moneylaundering concerns with regard to russia at the time he was fired by the trump administration. msnbc live is next. good morning, everybody. i'm dara brown. it's 7:00 in the east and 4:00 a.m. out west. president trump is heading out soon to deliver a commencement address as he and his aides negotiate through a hectic week, including -- >> what about the idea that in a tweet you said there might be tape recording? >> that i can't talk about. all i want is for comey to be honest and i hope he will be. i'm sure he will be, i hope. >> new questions this morning over whether president trump records conversations in the oval office. is it legal? plus, did the president ask former fbi director james comey whether he was under investigation .for his loyalty?

this as interviews are expected to start this weekend to fill the vacant fbi position. we'll tell you who are the reported candidates. and a deluge is expected up and down the northeast corridor this weekend, floodinging and high winds. the latest forecast, ahead. first, police and a new action from president trump denying records he asked former fbi director james comey for his locality at a dinner back in the white house in swrarn. here is what the president said in an interview that will air in its entirety. >> do you think it's inappropriate. >> did you ask that question? >> no, i didn't. but i don't think it would be a bad question to ask. the loyalty to the question, loyalty to the united states is important. you know, it depends on how you define loyalty, number one. number two, i don't know how that got there because i didn't ask that question. >> meanwhile, new reaction from house intel ranking member congressman adam schiff on why the russian investigation matters even more in light of

trump firing comey. here is comeman schiff on "realtime with bill mayer" last night. >> what do us to the no, no people. is there a there, there? >> if there was no there, there, james comey would still have a job. >> the first wave of interview toes replace comey will get under way in washington this morning. among the candidates, andrew mccabe acting fbi director. president trump will be about three hours away in lynchberg, virginia, where he's deliver the commencement speech at liberty university. a new question this morning over whether president trump records conversations in the oval office. kristen welker has details. >> translator: president trump lashing out in a tweet storm, seem to go unleash a warning to his recently fired fbi director. james comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations where before he starts leaking to the press. those striking comments come after mr. trump described a january 27th dinner with comey during his interview with lester. we had a very nice dinner. at that time he told me you are

not under investigation. >> that account is now in dispute. so is the president taping his conversations? mr. trump didn't deny it. >> well, that i can't talk about. i won't talk about that. all i want is for comey to be honest. >> a similar dodge from his press secretary. >> are there recording devices in the oval office or in the residence? >> as i said, there is nothing further to autoed on that. >> there is no example of any modern white house recording any conversations that take place inside it unless you go back to the very dark sinister time of nixon. >> the white house is also still trying to explain what led to comey's firing after initially blaming his handling of the clinton investigation, the president now admitting -- >> i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story. it's an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that they should have won. >> a very different explanation than the ones given initially. >> no one from the white house.. that was a d.o.j. decision. >> because of the actions that

the deputy attorney general outlined -- >> mr. trump tweeted he is an active president. it is not possible for my surrogate owes to stand at podium with further accuracy. the president further ranned back against allegations with his tie toes russia making public a letter recently sent to congress. it states a review of his last ten years of tax returns to know the reflect any income from russian sources with some exceptions, including the 2013 miss universe pageant held in moscow. >> i would like to know if the president ordered mr. comey to end the investigation. >> that was nbc's kristen welker recording. comey was invited to testify on tuesday, but has declined. joining me now, bloomberg politics reporting kevin zarilli and jane tim. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> are there any better answers you've heard in your reporting

that might give us clarity in your reporting? >> no. i think at the end of the day what has to happen is the results of the investigations, both in the intelligence community as well as on the congressional committees, they have to be made public. and the sources that i'm speaking with in congress, both republican aides as well as democrats, there is now an added pressure for former fbi director james comey to have to testify publicly. it's unclear whether or not republicans are going to allow that to happen. but at the end of the day, i think that as this president moves forward, particularly as he heads into his first international trip, this he's going to be facing questions from nato counterparts from around the world who had some concerns, quite frankly, about candidate donald trump's rhetoric for russia now suddenly he's facing accusations that he fired the director who was investigating him. >> jane, there's a new washington post article about trump's words adding fuel to questions about the legality of firing comey. what are the main questions from a legal standpoint? >> the big question is did he obstruct justice? did he obstruct an investigation

into his own campaigns' ties with russia. i know trump says this is a fake investigation, this is a reduce and an excuse from democrats, but there's significant contact between his campaign and russian -- there's meetings that we have proof of. we have sort of seen fill in the justice department has concluded themselves. we saw sally yates conclude that michael flynn, his national security adviser for the white house and his adviser on the campaign had been -- was at risk of being blackmailed. there's something to investigate here. i think that is pretty clear. and the more that trump fires off these tweets .goes off in interviews saying maybe this isn't the best idea for him to be talking about this right now. the more body of evidence there is that he had a motive here. .i think that that is what people aring going to say. is it legal if he's trying to stamp out an investigation into him or al his allies? >> let's take a listen to sean spicer real quick. >> did president trump record his conversations with former

fbi director comey? >> i assume you're referring to the tweet and i -- i've talked to the president. the president has nothing further on to add on that. >> why did he say that? why did he tweet that? what should we interpret from that. >> as i mentioned, the president has nothing further to add on that. >> are there recording devices in the oval office or in the residence? >> as i said for the third time, there is nothing to add on that. >> does he think it's appropriate to threaten mr. comey? >> that's not a threat. he stated the fact. the tweet speaks for itself. >> is the president currently recording conversations taking place in the oval office. >> i think the point i made with respect to the tweet is the president has no further comment on this. >> kevin, a rather cagey response there. what does that tell us on the taping question and why does this matter? >> well, it matters, i think, because whether or not the president is recording conversations in the oval office with the notion that they could be released at a later time, had

that matters. i interviewed senator john thune, a republican earlier this week, and he told me this has become a quote/unquote distraction and they hope to move beyond this to get to policy issues. the political capital that the white house had seized or claimed to seize after passing health care out of the house and now face ago republican controlled senate, this matters as they're trying to get to other items on their legislative items to-do list because the questions that they now face, not just from democrats but from republicans in the senate, this is going to put a huge dent in the perceived political capital that they had hoped to have gained. >> and i want to play some quick sound from senator dick durbin raising an important question that you touched on. take a listen. >> president trump is dangerous. dangerous because he may be obstructing justice in terms of the investigation that really goes to the heart of our democracy. >> jane, as you had mentioned,

obstruction of justice. how many questions of that type realistically might never get even answered with republicans controlling both houses of congress? >> you know what matters here is how much republicans are currently aided by donald trump's presence in the white house. the more that he drags them down as they go into midterms, the more those questions might get answered. the more he becomes a liability to them. right now when we see the polling, we see republicans, party republicans say they still support trump, they see good things out at his white house. they see, you know, the comey suv as a distraction, but they largely approve of him being fired. . they didn't like what happened during the election. so what matters and how much the republicans see trump as a liability for their own party. >> kech, what about this search for a new fbi director? will it be somebody who appears to be a political nominee or possibly some democrats that they could accept? >> it's a piggyback off of jane's point. the sources i'm speaking with tell me they think it's going to be a conventional pick in order

to quickly move forward. those interviews are going to be under way today. this is something that the sources that i'm speak, tell me that the president would like to appoint someone rather quickly in order to continue onward and move forward from this. some of the names that we're hearing include everybody from the current acting director, andrew mccape who it's worth noting when he testified in congress in the senate earlier this week had a key difference from what president trump and the west wing had offered and that he had claimed that the confidence was lost in former director comey. other names we're hearing are alice fisher, judge michael garcia and senator john cornyn. representative goudy is reported to be someone that list and he led the charge in the house in the last congress about investigating former 2016 democratic presidential nominee hillary clinton. >> and, jane, i want to talk about a number of articles that

have suggested president trump's mood in the white house. what is your take away on that? and how does it reflect what has happened in this last week? >> you know, i don't think you need to be in the white house or even reporting behind the scenes to see donald trump's mood. you just need to be on twitter. he is firing off tweets that are angry. he is going after his own staff saying maybe they're not accurate. yesterday i got into work around 8:00 a.m. and my phone was buzzing for these alerts from donald trump.. he fired off a handful of tweets that were fired up and i think the more we see that, the mow we see that donald trump thought getting rid of comey might get rid of this russia story, the hoax that he says it is and it's done nothing of the sort. it has made it bigger, made it more important and made it more -- more questions are being asked now. >> so many more questions to ask. thank you so much for your time this morning. >> thanks. a massive cyber attack paralyzes britain's national health service and hits more than 70 countries. how it happened and whether the

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in just a few hours, president trump is set to deliver the xhemt commencement address at liberty university. the evangelical christian college founded by the reverend jerry fallwell. kelly, what can we expect from this speech today, especially after the week that the president has had? >> well, good morning, dara. expect the standard commencement address where the president is trying to inspire new graduates going off into the world. very different than the kind of week we've experienced here at the white house where there's been a lot of controversy, there's been a lot of news. of course, that centered around the firing of the fbi director james comey. and then it was amplified by the president tweeting about comey after some of his associates

disputed some of what the president said to other own lester holt in an interview about the nature of their dinner conversation and the president apparently asking comey if he can be loyal to him, something that comey's associates say did not happen. this, of course, amplified things when the president tweeted about the possible existence of tapes and that has really set off what was a firing into now a public feud. >> one tweeted word from the president set off a new controversy. >> i've talked to the president. the president has nothing further to add to that. >> but the president replied the threat. reporters pettered the website. >> as i said for the third time, there is nothing further to add to that. >> and the president ducked the question himself in a fox news interview. >> what about the idea that in a

tweet you said there might be tape recordings? >> that i can't talk about. i won't talk about that. all i want is for comey to be honest. >> at issue, what was said between the president and then fbi director over dinner on january 27th. just one day after the white house counsel warned about michael flynn's false statements by then acting attorney general sally yates. in an interview with nbc's lester holt, the president said comey cleared him. >> we had a very nice dinner. and at that time he told me, you are not under investigation. >> comey has not spoken publicly, but associates dispute the president's account and also say mr. trump asked mr. comey for his loyalty. the president denies that. >> no, no, i didn't. but i don't think it would be a bad question to ask. i think loyalty to the country, loyalty to the united states is important. i don't know how that got there because i didn't ask that question. >> today in washington, the search for a comey successor begins. with job interviews led by

attorney general jeff sessions. sources identified these four candidates, including acting director andrew mccabe and texas senator john cornyn. >> i will tell you, we're looking at candidates right now who could be spectacular and that's what i want for the fbi. >> one of the big questions is was that tweet from the president an impulse, an angry reaction, or was he revealing something like the existence of tapes? and that caught the attention of democrats on capitol hill. both on the house and senate side, reaching out to the white house, saying to the white house counsel that it must produce some evidence. do these tapes exist? and if they do, they would be required to be preserved under the presidential records act. either way, that keeps this going and will keep the refresh your on president trump and his team to, one way or another, answer that. and really where they've left it so far, dara, is by refusing to comment leaving open the door to

the possibility there may be tapes. >> so many more questions. kelly o'donnell, thanks so much for that report. heading overseas, a virus is reeking havoc on colleges from the uk all the way to china. let's bring in kelly. about morning. how serious is this bug? >> experts are saying it's unprecedented, just the sheer scale of it. we're talking about 45,000 systems, at least, worldwide. and it appears this morning that it's the virus is still spreading. overnight, infecting computers at several chinese universities. basically, all windows-based computers in the u.s. and across the globe could be at risk in what some experts have called a cyber apocalypse. around the world this morning, organizations with big outdated computer networks, like britain's national health service, are paralyzed. the bug forced emergency rooms

in england and scotland to close, stop surgeries, cripple doctor's offices. >> we've become isolated. we have no access to the records, we've got noer records to electronic prescriptions, we've got no access to investigations on patients. >> millions of computers in more than 70 countries have now been infected, including russia's interior ministry. several chinese universities and tennessee-based chipper fedex. although companies based in the united states largely dodged a bullet, thanks to spam filters. the virus called wanna cry infects computer networks first through e-mail, rapidly expanding across a company locking computers and demanding $300 in bitcoin to gain access. security experts say the virus exploits holes in software security, first identified by the national security agency. then leaked by hackers. the goal? not patient files or data, just money. >> it makes the files on your

system unreadable. and so, really, the only way to unlock those files is by saying a sum of money. >> last year, a hospital in l.a. paid $17,000 to unlock their files. in january, a hotel in austria was hit. the the department of homeland security warned u.s. users to protect themselves by updating systems with the latest patches. not clicking or downloading strange links or files in e-mails and backing up data. and this morning, british intelligence agencies are investigating, but it's not yet clear who is behind this. the virus gives users a week to pay up or lose all files. organizations in some countries, including russia and spain, have managed to isolate the bug in some of their systems and regain control. dara. >> kelly, do they know when this bug actually started? other than when they actually started discovering it, when it began? >> well, it looks as though it

started spreading early yesterday morning. the nhs, the national health service here in britain was one of the first to notice that their systems were going down or being locked up. in terms of when it was developed or who might have developed it, that's still really the big question with mark. and investigators are saying it's going to take a multi level effort in order to track down who is responsible. if they ever do. . dara. >> big question there. kelly, thanks. a lot of people are bracing for more wet weather as a nor'easter takes aim at the east coast. next, a look at the forecast and whether this system will clear out in time for mother's day. imagine if the things you bought every day earned you miles to get to the places you really want to go. with the united mileageplus explorer card, you'll get a free checked bag, 2 united club passes... priority boarding... and 50,000 bonus miles. everything you need

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a big storm is drenching the eastern corridor. heavy rains, winds and coastal flooding expected throughout the day. joining me now for more weather recalls, the weather channel's

reynolds wolf. reynolds, what is happening with this storm? >> we'll show you what's going down, d at a ra wroun. we have some showers popping up in the northeast. timing for mother's day, pretty awful. but the timing is seeing rain drops moving across parts of florida and georgia. it's great. it's good to see this. this will help the fires completely not be a cure all. but it will be, again, some coins in the fountain. that's a good thick to see. denver, beautiful day. a lot of sunshine in dallas, chicago. seattle, scattered showers. shocker. i know. rain in the pacific northwest. los angeles, beautiful and 74 degrees. then there's tomorrow and it is still going to be rainy for you and windy and the waves are are going to be big across part of the northeast. if you're going out to cape cod, expect the waves to be tremendous, even up towards acadia national park. plenty of sunshine in atlanta. cooling back to 83. los angeles, beautiful and dry.. denver, fantastic. bismarck and dallas, plenty of sunshine. dara, back to you.

>> thanks, reynolds. that will do it for me. i'm dara brown. at the top of the hour, thomas roberts will speak with the former chief counselor about president trump's warn to go james comey about secret tapes. did they ever exist? stay tuned, your business is up next. oscar mawe went back toig the drawing board... and the cutting board. we removed the added nitrates and nitrites, by-products, and artificial preservatives in all of our meat. every. single. one. why? for the love of hot dogs. is to always keep track of your employees.r

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good morning. coming up, in downtown las vegas, two old-school businesses prove all the dooms dayers wrong. their businesses are bottomling. we find out why. and when the ohm bookstore closed down, this bronx literature lover became a entrepreneur. incidence ragz and information coming up next on "your business."

hi, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg. welcome to "your business," the show dedicated to helping you and your growing business. a decade ago, most people would have agreed that digital was to blame for the death of so many record and independent bookstores. but both industries are expensing expensing experiencing a bit of a republican saps. in downtown las vegas, we met the owners of 11 street records and the writer's block booked store who were not willing to see the company they care so much about to the digital world. they're tapping into people's love ott not only what they have to sell, but the community that comes with it. ♪

you can call it a comeback. viej has been crowned the new billion dollar business. whether it's the world of cover art, the sound of a song or just getting lost in record store bins with, vinyl offers collectors and enthusiasts an engaging, tactile and emotional music experience, something that the digital landscape just can't compete with. >> i always say is that when people boot up spotify or itunes, they don't go wow. >> ron corso is the owner of 11th street records, one of the most buzzed about spots in downtown las vegas. long before his store became a reality in 2015, ron was immersed in the local music scene. from a radio stint to a job in a professional audio company, he also converted his garage into a recording studio.

but he had an undeniable thirst for something bigger. ron dreamed of having his own record shop. at the time, vinyl had not yet hit its second sweet spot. .opening a record store was not a path most would take. >> i'd rather regret something that i did than regret something i didn't do. the smartest thing to do would have been to sell the stuff on ebay or whatever and just buy a warehouse and keep your overhead to nothing. >> that wasn't the journey ron signed up for. while plans were put in motion, an unexpected proposition from a fellow entrepreneur came his way. >> he asked me, you know, what would you do if you could do anything? and i said, well b, i'm working on opening a record store. he goes, oh, wow, that's great. would you want to do a studio? i'm like, no, that's -- that's a hard business. >> but the synergy between a recording studio and a record store all in one location was undeniable. and it didn't take long for ron

to realize the huge potential. ron knew that he had to think differently to stay in the game long-term. >> it's meant to engage local artists and audiences and kind of the same place. >> and big name bands are knocking on ron's door. recently, rock group "the killers" dropped by the studio to drop by the studio to record some new music. ron created a web series called 11th street sessions where local bands perform live in studio for adoring fans. >> i mean, literally, this place was drawings on cocktail napkins in a bar. with a lot of help and a lot of talented people, we were able to turn cocktail napkin into this. >> a place that celebrates the magic of vinyl and the art of recordling under one group. on the other side of the street, the team behind the writer's block bookstore also dared to break into a business that many

had labeled obsolete. founder scott sealy and drew cohen have reimagined what an independent literal shop could look and feel like. wrapped around their highly cure rated selection of books for people of all ages is merchandise that ranges from whimsical and nos allegic to the obscure and very random. >> we wanted to do something where it looks like you were walking into a workshop that had inexplicable objects, that had an implied narrative like oh, that's the book making station up front. oh, there's birds in the rafters. i don't know why they're there, but they're interesting. >> oh, and we can't forget the resident rabbit, baron. >> we get letters to the baron. he has his own facebook page. he's more popular than i am on facebook. >> they knew it would take more than a rabbit and eclectic mix of items. so they decided to transform the

back of their space into a writer's studio where words and creativity combine. children of all ages are invited to come to story time, creating original books, screenplays, drawings and short films. >> codex is closely modelled after the nonprofit that i ran in new york. the goal is to make the writing fun for them. whether they know it or not, writing is in everything they on love. we had some 5 to 8-year-olds this morning writing stories about spaceships. >> the pilot is -- i can't read the last name. i just got a bunch of letters from the alphabet. here is from zesbolo and he eats shoe see. sushi. >> it's hard not to get sucked in by something. >> we learned that customers expected a occur tor expected a cura the torial aspect to it.

>> we tried to decorate it in ways that are compelling so that even if you're not a book person, there's something to see here. >> this is the king pigeon mailbox. you can leave it in an envelope with a question and you get your answer from the king pigeon. we get a lot of what is the meaning of life. >> there is an artificial bird sanctuary and abdomen adoption program. >> the birds start dollars as decoration. but then we let people write biographies and adopt them. >> it gets people more excited about the story. there's a process to it. >> from authors and directors in the making who finally have a place to let they are creativity run wild to the die hard book lovers who yearn for a space fildz with exploration and conversation, it's clear that the writer's block has shown the vegas community that this little book shop is giving back in big ways.

we know how hard it can be to get customers off-line and into your store and then you have to get them to stay and buy something once inside. you have to get creative, as we just saw with the bookstore owner and the music store owner. well, the owner of an order comic bookstore also did this by going hybrid. you'll see what he did as you watch this piece. >> are you ready for nerdy karaoke? >> it's friday karaoke night and, as always, it's a packed house. ♪ don't believe me just watch >> customers are belting out the latest hits, grab ago beer .buying comics. buying comics? yeah, buying comics. this is the brain child of aaron hallen, who opened the company a come ek shop in 2006.

>> i saw a record store going out of business right here in this location and i wanted to put a comic bookstore here. >> comic shops have long suffered from the stereotypes that shows like the big bang theory and "the simpsons" reinforced. but it's a sigma aaron hopes to change. >> to say i don't like comics is really like saying, you know, i don't like books, i don't like music, i don't like movies, i don't like tv. and i realized that there was this big stomach blging block where comics were either seen for children or for eccentric older people that obsessed over them. >> so instead of selling limited editions in pristine condition, a comic shop sells new comics with affordable price point. >> i wanted to do this is new, this is emotion, this is what comic book writers are working on right now and share this as

entertainment and not as collectibles week in and week out. >> the goal? to make comic book reading approachable for a whole new set of consumers. at the beginning, it meant talking to anyone who would listen. .even offering free comics to first timers. >> we were basically just nonstop trying to get people in here. >> and that soon evolved into holding regular social events. aaron felt confident that if he could just get people to come in, he could connect them to a series that they love and they would become repeat customers. >> with a comic book, it's just you and the page. so i want to do things that got people to communally get together and enjoy comic books together. sometimes twice a month we would have a party with a keg of free beer, a comic book with an artist and writer and something going on. with that, we decided, well, why not have this every weekend, why not have this every day, why not have this where we can actual monetize having people hang out here? >> an idea was planted for a more official hangout spot.

>> there was a space available in this strip mall, but it was kind of an odd shape. and i made a joke saying, well, we can make it a speak easy and just call it the geek easy. and i was just totally off-the-cuff and it was like, yeah, we need to do that. we decided we can have a bar and make it geek themed bar and have pop culture instead of sports. >> in 2013, the geek easy officially opened for business. it took became headquarters for regular readers looking for a place to enjoy their favorite series, find out about new ones and make friends. >> i have a social atmosphere where i could meet all these folks that i didn't think would talk to me before and we have this common ground. it starts, oh, did you read the latest issue of saga, did you read the latest issue of batman and it moves from there, when are you going on stage? let's buy a round. it's amazing. i love it. >> weekly trivia and karaoke nights bring in locals looking for a about tile the. >> it brings people into this

comic shop that would maybe never set foot in a comic shop. they have to literally walk through the comic shop to get into the geek easy. having the geek easy has introduced people to comic books in a way that is comical and inviting and just chill. it's just i'm coming in for my reasons of hanging out with my friend and having a beer and i see this comic that i heard about or this character that i heard about from something else, whether it's video game or movie, and i check it out. >> and they keep coming back, often with friends in tow. >> when i talk about, you know, the geek easy, i tend to say, hey, it's a great place to come on friday. you should come with me. .a lot of people are like, oh, well, you know, i'll give it a shot. and they come with me and they're like oh, my goodness, this place is so awesome. why did you never bring me here before? >> 2 type of events are often as

diverse. just about anything with a fan base is welcome. >> we have a stage and whatnot. why not have these local bands play? then it got to open mike and comedy nights and plays. i'm open to basically anything that people want to do in here that has fans and that people are nice and friendly and are at least interested in comics even in just a passive way. >> as a comic shop and the geek easy continue to expand and diversify their customer bases, aaron says the potential of where the business and the industry could go is to infinity and beyond. >> i've always said there's a coppock book for everyone, even the superhero stuff. even marvel and d.c. are doing more comics for women, more diversity, more voices as creators and i don't think it's going to stop. i think it's growing and growing and growing. that's where i want to see growth. it's not necessarily expanding my empire, but expanding the people that are enjoying comics.

♪ when noel santos of the bronx in new york learned that her local barnes & noble was shutting down, she decided to do something about it. she went into business, opening her own bookstore, the lit bar. nbc's jenna bush hager has more. >> with passion to kill sigmas and prove once again that the bronx keeps creating it. and we are worthy, so i stand here today and ask you to open your hearts and help me show the world what many fail to see that the box is no longer burn, except with desire to read. >> the bronx is a hub of culture, has given rise to hip hop and stars like jennifer lopez and it's where the new york yankees play ball. but the new york city borough, home to more than 1.4 million people does not have a single general interest bookstore in sight. >> there's nowhere for me to go. it should not be that hard to have access to literature. >> know sl a bronx native

determined to change that. it all began when barnes & noble announced plans to close in 2014. >> i love my borough. i'm a passionate reader. everything came together. it was like my ah-ha moment. >> the hr director says she didn't know the first thing about owning a bookstore, but she was ready to try. >> iing googled it, how to open a bookstore. >> the lit with bar was born. after entering and winning second place in a start up competition, things took off. in the age of online shopping, run ago brick and mortar store can be a challenge. but noel says her store would provide something online retailers can't, a place for her community to gather in person. >> the lit bar looks like the bropgs. and i want people to also feel like they belong there. make it a true place for discoveries the. >> noel can trace her love for reading and discovery back to her childhood. >> life growing up in the south bronx as a child. there was some turmoil in my

life fwroeg up and reading was my escape. i feel like everybody deserves access to books like no matter what your income is or where you're from. putting a bookstore in the bronx and -- >> noel's friends and neighbors agree. >> what noel is doing is bringing light to the fact that we're missing something, something really important. >> i honestly felt like if anybody could do it, it would be her. >> and other people agree, too. earlier this month, noel's indy go-go campaign surpassed her goal of $100,000 in just one month. and caught the attention of celebrities like michael moore who tweeted, please help. i did. >> oh, my god. the response has been incredible. and it's not just coming from my community, but coming from all over america, coming from all over the world. >> the lit bar is just a pop up right now, but noel plans to open a store by the end of this year thanks to the generous donations of complete strangers. >> the place to sit talk arts and entrepreneurship and all things the bronx. we lit.

facebook is still one of the best way toes reach new customers, but growing a facebook audience takes time is and a good strategy. one, use bright, high quality images. when you add eye catching photos with your post, people are likelier to share them with their friends. two, try a list for net. as a big generalization, post with things like five tips for hiring will do better than a post that says advice when hiring. people like quick reads that get straight to the point. three, post regularly. pages that are more active get more view owes facebook, putting new content on your page often will create a snowball effect. that ultimately means more eye owes your account. four, try facebook live. engage with your followers in a new way that showcases your business and gets your customers involved. and five, use the insights

feature. knowledge is power. check the data regularly so you can see what's working and what isn't. this section also provides demographic data about your audience so you can tweak your post to appeal to your specific market. marketers know the impact of a powerful product name. our next guest says you don't have to spend a ton of money to hire a naming company when you're going the launch something new. there are some easy tricks to follow. ross kimbroski is the founder. these are things like logos, copy writing. i think it used it for a t-shirt design once. it is a great company. i want to start off the interview by saying it is a fabulous idea. >> thanks so much for your compliments. >> okay. let's take this back for a second, though, and say i don't want to hire someone, i don't have the money for it or it's something -- i don't want to get to the point where i hire

someone, but i need a good name for a product that i'm going to launch. number one, you say keep it short and memorable. >> so that's really important because if you think about it, people have a very short attention span. so under ten seconds, most of the time. and if you're a -- if you're compete, shelf space .a retail marketplace or you're online, keep it as short as possible. if you're putting it in an e-mail, if your name is 25, 30 characters long, it's going to be tough for you to say anything else. so the shorter it is, the more memorable it is, the easier it is for your potential customer on to actually walk away remembering and recommend it to someone else. >> make it easy to pronounce, spell and understand and i'm going add to that if it's international, you've got to understand what it means in other languages, as well. >> exactly. and that's critical. i'll give you a great example. ten years ago, there were a lot of cellular phones and they had model numbers like 839 and all sorts of convoluted numbers. thennel came out with the

iphone. it was easy to pronounce, easy to spell, easy to tell a friend about. and so that became the de facto standard. and the whole industry shifted to simpler naming because it was just tough for people simpler naming. if you make it easy and memorab memorable, you want people to tell a friend or colleague to recommend your product. if you are a decisionmaker, that is important to do. >> focus on the product's purpose. that doesn't need to be the direct purpose. it could be about how it makes people feel. >> it can. i'll give you two examples. it can focus on purpose and value. an example of the product's purpose. we recently were naming a company or product for a company in the legal space. so the name we came up with was quickly legal. the idea was we needed to communicate very simply what the product did. it was a legal product to help businesses create legal agreements. it did it quickly. that was a more descriptive

name. on the value side. look to the value. it is not descriptive of the product. naming an in-home care agency with a lot of technology sl solutions, we came up with respect. that is different from the industry with home care in the name. for this particular product, it was important to communicate the value of respect. when we talk to potential customers, elderly people and kids, that is the word we kept hearing. a great degree of respect for parents and elders. you can focus on the purpose of the product or the value of the product to think about names. >> i'm going to name quickly your points. consider your audience and make it unique. i want to take the next step. i went through this process in my company. how do you manage brain storm and end up with a name.

how do you snamanage? >> it took us 50 hours not much different from your process. ultimately keep the naming to a small number. you need a decisionmaker or leader to name. if you name by committee, several things happen. it takes far too long. you compromise. that is a problem. anytime you get involved in a creative project that has to be a decisionmaker at the end of the day. >> it is hard to come up with names and crowd spring is a great way to just get some deal flow on names. go in and it is just not that expensive with services like yours to get ideas. i've always been surprised. i thought i exhausted every idea. you put it up on crowd spring and suddenly you see things you never thought of. thank you again for coming on. this is great advice. hope to see you soon. >> thank you so much, j.j.

these successful entrepreneurs say they need to do things to start the day on the right foot. try to never miss a sunrise. and yancey listens to the same music every morning. tennis star venus williams puts her first energy in the day toward working out and training. and fashion designer eileen fisher sits in her chair and journals. and grant starts his day with a moment of gratitude. giving thanks for the simple fact that you woke up that morning. how do you start your day? when we come back, need some money? we will tell you where you can find investors. and why you must concentrate on your cash flow.

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. how do you source investors? where do you go and meet with them at networking events or do you go through known contacts and getting more referrals? >> the best place to source investors, i think, if you don't

know a bunch of people who are wealthy and want to give you money, if you do, go ask them for money. you use twitter. once online, see what investor specialize in and see what they talk about and care about. you can talk to them directly. if they ask hey, i'm going to florida this weekend. what is a great restaurant. start that conversation. investors are people too. they don't want to feel like a checkbook. consume the media and talk about it. you did a great job and i thought it was helpful and i learned a lot from you. just go from there and build that relationship online. we now have the "top 2 tips" you need to know to grow your business. let's get the panel. tanya yuki is the founder of social content analyd analyst s

analitics. t tanya, we watched your company grow in the last eight years. congrat lakes ulations to you. one tip? >> my top tip is schedule buffer time. it can be tempting as a business owner to be booked back-to-back-to-back. you need to proactively go in. i like to do 90 minutes. i schedule in 30 minutes. if one gets railroaded. >> 90 minutes a day? >> it sounds not achievable. it gives you time to think about the meetings you had to plan for something you are about to do and really reflect on the business. otherwise, you relegating your best thinking to late into the evening. >> in the buffer time, you say i won't answer e-mails or take phone calls? >> that is it.

you think about mapping everything you are doing back to the priorities of the company. i run a company that is tracking media disruption. things are changing. it gives you time to make sure you are on course and seeing what's coming. it sounds really indulgent. it is transformative. >> okay. you're up. >> i think one of the things that people don't think about is looking into finances. cash flow is king. i think more people need to understand cash in and cash out. it is not about what you are actually selling. are you n you are not getting paid right away. before you scale your business, how much money do you have in the bank? what will it take me to get to the next level and how is my cash looking? do i have a financially strong foundation. >> do you find people -- i get it in the start-up stage, but people in the next stages with issues? >> definitely. people are scaling and they

think i have $1 million business. just because you have a $1 million business, doesn't mean you have $1 million in the bank. >> yes. we saw during the recession so many great companies go under simply because not because of the product, but not enough cash. thanks both of you so much. this week's your selfie is from rhonda pearson in maryland. rhonda is a certified balloon artist and designed for over 2,000 events. sports and weddings and tv sets and presidential balls in d.c. it is fun to see photos of businesses like these from all around the country. if you want to be featured. take a selfie of you and your business. send it to us@yourbusiness.

use the #yourbizselfie. thank you for joining us. if you have questions or comments about the show, e-mail us yourbusiness@msnbc.com. we post all of the segments from today's show and a lot more for you. don't forget to connect with us on digital and social media platforms. we look forward to seeing you next time. until then, i'm j.j. ramberg. 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. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. good morning. i'm thomas roberts at msnbc world headquarters in new york. president trump is leaving the white house very soon on his way to deliver a commencement address at liberty university in virginia. all of this while controversy swirls over statements he made and the interview. >> what about the idea that in the tweet you said there might be tape recordings? >> i can't talk about that. i won't talk about that. all i want is for comey to be honest. i hope he will be. >> it is a big what if. these questions today