a wrips minneapolis initiative gets people to shop at small businesses they might have otherwise overlooked. and veterans tell us how their military training prepared them to be topnotch entrepreneurs. inspiration and advice to help your small business grow next on "your business." american express open can help you take on a new job. or fill a big order. or expand your office. for those who constantly find new ways to grow on every step of the journey. american express open proudly presents "your business" on msnbc.

>> hi, everyone. i'm jj ramberg and welcome to "your business." november is a time when america pays tribute to our heroic veterans. as we've reported over the years, the training and leadership skills that veterans learn in the military can translate to owning a successful small business. they often find that entrepreneurial life helps. standarded his business when he was just 16. he was deployed to iraq and eventually served in afghanistan as well. when he returned, he bought a papa john franchise making him the youngest franchisee owner in

their history. when she came back she graduated from the veteran women igniting the spirit of entrepreneurship program and founded turbo pup. good to see you both. >> thank you for having us. >> thank you both for your service and it's so exciting for me to see people like you come out and start businesses and really use so much of your training in civilian life to grow these businesses. i'm excited to have both of you here. >> thank you. >> i'm excited to be here. >> well, actually, let me start with you christina. for people that don't understand a meal replacement bar for a dog, how'd you come up with this idea? >> i mean, really for me i take my dog everywhere. so it was kind of a no brainer when i was in the back country with a hungry dog and no food for him. i had my own power bar. i thought what can i bring for my dog that's still nutritious and a complete meal. one thing led to another then i

came up with this company. i was really inspired by my love for my dog. >> and do you feel like you've had any benefits because you're a veteran? were you able to get loans easier or have a support system? >> absolutely. one of the first steps i had to take in starting the business was actually stepping out and saying i'm a veteran. then once i decided to start a business, i began leveraging veteran resources. that included what you just mentioned. i ended up getting a $25,000 grant from them from a city salutes competition for business pitch. i got a small business loan, the patriot express loan that has now transitioned into something new. i'm not sure what. but really it was being a veteran. i think that is the foundation for my great business. >> wow. and andrell, you have a papa john's franchise. you're doing 60% better than the people who owned the franchise

before you. was it something you learned in the military that you transferred over to this business? >> oh, definitely. the business fell three sometimes before the business. the key thing i learned was having a plan. and making sure you let everybody know what your plan is. in so many organizations you don't know the vision of the ceo and the plan being implemented. >> there are people in the air force speak and talk about how there's no room for failure. so here is how i translate no room to failure into our company. do you think about it that way too? >> definitely. i -- like i said, when i bought the business, i knew it had failed under three owners. i had to go in with a vision and say what am i going to do differently? i sat down with my management team and told them this is our plan and how we're going to

execute it. if you go to our managers, they know the plans. they know our projections, the numbers we want to hit. and they're very adamant about hitting the numbers. because there's other bonuses in place for them if they hit those numbers. >> what about hiccups along the way? do you have debriefs in any way you learn from the military? >> definitely. i set them -- i go off to the side and say this is what happened today. and i ask the question what could we have done better to make this customer have a better experience or why did this customer leave upset. i put that value inside of them that no customer leaves here upset. i learned something fundamentalal. the ceo of your organization, you put your plan in place and that your employees, they implement the culture that you want in place. so i always have a plan for my employees and then i have them to implement that culture from management down. >> what about you? anything you learned in the military? >> as a former pilot, we always talked about flexibility is the

key to air power. and i really think that when i've started this venture, there's been so many hiccups and constant bumps in the road. if you don't have that ability to think on your feet and adapt and change, like andrell mentioned, execute, it would really cause a huge setback in the business. >> well, best of luck with your companies. thank you very much. i really hope to see you guys back again in a few years with big companies sitting on our panel giving more advice to our viewers. thank you so much. >> thank you. in towns across the country, small business owners are searching for new ways to support local merchants. recently we visited one main street shopping district that has highlighted its colorful history. ♪ >> people appreciate us because of how long we've been here.

and they're really interested in that, how did we survive this long. >> julie is the current owner of the shop that has been here in minneapolis, minnesota, at this lake street address since it was founded by her grandfather nearly 100 years ago. >> my grandfather was a norwegian immigrant and this is a place he felt he had a chance to expand and grow and he was right. >> this is my grandfather. this is my sister diane. my mom. and here's my dad. >> gary's grandfather emil was a german immigrant. he founded this shop just a mile down the road. and the supplies are still horse riding gear. >> it's a family business so i have five other siblings in the business. and we're the owners. >> over three generations, these family businesses have seen big changes in the neighborhood. >> and then it changed as

freeways came in and people tended to move to the suburbs to shop. >> when suburban growth started to happen and malls were established, that drove a lot of the business away from lake street. >> she has been working with the lake street business owners to help them bring back their regular customers. and also bring in new ones. >> a lot of what the lake street counsel has done is get some of that customer base back. >> one program they've developed is called museum in the streets. it's a self-guided walking tour with pictures and stories about life on lake street. produced by a company in maine. they say it helps the community better appreciate their own downtown. >> the museum in the streets is an attraction not just for visitors coming in out of town but also people who live here. >> and it seems to be working. as one of the featured businesses on the trail, julie keeps a stack of brochures about the museum on her counter for customers to pick up. she says the customers have been

grabbing them up. >> it amazes me how many disappear. i mean, people pick them up all the time. >> the museum in the streets project helps people feel more connected to the community they're in. >> i've read a couple of them. not all of them. >> while so-called heritage businesses are featured in the museum tour, they're not the only ones benefitting. other newer businesses say they, too, are seeing an impact. the manager of gandhi mahal restaurant says the extra foot traffic is helping everyone. >> i think it brings people to lake street to engage the museum, the history, but also to discover the local businesses and really a community that has bonded together to make a change. >> surprisingly not expensive. it costs some money, for sure. but it's definitely worth it. and now we have some other business association who is are interested in looking at it to

apply in their commercial districts. >> one of those neighborhoods is across the river in a district affectionately known as dinky town. recently mike marooney asked her to come and talk about how to boost traffic in his area too. >> you saw it? uptown. what do you think of it when you saw it? >> i thought it was good. i liked it. i wanted to know how much it cost to get installed and get the signage up. also i would like to know from the business perspective of the people over in the lake street area how it has shown to bring traffic into the area. >> right. there's an opportunity to use it as a way to get people into the businesses here and into your restaurants and enjoying dinky town in a different way. >> it allows the person learning about the history to realize, well, this used to be butler road where bob dylan maybe

played or slept. and now it's this really nice restaurant. we should see this restaurant, check this place out. >> anywhere else history lessons and shopping trips might seem worlds apart, on lake street they go hand in hand. >> if they can use history as a way to attract people to come back, that will help their pocketbooks. earlier we spoke to some inspiring veterans who became successful small business owners. today's elevator pitch is also a veteran who has started an interesting business to help emts and their patients. the founder of rural 1 investing. >> hi, gentleman. i'm the ceo of my medical sticker.com. what we do is build medical alert decals for the back

windows of vehicles. in the event of an accident, this gives first respondered information. right now we've been featured on several media outlets. unfortunately we're not pushing advertising. we're looking for the capital to do that along with the media and maximize our profits. right now we're interested in $100,000 for 30% or even 100% equity for 475k. >> lynn, you're looking for an acquirer. this is the first time we've seen this on this show. okay. both of you guys. i need two numbers. the first one for the pitch one through ten. and the second one for the product. how long have you been at this? >> about 18 months. >> and you're ready to sell for the right price. >> for the right price to get it in the right hands to get it to people, yes. >> okay, great. phil, let's start with you. >> first off, lynn, thanks for your service in the military, man.

i appreciate it. i'm glad you're back in one piece and i hope all the guys get back. i would love to give you ten tens just for doing that for us. i'm giving you a five on the pitch. because i think you missed a couple of things and you threw something in which we never see which is i'm going to sell you my whole company. that's either too altruistic or scary for a venture guy. and i think we needed to figure out more how to come into the market and compete. what's that magic durable competitive advantage you're going to have. i really want to see that in the first 30 seconds. and on the product, i think you got a really interesting idea here. i think you've got a great product that could do well, but i don't know how it's going to fit in, again, against entrenched competition that's out there. >> all right. barry. >> thanks again for your service. i gave you a four on the pitch and a seven on the product. four on the pitch because just like phil said, i really want to hear why you want the money. but also i get suspicious like phil does, why would you want to give 100%?

i don't like entrepreneurs that basically want to parachute. but what i want to hear about is when someone sees your success, what is your sustainable advantage so you can succeed? the market place. >> i bet you have the answer to all those questions. and to decouple the acquisition versus the investment pitch is an interesting thought from both of these guys. so thank you so much. good luck with everything. i know you've gotten a lot of media. so seems there's interest out there. we appreciate you skoming on the show and thank you for the helpful advice. i hope it helps you with your pitches going forward. >> good luck. >> if you have a product or service and you want feedback from our elevator pitch panel on your chances of getting interested investors, send us an e-mail. the address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. you never know, somebody out there watching our show may be interested in helping you.

getting a small business loan to start or expand your company could be a challenge for any entrepreneur. veterans sometimes face additional obstacles because of the length of their military small business. here now are five small business options for veterans and anyone looking to raise money. courtesy of nerd wallet.com. one, kabbage. if you have bad credit this online lender could be a good option. they check your credit history but doesn't have a minimum credit score requirement. two, smartbiz. the company offers spa loans at a much quicker pace than traditional banks and at similar costs. three, lending club offers competitive rating for borrowers with good credit. businesses with lower annual revenue looking for a loan under $100,000 do not need to put up collateral. four, potential franchise owners should look at funding circle. they have multiple partnerships

in place with companies like papa john's, dominos, and robecks. and five, prosper. getting a small business loan can be tough as they require collateral. but through prosper approval is based on your personal credit rather than the merits of your business. kind bars have exploded in the marketplace. from grocery store shelves to the office vending many sheen. you don't need to look far for one of their healthy snacks. but i bet many of you don't know the story behind the kind name. based on one specific act of kindness that changed his father's life. it was a story when a german soldier kicked a potato to him. just a potato when he was starving. it became his mission to start a

company with a culture of kindness. he shares his story about leading with transparency and trust in this learning from the pros. ♪ >> it's very purposeful that we don't scream out loud about our social mission. we really want to lead with the product and a lot of people don't know about the social mission because by design we didn't want for the social vision to eclipse the quality of our product. product is what people are looking for. so you should never rely on a social mission to be a crutch for your success. our social mission gives us a ton of meaning and we hope that as we grow it will give people an additional reason to believe. but we know the reason they buy our products is because they're delicious and made with nutritionally rich ingredients. i realized how important it was when we created the kind brand

for us to not do marketing gimmicks. for us to be straightforward. transparency for us is not just the transparent wrappers where you could have all the ingredients you can see and pronounce. we introduce that into the nutritional ball category. but for us transparency is the way we speak to each other being straightforward. when we make a mistake, try to be yourself. i think people have been coveting because we're so over-marketed that i think we just crave authenticity. that's i think the benefit of our brand. one of the very interesting growth opportunities for me as kind has grown is being able to learn how a pleader has to modulate to step back and trust their team to lead. and so leadership and trust are very much interconnected. and sometimes? you really, really want to take

it to the next level, you need to be able to contract your own self-to be able to create that space for your team to grow and for them to lead. it's a work in progress for me. i used to be a one-person operation. i used to pack the product, take the orders, ship the orders, write the invoices, everything else. today i have an incredible team of people that are farm smarter and brighter than me. and much more specialized at what they do. it's such an incredible pleasure to see them learning from what they do. it requires, though, in many occasions particularly that i am good at for me to also recognize i need to step back and let me team members lead. ♪ when we come back, how do you get employees to be okay with you increasing the number of hours you're going to do business? and check our our viewers' favorite online tools and apps.

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 this week's your biz selfie from eric and christopher, a company that makes hand printed pillows and totes in bucks county, pennsylvania. thank you for sending that in.

pick up your cell phone and take a selfie of you and your business and send it to us. don't forget to us use #yourbizselfie. we look forward to seeing them all. time answer some of your business questions. phil and barry are back to help us out. the first one is about extending your hours. >> we surveyed the market and realized we need to add ten hours to the work week. how do i sell this to employees to get their buy-in? >> why are you laughing? >> i want to know how you extend your employees working hours by 20% or something and they're all good with it. because something has gone wrong here i think, right? either she's got a bad business model or she hired people with massively wrong expectations

about what they're going to be able to do or her business is now being pressured on price and she's got to get more work out of these people but whatever she's doing, something's screwed up in there big time. >> how do we fix it? if they're hourly employees you have to figure out are you going to have to pay them overtime, what's going on here. >> i'm assuming she just wants them to work more at the same price. >> i think this is a trap. you got to figure out how to do less, not more. you don't become successful by working faster and doing more and more multitasking. you have to figure out two or three things i'm going to do, focus and serve the customer. >> if you need to be open for hours. customers like to come in at 6:00 and we're closed at qualify. >> she could have more staff or more hours i don't think that's her problem. i think she's trying to get ten hours of people without paying them more. if she's trying to do that, you got to go with the golden rule, you screwed up, you've got to basically admit it, gao the to go to people and say look, i really thought either you were going to work a lot harder and you're not, in which case i need more people or you have to work

more or i just made the mistake and we're up against entrench e competition. if you want to stay here kick in. >> i think it's because she surveyed the market and going too broad. you got to focus on what's going to be successful. >> let's move on to the last question about expanding your business to new areas. >> we've grown organically and based a lot on our network and referrals and repeat business, but to take it to the next level how to develop a more affordable stance around business development. >> those words give me shivers in a bad way. she's trying to figure out how to sell more formal business development and all this. i think companies focus on analytics and what they do is have analysis, they take analysts into companies, they figure out how they are based on numbers. they probably don't have great sales people and they probably

are not structuring their compensation in a way that would attract great sales people so i would suggest to her don't worry about some formal business development program. get some great sales people. go ibm on your company, right? that was a tech company and those guys were always run by a salesperson, entire history since tom watson and the key is you figure out how much of your sales you're willing to pay out. say you're willing to pay out enough to make a great sales guy 500,000 bucks a year, 500 grand and it leaves you with 50% gross profit. you're golden. what you should be doing is paying those people, they will make it run for you, and you should hope that they end up making more money than you do. >> what's interesting, it sounds like she has a great partner, she's grown enough through referrals and word of mouth. >> they have a great product. >> so it would be something i would imagine that would be interesting for a salesperson. >> what they don't have is a systematic marketing plan. she's probably only selling when she has no business, right? we can't sell anything to

anybody, j.j. we have to be there when they're ready to buy. you have to have a marketing plan constantly out there with content marketing that shows you to be the expert. >> it clearly is not her expertise or she'd be doing it already. >> it's easy to do with e-mail. every single week come out with something that shows that you're on expert. if you're a plumber, come out with something that says what's the biggest danger in the home is water. and/or if you're hvac person -- >> i'm going to throw the e-mails in the garbage honestly. >> they might be good but that's going after existing customers which she seems to have a great relationship with as well. i think she's looking how do you expand that to the unknown. >> that's right. >> you can also do social media, get involved in discussions where people have the problem that you solve are talking. them, attracting new prospects. >> he's not wrong but i just think selling is often about getting in front of your customer. get some good sales people and put them on the road. >> where do you find them? >> put up $500,000 a year and

they'll be there. >> what if you can't afford $500,000 a year? >> it's commission. >> here's the bar, go make it. >> we did a piece a while ago on a company, it was called la loop, how they found good salespeople. i suggest you watch that piece because it talks about the tools you can give and how to attract good salespeople. thank you both. so good to see you, so good to pick your brains. we really appreciate you stopping by. >> thank you, j.j. >> if you have a question for our experts, please send them in because we answer them every single week here on the show. you can get great advice, go to our website, it's openforum.com/yourbusiness. once you get there, hit the "ask the show" link to submit a question or you can e-mail us to yourbusiness@msnbc.com. what are your go-to websites and apps that can make you a betterent we entrepreneur? we asked our viewers what their favorites are in this week's small biz tools.

>> i really love wiki pages, incredible easy to make templates so you can make a web page in less than 60 seconds. the layouts are clean, the design is great, the copy is great so you can have a fresh web page that is collecting lead information for you for your webinar, for your e-mail marketing newsletter, for your free piece of content. >> one free website i use is called terryburton.co.uk and what it does is it helps you generate bar codes in a high resolution format and when i was launching vienna snacks just as we were about to launch i realized we needed a high resolution version of our bar codes for the back of our packaging. i figured out how to create the unique bar code for our brand, but now i needed it in a high resolution format and it turns out you usually have to buy software in order to create that high resolution image but through a bunch of my research i found this website where you can

go on there and you can get that high resolution image generated for free. >> it's called webinar jam, and it really makes having webinars a quick and simple process, and has a lot of bells and whistles behind the scenes that you can really capture data on when people are dropping off, when you have great offers. you can put videos within your webinar, and things like that, so it's a pretty powerful tool that i really like. >> thank you everyone, so much for joining us today. if you missed anything or if you want to see any of the segments again, just head on over to our website, it's openforum.com/yourbusiness. we also put a lot more information on there that will help your small business grow. you can also follow us on twitter, it's @msnbcyourbiz or facebook and instagram as well. coming up next week, we head to baltimore, maryland, to visit highland town main street, an area whose small businesses were affected by april's civil unrest.

>> everything around here was destroyed. it was like something went through. >> although we were in a safe area away from the direct unrest, they were just thinking baltimore city and they weren't coming. >> we'll see how this small business community banded together to get people to shop local again. 'til then, i'm j.j. ramburg, and remember, we make your business our business. 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. '

another step on the journey. will you be ready when growth presents itself. realize your buying power at open.com. . live from new york it's donald trump. >> many of the greats have hosted, as you know, this show, like me, in 2004. >> will "snl" help trump get back up in the polls, and can ben carson take the heat of being the new front-runner? also, democrats on stage in prime time. >> if you had to pick somebody, you had to. >> yes. >> from the republican presidential field this year to be your vice president. >> whoever i name will really get hurt in the republican party. >> we'll talk to martin o'malley about whether he has a path to victory. >> whatever the polls look like in november has absolutely no relationship to what the