we've traveled here to the mile high city of denver colorado to help one cupcake business in trouble. after nearly ten months of construction that has torn up her neighborhood and a rediagnosis of cancer which shook up her life this business owner needs some help. so, we assembled the "your business" s.w.a.t. team to help lend some support. >> this is the part of the store i do so horrible at, because i don't understand it. >> that's coming up next on a special edition of "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 everyone. i'm jj ramberg, and welcome to "your business," where we give you information and advice to help your small business grow and survive. and today we are going to help a real survivor. recently, a viewer wrote us about her neighborhood bake shop. the company started while the owner was undergoing cancer treatment and was now in trouble, so much trouble that she feared that the business was on the brink of failure. well, we got our "your business" makeover team together and headed out to the mile high city of denver to try and help save this business.

i'm here in denver with the "your business" makeover team to answer a call for help from a viewer. her neighborhood bakery has been making cupcakes for more than seven years, and now, she says they need our help. let's go give this business a makeover. you must be kathleen. >> hi! you must be jj. >> i am! it's so nice to meet you. >> so nice to meet you, too. >> kathleen nevin is the owner of big fat cupcakes in the cherry creek section of denver. this is where it all happens. >> yes. so, jj this is where we do all of our baking of the cupcakes. >> she and her team make some of the most beautiful and delicious cupcakes i've ever tasted. right here in the back of their store. she says she opened the business because of a personal crisis. >> i actually started it because i was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 and i needed a job, and i was making cupcakes in my kitchen and it helped me

get through treatment. >> it seems like it would be incredibly hard to find out that you're diagnosed with cancer and start a company at the same time. >> it was a way to deal with the stress of that diagnosis. it really was. it was a way to do something to make people happy and it made me feel good. >> not to mention, the country was in the middle of a growing love affair with cupcakes that kathleen first noticed on a visit to new york city. >> i was in new york in 2007 at christmastime and saw a line out of crumbs bakery and my entrepreneurial dna went omg. >> things were going well for her business until last april, when the company went into a free fall. the reason she says is that several building construction projects in her neighborhood set up road blocks and detours. turning the area into an almost impassable obstacle course for her customers. >> people just didn't want to be bothered with all the traffic.

there was no place to park and our business plummeted. and then all of a sudden things just started going down down down. >> you would stop paying your rent at a certain point. >> i did. >> why? >> because i was too sick to work. so, by not paying rent i was able to pay my staff and keep the store open. >> with her health failing, her customers vanishing and her bills mounting kathleen's business was in serious trouble. >> we were closing our doors in december. i got a frightening phone call from one of somebody we owed money to and i threw up my hands and i thought, you know what, i can't be optimistic about this anymore. we are really not going to make it. so, we were closing our doors. >> that's when she turned to the crowd-funding site gofundme for help. and what happened when you put that up? >> we had $15,000 in donations happen almost in a week. i thought, oh, that will get us through. by december, we're going to bounce back but we never bounced back. so it's gotten us out of the hole but it wasn't nearly enough. >> this company got a lifeline but now it needs a makeover.

time to introduce kathleen to the team. doesn't it smell good? >> it does. >> kathleen i want to introduce you to the first member of our team, chris myers. kathleen nevin. >> hi, chris. >> nice to meet you. >> very nice to meet you. >> chris is the ceo of body tree a financial management tool for small business and chris is going to dive into your business, into the numbers, into what you're doing right noorks a few things you should be doing better. >> oh, that sounds awesome. >> it should be. >> yes. >> looking forward to getting started. >> me, too, thank you. >> chris used his boditree software for her information, tax returns and other financial data to get the big picture on what's happening. >> in a reasonable month, you do about 7,800 cupcakes give or take. that's about $37,000. and that from what we had talked about, that seemed kind of correct from a gut-check perspective. >> yes. >> now the interesting thing, though is your average monthly

expense. so, you're running at about $32,500 every month, which is about 6,800 cupcakes. so the difference between how many cupcakes you have to sell just to stay open and how many you're selling on a good month is actually relatively small, right? >> chris and kathleen agreed foot traffic wasn't going to make up the deficit. >> good morning, kathleen. >> hi. >> i'm hugo this is kimball. >> hi, kathleen. >> and that's where one of the founders of the top restaurants, the kitchen, stepped in to help. hugo math son and hugo musk brought a plan to sell in bulk. >> you focus very much on the in-store business with some you know, sales to offices, et cetera, and just some ideas of maybe like creating more of a wholesale business. >> i realize after going through this, this might be -- i'm putting all my eggs in one basket, and it's just it's not going to get me where i need to be. >> yeah. >> so. >> we're going to host the tasting at the kitchen denver today. >> oh, awesome! >> and it's going to be awesome. you'll get a great opportunity

to get event planners and other members of the community, a bunch of press are coming. we just heard this morning that 9 news the nbc channel for denver's going to be there. >> oh, really? i love them. >> it gives you great exposure and not just with the event planners, but with the press. >> oh, that's -- i'm so touched. thank you, guys. thank you. so, i guess i need to make some cupcakes. >> yes. >> while her staff got started baking cupcakes for the event planners to taste, web marketing expert mark mitten ceo of carbon 8, came by. >> hi, there! >> hi. >> mark noticed there is no way to place orders directly on kathleen's website. and if she wants to get those big orders she needs a smooth online ordering process. >> we want to make it easy for them to make that connection. if i'm interested, now what do i do next to get this actually done? if that is not absolutely seamless and fluent you lose people. they go elsewhere, they get a different idea. >> mark redesigned her website and presented her with three new design options.

>> so, this is concept number one. as you can see, we have this whole idea of the cupcakes are good for the soul. so, once someone, you know, is interested in the cupcakes we want it to be a beautiful and easy and almost fun experience for them to actually order the cupcakes. everything's just really easy for them to figure out how they can order and pick quantities. and then there is also these teasers over here where they can also start looking right on the same page at all the other cupcakes -- >> it's bringing tears to my eyes, it looks so good. it really does. this is a part of the store i do so horrible at because i don't understand it. and it's overwhelming. and this looks so amazing. so if that's any indication it looks really great and clean. >> that's the reaction we wanted. if you're having that reaction we want customers to have that same reaction. >> this just looks so great. and what a weight off of our

shoulders to try to catch phone calls and keep up with everything. >> yep. >> it is so hard. and then i feel horrible when we miss -- we actually miss something, you know? >> right. >> so. >> and you guys care about those orders and -- >> oh, i do. i care about our customers. >> everyone that comes in. >> and they are celebrating something and they're choosing us. >> the s.w.a.t. team has now set up two short-term plans for a rapid sales boost. that set the stage for our next adviser, lisa donahue, founder of watershed communications. lisa's a national branding expert who brought some long-term advice for extending the brand. >> so, i know you're looking at a partnership with licks ice cream. >> right. >> and so maybe thinking about bunt cakes, three-layer chocolate cakes, really doing a whole a la mode concept to bring people into the shop. >> cake and ice cream. >> cake and ice cream. >> yeah. >> with a short-term plan in place and a long-term growth plan to think about, it's time to get ready for the big fat

cupcakes tasting party. and the event planners arrive. >> hi i'm kathleen nevin. >> kathleen i'm heather. so nice to meet you. >> so nice to meet you! >> kimball musk introduced them to kathleen. >> i want to introduce you to kathleen owner of big fat cupcake. >> these were all baked this morning, and i'll cut them up. but you know, i eat cupcakes right out of my hand. i say just go for it. >> the event planners semi-palled the sampled. >> it really does taste like oreo. >> oh, my gosh that's good. >> you've got to taste this sample. >> oh, that one's really. >> and media covered the event. >> big fat cupcake has struggled to get open. now it's getting a makeover on msnbc, our sister station on cable. >> throughout the afternoon, kathleen made valuable contacts. >> i think that would be a great venue that we could put something together for. >> red velvet and oreo are my favorites. >> nice balance between overly

fluffy and overly dense. >> when the planners left and the media was gone kathleen took a moment to reflect. >> i didn't have a whole lot of hope in what was going to happen. i was going through -- i think i was at my fourth chemo. i was really sick and i wasn't sure how this was going to played out. it's restored my faith in people and letting people help you. and we're going to be okay. >> kathleen has now finished her chemotherapy and is feeling much stronger. chris has been keeping close track of her finances and he says that things may be turning around. kathleen has reduced her staff to just one other person and she's now doing all of the baking herself. and she's taken lisa's suggestion and added full-sized cakes, and the response has been fantastic. kathleen got a nice bump in sales from the local news coverage, and her new website just went live a couple of days ago. we're going to continue to follow her and wish her the best of luck. spring is right around the corner, which means that it is time for spring cleaning. and in this case, i'm talking

about your website. let's roll up our sleeves and look at five ways you can make sure your e-commerce site is in tip-top shape, courtesy of mashable.com. one open multiple browsers. do a direct comparison of your site against your competitors and see how they perform similar functions so you know what you can improve. two -- gather the devices. survey your team to find owners of various tablets and smartphones. have them participate in some user testing to see where your site and e-mails could be better optimize optimized. three -- be a newbie. sign up to receive e-mail messages and create an account on your site. determine if there are ways to streamline the user experience. four -- search. type in extremely generic terms that would likely be used by someone who's inexperienced with your products. and five -- opt out. locate all the areas on your site where subscribers can modify preferences. take the time to explore how to use these sections to prevent

people from rejecting your updates. no matter how great your company is it is going to fail if you don't capture the attention of your prospective customers, but that is much easier said than done. so, how do you get people to first notice your company and then engage with it? ben par is co-founder of dominate fund, an early-stage venture fund and also is author of the new book "captivology: the science of capturing people's attention." good to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> the cover of your book you've captivated my attention, right? it's funny. so, you do what you say and it's worked for you so far. but this is hard. i mean lots of people have great companies, great ideas, but they just don't go anywhere because nobody noticed them. >> i mean people don't understand that attention is this fundamental currency that is necessary for doing any kind of business, you know? teachers need to get the attention of students entrepreneurs need to get the attention of users, local

businesses, small businesses need to get the attention of customers. and yet, we don't understand all that much about how attention works. and that was kind of the impetus for writing this book because i went through all the research 1,000 research studies, and interviewed dozens of ph.ds to understand, what is attention and how can that be applied to the real world. >> so, when you talk about leveraging your credibility, is it saying something quickly so that people then trust you so they want to hear more? is that -- >> so the research shows that we have a huge amount of deference towards experts and we pay attention to experts. in fact we trust experts among any types of spokespeople. there are ways to capture that attention. one is leading with your credentials, so, if you have the credentials already, right? whether you're a ph.d or expert in a certain area and explaining why, or making sure you build out that expertise, whether through blog posts and social media or another method to establish an expertise in a key area. and the last one is leveraging other experts, outside experts for your product or your idea. that's a huge bonus in terms of attention. >> so, you need to teach people,

don't be modest basically. like, you've got to tell someone first, this is what i'm good at so that they'll listen more? >> there's a balance. you don't want to obviously go overboard, be like i'm the greatest ever. it's matter of factually, this is what i've done these are the things i've written about, this is why an expert in this area. if you start out with that early, people will pay more attention throughout the meeting or conversation. >> let's get into the aesthetics now -- high contrast, bright colors. >> one of the triggers in 34678my book is automaticity. the thing about colors is we have these unconscious things that gravitate toward high contrast. that's why, for example, you see companies like amazon use yellow and orange buttons, because those have the highest contrast. but orange is actually not a great color, for example, if you were going into a business meeting. orange has the lowest correlation with competence as an example. >> got it okay. good to know. we need to learn a little bit more about the colors from your book. okay, next views, post action

rewards. this gets people's attention. so, i do this then you reward me for it after i've done it? >> so most loyalty programs use incentives, right? you do this i'll give you this. and my research showed that's actually the least effective of all the types of ways you could give somebody a reward. a post action reward is you not even knowing you'll get a reward, but you take a action that the company wants you to do and suddenly you get a surprise. and research shows that surprises capture attention and really give us joy. so, if you're like having somebody, they get a high score and then suddenly, without knowing, maybe they get a free gift or a free virtual currency. >> that's interesting. instead of a loyalty card buy 10 copies get the 11th free, it's on the third time that you buy a coffee, they suddenly surprise you and say here's a gift card for a free coffee next time? >> exactly. >> and that works better? >> that makes people much happier and they come back because they don't know exactly when they're going to get that again. it's a mystery to them. >> and it also feels like a gift. it's the same thing, but it feels more generous. >> gifting is a more powerful

way. >> create a cliff-hanger. give me an example of that. >> so i think about with cliff-hangers, things like what j.j. abrams did for the lost camp, for lost and clover field. when they put cloverfield out, he didn't immediately show -- like, when they did the first trailer, you didn't see, oh, this is a swrchdj.j. abrams fan. it created a lot of speculation. we have compulsion for completion, where we need to complete a story line and when we don't have that completion, we keep paying attention, so we kept paying attention until "cloverfield" was a top movie. >> so you have to be creative enough to create a cliff-hanger that people care about in the first place. >> yeah, absolutely. you've got to have the emotional resonance and characters that people care about, and you can do this in advertising, too. >> finally, bake validation into your products. explain that to me. >> so, the most powerful type of attention i call acknowledgement. we pay attention to the people that acknowledge or validate us in some way. what i mean by baking validation into your product is making it so people can feel that

positivity when using a product. facebook and twitter do this greatly through likes, tweets retweets, that sort of thing. you get a little high like the high whenever you get a like and the status update goes viral. having that capability, whether from the product or from friends, is a powerful tool for capturing attention within a product or in general. >> thank you very much. it was great to see you. >> thank you for having me. when we come back made in the usa is great, but how do you remain competitive from a pricing standpoint? and her bags are all the rage with some celebrities, but let's see if her elevator pitch has our panel seeing stars in their eyes. 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 waynesville, missouri with tastefully done venison marinade. if your business is deer to your heart, get it deer venison? send your selfie to yourbusiness@msnbc.com or tweet @msnbcyourbiz. and don't forget to use #yourbizselfie. i can't wait to see them. it is time now to answer some of your business questions. let's get our board of directors in here to help us out. genevieve is founder of

sittercity.com, an online caregiving service with millions of users world. and jenny is with freestyle capital, which invests in seed-stage companies. she also co-founded weddingchannel.com and bella pictures. so good to see you guys. the first one is about keeping your manufacturing local. >> i want to keep producing my product locally to keep on giving jobs to local people but on the other hand, i'm not as competitive with my prices because of that. do you have any suggestions? >> it's a good question and a tough one, because unless people are willing to pay for that you're going to fail. so, what do you think? >> so i think that customers want to do more than just buy goods. it's a mission-driven marketing works really well. so if she can make her customers understand that what she's supporting -- and she's supporting local jobs -- i think people are comfortable paying a little bit more and feeling like they're part of the solution. >> that means that she needs to

explain this in her marketing, right? >> that is right. >> and that takes a lot of thought to get it in really quickly. >> yeah. there's plenty of reasons, actually, these days too, to go local. you know wage control. it's actually getting a lot more expensive to produce overseas. quality control. i mean you don't have as many rip-offs of your product, frankly, you know. and we have better control on our energy costs here. we even have better just transportation costs. you know, it's not as hard. >> except for that it's not as cheap for her. >> no it's not as cheap, that's true. >> so, should she put something in the packaging, maybe a story, explaining? >> absolutely. i mean look at tom shoes. they've done it so well. you know if you buy a pair someone else gets a pair and you feel really good when you buy it that you're not just buying shoes, you're helping the world. and so i think she can do that and people can feel really good. i'm paying a little more but i'm also really helping others. >> yeah. i think if she wants to become a commodity, probably still go overseas, but if you are okay with a slightly smaller business

that, you know has a few less headaches, to be frank, i think, i would go local. >> right. that's to your point, it's less headaches. it may not be cheaper, but it may be less headaches. >> right. >> let's move on to the next question from a business consultant who works with retailers. >> how do i best show potential clients that my services are an investment and not an expense? like how do i show them return on investment calculations? >> it's a great question because it's all in the way you present your service. >> it really is. >> well i am a huge fan of case studies. i think that they're excellent. but to get a case study, you obviously have to start with the consumer, and that's hard because you have to start at a baseline and set a goal. and there can be things that happen in between those two dates that you know big pr hit or something, that can really change the metrics. i think if you can just get them to agree that you know we're here, we're going to go here and if we reach the goal you're going to do a case study for me that would be great.

and then just get a lot of those, because they're great sales tools. >> i totally agree with that. i think that, first of all, if she already has clients, where if she can prove that the investment pays out and saves someone in the long run, she's set. and if not, i would do it for free so that she could have the data to say, listen this is what i've done for other companies just like yours, and this is what you can expect. >> right. >> by spending this much with me. >> and also, though the way you frame it so people can say, this is what i do, instead of solving a problem. speak in their language -- here's the problem that you have, i'm going to fix it and it's going to save money along the way using your case studies. >> yeah. >> totally agree. >> let's move to the last question about getting international attention. >> i would be curious to know what the best way is to network on an international level. >> any ideas? >> i guess i have the reaction of thinking it's similar to networking on the domestic level. we have linkedin now, you have google hangouts. i mean there's so much you can

do without actually having to be face-to-face. >> yep. >> and so, i guess i would say whatever you do to network domestically, do it internationally. ask people who know the right people and ask for introductions, google hangout with them. and then maybe if it makes sense, make the trip overseas to meet a lot of people at once. find the right networking event. >> makes sense. >> networking events is a great point. business networks international, ipo is great. i even love type global. you may not have as many business deals, but the people are fascinating. also, if you're looking to start in a particular region reaching out to the chamber of commerce or the consulate, they can tell you where the action is. i mean they might be older-school models but they have all the data. so, it's just getting, you know the data on where everyone is. >> all right. well genevieve and jenny, thank you so much. there are more and more successful women entrepreneurs and investors but still not enough. so, it's great to have a panel of two of you guys. thanks. >> thank you. >> thanks so much. and if any of you out there have a question for our experts, all

you have to do is send us an e-mail. the address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. the difference between success and failure for an entrepreneur can often ride on the power of their pitch. so, let's see how today's "elevator pitcher" does. >> hi my name is jocelyn morris founder and designer and ceo of free endearment handbags and accessories. i've spoken to so many women who can't afford a new handbag every season only to have it go out of style. i'm sure you've had the same experience. as a result, i decided to start this company, a fashion-forward handbags that are affordably priced leather, high quality, and we use the same shapes season after season so they never go out of style. >> i know these women feel like they're talking right now. how much money are you looking for? >> we're looking to raise $100,000. >> and you've been featured in? >> been featured in "glamour" magazine "people style watch"

and "in style." >> and how long have you been around? >> four or five years. >> got it okay. i'm going to give you two of these. >> thank you. >> here i'll trade you. i want one, from one to ten, the product. one to ten, the pitch. and i'm going to give you a chance to say one other thing about your company, if we missed anything. genevieve? you, i'm just going to tell you a quick story about genevieve. genevieve pitched her company and got no no no 1,000 times. >> i did. oh, gosh. >> and now is an incredibly successful business owner. okay. genevieve. >> okay. i gave you a ten for product. >> thank you. >> i love it! in fact i find that most of my purses are often, you know killed by sippie cups or errant diapers or something. so, i need something that's a little bit lower quality, you know, that -- well that's high quality but at a lower price. so, i really love the product idea. i think it's brilliant. i gave you an eight on the pitch. i thought you were great. but what i would say is that i prefer pitches to start with a

sense of the market. so, i am bombarded as a woman all the time with ads for prada bags or coach bags and there's obviously a lot of money in the high end. and i know you're targeting, you know, not that high-end consumer, but i think that there's definitely some market share there that you can redirect. so, i want to know, what's the overall size of the market underneath this high-profile consumer, and then what of that high-profile market can you turn towards your product. so, i just want to get a sense of the roadmap. >> all right. and jenny. >> i gave you a nine on the product. i think your bag and your wallet are beautiful. and i gave you a 7.5 on the pitch. >> okay. >> and i thought you did a great job explaining about this gap in the market and how you were addressing it. as an investor i want to understand by taking in this incremental money, what kind of growth or revenue will you see from it? >> okay. thank you so much. >> great. well, thank you very much for coming on the program. good luck with everything five years in. seems like you're doing well.

>> yes. >> and thank you, guys for giving your advice here. >> i'm going to buy a bag! >> she might take that from you before you leave. >> i'm loving it! >> all right, any of you out there have a product or a service and you want feedback from our elevator pitch panel on your chances of getting interested investors, all you have to do is send us an e-mail. the address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. in that e-mail please include a short summary of what your company does how much money you're trying to raise, and then, of course what you intend to do with that money. we look forward to reading your pitches and then seeing some of you here on the show. thanks, everyone so much for joining us today. if you want to learn more about the show just click on our website. it is openforum.com/yourbusiness. you will find all of today's segments, plus some web-exclusive content with a lot more information to help your business grow. you can also follow us on twitter. it's @msnbcyourbiz. and we are on facebook and instagram as well. coming up next week we see how a boston-based business is

reimagining the nail salon. >> we are doing to the nail industry what starbucks did to the coffee industry 30 years ago, taking a huge fragmented market and convincing customers to trade up for a better experience. part of that trading up involves paying more. >> applying the game-changing principles that transformed the way we order a cup of coffee to the way we experience a manicure. 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. the opposite of love is not hate. the opposite of love is indifference. if you are a public figure particularly a political public figure there is nothing to worry about if people hate you. and that's because hate first and foremost is a form of attention. and politicians need attention like fish need water. like macaroni needs cheese like bert needs ernie. hate is a form of attention. also, the hate of one group of people can sometimes leveraged into love by some other group of people who hate the ones that hate you. hate itself is not the problem, particularly