call today. comcast business. built for business. good morning. coming up, the impact ochl president trump's executive order and relation of growing business. a photographer rock star ditches the glamour and starlets a business making note books to find it's just as exciting. a florida entrepreneur targeting a really unglamorous in each. cleaning up after disasters and horders.

we all probably have an idea of some glamorous job we could have, a rock star or famous chef or photographer. we also know the reality doesn't always fit the dream. one rock music photographer walked away from the life he created for himself. he quit his gig after hob knobbing with and snapping mainlying of some of the biggest chart toppers in the industry. he put down the camera and made the itch from pictures to

paper. by the time he was just 16 years old, chris rock had his dream job. >> what's fun is standing there photographing the band that clearly people love and most of the time hanging out with the band after the show. >> he was a photographer. capturing the rock and roll lives of chuck berry, green day's billy joe armstrong and scoot wayland. for a kid who loved music and cameras, it seemed that life couldn't get any better. >> i shot nickelback several times, pearl jam, creed, guns and roses, slash. >> a teenage success, it looked like this would be his life's career. turns out, it's not. here's chris today. he's a businessman and his business is notebooks. >> the modern stationary company. who would have thought in this day and age where technology

rules the world that is a stationary company could continue to pop up and succeed in an ever competitive digital market. >> this is clearly a far cry from being the center of the music industry. what at least from the outside certainly looks very glamorous, but chris learned erld on that the image of a job doesn't always meet the reality. >> it was the time where all the online band scenes became popular and posh. i've got these 13-year-old girls standing next to me with point and shoot rainbow bright camera. and here we are huddled in like cattle waiting to be slaughtered and i'm like, i had enough of this. i'm not doing this. see you. done. >> now that he was out of the music industry, he looked to his father's company. allied bindings. a book binding in baltimore. that's where he landed. the kparp son to his old liar was a bit of ahock at first.

>> it was so much fun. it's like i've got access to this. there was never a question. it's fun all the time. then it's like, well, this sucks. this is not fun. you know what i mean? >> not only that, now instead of working alone, chris was knee deep in a family business. >> i'm not going to candy coat this. we've had some hellacious fights. it's why most of the office doors don't have doors on them. we've had some epic blowouts. >> we're not a lot alike. it's always rough. he doesn't listen to me a lot when it comes to that stuff. >> it wasn't working and chris needed an out. he found it in the form of some machinery sitting idolly in a factory. >> it's time to take this from a business to business entity and create something that has our attitude, our flair. >> so he started his own business. note pads and teen.

his first product was a notebook. simple spiral notebook which was a calculated decision. it wasn't the product he was most passionate about, but the one he thought could kick off his brand. >> it was definitely the gateway product. we pulled a lot of people it was something they use. it's a fact it has a perfect crossover. couldn't be confused with a massively produced asian notebook or even some of the other competitors that we have. their notebooks. >> he felt launcng a pretty standard notebook with his stamp on it would be an in to an industry as he described as a pretty cut throat stationary market. thought long and hard about what made the company different. >> we go after collectors and people who want something different. our collectors make a certain amount of money. have a certain amount of education. if we go after, you know, kim

kardashian, it's a waste of money to us. >> the pair realized early on the skills of a photographer transferred to running the business. they had to figure out a way to connect with the consumer. >> it's a writing pad. we can't shoot off balloons all the time. you can't connect and form a relationship. if they don't want to be around you, they're not buying. >> he started getting customers and expanded to the products he was more interested in. >> bound packet books. customized design. >> steve: the goal for that was to be able to appeal to the people you find writing instruments. something we wanted people to find it on a store shelf or see it online and feel like hey, this is the same kind of notebook i would have found on my grandfather's old workbench. >> today the company has 20 products and keeps growing. he has surprised himself. indeed, running a growing business has given him a if you

were that rivals the one he had on the road. >> coming up with the idea firefighter note pads has reinvigorated me. given me this fusion of creativity that i had once before. >> chris's business making notebooks is all about helping people get organized. our next story is a business that focused on cleaning up after chaos. we met ab owner who cleans up crime scenes and horder situations. getting the word out to customers can be a challenge. >> in shows like csi and breaking bad, crime scenes and meth labs are the pivotal settings. in real life, when all the police tape is cleared, there's often chaos and debris that no one wants to clean up. that is no one, but former law enforcement laura. after being on the scene for a terrible crime, she saw an opportunity. >> there was a double homicide, it was on christmas. i was helping these people that

really had no means to par for it, but their homeowner's insurance covered the cleanup and after i was done with the cleanup, i thought, this is it for me. this is exactly what i want to do. >> so laura started spalding decon. a company that specializes in crime scene, meth lab and horder cleanup. after setting up camp in tampa, florida, she soon found she had little competition, but the work wasn't steady at first. >> cleanups are sporadic. not something you can open a brick and mortar and people come in. it's death related and we added hording in 2006 and meth lab cleanup as well. >> the tricky nature of the busy means laura can't spend the day waiting for the phone to wring. she has to hit the street and go door to door. >> i'm going to multiple hotels. i'm going to apartment complexes. i'm going to insurance companies. because when they get that call, they don't know where to turn. >> that's what happened to gay

who met laura through a mutual acquaintances and never thought she would need her services. then tragedy struck. >> my son was killed. he was murdered by a young man he was giving a ride to that morning. the police came and had my house for most of the day that day. when they let me back in, they told me thathere wld be a lot to clean up and it was because it was bio million waist, it would be better to get somebody. >> a quick call made to someone she never imaged she would have though dial and the workers were on the scene. they took care of a job she didn't have to do herself. >> i was glad i met laura before something like that happened. a lot of people don't realize there's something to take care of that kind of thing. >> to grow her business, laura knows that's one fact she needs to change, but not all publicity

is good publicity. this is not your typical service. this is not a typical coupon or find a buy one get one free. you have to be very strategic about how you advertise it. some of the advertising has been billboards with outlines or dead bodies and that will definitely get your attention and i know they're going for an awareness type thing and maybe it worked for them, but that type of approach doesn't work for us. >> instead, discrete professional brochures that address each service individually make sure that each customer base is catered to separately. >> i designed the brochure to talk to those specific customers rather than have like most companies a one size fits all brochure. they don't want to see that. the hoarders don't want to know you do a crime scene and you're associating them with crime scenes. that makes them feel worse about themself. >> how their team delivers on

each and every job. >> for hoarding, we're very, very sensitive about the way we speak to them. teach the employee you have to be empathetic. >> i'm going to help you today. we're going to get started and bag up a couple of bags. >> knowing her employee well she knows on the job. the high level of her business continues on: the ability to speak to needs of customers and market wt ma see as an unsavory business tastefully means the nuch is bright. not only in florida, but nationwi nationwide. she's franchising and already has inquiries pouring in. >> we do the services that no one else wants to think about. we provide peace of mind and restoration of property. i think the growth for this business is really unbelievable. it's a recession proof business. it's never going to go away. the need is never going to go away. the awareness is only growing. it has been a busy week

until washington. propelled by the president taking action in two areas. signing several executive orders. surrounded by small business owners. he signed one that would cut regulations that he says are holding back the economy. >> that's what this is about today. and this will be the biggest such act that our country has ever seen. the bill will be regulation, control, but it will be a normalized control where you can open your business and expand your business very easily. >> earlier in the week, the president signed executive orders on immigration, including 90 day ban of people traveling from the u.s. from seven predominantly muslim countries. prompted protest across the nation. how will these two orders affect your business. california congresswoman is on the small business committee. attempted to get detainees released at los angeles

international airport. so nice to see you congresswoman, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> we have a lot o talk about. i want to start with immigration and obviously there are a lot of -- there's a lot of controversy about this. people feel strongly one way or the other. i want to focus this conversation on small business and how this executive order exhale affects small business owners if we could start there. >> well, there are many small businesses that are started by immigra immigrants. in fact, immigrants are twice as likely to become entrepreneur than native born people. they are the ones who took the big risk of coming here and they are the ones who are more likely to take the risk of starting a small business. so we would severely hurt the startups of small businesses if we were actually to have this executive order continue on for

for months if not decades. >> let's move on to regulation for a moment. there's a lot and we've spoken a lot of this show. we had the chairman of your committee on talking about it a couple of weeks ago. people talking about how regulation hurts small business owners. too much regulation hurts small business owners. every small business owner i talk to agrees with that to an extent. right? but many of them are local and not federal regulations that hurt small business owners and sometimes it's simply about trying to figure out what the regulation is, not complying with the regulation. let's just start by and you let me know if you agree with many that four small business owners, there are regulations that make it a little trickier to run your business. >> yes, there are regulations that do make it tricky and there are a myriad of them. i would say they are mostly local. they are city or state regulations that affect small

businesses. and what i think the small businesses need is the guidance to get through them. the trump executive oertd primarily deals with federal reasonable degreelations and i already know that there is a small business enforcement fairness act which looks at the effects of regulations and their impact on small business. that hard already existed prior to trump's executive order. >> so do you understand the executive order well enough? i have read through and talked to a lot of people. i am still confused on how it will work. is it simply just directive to say, look, i believe that regulations are hampering small businesses and business? general and so i wanted directionally say i want less regulation for businesses or be more considered about it.

basically it says that if you have a new regulation, then you have to get rid of two ones that -- two that exist already. and in order to identify those two you have to get rid of, you would look at regulations that have been submitted by federal agencies as the most likely candidates. >> sounds very easy. 2-1. when you get into details as i understand it, more needs to be unpacked when we talk about this. >> exactly. what are you talking about? are you talking about worker safety or environmental regulations? is anything up for grabs? it's certainly isn't just the regulations that affect small business. it is the kind of regulations that would affect our everyday living. our quality of life. the things that make us safe.

the things that make our food likely for us to eat that would make sure that we are healthy people in this country. >> congress woman, i thank you so much for stopping by. i hope to keep having this chat throughout the year. >> thank you. >> thank you. ted talks are a great way to get you thinking outside the box and get you inspired by what others are doing. these influential videos could be just what you need. this week, we turn to small business trends.com for a five must watch ted talks for entrepreneur. >> one steven johnson where good ideas come from. the author channels the misconception that innovation comes from brilliant you are right knee eureka moments. tim urban inside the mind of a

master prokrast nay terrorcrast three. dalia mogahed. the importance of being aware of how he respond to people that are different than us. four, bill gross. the single biggest reason why startups succeed. new businesses face a high failure rate and in this talk, gross uses data analytics to break down what differentiates startup success and five, pamel meyer. how to spot a liar. why honesty is a value worth preserving in our society. we're co-founders of the american made supply co. >> only 3% of apparel sold in the u.s. is actually made in

u.s. and 8-10 would rather buy an american made product. >> we're two apparel verns and best friends that provide affordable apparel 100% american made. start to finish when you order online and receive package in one of our three custom boxes. 30 styles for men and women. all of our styles are laundered, preslunk for comfort. several rev streams. online retail, domestic, and strategic labeling. we're here to raise $2 million to grow and enhons business. we're on track to do $2 million gross heavy knrevenue. we would create over 200,000 jobs. that's a lot of jobs. find out more at american made supply co. >> thank you for come can go on the elevator. >> thank you for having us. >> two numbers.

remember the first one, one to ten on what you think of the product. the second of the pitch. let's start with you. >> so i gave you a seven on both. on the product front, it looks great. i love the branding: i loved hearing about the competitive advantages, it's clearly a big market. i have no sense of pricing though and i feel like that would be really important for me to know who you're targeting. on the pitch side, i thought you did a good job. loved hearing about the milestones in your business. your ask and the uses, but i have no sense for your background other than the fact your close friends. that's huge for me as an investor. >> that's a good point. you have backgrounds very relevant to what you're doing. >> i pick up on that last point. i give you a ten on the product. i tell you why. i love t-shirts. i wear them all the time. you can't find a t-shirt consistently of the right quality, but here's what you're doing that's different, creating community around the product. that's huge. that's brand is the most important thing you can do with

a new product line. gave you a nine on the pitch because you were almost there. i agree more of your background is important, but more of your passion. you know, it was a bit too robotic for me. you're doing it because you love doing it. you've done it your entire lives. it shows in your product. emphasize that. get that product out there. >> not only shows in their product. shows before you were talking about it before you did your pimp. that is the tricky thing. how do you get that passion off the cusp talking when you are saying something you know you practiced a thousand times. >> 60 seconds. >> great job. congratulations. good luck going forward. >> thank you. >> good luck. when we come back, why are millennial employees should be mentorsiing you. plus we have all been there it, ways to deal with the psychological ups and downs of owning a 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. we have this e-mail from trent. rewrites, how does the owner deal with the ebb and flow of business. >> ebb and flow is so typical of an entrepreneur. you own the pros and the cons.

i'd say before doing anything, take a step back and ask yourself, are you a seasonal business? we hold signature boot camps in the fall and spring. that means we have offseasons. so if you get a sense that the ebb and flow actually there's a consistency to that, then that means that you can program around it. you know, maybe come up with a service for our product that you can actually sell offseason so you can have a more consistent year. alternatively think about how you can build and prep and prepare for the next season during the offseasons. so thinking about it as something you can take advantage of versus something that can necessarily be a little bit worrying. we now have the top two tips you need to help your small business grow.

hi, both of you. thank you for your advice in the elevator. now time to hear best piece of advice for small business owners this week. start with you tom. >> one of the things that most businesses don't understand well is how to deal with generational differences. theriction between generations. we have five generations working in most companies. creates so much friction and divisiveness it's impossible to truly collaborate in that kind of company. start reverse mentoring program. bring on board young kids. have them be mentors to older. you bridge the gap. create a post generational organization. focusing on generation will put wedges. not a good idea. >> very interesting. i think it's a great idea. technology alone, there's a lot that younger people can teach the older people in the office. i do hate talking about

generations. i do hate the idea of millennials are this way. these people are this way because tell me if you think i'm wrong, create the culture that you want in your company and hire to that culture. >> that's right. >> you will be able to find a millennial who works this way or generation x person who works this way. >> it's not about generation. it's about the behavior. if you build a culture, you hire people whole fit that culture and adapt to that culture. post generational, we get stuck in categories. we have no choice in the matter. just what you are. take pride in your behavior. take pride in your culture, not your generation. >> you're teasing a piece we're going to air in a few weeks. stop thinking of people as millennials, baby boomers, et cetera. my top tip is test the candidates fit before hiring them. >> goes with it. >> by that i mean all too often you have small business owners

and large corporations hire someone after a few meetings or going through the detail on their resume. i would recommend take it a step further. give them a project to work on. then judge their work quality and more importantly also see what's the cultural fit like when they respond to your feedback. >> how often can you do this? right. if somebody is looking for a job, doesn't have another job, then maybe it's okay. they'll be willing to do it. if it's someone you really want to hire. >> you have to taylor it. someone already employed. maybe it's a small project. if it's someone in between jobs, you could do a short terms consulting arrangement or short terms fixed hiring arrangement. the idea is to do something beyond just these traditional meetings that wind up in bad hire situations because if you test that fit beforehand, you're saving yourself time and money. >> absolutely. all right. thanks both of you very much. >> you're welcome. this week your business selfie comes from bill.

wilmot new hampshire. created sleds. has a park with three runs and helping turn it into a new winter sport. that looks incredibly fun. why don't you go and pick up your cell phone and take a selfie of you and your business and end it to us. we love seeing them here on the show. you can also tweet it to @msnbc your business. put your name. name of the location. use the hashtag your business selfie. >> every day new apps and websites pop up that look like they could help make your workload a little bit lighter: which ones actually deliver. we asked our viewers which ones they swear by. >>on web tool i look to use is shipping easy. i have a shop website that links to shipping easy and all our orders go there and ship ups and

packages from that location. >> a great platform for new businesses is something called up work. allows you to reach freelancers who you can spend a small amount of money just to do things likes photography, editing website, blogs, and you can choose who your supplier is as it were and how much you can pay. >> an app i really like is forest. basically locks you out of your phone for a set amount of time and you grow a tree. you can't use your phone. don't get notifications. you can focus on whatever else is doing on at your computer and as you grow trees, you can grow your forest, compete with friends, and actually plant trees in india for getting points on the app. >> we use an app called ibotta. it's an online digital coupons resource we put coupons on for specific retailers. >> thank you so much for joining us. we would love to hear from you. if you have any questions or

comments about the show. e-mail us at your business at msnbc.com. also click on the website. we put all of the segments from today up there plus a whole lot more for you. 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 time. until then, 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. thanks for joining us tonight. happy friday. look at this awesome picture from 1968. i love everything about this picture. this is the central middle school band from orville california. this majorette part of the band. they are marching downtown on may 14, 1948. this property of the department of water resources. the reason the california department of resources had the photographer on sight taking pictures is because that day the governor of california and