good morning. coming up on msnbc's "your business," how do entrepreneurs from other countries break into the american market? we tag along to see what we can learn from their successful strategies. the high flying ceo of the go-pro camera company tells business owners to be competitive and look towards the future. that, plus how to get inside of your customers' head. it's all coming up next on "your business."

hi, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg, and welcome to "your business," the show dedicated to helping your small business grow. anyone who's ever tried it knows that bringing a product to the american marketplace is an unforgiving obstacle course of crazy details that make it extremely difficult to succeed. that's why we were so excited to meet these entrepreneurs who despite coming from as far away as the himalayas, have placed

their products everywhere from neiman marcus to target. how did they do it? we caught up with a few of them to find out. >> this wool and copper wire pillow was hand woven by artisans in el salvador. these horn inlaid vases were crafted by woodworkers outside port-au-prince, haiti. this jewelry was handmade by i tribe in tanzania. the artisans who made these items do not shop at pottery barn. they live nowhere near a macy's and get no e-mail promotions from walmart. yet many of their products are available at those stores and others all across the usa. >> you want to sell their products. they're here to sell, sell, sell. >> and karen gibbs is here to help, help, help. >> you think this is one of the products that's attracted the most attention? >> this one. this is what people come in for because of the color. >> karen's the head of boulder, colorado, based by-hand

consulting and a 20-year plus veteran of the home industry. >> so tell me, what's doing well? >> the sleeping animals have been very popular. >> this week, she's at the new york now gift trade show, advising these entrepreneurs from these distant outposts. >> this is a really international and intensely competitive environment. >> keith wrecker is founded iffer and editor of new york-based "hand-eye" magazine. he's also a well known agent in the home furnishings industry. keith knows many of the hundreds of buyers prowling through here from places like crate and barrel, bloomingdale's and target, as well as smaller independent boutiques and he has a pretty good idea of what will catch their eye. >> and the fiber itself, that's hand spun wool? >> yeah, this is sheep wool. >> really an obvious draw into the booth. >> we wanted to know, how do these entrepreneurs do it, how do they connect with buyers here and make sales at one of

the most competitives markets on earth? >> and then i think also the black with the gray. >> what do they understand about american retail that even many of us who live and work here don't know. keith says much of it boils down to three key decision points. >> first point is the product itself. does the product draw me into the booth with its visual attributes, with some sense of quality, with some sense of originality, with some sense of freshness? >> the first thing many of these regional entrepreneurs understand is the importance of researching the american market. >> what have people done before? what is coming? what is popular in the fashion world? >> one thing that really helps is magazines, is the internet itself, going on social media. >> some of the best information also comes directly from the buyers themselves. >> watch what they touch. listen to the questions they ask. watch their body language when they see certain products. >> we have to be able to listen

to ask questions, and be humble, because criticism is always constructive. >> karen says there's something else you can learn from the buyers. the buyers who don't stop at your booth. >> look at your customer list. what kind of customers are you attracting. is that the kind of customer you want to have? if not, how do you need to adapt your product collection to sell more to that customer that's coming into your booth. >> while you must have a great product, a great product alone isn't enough to seal the deal. according to keith and karen, if the price isn't right, the product won't sell. >> i asked about which will be your perfect price point. what would work for you. and i can adjust my designs to achieve that price point. for example, sometimes just adding another material or resizing it, i can achieve what the buyer wants. >> she's figured out how to

design and produce a product that meets a target price point that buyers will accept. >> once the basics are covered, then comes the emotional connection. that magical information about the product or the maker or the culture that gives the item its extra special identity. >> you can talk about all the value that exists behind the product. who's employed, what good does that income do to the people who are employed, is there some interesting traditional detail about the product itself. >> most people know they're from malawi? >> no, it's the product that attracts them, 100%, but when they hear the story, they engage even more. >> it's always the product that has to draw them in. >> a million percent. >> this pillow is decorated with a special kind of knot that's usually used for making hammocks, and this jewelry was woven from recycled copper wire, taken from demissioned electric mirrors. >> that story does not trump a

beautiful product at the right price, mind you, but it's the third component in selling. somebody who can incorporate that into how they sell their product are the ones that are really setting themselves apart. >> while a good story won't sell a weak product, these regional entrepreneurs are learning that an engaging story can turn an eye-catching product at a fair price into a love affair. but wait, there's one more thing. even an irresistible product at a great price with a wonderful story still won't sell, according to karen and keith, without a solid answer to one last buyer question. >> will i get my questions answered. will you be in dialogue with me through this whole process? >> unless the buyer is confident that the seller can deliver the merchandise on time, in good condition, and packaged to meet industry standards, the deal may die. >> they know that they have to

have a well designed product at a competitive price that's delivered on time with good quality. and they understand what each of those means. >> gopro ceo nick woodsman helped revolutionize the way people see the world around them by creating a durable camera that can strap to your body. the company has now sold more than 21 million cameras making it the most popular camera of all time. he shares his business advice on being innovative and forward thinking with nbc's willie geist. >> whether swimming with whales in the deep blue sea, flying above the great wall of china, or capturing moments of family history, gopro has revolutionized the way we see the world. >> this is awesome. >> and the man behind the camera is ceo nick woodsman. before gopro, you and i couldn't

have self-documented our float down the river. we could have maybe gotten a friend to stand on the shore or on the bridge and film us as we go by. but it would have been impossible for us to capture that experience and take it home and share it with our friends and family. >> over the last decade, the ubiquitous gopro camera has turned us into amateur film directors. now with modern platforms to share our movies with the world. >> the nexus of your invention and the proliferation of social media, as you say, was pretty fortuitous. >> youtube and facebook and now instagram and others has just created this perfect storm, timing that has helped make gopro what it is today. >> since its debut in 2004, gopro has sold more than 21 million cameras, making it the best-selling camera of all time. in 2014, gopro went public. almost overnight, woodman became a billionaire. >> what was it like to be on the inside of that, you and your buddies watching all this

happening, watching every ski mountain in the world having people wearing your product, the thing you started sewing on your mother's sewing machine. >> it felt like and still feels like living in your own disney movie. now it's a gopro movie. >> you've got the same guys with you since high school, guys since college. these are the guys that have been at gopro before it was gopro. >> we talk about it all the time, how we used to drive the penske moving truck to the trade shows. we would stay up all night building the trade show booth and working 24/7/365 but how it wasn't really work because we were friends doing it together. >> an avid surfer, woodman was in the ocean when he had a thought, wouldn't it be cool to have a video to record what he was seeing inside a wave. at age 27 he began to build his company. >> i made the first prototypes with my mom's sewing machine. because the original idea for gopro wasn't even to make a

camera. it was to make a wrist strap that you could mount other cameras into. the problem was i would end up breaking the camera. so i realized, yikes, i'm not just going to have to build a strap system. i'm going to have to go and build a camera. and i don't know how to build a camera. that's one of the most amazing aspects of gopro's success to me is how we pulled it off. >> woodman and his company headline the gopro mountain games in vail, colorado. >> so, dude, check this out. that's where a lot of the strength of the brand comes from. we're in the scene. >> was there a pop culture moment for you where gopro was there and you thought, wow? >> never gets old, man. when you see astronauts leave the space station on a space walk with a gopro, and that is the exact same device that a father is taking to the park to film, is the same exact device that olympian skier ted ligety is using, the same camera that

ridley scott is using to help film "the martian" the same camera, the same camera, that's something we're proes proud of, how gopro has woven through people's lives like this. after a rise that reached the space station, came a fall. since going public two years ago, gopro's stock has taken a nose dive, falling some 90%. so what happened? >> we weren't ready for it, and it was still too difficult to access your content and edit it. we didn't have as appealing of a solution for the mass market global customer. >> as gopro struggled, competitors moved in. offering simpler, often cheaper alternatives like the polaroid cube and the htc re. but it's the phone in your pocket that may pose the greatest threat to gopro. >> do you view the iphone as a competitor. >> there's cases where a smartphone is better.

it's in your pocket as a reactive solution, where something is happening. i'm going to document that or i'm going to take a picture of this to show my wife. but if i want to do something new and i want to capture it myself doing something, the only way to do that is with a gopro. >> is it frustrating or difficult to have to think about stock price and to hear from investors and what's going on with the price right now? >> it's motivating. gopro is a public company, is so much more fun than as a private company. >> really? >> as a private company, i always felt like we were playing in the minor leagues. playing a great game, winning championships, but we were in the minor leagues. going public, now we're in the majors. it's the show. the whole world is watching. >> watching to see if woodman can innovate his way back. >> 2016 is the biggest year for new product introductions ever in the history of gopro. >> gopro is rolling out virtual reality, drones, a new line of

cameras and software to edit and produce videos more easily. >> now you start chronicling and sharing your experience that way. >> all to make gopro the camera of choice, not just for extreme athletes but for the rest of us, too. >> why does he need such a big camera? should we tell him he should just get a gopro? >> if you wanted to be successful, you have to concentrate not on what you think your customer needs but what they actually need. in order to do that effectively, our next guest says you have to remove your ego from the equation. ryan holiday is a media strategist, founder of brass check, a marketing agency that advised a variety of clients, including google. he's also the former director of marketing for american apparel and author of the latest book "ego is the enemy." so good to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> so important, right? >> sure. >> i mean, we are entrepreneurs and we're doing that because we think we have an idea. >> yes. >> and we hear all time you've

got to listen to your customer. i think it's harder for people. >> i think to make something where something didn't exist, that requires a little bit of ego, but that ego can also destroy the thing you made or undo the success you had. it's a balance. >> so you have to -- we talk about hiring people smarter than you, but it's more than that. it's hiring people smarter than you and listening to them. >> listening to them and people who are better or more successful than you. if you go way back, there's a stoic philosopher, he says one cannot learn that which they think they already know. if you think you're as smart as you know, you know everything, you're going to stop learning, stop getting the benefits out of your employees because you're going to think you know everything. because you're going to think you know everything. >> you have to stop yourself. if you're in a conversation saying do this, do this, have a mental check and say sit back, relax for a minute and let someone else talk. >> i can't tell you the number of meetings when i left and said i sucked all the air out of that room. i could have been learning from that person but i was talking. there's that saying, two ears, one mouth for a reason.

>> yes, but it's true. we all had that experience. let's move on to your next point. interesting. follow purpose not passion. >> i think passion is a huge buzz word. find your passion, be passionate. ancient history, passions were considered sins, bad things. when i look at some of the biggest business failures, if you look at the segway, he's so passionate about the product, but he can't see whether people actually want it or not. politics aside, george bush very passionate about the invasion of iraq, but he misses critical intelligence issues. he's not planning all the way. i think you want to make sure your passion isn't blinding you to flaws or problems or other people's opinions or feedback. >> i know. we talk about this here, too. passion isn't enough. >> you want purpose. >> it's great if you're passionate about it, too. that makes it more fun to wake up in the morning and go to work, but it is not the thing that brings in revenue. >> yeah, kareem abdul-jabbar described john wooden in one

word, he said dispassionate, meaning he was objective, clear headed and disciplined. >> it's about execution. >> you don't make a successful business with an idea. you make a successful business with an idea plus a lot of work. a ton of work. >> most ideas aren't new. >> yes. >> someone else has thought of most ideas. >> yes, yes, yes. and no one wants to hear necessarily about your idea. they want to see what you're going to do with that idea. that's true for investors, true for crustmers. i don't just want the promise. i want the proof you're going to be able to make this real. >> which is why investors often say we invest in people, not ideas. >> sure. >> they want to know if something is wrong and they'll turn, pivot to create something people actually do want. >> a person can have multiple ideas. just an idea is static. i think an investor knows, hey, if this idea doesn't work out, i trust this person to tweak that idea and come up with new ideas to make this thing a success. >> so nice to meet you. >> thank you.

>> good luck with your boorb. i know you have another one coming up soon. hopefully we'll have have you back to talk about that one. >> thank you so much. >> great. thank you. you can't make money without spending money, but those expenses, as we all know, can really add up. small biz trends.com gives us five ways you can save your small business some cash. one, buy office supplies in bulk. you can get better deals when you purchase in larger quantities. so plan out what you need and stock up. two, skip the landlines. with all the communication tools available, setting one up may be unnecessary. consider using a voice over ip service. like uma instead. three, go paperless. save money on paper, ink, printers, and storage by avoiding hard copies. keep digital files instead. four, sign up for loyalty programs from stores you regularly frequent. racking up points and rewards will help you save money on those things your small business needs. and five, buy used equipment and furniture. you can check nearby second-hand

stores or sites like ebay and craigslist. you might come across some really great deals and bargains that will free up some capital for other investments. >> if you can believe it, the holidays are fast approaching, which means that it's going to be time to celebrate. today's elevator pitchers want you to have a good time and watch your calories with their zero calorie cocktail mix. let's see if our judges toast their product. ryan feit is ceo of seed invest, and denise is the ceo of brand and marketing company the s3 agency. >> do you know how many calories are in a margarita? it can be up to 800. that's a whopper with fries. >> i'm jen. >> i'm christina. >> that's why we created be mix. while we were at harvard business school. >> it's the first all natural and zero calorie cocktail mixer. as simple as one bottle with one shot of alcohol or a soda water and you have the perfect

cocktail or mock tail. >> as a type i diabetic i was never able to indulge in delicious cocktails because they're chalk full of sugar. with two-theirs of americans being diabetic, this goes way beyond me. >> we doubled sales through natural grocers. like whole foods, online and liquor store. we're getting approached by big box retailers. we have significant press coverage aand great social media engagement. we know our inventive brand is resonating with our customers. >> with margins of 60%, we're looking for $5 million to expand distribution. join us in leading the clean drinking movement in the $2 billion plus premium cocktail mixer market and buy us online at be-mix.com. >> you have that down who gets each part. nice job. this is for you two. denise, old hat at this. two numbers, one to ten. the first number is what do you think of the product, which i'm

interested since you just tasted it and the second one is the pitch. let's start with you, denise. >> i'm going high 9s on both. i think the product was delicious. that cucumber flavor is really nice. it feels very natural like someone had a few slices floating in there. that's unexpected. i haven't had that from a drink mix before. and i thought the pitch was really nice. it has been practiced, there is a lot of good to come of that. a little more i would like to hear. i hear doubling store sales, but i would like to know how many are there, one store last year and two stores this year, that's not going to be enough for me. >> we always talk about telling your traction, right. that's what investors want to know. i think you did a good job by mentioning all the stores you're in. >> so i was not as nice, but i'm always pretty critical. take it with a grain of salt. i had 7 for product. i thought it was delicious. i would actually -- i would replace a vodka soda with that. so great job with the product. the thing that i guess i have a question about is, a, is it different enough from things

like skinny girl and, b, is it defensible versus coke or pepsi or diaggio who might follow your lead. you have to build your brand. on the pitch, i thought it was terrific. i like how you talked about your traction up front and explained the problem. the thing that was missing is i would straight out say, we are like skinny girl, but x, and talk more about who else is in the market and how you're different. i felt like that was missing, but overall great job. >> thank you. great feedback. good luck with everything. you had great success so far. i wish you the best of luck going forward and that you have more. >> thank you. >> you two stick around, you're coming back on the set with me in a moment. if any of you have a product or a service and you want feedback, like you just saw from our elevator pitch panel, on your chances of getting interested investors, send us an e-mail, yourbusiness@msnbc.com. include a short summary of what your company does, how much

money you're trying to raise and, of course, what you're planning to do with that money. we love reading the pitches and we look forward to seeing some of you on the show. when we come back, how to grow your company without losing your soul. and one of the most important people you should be pitching to, your grandmother. 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.

as a small company, how do you go about scaling up and away that is manageable, but also allows you to not lose traction with your brand? >> this is one of the hottest things that you have to do as a small business owner is scaling up manageably but also keeping touch with your brand. the first thing i would say here is getting really clear on what your brand means, and not only from a values and culture standpoint, but actually embedded into your process as you scale. you'll be adding people, you'll be moving quickly. you yourself may not be able to touch all of the pieces of your business as you scale, so you need to embed what you mean exactly into how you get things done. for example, if you believe that your customer centric, note down exactly what that means in terms of how everyone needs to deal with your customers, don't leave it to chance or to the individual discretion of people because that's where things

start to get disconnected and you can lose touch with your brand very, very quickly. >> we now have the top two tips you need to know to help your small business grow. ryan and denise have joined us once again. hi there. back on the set. okay. denise, one tip. >> giving back is a big thing these days with companies which i love. it says great things about what is going on in our nation, which is nice to hear. but, you know there are ways we can give back better that are more unique to our organizations and part of our dna. one way is to find a kind of common cause that we can all rally around. so if someone in your organization is sick, i know a law firm that had a lawyer who had leukemia, everyone got together, they did a huge walk, all wore t-shirts, had families involved and made that person and their family feel like family. that can be something very special about working at a small business. >> you know what is interesting, a lot of times when companies talk about giving back, they talk about csr and talk about consumer face and giving back. but really, giving back is just

as if not more important for your employees. >> it is. >> makes them feel happy about working some place and part of a family, as you said. >> absolutely. you can go to the other extreme, what we have done, you know, the name of our company is s-3, we started s-free and largely in part because of the work we have done with you guys, marketing makeovers for small businesses. our clients are big names so we don't get to work with small businesses but it has been so much fun, we feel like we made a difference for some of the people on the show, that we started something that allows people who are too small, or too new or too nonprofit to apply for our services. and it's free. we just chose our first winner. we'll be doing it four times a year. whole agency rallies around and they vote on it. they decide who will be the winner. we're about to announce it so i can't tell you who it is. but it is inspiring, it is a great thing for us. it can be public facing because we'll tell the world what we're doing in addition to helping this organization. >> i'm happy that we inspired that. >> thank you.

>> that's nice to know. that's great, denise. ryan? >> my top tip is to try pitching your grandmother when you're working on perfecting your investor pitch and i say that because you would be surprised how many entrepreneurs pitch an investor, talk for a few minutes and at the end of it, the investor has no idea what the company does. that's because entrepreneurs are subject matter experts and they get into the weeds when they talk about their business. and use jargon and unfortunately, if you pitch an investor, an investor doesn't know exactly what you do at the end of it, guess what, they're moving on to the next thing. you need to focus on simplifying your pitch as much as possible. and if you want to simplify your pitch as much as possible, pitch your friends and family and pitch your grandmother. i guarantee you if at the end of the pitch, she can recite back to you what your company does you're ready for the big leagues. >> it's the best advice. and, by the way, not just to investors, to everyone, we used to do something at my company and actually haven't done it in a while but we should, we had one person, scott, we said,

would scott's mother understand this. would scott's mother. we did a story a bunch of years ago who had something called zimple. right? if something started saying something too complicated, they would throw something at them and say that's too complicated. make it more simple. >> that's perfect and you're right, jj. it doesn't have to be to an investor. it can be to a potential customer. this week's your biz selfie comes from cassie rice who owns gymcats in henderson, nevada. they have been teaching kids gym and dance for 24 years and many of their students have gone on to the national championships. very impressive. thank you for sending that in, cassie. we love seeing your photos from around the country. take a moment. pick up your cell phone and take a selfie of you and your business. remember, no professional photos. and send it to yourbusiness@msnbc.com. or tweet it to #yourbizselfie.

thank you for joining us today. we would love to hear from you. if you have any questions or comments about the show, just e-mail us at your business@msnbc.com or head to our website, openforum.com/yourbusiness. once you get there, you'll see we posted all of the segments from today's show plus a whole lot more. you can connect with us on all of our digital and social media platforms as well. we look forward to seeing you next time. until then, i'm j.j. ramberg, 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. in november, 2008, at an open-air plaza on a beautiful night in arizona, republican senator john mccain gave a speech that has supporters did not want to hear. his supporters loved him, supported him, but he was there to do something they did not want. you could almost see in him the almost physical strain it took for him to keep a lid on their emotions. for him as a leader to stop the raging sentiment and upset and emotion on that plaza among his supporters, to stop it from boiling over. >> my friends, we have come to the end of a long