this isn't like any sir kwus you've ever seen. we needs the finders behind two bit circus building the future of fun. that's coming up next on "your business." "your business" is sponsored by american express open, helping you get business done. hi there, everyone. i'm j.j. ramburg and welcome to the 500th episode of "your business." over the years we have brought you 250 hours of information and advice to help your business grow and thrive and we're going to commemorate that with a really fun show. later on we'll tell you how you

can join in on the celebration. but we're going to kick this off with one of the coolest companies that i had seen in the past 500 episodes. from the moment you step inside the headquarters of the l.a. based two bit circus, you are immersed in a world of wild inventive entertainment games. brent open eric are the innovative minds at the helm of the fast growing business. but they never intended to turn their passion for interactive art into an entertainment company. now they're on a mission to reinvent the way people play. ♪ they create margarita making robots, dump cakes filled with flames and wild virtual reality adventures. this is so cool. so as you can imagine, visiting the offices of the l.a. based company two bit circus is a

thrill. >> down, down, down, yay. go. to the left. stand up tall. >> the cofounders started the entertainment company in 2012. >> we're basically a big band of nerds. robotists, electrical engineering, game design and we've been building big toys with laser enand fire and robots for years. >> all right. you're going to jump up and down three times to start this game. ready. go for it. >> both had a background in engineering and in big tops. >> eric and i are obsessed with circus and carnival. we're both trained clowns. >> before you met each other you were trained clowns and you met each other not on clown business whatsoever? >> engineer clowns that found each other. >> the friends weren't planning on starting a business together. they were two guys who loved making interactive art in their

downtime and sharing it with their friends at an open mike night for cool stuff. >> it was called mind share and it was in downtown l.a. >> you're the comedians going out trying out your stuff. >> invaluable to push it in front of people and try and fail and see what doesn't work. >> this is -- >> this is an early robot bartender prototype. >> it's not working. >> it's not happy hour yet. come on. >> people saw potential in their work and started hiring them to bring their games to small corporate events and holiday parties. ♪ then came the call that changed everything. microsoft calls you. >> microsoft says hey we've got our e 3 party coming up, would you come and bring all of that stuff? we'd love for you guys to do the entertainment. >> this was the tipping point. suddenly they had a real growing business with brands like intel, pepsi and honda calling to work with them. >> in the beginning this was

passion based. >> there doesn't seem to be a focus on is there going to be revenue at the end. >> it wasn't about making money. >> with serious clients lined up, clowning around wasn't an option. they hired lots of close knit friends to help with their rapid growth but business was unpredictable so firing those friends became frequent. >> it's a hard combination to have a bottom line to worry about and say hey, we love you and right now in order to keep this alive we've got to part ways. >> how do you get people to come back to work for you again. >> it helps to be transparent. when people feel like you're entrusting them with information so they can make their decisions, then you have a long term friend. >> many big name clients paid for projects months after delivery which made managing cash flow extremely challenging. >> big companies have very different timetables than small companies. 120-day payment psych sl abusive. we were on the wrong side of

cash flow. we literally didn't know how we were going to pay everybody a week out. >> there are so many times we should have blown up on the rocks in a million pieces. it was maddening. see all of this gray hair? >> all this red hair is covering up the gray hair. >> with the demand to deliver growing by the day, implementing a streamlined creative process was a must. their team was made up of inveigh tiff minds with diverse backgrounds. when you're sitting around the table and you have ten people very passionate about their ideas, which i imagine happens here, how do you finally distill that into something to move forward with? >> i think our process is a little unique if in that we build more ideas than maybe we should. that's one of the wonderful things about having a working shop pep we can come up with an idea in the morning and test it in the evening. and if it's not good, out the door. >> in order to raise capital, they needed a business model that was more scaleable.

so they added two bit circus events to the mix with their steam carnivals. despite their success, the manpower required for such short lived event wasn't sustainable for the business. >> we were like, oh my god, that was so much work, a year to plan it, a week to set it up and we operated it three days. it was crazy. >> so after 18 months of brainstorming and now with years of experience under their belts, brent and eric came up with their most ambitious concept to date. a chain of permanent microamusement parks blending arcade games with all kind of virtual reality games in a 50,000 square foot place. >> now i'm addicted. >> our park will be filled with gags like this. >> two bit circus has raised more than $21 million and plans to open the first microamusement

park next year in downtown los angeles. >> there you go! >> when you look around your offices here, can you believe that this is how you make your living? this is a company? a successful one? >> never thought for a moment that we would be in a place like this doing what we do for a living, coming to work every day and building awesome crazy entertainment. >> the founders of two bit circus know that fun events are where the customers are. that's a lesson another successful sbre prenush has learned that help his company go global. he's the founder of a bean bag furniture business who insists that he and his employees get out of their stores, step away from the computers and go meet their customers at hundreds of gatherings every year. ♪ >> try this thing out. we know you'll like it.

>> it's fun. >> that is so crazy. >> it's flexible. and you may be able to find it at a fair or festival near you. >> you really need to sit on that to believe it. >> the yet is yogi be, a line of bean bag and accessories launched in 2009. this new take on an old item is a hit. >> kids go with their parents and get bored but then they find the yogi be tent. >> the founder of the new hampshire based company figured out early on that he needed to meet his customers face to face. >> you really have to think out of the box. we can't sit still and wait for people to come. >> the strategy has been wildly successful. the company is now worth about $20 million with dozens of stores in the u.s. and asia. they're starting to franchise as well. >> it's not enough to have a brick and mortar store or a great online website. this is the best marketing you can do. >> he gets asked why he's still

attending these events, the answer is because customers need to touch and feel. >> are you still coming to these? yeah, i'm having fun. we're talking here, having fun. what's wrong with that. we understood that in order to sell the product we have to get as many people as we can to try to product. >> you can see him and his team at places like the heritage days festival in massachusetts and super smashcon a convention of gamers. yogibe has booths at more than 400 events a year. >> you might understand how our flagship item, the max, how that can be a chair, recliner, a couch and a bed, all of these different things until you get to see it. >> he initially launched his concept as an online only business but he abandoned those plans when the sales were sluggish. >> we built up a website but then we realized with no matter how much of online marketing we did, people didn't get that.

it's like, oh, it's a bean bag. >> selling through other retailers seemed like a good idea too but the employees there weren't as enthusiastic as they should be. >> the stores that we worked with, we couldn't get them to demonstrate the product. they placed them in the corner or the staff of the store didn't encourage them to try it. >> and yogibe's first brick and mortar location didn't make a splash either. >> we opened the door and it was a sunny month in new england, which is unheard of, and the mall was very quiet. >> while still trying to figure out the most effective way to sale, a.l. took a chance. he listened to a friend who said he should sell at a festival. that experience got him hooked >> we sold a good amount of units but the amazing part was the week after that festival, more than 100 people came to the store, hey we saw you to the festival.

it was awesome. and they came to the store to buy the product. and that week i was like, okay. this is how it's going to work. >> a.l. saw similar results every time yogibe branched out. it was easy for him to commit to this growth opportunity for the long haul. >> literally every weekend i was going to every big festival in new england to demonstrate the product and i think that was the tipping point that really made the break through for the brand. >> yogibe doesn't worry about these events hurting their online or brick and mortar channels. each compliments the other. >> it's a 33% split between these three things. they all kind of bounce of each other in a positive way as opposed to this one is can beizing this pieces. >> they have three themes in the northeast. they're constantly on the move to keep the brand visible. >> we have an event that's basically 7,000 people. there's probably a good 3,000 that are trying, like in and out between kids and families and

stuff reich thlike that. it's hectic at some points but they love it. >> not every event is perfect but yogibe do its best to minimize the risk. >> we try to send the best salespeople we see fit for those event. what's your booth space like, who are our neighbors, what's the traffic like, what's the crowd like. >> despite occasional frustration, the sfaf contintafs to do their home work to be sure they're participating in the best events. >> we look at the people that go to the event, the net sales from the past, a different product that we can sell at the event or a new product. >> a.l. and the team say their dedication to these fairs and festivals isn't changing. it's a proven model. and no matter their size, they'll continue to take their brand of funiture to their customers.

>> it's part of our history. if we were a $100 million company we still want to be on main street because that's the best way people are going to find our products. we don't want to talk to someone over a live chat. we want to talk to them in person and we always will. >> fairs and festivals and amuse musement parks tloif in the summer. santa's village is a park in nomp that attracting guests from may to december. after 60 years in business, it's still a draw for customers but it's the annual reinvention that keeps staff and guests spreading good cheer. >> people love christmas. >> don't even bother asking the date at santa's village. here it's always december 25th. >> if you give joy, you get it back. and our santa's helpers know

that. >> and customers are more than happy to join the celebration. >> most everybody is in the christmas spirit when they're here, whether it's in june, july, august or the first of december before christmas. >> this jefferson, new hampshire park is a community staple. the company started in 1952. the inspiration came from their daughter elaine. >> one day we were driving down ruth 2 and a little fawn jumped out in front of our car. and i asked dad if that was santa's reindeer. and that property just happened to be for sale, which is where santa's village is today. but he thought an amusement park might be great. >> more than six decades later the company is owned and operated by the family's third generation. norman and cecile's grandchildren, as well as melanie's husband nick. >> it's fun. it can be difficult at times, and frustrating. but overall it is fun.

>> carrying on a legacy is a lot of responsibility. but this trio welcomes customers to santa's village seven months a year, whether it feels like christmas outside or not. >> we call it santa's summer home. this is where he comes to warm up from the north pole, take a break from making the toys, visit with the kids. that's how we get away with christmas in july. >> with attractions like rudy's transit coaster, the reindeer rendezvous and a chance to visit with st. nick himself, marketing a easy. the challenging part of if business is getting family to return for in some cases generations. >> we need to create an awesome product, something that they love, that they see and want to come back again and again. in order to keep them coming back, we have to keep exceeding their expectations. >> the fact that jefferson is somewhat isolated means that most of the customers are making the conscious decision to come

to santa's village. >> being a destination for a lot of people, you have to not only keep up what you have but you have to bring in something every year because people expect this that now. >> some of the newest editions have become favorite. >> we introduced the water park five years ago. we've added to that elf university where the kids go around with their tickets to find the elves. >> the most tasks are taken down while the park is shut down. any expansion at santa's village has to be planned out. a small local population means a limited pool with which to hire staff. >> these small groves add five, six, seven employees a year. we can find those excellent people to work with us. if we grew exponentially, it would be much harder for us to staff our park. >> despite longer summer hours,

the park still attracts its biggest crowds around the holidays. >> we're open at christmastime. that is our busiest time. people travel. we have snow. it's cold but beautiful. the days are busier because we're only open two days a week versus seven days a week in the summer. >> the family's work is paying off. >> our best marketing is word of mouth. our guests will remark to all of their friends and family and tell them about their wonderful experience here and that is our main form of advertising. >> numbers are up and positive reviews online are helping drive the foot traffic too. >> the best gauge of our customer feedback and reviews happens to be through trip adviser in which we were selected as one of the top 25 amusement parks in the united states. >> the goals for this family remain the same. improve the customer experience at santa's village and preserve this small business's legacy. >> what norman and cecile started 63 years ago is just

amazing. hopefully we can continue that tradition for the next 63 years and keep those generations of families coming back year after yea year. summer is over which means if you're doing things right, this is the time you should start thinking about the holidays if you can believe it. so what should you be doing to get customers to pop by your business rather than your competitors when they're ready to do all of that holiday shopping? i went over to the new york now show to catch up with lindsey, the ceo of see endless. she creates marketing and business development strategies for a wide variety of high end clients and she shared some great suggestions on prepping for the holidays. by what date should you have your holiday plans set in stone? >> you should definitely be working on it now. you know, not in q4 when you're panicked. having more time to sort of plan, it allows you to, you

know, book more events, things like that in advance. >> let's talk about what we need to do for the holidays now. >> absolutely. >> let's start with the first thing we should be thinking about. >> i think that brands are becoming obviously story tellers for a long time. what you want to be doing is having content driven events, you can do that online or off line. if you're a bakery, have how to make the per pefect dessert bar >> this is something you should do all year round ord just over the holidays? >> you should do it all year round but the great thing about doing it in the fall is you get a captive audience. you have them captivated, interact with them and then you can sell your product. saying these are all of our holiday products if you book now, you'll get 20% off or free delive delivery. it incense vises them to come and allows you to show case your products for what's coming up in the fall. >> you're trying to get as many

customers through the door in anticipation of the holidays being a great time to sell to them. >> absolutely. the earlier you can capture your customer's dollar the better pep then you don't have to worry as. maybe by small events. book before it gets crazy around the holidays. a book signing, local celebrity. all of that allows people to come into your store, relieve before it of anxiety when it tkpwetsz deeper into q4. >> what about partnering with people? what kinds of things can you set the groundwork for now? >> you need dates right, times right, marketing on both sides. august september, september, who has a really great social media presence and how you are going to tease customers to come in for the event or whatever you're collaborating on. >> what other things do i need to be thinking of today that i

might want to the launch on december 1st? >> you want to plan your marketing calendar early. and i always tell people to not push the week of thanksgiving because people are traveling. they're getting so many black friday e-mails. send out teasers or e-mails the week before and the week after so they know they are sort of planning their shopping they need to get into your store. after, if they still need products. no one usually gets it done the first day. you will have another chance to capture them. >> is the week before early enough? it gets pushed earlier and earlier. >> obviously, you know, if you can tease them earlier, it's great. but people don't necessarily start feeling that push to and aren't as motivated to buy until a little bit later in november. >> and capture e-mail addresses.

or social. people to follow you on social. >> yes. when you're partnering with people, partner with someone who has a bigger e-mail list than you or bigger social media presence. >> lindsay, thank you so much. >> thank you. we have an exciting announcement to make. we are offering five people the chance to come on the program and give an elevator pitch in front of two buyers from sam's club. they'll be judging the pitches and they will vote on who will be invited to their headquarters to make a more comprehensive presentation. accepted us an e-mail or video of your pitch or a link to that video at yourbusines yourbusiness @msnbc.com. send us a short summary of your product. we look forward to seeing those pitches. when we come back, john tapptap er talks about a scaling 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.

if every new customer acquisition in human resource training and marketing costs, let's say, $22 and you're targeting a 100 new customers, do the math. you know the dollars you have to have in order to budget for the training and the facilities and resources to serve those new customers. it's now time for the brain test. today we have jodie. i met you when you just opened

your company, dani jo jewelry. that was nine years ago. you have done so well since then. and andrew pearlman, owner of express spa. >> we have 52 and we are opening another 10 before the year is up. >> i want to talk about p.r. you both came with someone from your p.r. teams. i think it is an incredibly hard job to hire an outside company. i want to hear what it takes to do it well. >> one of the mistakes people make is you just find the best p.r. firm and give them the reins and everything takes care of itself. i have found you constantly have to tell them what's going on in your business. as a result of that you to find a group of people you truly believe in and get along with.

>> and who understand what you're doing. what i find is it's hard to measure, right? let's just say you're paying $7,000 a month retainer. it's not like marketing. they might come up with nothing in a month. how do you deal with that? >> for us it has to be a collaborative process. we don't like to think every other company out there. so i don't think you can look at every fashion company and that they have done. find out the dna of your brand and what's important to you and find a team or firm that can-can execute your goals and you feel like there is a lot of synergy left. >> your dream is to have an article. you want to be in the "new york times", have something on the "today" show and "usa today". that's a lot to ask. it is not guaranteed. you paid them $21,000. they haven't gotten you any of them. >> it can't be just completely

go. in 15 years of managing p.r. agencies, you say here is the target time frame and it has happened. collaborative is exactly the right word. if you're collaborative with your p.r. agency, if you feel they are doing their job well. it can't be solely focused on something they don't have complete control over. >> how do you work with them? >> i think it's good to have high goals and expectations for them. but what we always do is these are our number one priorities. of these are the three things we would like to accomplish. if a doesn't work out, here's plan b. don't just focus on this one thing and if that doesn't happen we don't want nothing to show for the next three months. say he can't get the big story in this publication, this is our second choice. you need to go back to the drawing board and renew. >> you both have done a great

srob with p.r. i'm glad to have gotten to pick your brains and get your insight. thanks so much. >> thank you. this week's your biz selfie comes from arron barnes from vancouver, washington. his is called like butta. i like these selfies because i find out about products that it to try. pick up your self phone, take a selfie of you and your business, no professional shots, please and accepted it to us at yourbusiness @msnbc.com. or @msnbcyourbiz. today marks our 500th episode. to celebrate we are looking back at our favorite stories and we would love for you to chemical them out. great advice, a lot of lessons and a lot of fun as i learn how

to negotiate at a fish market, go undercover as a mystery shopper and run through fire all in the name of helping you run your business. go to our facebook or twitter pages where you will find our top 10 stories of the past 11 years. if you have any questions or comments e-mail us at your business @msnbc.com. we look forward to seeing you next time. until then, i'm jj 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 on the radio network 6:00 to 9:00. but saturday morning i am here on msnbc. i returned from the united kingdom late last night and have been following the news through the british media. to catch me up on the national news i have asked three of the belt waugh's best young reporters all rising stars in the craft of journalism to bring me and thus you on what mattered most in the p