good morning. coming up on msnbc's "your business," escape rooms on a hot entertain trend of the moment. how do you escape a business long term when it's based on a phenomenon? the owners of this sip company think they have the answer to make their brand last. that, plus what u need to do to booth growth and profitability. that is coming up next on "your business." will your business will ready when growth presents itself. we can help you take on a new job. we'll fill the big order.

or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. for new ways to grow your business, american express open proudly presents "your business" on msnbc. hi, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg. welcome to "your business," the show dedicated to helping your grog business from cub cakes and food trucks to spinning and paint ball, the it can look appealing to many. getting in at the right time with the right know how can be challenging. nate martin, a founding father of escape rooms here in the u.s. figured out the formula for thriving.

we sat down with nate, who unlocked the key to success for his seattle based company, puzzle break. ♪ >> you are trapped. time is ticking. the only way out is to solve hidden mind bending puzzles and crack some codes. escape rooms are still riding high since they broke through stateside in 2012. >> how many of you know what you are about to get into today? >> the entertainment experience is a phenomenon throughout the world dating back to 2007. >> this is so much fun. >> the indor fin rush is amazing. >> it is a real-life game where players are locked in a room. in order to break free, they have to unveil a series of clues. from the moment nate martin

caught wind of the world side obsession, he went for it. >> i immediately knew it would be a smash hit. i love this genre of video games and i understood the build and proof of concept would be high. it was a no brainer. we built the first room with $7,000. that was everything. we put tickets up for sale and crossed our fingers. >> initially, no one came. all it took was one group and puzzle break was off and running. >> they played and told all their friends. some of their friends came to play. it snowballed very quickly. >> within one hour, the curious became die-hard brand advocates. >> you can market until you are blue in the face. you can make the best product in the world. the real recipe is make customers love what you do. we were profitable, instantly. we recovered the initial investment in months.

>> timing can be everything with a novelty business. being first in seattle positioned them to get the most buzz. >> we were lucky with the timing. we got the first groups and a ton of free press. what the hell is this? people are locked in a room. >> it with offer huge rewards as well as dramatic and sometimes abrupt declines in revenue. >> we know exactly what our next step is so no matter what happens, the trend of escape rooms of mental entertainment or team building, whatever, we are able to immediately jump and innovate. we always want to be on the bleeding edge, never playing catch up. the strongest part of your team dynamic is the ability to communicate. >> the next step is high end escape rooms, offering cinematic experiences. >> this is the same technology that drives disney experiences.

we have, you know, stuff everywhere. you can build anything under the sun. you dream it, we can build it. all of the technology is somewhat hidden. you don't know the piece you are working on is a complicated piece of machinery and you put this chess piece there. a huge moment happens that is about the infrastructure and resources to respond quickly to what the trend, if this business is going to be tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, ten years from now. >> puzzle break also set sale to the high seas, scoring an exclusive partnership with royal caribbean cruises. >> it's the most expensive escape room built anywhere. it costs $1 million, takes place in a spaceship. it's a hollywood experience. it's amazing. >> he's got a totally different market, on a ship with no

competitors. that is amazing. >> jason fiver sees the outside of the box and swift thinking a must in order to thrive and survive with a novelty business. >> you have to be thinking about how to innovate inside of your space. >> another business that started as a novelty concept and ultimately sparked a craze with an endless number of competitors is sprinkles cupcake. >> they are a hot cupcake shop even after the phrase wasn't a thing. >> this is the queen of knowing how to perfectly bake your trendy brand beyond the hype. >> sprinkles is smart about giving people constant new reasons to talk about them and put them on instagram and tweet about them. it's smart. >> soulcycle sparked a phenomenon, fwu cult following still grows every day. >> it's a community about people

who are pagszal about being a part about soulcycle. it's a part of their identity, they are the businesses you want to run, the ones people are excited to evangelize for you. everybody wants to be the next soulcycling. >> whether it's the rise of shuffle board or the return of paint ball, novelty ventures have a lot of appeal. but, those in the know say you better go into it with eyes open because if you are not smart about it, the death of a trend can mean the death of your business. >> if somebody is going to go into a trend based business, you have to know this may not last very long. so, you don't want to invest terribly heavy where you don't have to. short-term leases are a really smart bay to mitigate your risk. don't staff up too much. do what you can with a lean staff so you are not spending too much, even if everything is

saturated, if you can come up with a concept that innovates past what everyone is doing, you have a fighting chance. >> like escape rooms and cupcakes, painting while drinking classes were the rage two years ago. the owners of painting with a twist do it to succeed with a concept long term that is more than a passing fad. now, with 337 franchises, they learn the way to grow and sustain was through a great business plan and creating fierce customer loyalty. >> i think it's still here because it hit a nerve. >> people said it's a fad. i always say, well, was golf a fad? >> renee and cathy's company has a colorful future. they know it's more than a trend. >> we built this thinking it's a fun night out. >> if it had been a fad, it would have fallen off way before

now. >> we started out a recession and never missed a beat. >> the founders of painting with a twist in louisiana say they saw demand from the start. >> a fun night out where we paint and drink a little wine, maybe, if you like. >> we have champaign in the back if you need liquid courage. >> there's an artist at the front of the class that tells you step by step how to paint a painting. you are with your friends and walk out and completed a painting. everybody else cleans up. yeah. it works. from the beginning, the focus has been on the customer. >> every time they look at that painting or think back to that night, i want to make sure they have the most positive experience. >> of course, drinking wine is part of the fun, too. >> it took the fear out of it for people like me who are afraid of art and intimidated by artists. >> they wanted customers to have a clas plais to unwind and be social. >> once a client signs up, the

staff learns as much about them as they can. >> mrs. jones knows them. we built it in every part of our system. from our back panel system when mrs. jones calls, there's notes there. she likes to sit in the front and be on the left hand side and bring her mom. >> all the details are great. renee and kathy took customer service a step further. they give people reasons to come back. >> making sure there's a variety of music, a variety of artists and a variety of experience. >> a variety of times is important, too. evening classes don't work for everyone. >> the original model was a girl's night out. in looking at those numbers, we saw we were making 75% of our money in 25% of our time. >> they added classes to fill studios that were otherwise sitting empty. >> that's when it morphed into more, turned into coffee and canvas in the morning. >> events like corporate team building and birthday parties

are part of the schedule, too. with so many classes, the company needed enough hart to keep painting. >> 5,000 pieces of art. that's growing daily. we have to make sure there's a new product people are excited about. >> prints are created by staff. it helps with employee engagement and keeps creative juices flowing. the business is designed with flexibility in sight. it can be changed to help with the numbers. >> you can see how many signed up. if somebody isn't excited about the one on saturday night, switch it out and all of a sudden, it's a popular painting. >> since some customers make dozens of visits, they are trying out new concepts. they treat the location and working laboratories. >> we test everything in the studios so we know what is going to work and what's not going to work. >> working with larger canvases was an idea that was a winner. not every idea is as successful. having winners and losers is

part of the innovation process. >> we do focus groups to find out who is our customer and what do they want? we talk to franchise customers. they know what's going on in the community. >> the employees get evaluated regularly, too. they are on the front line of the company's growth. customers get a chance to rate instructors. >> we do surveys with customers pretty often to feel what they are feeling about a person we train. when they come into the system and we also will do training after they are in the system. >> as painting with a twist sees more competition, kathy isn't looking back. renee is more focused than ever. she's not backing down. this business is not just a trend. it's here to stay. >> we gave people what they were looking for. then we kept it fresh. we kept it new. with competition, it keeps us on our toes and coming up with new ideas. really, it makes sure you are on your a-game and given the best

experience out there. >> there is a secret to becoming permanently profitable, says the next guest. it requires a simple shift in mind set and you forget accounting as we know it. here with smart tips to help your company earn more than it spends is mike michalowicz. he's with a group of accountants and bookkeeper that is thrive entrepreneurial business zs and the author of "profit first" transform your business to a money making machine. so good to see you. >> so good to see you. >> the book was so successful the first time -- >> thank you. >> it's newly revised. what do you mean by ditch logic? >> it's logical, take sales, take away expenses and it's profit. there's a study, 83% of businesses survive check by check.

they are not profitable. what's wrong? we, humans are behavioral, emotional. what comes last gets ignored and first gets pryor tidesed. all accounting says profit is last. wait until the end of the year, oh, i didn't make it this time, maybe next time. with sales minus profit equals expenses, a predetermined expense goes to profit. you ensure profitability. >> i get it. put profit first. say this is how much i want to make. now, i better make all my expenses fit here? >> reverse your profitability. >> use the envelope system? >> my mother would get a check rk cash it, put a portion to food, mortgage. at the food store, she used the food envelope. there was always enough money.

sometimes she worked more or less. when she went to the food store, she worked with what was in that envelope. same with business. to pay yourself, the owner, to reserve money to pay taxes when they are due. to have money for operating expenses. divide the money, based on percentages and only work with that envelope to buy what you need. >> if you see an amazing marketing opportunity, where do you borrow from? >> get innovative. there's constantly opportunities you can do. then we don't innovate. i can run a facebook ad for $10,000. i have money in my pay, take it. don't do that. you unwind the system. the rule is, if you can't pay your bills with the money in the operating expenses, you don't have the money to afford them. >> to your point, remove temptation. if you have money, before you

start spending it, think, what would i do when i was starting out? what would i do if i didn't have this money? maybe you come up with a better idea. maybe you won't, but maybe you will. >> that's where we were innovated. get more money flow, we default to the dumbing down. we use money to buy what's obvious. i want to get you innovative again. remove temptation. pay you, your taxes. literally transfer money to a bank account with no access to. you have to go to the bank, get a certified check to pull money out. you will be forced to be the business again. >> get rhythm. just start getting used to it. >> so many businesses wait for the bills to line up, see the check and business is great, then look at the bills and the money flows out. we need to get in a rhythm. as money comes in, don't touch it and spend it, allocate it.

once every two weeks, look at the bills and pay with what's in the operating expense envelope. if you can't pay them, you have to find a way to cut expenses and increase margins. >> mike, love seeing you. thank you so much. >> thank you. the first impression is everything, especially when it comes to making a sale. this week, yfs magazine gives us five things to keep in mind when designing the packaging for your product. >> one, appeal to your target audience. understand the graphics and color that is are going to attract them the most. two, stand out. this doesn't mean that louder and brighter is always the better. be thoughtful about ways you can make your branding different from other products out there. three, details are everything. pay attention to small things like how your package feels or the unboxing experiences.

these are touches your customer will notice. doing this well will build brand loyalty. four, consider distribution. will your product only be in stores or online? your design should account to retailers and customers. and five, calculate cost. it's easy to splurge on custom packaging. keep your product margins in mind. compare vendor prices to ensure you are getting the best price possible as you execute your vision. hi, my name is caskey ya, mom of two and founder of fresh bellies a baby food company exchanging the way kids eat. we are seeing a rise in picky eating and childhood obesity. the eating habits are tied to the way we have been told to feed babies, bland food, flavorless mush and vegetables mixed with fruit. that is changing. we are at the forefront of that

change. in line with the expert recommendation, fresh bellies introduce babies to real flavor. we never mix with fruits and vegetables and season with garlic and rosemary. it is preservative free. in our quest to build a new generation, we are seeking investors to join our 1 million round. together, we can promote healthy eating focusing on where it all begins, babies. >> nice job. thank you for coming on and sharing that with us. mike and katlin. two numbers, one through ten, what do you think of the product. we didn't have you taste it. >> behind the scenes, i was tasting it. second, what do you think of the pitch. >> here we go. product, i think it's exceptional and very unique. i wish you drove home on the

pitch, that's why i gave you a five. i didn't know other products had sugar added through fruit. emphasize that. i didn't hear the numbers. i have to know the revenue wharks the projections are. you problem. i have to know what kind of revenue you are doing now, as an investor, the food is interesting. the return is very breasting. the pitch can be stronger. the product is unique. kay caitlyn. >> i gave the product an eight. nice job starting the company, by the way. i gave the pitch a seven. here's the major thing you need to think about in the pitch and also just in general in talking to consumers. you have to make sure that you're addressing the barriers to consumption. and so, if you're talking about parents and parents with babies, they want to know that the kid is going to eat the food. >> that's exactly what i was thinking. if i knew that babies love this, i would be buying it right away. >> yeah. so you want to make sure you're

addressing those concerns right up front. >> right. i think you can do that through sales or through stories about parents whose kids not eating other stuff and then eating this. good luck with everything. >> thank you. >> i hope that you do fantastic. thank you both. you stick around. we need more from both of you. when we come back, how do you get a sales team to sell just the way you would? and how an all-female pennsylvania car repair shop is defying gender stereotypes. 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. i know that i can sell my business well. what are some good ways to find good sales people, go out an train them to sell like i do? >> so, the answer is, within your question which is about the training. first, you can put together the procedures and all the policies that actually make you successful. what are the conversations that you should have with the customer? where should the focus be? what are you selling? and then train, train, train. most people miss out. they'll show people technology. they'll show them how to use their lead management system an not train them on how to sell or what made you successful and what worked well for me is

putting everything on paper and then train off of that and keep everyone within those bounds and worked for me, it worked for the others. hire the right people and then train, train, train. we have reported on the increasing number of women owning businesses in male dominated industries. in philadelphia, the owner of the girls auto repair center is running an all-female garage designed for women kst hers all while wearing red heels. nbc's morgan radford has her story. >> reporter: they call themselves she-khanics. >> reporter: armed with drills and heels, patrice and the team started an all-female garage designed for women. >> i feared i was being taken advantage of and not making the right choice with my car. we thought to create something for women. we can create something for ourselves. >> reporter: that's why she quit her job as an engineer, took

night classes to become a mechanic and opened up a shop with other auto gals. >> there are females out there saying, let my husband or boyfriend. that's fine. but those who want and have questions, you can come to us. >> reporter: and the customers love it. >> i think it's fantastic. i want to see more of these clinics pop up. >> reporter: more than half of u.s. drivers are women but less than 2% of mechanics are. >> so women are spending the money? >> there's more women driverings and we are the one that is tend to pay the bills and spend the money. >> reporter: that's why they fix cars while teaching customers about them. >> and this is your oil stick measures the amount of oil in the engine. pull this out. get a little rag. okay. you want your oil level up to the max. >> reporter: it doesn't stop there. >> the big reveal is our nail salon. >> reporter: her shop is a clubhouse for women with a full nail and hair beauty bar. you are getting your car serviced? >> yes, i am.

>> reporter: and getting your nails done? >> fabulous. best combination. >> reporter: a combination of beauty, brains and braun. >> there we go. >> reporter: morgan radford, nbc news, upper darby, pennsylvania. we now have the two top tips you need to know to help your small business grow. mike and caitlyn smith founder of simple mills to produce baking mills and crackers of natural ingredients are back with us once again. so good to see you both. >> thank you very having us. >> thank you for the elevator before. you're the veteran. starting with you. >> top tip? >> top tip. >> will blow you away. don't use generic labels or names. if i said i'm a lawyer, you have a picture saying i know what a lawyer does but if i say integrated counsel, you don't know what i do and point out how i'm different from the competition. i'm a lawyer, you know what a lawyer does. i can explain until i'm blue in the face how great i am and

won't listen to me because you have it defined. in the business, use unique labels. i'm integrated counsel. i explain what it means and services provide. i own a forensics company for computer crime investigation. we didn't do data imaging. we did encapps lags and the lawyers say what's data encapsulation. it's so superior to imaging and why it's more secure. unique terms people haven't heard of before give you an opportunity to stand out. >> devil's advocate for a second. sometimes i have people coming to me and i feel like, oh god, this is gobbledy gook and eventually after a thousand questions i get down to i'm a lawyer and i know what that means. >> right. so first of all, don't use marketing cheesy terms and the queen of social media. whatever. say i'm integrated counsel and then immediately say i do legal services like any lawyer does. >> right.

>> but here's how i'm different. you have to push away the generic competition and that's only a portion. >> caitlyn, you're up. >> my tip has to do with hiring. what i think is most important thing to hire for is passion for your organization. and so when you look at simple people, all of the employees are passionate about elevating the standards of our food, when's in the center aisles of the grocery store and makes a difference in what we accomplish and like a vaccine for the difficult times and there are difficult times in a business and times to work late hours or times when things aren't perfect and so you need something that pushes you beyond just a salary. >> i think -- do you think there always has to be a passion for the product, or can you just have a passion for the group that you're working for or that you're working with or the processes that you work through? because sometimes it might be hard to find the perfect person who has a passion for that exact product or do you think you

always need to? >> i don't think it's necessarily the product. i think it's the why. so i don't know if you've seen the ted talk around start with why. >> yes. many times on the show, yes. >> exactly. it goes back to that. you have to start with a purpose of the business. >> yep. >> so while your product may be something like legal services, there might be a different why behind it and people relate to that. >> all right. thank you both very much. great advise. >> thank you. this week's your biz selfie from reid libby in vienna, virginia. he installs lawn irrigation and lighting systems an he services more than 4,000 residential customers. thank you so much for that, reid. we love seeing pictures from around the country. please pick up the cell phone, take a selfie and send it to us or tweet it. include your name, the name of your business and the location

and use the hash tag your biz selfie. thank you so much for joining us today. we love hearing from you. so if you have any questions or you have any comments about the show, e-mail us. if you missed anything, just head over to our website. it's open forum.com/your business. we posted all of the segments of today's show plus a whole 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 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. are you going to include the cbc, mr. president, in your conversations with your urban agenda, inner city agenda, as well as -- >> am i -- >> the congressional black caucus and the -- >> i would. you want to set up the meeting? >> no, no, no. >> are they friends of yours? set up the meeting. i'd love to meet with the black caucus. i think it's great. >> gd