good morning. coming up on msnbc "your business," things can get heated. so how do you as a small business open her deal with employees who discuss politics at work? educators become entrepreneurs by selling classroom materials to other teachers. and the owners of a men's skin care company get an education this distribution and packaging and learn a lot from their mistakes. we have so much good information to help you run your small business coming up 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. welcome to "your business," the show dedicated to helping your small business grow. never, never, never give up is a quote famously attributed to win stop church hill and an adage that most entrepreneurs understand especially when things just don't seem to be working in their business. it took five years before the company teacher's pay teachers got any traction and there were so many times along the way when they could have given up, but the

they didn't. the business now has almost 4 million active users and teachers who sell materials on the site have earned $200 million -- $200 million! this for a company that took five years with no traction. not bad for a company that almost didn't make it. deanna is something of a rock star. all these teachers are wanting their pictures with mean. i'm tell not used it to. >> she's a self made millionaire, the first of several teachers that have hit jackpot on the educational web sit called teachers pay teachers. similar to etsy, this peer to pere marquette place makes it easy to sell resources that they develop to other teachers. >> i was honored to be the first one and to be able to pave the

way for others. >> that was back in 2012. not only was it a milestone for deanna jump, but also for teachers pay teachers. >> we saw a group of teachers really adopt the platform. one of them was deanna jump who is a tremendous teacher and inspiring educator. and they got teachers excited about what was going on in the platform. and from that point on, it was really about how do you keep up with fast growth p. >> fast growth was the last time in new york city public schoolteacher had to worry about when he starteded the company back in 2006. he launched the business to connect and support the education community by allowing teachers to shart innovative materials they were creating for their classrooms. like lesson plans, interactive notebooks and games. >> that lends itself well to reading different versions of the three little pigs. >> and while everyone agreed teachers pay teachers or tpt was a great contest, adoption was slow. the journey was a study in the three ps.

patience, persist dance and persevere answer. there were highs like the purchase of the company by the education company skol has tick and lows. after the acquisition, there was no growth and the business almost closed down. in a last ditch effort to keep the company alive, paul bought it back in 2009 to save the community and the business from obscurity. what is interesting about tp it t to me is it feels like a ten year long overnight success story. right? >> it's the classic overnight success five to ten years later. i think what happens, if you talk to teachers, they almost always know about it, but people outside the teaching profession don't and the company has lived under the radar. it's been a place that teachers came to get quiet help. it's really hard to be a teacher i think always, but maybe harder now than ever. so tpt is a place they can quickly discover they can find great resources, talk to other teacher, share some of the trials and tribulations of being a teacher today. and that fueled the growth.

>> with almost 4 million active users, two out of every three teachers have downloaded something from the site. and while it's no secret that teachers are notoriously overworked and underpaid, tpt became a place to escape that fate by getting help will, support and ideas for their classrooms. with the potential of making some extra money themselves if they sold their resources on the site. >> the typical journey for someone who comes to tpt is that they start done loading for free and when they find a teacher they connect with, they start to buy. so that's a double good. they make some money, he they get recognition for the work they have done and they also get to know that they're having real impact in classrooms because it's important to remember that if you're a teacher entrepreneurial, you're a teacher first and then entrepreneur second. >> and today in orlando, two of the most success fell entrepreneurs have combined forces in a new way, beyond their classrooms and tpt stores,

by creating an event, the inaugural get your teach on conference. and all of it will helps grow the tpt community. >> we said oh, my gosh, we have to start a conference. and within an hour, we had to get your teach on logo, we had our sessions worked out and that's what i love about the teachers pay teachers business p if you want do it, do it. if you want to go for it, go for it. so we went for it. >> hope king is a teacher in atlanta, georgia. she has a blog called elementary shenanigans. as well as a successful store on the teachers pay teachers site. >> if i really want teachers to take what they're learning here and let it impact their classroom through engagement, i have to show them what engagement looks like. so that's what i'm doing. call and response, song, cheer and chants, hands on learning because i can't just show here's what you do, they have to experience it, too. because that's what motivates them and inspires then and that's what will impact their classrooms. p. >> if you look closely, you will

see adam freed in the audience taking notes, asking questions an engaginging with this group. part social, part educational, part technical and part entrepreneurial, tpt stays relevant with innovative educators like king by making sure all the tpt employees are immersed in the community. >> you have to be in a classroom shadowing a teacher at least twice a year. i go once a month. and that doesn't matter whether you're an accountant or engineer or customer support rep. you need to be in a classroom at least twice a year. we bring teachers into tp to ask them questions p. >> anna was looking to supplement her income. not only did her tpt store take off in just a few day, more importantly, she found exactly what founder paul edelman sfwepded when he start the community. >> how important is the community? >> it's probably more you>> how

community? >> it's probably more you important than anything. tpt has been such a huge part of my life the last four years. they want your feedback, they want to know how they can better this business and how they can help children and empower teachers. that's what they're all about. it's amazing the collaboration and friendships that have been created because of tpt. >> during a presidential campaign season, it can be hard to get away from conversations about politics. especially this year when there is so much to talk about. so what is the best way to keep political discourse at bay in the office? david lewis is the founder, president and ceo of operations inc, a human resources firm. there is so much to talk about particularly this year, right? >> is there an election going on? >> yeah, right? i mean especially you're msnbc, stay on and you'll see lots

more. but there is so much. people are on different sides of the table. how do you keep this away at work? i mean you can't, right? people will talk about it. >> you can't take the approach that says you will keep this out of the discussion in the workplace. and it's a very polarizing issue. so you have to look at it from a few different angles. you have to accept the idea that it will get discussed. i think there are danger points, though. telling people that they can't talk about it is a problem. other th ownership coming out and making a strong statement is also a problem because it can be polarizing. so it's best to give some advice to people to just keep the conversation to a minimum versus telling people you don't want it to happen in the office. and try to diffuse as quickly as possible any of those more passionate discussions. and if you have to pull people aside who are more passionate, explain to them, listen, the more passionate you are in the office, the greater the chance that it will create conflict with others. >> so let's get tactical about

this. do you have a conference about it, do you send an e-mail? how do you get this information across? >> one is that you could put a policy out there, but that could create issues in terms of what the law says because the national labor relations board may come in and say wait a second, that is limiting people's ability to free speech and to concerted activity. so i think the policy is difficult to craft without getting yourself in some trouble. so moving forward, i think you want to go ahead and just have more small conversations. pull people aside especially when you see the conversation getting a bit out of hand, stay away from something that is printed. >> so nothing printed. chances are are you not going to be there when somebody is having a heated conversation about that so then it escalates. and now suddenly there is conflict between two people. >> typical hr issue. you want tpnt to bring the individuals in who created the issue or complained in some fashion and try to work through lie any other item in employee

relations. talk through and say i understand you have differencing view, we won't take sides here a, we're simply going to say this type of discussion has some potential problems within the workplace, so we want to tone the rhetoric down and maybe this is not the best place to bring all of these things up. >> have you seen this happen a lot? >> i see it happen almost every day. and -- >> really some not to the point that people are just on different sides, that happens of course all the time. but to the point where it really escalates and is creating a problem in the workplace? >> this particular election is one that is extremely polarizing. and it is demonstrating in office places as well as just everywhere around the country how people have very significant and differing views from one another. so it's natural that it will come up in the course of conversation. and someone will come in and make a comment in favor of somebody's political stance and someone will come in and have a completely opposing view. and the more that spills into the workplace, the more it will create that type of potential firestorm if you don't go ahead

and did did ffuse it. >> and i guess you say we don't want to insult each other, we want people to feel happy coming to work, people feel safe coming to work and it's okay for to us have differing view, but let's not insult each other and let's not make each other feel badly about it. >> and again, you have to walk a fine line because -- >> not saying don't talk. >> i think the talking thing will happen. it's part of a company's culture to have communication. but i think what most business other thanes will see, they will start seeing it get potentially out of hand. you want to start bringing people together in some fashion and say listen, i know you're a supporter of this candidate or will perspective, tone it down in the workplace. >> maybeyou simply say be respectful of others. >> we all have different opin n opinions and that's okay. we have a common goal around this business and you're entitled to your opinion. and that's what it is, all

opinion based. so you're entitled to your opinion, but take a hard look at how people react to that opinion and figure out is that conducive to you being an effective employee, good co-worker and keep focus on what it is you're here to do. >> yes, it is an interesting time and lots of people have a lot to say. so i think it's important that we had you on it talk about how do we deal with this in the workplace. so thank you so much. >> some of the most successful entrepreneurs we've spoken to over the years like tommy hilfiger and stewart whitesman have told us that one of the keys to their sick says was learning from their mistakes. failure, large or small, happens to everyone at the some point. but what you do after making a bad call makes all difference in the world.he some point. but what you do after making a bad call makes all difference in the world.e some point. but what you do after making a bad call makes all difference in the world. some point. but what you do after making a bad call makes all difference in the world.some point. but what you do after making a bad call makes all difference in the world. just ask the owners of skin care can he j. paul. they made some costly mistakes which they shared so you can avoid the same pitfalls.

men's skin care line j. paul may have entered a crowded field when it launched its shaving accessories in 2007, but for the founders, there was no deterrent. >> our proceducts are targeted r those guys who do have thick beards like myself and my business partner has very sensitive skin. we felt that there really was a market void there. >> for them, it was unchartered territory. >> i had no experience at all. came from an oil and gas background and some logistics, so we did not have any real industry knowledge. >> while they may have been at a slight disadvantage, you wouldn't know it. >> we used our savings, boot strapped the business from the very beginning. j. paul has gron organically with very little outside investment. >> in addition to their website, j. paul products are found all over the company including nordstrom, macy's and incidence of high end boutiques which they credit for giving them a boost.

they admit they have made mistakes along the way. >> you have to be willing as a entrepreneur and business owner to be willing to make the mistakes. >> one of the first challenges involved the development of packaging. at first, the entrepreneurs turned to china. that just took too much time. >> what we found was that part of being in china is you're having to wait six weeks for every iteration of the packaging that you're getting. and so if you get it back and it's not the right color, then you get to wait six more weeks for them to make an adjustment. >> a canadian company eventually produced the right packaging with the correct shade of brown. but j. paul had already wasted a lot of time and money. >> 18 months to move through from the time we first contacted the company in china to when we actually received the tubes. it was close to about $15,000 from start to finish. >> the ceo says at one point this texas company used a distribution center in connect cut. >> as we were growing and the demand was growing, the orders

were coming in, so at the advice of our consultants, we moved our operation to a fulfillment center recommended to us. we paid a monthly fee. >> but then the customers started to complain. >> we just kept getting more feedback from customers with pictures, this is what arrived to me. and it just wasn't up to standard. we just didn't have the quality control. >> distribution was eventually brought back to houston. but not without losing money first. >> after it was all said and done, we took a 25 -- $20,000 to $25,000 hit that we won't be able to recoup. and as a result of that, we're not getting product that is arriving anywhere damaged. >> marketing was another hurdle. j. paul ran newspaper ads if will markets like dallas and chicago where products were starting to sell. they launched a social media campaign, too. >> we felt we needed to have some sort of advertising campaign, whether print media, online. and that was a major mistake.

>> the newspaper ads didn't bring in any new customers. >> quickly added up to almost $20,000 in the different cities. >> the social media campaign wasn't any better. >> we probably invested somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000 probably closer to $15,000. >> the lack of name recognition didn't help when j. paul looked for a spokesperson either. >> we felt like that in-eitherbly we needed to be in the bigger box stores, bigger retail stores. and as a way to bring recognition, bring exposure and bring some clout, we felt lake in a a celebrity endorsement would give us the cache that we needed. >> despite hiring a talent agent and meeting pace to face with one celebrity, nothing materialized. >> i think the official reason was that we were not really a known company. >> that search cost them $15,000 which never amounted to anything. but it turns out j. paul never needed that kind of endorsement.

the products spoke for themselves and customers responded. >> in the end it really is about your product being able to tap alone by itself. >> while all agree the money lost could have been better spent, this this was a learning experience. it may have been costly, but in the end, j. paul is a better company because of it. >> sure mistakes probably did motivate us. i don't think every company can do everything right every single day. mistakes will happen, but it's how you adapt and learn from the mistakes. >> improving your small business's performance is difficult if you're not measuring your company's progress effectively. we turned to venture burn.com for metrics you can watch to determine whether your business is on the right traffic. one, web traffic. measure how people are engaging with your site using tools like google analytics. knowing how visitors are finding out about you and what products and services are piquing their interest will help you better

target your key audience. two, customer satisfaction. you can find this out by talking to your clients or asking them to fill out a simple survey. three, social media. monitor what people are saying about your company on different platforms. check for comments and responses at least once a day. four, finances. small businesses often fail because they incorrectly budget or forecast their funds. so track your financial performance to ensure you have an accurate sense of your cash flow. and five, productivity. assess how efficient your employees are day to day, analyze ways you can help them improve so your company as a whole can continue to expand. spring is here, the weather is getting nicer and that means that a lot of you are going to go outside do some gardening. today's elevator itcher has use added his expertise in the landscaping business to come up with a product to make weeding a

little easier. now let's see if our panel thinks his company can grow. he's the author of the new book 10% entrepreneur. >> my name is vinny and in my 30 year in the landscape business, i pulled out many weeds. this is how i came up with a solution for many garden loves like myself to know that the best way to weed is with your hands. you take it over your index finger, use the fork to penetrate the soil to loosen up the root and pull it out root and all. this is good in vegetable and flower beds where other larger tools don't fit in that 2013, i was overfunded on kick starter by 248%. sense then, i've been featured

by this old house magazine. with the help of my son, we're currently selling online and in over 100 stores throughout the country. we need a $50,000 investment in order to increase our inventory, lower our production costs by 32 cents to 16 cents, and that way we'll have a higher profit and be able to fulfill the order from the big box stores. thank you and let the ring be your weeder. >> thank you, vinny. nice job. okay. i'm going to give these to you two. i want two numbers from you. first one is what did you think of the product. second, what did you think of the pitch. how did you make your first prototype? >> i went to a werlder day afte thanks in 2012 and he liked the idea so much that he made a bunch of prototypes over and over for me but free, but he wanted to see it on the market. so he did it for me p. >> okay. let's get the answers. >> i'm going to give eight for the product. simple, elegant, does the job. i'll give six for the pitch and

here is the reason why. i think if i'm going to in-investigation, i want to hear about the business, not just the product. i want to hear about the market, your current sales activities. i want to know that you will expand and maybe product extension so that i'm not investing just in a single product. wonderful that you're overfund this had kick starter, but think about the business, how you pitch the business and not just the product. >> i love it. should you have a different elevator pitch for different people. investors versus customers. >> so i gave you a seven for the are duct and eight for the pitch. the seven is because i love thi. the seven is because i love this product, i get it, but i was worried about whether or not this is againstable. it's a pretty simple tool and i wonder if someone could rip you off and basically take your entire lunch and eat it. in terms of the pitch, i love the passion, i love the fact that you convinced me that you're the man to build this business, so that got me excited and you it would me about your partners were are highly

credible, which made me think this guy's got something. >> thank you so much. >> sounds like you have great traction already. good luck with everything. >> i brought one for both of you. >> thank you very much. i will hand it over to my husband. now, if any of you out there have a product or service and you want feedback from our pitch panel on your chances of getting interested investor, just send us an e-mail. the address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. in that e-mail, include a short summary of what your company does, how much money you're trying to raise and what you intend to do with that money. we will look forward to reading all of your pitches and seeing some of you here on the show. when we come back, what you need to know about writing a business plan and will you be ready when walmart or google calls?

will your business be ready when growth presents itself? our new cocktail bitters were doing well, 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. how does one write a business plan when contemplating starting a business? is there someone who will do this for you or help you with an outline? >> so i want you to think about your business plan as a flight plan. like this. a pilot would never get in an airplane in new york and fly to los angeles without a flight plan, right? of course. he needs to know or she needs to

know which direction they're going to head in, they need to know how much gas they will need, they will need to know landmarks to look for along the way. well, that is exactly what your business plan is. it's your flight plan for the success of your business. and what you want to do is think through all the things that you will need to know to run your business. how much money are you going to need? what are the obstacles you likely will face along the way? who is your competition? how will you market your business, how will you do your money? if you think it through all ahead of time, you will have a far greater chance of being successful because you thought it through. and you will find obstacles that you anticipated and some that you didn't, but if you thought through your plan, then you will be at least prepareded to deal with it. how do you do that? there all sorts of help for you. you can go it score, it's a great organization with people who can help you come up with a business plan and work through your business plan, there is a website i like a lot called b plans.com and they have interactive software that helps

a lot. so just to a search, find some help and you'll find that you can create your own flight plan for the success of your small business. we now have the top two tips you need to know to help your small business grow. les and patrick are back with us. all right. let me pick your brains. les, let's start with you. >> my tip today is know what you're going to do when walmart calls. or google or department of defense, whoever the big dog is in your industry. what i've seen happen so often is you get that precious call or e-mail or the sale goes through and before you know it, you didn't own your business any most of, you're doing precisely what this massive supplier tells you to. six months laters you're totally make everything to their specification, they move on to a lower cost supplier and you have to start over again. know how to manage the relationship at the start and most importantly, plan to exit because you didn't want to be that vulnerable. you don't want to have more than

20% of your revenue from any one source. so sit down, think about what will you to when walmart calls. >> patrick. >> my tip today is say no it fomo. >> fear of missing out for anyone who does not know. >> exactly. and i was credited by boston magazine with actually coining that term. >> really? wow. >> so it's something i know about in my own life. and when you're starting a business, everybody will tell you you should do this, you should enter this market, you should try this out, try that out. you need to focus and if you listen to fomo, you will spend your time doing things that aren't going to drive your business forward and trying too many things. so instead of fomo, try focus. >> all right. great. thank you so much both of you. this week's your biz selfie comes from christine pusateri in niles, illinois. after managing a number of small businesses, christine struck out on her own at 62 and started this company that makes custom hair replacement for men and women. what an inspiration and a he

reminder that you can start a company at any age. now, we love celebrating your businesses. so please pick up your cellphone and take a selfie of you and your company and send it to us at yourbusiness@msnbc.com or tweet it to @msnbc your biz and do not forget to use the #your biz selfie. thank you everyone for joining us. i think one of the biggest takeaways from today's show came from the top five and it's about metrics. we should all have a dashboard of the metrics that drive our business. and if you don't have this or if you don't know what those metrics are, you need to step back and figure that out. and you should look at that dashboard daily, weekly, monthly and yearly so you know what levers to pull to increase your business. we'd love to hear from you, as well. if you have any questions or comments about [']daed's show, e-mail your business at msnbc.com. you can also go to our website, open forum.com/your business.

we posted all of the segments from today's show plus a lot more. and don't forget to connect with us on all of our digital and social media platforms, too. next week we meet the entrepreneur of a super hero costume company who found himself deep in debt and on the verge of losing everything. how listening to his customer helped rescue his small business and now has the company flying high. until then, i'm j.j. ramberg. and remember, we make your business our business. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order

or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. philandophilando. rachel has the night off today but she will be back on monday. this is atlanta, georgia right now, just a giant protest that's been growing throughout the night, much of the afternoon and the evening. this is philadelphia. we have a lot to get to tonight. sit worth taking a moment to consider just how we got here. it's been just a horrifying, gut-wrenching, exhausting, crazy 72 hours in america. it's been hard to wrap your mind and your heart around everything that has happened since last tuesday night. first we were confronted with a chilling video of a man in baton