good morning. coming up next on "your business," a former line cook creates a luxury apron line which grows into a multi million dollar company with celebrity she have customers. designer tori bunch tells us how she grew her brand into a billion dollar business and how she's helping empower other women entrepreneurs. and a head to washington to find out how you can procure a government contract. we have all the information you need to grow fast, go far and work smart coming up next on "your business."

>> hi there, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg and welcome to "your business," the show dedicated to helping business decisionmakers growing their companies. and for those of who you watch us every week, you might notice that something is different. we have a brand new set and a brand new look here and we're very excited about it. what we do have that's the same is the same great stories that are going to help you run your businesses. we're going to start with this had one. when ellen bennet was a 19-year-old cook working her way through culinary school in mexico, she never imagined a few short years later she would cook up something stateside to change cookware fashion forever. her designs have caught the attention of hundredses of thousands of fans across the country. now she's run ago multi million dollar business. there's no doubt ellen has made the leap. ♪ it's been called the apple of the culinary world.

offering a collection of high end durable aprons, chef gear and accessories. l.a. based headily & bennet has revolutionized the way we look at fashion in the food space. stwr we take making aprons very seriously. >> ellen bennet, fondly known as the apron lady is the burst of inspiration behind the this movement. since 2012, her vibrant handcrafted designs have become a c you ult favorite. ellen was working as a line cook earning just $10 an hour at providence when she cooked up the idea for hedley & bennet. the standard, a white apron, lacked quality, durability and style. >> it was not comfortable. it didn't fit. i really wanted to make a better uniform and make something that people felt proud to wear in the kitchen. >> the art of the eye end abe

ron became ellen's daily focus. >> i had fabrics. i had chunks and i had dreams and i had ideas. i'd have to be like, no, let me just tell you. we're talking about proper bad -- aprons. they're made out of dem, made in los angeles. when i put it on their body, tie it on, and then they would love it. >> the steep price tag wasn't a hard sell, either. you look at the craftsmanship and this thing is going to lat literally forever. >> from the structure and stitching to the fabrics and hardware, hedley & bunnette brings a fwoeld bold and durable design aesthetic to the world of culinary work wear. much of the company's success is driven by ellen's work ethic, rooted in her experience as a line cook. >> when tickets are coming in, chefs yelling, something came back and somebody is gluten free and you've got to fix it, that

mentality of working with urgency, it really is a game changer. you have to be like, hustling, especially when you have a start-up. >> everything is about finding the tiniest error in fixing it and making it perfect. and so when you take that approach to business, sometimes you can clash with people because they're trying to get them to be soma particular yuls in some way. it's like finding that happy medium, recognizing that not everybody is me. and being willing to be okay with that. >> ellen uses instagram to celebrate her ever growing group of loyal fans whom she call tess apron squad. they in turn celebrate the drive and passion behind hedley & bennet. >> that's the apron squad. we're dreamers, doers, makers, hooligans. >> you're a part of this team of

people that believes in this. now get out there and wake up and fight. that's what we stand for and that is so cool. >> and oliver, ellen's pet pig, serves as its mascot. >> heldey and bennet headquarters is not just the factory. it's a place for customers and the curious to get an immersive brand experience. we give tours and they're like, what? >> you get to try aprons on. it's a whole world. i want do you see post about it online. we're going to repost it. we're taking old school ideas and new school technology and jamming them together.

>> the apron factory shiendz all kind of brands through wrought the community. >> i want every touch point to be special. >> we threw a thousand person party in the apron factory. to be able to open your doors .share that with people, we're growing together and doing something bigger and better for everybody. >> with every shipment, customers receive a gift w highlighting another brand. >> it's like hey, what do you think of it? i want to help my community grow. >> ellen has represented transform another space. >> teams are now looking better, feeling better, they're way more on brand. it's more like, put this on and hold your head up high and do

a -- good job today and that's so awesome to be able to impart that with, you know, a uniform. >> over the last 13 years, tori birch turned her fashion company into a billion dollar enterprise. and today, while she's best known for her very recognizable close clothing, she herself is equally if not more proud of the work she's done to help empower other women entrepreneurs through the tori birch foundation. we sat down with her to talk about her journey building both ventures. tori burch built her fashion company on a simple premise, making clothes that fit her own aesthetics, colorful, classic and a little bohemian. >> i certainly never went to business school. i never went to design school. and i had an idea and it struck a cord.

it was something that was missing in the market. it was something that i was personally missing. and it was a pretty simple idea. it was clothes that were beautifully made that didn't cost a fortune. and i think that when you're missing something that's another good way to think about the business you're launching or working on building. >> her style resinated with women almost immediately. even though there were nay sayers who discouraged her almost every step of the way. >> think of negativity and, you know, really believe in yourself. there were so many times people said, oh, i don't like your logo. why are you launching online? people will never buy online. in this was 12 years ago. we launched with one retail store and an e-commerce site. they said that was absolutely the wrong way to do it. i think if you have conviction and you go with your gut and you really believe you're answering a need, that's when it works. >> in 2015, forbes listed burch as the 73rd most powerful woman

in the world. but behind the scenes, she knew her company was starting to suffer from growing pains. >> unless every ceo i have spoken with told me about this point and i didn't really buy into it until in retrospect i definitely had that point at ten years. and i just had this feeling that things were different, things were happening, technology was taking hold and we needed to really address the next ten years of our business. it was about putting in the right infrastructure, putting in the right systems, looking at our team which was hard because i'm a really loyal person, but some people are great at different parts of your business and you need to look at and pivot into different areas. it was probably the hardest thing i've ever done. you have to be a leader. you have to have your team believe in what we're doing. and it's not always easy. but i think if you're not nimble

and you're not reactionary, that is when businesses really have long-term problems. >> from the day she launched her business, burch knew she wanted to do something else, as well. she wanted to start a foundation to help other women develop their companies. >> we just want to help more and more women. we want to be the go-the to scattered showers for women entrepreneurs. and i think our website is really that. people are writing business plans off the website and hopefully we're giving them a ton of information. >> the tory burch foundation provides access to capital, education and resources. we are -- business as usual for the boutique business industry. >> the foundation offers a fellowship program where ten companies gets to pitch their investment for burch at their new york headquarters. >> there were 800 applicants and then we narrowed it down to 200 and then we narrowed it down to 35.

from the 35, incredible businesses, pretty tough. >> the winner is paris sabo. >> paris s abo, a former cancer surgeon, started dr. bright with her sister, a dentist. they created natural toothpaste and products. her pitch convinced burch that her business was the one they wanted to help boost. >> paris is going to get $100,000 no-interest loon towards her business education. and i think it's the beginning of a wonderful relationship. >> finding great employees is hard. in my experience, it's one of the most difficult things you have to do. and it starts with making sure you're getting the right people into the interview process in the first place. if you don't have a good pool, you're not going to end up with a good result.

forbes gives us five ways to help you attract great candidates. one, use interactive video. when deloyt used a game-ifide version for their search, the result was greater candidate engagement and a better sense of what people were looking for. two, invite candidates behind the scenes. host open houses where potential employees can experience your culture firsthand. this would help you weed out people who aren't the right fit. three, integrate artificial intelligence and big data. tools that can great le reduce the admin work so you can have human reciters hiring data plots can't measure, like personality and character. or be optimized for mobile. now google ranks companies that are mobile friendly here i in searches. five, don't ignore word-of-mouth. encourage them to spread the word with when you have open

positions. earlier this week, i went to washington, d.c. to participate in a conference on government contracting. and here is a fun factor for you. the u.s. government is the largest consumer of products and services in the world. the entire world. so if you're looking for a new customer, don't count them out. but it's not easy to get those contracts. managing director of red carrot wondered if she could sell the company working with her company when she launched in 2011. six years later, it makes up 80% of her business. i caught up with her to find out how she did it. getting a federal government contract was a dream come true for us. we were a lot smaller of a firm and we got our first government contract about two years ago and it really helped us hire more people examine deliver events all over the country. and it grew us to the next level. >> you're an advertising and marketing agency. i think when people usually think of government contracts,

they think airplane parts. what even got you thinking about this? >> so i do know that government almost works like a business. and they purchase everything. they purchase marketing services, janitorial services, they purchase everything that you wouldn't think of and i started looking into the government and seeing what they procure on fbo.gov and i was able to find that they do buy advertising services. >> .how hard was it? because it's a common thought that it's just not worth the red tape going through the bureaucracy and it's going to be too hard so why even bother. >> everything in life is hard. and if you really want something, you have to stay focused. it's not easy to land a federal government contract. they don't go to your door knocking. but if you stay focused and you persevere, you will get a government contract if you're good at what you do. >> well, what tips do you have? again, i talk to a lot ooh people who tried to get them and then at some point throw up their hands. >> i think the most important thing with federal government contracting is to stay true to your core and focus on what you really do. don't try to do it all. and also, establish the right teams.

sometimes you may be good at something and you may find another company that's really good at another area and you get teams together to work together to get the government contract. >> did you do that? >> i have done that before. >> in what way? there's an rsp and we can handle the advertising and someone else can handle something else? >> exactly. we can handle the advertising and someone else can handle logistics. it really depends. you can't think ooh a government contract you're going to do by yourself. they have great past performance you can use to make your proposals stronger. >> did you use any consultants to help you get through the paperwork? i did not use consultants that help me get through the paperwork. luckily, i have nod had the chance to work with consultants to help me with the paperwork. >> and why not? you felt like you could do it all on your phone, it was fine? >> i like to do things on my own. i like to try something first on my own and see if i can do it. then if i need the extra resources, then i can tap into a different consultant. >> so how long did it take you and what mistake did you make that you say to other people, hey, watch out for this?

>> oh, gosh, there's so many mistakes you can make with federal government contracting. i did learn a lot before i submitted my first government proposal. i read a lot, went to a lot of conferences and the first proposal we did, we won. it was because we did our homework and doing your homework really, really helps. and it was just reading and talking to people. reading and talking to people. >> and you were able to fill that out. and you beat out an encouple can bant, too, so you took the object job from somebody else who had been dining it. a lot of people think once you're in, you're in. that clearly wasn't the case. >> not in this situation it wasn't. we offered very innovative solutions and i guess the client really liked our proposal. >> congratulations. 80% of your business now comes from the government. >> it does. >> i'm sure the company will keep growing. >> rosemary knows an opportunity when she sees it. she understood get ago government contract could make a business.

so when she started her company, go rill la saying goril had la stationers, she had her eyes on the prize. her strategy was to cut through the red tape and make it as easy as possible for the government to work with her. the government is the world's biggest procurer of products, right? so that's a huge opportunity for someone like us the.. >> rosemary is something of a rock star in the world of government contracting. >> we were able to do business with the government within 60 days of starting the business. >> she's mastered the art of of getting diversity certifications, bidding on government contracts and -- you guessed it -- filling identity piles of paperwork. when she lost gorilla stationers in huntington beach, california, she was bound and determined to get her small business a slight slice of uncle sam's pie. >> we definitely started the company knowing that we would go after government and diversity business. so that was always our plan, to become a diversity supplier because i think that is a niche in the market that's not 100%

fulfilled at this point. >> but it's hard to get that first contract. how did she do it? actually, for her, it was just about experience. rosemary's knack for the office supply business and fearless approach to government contracting was something she learned at her first job. >> so when i moved to california at 18, i went into the office products business. i've learned a lot of things about doing business with the government. >> with $500 billion available every year for purchasing, rosemary simply couldn't afford to let an opportunity as big as this pass her by. she had to go out on her own and start a business. >> hey, heather. it's rosemary. hope you're having a good week so far. >> for the uninitiated, working with the government can be daunting. that's why we asked rosemary to share some tips on how to prooech approach the task of landing a government contract. her first piece of advice, if you can, get a diversity supplier certification. rosemary has six of them.

>> a diversity supplier is a small business, a woman-owned business, a hispanic owned business, an asian business. i know now they have the gay and lesbian designation. that diverse business is a percentage of sales that the government has to spend with these designations. >> for instance, women-owned businesses get 5%. if your head is spinning, rosemary recommends contacting your local small business development center to help figure it out. that's how she got connected with linda hoit. >> we'll pick a day and you can come over. >> i would love that and i'm dying to meet charlie. >> is he at the sbcd, people earns experienced in doing business with the government, like linda, can guide you through the process. >> number one, you need to understand who your target markets are. it's not just saying i'm going to get government contracts, but who is going to buy the products, how do they buy and understanding that whole process. >> understanding what products appeal to the government led rosemary to buy out two smaller

companies to diversify and broaden her product line. >> our first acquisition was a company called gizmo. gizmos is a ve fun, fun, hip, technology-based company. in may of 2015 we purchased a company based in van nuys called ink for all. it just sold toner in and ink whereas wednesday we sell, toner, ink, janitorial products. >> michael scone, one of the founders for ink for all, to better indicate his company with rosemary's. so far the partnership is working exactly as planned. >> rosemary approached us and inquired about acquiring ink for all. well, maybe this is a better thing for us. it turned out to be a great thing, helping our section of the company grow. >> prior to the acquisition, michael had no government customers. now the ink and toner portion of the business is a big seller at

gorilla, especially for the government customer looking for those special recycled products. >> so much opportunity in the government sector. so we're always looking for new contracts, new segments of business that we can get involved with. >> another way to find out if, indeed, you want to work with a government agency and if you qualify to, is to go to a how-to class run by the organization. >> if you don't understand how to do business with an agency, they regularly have classes, how to do business with this agency, what paperwork they require. >> there's the dreaded word, paperwork. >> it's government, so it is going to be -- it's all about the paper, unfortunately. she had some experience, so she knew what she was up against, and she understood the system. for somebody that's starting out totally new, it takes a while. >> she says once all that paperwork is figured out and the first government contract is snagged, getting others to

follow becomes easier. rosemary now has customers at the federal, state and local level. as she guessed when she started this process, they turned out to be some of the best customers she has. >> they pay their bills on time. with the federal government, in some cases it's net ten. before they pay big businesses, they pay our invoice. >> stay with us, coming up on "your business," we have expert advice on how to scale your company and then we go to our brain trust to find out where to go to fund that growth. start sar company's best ideas.

let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open. what are some unexpected challenges you face when scaleing a medium-sized business to a large business? >> the biggest challenge you face when scaling from medium to large is, just because you're the business leader and you say it, doesn't make it so. you have to start scaling your decision making which means you, like all the other leaders in your company need to sell through great priorities, create checkpoints to make sure they're getting done. otherwise, you'll come back in

five weeks later and realize nothing has gotten started. trust me, the opposite is far worse. making sure getting things done is something you can scale and you're stating your priorities to everyone so they know what's most important, is one of the biggest unexpected challenges you'll face. >> this is the brain trust where i get to take the really complicated sticky, messy questions we all deal with and businessnd ask it of some of the smart ert minds in the business whorld. i have cindy whitehead from sprout pharmaceuticals, took the female viagra and pushed it through the fda. sam snee one of the top five's media companies online. also the biggest conference from r for female bloggers. congratulations to both of you. i want to talk to you about

funding. how much did you raise for sprout? >> ultimately $100 million. >> that's amazing. >> no venture capitalists. i want to know why. what was behind that? >> i've been in different operating roles in venture-backed companies. i felt the lack of appreciation of the fabric of building the company really was missing. when i was going to do it, i was going to do it on my own terms and i wanted people in there who believed what i was trying to do, more than just the bottom line alone. >> you've been in vc-backed companies, public companies, you've run the gamut. one of the things i hear is you're part of a club and so you get this automatic network and you get this group of people who can help you. >> no doubt. i've had good experiences in all of the above. i've had terrible experiences of all of the above, also. i think being vc-backed, it

gives you polish, feeling of being validated, endorsed, and i'm so impressed by those who choose not to go that way. it gives you confidence in a moment when you don't -- you might be struggling for confidence, and it gives you a network. >> one of the things that i always get sort of i think is crazy, when you say how is our company doing, they're so successful, they raised $40 million in venture money. venture is littered with unsuccessful companies. >> sure. >> it's weird we celebrate that metric, isn't it? for me that was the moment of abject terror. i had people's money, i had their kids' college tuition. it became very personal to me because i'm raising it through angel, so i knew their family, what the money was earmarked for and why i had to deliver it back and then some. one of my fears is, and i've had good experiences, a little bit like the other people's money

syndrome, they made a bet, we can lose it. i think we're nonchalant about that today. >> you think founders are? >> and the venture companies. >> they're expecting to lose it. if it happens, no big deal. >> you look at the odds, you're more likely not to succeed as a vc. i think we celebrate these funding rounds because we're looking at five companies who got a lot of funding early on and blew it out of the water, and we're not usually -- i think more and more we're starting to look at the hugely venture-backed companies who failed ms. rahbly. i think that's going to change a little bit anddiligence, i hope >> that's a perfect place to leave it. thank you both. >> this week's "your biz selfie comes from kingsley gardner, owner of kgm entertainment. he runs a talent management

agency. it looks like he's pretty good at his job. look, he got a picture of some of his clients on national television. kingsley, come onto our facebook page and let us know who those women are. we'd love to know. all of you out there, do what kingsley did and pick up your smart phone and take a selfie of you and your business. no professional shots please, and send it to yourbusiness@msnbc.com or tweet it to @msnbcyourbiz. thank you everyone so much for joining us today. we hope that you like our new look. running a show is just like running a business. when you make a big change like this, you have to have process and leadership and all kinds of things like you need when you make a change in your company. i want to personally thank every single person at msnbc who touched this project, and there are a lot of you, because i think it looks great. we would love to hear from you. if you have any questions or any

comments about today's show e-mail us at yourbusiness@msnbc.com. go to our website, openforum.com/yourbusiness. we've posted all the segments from today's show. don't forget to connect with us all our digital and social media platforms as well. we look forward to seeing you next time. until then, i'm j.j. ramberg. remember, we make your business our business. thank you so much. thank you! so we're a go? yes! we got a yes! what does that mean for purchasing? purchase. let's do this. got it. book the flights! hai! si! si! ya! ya! ya! what does that mean for us? we can get stuff. what's it mean for shipping? ship the goods. you're a go! you got the green light.

that means go! oh, yeah. start saying yes to your company's best ideas. we're gonna hit our launch date! (scream) thank you! goodbye! let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open. morning glory america. i'm hugh hewitt, you hear me saturday mornings here on msnbc. all week we have heard about donald trump jr.'s e-mails. rightly so, it's a big story. lost in that volcano of breaking news was a very important statement by a key congressman from florida's sixth congressional district. before joining congress, ron desantis went to yale, then harvard law school and joined the navy jag corp. in 2007 he reported to the special command