good morning. coming up on "your business," their limo service was failing because hardly anyone gets married midweek. find out how they pivoted and became a multimillion-dollar company. we celebrate the start of our 12th season by catching up with some businesses we've profiled that have made the leap to become house hold names. and our elevator pitch segment returns with a product that will help your kids get into the swim of things. let's grow fast and work smart next on "your business."

hi, everyone. i'm jj ramberg. welcome to "your business." today marks of the start of our 12th season of helping your business grow. first of all, i want to thank you all for watching us. it's very exciting to have been on this long. we're going to start today with the story of one owner who had to entirely rethink his company in order to survive. maurice brewster loves vintage cars, especially luxury vintage cars. about ten years ago, he fell in love with a particular one at a car show, and he persuaded his wife that they should buy it and start a company driving people around. but when the company just wasn't growing enough, they had to change their business model, and it worked. ♪ >> i've got big dreams. >> we're always looking for new opportunities. >> maurice and ronda brewster are ceo and president of mosaic global transportation. they're also husband and wife.

>> he's the visionary and the sales, marketing, and public relations, and i have more the detail, organizational, logistics, project management skill set. >> together these two started out with a wedding chauffeur service 15 years ago, which they ran from their home in palo alto, california. >> we would take calls at the dinner table, all hours of the night. at the time our office was in our garage. >> if this sounds a lot like your typical mom and pop kind of business, maurice, or mo as he's called, is quick to say not anymore. >> it started that way. you know, when you're clocking the revenue numbers that we're clocking now, and i think we're a little bit beyond the mom and pop stage. >> today their revenue has multiplied. they have more than 100 employees and serve clients in countries all over the world. how did they make the leap? it started with mo's instinct

for marketing and his special fondness for luxury vehicles. >> you know, i like nice cars. i like fancy cars. >> that passion for flashy cars led him to one bright white late model import. >> we were at a car show, and he saw a car that he said, i think i can make some money with that. i pretty much figured he just wanted to buy the vehicle. >> the gas mileage was maybe three or four miles per gallon, but who cares? >> mo's marketing instincts paid off. right away the brides loved his vintage rolls royce sedan. the business took off and the cash rolled in. >> our first year we did $444,000 in the first year. of business. >> by their second year, revenue had nearly doubled, but maurice was looking beyond that. he had to figure out a way to continue to grow his business, and he didn't have it quite yet. >> well, the obvious one was that we couldn't get a bride to get married on a tuesday.

why? it's a great day. the rolls royce sat monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, and friday. so we had some lost utilization, issues we had to deal with. either we had to buy a lot of rolls royce's to go out on saturdays and sundays, which wasn't practical, or we had to change the business model. >> around that time, a hotel client suggested they add on corporate limousine rides. >> they opened up their books and showed me how much they were giving a local limousine company, weren't very happy with them, and thought we could do a good job. >> but the client said, there's just one thing. >> you can't drive them in a rolls royce. you have to drive them in a town car. and the very next day, ronda and i bought a town car. >> in less than a year, they had a fleet of town cars. revenue was climbing again, and they dumped the bridal business. >> the transition was not that difficult. the volume of business that the hotel could give us far exceeded what we were doing with bride and grooms on saturdays and

sundays. >> that success didn't stop maurice from continuing to look ahead. he was watching the market for corporate event shuttle services. the numbers he saw were large. very large. >> we handled the super bowl. we've handled the world series, the espy awards, the emmy awards. different things like that, that i think a person that comes from an operational background might not go after that kind of business. >> and they went after those juicy accounts using their marketing skills and something else, their network of certified minority owned businesses. >> mo engages the network, and what it means is that we provide opportunities for the minority-owned business to meet the corporate members. >> josette heads up the new york-based national minority supplier development council, the nmsdc. it's a national membership organization for introducing black, hispanic, native american, and asian owned businesses to fortune 500 companies.

>> we provide a bridge between our corporate members and our certified minority owned businesses. >> when i look back today at the corporations that we do business with, i would say 90% of it has everything to do with the fact that we are a certified minority owned business. >> certification is an invitation to the party. it's not a guarantee that when you get there you're going to be asked to dance, okay. and there's not a guarantee you're going to get a contract. there is no contract with your name on it. you will earn that contract through your own hard work. >> it opened up doors for us to be able to at least make a presentation about our capabilities and win business. >> once they got the contracts for these big events, how did they think they could deliver? >> there is no one company in our industry that could handle

all of the needs of the transportation companies. >> their secret, they got the competition to collaborate. >> we have this frenemy relationship. >> for these big occasions, they subcontracted the work to their competitors. by the way, that's how they also offer national and global service. they turn to their enemies when they need to have friends. >> i love the fact we grew 42% last year, but that doesn't give me the greatest joy. the thing i enjoy the most is a little over 100 people rely on the decisions that my wife and i make in order for them to raise their children, to educate their children, buy their first home, buy their vehicles, to recycle their dollars back into the communities, and that gives me the greatest joy. over the past 11 years, we have profiled thousands of companies. today as we start our 12th season, we wanted to take a look

back at some of the ones we met when they were small who now have become multimillion-dollar businesses. we met pakistani immigrant tariq in 2006. we were impressed then with what he had grown, but that's nothing compared to now. today his company is a household name. edible arrangements. tariq had owned a flower shop but had a vision for a cut fruit bouquet. along with members of his family, he launched a store in connecticut. and by 2001, they opened their first franchise. within five years, they had opened nearly 400. >> how do i know we're not growing too fast? i don't think in business there's such a thing as growing too fast unless it gets out of control. >> they're now a global brand with annual revenue at almost half a billion dollars. you were one of the early people on the show here, and you had 400 franchisees. now you have 1300. >> 1300 stores. thank you.

>> we're looking for about $5 million. >> do you know who this is? when they first came on the show to do an elevator pitch, almost nobody had heard of the company. they were pitching a new coconut product. it's called vita coco. both the company and category grew substantially. vita coco eventually faced stiff competition from big-time bottling rival coca-cola who acquired their primary rival zico. >> we were nervous when we heard that coca-cola had invested in zico. but we also remained focused on doing what we do well. >> today vita coco is a global leader in coconut water sales, selling in 31 countries, accounting for 46% of the market, and attracting investors like madonna and matthew mcconaughey. the creative founder and ceo katrina started a chocolate renaissance when she started to mix and match unusual ingredients like curry, cheese, and bacon with chocolate.

it may seem common place now, but this oartisinal approach wa unusual in 2008. the pioneering company was suffering some growing pains. >> like, i really, really like to grow. i don't know. it's almost some sort of weird addiction for constant improvement and growth and nurturing. >> katrina realized she had to hire more help to run the company, freeing her up to experiment and concoct the next innovation. >> katrina is definitely stretched to the limit, and in order to get through no man's land, she's going to have to figure out pieces of this business that she can hand over to others and trust them to do it well. >> since we first met katrina, her company has flourished and distribution everywhere from whole foods to starbucks. she's introduced a new line of lower cost chocolates named wild o feel ya, part of whose profits go to support up and coming young female entrepreneurs. i'm here with this week's

elevator pitcher, daphne. so nice to meet you. your son adam. and you seem to be modeling the product that your mom is going to be pitching. what are they called? >> they're called giggly goggles. >> do you like them? >> yes. >> i certainly hope so. do you think your mom is going to do a great job? >> yes. >> is this your first time on tv? >> yes. >> how are you feeling? >> i'm stressed, but i'll do my best. >> we have two great panelists for you, exactly perfect for you. both people in consumer products. cozy friedman and josh shaw, a serial entrepreneur. he's also an angel investor. so you just stand there with those goggles. you, good luck. >> thank you so much, jj. >> all right. let's go. >> hi, i'm daphne, founder and designer to the giggly goggles.

traditional swing goggles are painful and leak water that's harmful for your eyes. the giggly goggles are here to the rescue. our unique patented design allows for an easy nonaon and o. no need to adjust. the mask protects against uv rays and water leaking in. they come in three different sizes to fit all. they're fun and stylish and can even be personalized. they retail at $25. we are on track to make over $200,000 in our first year. we've been spotted as a summer must have by the "today" show, real simple, "star" magazine, and more. and customers are raving about our product. we've recently been approached by several major retailers and are asking for $100,000 investment to grow distribution and put smiles on more faces with the giggly goggles. >> you know what, we have had so many models on over the past 11 years. you're the best one we've had on yet, adam. nicely done. all right.

these are for you two. i can hold your goggles. you take these. i want two numbers. one through ten, what do you think of the product? second, one through ten, what did you think of the pitch? did it pique your interest? product-wise, i've got three kids. i'm going to steal this from you and give it to one of my kids. they swim all the time. unfortunately, a lot of our goggles end up in the trash. that's not where i want them. all right. ten, nice job. >> i love the product. i'm in the kids business. i can really appreciate it. i know how much parents will love it. so i think great job there. i gave the pitch an eight because a couple things that i would want to know if i were investing in it. like what is the competitive market. you know, how do you plan to set your goal -- reach your goals. a couple things you could tighten up, understanding that this is a very quick elevator pitch, but i think it was a great job and your model was fantastic.

>> thanks. >> all right. you're an angel investor. you look at a lot of companies. >> i gave a nine and an eight. i thought it was excellent. nice job. the product i think is well designed. i love the uv protection. i love the no hair pull, even though i'm losing mine. i think it's really well designed, and the packaging is beautiful. on the pitch, i agree, i think you could have given more data on the size of market, opportunity space, competitive landscape, but obviously it was a quick pitch. but i thought you did a great job. >> thank you, both. >> congratulations to both of you. these people know what they're talking about. they're both in consumer products. good luck with everything. have a fantastic rest of your summer swimming with these. >> thank you so much. >> great to meet you. >> if any of you would like to come on "your business" and pitch your company like you just saw, the best way to do it is send us a video of you doing your one-minute elevator pitch. send it to yourbusiness@msnbc.com or post it to your youtube page and let us know the link. please include a short summary

of what your company does, how much money you're trying to raise, and what you intend to do with that money. we look forward to seeing those pitches and seeing some of you here in the elevator. a blog can be a complete waste of your time or it can be a great marketing vehicle. if you want it to help your company, you have to be strategic about it. so here are five best blogging practices. one, learn how to write for the smartphone. more and more people are getting their information on their phones, so think about how your blog is going to look on a small screen. two, write strong headlines. good headlines make it easier for people to find your post and are key in telling search engines what your content is about. three, make your content good. it sounds obvious, but not everyone does it. if you get people to your blog and then they quickly leave, that means you'll have a high bounce rate, and that will eventually hurt your rank in

seo. four, perfect the structure. break your post into digestible bits. put the most important information at the top, and use subheadlines throughout the post. and five, use compelling images. you can find free stock images on sites like stock snap to engage your audience members and help with your blog's structure. i'm sure you've all seen those stories that come up at the bottom of your screen at you read an article. stories like six ways to have better skin, or you won't believe what this college kid did to get free tuition. that is content marketing. they're articles put there by brands to get you to read about what they have to sell. adam is the founder and ceo of a company which works with brands to get those stories out. and he's here to explain to us what works and what doesn't. so good to see you, adam. >> great to be here. >> i'm so happy you're here to talk about this because i see these articles. i click on many of them.

and i don't exactly, even though i know it, i'm not reading them because i want to be sold to. i'm reading them because somehow they've caught me with their headline. so what are companies doing? let's go through it. just say i have a flower business. so how do i think about this kinds of content marketing? >> so i think if you think about this time and day, we're moving from -- do you ever click on a banner? >> never. >> when you watch a movie on youtube, do you always click on that skippable button? >> always. sorry, advertisers. >> people don't like advertising anymore. we're moving from this traditional advertising to sort of story telling way of marketing. people want to relate. they want to read about you. they want to watch a video of your product. over time, they'll consider to buy your product. so if you have a flower shop, right, you can't buy ads on google. it's too expensive. you can't buy key words when people search for flowers.

you'll never be able to afford it. if people write about you, even if it's a small blog, and they say, they have great flowers, check it out, or if you have something social and someone mentioned your name. any piece of continue teent. you can promote is and slowly build that trust with consumers. >> so this is interesting. there are two things you can do. one is you can take a piece of content that's already out there and then amplify it, right. so somebody wrote a blog on you, then you work with a company like yours to get that at the bottom of someone's screen. >> imagine that you go to "usa today," my wife has a flower business, and nobody knows because it just started. somebody reads an article in the style section. at the bottom it says there's a blog post about a flower business and you can get curious and might become a client. >> the other thing you can do is write your own article. let's say it's a flower business. you don't want to write buy flowers here.

she might write an article and you tell me if this is right, but the seven best flowers to give as a thank you. so you're reeling people in with the content and then somehow selling them within the article subtly. >> it can be that. it can be something i'm seeing a lot recently that works well, sort of the founder story. people really want to see who's the person behind the brand. people don't like the click here, buy that, call now anymore. they want to see why did you start. why did you leave your job to do this? why do you wake up in the morning every day excited about it? people really react to it well. so the founder story works fantastic. it can be an iphone video, 60 seconds. doesn't have to be professional. you can get going relatively quickly. >> but the key is do not sell. you're entertaining people. you're not selling. >> right, relationship. journey versus now. >> okay. now let's talk about pricing. am i paying per impression, per click, per sale? >> you pay only if someone

discovered your content. you pay per click. and really, content is king in that fashion, or in your case content is queen, but the transition is from just thinking transitioning from just thinking of seemingly again over the next month or two months and eventually winning you forever. >> the way you need to think about your return i'm paying, let's say i'm paying 50 cents. i'm making this up. they read the article, click over to my site. i need to think what am i trying to get them to do? am i trying to get them to buy something, sign up for something? i have to really understand my metrics. >> historically, what would we do, we would place an ad all over the page and people would buy the product right now. these days what you do, the article is clean. but then at the bottom of it you may say sign up for a newsletter so we can send you things about flowers. it's more about i'm not going to

sell you anything now but you will get offers from me over time. >> let's go back to my example. seven flowers for a thank you and tulips. then you have a link to tulips on your page. >> yes. it links to multiple companies, one on of them being yours. so it doesn't look like the whole thing is you. it is is unbiased, objective. it looks good if you can compare credit cards, insurance options, or flower shops. so it's not only about you. >> fantastic advice for all of us. i just love that anything online you can just test it, see if it works. if not, stop it. thank you so many. you appreciate you stopping by. when we come back, cozy and josh return to talk about why you should be networking and the importance of having a positive mental attitude.

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. what is the perfect kadens from clients?

what is too much and what is too little on the touch points? >> so i would say if the person hasn't bought from you yet they're not really a client, that you are a prospect. that means you don't have a relationship yet. so you need to focus on building up that relationship. depending on what you're selling, a good kadens can be something like every other week. and building that relationship by providing content and other value to their business before you ask for the sale. so is maybe dow that two or three times. and then you ask for the sale after you have built up the trust and relationship. if it doesn't work then, keep on that cadence every other week. lather, rips, repeat. that should turn the prospects into customers for you. we now have the top two tips you need to know to help you grow your business. cozy freeman and josh are back with us.

thank you so much for your help with the elevator pitch. now is your chance to say the one thing someone needs to know to grow your business. this is company number three for you. >> yes. >> what's something you have learned along the way? >> so i learned it very young. i give credit to my mom. but i got a lot of enforcement along the way. pma. positive mental attitude. i think it is is critical for any business owner, small, medium, large, entrepreneur, it doesn't matter. some of us are born that way. i think it is something you can learn. and focusing on the positives.

>> if it doesn't come naturally. >> also, if you surround yourself with people, that really helps you. >> which kind of leads into my tip. i wanted to talk about networking today. i think networking has a bad rap. a lot of people are uncomfortable around it. i felt it was kind of phony and felt like what can you do for me. and i think if you change that framework in your mind and think about how can i help people and actually create real friendship, these friendships go a long way. when i was first started out, i couldn't find a manufacturer to help me create my hair care products. through networking i was able to find through the recommendations of people, contract

manufacturers that would work with me. and it would never have happened otherwise. >> i think people are a little allergic to the term networking but like the idea of going out, meeting people and seeing how we can help each other. that you know both. these are great tips. i really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you. avery is an app for photo shop editing. we do a lot of social media. we use that to get the look and the style of the pictures we're using. he can add text and fun stuff so we can use for all of our social media attacks. >> it is called free type. i do not have at all a photo shop background. i don't have a graphic arts background. retype is a great app for me. i can do social media where i can take a picture of a product and then i can go ahead and insert like really robust

graphics and texts and make it look really professional and polished and post it in my social media. it looks like i have had someone really pull it together the that's professional. i'm not. i'm just a regular person doing it. >> one of the tools we use is light speed pos. it's a great web-based, cloud-based pos system. i can look on me cell phone and reporting. it shows it's a really good thing. otherwise, i can tell during the day where our sales are. 23 we're slow a couple hours or speeding up. it's a really great tool. >> let's hit the beach for this week's your biz selfie from tampa beach, florida. they own panama beach time. they rent out vacation homes in the area. take a selfie of su and your business and send it to your business at msnbc.com.

include your name, the name of your business and the location and anything fun or interesting about your company. please don't forget to use the #yourbizselfie. i have two groups of people i really want to thank. first of all, it's my team most of whom, if you can believe it, have been with us since the very they work so incredibly hard to put the shows on and keep them interesting. i owe a very big thank you. second of all, thank you to our guests. running a business is really fun. sit is also really, really hard. we challenge our guests to be honest about what they do. it is the only way that i think that i and you as an audience can really get inspired and learn what other business decision makers are doing. we ask the hard questions and he get them to tell stuff about

things they're not excited for the whole world to hear but we want them to be honest. we would love to hear from you. if you have any questions or comments about today's show, e-mail us at your business at msnbc.com. please go to openforum.com/yourbusiness. we posted all the segments from today's show plus a whole lot more. don't forget to connect with us on our digital and sorbl media platforms around. i'm j.j. ram pwrg. remember, we make your business our business. b pwrg. remember, we make your business our business. e pwrg. remember, we make your business our business. r pwrg. remember, we make your business our business. g pwrg. remember, we make your business our business. pwrg. remember, we make your business our business. . remember, we make your business our business. 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, glory. america, i'm hugh hewitt. 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. eastern. on saturday morning, i'm here on msnbc. though you might not believe it from some broadcasts, president trump has strong allies inside this beltway. i bring conversations with two of them this morning. i talk with housing and urban development secretary dr. ben carson. i open with the man who is president trump's favorite senator, senator cotton. a graduate of