and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. good morning. coming up on msnbc's "your business," the owner of a major league baseball team is giving the audience a game like they've never seen before. and it's keeping the seats full. in massachusetts, a coach turned entrepreneur dedicates himself to helping children with special needs thrive through sports. plus, inspiring paralympic medal winner on why she thinks businesses thrive when they're more inclusive. all that coming up on "your business." >> announcer: "your business" is sponsored by american express

open. helping you get business done. >> hi, everyone. i'm jj ramberg. welcome to "your business," the show dedicated to helping your growing business. what do you get when you combine a baseball game with a circus? you get this minor league baseball team with an owner breaking all the rules, changing the lengthy game into a show that cannot be missed. it's a steamy thursday evening in savannah, georgia. ♪ and that crazy guy in the yellow tuxedo is gearing up to entertain a sold out crowd of baseball fans. >> we're all about the show. if i'm going to be on the field creating this excitement and kp entertainment, i need to look like a showman. i got the yellow tuxedo. i now own five.

>> reporter: his plan was to pitch in the major leagues. then a shoulder injury in college disrupted everything. >> that ended my baseball career. shortly after that, i got an opportunity to be an intern for a summer collegiate team. i took the internship and had a lot of fun with it. out of college, at 23 years old, i got offered the job of the general manager of the grizzlies in north carolina. that's where it started. >> he had his work cut out for him. the grizzlies were one of the worst in the country. the struggling organization was losing money, they had no fans and the team was demoralized. >> i realized, wow, we have a serious problem. what did i walk into? i started learning everything about the baseball business but more about the entertainment business. i read every book i could and realized, wow, we can't be a baseball team anymore. >> he was most inspired by

barnum, walt disney and bill vek. he decided the decision was speeding up the game, making it fun but providing non-stop entertainment. >> baseball needs to change. the reality is, if you look at all the top businesses now, they're being disrupted every single day. they're new and unique to go with today's culture. baseball has remained the same for over 100 years. it was a great game and it still is a great game, but it needs to change if it's going to be the great game of the future. and throughout the first few years, we learned so much. what happened was that everyone started paying attention to the team and attendance started skyrocketing. >> then he and his new wife and business partner, emily, had an unexpected offer they just couldn't refuse. the owner of the team wanted to sell. >> everyone looks at me and says, you're a younger person. how do you buy a baseball team? i go, you take on a lot of debt. it's as simple as that. it was a lot of responsibility but really gave us this unbelievable feeling of ownership that we can do anything. there's no red tape.

the 2014, 2015, 2016 seasons were tremendously successful, even as we had bigger goals to start new franchises. >> jesse and emily felt they could market baseball in a new way. as luck would have it, they heard about an opportunity in the much bigger market of savannah, where a minor league team was loef ieaving. >> the in your opinions were down. from what everybody was saying, the team blamed the stadium. it needed a new ballpark. that that was going to be the catalyst to turning savannah into a successful minor league market. >> when they saw the beautiful, historic grayson stadium, they knew it'd be the perfect home for starting a new team and resurrecting baseball in savannah. >> we always want to bring life back to old things. we're nostalgic in that sense. we knew that the potential was here. savannah is an amazing city. yet, you have the huge landmark

that's empty. from that moment, we were talking to the commissioner of the league and starting to get ideas and knew that someday, it could be something. >> the success the coles had encouraged the plain league commissioner to support them in launching a new collegiate team in savannah. >> it was our first franchise in georgia. going into a modern type atmosphere, where people were hesitant about who they were and whether or not we'd be successful. >> the support for the new team in savannah was lukewarm at best. >> we had everything we had to start up the team. for some reason, the city just didn't buy into us. it seemed like, who are these guys? it's college summer baseball, not professional. we don't understand this. no one was buying tickets. there was no excitement, no energy. we didn't have a name yet and no one was paying attention. >> so jesse put on his p.t. barnum hat and remembered the quote, without promotion, something terrible happens, nothing. >> we did a helpless name the

team contest. we wanted the community to be involved. we didn't want to be a sandman. we wanted something people liked. >> they got thousands of responses. one stood out. >> one woman said the bananas. my wife and i talked to our president and said, you know what, we can have fun with this. for the next couple weeks, we started thinking about all the different ideas. we looked at each other and said, the community could hate it. so we were so nervous. we said, you know what, you have to take chances. if it is normal, do the opposite. there's no team in the country that's a banana. there is no team named after fruit. let's do it. so we went all in and said, let's roll the dice and introduced it to the community. >> toby wright has been coming to the stadium since he was 4 years old. his response was echoed all over savannah. >> i was not has been bppy. i hated it. >> channelling p.t. barnum again, jesse and emily pushed through the negative response, clinging to the idea that

there's no such thing as bad publicity. >> they have done a wonderful job here in savannah. you know, it was not without hurdles. not without a lot of naysayers. so i commend jesse and emily on not letting that tear them down. being optimistic and persevering. >> with the start of the season, the community began to embrace the young team. loving the fact that ticket prices included unlimited food, tons of give aways and a run of show that rivals a three-ring circus. >> it's fun. it's entertaining. it is a show. just happens instead of having a movie showing, we've got a baseball game in the background. but there's interaction. there's life. you hear it when you're parking and getting out of the car, walking in. and you see it in the crowd. everybody is having fun. the family friendly atmosphere, being able to be cost affordable for a family of four, to be able to escape reality for three hours or so and come out here and enjoy yourself without it

hurting your wallet is fantastic. but the job that they have done here with the savannah bananas really was what savannah needed. >> they got a fairy tail ending. the bananas won the playoffs in their inaugural season, giving them a huge boost for their year, with most games sold out. and they have a contingent of die hard fans now making it the hardest ticket to get in town. in massachusetts, a coach turned entrepreneur has a mission to help children with special needs thrive through playing sports like hockey, baseball and lacrosse. nbc's kristin dahlgren has this inspiring story. >> reporter: if you're a kid in new england, you play hockey. >> go, go, go. go, go, go. >> reporter: 9-year-old patrick sweeney is no different. and that makes this one of the few places that's the case. >> there was a point where we didn't think skating would be possible. >> that a boy. >> reporter: patrick has autism,

but thanks to a new system developed by coach joe delino, patrick is engaged. >> all i've done is found a way to communicate and connect with them. >> reporter: his system is called small light sports. >> follow. >> reporter: images projected on to the playing surface which lead kids through different drills. >> let's hit a puck into the net. by having the light of the cue on the floor, it allows them to be in the right place at the right time. >> reporter: o'brien is dyslexic and has adhd. for him, staying focused on his youth hockey team can be tough. but at smart light, he likes doing the work. >> without the lights, it's kind of harder. but with the lights, it's a lot easier. >> reporter: joe didn't design it just for special needs kids. his system can help anyone, especially this tech-savvy generation. >> it is something play can relate to very, very quickly. they'll say, coach, what's the next drill? >> reporter: for patrick, it can be as simple as chasing his

favorite flamingos around the ice. >> nice. >> he is fast. i think this facility gives him a little bit of structure so that he can break down some of the basic hockey skills. >> reporter: patrick's smile says it all. at the end of the lesson, he has to be carried off the ice. he's having so much fun playing hockey and reaching his goals. kristin dahlgren, nbc news, massachusetts. it's lemonade stand season, which means it's the perfect time of year to teach your kids the basics of running a business. as the mom of three kids and an entrepreneur myself, this year, i took my lessons to a whole new level by writing a children's book. they make slime, bracelets and, of course, sell lemonade. kid entrepreneurs across the country are turning their trade into cold, hard cash.

but how many of them can tell you the difference between revenue and profit? >> who knows what profit is? >> profit is -- >> it's like the thing you get, money. >> or have really thought through the pricing strategy. >> how much will you tell your bracelets for? >> $20. >> $20? >> those are very pricey. >> as an entrepreneur, a journalist who covers entrepreneurism and the mom of three, i realized this was a teaching moment too many parents are missing. so my sister, melanie staggs and i, wrote "the startup club." an early reader book to spark your child's inner entrepreneur. >> we wanted to create fun characters your kids could relate to to inspire them to start their own lemonade stand. >> how much is it? >> $1. >> $1? >> studies show the earlier you can teach financial literacy to kids, the better. >> i think kids are natural entrepreneurs.

and we thought that if they had the "startup club," they could read and learn about financial literacy, learn a little bit about business and be comfortable when they go out and do these on their own. >> our characters, who start a business called cj chainz do it all, from figuring out the finances, working the marketing and dealing with the competition. >> at the end of the book, kids should have learned how to start a basic business. how to consider what is their cost going to be, what is their profit and revenue going to be? how do i get a partner? how do i market? how do i make a sign? >> if your business owner is ready to start their first ve ventu venture, go to the store together and help them pay in cash. they'll understand the cost of their supplies in a way they won't if you do the shopping for them. do the math. a quick profit and loss statement is simple math that even your little ones can understand. >> here's your $3. >> thank you. >> explain their sign is their marketing.

to get them thinking creatively, ask them what store fronts they like in your neighborhood and why. >> we're going to put these out now. which wants to be on the front? >> and it is never too early to teach corporate social responsibility. work with them to choose a cause they care about where they can donate some of their profits. the more people know about you, the more customers you'll potentially acquire. here are five ways to get the word out about your business. one, take your products to the streets. do some research to find where your potential customers are and get to know when they may be there. then enlist a team to get your products and offers into their hands. two, get celebrities to use your product. it can seem impossible to get to an a-lister, but it's not. ask the sales people at celebrity hot spots to carry your brand and send television

producers samples to use on set. three, when it comes to social media, be strategic. don't be cavalier about what you post. tie your social updates to your marketing initiatives and develop a plan for responding to your followers. four, have your photo taken by a professional or a friend with a good eye. you'll be able to use your new pictures on your website, marketing materials and any stories that may be written about you. five, don't rush to the traditional media. it can be tempting to send out a press release on the day you launch, but don't do it. it's better to launch in beta, to iron out all of the kinks before going to the news outlets. we hear a lot about the importance of diversity but our next guest is here to explain how inclusion is important. bonnie st. john is the first african-american to win medals in downhill skiing. she is a leadership consultant and ceo of the blue circle

leadership institute. she co-authored the new book "micro-resilience," focus in drive and energy. so good to see you. >> thank you. great to be here. >> i should tell everyone, the reason you're here is i saw you speak and i was inspired by you. i called my team here and said immediately, book her. she's fantastic. so i'm happy to share all your wisdom with our audience. >>ter ri >>terrific. i've had my own company, as well, for 20 years. >> i know. inclusion is then making sure employees succeed, right? >> most companies now, big companies, all think about dni, diversity and inclusion. the inclusion piece is are they thriving? are they coming to work and feeling like they can make a major contribution? are they getting mentors and sponsors and developing? are they getting promotions? otherwise, you can have a mixture of people but they're not really thriving. they're not really contributing. they're just going to leave. you're wasting talent. so companies are really

conscious of this now. how do we not only have diverse people but really capture the value of having diverse people? >> what do you think people are doing? if you are a big company with a formalized hr department, you can have programming around this. for small and medium companies, what are they doing wrong? what happens when someone comes in that eventually makes that person want to leave or not thrive? >> well, sometimes it is informal relationships. we work with a lot of multi-cultural women in our leadership programs. a lot of times they don't connect. if we're trying to build a relationship and there are speed bumps in the road, we're not driving across them. not building the personal relationships and talking about holidays and what are you doing, getting closer to people so you are mentoring and developing them. it is easier to get close to people who look like you. helping them to thrive. >> so let's say i'm head of hr and i've done a fantastic job hiring a diverse group of people.

what are the steps i should take once they're there, to make sure i'm creating a good environment for everyone? >> for small and medium businesses, it is different. there isn't a huge hr department. it is more about bringing in the right people. when we think about the why, why does a small and medium business do this, it is because of the markets you want to reach. you want to connect with different markets. one of the things that's come up is when you look at the patents being given out today in the u.s., a huge amount are going to southeast asians, pakistanis. if you're selling b2b, can you sell to other markets other than the ones you're comfortable with? >> i'm reaching out to different people, getting them in my team, what do i need to do then in managing all these different people so i make sure they can succeed? >> is really understanding how different people are hearing things, as well.

when you have a new strategy or a new plan, are you listening to the way different kinds of people are hearing it? are women hearing it the same way that men are hearing it? are they comfortable? are they feeling like they can grow and develop as well? >> how do i do that, by simply taking them aside and having a conference? y you want to be proactive but don't want to single out different people for reasons that might make them feel uncomfortable. >> actually, you do. you do want to be conscious. some people think being color blind or gender blind virtue. what we're realizing is being conscious. one executive said, now i realize, i want to be color mindful. she said, i've been mentoring a lot of women but i never thought about the fact i haven't been mentoring as many women of color. if i'm more mindful of that, then i am going to pay attention to the differences. i'm not going to pretend the differences don't exist.

a simple thing that everybody can do is think about the quiet people. if some people are more quiet in meetings and they're not contributing their ideas as much, maybe you want to approach them after the meeting and say, hey, i didn't hear your ideas. can i hear more? or maybe before the meeting, tell them, i'm going to call on you about this subject. be prepared to say something. >> yup. >> people can be quiet for different reasons. it could be because they're more introverted. they're not heard along the extroverts. it could be because they're a woman from a different culture and don't think they can challenge anyone. it could be because they're lgbt and covering it and they don't have the energy. reaching out to the quiet people is a really simple way to start being more inclusive and making sure everybody is contributing. >> so great to see you. thank you for stopping by. >> thank you. still to come, are you thinking of hiring an outside sales force? we'll have some advice on how to get started. and our brain trust tells us how they managed to overcome the challenges they faced when trying to form partnerships.

so that's the idea. what do you think? hate to play devil's advocate but... i kind of feel like it's a game changer. i wouldn't go that far. are you there? he's probably on mute. yeah... gary won't like it. why? because he's gary. (phone ringing) what? keep going! yeah... (laughs) (voice on phone) it's not millennial enough. there are a lot of ways to say no. thank you so much. thank you! so we're doing it. yes! start saying yes to your company's best ideas. let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open. . we've had real good luck with success in growth over the past ten years, but the struggle

we have is what is the right time to hire an outside sales person? >> okay. so here's something i think you need the consider. one is the product ready to scale? can you handle it? the second piece is, do you have to back off the support when do you start hiring sales people? they will require assistance back in the home office. so you into ed to go check those two things first. if you have taken it as far as you can, as the founder of the company, you are the original sales person, you know it's ready to spike, it's tile to hire your sales force. >> this is the brain trust, where i get to ask the smartest alliances in business who have overcome struggles, tricky questions about how they did it. today in the brain trust, we have the foundered and ceo of sharably, a provider of contact analytics and jessica johnson coke, the president an principal at johnson borough.

how are both of you? >> how are you. >> you have bigger enterprises, that's what i want to focus on today from you guys, go at the time real story about how you get in there to a big company and sell your services within they don't know you. i will start with you, tawnya. >> one of the big things up front is building any credibility you latch on to once you get in the door, the things you get to look out for is the flattery of that big business encourages to you do things not good for your be doing a huge free pilot. or anything where you bought the to bend over backwards. i was laughing and saying i used to become a professional visitor, they'd go, we'd like to you meet this other team. really getting clear about what you want to do with that organization and trusting in the value that you are bringing early, even before have you proof. >> so i get that, it sounds good, i'm going to go in there,

demand, this is the partnership i want. the reality is, as a security bureau, you have the chance to get this big contract. i'm sure you feel i will do anything it takes to get that. >> you want to do whatever it takes, at the same time, you have to feel the value you have match the values oof the other firm, sometimes have you as to wake away from opportunities, regardless of how large they are, we had to do that, it's tough, you want to get that money and work with a large enterprise, at the same time, if they don't have the same value you have, it will be very challenging. you will hit your head against the wall, part of that is understanding who is on the team, who you will be working with, and by getting introduction and referrals to other people in your network, you can identify whether or not you want to work with that organization or their competitors might be a better fit.

>> when you are getting started, you are right, you can't say yes to things you can't deliver. we have over 50 clients,ly bend over backward, visit personally. you never know where a partnership is going to go. you do have to be willing to be flexible and bend and meet people. >> so where do you make a mistake in getting the first partnerships. what if you thought i should have done this differently? >> initially, we were approached by some larger firms that wanted to lever annual our minority and women owned businesses. so it seemed like, okay, they are coming to, they must appreciate what we bring to the table. but that wasn't all thes the case. so it's a hard lesson to learn that sometimes people want to use you, you want to make sure you put yourself and your firm in a position if you have to get used, that it's to your benefit, not to your detriment.

sometimes they will eat you up and spit you out. that realness of it. >> i think one of the biggest mistakes we made is there is a sparkle in the promise of the enterprise deal that follows auto brand into a big company. will you often get encouraged to forego immediate one rate is brands, because someone wants to stitch together a larger enterprise that can take much longering, the reason that's bad up front. we have found working with innovative partners earlier, it will spread fausnaturally throut the organization, rather than it feels like corporate is coming down. you get much better attraction and can use it so much quicker. if you are in procurement before you build high excitement in your company inside a large company, that's a place where big deals will die. >> let's get actionable things, one, if someone is trying to

make the deal bigger than you think it needs to be at the start, think you are stay saying there, tell them, i want to start here. >> start where you stand and grow from there. >> make sure you guys can work together. don't be so starry eyed about the organization that you will work with. >> correct. when you do find an organization that you work well with tuesday to your advantage. we work with a sports organization here in new york city, they always say to us, what business have you got as a result of doing business with us? they so appreciate what we do. we made it work for them, they want us to make it work for others as well in there leverage your contact. then football three is, don't be forced into a feel like you are forced into giving deals that you wouldn't give otherwise, just because? you said, don't give things for free, necessarily? though sometimes you have to? >> we really through to do enough of it t. reality is when you are a certain size company,

you can't service a huge enterprise without skin in the game. you find out what happens when you do a free pilot, you are always on the phone, no one has had to get budget for it, to get something approved. they have no skin in the game. you're out there excuse me, how's the pilot going? we 'em want to come in, it's very, very hard to get people's attention. >> thank you very much. that was great, you have made successful deals with big enterprises from early on. it's great to be able to pick your brains. >> the number one thing in the last ten years that helped us grow, is mient i mindset. it's believing and seeing the future that you want to get to. there i think for me it's been a strategic partnership. so the minute i kind of reach out beyond myself and, you know, partner with larger companies and retailers. that's kind of the moment that my business started to take off. >> as a small business and we

sold internationally in the first week when there was two of us. go to your uncubeightor, sba. get on the government contracting site. everybody will help you do that for free. their only goal is your success. you have to take advantage of those resources. >> this week, your biz selfie comes from drum flip, vista, california. he sells drum sets and offers lessons, holds swap meets and drummers can sell their instruments and host the occasional jam session. don't miss a beat. pick up your smartphone, take a selfie of you and your business. send it to your business @ms nbc.com. don't forget to include your name, business and name of the location and your #yourbiz

selfie. we love hearing from you, if you have questions or comments, e-mail us at your business@ms nbc.com, go to our website openforum.com/yourbusiness. we put up the segments from today's show.l don't forget to kerkt with us on all our digital and social media platforms as well. we look forward to seeing you next time. 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. >> good morning, america, i'm hugh hewitt, on saturday morning, i'm right here on ms nbc. later in the program, one of america's leading defense experts recommend everyone read up with book this summer. it's about the iranian revolutionary guard core t. author joins us later in the program. first, however, i will welcome senator jeff blake, whose new book "the conscience of a