good morning. coming up on msnbc's your business, these three small business heroes turned around a town's economy by bringing back the cheese making legacy. why the owner of this growing beauty care line wants the federal government to regulate her industry even more. and wisdom from his lips to your ears, the ceo of car maximum on why you need to respect and respond to customers. advice and stories to help you succeed coming up next on your business.

♪ hi, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg and welcome to your business. the show dedicated to helping your growing business. this is a story we are all familiar with. factories close, jobs are lost, and downtowns become ghost towns. well, this week we've got three entrepreneurs who have done a remarkable job turning that story around. they are our small business heroes. they rebuilt a beloved cheese

factory in oregon, put the town back to work, and they are creating a business which is on track to become a national brand. ♪ >> nearly 15 years ago as the last cheese factory in abandon, oregon closed its doors, the town lost a part of its soul. >> i think there are a lot of stories for why it happened, it was basically consolidation, eliminating a competitor. >> for more than 100 years, the area had been known for its cheddar cheese. >> in the 1800s there were ten cheese factories, lots of dairies, cows everywhere. >> there was one factory left, the bandon cheese factory. >> when my dad bought it in i think '89, it was still the same building made in the 1930s. >> brad's dad bought the company in 1989 and later brad joined him after a bit of a love-hate

relationship with cheese making, it turned into pure love, and brad eventually became the head of production. >> well, when we take a piece of cheese out and we cut it and we put it in our mouths, and we go, oh, my god, that is really good, that makes me proud. >> bandon was 9 perfect spot for cheese making, the climate, the ocean, all worked together to feed the cows that produced milk that gave the cheese its distinctive flavor. >> the grass here is extremely green and fertile. >> we're on the sand, and the beach. could be the way the water filters through it. >> it produces some of the best dairy in the entire country. >> it's just the flavor of the area. make the same cheese out of different milks from different areas and they taste different. >> but even that special combination wasn't enough to save the last remaining cheese maker in town. a rival bought bandon cheese,

kept the n and moved production out to the midwest. they tore down theuilding and told brad senco and everyone else working there to go home. >> we no longer need your services and that was it. i walked out the door. >> brad went on to make award winning cheese for one of the premiere producers in seattle. most of the other employees moved on as well. >> people left, you know. there's no jobs. you can't make a living here. >> and it just went down. i mean, the schools shrank. the drug problem grew. it just -- it changed. >> not only were the jobs lost, but the town's identity was stripped away. >> it's like taking the auto industry from detroit. not only are so many people employed by it, but they're identified by it. >> this is the story of how three business partners, greg, daniel, and brad rebuilt the factory, brought back lost jobs,

and returned the industrial spirit to the 3,000 people of this town. >> city was really proud of this place. and when you're proud of something, you're very, very sad when it goes away. >> it all started when daniel called greg with a business proposition. >> i think i hung up. [ laughter ] >> i don't think i was very interested in the project. >> he did, yeah. greg hung up on me the first time. >> i knew nothing about cheese making, manufacturing food products. there are things that make it a complicated business. >> i was sure he was going to come around. >> greg was confident brad would change his mind when he understood most the key elements for cheese production were still in place. >> it was something that had preexisted. they had a model that was already there. they had a clientele that was already there. >> i knew the milk was here. certain parts of the supply chain were still around. we just had to put the pieces together. >> there was just one key thing missing, a master cheese maker. with brad senko gone, the secret formula for the cheddar was gone, too.

that's why greg went to seattle to speak with brad. >> i didn't even ask him if he was interested because i knew the answer would be no. greg, if i wasn't interested in coming to work with you i wouldn't have had lunch with you. it took me by surprise. i wasn't anticipating that. >> people were surprised. i was doing pretty well where i was. why wouldn't i entertain something like this? again, i enjoy doing start ups. they're real fun. >> when we heard that he had accepted greg's offer and was kimming back, that hit the papers. cheese making is coming back, brad is coming back. it was a big deal. >> the city understood the project. at daniel's request the council came through with tax breaks and expedited permits. but the banks, they were not convinced. >> they said, no, not this project, not now. we're not interested. >> so, greg looked elsewhere. >> i knew that there was more than one way to do it so i found some other creative investors. i cobbled together seven loans to get that 2-ish million

dollars together to start the factory. >> they named the company face rock creamery after a local landmark and their efforts to build their own company started to build the town up again as well. >> i would probably say 20 to 30 different businesses that maybe don't rely on us 100% for their income, but do business with us. >> you know, it's been some hard times in the dairy business. >> one of those businesses, milky way feed tack and trucking is owned by david. he delivers the milk each day from his father's farm 15 miles up the road. he says most of the dairy owners in this valley quit long ago. he might have had to do the same until he got the face rock creamery contract. it saved his father's farm. >> this chance came along and i think it's going to be a win/win for everybody. >> let's put it this way. if we weren't here, the farm we are taking milk from wouldn't have kept farming. at the very least we saved one. you could see the skip in

people's step arounder hoo. it's cool to see. i get goosebumps thinking about it now. it was good to see that. >> these three, however, are businessmen. if they've made the town proud, it makes them glad. but they aren't working this hard just to become other people's heroes. >> well, i think that would be small if that's the only thing we thought about because, you know, let's be truthful here. you're in business to make money. that's what our aim is. i mean, it's not our only aim. >> sometimes you don't want to talk about profits necessarily when you're talking about nostalgia and why you're here. we're aware without making money nostalgia is going to disappear. the business has to make money. >> i want to see a good return on my investment. >> happily for bandon, good business has brought back local pride. >> she's been here since the 1900s. we want it to be here until 2100 and longer. a >> over the years we've heard our fair share of business owners complain about too much

government regulation. but one entrepreneur has done the exact opposite. greg renfrow, the founder of beauty has been in washington lobbying for more rules on her industry. her company is growing rapidly. rock star bono and his wife recently invested after the company acquired the line, nude skin care. the three are deeply concerned about the toxins they say are used in our everyday products, which is why she wants to see more regulation. ♪ >> as women, when we lock arms or we decide to do something, we can move mountains. >> and that is exactly what she is doing with her skin care and cosmetics line beauty counter. >> i started beauty counter because i had become passioned about the environmental health movement. >> after watching the documentary an inconvenient truth, greg became concerned about what she perceived as everyday dangers in our environment. >> i have learned that we are

being exposed to toxic chemicals through our personal care and cosmetic products and i was trying to find safer solutions for my family. >> while hoping the elevate the standard of safety in her home, the mother of three discovered startling facts about the skin care ask cosmetics industry. >> we had not passed a federal law regulating this industry since 1938. companies are allowed to do pretty much what they want. we have over 85,000 chemicals into commerce since world war ii of which almost 80% or some will say 80 and 90% have never been tested for safety on human health. >> these realities soon involved into inspiration for beauty counter. ♪ >> she thought her vision was simple. create a line that was 100% safe with high performing results. >> the first i made was to christy, celebrity and fashion makeup artist who was the first leading makeup artist to clean up her kit and try to use safer products on her clients.

>> i absolutely wanted to prove as an industry expert this could be done. >> she also brought on mia, campaign for cosmetics. >> we took a list of almost 1500 ingredients and said, we can't use those ingredients, but the products have to perform. people thought we were crazy. they said we couldn't do it. >> beauty counter launched in 2013 with the highest level of transparency and unparalleled standards and safety. >> we created an incredibly strict ingredient screening process, one of the most health protective processes in the country if not in the world. >> her customers became believers. so much so that she's recruited nearly 8,000 of them to make up a robust network of passionate consultants. >> they are sharing the story of beauty counter, sharing the story of safe ingredients and helping families and communities make better choices. >> i'm proud of where we are.

we grew 5,000 percent, 350% this year. >> it goes beyond growing her company. with the company success under her belt, she set her sights higher, on capitol hill, determined to be a voice of change. >> everyone in washington, introducing them to beauty counter, pro commerce and pro regulation. >> she wants to empower politicians with knowledge and awareness in hopes of inspiring some significant legislation reform. >> we want the fda to be able to take action to be able to screen for harmful ingredients and to protect american citizens. >> we hosted beauty counter socials across this country. we had well more than a thousand and during those socials we encouraged our consultants and guests to call senators and at the time them we want more health protective laws. we placed thousands of phone calls and they called us back. they heard us loud and clear. >> it's safe to say we are not create aig movement, we are a

movement many >> beauty counter is how one idea, passion and a real commitment to yourself and a world that you believe in is absolutely possible to make anything happen. >> we always say at beauty counter we have a once in a lifetime opportunity right now to build a great company that's financially rewarding, solid and sound while simultaneously having significant social impact. i mean it's the greatest job in the world. ♪ >> you may not recognize the name alfred, but your chapped lips may know his product. carmex, he started his company out of his wisconsin kitchen in 1937. little did he expect the worldwide distribution his invention has today. 80 years later carmex is still owned by alfred's family with his grandson paul running the show. we speak with paul about reaching out to experts for help and why you shouldn't rely on voice mail in this learning from the pros.

♪ >> reach out to experts for help, i'm an art major running a business. i had to learn everything. literally everything. i absolutely couldn't do my job without the advice i get from people. so, when i started working here, i would call up -- i started i think first with the bankers and say, so, tell me how you do business. what's it about? and then insurance people. so, tell me about insurance and, well, here's how it rkz would, here's what you do. if suppliers came in, i take them out for lunch and they tell me about their products. i would say that is definitely a huge help. should a ceo be okay with asking for help? i would say absolutely. ♪ hire smart and talented people. improbably the least adept at any job around here of anybody.

and my philosophy is to hire people that i call hiring aspirationally. if you hire smart people, trust them. the analogy i use is if i'm at home and the water heater breaks, and then i hire a plumber, he comes in and sits down, gets his tools out and i suddenly reach around and grab his tools and start trying to fix stuff. no, i hired you because you know what you're doing. once you've hired somebody and trust them, then you let them go. don't try to be the smartest person in the room always. allow the other person to flourish. ♪ don't overrely on voice mail. i like having contact with people. i like having conversations and that seems to come up over and over in my life. there is nothing that frustrates people more than when you call some place up and you get an automated service and you wait. there's a problem with some product we were getting, some component. i called the company up and i

kept getting voice mail. i yelled at the phone, if you can't afford to hire a person to answer the phone, you're probably going out of business and we should be looking for another supplier. i got a call back fast. if you call carmex now, you'll get a person first. respect and respond to your customers comes from my grandfather. one of the very first things he stressed to me when i started working here in 1991 was, at the end of every sale, there's a person. that's important. he said, anybody who writes us a letter, they've sat down, they've thought about it, they've put pen to paper. put an envelope, stamp, they care. if they're happy, unhappy, just a comment, they deserve a response. so, if somebody wrote me an e-mail, i would write them a customized response, thank them, send them a free product. and a mommy blocker group one weekend discovered that, we came in monday morning to 6,000

e-mails. well, our mind-set was, this is part of our company promise. we answer to everybody. we sent everybody a sample. people are heard, everything is read. >> an up cupping cage scheduled to be decided by the supreme court could change a patent law that would affect thousands of small businesses. the case revolves around a company called impression products which was revealing and reselling desktop cartridges made by lex mark international. they sued patent infringement which an appeals court upheld. advocacy groups said it is trying to expand intellectual property rights to put resell companies out of business. eric is the owner of impression products and paul hughes is with mayor brown, the firm representing eric. so good to see both of you. >> hi, j.j. >> good to see you, j.j., thank you. >> i want to unpack what this case is. why don't we start with you,

paul. if you can explain to us what is at stake here. >> sure, j.j. this case addresses two really important issues about ownership rights. when a patentee manufacturers a good and they sell it typically the purchaser of that good acquires the rights to that item and can do what they want with it. there are two really important issues here. the first is whether or not a patentee after selling the good can restrict the way in which the purchaser either resells or repairs those goods. lex mark's position is a patentee can prevent the purchaser from either reselling a good that they lawfully purchased or from repairing it. the second question is when a patentee sells a good outside the united states, whether u.s. businesses and consumers may purchase that good outside the united states and bring it into the united states for use without violating the patent law. both of these questions are fundamental about the nature of

ownership of patented goods and whether or not there are robust resale markets for those goods. >> let's bring it to what you have been doing, eric. explain what your business does and what they are now telling you you can't do or lex mark is telling you you can't do. we'll see what the supreme court says. >> thank you, j.j. impression products is a family-owned business headquarters out of charles ston, west virginia. j.j., we specialize in desktop laser printers, making the supplies, the toner cartridges that go in these printers and then for anyone that buys the toner cartridges through our company impression products, we also giveaway a freon sie on-si printer support letting customers know these cartridges are fully guaranteed and will work as good as the oem product. >> you've been doing this 40 years, am i right about that? this company has been around for

how long? >> 40 years, yes. >> did something materially change about your business that this issue has come up now? >> no, not at all. i think lex mark lex mark just way to -- they found a hoop hole in the system, and i think it gave them the idea to come after me and a lot of my contemporaries in our industry, and fortunately i was the one that said i don't think this is right. we're not doing anything wrong here, and j.j. j when you're making a product and you believe in the product and you have employees that you kent to wi kindergarten with or high school with working paycheck to paycheck that have been with you for 20 or 30 years and you want to see them retire with your company, it's not something when a competitor comes in and tells you cease and detist what you're doing because we don't want to

compete with you because you're kicking our butts in the marketplace. if you're a competitor, you stand up and fight. that's what we're doing. >> you're broadening this from this company and what's happening with impression products. from your perspective, what are the implications? >> they are enormous. the question is whether or not there can be resale markets for virtually anything. cars, cell phones, any equipment that companies buy and use in their production. if lexmark's rule is correct, the sellers can say once you purchase it, you don't have the right to resell it or repair it or you can only sell to licensed dealers who will buy it at fixed prices. that's not how competition works. our economy has always has used markets, and that's a fundamental aspect of this case.

thank you both so much for stopping by. we'll watch closely to see what happens. >> thank you for your interest. it's nice being here. it's great to use freelancers for company projects, but knowing how to use them properly is essential. the folks at business to community share five great ways to do that. one, set clear expectations. all your contractors should know their deadlines and any targets you want them to hit along the way. two, calendars are the best way to manage your team's time. make sure everyone can see alt target dates specific to the projects they're working on. three, reduce e-mails. limit your digital correspondence to necessary messages only. otherwise time your people could be using on your things have

status updates on a regular basis. this keeps everyone on the same page, and five, use collaboration tools. replace those annoying reply all e-mails where one platform where your team can share notes and documents and communicate. >> when we come back, the one thing you absolutely have to do if you're planning on selling your business, and one of our panelists tells us why you should follow the money and work the clock. 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'm looking at some point in time down the road to sell the company. i'm 48 kurchtly. we've started to get financials in place. what are some of the other components that we should start looking at? >> you need to make sure your legal books are in order, your financials are in order. that could mean a formal audit if you're really big or just making sure your books are very clean. you need to have your three-year and five-year projections. where is the company going? you need to understand what's happening around you. what price do you think you get sold far? and then you have to think about what is the story that's happening? are you staying in to help with the transition? do you need more talent?

i think in general it's a ton of work to get a acquisition, and it happens because your books are the tightest, cleanest they can be. and how do we think about how the business is going. getting a company acquired is a marriage, not a business deal. it's really important marriages don't happen lightly and so you have to be really ready. we now have the top tips you need to know to help your growing business. let's introduce our panel and get their advice. grant cardone is a real estate investor, skublt, and author of "be obsessed or be average kwtsz. and amos ambush iii. he's the co-founder of kingdom equity. grant, you're about to have a very big conference teaching business owners how to grow their business.

>> yes. >> tell us a tip for how all of us out there. >> always keep it simple. follow the money and work the clock. i go to my people every day. who's got the money and how do we reduce the amount of time it takes to get the money. everybody says this. it's so simple. time equals money. yet, most people do not prioritize time or money. a business should focus first on the money and where they're running out of clock like you're playing a time. i want to take time out of deals. i'll end up with happier customers, more margin, and more money. >> are people always brainstorming how to do it more efficiently? >> people are just talking in business. i'm like where's the money and take out the time. that's the two most valuable resources in a individual, company and relationship. they don't say the most important things are time and money, and time is probably more important than money. it's the new currency. >> it is. it's about creating an eco

system that invites and i equips an innovative spirit. it's about making sure you hire well and create products that reflect it. >> creating an eco system. give me more. i get hiring well. hire people, but then how do you create the culture that allows people to innovate, allows them to fail, not too much, but so they're not scared of failing. ? >> i think failure is something that's really important to know regardless of how good you are. you're going to fail at it. you have to create that culture of you're not going to have the answer. and i don't want you to have the answer. i want you to ask the questions. i want you to go through the hard steps. i want you to fall and get back up. that's the person that is going to be with you for the long run. >> i think speed also has to do with this. if you're going to create a culture of failing, you want to

fail fast. >> yes, and i would redefine failure. you miss quick. you don't fail unless you quit. tom brady, they just didn't quit. i know you hate this, but down 25. everybody is counting down. he's like look, we know our game so well, we can take this last 35 minutes and squeeze time and win because we're working the clock and following the money. >> back to bat. >> let's go with it. >> thanks, both of you. this week yourbizselfie is perfect for valentine's day. this photo that you see there is one of nicholas's favorite. it's mr. and mrs. bill willis. he said they found each other in their golden years. happy valentine's day to them. pick up your cell phone and take selfie of you and your business. send it to us at your business@msnbc.com or tweet it

to us. include the name, the name of your business, the location and use the hash tag "yo "yourbizselfie". we would love to hear from you. go to our website. it's openfore um.com/yourbusiness. connect with us on all our digital and social media platforms as well. 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 and welcome to "politicsnation". earlier this week we saw the who ho riffic attack in manchester. president trump called the perpetrators, quote, evil losers in life. here in the u.s. just two days before a black