coming up on your business how does he run a successful business? the c.e.o. of the cheesecake factory talks and what you need to know about making partnerships work. we have advice on how to run your small business coming up on your business.

>> hi everyone. welcome to your business, the show dedicated to helping your small business grow. a lot of people start their own business in order to control their own schedules but then they quickly find out they are working even harder and longer hours and they start to get worn down by the grind. coming up for air can be tough. that's why one entrep naur hren had to admit he had to get his

creative juices flowing. he is working on his business instead of in it. >> to be able to climb something and jump off of it and know safety is no reserve. there's a funny thing about adrenaline that gives you a lot of clarity. >> reporte >> he is a thrill seeker. >> it is you and nothing else matters. it helps you understand what's more important in the bigger picture. >> if there's a mountain to jump off of or a plane to jump out of you can guarantee he would be up for the adventure. we caught up with michael where he was base jumping from the bridge which is about 500 feet above the snake river. while some people may cringe at

climbing over the railing and letting gravity take over michael is inspired. >> you're very in tune with the surroundings, nature, an extraordinary amount of focus at the task ats hand. >> he is also an entrepreneur. his two-year-old company key smart is based. >> key smart is a very you knee key organizer. it shrinks it to the size of a pack of gum. zb he knew it wouldn't work for him if he was tied down to one city. >> i wanted to focus on a business. i'm not a brick and mortar store. >> he also felt that without travel he would lose a lot of his creativity. >> it is a win-win for the company and myself. we come up with all of the ideas, best brainstorming and

where most of the stuff gets done. >> it means that you have to have a team that has bought into this. he gives them to lead while he gets away. >> you have to be very self-driven. my style is not micro management. we absolutely enable them to fulfill their own goals. >> before anyone is hired at the company job applicants get a tryout. >> a lot of people that we hire, we'll allow them to moonlight for the first four weeks and i'll stay late and work until 10:00 p.m. and they will come in at 4:00 after their own job and we see if it's a good fit. we usually know if it is a good fit after moonlighting.

>> he pretty much said make it your own, whatever works for you, the people you want to hire. >> employees manage their own work flows while letting their peers know what's been accomplished and what's been done. >> each party is responsible for updating their tasks so everybody can see where the project is and if we are falling behind on time lines. >> reporte >> they are empower toded to fi first themselves! they will find somebody to walk it through without needing approval of him. >> we try to free of his time with other stuff. she back with designers working on stuff. it's no different than if he is out of the country necessarily for me. >> he works the same hours as the team in chicago. >> i am the one that stays up

and works them. it's the same hours here. i really don't sleep that much anyway. >> he answers calls, e-mails and text. >> he is very fast to answer your questions and concerns. i some times feel he doesn't sleep. he is always on. >> we are in enough communication with him to stay on task. >> and he feels it wouldn't be fair if the employees didn't get the same perks as he does so like he does they get unlimited time off. >> i encourage people to travel because i feel stepping outside your comfort zone sparks the rece receptors in your brain! as long as work is getting work done it doesn't matter where he is. >> i'm not the bottleneck. i always have to finish all of

my obligations first before i do anything remotely recreational. >> he says others could probably take a page from his play book. >> a lot of entrepreneurs take it too personally. when you have somebody else to share the responsibilities they take it as a personal threat. you have to trust people, build a great team and let people progress and push you as well. there's no right or wrong to that it's just a different way of doing it. in 1972 overton and her husband oscar opened the cheesecake factory in los angeles. it was an immediate hit. seeing how many people loved his mother's cheesecakes he decided to open a restaurant in beverly hills highlighting the deserts. today the cheesecake factory has nearly 200 locations around the world and counting. we sat down to talk with him

about why he never cooks for critics in this learning from the pros. >> as we say, we kid but there's nothing america wants to see that can't go on the menu. we did that on purpose. i wanted to make sure i wouldn't ever get left behind and we could add anything people wanted to eat. when we created our skinnylicious menu i could see people were watching their weight and calories. we had some of the most fattening things on any menu which were great sellers and still are. i thought let's give them some choices. it uses all of our ycreativity o there's no veto votes that if a family or group want to come no

one can say i can't find anything to eat there. we never closed a cheesecake fact factory. so many people cook for critics. i always said my taste buds are of the common man. that's why we are successful. what i choose to go on the menu is what everybody else likes. some of it is internal and talent and the rest of it is deep thought about where you want to go and what you want to do. why not change your menu? why have the same menu all of the time? i started every six months to change the menu and, you know, to put on five or six or ten things, take off things that weren't selling as well. i continued it now for 38 years. almost every day we go down to the test kitchen and every day

they will make whatever one thing, some times ten things and we say we are on the right track. what are the trends? what do people want to eat? we are definitely a 2016 restaurant started in 1978. i think that's a mistake that many make is they end up at corporate and they sort of put themselves in an ivory tower. you have to go out to eat. you have to be passionate. you have to go on different food trips which we do, to get ideas to constantly bring ideas back. when we go to an opening we are always going to new restaurants in this city so i'm able to see what people like and who is prop l popular in every city. you need to believe in them. you need to spend the money to do it so the equal ifquality is.

we teach the front of the houseman jehous house managers to look at it to look at a dish and see if something is missing. they can taste the sauce and tell you if it is right or wrong. it took years and belief and that's the training of cheesecake fact rhode island that's what you're supposed to do. that's what we expect you to do. that's the success of our company. it takes belief and building from the beginning and every day you have to execute that. working remotely can certainly have its advantages but when it's not done right u you -- one, get your time zones straight. set up a visual time zone so you can keep track of time in all of the regions your clients are

pa pa based. jump on a video conference as early and as often as possible. three, keep everything organized and accessible. it's important that your customers can access files when ever they need to. you can use a cloud based to storage system and label folders clearly. four, keep your clients in the loop throughout the project. send an e-mail each day with what you're working on or schedule an e-mail to give them updates. identify which elements can be automated. set up e-mails that are prescheduled to that when you're swamped your clients still feel taken care of. you have to think of choosing your business partner as a lifelong decision. if you choose wrong you may spend years untangling yourself

from each other. my brother and i started a company ten years ago and i could not ask for a better partner in crime but every single week pretty much i hear of situations where things are completely falling apart. he is a columnist and koe author of the six forces shaping the future of business. he is here. so good to see you. cannot tell you how often i hear about problems in partnerships. >> me too. whether it is a business partnership or personal partnership it doesn't matter. trust, openness, commitment, not keeping score or tabs on who is contributing what. and i love the line from a few

good men. he says you can't handle the truth. the most important thing is to believe that your partner can handle the truth and to be truthful with him or her constantly. a partnership is based on accepting that person is in it for the long term. whatever difficulties you might struggle with, you're in it for the long term. >> so we get this, right? you have to be committed. we understand those things. what happens when you start to feel that your partner is not or you start to feel your own self-pulling back for whatever reason? what do you do to fix it? >> one of the things you can do is look at three things, look at yourself, your partner and the relationship. what most folks talk about is the two people, not the relationship. i say look, let's talk about the relationship. let's not make this personal.

you're what do you want to build as a relationship? is what you're doing respectful of contributing to that relationship? that is the third party in the room. we don't treat it with that respect that it deserves. >> and how do you keep it away from the personal? in some ways you need to because it might be i don't think you're working as hard as i am. >> and you talk about why did you get into this to begin this? it was a passion. it was an objective. think what that was. how is it supportive of those original goals? if they have maybe the partnership isn't right anymore. >> or we jigger it a little bit. >> yes. you jigger it. you can't keep track but you have to define boundarieboundar. if your partner is malking a decision he or she that is their

responsibility let them make it. if not you pick up the pieces and you move forward. >> do you remember going into the conversation we are both doing something we think is right. >> absolutely. >> and maybe you're contributing less and not being honest but let's get where i'm not accusing you! in every effective partnership it is clear who makes the final decision. i don't advocate 50/50 partnerships. do it 55/45. it takes the pressure off of both of you. you're both giving 100% to that business. >> that's the perfect partnership. >> he use to say when the ship is sinking someone has to do something. you both have to be okay with that. come to an agreement on that and the partnership works a lot smoother. gl thank you so much.

>> thank you. as any trip to the laundromat will prove, men have to wash their clothes too. today's elevator pitcher has come up with his own line geared towards men. let's see if he cleans up with our judges. he is founder and ceo of 02 c brands and melinda is founder and president of this group! hi. my name is mike eaton. it is a home products line built for men. i was in the grocery store finding the least offensive smelling. i thought why aren't there any cleaning products for guys. i decided to build it myself. it is a laundry detergent and

odor eliminatining spray. it is what a guy would need to clean everything. it has a fresh clean scent that is consistent across the liechblt we donate a percentage to veterans. we are in discussion with national and regional retailers for fall and spring shipments. first spring sales around $400,000. we are looking for 15% of equity to be used as well as inventori. >> thank you so much. target being the first place. >> yes. >> i'm sure it's not all luck. okay. i need two numbers. the first one, one to ten, what did you think of the product and the second one, one to ten wharks did you think of the pitch? >> and you quit your job for

this, right? >> yes. i was moonlighting for a year and a half. i'll give it a go. >> i changed it. >> go for it. >> so i thought the product was a nine. now i get to actually smell it. it smells like juniper. smells like gen. >> and your pitch was great. great story telling in a short period of time. >> melinda. >> i was busy smelling this. >> i will give you a resounding 10. i will give you a 10 because i think the fact that men understand their responsibility for cleaning and washing laundry too. i will only give you a six for your pitch. let me tell you why. you did great explaning where

you're selling it. because your rev flews at 400,000 and you're asking for 500,000 and only offering 50% of equity unrealistic expectation. when you ask for $500,000 or more you better look at 50% to 51% of your equity going investor. because even if you had been in business for two years you could only get 10% of your gross revenue from a bank in a line of credit. you're asking for a lot of money and somebody will pony up to you. very fair. absolutely. >> by the way, great advice to get a ten and nine that's good. easier to fix the pitch than the product. thank you very much for everything. congratulations. i'll hand this back. >> thanks for having me on. >> absolutely. if any of you out there have any product or service and you want feedback from your our elevator pitch panel, please send us an

e-mail. the address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. we look forward to reading all of those pitches and seeing some of you here in the elevator. still to come we answer your questions on,000 determine your business' evaluation. and we talk about your business process and your vision.

>> small business is starting to expand. there's interest from larger companies. how do i determine by valuation >> there's a number of ways for valuation. i went to my competitors and asked them what they thought their business was worth. second thing, there might have been prior sales and you get an idea from that. the important part is you want to get as much money as possible. if you're thinking of selling your business. >> we now have the top two tips you need to know to help your small business to grow.

brian and melinda are back once again. one tip? >> i want you to make your business process dependent and not people dependent. when you walk around all the information with how are you business runs in your head and not written down you can't hire on board people to help your business. >> so true. what if somebody leaves or gets hit by a bus. you have to understand how somebody can step into that job. >> as business owners we carry so much information in our heads. we know how we want it done. if we don't write it down nobody can deliver it effectively. >> brian, 20 how many years >> 27 years. >> 27 years running a very successful company. we had you on for a pro. we want to ask your tip. >> i don't know if i'm a pro. still working on it. my top tip is have a vision. paint picture. one sheet descriptive vision of

what your future looks like. you need to know and take just like you do have to document systems, take the vision from your head and put it in writing and share it with your people. figure out if your people see what you see. >> so i've had conversation in so many businesses where the founder of the ceo thought everyone understood the vision and was shocked at how when you go around the room and say where are we going they get ten different answers. >> you got to be on the same page literally. take that page. write out a painted picture. don't tell them how to get there, tell them this is where we're going. >> repeat it over and over and over. you should make even the interns read it. you want to make sure everybody in your company knows where you're going. very important. >> we make new recruits. people going through the interview process read our painted picture and see if it's

a place they want to work. >> very important because you're not just interviewing people they are interviewing you as well. >> absolutely. >> i talked about this previously but i've had these situations where i heard that you have someone who is doing a job and their manager thinks they are doing a terrible job. when you dig in more it's because they are trying to reach a different goal. >> all the time. >> it's all about not having this painted picture, the same vision. >> even at the tactical level letting people know what you aspect. here's the top three things you agree on. >> that goes back to even having effective job description. if the job has changed change the job description. because sometimes people outgrow jobs. people outgrow some of your staff. >> thank you so much to both of you. >> we all wish we could cross a couple of things from our unending list of to do. there's many online tools to pep you accomplish that.

which of those work. we asked our readers which ones they find most useful. >> one great website we use for business travel is sky scanners. it scans all the different airlines. it doesn't take extra money off the top like some of these other travel apps often do. but it gives the accurate depictions of what the flights are look like so we can place the best flight for our budget. >> an application we use for sales is handshake. it's an application where you sync your ipad with your computer before the show. you get to the show and your catalog and customer list is in your ipad. when you take an order from the customer, the customer tells you what they want, you click a button, a send button and the order goes to the customer. it's seamless and paperless. very efficient.

>> one of the websites we use is net suite. it's a financial reporting system that allows us to run all of our business from one portal. our website, marketing efforts, accounting, finance and even inventory. this week's viewer selfie comes from wisham jellies. spicy pepper jellies and other flavors. now pick up your cell phone, take a selfie of you and your business and send it to us here at your business at msnbc.com or you can tweet it to @msnbcyourbiz. thank you so much for joining us here today. here's something i want to share with you. when you think of the word hack-a-thon. in my company when we have a

hack-a-thon we invite everyone. here's something we came up with in our last hack-a-thon. one of our teams created this birthday hat. this was great. it helps company culture. it got everyone involved. so i just encourage you to think of a hack-a-thon that gets people's creative juices going. they don't have to be solving a tech company but they have to help your company move forward. we would love to hear from you. if you have any questions or comments about today's show, e-mail us @yourbusine @yourbusinessmsnbc.com. we've posted all the segment from today's show and more. don't forget to connect with us on our digital and social media platforms as well. next time a trail blazing

entrepreneur who turns a hobby of building backyard ponds into big business. >> for the first 16 years of my business i had double digit growth. everything i touched turned to gold. hey i got the midas touch. 2008ing changed everything. >> we'll show you how this company survived the recession. 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. good morning. i'm al sharpton. on this sunday morning millions of americans will pray for those whose lost their lives in this week's terrible tragedies. they will also be praying for us as a nation. as we try to make sense of what's happened. and where we go from here. tonight president obama cutting his overseas trip short returns home to face a country on edge. live prefts this weekend, a wave of reaction to this week's senseless tragedies. overnight in st. paul, minnesota, demonstrators facing off with