coming up on "your business," when this entrepreneur's husband died, he had to take over his struggling company. find out how she overcame sexism and mismanagement to get the business back on its feet. plus, how small businesses can attract customers and cash in on the pokemon go craze. that snd so much more coming up next on "your business." will your business be ready when growth presents itself

. hi there, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg and welcome to your business where we provide small business owners with information and inspiration. starbucks ceo howard schultz once said in time of adversity and change, we really discover who we are and what we're made of. rebecca bar low found that out the hard way. she was running her open company when her husband suddenly died. the hard way. she was running her open company when her husband suddenly died. then she discovered that his business was falling apart.

her sorry of battling me employee resistance and sexism has lessons we can all learn from. when rebecca launched her child care agency, she had a simple strategy for growth. >> started very small. and kind of built it out. i just took on a client or two at a time. i didn't have to invest anything and i really learned the lesson of growing a business organically. >> did you log into bella and see the families that haven't been called back yet? >> rebecca's very personal one-on-one customer service is what set her apart from the competition. >> treated every customer as if they were me looking for my own children. >> he's doing good. >> you have to exceed their expectations at every turn. within six months, i had more than replaced my corporate income. >> i said well done, sister, you did it. >> but triumph of turned to tragedy in 2011 when are a beg

came's husband of 13 years died unexpectedly. >> that was the most unbelievable tragedy that you could imagine. >> at the time rebecca's husband, steve, had been running his own business, acme flood, a water damage remediation company. the business was tanking. and also on the home front. >> i found out that my house payment hpt been paid in six months. >> giving up wasn't an option. rebecca knew she had to keep acme of a flet. but when she stepped in and took over, many of her employees balked at the idea. >> there is this woman telling us what to do? what do you know about this industry? >> the solution to that problem was simple. >> i immediately enrolled myself in a water damage remediation technician class just to understand what my business was about and to speak their

language. >> talking the talk was easy, but beginning her employees' respect was a challenge. >> getting these men to ultimately trust me as their leader required me to sort of take it down a notch. i tend to be an alpha female. i was doing the same kind of thing that i was doing with bella with my clients. i was getting on their level. and it was meeting tell where they were at. >> test came back positive. so those are getting done tomorrow and friday. >> as she gained her team's trust, rebecca started identifying the key problems across acme's three divisions. flood, plumbing and reconstruction. >> the first thing that i noticed was that the reconstruction department was taking money from the flood department to cover its payroll. we weren't making more than 5% profit on those jobs. >> so rebecca started cleaning up from the roots by making some major and very unexpected changes. >> i just decided we can't do

reconstruction. it's taking our profit away from our most profitable department. so i had to let everyone go. >> plumbing was also laced with issues. >> fired the lead of that department and i let go of all the plumbers we were working with. we were just left with acme flood. >> rebecca felt that scaling back the business and downsizing its head count was the only option for the company's survival. >> so have you finished the inventory? >> if you know that something is affecting your business negatively, my best advice is follow your gut and get rid of it. focus on what you're good at. >> she drew on her experience and knew that the only way that she could turn acme around was to rebuild it from scratch. >> i took it down to it a point where i was comfortable and i felt like i had my arms around the entire thing. it was me, one technician, a help her and my bookkeeper working out of my spare bedroom in my house. >> with limited resources, acme could only handle a limited amount of customers.

>> i chose to look at that as an opportunity to hone our customer service. >> how is your house going along? >> it helped me to create a company culture that is focused on fixing your problem in the best way possible. when you wake up at 3:00 in the morning and your house is covered in water, you're freaking out, right? the secret sauce is not water damage. the secret sauce is how you're treating your customers. >> and when rebecca needed advice in certain area, she was fearless in heranswers. >> i called owners of other flood companies and everyone was willing to help which really blew my mind. everyone just wanted to see a single mom make it. >> despite the challenges of raising four children and running both acme flood and bella bambino, rebecca has come out on top. >> let's go team. >> when i stepped in, acme was doing around $600,000 a year.

last year we were over $2 million. and this year we're looking at 4. i want to show people that if i can do it and i don't have a business degree, i just have a life degree, anyone can do it. >> rebecca's story points out how important it is to have a plan in place. michael timms is founding of a consulting firm and author of the book "success planning that works ". >> two ways to think about this. one is what happens if something suddenly happens to me and i can't run my business anymore and the other is the more natural one which is when i'm ready to retire or sell, move on, what to i do. so do you need to have the same kind of planning in place and when should you start thinking

about this sf. >> regardless of whether you're planning for that or just planning for growth, you should have effectively the same plan in place. >> so what does it mean to have succecession plan? >> succession planning in general is just developing leaders at the every level of the organization. on a very basic level, succession planning is really two things. one is identifying people with leadership potential. and, two, developing that potential. >> is it about saying, okay, one day i'm not going to be here and joe is going to be in charge, is it actually pointing to the person who is going to take over for you? or is it saying here are a group of people and any one of then could take charge? >> yeah, i think that is a mistake that lot of companies make, they look to one person to be their successor and that can be a problem if something

happens to that successor. so it's selecting and grooming and developing a group of individuals who could step in at various times. >> what are the biggest mistakes people make? >> i think the most obvious mistake businesses make is not having a succession plan that we've just seen. but i think another mistake that businesses make when they start to think about succession planning they say, well, i'm just going to -- i need to promote some people and get some people kind of my next level of management ready here and so i'm just going to promote people and they do that based on technical at only and they don't consider their leadership ability. and that is promoting people to their level of incompetence and it's not fair to the individual to set them up for failure, nor is it fair to the business. >> when somebody is thinking about succession planning, should they talk about this with the team? >> the worst thing that can possibly happen when you have a

succession plan and you're working with individuals and developing people and getting them ready, the worst thing that can possible happen is to have those individuals say i'm leaving because i don't see any career opportunity for me here. i'm going to somewhere where i can have more opportunity to advance. and you're saying, no, no, no, wait, i was thinking about promoting you the whole time. it's too late, right? so you need to be telling people ahead of time. >> so be very obvious and very fort right about, hey, one day i'm going to leave and so that's why we're doing this.right abou i'm going to leave and so that's why we're doing this. >> you got it. >>mimichael, thank you so much for coming on the program. i've worked in two kinds of startups. venture backed companies with tons of money and boot strapped ones where every dollar counts. and though you would think that canning things with lots of money is easier, sometimes the better ideas come when funding is scarce. as the owners of a handmade home

goods come found out, when you're forced to make do with less, you on which come up wiofp with the best strategy. >> everything i have seen as a limitation previouslywhich ofte with the best strategy. >> everything i have seen as a limitation previously has helped define who we are and ultimately been one of our greatest strength. >> when ron morris and his husband ren jones jr. started their business mercantile homes which is now a mix between a home goods manufacturer and art gallery, they pretty much had nothing more than an idea. >> this was a dream that did not have any sort of financing. we never took out loans. probably because we couldn't get them if we had asked. >> ron and ken were in a situation familiar to many, they had what they thought was a xwlat idea, but no obvious resources to see it through. so they were forced to be innovative. and every money saving decision they made became a part of the

tab ri fact rick fabric of what the brs today. >> we had the one natural resource that we know we had which is our creativity. >> ashd that start when the entire baunlg et cetera was a $500 loan from ken's parents. >> it bought us some fabric, the basic supplies. >> they started looking around. >> we had tons of fabric that had been collected and all of a sudden i had reasons to turn it into things. >> because they didn't have ream smt of the same fabric, everything they made was one of a kind before today even though they can afford more, they stick to their roots because items part of their identity and why people love their products. >> almost all the fabric goods have either been given to us or we bought secondary excess, but again, if all has to be low cost because what we're doing is not a high end thing.

100 and under is where we like to live. >> their lack of funds also meant they didn't have a marketing budget. the company start in brooklyn, new rk but moved to easton, pennsylvania where they opened their store. they took every opportunity they got to bring customers in. >> you say hi to everyone who walks by your door. that was the first thing. >> but that wasn't enough. especially since easton had fallen on hard times. >> we were very aware of the challenges. people wouldn't come down town. we had to become a destination. >> that's howtown. we had to become a destination. >> that's how community oriented activities became part of the plan to get people to shop local. >> we wanted to get people talking about us however they could. whether they're taking a class or come to a concert, if today's how they connect and get to know us, they will learn about all the other stuff. >> they regionally created six collections to give customers reasons to come back to the store. >> if we only sold candles, we

wouldn't have been able to attract the diversity of customers that we needed. so you had to give them note cards and handbags and scarves and all the other stuff. >> while the number of seasonal launches is now four, the nearly santa reinvention has become a trademark of the brand and a reason for customers to return. >> everyone who i think evidently is in this town, five people at the time, how do we make it interesting for those five people again. let's change it over and have a new collection. start changing the shop every couple of months and those five become 10, 20, 40. >> ron and ken addremit that th was another frustration. they didn't know how to best explain their brand. >> ken and i often saw it as one of you are biggest limitations, trying to get people to understand everything that we did. >> like all of their other challenges, they have overcome this one, too. they don't need to explain

anything now. that's because their customers do most of the talking for them. >> folks will walk into the store and you overhear them plaining what we are to the person they brought in. oh, yeah, they make everything here and it's always changing and they have classes. we don't have to do the work anymore. time to cash in on a digital phenomenon. in case you haven't noticed or if your head is in the sand, pokemon go has become the most talked about game of the summer. for good or for bad. and i'm not sure which yet. my kids just hit level nine yesterday. the free app uses your phone to gps as you move through the real world searching for virtual monsters.to gps as you move through the real world searching for virtual monsters. it's also driving sales. we have five ways savvy small business owners are catching customers with pokemon go. one, find out if your business is a pokestop or a gym. these are real world players

that players congregate around to search for rewards. if you're they're one, get creative with marketing, product discounts and in-store promotions that will help you capture customers. two, keep score. if you have a gym close by, put up a sign offering discounts and incentives to players who are in control. three, three down the lure. powerful in-app purchases at track pokemons to hot spots.oe . powerful in-app purchases at track pokemons to hot spots.we . powerful in-app purchases at track pokemons to hot spots. do. powerful in-app purchases at track pokemons to hot spots.ow . powerful in-app purchases at track pokemons to hot spots. four, go with the pokemon roam. take your business on the road. set up a pop up shop or give out marketing terms they'near gyms. . and last, market through social media. get people excited about the rare pokemon that keeps popping up near your business. have follow irs tag your business on facebook and

instragram. the word sargento and cheese go hand-in-hand. now worth more than a billion dollars you'd be hard pressed to find a supermarket or grocery store that doesn't carry the shredded cheese or the cheese cubes made by the family owned business. 63 years after it was started, brand now ran by his grandson. we talked with him about hiring good people, treating them like family and finding a work/life balance in this training from the pros. >> hiring people and treating them like family was a philosophy that my grandfather started over 63 years ago and it really speaks to the culture at sargento. it means how you would free throw treat your own family. you want to have fun with them, hold them accountable, treat themthrow treat your own family. you want to have fun with them,

hold them accountable, treat them with trust and respect. make them feel welcome, have ownership. you want them to embody the spirit of the culture and have that same passion that you as an owner may have. innovation is absolutely essential. companies need to be looking at how they can innovate really on a dwaaily basis. you can't make innovation in a vent. you need to follow great practices and procedures to create great products for the consumer. a huge part of our success and it would continue to be a huge part of our success going forward. innovation, however, goes beyond just creating new keez products for consumers. it's also about doing different things differently, new processes, new procedures. so we are innovating every day.

listening to the consumer is actually very important. if companies and individuals aren't looking at who the consumer is that they're trying to deliver great products to, i think you risk your brand having recomme rely advance with trelevance wi. whether it be through facebook or instragram or twitter, they have multiple ways of speaker acting with us. intact they can call our 1-800 number and listen to a live person and share their ideas on a new product or how great a product is that they have in the marketplace. balance in life i think is something that everybody tries to do and it's very hard to do. but i really think it's important for people to make a conscious effort to make sure to find that they is grais great b in life. if your life is all about work,

you won't be successful. you have to make sure you have time to spend with your family being friends, celebrate your family and just have fun. i love driving my tractor on the weekends.friends, celebrate you family and just have fun. i love driving my tractor on the weekends. i like to move dirt around and i find my tractor time to be just great time where i can find peace and just kind of think about nothing and focus on the immediate task at hand. but i also encourage sargento family # to make sure they're having fun outside of work, as well. wn we come back, strategies for marketing an innovative product that could be the first of its time. and why you need to be constantly reinvesting in your 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. if you have a truly innovative product that does require a little bit of demonstration, what is the best way to market your product to a company? >> so the most important thing whenever i hear the word demo, important thing to think about, are you trying to educate the marketplace or actually trying to sell the product. if you're trying to educate, you're in for a long haul. be very careful with that. put the demo at the end of the pitch, not at the beginning.

with a most folks want to is start with that demo and then talk about the value. begin with the value, talk about why it's creating value for me and then it the demo. don't try to educate the market place. sell the value, sell the experience, get folks to understand the benefit to them and then to the demo. if you do it the other way around, it's much too long. >> we now have the top two tips you need to know to help your small business grow. so let's introduce our panel and get their advice. founder of retrofitness and also founder of let's yo. and elizabeth gore focuses on small and medium businesses around the world. so good to see both of you. >> thanks for having us. >> so one tip for the audience. >> my one tip for the audience would be if you're growing a small business would be reinvest and do it consistently. and the reason i say that is because so often people start a

business, like planting a garden, you spend all this time and energy and put the garden in and then you walk away and neff water again an expect it to grow? impossible. you have to reinvest into your garden and your business. you have toe put your money behind the reinvestment. >> and i was going to add also your time, right? so when you launch something new, you should get that feeling again like remember what it was like when i was a startup. >> that's exactly what we talk about. we talk to our retrofitness franchis franchisees, think about when you signed the document to enon t open the franchise. that passion, that energy. >> when every single customer counted. and so you have that -- i'm constantly pitching this and i'm so excited about it. >> and that is the difference between successful entrepreneurs and the ones that just tread water and then fail and drown. the ones who keep the passion.

that is a lifeline for your business over time. >> elizabeth, thought your career you've worked with small businesses. working with dell, of course. so what is something that you found that makes something succeed is this. >> the most successful companies are the ones who put purposethi >> the most successful companies are the ones who put purpose into profit. if you really think about what am i contributing to the world, whether i'm a store on the corner and calf naturing every person so they can to a great job or i'm a company like dell trying to use technology to democratize the world and give them access to information, what is that purpose behind your business. and you focus on that every single day. and listen, become profitable, but while you're doing that, how am i contributing to nhumanity. put purpose in profit and you will continue to succeed through the highs and lows.

>> i like that you brought up how am i contributing to my employees because if you are making a spring that goes into mattresses, you might not the feel le i have the same purpose as tom shoes which is giving a shoe for every shoe that someone buys. but your purpose is that you are providing all of these people jobs and if you treat them well and you're making a great comfortable mattress, as well. >> and we'll talk about mattresses. i sleep on mine eight hours a day, right? so i can't succeed without it and that's the mentality you have to have. whatever that product is, what is the original purpose of it, why did you decide to build it and stick with that passion number one. but number two, entrepreneurs and small businesses are the job creators. we need 600,000 jobs right now for the employable workforce and entrepreneurs are creating 70% of those in this country. so they are critical to our economy and our well-being. and to me that is a good enough purpose to get out there every

day. >> i absolutely agree. plus you are in charge of creating culture of that business. so treat people well. they're coming to work every day for your dream and treat them well. and i agree, that is a great purpose. thank you both so much. pokemon go isn't the only app that can help your small business this summer. our viewers gave us more ideas about online tools you can use to make your company more efficient and more profitable. >> one of the great applications is called snap engage, a web based chat box. it helps us get real team feedback. it helps us save and convert more people because we can get to their needs. it also comes straight to our smartphone so we don't have to be in front of a desktop to provide that customer service. >> one app i really like is pay sack. it's a great tool to store which is cards.paysack. it's a great tool to store which is cards. you can instantly upload the

information and don't have to worry about losing it. >> one website that i've used very heavily is taylor brands.com. it's a website that enables you to create your own logo. the reason why i like this website is because it customizes your design to your taste and likes. but it is also a quality product in terms of its presentation and it's very user friendly. >> one of the website that goes we have used is called shipof. it's a fulfillment essentially, but they're gift because you make a sale, they come and pick up the goods from your warehouse, they pack it for up and deliver it. so we do online sales through shipbob, but also if someone wants samples, maybe a retailer or importer, i can send them a box of samples just liby pickin up my phone sflp and this week your biz selfie comes from james

who owns mill top's local. he is a second generation farmer with whose company provides all natural meat to both retail and wholesale outlets. thank you for sending that in, james. now why don't you pick up your cellphone and take a selfie of you and your business and send it to us at yourbusiness@msnbc.com or tweet at mch @msnbcyourbiz with the #yourbizselfie. thank you so much for joining us. here is something that i learned on the show. we featured a company who had to come up with creative ways to run their business because they had no honmoney. even if you do have enough money to launch big things, think about them like you are a boot strap company. just take a second to say, okay, if every dollar counted, would we do this? it's just a good way to check yourself, to make sure that you're being as creative as you need to because oftentimes when you have a lot of money, you stop being creative because it's

just so easy to launch things. now we'd love to hear from you. if you have any questions or comments about today's show, e-mail us at your business at msnbc.com or head over to our website, it's open information wum.com/your business. while you're there, you'll see that we've posted all of the segments from today's show plus a wol lot more. and don't forget to connect with us on all of our digital and social media platforms, as well. we look forward to seeing you next week. until then, i'm j.j. ramberg and remember, 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. happy friday. it's great to have you with us. i have been looking forward to getting back to the rachel maddow show the last couple of weeks. i'm happy to be here with you. >> you know, the 1980 presidential election, at least in that election in 1980 they had the excuse that mississippi was kind of a swing state that year. mississippi went for the segregationist george wallace in the presidential election in