the owner of this clothing company can't afford to pay ourself a calorie. what we taught her can help you. coming up next on "your busines business". ♪

hi, everyone. i am jj ramberg. welcome to "your business." the show dedicated to helping your small business grow. here's the problem with running a small business. nobody pays your paycheck except for you and that means if there is no money left over after you have paid your other expenses you personally get nothing. now that can be a sign that your business is in trouble or just that you need to look at your company differently, and that's why this week we are kicking off the new year with a special your business makeover, which we did for a retail boutique in houston, and the owner sent out a frantic call for help. ♪

>> this must be it. >> i guess so. >> dirt road divas. >> love it. >> don is about to shake things up here. >> jodi! this is my friend, dawn. >> jodi is the owner of this cowgirl store. things might be good at the store from the outside, and shoppers are shopping and bills are getting paid but the end of the month, guess what jodi has left to pay herself? nothing. that's just plain bad business. don and his partner are going to dig in and give her a business makeover. don's job, dive into jodi's

financials and they are going to get her paid. the team started by getting a tour. >> this is a nook we had built out, and perfect for ladies to look in the mirror and try on shoes. we are western without being a western store. we do a lot of roeudios. >> this is almost too small. >> didn't take long for paco. >> there's almost too much stuff out there, and part of what it is, is having five great things is better than having 25 fabulous things. >> basically, he's telling her showing your customers too many products overloads them, and that many choices sells less and not more, and what you want to display, a tickle, something

that piques their interest. >> often we sort of think about windows as if somebody is viewing them like this, right? >> right. >> rather than viewing it from an angle. if i were to do a gentle adjustment here, i would adjust those mannequins so the focus of the window is this way rather than this way. make sense? >> yes. >> and that tickle should continue as the customer walks through the door, and in jodi's place, some of the best merchandise is hidden. >> i don't see a price tag on this or that? >> that is simply a missed opportunity. >> i am also concerned about what i see in that corner. >> what do you see?

>> what i am seeing in that corner is a gas tank, and i am seeing drd, and i want to see the product, and i want us to put the tickle of handbags and shoes, and i can put something up that says shoes but if i had a boot and bag up there, it would signal what i am going to find in that corner better, and what to help make you money and make you feel better about the business than you feel now. >> meanwhile, while he continued checking out the store, dawn started to dive into the financials and the systems are a mess. this is not uncommon at all for somebody's in jodi's position but it's keeping her back. >> when we came in, i have no quick books background or business degree or anything like

that, and we just had to learn it by reading, you know, the manuel, and you know, quick books krb. >> you didn't go into business to do quick books. >> right. >> so there is that. >> it's detailed and good, but it's confusing. >> sure. >> turns out jodi has several systems each tracking different parts of her business, things like inventory, sales and payroll are not integrated and this means jodi cannot see all of her financials in one place at the same time. >> has no idea, not because she's not a smart idea, she doesn't know because the numbers are not there for her because she did not have the systems in place to be able to look at them and make an educated system. she has an inventory system talking to her website, wonderful, but they are not talking to her accounting. >> that's one of the things we are working through today, making sure all your systems are integrating.

all you you can do is look at your bank account balancing and say, oh, i think i can pay everybody on friday. right? >> she can get a deep understanding about where all the money is going and when. she can make educated decisions about how to spend her money. >> how much of that inventory is dead inventory and taking a look at those numbers and saying let's get rid of this and get what is selling, because without cash flow she will never be able to pay herself. >> and before they look at the details of the reports, dawn has another simple question. >> we need to know the terms of your vendors, when are you having to pay those vendors? is money coming in? when is it coming in? what is the last day you have to pay it? >> we pay everything up front. >> we have a pay up front and

due on receipt inventory that you are personally carrying? >> there's no way she can pay herself if she is fronting the money for inventory, and if she had $75,000, we'll just throw a number out there, $75,000 of inventory, she just tied up $75,000 of her cash hanging on hangers in there, and that's not working for her until she sells it. >> bingo. dawn already found a source of funds for jodi to start paying herself, and dawn's suggestions go hand and hand with what paco is working on. >> let's bring in our secret sauce. >> he needs to help make changes in how quickly she is turning over inventory. >> once i got them in the door and looking at stuff, how can i take and sell them not an item, so i am not just selling them a

top, i am selling a bottom, and i am setting a bralet, and another accessory. >> how do you think of whole outfit instead of one item? >> i want to show you something really simple here. >> uh-huh. >> yes. part of what i want to do is to connect this to this. anytime i have an up and down rack, i want to think about how can i tie in what is is here and here. i want to take this little zone and talk about what might look better. >> okay. >> part of what the problem here is this is -- this is a lovely garment. >> right. >> and it's one of the more expensive ones inside the store. >> yes. >> you might even also want to

have the underwear that goes with it, because wearing this blouse and making it look good, it's not about wearing the blouse and it's what i wear underneath it is what makes me look good in the blouse. >> right. >> and i think it's one of the issues about a store like this, and it's that more than a nordstrom's or target or whatever, you can do the consultive sale. part of what is fun for you, being able to take the customer and spending $79 and making sure what they actually are walking out the door with is $200 worth of stuff, and if they are happy, and their friends tell them how great they look, they will come back. >> i think so too. >> let's go into a dressing room. this is one of the most important parts of an apparel store, while i love the color on

the outside, inside the dressing room, it competes with the try-on process. >> right. >> i think if this were a more neutral color, it would work a little better. this might be the place also to start talking about social media. >> what would you suggest? >> i might say, this is a great place for a selfie. or send us pictures of us wearing your clothes and we will post them on our social media site. >> good idea. >> and it's so affective, particularly for a business like yours. >> and the next day, he suggested connecting the boots with an entire outfit to boost sales. >> we will bring a mannequin here and see if we can do a shoe and leggings boot focal point. and we want to sell the idea not the item.

so in moving forward here, one of the themes about getting dirt road divas to do better, to sale the idea, this plus this plus this, and it means a happier customer walks out the door, and it's cool you have all the pieces here. let's pelly them altogether. let's go. >> hey, looks pretty good, doesn't it? ties it altogether. >> after two days of digging through the numbers and rearranging things in the store, everyone was a bit worn out, but jodi was thrilled with the listen she learned. >> with dawn i learned the technology available now that all the pieces can pull together and it is simple and doesn't have to be so confusing, and with poco's, it's the customer's

perception, and having gift items available for them, and all of those things together make for profits. i feel hopeful and i think it's going to lead to a paycheck. >> all right, lady. rock on. hopefully with the advice, jodi will finally start to take home a paycheck. we will check back later this year to see how things are going. and then what do you think 2016 will hold for small businesses. we list five key friends. >> one, heightened cyber security. we will see an increase in cyber attacks targeting small businesses in 2016 so make sure your company is not vulnerable to predators. two, focus on the mobile experience. more people are making buying decisions using their mobile devic devices, so you will be left to

adapt left behind. being a part of something greater than yourself will insure that everybody regardless of status in your company has a sense of ownership in the brand. four, value personal relationships. the small businesses that remember traditional marketing phebgz like face-to-face relationships and word of mouth will ultimately succeed. 93% of mobile apps are blocked on firefox and chrome. and small businesses, what you can do is leverage a lot of things if you are able to enter into a partnership with these partnerships in some way.

they built relationships with companies from stouffer's to samsung. i am so happy to talk to you about this. you started this company out of nothing, and now you have brands coming to you and saying we want to partner with you, and you have something that we want. we want to be part of this, which is really, congratulations t. to both of you. lots of us have gone into meetings and come out with nos. >> we don't take no. >> i can see that from both of you. let's go through it step by step some of the advice you have, and one of them, the first point you talk about, making the pitch about them and not you. >> that's right. so a lot of times i think brands, like our brand, you want to tell them everything about what you are do and give them the massive elevator pitch but the most important thing is understand who you are pitching and who they are marketing to and what their goals are and

programs are, and then it's very important after you had this conversation, listen, listen, listen, because you are constantly thinking i am going to give them this pitch and tell them this and you are anxious and excited and take a step back and listen to them and their goals and you want to really make them shine and learn new things about themselves. >> and even before we pitch, you know, you are in a pitch meeting, but give them 10 or 20, as much as they will talk, time for them to tell you and change your pitch on the fly if you need to. >> if you can, because you just learned something new about their business or their direction, and if you had your own concepts for them, you have to be flexible. >> you talked about knowing who you are? >> you have to know who you are and we are lucky, and we have really amazing partnership, and

melissa was talking about the brands, and that's what she is good at, and i apm good at othe things, and we know we are the moms, and we are on some different levels and doing so many different things on a small scale, and we different media platforms. >> it's easy to explain. you are a thing. you are not going to a brand and explaining something complicated, and it's this is what we are. >> we can bring you to life within the mom community. that's what we do. we are moms, and we are part of the mom parenting community and we reach moms in a lot of different ways. here's what we can do. we have the ability to be creative. the more flexible we can be, you want to be able to change it on the fly, and the more flexible you can be the better chances you are because you can offer different opportunities. >> the more you can understand,

and you said this is who i am, it's clear whether i am somebody who goes after moms or doing something else -- >> you don't want to be all over the map. >> we market to moms. some people say we want to reach women fresh out of college, but we market to moms. >> when you go into pitch these brands, can you say this is who you can reach, period. >> that's right. but the thing that you must know is your demo, do you reach a diverse audience, and what age are these moms? what are they buying? you can engage them on social media. we see the audience and see what they like and don't like and that will tailor our pitch into the brands we go into. >> so good to see you and congratulations on all your success so far. when we come back, one viewer asked how much capital do you need for a startup?

we give the answer. and then we will see if the panel has an appetite for the product pitch. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? our new cocktail bitters were doing well, but after one tradeshow, we took off. all i could think about was our deadlines racing towards us. a loan would take too long. we needed money, now. my amex card helped me buy the ingredients to fill the orders. opportunities don't wait around, so you have to be ready for them. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com.

money is six you really need to have the cash flow to sustain. depending upon how much you're interested this growing, maybe opportunities are clear and definitive, you certainly aren't going to have more money available because you want to keep moving forward particularly in a space like i.t. where there seems to be no limit to the kinds of people particularly in the software arena that need to be hired for a lot of these companies. and it is very competitive.

so if you're a competitive firm, should you run your business six months out and should have enough money to build it at the same time. if you love asian cuisine but you can't handle the gluten, you will like the elevator pitch. they came up with a tasty solution called feel good foods. now let's see if our judges feel good about their pitch. mondica and amos. >> hi, i'm ceo of feel good foods. >> it's a brooklyn based food company launched in 2011. a trained chef insisted on cooking delicious gluten-free food for me and we started the first gluten-free asian meals. we solve consumers problems by

offering chef inspired meal options. the glue ten free food industry is booming. $11.6 billion in 2015. >> currently we're inoff 3,000 stores including sprouts, whole foods and sams club. in the last three years, we've grown triple digits each year. >> i'll ask you how much money you're looking for. >> $500,000 will give and you 3.3 equity stake which will be used toward hiring more personnel, sales and marketing an future product launches. >> for both of you, good job. it looks like that was well rehearsed. two numbers. first one, what did you think of the product. the second one, what did you think of the pitch. >> and i will tell you guys personally while you're writing you can give your scores, one through ten from me, the product whichly sta li tasted before, i

good. congratulations to both of you. monica. >> product, i'd give you a 20 if i could. i'm not the missing the gluten and i would buy it. the pitch, an eight. it was very clear. the need, how you got here, how you explained it was you will very clear. i think maybe the valuation seems a little rich for me, but otherwise if a nom mphenomenal . >> and for me the product is a ten. really, really good. i can say the casing is super light can which is good. the pitch, 9 1/2. i've seen a lot of pitches. it was dense. so work on that. valuation i'm having a little issue with. >> congratulations. this is the first ten we've done

on product. we wish you the best of luck. i think you've just recruited three more customers for your product. and thank you for your advice on this. really appreciate it. >> thanks. >> if any of you out there are interested in coming into pitch your company here in the elevator, send us an e-mail, your business@msnbc.com. our experts will tell us if they think you have a chance of score something funding. and please include a short description of what your company does, how much money you're looking for and what you plan on doing with that money. we look forward to seeing some of you here in the elevator. time now for the top two tips you need to know to help your small business ica are bac us. we've had our new year resolutions. how do we make our companies grow. >> new year, new needs for money. the big thing to think about is focus on making a connection. it's a rookie mistake for

investors to just jump right into the details of their business without really trying to make that connection and they should start by telling a story. and it's really about skipping the jargon and focusing on the big business and the ability to make the connection that will make the other person stop and listen. >> and you've just raised money. and it's about somebody wanting to invest in you, they have to believe that you can do it. >> absolutely. which is the reason why my top tip for entrepreneurs in 2016 really focuses around being intentional with your habits. mainly entrepreneurs focus on things that people can do for them versus things that they can do for themselves. so if things aren't going right 24 your business or personal life, you're the only person that can change that. most of the time it's our habits

that bring us down. >> so what are you intentional about? >> self-doubt. especially when you're an entrepreneur, you really don't know if what you're building is -- will be successful. it's important to realize that these feelings are creeping in and you should develop vaeblgs to get rid of them. if 245 means finding a mentor, if that means getting into business books, if that means focusing on positive affirmations, i think as an entrepreneur you have to look at everything in your life to make sure that you can be successful. >> and you focus on the brains. >> all of them. >> mine, too. >> and what amos is talking about has a lot to do about what you wrote about. >> you've chosen a profession that has a lot of uncertainty and the brain functions on fear and lots of it.

and so you need to pepper your life with these crutches that can allow you to survive and sustain past the difficult times. some people call it grit. some people call it yoga. just find a way to center yourself and to remind yourself what is important to shake off the things are bringing you down so you can persist towards action. >> it's about doing something that you can control. >> absolutely. >> so when you are feeling out of control because you're nervous about your business or about the deal going through or whatever, you know that you can control running. >> yes. >> so i know that this one thing i've got control over, this one thing if i take time in the morning, i can control that. and once you can control one thing, it extends out into the rest of your life. >> and one key word with control means trust. it's like if you're searching for control over something, that means you don't trust the process. and you have to go through the process in order to get to the other side. there is nothing that you can do today that will leap frog you to success. you have to go through the proper steps.

>> all right. i love this conversation. i'm depend so glad we started off the new year with it. thanks so much for those tips both of you. moving on to this week's your biz selfie, it comes from robert who owns a&d propane if this houston. why don't you pick up your cellphone and it take a picture of you and your business and send to our e-mail address or tweet to@msnbc your biz. thank you everyone for joining us today. we'd love to hear from you. if you have any questions or comments about today's show, e-mail us at yourbusiness@msnbc. and our website is open forum.com/your business where we've hosted all of the segments and lots more. apconnect with us on all of our digital and social media plas forms, too. next week eveners of an egg

company create a niche. >> to the customer, the product is still from family family farms, same size flocks. nothing in terms of hugh of howe the chickens changes. >> we'll tell you how these entrepreneurs have ruffled some feathers and why retailers have put them high on the becopeckin order. until then, we make your business our business. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? our new cocktail bitters were doing well, but after one tradeshow, we took off. all i could think about was our deadlines racing towards us. a loan would take too long. we needed money, now. my amex card helped me buy the ingredients to fill the orders.

opportunities don't wait around, so you have to be ready for them. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. you don't have to look very far to see the investigation tanls of slavery that are still in play, in effect in this nation today. >> and why roots is relevant to everyone. >> whether you're black or white