when the economy took a downturn, this printer saw the benefit of taking small owners and working more business to business. find out how going small saved his company. and the ceo of 1-800-got-junk with advice on how your business can clean up. that and more coming up next on "your business." >> announcer: 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 jj ramberg and well come to "your business." the show dedicated to help small businesses grow and survive. landing big orders is like a dream come true for so many small business owners. unfortunately, as easy as those big orders can come they can also go. one small business owner was left reeling when his bigger clients took a step back because they were tight on cash. well, it was a major hit, this entrepreneur refused to sit around to see what might happen next. instead, he focused on smaller clients and built business to business relationships that kept his company going.

>> i wouldn't have a business it saved my business. >> chip says clients like rebecca and jeff wheeler have made his business the success it is today. >> it was the right answer at the right time. >> the owner of we think in ink in ashland, virginia know small business people need to be flexible with their spending. >> when you're an entrepreneur in a small business in particular, your reaction times to market changes is fairly crucial. being able to respond quickly is everything. >> what we have today may be great for today, but in five months as our business evolves and changes, that needs to be able to change with us. >> reporter: rebecca, the owner of rba auctions online and jock the owner of old dominion mechanical, don't want to waste money on printed mechanicals like brochures or business cards. >> as a start-up capital and cash is really important. it can make the difference between us being able to do a job and not being able to do a

job. >> you are susceptible to busy seasons and slower seasons and upswings and downswings in the economy. >> that's why chip made it his mission to help. >> we are commercial printers who specialize in doing short-runs for customers that are in sort of a growth mode. >> chip knows all too well what it's like to walk in their shoes. >> we saw local business printing is very local. we are talking about small mom and pop businesses like mine little company that is are trying to grow and don't have a whole lot of cash. >> chip encourages clients like rebecca and jock to place small orders as often as they'd like. >> imagine if you're the customer and your printer comes in and says why are you ordering so many? you don't need to. i'll give you the same price instead of buying 500, 1,000 or 2,000, you can buy 100. when something changes, we'll make you a change and print you a couple hundred more. >> we think in ink used to make large orders all the time but in 2008 the bottom fell out. customers disappeared and chip knew he needed to make a change. >> i stopped trying to sell because it was coming in so fast

we could barely handle it. they bought anywhere from three to six months worth of whatever it was that they needed and then in 2008 they weren't buying any of it because they couldn't afford to. by the middle of november, we were sitting here twiddling our thumbs and i said uh-oh. i've got to do something and i have to do it fast. >> even though chip had been doing smaller runs all along, the light bulb finally went off. >> they loved it. it was not hard to sell. >> he actively pursued more b2b relationships in order to save his company. his message was clear. >> why buy so many? you don't need that many. something is going to change and you are going to throw half that many away. it's silly to make that many. let's make it easy to buy just a few. >> rebecca knows chip is always willing to help no matter the size of her order. >> if i call chip and be like i need 36 of this because i have 36 attorneys to mail this to. he would be like okay. up wouldn't have to order 50. i could actually scale it proportionate to my project.

>> ordering small is something most clients never thought about and so chip had to change a mindset to get business owners to reconsider ordering big. >> the printing industry had successfully trained the entire customer base all printers all print buyers, that you've got your best price by looking for the quantity where you've got a price break. the more you involve, the cheaper they were per peace. >> it's part of the solution he brings to us it's not only just smaller runs but competitor pricing that really works for us. >> if they order 5,000, their price is x. if they order 5,500 at a time their price may be 2x. but their money is not tied up. >> this model also gives some flexibility. if urgent requests come in the staff can handle them. >> when i've got 20 orders in the shop and somebody comes in with a unique need that they have to have it by 3:00 i can butt in line and it doesn't hurt anything because it only takes 20 minutes. if you're running all big orders

and butt in line you can throw someone off by days. >> having newer printers helps out, too. >> digital printing is why we were able to come up with our business plan. because there's no make ready on a digital copier. >> chip says there are some results he didn't expect. >> the consultant that works out of their home clearly gets an advantage from not only can they do small orders but they can customize them for the particular client they are going off of. >> jock like many customers also sought chip's advice for ways to grow his company. >> but i'm not a marketing person, i'm not an advertising guy, i need someone to help us design those products and that's where they are great. >> even though competitors have taken notice of chip's strategy other printers in the area haven't really followed suit. >> in 2008 there wasn't much revenue. and this was the way to get it back. and, you know, my competitors don't want it. they think i'm crazy. that's fine. >> smaller orders have benefited we think in ink but they have created a little more work too. >> it's harder to do because 12

orders to make up 5,000 for the year means 12 invoices. and collecting the money 12 times and depositing it 12 times, et cetera et cetera, so from that perspective it's a little more challenging. >> in the end it's worth the hassle because these small orders mean big business nor now and in the future. >> instead of trying to reinvent who you are, figure out who you are and tell the world about it. package it so that it makes sense. we really didn't change what we do. we just changed a little bit how we do it. changed our message. and it was really fun. >> for chip tompkins taking many smaller orders turned out to be the key to growing his business. but an approach like that isn't going to help any small business unless you have a proper plan in place. creating a business plan was the big difference between stagnation and expansion for a brooklyn designer who didn't want the rug pulled out from under her by not having vision

organization and an understanding of the competition. on many accounts four years after starting her custom company, milani was very successful inspiring carpets inspired by her travels around the world and had them handmade in nepal, india, china and mexico. soon after landing her first clients, she gave malani one of her first designs. >> i came across her team and took a look at her website and immediately fell in love with everything she does. >> and she got press, lots of it. el decor, luxe magazine to name a few. she had a goal to get people to buy her carpets and went after it with gusto. >> i attended every event related to my industry whether

it was a cocktail for a related product, whether the magazines were giving it i was there. and then i did trade shows, because that's how i was able to connect with the design community. >> like many entrepreneurs, her work became her life. she operated on one premise, every moment was a sales opportunity. >> it was about survival basically, it was just okay i need to get a sale. okay i need to go meet this person. i in ed to be at this event. it was just a constant in in in. >> so constant that malani didn't have a chance to step back to see how her company was doing. and when she did, turns out it wasn't doing as well as she thought. while she was working hard and seemingly doing everything right, her sales weren't growing. >> okay i have all these elements, i have production i have talent i feel i have the personality to connect with people i have the media, so why isn't everyone flocking? >> she forced herself to take up

and with the help of a program called 10,000 things for a small business was this 42-became document. the maleneb. custom handmade carpets business growth plan. >> the growth plan is keeping me thinking. >> it has sections on aspirations, financials leadership style, the industry as a whole. and it's a road map of where the opportunities lie and how to take advantage of them. and so you take all your potential growth strategies put them through the feasibility checklist, pick the one that looks rosiest at the end. >> exactly. because there has to be a match to where you want to go and where you are. and now i'm more focused on the areas where i want to focus on growth. so my two focuses right now are developing my licensing business as well as focusing on the

luxury residential and commercial interior projects. that's how i'm really going to grow. and again, create a brand that's long lasting. >> now she's doing something she would have never done before the plan. she's saying no to people. >> so when i hear someone say, oh yeah i was a custom carpet. and, you know it's a small carpet. i know now that's just not really going to help my business grow. >> melene's business is on the rise again and with her new focus she's also able to have a life. >> i actually cut my night at 7:00 now. i shut down. i used to work until 10:00 to 11:00. so i am working differently. >> differently and definitely better. what do you do when you find a problem that needs fixing? well, if you're a disrupter, you start a business. brian scutamor started the company 1-800-got-junk with just one vehicle. now the company's signature blue trucks can be found in cities

nationwide. because of his success, he's also started two new businesses in the home services sector. in this week's disrupter, we'll see how 1-800-got-junk took a mom and pop industry and professionalized it. >> i started 1-800-got-junk. our name our phone number would all be the same. 1-800-got-juching 1-800-got-junk. i made phone call after phone call to get this phone number. i kept making phone calls, called a guy in the telephone room and he said you know this sounds like this is important to you. you have called me three times in the last couple of days. he gave me the number and the rest is history. but i was so convinced i would get that number that i went and designed the logo as it is today before i even had the phone number because i knew that that was the brand. so when i come up with something, you know a vision of where the company could possibly

go, i'm determined, i work hard to get there and i rally people around me to join me in making that vision a reality. disruptive to me means that you're challenging the status quo, you're doing something differently. if i look at 1-800-got-junk, we took a fragmented mom and pop industry and professionalized it. we had always said we wanted to be the fedex of junk world, that meant clean, shiny trucks friendly drivers and up-front rates. we use technology to be disruptive. we can have someone go to the online booking engine and immediately dispatch the closest truck. what the customers find disruptive and is said is the case but that's we say we'll do what we will do. we all deal with home services and how often do people deliver on their promise? it's rare. we take feedback and do follow-up calls on every job and ask every customer within 48 hours to 72 hours how did we do what can we do to improve and we are in this perpetual learning

cycle with our business where we have to always be better and always give the customer what they want and need. we hire an attitude train on skill. allowing you to build in skills on something more quickly than doing it the first time. we looked at our business and said, how do you do it the 1-800-got-junk way? it's always about finding and picking franchise partners who have the passion who want to drive something and be a part of building something much bigger together. it's about finding people who are not just interesting but interested. my montra is always be branded. if you're always logoed it's a chance to standout. it's a chance for people to notice the brand and ask questions. competitors help us. and they allow us to stay on our toes and make sure that we do a great job and that we are always number one. when the competition comes in and they do a great job, we try and learn from them and say, what can we do better than them? if we're so good to at taking the ordinary business of junk removal and making it

exceptional, why can't we do it in painting and moving? who knows what is next maybe gutters and landscaping want we want to get into the home and be the company that's first to mind and chosen by a consumer who has anything they need done around their home. my favorite thing about 1-800-got-junk and where we are going in the future, it becomes an incubator of the great people who work in the trucks in the call center and many go on to ultimately start their own franchise. in painting or in moving. almost everyone comes from the internal family and grows into one of the brands. so what i love about what we do is we teach entrepreneurship, we have all the entrepreneurs, people that work in our business who help us grow and eventually go on to have ownership of their own. so i see us building a home service empire. a billion-dollar business and then some. starting a business is always risky. but there are certain growing

industries where there are both immediate opportunity and long-term viability. here are five hot sectors to consider courtesy of ink.com. one, food e-commerce. entrepreneurs who can provide hungry consumers with the fresh ingredients they want without a high price tag will have a golden opportunity to encourage them to shop online. two, legal marijuana. navigating the regulatory hurdles is a challenge, but the gross possibilities are huge. three, agricultural software. technology to help increase farmers' profits is already taking root in the u.s. four, yoga and pilates. the $10 billion market for classes and related products offer tremendous promise since the industry has no dominant national player. and five relaxation beverages. americans who are sick of the energy drink fad are looking for the exact opposite sleep aid drinks. entrance should act fast,

though, convenient store shelves are already filling up with new brands. some people are just simply efficient. they are incredibly good at managing their time and then some others find that the entire day has gone by and they have accomplished very, very little. since our to-do lists are not going away any time soon and there are only 24 hours in a day, we have enlisted someone to help us think about how to be midwest productivity. cory cogan is the global productivity practice leader who focuses on content development for time management project management and communication skills. she's also the co-author of the new book "the 5 choices: the path to extraordinary productivity." it's so great to see you. i think this is such an important topic because we all have so much to do. >> we do thank you for having me. it's a crazy time. >> it is always crazy. talk to me about the five tips. how can i -- what do i need to know? >> you start the beginning with act to the important, don't react to the urgent. there are three problems we are solving first today. one is we're making more

decisions than we ever have before. number two, our attention is under unprecedented attack and we are just worn out. so these five choices are the process by which we master the skills of decision attention and energy management. choice one act on the important, don't react to the urgent are the skills of did certainment. we say what we need to do is pause, really get mindful. our brain is the number one tool that we need to use, get mindful, pause, assess the situation, clarify it and make a decision to get the best return on the moment for the thing that's in front of you. >> okay, now focus on the extraordinary, you say. >> go for extraordinary. you have to be clear on what is important. so identify the few most important roles in your life put them in a life wheel, looks like a pie, evaluate how you think you're doing in them because it becomes very real and then set up vision of success in each of those roles. they really come from the gut, i'm a mother, i'm a director i'm a practice leader and then use that framework to make decisions and did certain all

day long. every week you should do what we call the 30/10 promise. take 30 minutes before the week starts to quietly determine what your big rocks are. what is most important? could be a big project, but it could be date night with your spouse or partner or having a conversation with the employees as we're trying to get this business going. and so before all the gravel all that stuff comes in get that stuff into your calendar. because the research shows the more specific you get about getting it into your calendar the higher the probabilities of accomplishment by 200% to 300%. >> and you fill in around it instead of having other stuff push it down. >> you have to be vigilant. take ten minutes at the end of the day, mark things complete, move things that didn't get done, but be driven by the large things and let the gravel fall in around it. >> okay and this one we already talking about but is don't let your technology rule you, you rule it. >> get very conscious of your addiction. it's a waste. talk to people talking to your

employees, you are trying to, you know text while talking to them, bad news for production. you want to do that and turn technology into a productivity engine. fuel your fire don't burn out, your brain is the number one tool in this knowledge worker age. we are paid to sync so it needs lots of nutrients. eat, move sleep, relax, connect. pick one of those, get really good, get your brain healthy because it is needed to drive the high value decisions and the focused attention that's required in the 21st century. >> and also just give yourself time to think. stop doing once in a while and give yourself time to think. >> get yourself into the thinking brain. the prix-frontal cortex. you'll be amazed how much of your own productivity personally and professionally go up. >> well, thank you so much for coming on the program. these are incredibly helpful and i think sometimes things we just forget about because we are so busy doing. >> you are so busy doing and not everybody is perfect.

so try one or two things ayou'll be amazed at the results of getting the important things done and leaving some of the rest behind. >> we really appreciate it. thank you for writing that book so we have a resource to go to. >> thank you for having me. still to come, jeffrey hayes and alfred edmond on whether to trademark your brand. american express for travel and entertainment worldwide. just show them this - the american express card. don't leave home without it! and someday, i may even use it on the moon. it's a marvelous thing! oh! haha! so you can replace plane tickets, traveler's cheques, a lost card. really? that worked? american express' timeless safety and security are now available on apple pay. the next evolution of membership is here.

this week's yourbizselfie comes from miss jenny herself, jenny fulton of miss jenny's pickles in north carolina. i have actually tasted those pickles and i have to say they are really really good. now we want to see your picture. so send it to us at yourbusiness@msnbc.com or tweet it to us at msnbcyourbiz and #yourbizselfie. time to answer your business questions so let's get our board of directors in here to help us out. marketing expert and change agent jeffrey haisley, and alfred edmond is responsible for all aspects of the company's major franchises. so good to see you. we have a marketing powerhouse panel today. >> a one-two punch right here.

>> let's get to the first question about landing a contract for business. >> as a certified women of business, i get a lot of rsvps in the mail and i would love to bid and submit and win a contract for rsp, so i would love a request for tips and tricks on how to actually get one of these contracts. >> i think this is a great question. you get something in the mail you get excited because you fit but it's actually the pitch that's going to get you the work or not. >> well, it is not just the pitch but also getting to know the organization a bit better. a lot of the rps have an insider and are making sure they are getting the best deal from the person they already have. get to know who is making the decisions, find out the influencers, get to them and see if you have a chance. a lot of times going after them is a waste of time. >> by the way, how do you do that? >> linkedn, use social media, find out how the people are, go on their website, you will find out who the people are pretty quickly. >> she's a woman on business there's supplier development

counsels within the company and each region of the country designed to match up suppliers with purchasing agents. so you know who to talk to how to make yourself standout so it's not just your rp versus someone else's rp. when all is done the purchasing agents want to make you look good. >> alfred just said something really important, there's a lot of support groups inside that group. so there are women groups looking for women business openers, get to know them they will help do the politics inside that company. >> okay, let's move on to the next question about streamlining your operations. >> with technology is there any way to automate your management your business management or your marketing functions of your business? >> i like that she's asking the questions, it is a big question. >> but there are some rules of thumb i have about the whole thing of automation. and i give two big ones. you automate things not people. so usually automation to replace things that really need human

interaction almost never works. anybody who has called a customer service line and gotten a thing, not a person knows that. the second thing is to always remember your automation should be about two things growing revenue and making it easier for the customer or the client not necessarily making it easier for you. so the most efficient internal processes, if they don't result in boosted revenues and a more efficient experience for your customer or client, that can be very expensive on both ends the cost of getting it and the impact on your business. >> i'm always surprised that business openers don't automate certain things that are time consuming, things like their accounting and those types of things. lots of businesses that i know don't use quickbooks or some kind of version of that. but on the marketing side depending on your side there are products like hot spot. mail chip they make doing the e-mails faster that make the automation so when someone clicks on your website and says i'm interested an automatic letter goes back from the president of the company, which is you. so there's a lot of little

things like that you can do that are time consuming and you can utilize every single day. >> i think the way for her to think about this is to go into her business and say, where am i spending my time and what is very tedious for me to do and what -- where do i think i can speed things up or what do i need measured that i'm not getting measured right now. >> and the distance between you and the customer automation, if you are mail chipping those things then it makes a difference between the distance between your messaging and how to contact the customer. >> as a business owner, do it yourself first. do it first. >> i'm also surprised when talking about automation all the finances. you mentioned this. >> all the time. >> how do people really understand their numbers and there are all kinds of ways to do it right there -- >> people think that the software or the machinery is going to do it for them. you still have to know your numbers cold. >> but this gives you a way to at least look at them right? >> even using an expense file take pictures of your receipts

rather than a shoebox to your accountant at the end of the year. >> the next question is about the all important brand. >> a small business is rebranding themselves for the first time when is the best point in that process to trademark the brand that they have created? >> jeffrey? >> well, right away. i was going to say right away you want to start thinking about those things, not necessarily go through the full registration of it but trademark it saying this is my name and the thing that i'm using. but the biggest thing is to build your brand. a brand is nothing but a promise delivered. build your brand, work on the services and the product you're delivering first before you really begin to think about the name. >> first of all, you don't have to formally register for a trademark at the beginning. as soon as you start offering your service, you should be using the tm symbol because that in effect serves notice to the marketplace this is your brand and trademark. researching that the branding you're going to use is not being used by someone else but then once you start putting products and services to market you should use the tm symbol.

then once it is registered it will switch to the r in the circle. >> every time i use a new product, i come up with a list of names to see if someone is using them. then i go to my attorney and say go look for those names. go see, if no one has them then i start to secure the process while i'm doing what alfred is talking about. >> guys thank you so much. great advice from both of you, as always. really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> and if any of you out there have a question for our experts, we answer them every week on the show. the address is openforum.com/yourbusiness. once you get there, hit the ask the show link to submit a question or you can e-mail us. the address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. thanks so much for joining us today. if you want to see any of our segments again, we post them on our website. it's openforum.com/yourbusiness. we also put up a bunch of web exclusive cop tent to help your business grow. you can also follow us on twitter, @msnbcyourbiz and we

are facebook and instagram as well. next wee we visit a business that starts at the top. >> are you demanding of your employees? >> yes. >> in what way? >> probably all of them. >> see how setting high expectations drives the invention company corky to do the impossible. until then i'm jj ramberg. and remember, we make your business our business. american express for travel and entertainment worldwide. just show them this - the american express card. don't leave home without it! and someday, i may even use it on the moon. it's a marvelous thing! oh! haha! so you can replace plane tickets, traveler's cheques, a lost card. really? that worked?

american express' timeless safety and security are now available on apple pay. the next evolution of membership is here. >> okay. . we have a lot coming up tonight. it's friday night. we have a lot of news. we have a really guest tonight for the interview. somebody who is doing his first live television interview since getting a really important job in the government. but here we go. the city of istanbul in turkey has no freaking idea how to deal with large amounts of snow. much like our cities here in the southeast that got whacked by snow this week. nothing against them, but they're not used to it. they have no idea at all how to deal with it. much like what's going on