how does a new hampshire theme park get customers to celebrate year round? new orleans entrepreneurs flourish ten years after hurricane katrina. all that and more coming up 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, everyone. i'm jj ramberg and welcome to "your business." the show dedicated to helping your small business grow. when you think of christmas, do a water park or roller coaster and an ice cream stand come to mind, i'm getting not. unless you're spending some time in the white mountains of new hampshire. that's where you will find a small family owned amusement park that attracts guests from may to september. the holiday is still a draw but it's the reinvention that keeps them spreading good cheer. ♪ >> people love christmas. >> don't even bother asking the date at santa's village because

here it's always december 25th. >> if you give joy, you get it back and i -- and santa's helpers know that. >> and customers are more than happy to join the celebration. >> most everybody is in the christmas spirit what it's in june, july, august or the 1st of december, before christmas. >> this jefferson, new hampshire, amusement park is a community staple. >> it's the nostalgia. they remember coming as children themselves. they remember bringing their children here. now they're grandparents and they're coming back. >> norman and cecile does boyz started it in 1952. >> i asked dad if that was santa's reindeer and that property just happened to be for sale. which is where santa's village

is today. but he thought an amusement park might be great. >> more than the six decades later it's owned by the third generation. the grandchildren, melanie staley and christian gainer and melanie's husband nick. >> it's fun. it can be difficult at times, can be frustrating, but overall, it is fun. >> carrying on such a legacy is a lot of responsibility. but this trio welcomes customers to santa's village seven months a year. whether it feels like christmas outside or not. >> we call it santa's summer home. this is where he comes to warm up from the north pole, take a break from making toys and that's how we get away with christmas in july. the theme we keep with as we expand. >> with attractions like rudy's transit coaster, the reindeer rendezvous, marketing is easy. the most challenging part of the business is getting families to return for in some cases generations. >> we need to create an awesome

product. something that they love, that they see and want to come back again and again. in order to keep them coming back, we have to keep evolving, keep innovating and keep exceeding their expectations. >> the fact that jefferson is somewhat isolated means most of the customers are making the conscious decision to come to santa's village. >> people from roughly four hours come from our park. most of the guests come from two hours away. >> customers are always looking for what's new and what old reliables are still there. >> being a destination for a lot of people, you have to not only keep up what you have, but you have to bring in something every year, because people expect that now. >> some of the newest additions have become favorites. >> we introduced a water park. about five years ago we have added to that. elk university where the kids go around with their tickets and find all the elves in the alphabet. >> the most arduous tasks are done when they're shut down from

january to memorial day. this is when the constant brainstorming of new ideas turns into reality. >> by january 1st everything is planned. it's a very short period where we can build a new building, install a new ride. we have a great maintenance team that take apart the rides and refurbish in may. when we reopen in may, all the hard work has come to fruition and we are ready to make our guests happy. >> any expansion at santa's village has to be planned out. a small population means a limited pool to hire staff. >> it adds five or six or seven employees a year, and we can find the excellent people to work with us. if we grew exponentially, it would be much harder for us to staff our park. >> hiring right the first time is also key. >> for the most part, people that are here now, they want to be here.

they love their job. it shows. and the 2% that do not, they don't last more than two days. >> melanie believes strong relationships with employees are a must. especially since they're on the front line. the result is a low turnover rate. >> we listen to our employees, we listen to what they have to say and we try to improve on what their needs are. to make it happy. if they're happy, our guests are happy. >> despite longer summer hours, the park still attracts its biggest crowds around the holidays. >> we're open at christmastime. christmastime is our busiest time. people travel, we have snow, it's cold. but it's beautiful. the days are busier because we only open two days a week versus seven days a week in the summer. >> the proof is paying off. >> our best marketing is word of mouth. our guests will remark to all of their friends and family and tell them about their wonderful experience here and this is our main form of advertising. >> numbers are up and positive reviews online are helping drive foot traffic too. >> the best gauge of our customer feedback and our

customer reviews happens to be through trip adviser. in which we were selected for the second year in a row and we were the top 25 amusement parks in the united states. >> the goals for this family remain the same. improve the customer experience at santa's village and preserve this small business's legacy. >> i can imagine my grandfather and grandmother when they started the business they were my age. innovative. excited. ready to go. >> what norman and cecile started 63 years ago, it's just amazing. hopefully we can continue that tradition and for the next 63 years. and keep those generations of families coming back year after year. >> the look and feel of your office can help set the tone for employee morale and even most don't have deep pockets for design because they're worried about payroll and marketing there are things you can do to make your face look better. we spent the day with the

founders of start-up that provides affordable interior design help by the hour. >> our office actually has become kind of a test ground for experimental design. so a lot of things that we test out in this office, we try and see if they work or they don't work and then we'll bring them into start-up spaces like for instance we have a green wall that will eventually become an entire green partition wall. we have placed a track on the ceiling. we have taken white rope and tied it to the plants and we have anchors on the floor. so as the plants grow, we can raise the plants up and it will be a cool partition green wall which separates the reception area from the coworking area. >> adding something living to every space i think is an

amazing sort of asset or design asset to draw from. so adding a plant wall is not terribly expensive. i mean, we're trying to design solutions that give the maximum effect for the minimum spend. >> these are snack walls. it is made out of found objects, like a suitcase. we have used round apple baskets as well. these are vintage wine crates, around $20 to $60. you can find them in a vintage market and it's a cute way to show of your snacks or food product without it being a plain ikea shelf. >> i think you're working within sort of this paradox of how do we give a space a feeling of permanence while giving it the actual impermanence it needs to grow with the company. and that transience is a very difficult, gray area to

navigate. i think we use solutions like the greenhouses, right, so you don't have to spend two or three months in contractor get board approval or using an architect to get the room up because you might not be there in six months and why not assemble something prefab and take it with you. >> it's something that people notice when you walk in. and we name them after beyonce's songs. we have halo, video phone and run the world. on this wall we have placed three vinyl details of the core values. they're an amazing price point. we do them for companies when they want to place their logo on the wall. >> people write notes and they congratulate other people or mask how they align with our three tenets, i think post its are so inexpensive, why not have fun with it? >> this standing desk is a great example of how we design

start-up offices around mobility up. people are breaking out in teams of four or six. it's unnatural for people to sit down eight hours a day, so a lot have requested standing desks but they're so expensive. they're around $800 to $1,000 so in this case we took an ikea countertop and attached pipe legs, so it can move around the space and it turns into a bar when we throw an event. it's a great multi. and half the cost. this is probably one of our favorite add-ons to the office. it's great way to inspire employees. we put fun quotes up. we use this space for company lunches so we try to keep it positive with a nice message. and this is from thomas edison, it's a great quote. >> we are always experimentling

with lighting. i think lighting is something that really makes or breaks a space. in this particular office we wanted to experiment with residential lighting. commercial lighting can feel cold or boiler plate, boring. we used chandeliers, can you get enough ambient light, what kind of feeling does it give you and i think the result was great. i mentioned desk space. one of the things we wanted to experiment was using vintage and found tables and how you can create a cohesive look when every single table is different. so we used something as simple as a paint color. we took the different tables and painted them all the same color and i think it gives a unity to the workspace. if i need to sit six more people or 20 more in the office space,

i don't want the whole aesthetic fall apart because we introduced a different type of chair. how do we get the transience in the workplace and that's something we're pushing the boundary of. bringing your business to the forefront of your audience's mind is no easy task, but maybe you should try the five creative ways to expand the market and create brand awareness. one, push your handles. put your twitter handles on your business cards when speaking at a conference to share with people in your targeted audience. two, make a vine. it can be a way to create a lot of followers quickly. three, watch the competition. utilize facebook's pages to watch feature which lets you select pages you want to keep tabs on. and examine what and how often

they post. four, mix it up with info graphics. people are more visually engaged than texturally. design and show an info graphic to convey important information. five, run a podcast. they can be down loaded and listen to anywhere. what you can cover are limitless from relevant breaking news within your industry to interviews with experts. there is a whole lot of confusion out there about what makes someone an employee versus an independent contractor and if you are categorizing people incorrectly, you can be hit with a costly bill. believe me, this is not something you want to worry about. so we wanted to define each for you so you can better understand how you're hiring somebody. david lewis is from a human resources consulting firm. you know, the rules are pretty clear and yet, still people are

miscategorizing their employees as independent contractors left and right. >> it's not they're so clear, it's that they're so subjective right now. i think the irs and the department of labor feel like they have put clear rules out there. but then the business owner, the average person looks at it and says, well, i think i have more discretion than i really do and that's not necessarily the case. >> let's go through the checklist that you have to think about. number one, about how they're paid. hourly versus project. >> so the idea here is that if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck it's probably a duck, and the duck in this case is employees. so the more the independent contractor looks like an employee, the bigger risk you have. so if you can pay them on a project basis and if you have a document that shows that they're doing a project for a fixed fee, much easier to classify them as independent contractor. >> so if someone comes in and they're working 9 to 5 and using your computers and sitting next to other employees that's your point? >> they're a duck. >> let's just say you have someone who i need -- i don't know, a marketing plan done or i need -- something that is a

project. >> i think you're on the right path there. the more you can segment, the more you can specify they're responsible for a particular project or particular function that has a defined beginning and end to it, it can be done anywhere. it doesn't have to be necessarily done in your office. it's fine to let the independent contractor in the office, but having them look like an employee and come in and start to feel like they're following the rules and the guidelines of the company, that's where it starts to blur the lines. >> what if there's a project, we're redesigning my home page let's just say, it's a project. it starts here and it ends when you're done. but i need you in the office when all of my other employees are working and i need you to interact with all of these teams and come to the meetings. >> as long as the independent contractor shows that they're controlling the schedule to a great extent, they're not being subjected to a schedule set by

you like you would your employees, show up at 9 and leave at 5, it's less blurry. it's when you give them projects you know, yes, i have you doing the website but i want you to update other document, i want you to own the database and now suddenly that person is consuming all or most of their time working for you. now they have lost other clients, you have become the other client, you have started to become the employer in the eyes of the government. >> that's the other checklist, right? are you the only client or do they have many? >> we don't know from the independent contractor, we don't sit there and ask them every once in a while, hey, are we your own client or doing something else for other companies? it is about that control piece. usually what winds up happening is you have a clear cut case when they're short in duration and they're intermittent. the person is not there every day. they may only be there once a week or a couple of times a

month. but the more they start morphing into the employee, the more you have to worry. >> if they're working home a lot, or somewhere else it puts you on the independent contractor side. >> when you get audited for independent contractor status, one of the subtle aspects of the audit is seeing if your name is on a door or a cubical anywhere. >> finally, scare us, what happens if i have hired ten independent contractors and then there's an audit and they find out they were employees? >> so you can wind up with fines, back wages, back benefits to those individuals. and now with the affordable care act you can wind up with other penalties assigned to the idea that you did that to hold yourself under a certain threshold of requirement under the affordable care act. all of those numbers adds up. not into hundreds of dollars but tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars for just a business with maybe 50 or more employees. >> pay attention. if you have questions go to a

professional. thank you for clearing up this. so many people are doing it wrong. when we come back, what you need to know about finding a distributor and the spirit of entrepreneurship is flourishing in new orleans ten years after that city was devastated by hurricane katrina. we thought we'd be ready. but demand for our cocktail bitters was huge. i could feel our deadlines racing towards us. we didn't need a loan. we needed short-term funding. fast. our amex helped us fill the orders. just like that. you can't predict it, but you can be ready. another step on the journey. will you be ready when growth presents itself? realize your buying power at open.com.

this week your biz selfie comes from atlanta who owns firebud brands. a line of spicy condiments and sauces. we'd like to see yours, so take a selfie and send it to us. or tweet it to us. please do not forget to use the hash tag, #your biz selfie. the spirit of survival remains strong in new orleans ten years after being devastated by hurricane katrina. that's reflected in a group of entrepreneurs helping the big easy reinvent itself as a creative economy. >> we're passionate. >> i'm kyle burner. i'm the creator and ceo of flip-flops. >> the name of the company is

leah molly. i make special knitwear. >> ten years after the devastation from hurricane katrina, new orleans is experiencing a renaissance and small business owners are leading the way. >> new orleans is becoming this national laboratory of a -- of the next generation of entrepreneur leaders. >> it's created sort of an interesting synergy if not an alchemy of, you know, committed natives as well as, you know, these very enterprising newcomers. >> those that stayed in new orleans like matt wisdom from turbo squid and iseatz were considered pioneers. >> it felt like the wild west and we felt like we were rebuilding something from the ground up. >> when everybody else was fleeing the city and businesses were closing left and right and the news was piling on about who's leaving town next, i thought this is an opportunity to take a gamble but for me to do something i believe in.

>> new orleans has been growing. thanks to a low cost of living, generous tax credits and a rich culture. >> you can start a business here 30 to 40% less than new york or san francisco. why off shore to bangalore when you can off shore to new orleans. you can do it cheaper and with more enthusiastic people than anywhere. >> there are film related tax credits available. the tax credits are second to none. >> at the epicenter of all the entrepreneurial activity is the ip building. entrepreneurs row and the ice house. inspired by silicone alley in new york, the three hubs house some of the most innovative companies in new orleans. >> we're in the ip building in new orleans and what you have is a community of entrepreneurs that have moved into this building in the last year from the fastest growing companies to

iseatz and what this represents is the entrepreneurial community in new orleans. it's one of the few innovative hubs springing up. >> two men met at the ip building and found they could collaborate on the packing of kyle's flip-flops in the large warehouse space. >> we're shipping out margaritas so why not add flip-flops to the mix and a joint venture was born. >> seeing the desire to rebuild new orleans was so strong, this woman left new york to start her own clothing company. >> the enthusiasm for new business is just incredible. i mean, they rolled out the red carpet for us, you know? and was like whatever we can do to have you succeed, you know, we want you to succeed. >> new orleans is on the rise. a recession proof haven eager to support new businesses with entrepreneurs working together

to succeed. >> new orleans is my huge business partner. it is on the label. it will stay on the label. business partners invest in your business and new orleans invests in my business. both people on the street, in the community, my friends, the businesses here. i mean, they want me to succeed. and, you know, and in ways that are beyond just capital investments. it's time to answer some of your business questions so let's get our board of directors in to help us out. we have the editor of chief and we have the founder of the lifestyle brand by jen gruber. the first question is about getting products to your customers. >> we have been doing all self-distribution. at what point should we look to going to a distributor and how much should we be paying the distributor for their services?

>> jen, i'm going to have you start. i know you have created products like the butler bag. how does he decide? >> well, i think the key question is, if you took that same amount of time and effort that you're putting towards packing boxes and shipping and all the distribution challenges in front of you and used that same effort towards marketing, sales, customer service, would that be more effective in scaling your business? and usually the answer is yes. when you're asking that question. there's so many different distribution strategies. it is different from the fashion industry, to the food industry. i used licensing as a scaling distribution strategy for all of my companies. where you're never losing money, you're just gaining money. >> amy, is there a point though when you're too small for any distributor to be interested in you? >> i love this question and i think it is a very important question to ask at the very beginning of your business because really it's a part of

your growth strategy. i think if any kind of distribution strategy, if you're doing it yourself, if it's costing you too much money or slowing down your growth as a business, that's when you need to entertain, you know, calling in a distributor. i completely agree with everything jen was saying. and i think it's a question you need to ask yourself before you even start your business, how big do you want to be? >> how big do you need to be to get a distributor, jen, do you know the answer? >> it's really, again, varies industry to industry. you have to have traction. you have to have a proven product. and they also like to see a lot of marketing efforts behind your company because they don't want to have to do it on their own. >> let's move on to getting advisers. >> i'm looking for advice on best practices in form youlizing a board of adviser, everything from structure to expectations to compensation. >> i love this question. because it's -- it can be such an enormous help. but you have to be really clear

and you have to be clear with your advisers about what they're going to get out of this. >> you do. you have to know what you want them to give and provide to you. i mean, there are so many different ways to structure a board of advisers. and it's wonderful. like to call in people who have subject matter, expertise on things that maybe might be your weaknesses in your business, like financial, marketing, you know, going public, to bring all of this intelligence together at the very beginning of a start-up is a very smart thing to do. but having said that, you need to -- you know, some advisers don't need compensation, but you can also offer up stocks. there are different ways to. or you can put them on the retainer. >> what do you think about that, paying or no not paying the board of advisers? >> agree with amy, it varies. if you're a nonprofit to a start-up to a fortune 500 company, there's more ability of compensation on that end of the

spectrum. the key thing is that your advisers have to be passionate about what you're doing. no matter how much money you're paying them, if they're not passionate, they're not as engaged. if you're structuring a board of structures, be very clear as to what everybody's skill set or expertise is and give them expectation to perform in that area of expertise. give them clear guidelines like your job is to create the curriculum or create a land book for this or develop the website equity. >> thanks both of you. great advice. good to see both of you. now if you have a question for the experts we answer them every single week on the show. send us an e-mail and get some advice from our panel. the address is yourbusiness @msnbc.com. >> thank you for joining us today. if you missed anything, go over to our website. it's open forum.com/your business. you will find all the segments we had on the show today and

plus more information to help your business grow. you can follow us on twitter. and we are on facebook and instagram as well. next time, what do the founders of a company that turns t-shirts into quilts do when nobody wanted to invest? >> it made us very scrappy because we only -- you know, we have only $1,000 to spend on this advertising campaign or only $1,000 here. we had to be smart about how do we get more people to our website? >> we'll tell you why the project repat team is happy now that they kept hearing not interested early on. i'm jj ramberg. we make your business our business. selling 18 homes? easy. building them all in four and a half months? now that was a leap. i was calling in every favor i could, to track down enough lumber to get the job done. and i knew i could rely on american express to help me buy those building materials.

there are always going to be unknowns. you just have to be ready for them. another step on the journey. will you be ready when growth presents itself? realize your buying power at open.com >>. >> since hillary clinton started running for president over all of this time with all that's happened so far in the presidential race, she has done two, precisely two national sit-down interviews. she'll occasionally do a press gaggle or short press conference, she will occasionally take a question. when it comes to taking a long haul series of questions from one reporter, with follow-ups and everything an in-depth interview that is the unicorn with hen's teeth jumping over a double rainbow under a blue moon of this campaign. that's impossible to get. but andrea mitchell just got that and we've got the whole remarkable interview tonight.