they couldn't get investors interested in their company which turns t-shirts into quilts so how did these entrepreneurs use discounting to make their small business successful and how you can use periscope to market and promote your small business. that and more coming up next on "your business." ♪ small businesses are revitalizing the economy and american express open is here to help, that's why we are proud to present "your business" on ms c msnbc.

♪ hi, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg and welcome to "your business" the show dedicated to helping your small business grow. finding funding for your business is often listed as one of the hardest parts of starting a company. i wanted to tell the story of two successful entrepreneurs who couldn't find it. hard as they tried, no investors were willing to take a gamble on their idea for a. that makes quilts out of old t-shirts. today a few years in, they count themselves as lucky that they were rejected so many times. when nathan and ross quaf their first presentation on their company at an accelerator

program, they were sure they were going to get funding. >> we give what we felt was a great pitch. >> turns out, they were the only ones who thought that. >> after the pitch, nobody was interested in us. nobody gave us any funding. >> they started the company in 2012, after learning that the gnch american throws way more than 80 pounds of textiles a year. >> weigh wanted to think of a way to preserve your t-shirt memories and also keep them out of the trash. >> the solution they came up with, turning those old t-shirts into a quilt. and they had a lunch there were people out there who would pay for this service, people like aileen white, who surprised her daughter, marnie, after finding out about project rehab. >> marnie had gazillions are t-shirts. i didn't want to get hit of them because they meant a lot for her and her dad. >> steve miller band and journey. >> investor s were not as confident that there were enough

out there to support a successful business. ross went to investor after investor, pitch competition after pitch competition and ken hearing the same thing no, thanks. they had to come one plan b. >> let's see if the market will respond to this in a different way than investors want. >> while many people warned them about setting a price precedent that was not sustainable the co-founders looked at this opportunity through a different lens. >> a lot of people say you can't do groupon because it ruins my margins. they say well what's the alternative, having nobody come to your website and nobody find out yabout you? >> most startup businesses stop because nobody knows about them. we didn't want to go down that route so we said to ourselves, well, if we try groupon and living social and no one buys them, they'll move on to the next thing. >> they didn't have to think about that next thing because the week after launching their

deal they sold 2,000 quilts, enough to prove to themselves they were on to something but still not enough to prove to investors. >> investors were like there's not the demand for this product and if they didn't say that, they said well once people see how popular is it, some company will come in and eat you up. >> only one option. >> we have only $1,000 to spend on this advertising campaign and only $1,000 here so we had to be really smart about it. >> for us, that was partly true. >> what they really needed to do was get new people to the site, people who would buy a quilt and then tell their friends. so they did more flash sales and got smart about what they showed people when they landed on the website. >> we have a pop-up that pops up and says put your e-mail in for

a discount code. we collect hundreds of e-mails every single day from customers who we know are interested in our product but maybe aren't ready to buy right away. >> and they retarget people on facebook and other websites. >> you can go to another website and an ad for us will pop up and remind them about our product and that works really well. it's getting people into the sales funnel, people you know are interested in your product and maybe aren't ready to buy right away. >> they created a low-cast tv commercial. >> i got you a going away present. >> oh my gosh. >> we're spending "x" number of dollars per just mcustomer to a a customer. >> customer by customer, their strategy started to pay off but those first years were not easy. >> boot strapping was definitely a grind. it was tough work and it's scary, too. it's not the easy way to go. raising money is difficult, too,

but not having a cushion of money in your bank account is a scary thing and at any moment you can go out of business. >> that is no longer their fear. this year project repat is on track to do nearly $3.5 million in ref yvenue and the best part today they only have themselves to answer to. >> we created the business that we love and know they're comfortable running and as a boot strap business we don't have investors tell us what to do, investors saying you should cut your costs or pay your workers less or outsource or whatever it is, because we run our own business and we kept control of most of our business, so we get to make the decisions of what we want to do. >> as we just saw in that piece, being forced to boot strap really makes you think about your decisions. you have to be smarter where you spend your money when you don't have money to burn. for those entrepreneurs it worked out. in south carolina we met the owner of a mattress company who also had to think hard where to

use his limited capital. he took a gamemeble on expandino another location even though it was a risky decision. >> it was a big financial risk but thank goodness it's paid off so far. we could have stayed at the one location but there was a limit to how much we could grow there. >> it was an expansion that was more than 80 years in the making, buddy delaney says even in a down economy, he and his sister linda decided to grow their company, best mattress, from one location to two. >> all custom mattress factory. we manufacture and sell to the public our hand-crafted mattresses. >> the mattress company had slowed because of trouble in the housing market. instead of cutting back like so many other companies were doing, buddy was proactive, focusing on how to bring in more business.

>> i sort of had to drag myself kicking and screaming nowing it's going to be difficult. >> with the factory operating at about 70% capacity, it was definitely room to grow. >> even though we had a centralized location from the factory i said we really need another location to try to stimulate sales. >> that new store which opened its doors in 2012 had to meet some specific criteria. >> there are mattress stores everywhere and all in cookie cutter box locations. we wanted a unique building with a lot of visibility. >> it didn't hurt buddy could also negotiate a favorable lease. while mattress stores typically don't get a lot of foot traffic, foot trsk was what they were counting on, in addition to on

creased online and phone sales. there was some concern about poaching business from the company's home. the two facility are only miles apart. >> we felt it was a risk it was worth doing a second location. >> the store managers say sales balanced out and they work with their customers to go to whatever location is more convenient. >> we have a lot of people that come in this store that will not go to west columbia. they like to stay in their neighborhoods and i hear time and time again they're so happy that we're here. >> the company faced an unexpected dilemma when best mattress got a new look. then there were the clients who thought the new location meant higher prices. >> we've had several who admitted to me they were just a few blocks away but they thought they could save maybe $50 or $100 or several hundred dollars so they wept to the factory location. >> others still didn't know where they were calling. >> they will get confused thinking they're calling west columbia and vice versa.

>> they invested in advertising on the company's website, newspaper ads and tv commercials to ease client concerns. as buddy hoped output has gone up. >> we're probably at 80%, 85% now, but we've got a little bit of room. >> the second location has been so successful that there's already talk about expanding further, and if buddy has learned anything, it's that this expansion was a risk worth taking. >> i just don't believe that you can cut your way to profitability. i think you just got to be aggressive. i think business owners need to look at maybe expanding and look at another location. i thatink that's one way. it worked for us. it may work for them. there are two new life streaming apps that can help a lot of small business owners connect with customers and create a unique landscape.

shawn is a member of online digital and marketing pr firm. >> good to be here. >> let's explain what they do. >> what are they, live broadcast apps, uses the camera on your smartphone and it lets you live stream whatever it is that you're doing in the moment. j.j., we could take merecat and periscope, you're shooting with j.j. msnbc. >> i'm shooting it live and a lot of people can join and watch. >> everybody can join in. the difference is it's live. with meerkat once it's gone it's gone. periscope keeps it for 24 hours so it's a slight difference between the two apps but both of them really are, you have to be there in the moment or it's gone. >> almost like having facetime but instead of one to one person, right, you can do it tons of people. >> you can do it many and private. if you want to do something

exclusive for a few people you can. >> great, so what's neat about this is if your organization is holding some event, you can live stream it. >> absolutely. >> and see how many people are watching and commenting. >> yes, for example your boss is giving a presentation or colleague is speaking at a conference you can live stream that. say you run a luxury consignment goods store and want to give people an early peak you can could that, or say you're in real estate and the house hasn't gone on market yet, not officially listed. you want to give people a great sneak peek. >> you can use this in so many ways. saturday night 8:00, say you have a cosmetics company, i'm going out tonight, how about you? here is how i'm putting on my makeup. >> because of the early days, you can get a lot of visibility quickly so i'm not kidding when i was in the green room getting hair and makeup i had periscope

testing the app, having some fun with it and 120 people joined from six different countries. some fez were money tain and others interesting. it's another way to engage in obviously your content, very content dependent. you'll get the feedback based on the types of things that you're sharing. >> like anything it has to be exciting. i hear that it's live, makes it fun also. >> yes, and you lose out if you don't join in. there's not the sense i can watch it later. >> if you are filming your own event it's no problem. say you were at a football game, concert, something else and streaming that, you may be violating somebody's i pirks. >> especially for business owners you are best to use your own content. >> got it. this is fun, a neat way to give an insider's look or behind the scenes look if you want to use it that way. >> absolutely. so many creative ways businesses

are using it now. any social tool eventually the reach will decline as more xet fors join in. now is your chance to use something now. >> thanks. >> my pleasure. with more than 1.5 million apps in the app store, it is an understatement to say that competition is fierce. so here are five ways you can make your app stand out courtesy of entrepreneur.com. one, polish your app store optimizization. 63% of ios users find new apps simply by browsing the app store, include relevant keywords in your title and description. two, segment your users for better ratings. instead of showing a pop-up asking users to review the ad. if the three make your icon and screen shot stand out. the fst impression counts so you want to have all your images

be beautiful and relevant. four, include a video. take the time to show case your app's features, mix storytelling, selling and a strong call to action and five, get your copy righting texts right. make sure you capture someone's attention with those first few lines users see before they have to hit "more" to expand the text. still to come, attracting millenials to your business. plus our viewers tell us their favorite online tools and apps and the economy is not just about cars and homes. new startup is offering chickens for rent. 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 ron perrin uses underwater cameras. shoot a selfie of you and your business and send it to us or a tweet to @msnbcyourbiz.

the sharing economy is boom willi ing. you can rent your home on air bnb, and cars through getaway and now you can get a chicken. food companies are offering a clever all theive to buying eggs at the supermarket. here's cnbc's morgan brennan. >> reporter: farm fresh eggs in your backyard from chickens that are rented. several startups had been hatched that lease out hens and all of the necessary supplies in what's perhaps the quirkiest edition to the share economy. >> we are an affiliate farm, we raise chickens for our customers to went for a four to six month rental over the spring and summer and pick them up so you don't have to keep them over the fall and winter. >> kate whitner lives on a farm in pennsylvania. >> usually we make more than one delivery in a day. the majority of our customers are interested in knowing where

the food comes from. >> thent remembers don't have the investment or long time equipment. for $400 a customer gets two helps already laying eggs daily, a coop and 100 pounds of feed, enough to last for the fourth-month period. >> if i wanted to happening onto the chickens for four months it's $400. rent the chickens pairs renters with birds. phammers pay affiliate fees to the home office. the co-founder says she'll have signed contracts with 20 local affiliate locations up from just 17 this year and rent the chickon isn't the only company cracking this concept. one charges $180 for a one-month coop. michigan based rentachicken.net

has a website also. egg prices climbed to record levels of aa devastating outbreak wiped out more than 10% of u.s. production. they say the demand for backyard flocks has jumped. at $400 for four months that breaks down to $1.79 per egg, a total of $21 per dozenon, three times higher than the priceiest organic eggs in the store but a growing number are willing to pay just to know where breakfast came from. i'm morgan brennan in nanuit, new york. it's time to answer some of your business questions, our board of directors is here to help us out, cory lathan founder and ceo of anthro tronnics and scott gerber, founder of young entrepreneur council. good to see you guys. >> you, too.

>> 105-year-old company, we have an 58-year-old brand. i have two millenials at home and trying i'm trying to figurew to connect with them and all of their friends. >> obviously we chose this question because you're here, scott. >> it's funny. two things. one, ask them! it's funny. people think millennials are living in this big bubble and are unapproachable. figure out ways to tie your product in. game-ify whatever you're doing. connect with them and help them to win points, prizes or things for telling others or showing them your product. that's part of the process. anything that gets them active and competitive is very big. >> millennials are actually quite a large group. to think about -- can we think about millennials as a group to target? some millennials are having kids now, which changes things. >> i think it's very hard to pigeonmillennials.

one thing crossing generational gaps -- maybe just a sign of the times -- is that millennials seem to spend money where they can have the most impact. even if your brand is about quality, which is a great thing, it needs to be about more. it needs to be about impact as well. >> is there a way to reach millennials and other generations using the same kind of marketing? >> when you look at how to target customers you shouldn't be look at ooims looking for millenni millennials. i'm looking for john, his big thing to do is gaming. that's the kind of hyper targeting that's going to make your business successful not thinking how do i get this big swath of any generation, boomers, xors or any generation? you can't target effectively on almost any budget. >> to your point, go find john and ask him. let's go to the next

question about new hires. >> as we're on boarding new employees, how do we make sure they buy into the ethos and really understand the driving company culture as we're scaling up so quickly? >> you and i have spent some time talking about this off camera. it's really important that you do this. what ideas do you have? >> well, i think setting a good example. you know, radicle farm has such a great vision. they have to show that they're not just about the bottom line in growing their company. they're also having an impact on culture, the environment and policy. and i think giving employees opportunities to engage at that level will really set the example and bring them into the company ethos. >> one of the first parts or areas you do this is in the interview. >> i was going to say, if you are worried about your company culture during the on boarding phase, you've missed a crucial part of the process, which is

the hiring positie ining portio. what do we like in a room together? how do we connect? how do we feel not just about working together but the company culture right there and then before they're hired? how do we talk about their brand and what are their goals and as p pirations to make the brand even better? >> have either of you codified your culture? have you written down a mission statement? >> absolutely. >> you have? >> a full document that's ever changing. it's not set in stone. we always find new ways to enhance, make it better and ultimately will make people happier, employees, because they can add their piece to the mission. it's important to have a foundational understanding of what you want your brand to represent and what you want it to mean to other. >> and also that it's real. you can say this is our culture. we believe in everyone bringing ideas to the table. we believe in work/life balance. if people don't see it happening all those words are meaningless.

>> show don't tell. >> exactly. let's move on to the next question about finding a larger business to acquire or merge with your brand. >> we would like to know what these larger corporations or companies are looking for in smaller companies when they are thinking about acquiring or merging them into their own. >> how do you figure this out? >> well, i think big companies are looking for the same thing that the small companies are. and that's a partner that can really leverage each other's capabilities. so a typical example would be a small company that has an innovative product and a larger company that has the distribution channels to scale it. so, that's, i think, a very typical partnership you might see with a larger company. >> and just like with any kind of sale, even when you're selling your product, you have to understand where their pain point is, right? you can't just go in -- >> yep. >> with the idea of i know how i can help you. you need to know how thank you

think you can help them. >> not just build from the ground up. before you think about merging, acquisitions or any of these big pictures you have to look at yourself as a business owner and say how do i want to grow my business? what's my exit strategy ♪ reason that most exits fail in the actual exercise of them happening is because you haven't thought it through yourself. and then you're expecting someone else to have this magical check that will make thing all things solve when the reality is that after a merger acquisition, most of them fail because they haven't been set up for success. >> and someone gave us some advice once, which is write down all of your core competencies and on a scale of one to five, how good are you at these, right? you might be surprised to see that what someone might acquire you for is not exactly what you would have thought. >> absolutely. >> when you see what you're actually good at. it could be talent and has nothing to do with your product or service. thank you for all this advice.

we really appreciate it. we answer these questions every single week here on the show. if you have one, go over to our website. open forum.com/your business. once you get there, you'll see a link that says ask the show. you can submit a question there or send us an e-mail to your business @msnbc.com. we've been looking at twitter to find some good advice for our community at small business experts. we are all salespeople because leadership is a process of influence. when you partner and work with them side by side. sales and management expert harvey mckay says trust is essential for doing business with anyone. without it, you have another word that begins with t, trouble. and fran tarkenton failure is the agent of innovation. fail fast and forward to win

long. we decided to go to our viewers to find out which ones actually deliver as promised. >> one website that i love is the organized artist company.com. samantha bennett runs that. she has some really great content for entrepreneurs who are creatives, helping them get unstuck. if you subscribe to her daily e-mails you get a tip a day that will help you transform your business. it's amazing. >> one app that i use in my business every single day is called appointment core. it's an online scheduling tool which interacts with my software. since we're started using it about 90 days ago, we used to book one or two sales consultations per week. now we book between eight to ten different sales calls per week. >> one website i use is

lynda.com. you can go there and have them explain it to you. makes it simple for the on-the-go entrepreneur. >> glip is a conversation tool, chat tool, product management tool all in one place. no longer do we need e-mail, text messages. we can assign projects, keep everything on task, collaborate within groups and even invite clients in. we've invited clients into the folder we've created. two of my clients over the past month have adopted glip for their business. >> thank you so much for joining us today. to learn more about the show go over to openforum.com/yourbusiness. once you get there you'll find all the segments we showed today plus a lot more information to help your business grow. follow us on twitte twitter @msnbcyourbiz. and find us on facebook and instagram, too. secondhand merchandise gets a new lease on life, next show.

>> there needs to be magic for the customer. beautiful box, tissue paper takes an experience that might feel like secondhand and it feels like new. >> how buying and selling used goods has never been easier, thanks to a new crop of company using technology to make what used to be a complicated transaction effortless. till them, i'm j.j. ramberg. remember, we make your business our business. our cosmetics line was a hit. the orders were rushing in. i could feel our deadlines racing towards us. we didn't need a loan. we needed short-term funding fast. building 18 homes in 4 ½ months? that was a leap. but i knew i could rely on american express to help me buy those building materials. amex helped me buy the inventory i needed. our amex helped us fill the orders.

just like that. another step on the journey. will you be ready when growth presents itself? realize your buying power at open.com eyes on the end zone. good morning to you. thanks for getting up with us. i'm in for steve korniacki. major tailgating in iowa this weekend as presidential candidates have been mingling with football fans at the state's biggest game of the year. you can guess who drew the biggest crowd. msnbc polls out this morning showing the state of the race heading into that big debate wednesday. former tennis pro james blake speaking out about his false arrest at the hands of the new yo