how the owner restructured and found new partners taking the business to the next level. the ceo of planet fitness with advice keeping your small business in shape, and the newest gadgets from the consumer electronics show. all that coming up on "your business." small businesses are revitalizing the economy, and american express open is here to help. that's why we proud to present

your "business" on msnbc. ♪ ♪ hi, everyone welcome to your "business," and for those of you watching the show for a while, you know i started my company with my brother. and for any of you out this who also has business partners, you know how absolutely critical it is to have shared goals, not necessarily to see eye to eye on all the tactics of running a business, but you and your partner have to believe in the same overall picture. what happens when your coownerments to go in another direction or leave the company all together? as one entrepreneur discovered it took new blood and restructured company to keep the small business sailing.

>> the company was growing at a pace that was hard to keep up with reinand we needed more bandwidth and skills that we didn't have. >> the company, sea bags, were at a cross roads. her business partner wanted a change, and while the company had been growing fast beth knew she had to do something to make sure it reached the next level. >> with the company getting busier hannah had a desire to step back from the day-to-day, and i still had the vision to see the company grow see more employees, and scale it up. >> they co-owned the brand that hannah founded in 2006. they make totes, duffels, and bags from used sails. >> it was clear to make adjustments for either of us we had to raise some money, and i couldn't afford to do it by myself or prepared to do that by myself. >> before she could restructure

anything beth needed new partners, one that would ideally add both cash and savvy to the business. >> we wanted the product to be made in maine and stay out of recycle sails and products and practices to be green. >> she discovered she was not going to meet a match immediately. no everyone saw the future the same way. >> some of the people that talked originally oh, it would be easier to make these in china. yeah, wrong business. that's not what we set sea bags up to be. easier to use new material. yeah, well, we call that ll bean. i had those meetings. i left them sick to my stomach, and that was my barometer. >> as the search went on business as usual, the operation never slowed down despite the inevitable changes. >> we kept investing in the business as if we were going to continue to own it in the current structure because that's all we knew how. we had to keep the foot on the gas and grow because we had, at

that point, over 30 employees we were proudly responsible for. >> something clicked when she met fran phillip. don oaks set the ball in motion. >> we are both from maine, born and raised here. these thrifty, level headed, and i left saying there's a guy to learn from and work with. >> beth was not looking for investors, but partners and needed bandwidth and people who could work in the business. >> before any formal agreement was signed they got to work. >> we went through heavy, heavy negotiating, and the deal could have broke at any point, but once we knew we wanted to work together, don and fran had a lot to share with my business. >> the hope was that their involvement ensured a smoother that's session. >> most important thing to do is learn the business. i was looking at it from the outside in and now to be able to sit in on the inside. >> after eight months the deal was done. both sides had to look beyond the negotiations because they

knew their skills complimented each other. >> if not for beth and my commitment to this, it would have fallen apart. >> we quickly became adept of saying, you know, i don't have to win every single appointment. working together and growing the business together is ultimately winning. >> don and fran were beth's new partners, don as ceo and beth as the president. despite formalities, the leadership is collaborative. the two-sided desk they share is proof of that. >> neither one of us are big on titles. they are important to others but there's nothing going on that we are not in the know about and one of us takes the lead. that's how we work it. >> step one was to formally reorganize the company. including the creation of a board. >> the way we structured the deal with don and fran's investers was it was more beneficial to restructure it as an llc. >> within weeks, a warehouse opened where sails were stored and cut. on the sail side beth knew why to focus. >> the business is strong over

the years because that was my comfort zone. i wanted to grow a direct channel. >> spearheading a new look for seabags.com. >> we restructured the website, the branding look and feel and shot the bags in a consistent way. it was a matter of doing a better job of telling the story. >> the addition of staff drives growth at three retail locations and online. >> i have a marketing team can you believe it? i didn't have one before. i have a sales team, amazing. before i before, i had a salesperson. >> she's consulting for ways to do better business. >> changes were on how to we improve the business and focus on steps to make people's jobs easier. they know their jobs better than i did, so we didn't try to tell people how to do their jobs. >> while beth and don were excited about the possibilities of the new sea bags not everyone was. >> i think it's fair to say not everybody reacts to change well.

it becomes apparent quickly, people that are not capable of making change. there's no shame for anybody saying it's not a fit. >> after all the comings and goings, the staff is at 50. with that increase there's a push for open communication. >> our core team is in place, and we need to get everybody settled on the same page. >> one of the curses of being an introvert is sometimes if you think it you think you said it. i have to remind myself that just because i know it or i thought it doesn't mean that everybody is on board or understands. >> as sea bags goes forward, beth has no regrets looking back, grateful she found not just partners but the right partners to help restructure her business. >> for me owning a smaller piece of a bigger company and relinquishing control is better than owning 100% of a smaller company. i got the best partners.

>> the consumer electronics show which happens each january is a sort of tech wanderland for gadget lovers looking for the next generation of pcs, mobile device, and all modern must-haves. there's tons of great finds for small business owners to boost productivity or just upgrade gear. here to give us a look at some of the latest devices from this year's ces is dana woolman, editor of new gadgets and consumer electron igs. great to see you. >> yeah, great to see you. thanks for having me. >> thank you for going through the enormous show and finding stuff that works for small business owners. >> absolutely. i have a fun job here. i just wanted to give you a quick look at the hot stuff we saw this past week. >> okay perfect. all kinds of pcs. >> absolutely. i brought the macbook here for scale. everyone thinking of it as the best thin and light laptop, but

there's others that make this look like a lug. we have smaller ones and others that are a lot, lot lighter. >> funny. it looks big. >> yeah. >> this is an on the kl illusion. we have the dell sps 13. it has the same screen size but they is an illusion going on. there's very little border surrounding the screen so you get a big screen but in a size notebook more on par with an old school net book. for business owners if you're a traveler like i am you have a much smaller machine that you can put in your bag. look at the footprint here. look how much space you save. you save space and just a lot lighter. too. that's the benefit. >> what about expense? >> you know not bad, starting at $800 beating the macbook and other portable laptops too. >> okay. what's this? >> this is lenovo the new lv

series, one of the world east lightest laptops weighing 2 pounds the lightest touch screen convertible laptop. they make one that's lighter at 1.7 pounds but you give up the touch screen. i want to hand this to you and -- you won't believe it. feels like a fake computer. play with pthis. >> feels like my kid's toy. it's very real. it's very fast. battery life is on par with bigger machines. >> amazing. i bring my computer everywhere when i travel. >> me too. weeks like this on the road for nine days end and just carrying around a backpack all day, i would love this in my messenger back and not have a heavier computer breaking my shoulders all day. >> me too. is this a challenger? >> this is a battery case for the iphone. this is callfrom a company called ibats.

this is special because there are charging cases, but that's a popup battery. >> let me see how it works. take my phone -- >> yeah yeah. >> is it heavy? >> not at all. >> okay. ? yeah, so this is the case. >> oh it's lightweight. >> it does the iphone justice. it's a thin phone, and you want a thin case with it showcasing what a thin phone you have. it's a slim case but what's nice is you get double the battery life and in case your battery runs out, you can pop this out and replace it with a new one, and you can find this very battery for as low as $11 on amazon. >> that's great. >> stock up have endless battery life. >> i had one with an extra battery, but it was enormous because it was too big and heavy. >> if you're like me you not only to forget to charge the phone, but forget to charge the chargers. this is a god send because -- >> you do it at the same time. >> it's nice to have backup

batteries and never wonder if you have battery life for your phone. i live on my phone when i travel as business owners do. >> absolutely. what is this? >> this is a new phone from lg, a curved screen phone. why the heck do you need a curved screen phone, but this adds flexibility and dur durability to the device. one benefit of having this device here. you'll cringe. i'll bear down and flatten the device and it withstands the punish. imagine dropping your phone it's durable. this is my favorite part is there's material on the back that's quote-on-quote self-healing. if i scratch it like this -- it fixes itself within ten seconds. the last generation did the same

thing, but it took three minutes. now there's instant gratification. >> this is for the person hard on their phone in. >> hard on their phone, and like me you take your phone everywhere, live on your phone, and my phone has tiny scratches on it because i drop it in the airport or wherever i'm traveling. >> got it. okay. what is this tablet here? >> this tablet is the dell venue 87,000 series and won best award in the mobile category both because of how it looks and what it does. first of all, it's extremely thin the thinnest tablet at six millimeters thick, well designed, a beautiful crisp display rivaling the ipad's retina display. this is an ann android tablet by the way. this allows you to do cool things including point the camera at something in the room and get a measurement of space. >> neat.

>> without having to pull out a tape measure, let's say. >> right. >> i want to see if furniture there or something. the camera is useful and fun. >> thank you for walking that show finding great stuff helpful to us who could not be there and, frankly, are not qualified to see what's best there. thank you very much. great to see you. >> thanks for having me. working out is a top new year's resolution, let's face it, while people hope to adopt a healthier lifestyle, it's easier said than done and that is why in 1992 brothers cofounded planet fitness, creating an inviting environment, not intimidating, and now there's more than 900 locations nationwide with plans to expand to canada this year. in learning from the pros we sit down with the ceo who tells us how letting the dust settle and focusing on what you're good

at helped the brand grow. ♪ ♪ >> when you focus on what you're great at and do that 100% of the time too many people do master of all. we have spinning classes, day care we had that back in the early days. what we saw every day was a moving part, and disappointing members than you serviced. we had the courage to take it out. the industry says you can't have a gym without a juice bar or day care. now members are happy. we couldn't let them down. we focus on what we did perfect. ♪ ♪ it's hard to hold back. some of the things you got to let it go out and let the dust settle to see what sicks and not stick and see how does it work for your particular business or my particular business at planet fitness. let it go out first. don't jump on quick.

people gravitate towards it and you don't want to spend time going down a road that's not going to be working. >> i think seeing customers share their experience, they believe in your vision. your same direction of the company and what you believe in. we just launched a new platform called planet of triumphs on the website, customers telling us their triumphs what they've done since being with us some are large, some small, but important to us. if they share their testimony over why they like your product over someone else's, you are winning and hitting the right nerve on what you focused on all along. getting that from your customer it truly means you're headed down the right path. >> when we come back as your company grows, should you focus on value or valuation? and how did you do with my challenge from last week? ready to tackle a new one? the next challenge after this break.

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 week's selfie is from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. next time you are there, stop

by, and say hi to them. send a selfie of you and your business and add the the #yourbusinessselfie, and tweet us or e-mail us and please don't forget to tell us your name, city and the name of your company. it is time now to answer some of your business questions, so let's get our board of directors in here to help us out. eric is the president and editor in chief of ink and cnbc contributor, carol rock a recovering investment banker speaker, entrepreneur, and best selling author. thanks guys. great to see you both. >> nice to be here. >> first is from darrell who wrote, when a business reached the ten-year maturity mark how do you determine if focus is on value or valuation with value emphasizing the path to generational sustain the versus valuation

valuation's emphasis on what i could sell the business for today. interesting question right? you will make different decisions if you're thinking about selling your company than if you are thinking about passing it down potentially. >> and i think the good news is is that there's no right answer. it really depends on your own objectives, but i will tell you that far too many entrepreneurs wait too late to consider the sale process. they are sipping margaritas on the beach before they prepare. if you are exploreing a sale get the dream team together. an investment banker broker lawyer and not your uncle -- the one that focuses on m&a. >> this is if you want to sell? >> even if you explore it. they help you not only get your house in order but tell you when the best time for you to sell the business is. >> when you think about business decisions, right, think about valuation, you may go for a quick fix revenue versus the long term strategy of you know

this is going to work in the long term for my kids. >> i think if you're not at the stage where you are thinking about selling, then you should take care of value and valuation takes care of itself. think about it a buyer asks is this business sustainable? what happens when you are gone and if you're the person shovmingshovm ing shoveling the coal you're important to the growth. >> that's why you think about this three years before thinking of really selling your business so you make the right decisions, have a growth trajectory because nobody wants to buy a business where all the growth is gone. >> someone said even if you sell the business treat it like you're not selling it. you know -- >> as a former investment banker, i disagree. maximize value if you do certain things that benefit the sale process, things like cutting back on private company expenses, the last couple years -- >> sure, yes, i agree. >> it's really important to have those advisers in place who can

tell you the things you need to think about over a couple of year period. >> on the other hand don't obsess about valuation. in a way, it's a false guide. there's a lot of things about your sale price that are totally out of your control, state of the market at the time you sell the particular needs of your buyer, and concentrate on the stuff you can control, the value and growth path, and the valuation takes care of itself. >> rely on advisers to care for other things as well. >> the next question expanding sales channels. >> we're currently wholesaling in a major chain nationally and i wanted to know how to continue to roll the brand and get more channels of distribution. >> well i think the best way to get more wholesale distributors is increase demand on the end user and then do you think of examples of the great entrepreneurs in cosmetics, and what they did, the stories are well known, loaded the trunk of the car with cosmetics, drove

out to the salons in las vegas and would not leave until every salon carried it. they knew the demand was there and sale was made in the salon. >> absolutely. you can't rely on retail to be the silver bullet but build the brand yourself the a great way to do that is building influencers. could be a celebrity, a niche expert in the market a blogger, could be a popular youtuber somebody particularly with cosmetics to show off the product to their following and help to create that demand that eric was talking about. >> okay finally. we have a question about managing employees remotely. >> i run my business from home so a question i have is how can i better monitor my employees and our productivity while being based online? >> such a good question right? because you may have employees with a list of stuff they are doing, but how do you know

taking them an hour or three days? >> all of my employees and contractor work remotely and the way that i do it i base it on deadlines. i give them a deadline and if they meet it i'm happy. i don't care how long it takes them to do it. i don't care if they work in the morning or work in the night as long as it's done. for the ones that don't get it done, and it's always the creative folks that cannot manage a deadline, i do a couple things. one, i give them a fake deadline so i know when they employee through the first one, they'll miss. they'll probably make the second deadline, and the other thing i do is chunk down the project. instead of giving them a big protocol i give them smaller deliverables, and i revisit a couple times a year what are you working on? what's taking up your time? rebalancing, taking projects away from people and reambulancing it and sometimes we get rid of the work all together if it's not productive. >> i think one of the best things you can use is the right tools. >> uh-huh. >> so you're going to need tools that do -- that facilitate

collaboration. at the very least, you need base camp collaboration tool or google docs and things that allow you to communicate and make up for the fact you can't walk to another person's desk. there's things written at ink.com, there's one mural.ly a virtual white board, and the other is daily update an e-mail manager thing that allows you to for example, e-mail at 4:00 p.m. local time even however many time zones your business happens to be in that asks them what they accomplished at the end of the day. >> great tools, guys. tools are the best thing you can use to run your company remotely, so i really like that list you gave us. thank you, guys very much for all that advice. we answer questions every week here on the show and so if you have one, go on over to the website, the address is openforum.com/yourbusiness, and once you are there, hit the ask the show link to submit a

question for the panel, or if you'd rather e-mail us your questions or comments to yourbusiness@msnbc.com. last week, we launched a fun series and if you did not do it last week do it this week. the first one was from the ceo of zappos and it was to clean out your inbox every single day. do you do this? >> absolutely. >> are you kidding? >> if i'm at 250, i'm the happiest person in the world. >> how does tony do this i wonder? >> he says this is what he does. i believe -- i did it. i started at 600. i got down to 20%. i wanted to come on the show saying i did it. i didn't right? okay. i got it down to five new ones every single day, better than i used to have so -- >> turns out i was not alone in thinking that this -- crazy, i chose this as the first one to

do. i should have chosen easier challenge. but people had problems with it. our viewer amy, said i'm trying the challenge, but the key is to unsubscribe. good advice. our viewer john had a long way to go. i accept the challenge from jj, 12 00 e-mails to go. you go john. >> i know. that made me feel better about what i had. >> absolutely. >> this week's challenge, which you have to do with me. >> all right. >> comes from jack dorsey a visionary, one of the founders of twitter, and he started mobile payments company, square. talk about success, jack has seen it in spade. what's the challenge? get up before sunrise and start the day early. you're laughing. >> what part of the country? what time zone are we talking about in terms of sunrise? >> this is easier in the winter. >> it is easier in the winter. >> it's easy for me because i'm an early riser so follow us -- >> i'm not on board with the

challenge. i was offered a morning radio show, and i passed that up because i couldn't wake up in the morning. >> wow. >> can we do a little tweak to the challenge? >> there are no tweaks. get up before sunrise. follow us on twitter. >> i think jack would be proud of me. e-mail is tough. >> yeah that was last week. >> i want know how you are doing, so please tweet us put stuff on facebook, tell me how you are doing, and use the the #thejjchallenge. i'll update my attempts online as well. even though we commit to a new challenge every week these goals are great additions to your daily routines. if you didn't get last week's challenge, here are tips about clearing out the inbox every single day. these are five bad e-mail habits that you should avoid curtesy of entrepreneur.com. one, overflowing inboxes with unnecessary information. the desire to stay on top of everything is great, but if you

subscribe to too much unsubscribe from what you don't need. two, using e-mail for everything. if you want to chat use hip chat, and if you want to schedule a meeting, check out doodle. three, wasting time checking out your inbox set specific times to respond to important e-mails and use keyboard shortcuts. four writing long winded e-mails. practice etiquette keeping the message short. make sure the subject line is clear easily searchable for later reference. five never delete or archive. clear inboxes regularly so you don't filter through old e-mails. thank you, everyone for joining us today. if you want to see the segments again, go to openforum.com/yourbusiness, and posted a bunch more content to help your business grow. check it out. we're on twitter too and facebook and instagram.

next week an entrepreneur teaches ethnic food to american foodies. >> instructors receive 50 hours of paid training, and about half to two-thirds of that is coaching around teaching because, you know you can be a great cook but that's different from being a good teacher of cooking. >> turning the tables on the traditional cooking school model while giving immigrants an opportunity to share and work with their culture. remember, we make your business our business. 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 is going to be a big show. there was a pastor in texas, evangelical pastor in texas who does not call herself a pastor. she said she is a prophet. she said she is a living prophet with a direct line to god. she says specifically that god has given her special powers including the ability to raise people from the dead. she says she has brought children back from the dead. it's no big deal. she has it all the time if you had a child t