >> the app or website we use is called time trade. i was struggling with e-mail people to schedule phone calls and e-mails together. we'd spend half the time just

trying to find a time. they can go ahead and schedule the meeting right away. >> my favorite app right now is workflowy. i use it every day. it just simplifies your thinking and it eliminates the distractions by helping you creating a list that you can move around easily. the other day i went on a long run and i had no place to put my keys and id. the product solves a problem but does it solve it well? let's see what our panel thinks. >> hi i'm brenda. >> i'm earl her husband and business partner. >> i'm a marathon runner who was dedes desperate for pockets in my running gear. it has two strong magnet. it allows me to carry my cell

phone, energy gels et cetera. it won't bounce or chafe when you wear it. you can also use it for hiking biking running, walking or shopping. >> the running apparel industry is a billion dollar a year industry. we've been reaching the running world by attending marathon expos such as the boston marathon or marine corps. at that time we sold 50,000 units and at that time we're looking for, as well we gathered 20,000 e-mails. we'd like to find $250,000 to help us go into retail stores as well as develop a new line of colored pockets and you can reach us at roosport.com. >> congratulations on your success so far. i'll hand these to each of you. scale of one to ten, how well do you think they did on their pitch. you know i, when i saw it great product. i didn't think of it for your passport, great idea. >> very popular.

>> okay let's see what these guys think of the business. les, let's start with you. >> i gave it a european seven. >> a seven, okay. one thing they did well and one thing they could work on. >> they really explain inproduct very, very well. the thing they could work on. i think they should pitch to someone who is much more their target demographic. i think the product is a great idea. i would like to see it more tact tactile. >> jim? >> i gave it 8.5. >> our first 0.on5 on the show. >> i like that it's what you're passionate about it. you use your stuff and use your product. people are attracted to that. i'm concerned about the money. if you're going to do what you want to do you'll be uncapitalized at $250,000. if you go after money, go

smaller or go bigger because anybody who will give you that money is probably if they know what they're doing, they're going to be concerned you're undercapitalized. don't give your company away for $250,000. >> you think they should be asking for more. >> more if they're going after investors especially. absolutely. that's the biggest thing i saw. but, otherwise y liked it. >> fantastic. congratulations on all of your success. again, i wish i had it last week and good luck with everything you guys are doing in the future. thank you, guys for everything today. really appreciate it. to learn more about today's show, just click on our website, openforum.com/yourbusiness. you'll find all of today's segments plus web exclusive content to help your business grow. you can also follow us on twitter @msnbc.com/yourbusiness. coming up next week we take you to the community of stewart, florida. the city has not one, but two

main streets. >> we want to bring everyone into our area. because it's the city of stewart. i don't think we're at the point yet where we're saying it's too much of anything. >> we'll tell you why no one is giving up on the double main street concept, even though one has been a lot more successful than the other. this is all part of our continuing series main street usa. until then i'm jj ramberg, remember, we make your business our business.

mike huckabee makes his move. good morning thanks for getting up with us this sunday morning. the holidays have come to a close a new era in washington is about to begin. president obama is leaving hawaii in the early hours of the morning. this putting an end to his 15-day vacation in the state where he was born and raised. he is heading back to washington. the white house, as we speak. we'll have more in just a little bit and how he's planning to kick off the new year