tv Your Business MSNBC April 30, 2017 4:30am-5:01am PDT
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good morning. coming up on msnbc's "your business," we kick off national small business week with the head of the small business administration, linda mcmahon. she talks about the president's new tax plan. also, what you can learn from the creator of make up geek who turned her youtube tutorial into a massive grand. get your start on the competition, next on "your business." will your business be ready when growth presents itself? you can take on a new job. or fill a big order.
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or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. for those who always find new ways to grow their business, american express open proudly presents "your business" on msnbc. hi, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg. welcome to "your business," the program dedicated to helping your business grow and thrive. it is that time again. national small business week begins today. from april 30 to may 6, they will recognize the achievements of the top small businesses, entrepreneurs, small business advocates and champions during events and awards ceremonies. we get the chance to kick it off with the newly appointed head of the administration, linda
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mcmahon. she will travel the country meeting with business owners and holding webinars. nice to meet you. >> thank you, j.j. it's good to be with you. >> we are thrilled. this is your first time as head for small business week. what do you hope to get out of it? >> it is our opportunity to salute the 28 million small businesses. we are recognizing the small business person of the year from each state and the u.s. territories. they will all be in washington for a big kick off dinner sunday night. then on monday, when we actually do kick off the week april 30th, we will have probably maybe a couple folks from the white house are going to come over and address our group and we will announce the winner of u.s. business person of the year and the three runner ups. that's an exciting time for us. we will announce winners for innovation, volunteering, for,
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you know, mentorship. it's really a terrific week for us to be able to celebrate this. i'll have the opportunity to not only be in washington, but go to new york and indianapolis, dallas/ft. worth and winding up in fresno. i will get to visit our district office and our disaster relief center in dallas/ft. worth. >> we are looking forward to seeing who the winners are. you come to the sba with an interesting background. you were, at one time, a small business owner, then the owner of a large business z. you have had success and failures. you can relate to what small business owners go through. with that background, coming to the sba, what do you think are the biggest challenges for the administration and you moving forward and being successful at this job? >> i think the administration is already addressing some of the
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biggest challenges. one is the cost of health care. we are looking at that coming down. hopefully the new bill will get passed because i hear from so many small businesses, the cost of health care is really tough for them. the biggest issues that small business brought to my attention is lack of access to capital and also, the fact that they need mentoring, they nd counseling. the regulory environment is so burdensome, it's tough to get their head above water. president trump already started by reducing regulations that are impacting small businesses. what we have seen with this reduction to regulatory reform and the hope of the new tax reform package going through is a spirit of optimism for the spirit of entrepreneurship. we are seeing more start ups in businesses. that's, you know, it's really encouraging to see that in the marketplace, this optimism, greater confidence level.
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i think we are going to see really great things as our small business businesses continue to grow and we have more start ups. >> if we start with regulatory reform, yes there's concentration on it on the federal level, but a lot, as you know, for small businesses, it's the local and state level. is there anything you can do in this position to have influence over that? >> well, we can't really legislate, obviously, but we can certainly talk to city and state officials. in fact, i was in orlando on monday. icon veened a business round table of hispanic businesses, all small businesses. they talked to me about the conversations they were having with their local and state regulators. i think on that level, when we have a counseling, when we have advocates for small businesses who are having those conversations, that is going to be very, very helpful. often, i have found it is our lawmakers and regulators don't
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really understand the impact of the regulations that they are doing and how they affect businesses. it's more of an opportunity to explain, look, this is the impact. this will be the positive impact if you can lift the regulations, reduce the fees, reduce this volume of paperwork that all our small businesses go through just to try to do business or start a business. >> i had a conversation with congresswoman yvette clark, look, a lot of people in congress have not been small business people. it is incumbent upon you to go, and you to explain to people this is what it takes to be a small business person. let's get to the news of the week, tax reform. right? okay. so, 15%, what is interesting for small business people, very piers nailly, as a direct for small business people, 15% tax
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on pass through entities. is there a chance that could happen? >> i certainly hope so. president trump has been a strong advocate of this from the beginning. ift's one of the things he and i talked about when he asked me to take on this job was reduction in taxes for our small businesses. reduction in regulations. he's delivering on that. he's certainly putting it forth. i think, you know, i have found that the small business agency that i'm so proud, you know, to represent and be the administrator, is probably the least partisan agency in government because everyone wants the economy to grow. everyone wants businesses to thrive. on both sides of the aisle, we want to see more businesses have th opportunity to start, to grow, to scale. i have had the opportunity to live the american dream starting small, surviving bankruptcy,
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losing everything, coming back. so, i can walk the walk and talk the talk with our small businesses. i can be their advocate. that's really what i think my primary job is. i'm going to be continuing to be their advocate for tax reduction and regulatory reform. >> i want to challenge you with one thing. it's easy, as small businesses, the tax rate gos down to 15% from the top people, 39 1/2%. the small business majority put something out that said small businesses aren't asking for a tax break. it does nothing to put all of america's businesses on more even footing. what is your reaction to that? >> well, the small businesses i have spoken to, personally and directly, are thrilled with the prospect of having taxes. their business income tax of 15%. it's the pass through income you are talking about. they haven't had that
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opportunity before. they have penalized. they feel they have been penalized, as compared to big businesses who often get more tax cuts through loopholes that they are not able to have. i think part of thi tax reform will eliminate a lot of the loopholes that exist today. >> got it. we haven't heard about that yet. that's coming soon? >> i hope so. >> all right. well, administrator, it is so nice to have you on the show. thank you so much. we are happy to kick off small business with week with you. we wish you the best of luck over the next week and four years. we hope to check in with you a lot to see what you accomplish. >> thank you. stay tuned for the small business person of the year. >> we will. thanks so much. >> thank you, j.j. consumers want authenticity. it's proven time and time again, people like to buy from brands they can trust. i went to the offices of make up
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geek to meet marlena stell. she built an entire company around herself. she is real, she is relatable and people responded by buying their products. california native, marlena stell is one of the most recognizable faces. at the forefront of the new beauty landscape. it's all about the nitty griddy of make up. >> the glossy and glam videos are followed by millions. her 6-year-old company, make up geek has more than 275 products. last year, the business brought in over $22 million in sales. marlena built her thriving beauty brand by blending her make up artistry and savvy with the educational tools she learned as a high school band teacher. >> i loved teaching, but the
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music wasn't where my heart was. started doing youtube videos on the side. >> that was 2008. the power of the platform was just starting to gain momentum. >> i turn on a camera. i love make up. i'm going to teach it for a bit. >> she had no intention of becoming a digital sensation. her videos were far from perfect and far from polished. >> i wanted to sit down and do a five-minute make up routine. if you saw my first set up, you would laugh. one camera, my bedroom. >> total investment was? >> maybe $200, if that. >> for marlena, it was about sharing her passion and how-to sensibility. >> see the three individual lashes grouped together? >> hard to notice the demand for her content was multiplying by the day. >> take your brush and lip color. >> what do you think it is about you that got so many views early on? >> because i was real.
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i wasn't afraid to be myself. i have always been a curvy girl. i'm not always the most pristine with my speaking. this is me. take it or leave it. >> at what point did you say, i make a business out of it? >> when i got to 100,000 views. what? 100,000 fepeople are watching m videos? i quit teaching and opened my site make up geek. i hope you figure out why your face is so orange. no more oompa loompa look. >> at the core was education, driven by marlena's magnetic personality and natural know-how. what made her content unique at the time was the invitation into the unfiltered journey in life. >> welcome to my life. >> she's woven personal stories throughout make up geek's dna. >> another day in new york city. >> her authenticity and openness
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created an openness that wasn't just loyal, they were highly engaged. >> hi, tori. >> it didn't take long to see how leveraging that engagement could potentially pay off big time. ♪ >> becoming a player in the oversaturated, highly competitiveld of cosmetics uld be daunting for most. e honed in on a gap that existed between the industry giant and consumers. >> people don't have that personal connection. they don't know who the ceo is. they don't know what their hobbies are. without that personal connection, people feel disconnected. >> the brand loyalty that came from her intimate connection immediately boosted sales. how did you know what you were doing? >> lots of trial and error. learn as you go. we had a lot of mess ups. i was honest. this eye shadow, this does suck, i'm really sorry you guys.
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i will fix it, i promise. i have always been transparent with them. they appreciate that. they know i'm not going to sell them something for the sake of a dollar. you are watching snap chat. marlena loves this color. it's my favorite. >> despite her rise to fame, shees committed to the personal touches make up geek offers. >> handwritten notes that go in the packages. the customer service, try to be personal with them so they are loyal to come back. they know it's human beings behind that screen. >> it's another day in michigan. >> she uses snap chat to give in the moment access. >> snap chat is fun for showing behind the scenes. i turn it around, guess what i'm filming today. give me feedback for what you want to see the next video. i love sharing personal bits of my life with you. >> faisbook allows the team to crowd source for product development. >> we do polls on facebook and
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ask what would you like to see? what are you missing? that gives feedback on what to create for them. >> that happiness and support thrived when she dared to reveal more about herself. >> five years ago, i used to weigh 300 pounds. i have always struggled with weight. i get questions people saying i struggle with weight. you started losingover time. what did you dochlt i said i'm going to post my body. i showed pictures on instagram or outfit videos on youtube. they loved it. >> the more layers you shed the more people love you. >> yeah. >> instead of what some people fear is that if i really show who i am, people might move away from me. >> yes. yeah. for me, that's been what connected them. >> the power of connection has made make up geek a force to be reckoned with in the cosmetics industry. marlena is just getting started.
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>> i want to sell a lifestyle. i want people to feel beautiful and confident, even if it is the swipe of a lipstick. i feel that's how we are different from the companies. it's about the confidence. it's not just a product. for generations, cubans have been dousing their babies with this vielet scented cologne. behind that is a small business owner who brought the company statewide. nathalia ortiz talks about the celebrity following and staying true to cuban roots. if you have been around a baby of cuban decent, you noticed the smell of violets in the air. >> for about six months. with that, you know, with his own knowledge, created a formula that few people have ever been able to replicate. >> his name is augustin reyes.
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he prides himself on continuing to create royal violets, using the original formula his grandfather developed nine decades ago. ♪ >> very few fragrances are that timeless. you can count them on one hand how many 1920s fragrances are still around. >> in 1960, shortly after the castro regime took over, the reyes family fled cuba, carrying the mixture for the violet cologne that brought them so much success. once established in miami, they continued furnishing babies with the fragrance, this time in the exile community and beyond. >> what is this? what do you use it for? you had to explain. perfume for babies? >> itd's a staple in hispanic homes regardless of age or
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status. >> emilio estefan purchases it. eva mendez has it in her favorite products. what do you think your grandfather would say if he was alive? >> he would be extremely proud that what he did is still around. >> facebook, twitter and instagram offer live video streaming. it is an easy way for you to give your customers a realtime look into your world. this week, we have five practical tips for going live, courtesy of sbrur.com. feel outside the office to keep content fresh. two, peel back the curtain. people want to feel connected to the brands they consume. show how your product is made and introduce them to your employees. three, check the comments. try to answer questions you get
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from social media or e-mail during your live videos. four, mind your analytics. in the digital age, it is important for you to pay attention to your stats. not all of the live platforms offer analytics on videos. you can use the information you get from facebook. five, call out your viewers. with live video, you can see who is watching. give them a shoutout to make the video feel personal. hi, i'm monica ferguson. this is becca brown. we are the co-founders and inventors of solemates. we prevent stilettos from sinking into the grass. we have grown from a business school project sfwoo a
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multimillion dollar brand in shoe care. >> a bit about our backgrounds. we met working at gold man sacks. i went to harvard and to who va. monica went to colombia. the $100 billion global women's footwear and $500 billion global wedding market. sole mates is expanding. we are expecting to increase our distribution to over 8,000 locations and operating at a gross profit margin of 65%. we're seeking $500,000 of growth capital in exchanorder to meet increasing demand for our business. >> ts is for you two. i can take your sole mates. i need two numbers from you both. from one to ten, what did you think of the product and what
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did you think of the pitch? >> i gave you a nine. i have been there. i feel that pinpoint so many times i'll be atten event and i have to hold onto my husband so i don't ruin my favorite heels. i think it's a fabulous product. >> the pitch also? >> i give you a nine for both. the one thing i wish you had mentioned was the price. i was so curious of what the price is but everything else was amazing. you are incredibly smart and hard working with excellent track records. so you're basically a 10 but i just wanted to give you one little way to improve. >> what's the price? >> $12 for a single pair. $30 for the three pack. >> i gave you a nine as well. i think you're solving a solution. i've seen my wife have this issue. i think any time there's a product that is solving a real need, that's exciting. the fact that i have never heard
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someone producing this type of product is very exciting. >> all right. nines across the board. congratulations. >> thank you. >> i suspect we may see an article. thank you so much for coming on the show. congratulations. and thank you both. you stick around. we need you back on the set in a moment. now, all of you out there, how would you like to come on your business and pitch your company? the best way to do that is send us a video of you doing your one-minute elevator pitch. send it to us at yoursiness@msnbc.c. include a short summary of what ur company does, how much money you're trying to raise, what you intend to do with the funds. we look forward to seeing the pitches and seeing some of you here in the elevator. when we come back, the importance of transparency. why you should be hiring based on your company culture and how to market of the ultra rich.
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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. so one of the primary questions we have is how to market to the ultra rich. >> the biggest thing you need to do is understand that marketplace. get in it. many people who are selling to the ultra rich don't know the
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ultra rich because they're not in it. you need to surround yourself with the people you're going top selling to. get inside their head. understand who they are. go out and buy some of those brands they're using or wearing or driving in so you know a little bit more about what they are. they used to say you want to know this person, spend a mile walking in their shoes. that's what you do here. you have to understand this marketplace. they buy things differently. they don't use discount codes. they buy things because their friends want them and they can afford it. if you're going to sell to the ultra rich, act ultra rich, and you'd better look it. >> we now have the top two tips to help you grow your business. alexander, founder and ceo of fit, and ryan, the ceo own founder of -- >> ryan. >> i know a lot of people talk about recruiting.
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this might sound cliche, but it's important. you really need to hire culture first. i looked at a resume. you're desperate to have success. yo need the make money. you hire offkill set and whether their resume mak sense for that skill or not, and you make a lot of mistakes that way. you want to hire culture first. a lot of times we have forgone skill sets. if someone was more talented, we will choose the one that fits the culture more, and it works time and time again. you want to be able to work with this person day in and day out, get excited to go oh meetings, have a chemistry and trust that allows you to be nimble, quick, and innovative and fast. >> what have you learned? >> first of all, totally agree with ryan, but to be different my tip is about transparency. be transparent. i think that can be applied on many levels. it can be on daily feedback,
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whether it's internal meetings that you're having, external meetings, if you're doing a pitch with a partner, how could we have done better? every day we can all do better. i'll ask my team members to give me feedback. i give them feedback. it's okay. it's not considered negative or -- it's really helpful developmental feedback. having a culture of transparency is important. also even as we think about things like fund raising and the future of the company and the vision of the company and what the real challenges are, being open and transparent with everyone on the team from the top all the way to the most junior levels including interns in tough, important conversations is manage i believe in. >> that's interesting. i think people's intingts when they're starting out, they pretend everything is good and they know everything. >> startups are hard. they are hard work. they are challenging. there's a reason most startups
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fail. i think if you can be transparent and have a culture where that is embraced, i think your employees and team members are going to appreciate that and really everyone else should feel like a founder. >> identify challenge for both of you. both of you have been through hard times with your companies. it's great to be transparent when everything is going well, and we're having a hard time here. what do you think we should do? what do you do when everything is tanking and you want to be transparent, but you want to keep people motivated and there. >> honesty is always the best policy. people can sniff it on you if you're trying to either hide something or skirt the topic. hit the nail on the head. go tell them what's going on. you can't solve everything yourself. you're probably going to need the help of the team to solve the issue. it's better to be hones with them to come to a conclusion quicker. >> and this goes back to culture. thank you. this week's your business
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selfie comes from dan bickerstaff. he 13es take a selfie of you and your business and send it to us@yo a yourbusiness@msnbc.com. thank you so much for joining us today. it is take your child to work at nbc. here's what i've been thinking about. all of us who are small business owners should talk about our company with our kids. look. kids as young as this can learn what revenue is and what profit is, and you want them to go have a lemonade stand and not say i made ten dollars in revenue, but here's my profit because these are my expenses. a lot can happen if we teach our kids young. if you have questions or
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comments, e-mail us at yourbusiness@msnbc.com. you can also visit us online. don't forget to connect with us on all our digital and social media platforms. we look forward to seeing you next time. until then these are the your business kids, and 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.
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find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. the leader of our country is not here. and that's because he lives in moscow. it is a very long flight. it would be hard for vladimir putin to make it. he can't just make it on a saturday. it's a saturday. as for the other guy, i think he's in pennsylvania because he can't take a joke. >> good morning and welcome to politics nation. i am in washington d.c. because last night i attended the annual white house correspondents dinner, and as you know, the head of that
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