good morning. coming up on msnbc's "your business," the owner of this body cam company joined forces with law enforcement to come up with a product that helps them do their jobs. how the woman who owns this jewelry company is helping the homeless get back on their feet. plus, neil blumenthal of warby parker with some insight on what you can do to hold on to your best employees. let's grow fast and work smart. that's coming up next 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. over the past five years, the business of body cams has grown significantly. as we've seen in the news recently, body cams have played an important role for police forces around the country. today we meet the man behind wolf com body cams who's worked diligently with law enforcement to come up with products to help them do their job. >> open the door! >> he's running. >> when los angeles based wolfcom entered the police body camera space in 2011, the little known company quickly became an industry leader. >> at the time, there were only two other competitors. we were the big three in the united states. >> founder peter is the force behind the booming business that built its reputation on technological innovations. >> our phones were ringing off the hook. we did very little marketing. it's just money coming in. the other two competitors, they had no gps, no night vision. we were the first to introduce a high-quality video.

>> but four years after peter launched wolfcom's first camera, his world came to a crashing halt. >> one of our competitors decided, how can i destroy this company. basically, they just told me that, hey, you know what, we're going to bury you. i was in a meeting when, you know, one of my employees walked in and said you need to look at the news. we have no more software. our competitor just bought out the software company that we're using. >> software is critical to body cams for storing and managing videos. with no warning, wolfcom's software partner was acquired for $13 million by the biggest player in the industry. >> next thing you know, all our customers started calling us. there were rumors that wolfcom was done. >> peter was blind sided by this devastating blow. at a complete loss for a viable solution. but the body cam industry had always been cut throat. and building wolfcom had not been easy. >> hands up! >> when peter came up for the concept for the third-eye body camera, he was actually living

out his 007 dreams, running a spy shop in hollywood. lapd officers frequently stopped by. >> this one particular officer kept coming back almost every day looking through every product we have. he would always leave empty handed. >> the ever curious peter had to ask, why? >> he says, look at me, i have over 30 pounds of gear on my belt. all over my body. if only you can just put a spy camera or put a camera into something i'm already wearing. that's when i took a look and saw his lapel mic. >> two years later, the wolfcom third eye hit the market, with a camera built right in the lapel mic officers wear. >> we started putting a lot of ideas into this, including gps, night vision, the ability to zoom in and out. >> open the door, please. [ gunfire ] >> we came from that background of electronics, small cameras. that's how we were able to stay in the game. >> keep your hands where i can

see them! eve >> every time there was a police shooting, we would notice a spike in sales. >> but the 2014 police shooting of an unarmed teenager named michael brown in ferguson, missouri, became a game changer for the body cam industry. >> suddenly everybody and their grandmother wanted in on this gold rush, on this gold mine. i knew that it would blow up to maybe 100 competitors. >> this dramatic shift in the market and the overnight saturation of over body cam start-ups was not good for wolfcom. >> now we're competing with so many other competitors, trying to push ourselves up to the front. it got a lot harder just to make a buck. >> there was also a major problem overseas. wolfcom body cameras became targeted by counterfeiters. peter had made the mistake of having one factory handle every part of the manufacturing and assembly. all it took was one untrustworthy employee, and the wolfcom winning formula was out there for every competitor to see. >> you get people who they just

got no morals, no conscientious. we lost hu -- no conscious. >> after learning that harsh lesson, peter went to the other extreme, creating too many moving parts to the process. >> next thing you know, we're dealing with 80 vendors. then we have inventory problems. you have everything except one piece. there's a two-month delay. but you've got a customer who ordered a thousand units. when i did it that way, there's no copy cat, but it is a pain in the butt. >> eventually, peter fixed this too. by the time he lost his software partner in 2015, he had years of start-up wisdom under his belt. his resilience pushing through tough times and willingness to learn with every obstacle was about to pay off. >> i needed to evolve. i needed to go somewhere where i've never gone before. i need to step into the darkness and turn it into light. then i decided that wolfcom was going to evolve into a software company. now today i'm proud to say we

are a hardware and a software company. >> the body camera business is now on track to become a billion-dollar industry, making the competition even more fierce. some players have been accused of using unfair tactics to secure contracts. from cultivating close ties to police chiefs to splurging on luxury vacations for other law enforcement decision makers. >> get yourself some cover. >> am i doing something wrong? >> yes, ma'am, you are now. >> and some police departments have also come under fire, approving a no-bid process, which allows a single company to secure a body cam deal without facing any competition along the way. >> our model is actually honor, courage, and integrity above all else. we'll never stoop to that level. after 17 years of being in business, i've learned something. no matter what, i'm still here. you need to think of your life like an airplane. always going forward and never going back. you can't go backwards. >> go ahead and cuff him. >> hands up! >> hands to your side. how many times have you passed a homeless person on the street and wished that you were

doing more to help them? well, one los angeles woman decided to stop wishing, start a business, and dedicate herself to helping. nbc's morgan radford has her story. >> hope, strength, and -- >> create. >> create, yes. >> words of encouragement stamped on keys and turned into jewelry. each key made by someone who hopes to one day have a reason to use it. >> how many people have you helped transition out of homelessness? >> we have gotten over 70-plus people job opportunities here. >> growing up in hollywood, katelyn crosby has worked as an actress and released pop music but was seeking a way to make a bigger impact. in 2009 after encountering a young homeless couple, a light went off and she turned a simple jewelry idea into business with a big impact. >> i love that so much. >> today the giving key's factory in downtown l.a. sits just a couple blocks from skid row, where some of the l.a.'s

46,000 homeless reside. here katelyn employs people trying to transition off the streets, and the keys they create are then sold under one condition, that the buyer gives their key to someone who needs it more. >> this isn't just about jewelry to wear because it's cool. it really trains you to keep your eyes open to somebody who's going through a hard time. >> people like kelly williams. >> i've done drugs. i've stole. i've done practically everything that you can think of. >> what was your ah-ha moment? what was the moment when you were at your lowest and said i can't live like this anymore? >> i went to prison, like, practically every two years. i wanted something better for my life. >> and she found it. >> this is where the magic happens. >> at the giving keys, kelly works alongside people who not only understand her pain but also the power of redemption. >> since you've been working here, you've been able to get other things and kind of come

into transitioning to have your own place. >> yeah, i did it in six months. >> wait, wait, wait. back up. hold on, hold on. you're saying in six months of working here -- >> my life will never be the same. just changes me. to just want to do good for the rest of my life. >> which is exactly why experts say the giving keys could be a model for the rest of the country. >> they're taking men and women that have no other option, teaching them a marketable skill, teaching them to work in a team, teaching them to be proud of a product and a service that's being delivered. oh, by the way, the giving key is making money doing this. >> so they're legit? >> they're legit. >> giving people like kelly williams a second chance. >> if you can just make an impact on one person, you know, that's the best feeling in the world. >> perhaps even the key to happiness. morgan radford, los angeles. it's one thing to sell your products to local consumers.

it is another to sell to a major buyer with national distribution. here are five ways to attract big buyers. one, use data to show traction. buyers need to know that your product will sell. use data like website visitors, order numbers, and press coverage to show how your product resonates with consumers. two, always have a pitch ready. you never know when you may meet someone who can help you out. keep your phone or tablet stocked with compelling images and charts, and have a fact sheet with all of your specs and contact information ready so you can send it off at a moment's notice. three, attend trade shows or vendor days. these are great places to meet new buyers. make the most out of them by sending your most knowledgeable and upbeat employees. and if you have a booth, avoid leaving it so there's always someone around to answer a question. four, partner with a broker. sales brokers already have relationships with big buyers and know how to get your products in front of the right

people. but they also have reputations to protect. like the buyers, before they partner with you, they're going to want to make sure that your product will sell. five, make sure your product is ready to ship. if you do build a relationship with a buyer and then you can't fulfill it, that is going to lead to problems right then and later on. now it's time for our brain trust. today we're doing it from these amazing offices of warby parker here in "new york times." today we have neil blumenthal, the founder of warby parker, now with 1300 employees and a valuation of more than a billion dollars. and j.ana rich, founder of the talent group to recruit top talent. so good to see you. n thank you somp for inviting us here. i want to talk to you about retention. you have 1300 employees here. i imagine you've had some turnover over the years.

is retention what we should be looking for as owners of companies, as people who run divisions of companies? what do you think? >> i think it's really important to assess who you are losing and where your company is in terms of phase of growth. very fast-growing companies who are morphing and changes dramatically are going to need different people. so i think we have to be careful retaining the people we want to and not losing those that we don't. >> people are always saying, you want high retention. right? it has been the mantra since the beginning of time of business. and i imagine the people -- you don't have your whole original team. two of your founders aren't here. >> yeah, you know, i think it's important to have sort of these cultural carriers and these folks that really exemplify the values of the company. those folks don't necessarily need to have been here since the beginning. i agree with jana completely that if you don't want 100% retention, you want some turnover.

you want people coming in with fresh skillsets, fresh perspectives. i think there's in idea that culture is static and companies need to, you know, stay the same and everyone is nostalgic for the past. at the end of the day, companies evolve and cultures evolve and change. and that's okay. just like real cultures evolve and change. america is different today than it was a generation ago. these companies are as well. >> so at what point do you look at your own company, your own division and say, okay, i'm losing people too quickly versus i am losing people at the right speed because the company or the division is changing? >> i think it's the reason why people are leaving. if people are leaving because they don't see growth opportunities, if people are leaving because they feel like they're not getting paid well, those are things to dig into. if people are leaving because, you know, you need to bring in somebody with more expertise and

that's actually changing their growth trajectory, that's okay. and hopefully they'll get a better opportunity elsewhere and we'll support them in that. that's fantastic. >> i think it's also interesting to look at what pockets and where is it happening, meaning if all of a sudden you have a lot of people leaving your marketing team, is there something wrong there? meaning, do you have to look at the leadership of that team, is something going wrong? or if four or five members of a ten-person leadership team, that has a huge impact on how the outside world views your company. those are two examples where you have to stop and say, wait a minute, what's happening. >> let's talk about that, the outside world. so when companies go through periods of change, oftentimes a lot of people leave. either they're laid off or leave themselves. how do you deal with the perception of that when you're doing it because the company is actually moving forward? from the outside, it may look like it's moving backwards. >> at least what i would say about that is it's really interesting from our vantage

point. when something is not going right with a company, we start to get a lot of calls. always an early indicator if retention is going to be an issue or if something is at least potentially wrong with the company. so if, for example, those are clients that we work with, at least give them a heads up. we'll never say specific names of people, but hey, there's a lot of people loose in your marketing team. it might be something you need to look at. so being able to have at least some sense of how that's being perceived externally, i think sometimes we can get in our own little bubbles and entrepreneurs. we know why, but the outside world doesn't know why. >> as a ceo, by the time that's happening, you're in a crisis mode. so the question is, what's your canary in the coal mine? and to our perspective, it's feedback, it's our performance management system. so we do a thing called month in review. rather than having performance reviews once every 12 months or

once every six months, we do it every month so that way there is that direct feedback from direct reports and managers. but even more important than that, we do an anonymous survey every six months. we call it an employee engagement survey. it's anonymous. we can only drill down to groups of five to protect anonymity, but we can cut the data by gender, by department, by tenure at the company. so we can really get a sense of what's going on. and it's a commitment that we made to the team that we're all going to try and make this place better and better and better. so if there are people that want to leave, hopefully the reasons for that start to emerge and we can address it. >> and is retention a metric you look at? is it an important metric, rather, that you look at? >> it's an important metric, but i've never found anybody that defines it really clearly. i know that sounds crazy, but what is retention? is it cohorts of people that

start on "x" date for how long they should actually be here? so we're seven years old, and we're now to 1300 employees. the majority of whom have been hired in the last 12 months. so our retention metrics, it looks really strange. so we actually don't measure it as closely as, say, hey, are we losing good people for bad reasons. >> all right. thanks, both of you, so much. >> thank you. >> thanks. people, purpose, profits, and play. those are the four principles that guide business at the world's largest franchise gym. anytime fitness locations are open to members 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. the company is on the brink of having 4,000 locations in 30 countries with revenue hovering around a billion dollars. co-founder chuck runyon tells us why business is always about people and why we all need to play more in this "learning from

the pros." ♪ >> i love the quote that leaders don't build a business, leaders build people. the people build the business. you have a great idea, but you have to hire the right people and empower them to execute on the business. we place a great deal of emphasis on workplace culture, how we behave, what values we have in working together. so we really are very rigorous through the hiring process. we tried to get out of the scripted interview process. we ask questions that really want to get into their self-awareness, right. some mistakes they've made in the past. we really want to kind of break that down through a very lengthy interview process. we want them to maybe get on a white board and give us some of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. we'll ask them to videotape themselves or put a powerpoint together, do some type of clever youtube video to show their personality.

to give people greater purpose, i mean, combining your heart power with your brain power. they will go the extra mile. they'll work a little bit harder. they know that they're enriching people or the planet beyond just a paycheck. to instill greater purpose, you have to be very intentional about it. when we're talking about strategy for the business, first of all, why are we trying to go there, and how does this benefit others? how are we improving stake holdsers' lives? with anytime fitness, it's the members. we're getting them to a healthier place. everyone must profit in this business. of course, from a financial perspective. we're in the franchise business. we have to make sure that our franchisees are set up to succeed. typically in franchising, it's a percentage. so the more a franchisee does in revenue, the higher percentage we get. with anytime, our royalty is flat. as they grow their business, we're capped out of what we make.

that's very rewarding to the frac franchisee financially. 50% of our franchisees are buying and opening many r stores. that's a great testament to their success. we feel the same way about our employees. how can they come here and how can we develop their wholesale, invest they come and how can we invest in their professional growth. they can say the company made me better too. we put a percentage of annual revenue into a pool every year. this can fuel personal and professional growth. always be learning. we want them to physically improve, mentally improve. i think companies could use a little bit more play in the workplace. 7 out of 10 people, according to gallup, drive to work today feeling sad or neutral about our job. we spend half of our waking hours at our work. we have new rookie skits or stupid human tricks they have to perform. it sets a tone that we are all a

little bit vulnerable and we can laugh at ourselves. for our annual conference, we always do a parody of very popular movies. we have done "star trek", "top gun", the hangover. walking around the office having a sense of humor, being self deposit indicating. we can take the work very seriously without taking ourselves seriously. the science about play delegates that a company will be more creative and we value those as we try to grow the business. >> when we come back, most of us have millennials on our workforce. the question; how do you manage them? how do you keep dealers is and retailers happy when you're selling products online? 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! "we got a 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. do you have any tips on how to keep dealers happy we're selling our products on the website as well? >> it's a great question. in today's environment, it should be completely acceptable for you to sell on on your own website. the key tip i would give you is create differentiatation to keep

everybody happy and protect yourself, the key is to offer your vendoring one offering, bundles, packs, price promos is and have a different set on your website for the direct consumer environment. >> millennials are a unique about their career path and where they would like to work. if you are looking to either hurry them or retain them, our guest has some ideas how to do that. future workplace, executive development group. i know so many people sort of like millennials, they don't work as hard. they want to go home early. they are asking for a raise all the time. you say it is is relatively easy. >> these stereotypes have always existed. young people always view older people as being wise and willing to mentor. older people always think younger people are lazy,

entitled, narcissistic and not focused. >> this is a racial thing? >> it is about where you are in your life and how you are viewing people who are younger or older than you. >> but indeed there are things we see the workplace is transforming for everyone, not just millennials. they want fair pay. not necessarily higher pay, fair pay. >> everyone wants more money, of course. whether they're looking to get a job, that factors into the equation. it is about fair pay, especially for young people. we have access to so much information at our fingertips we can go to salary.com or pay scale and find out how much we are supposed to be make approximating based on our title. people who are young are more likely to have transparent discussion with their peers about how much they are making at their company or another country. >> and you go look at those and show here is our scale. here is where you fit on it.

and here is why. >> absolutely. back when you would never have the discussion. >> flexible work. we talk about this all the time. companies let people work from home, brought them back in. everyone is dealing with this right now. >> there is no 9:00 to 5:00 workplace anymore. gallup said the average is 47 hours a week for full time salaried. because of how technology is enabling us to answer he mails and phone calls, people are pretty much working 24/7. >> they want to drop their kid off to school and come to work late. >> people want maternal, paternal leave, flexible hours, job share. >> and not have to take the entire day off just to go to the doctor's appointment. >> give them extra time as long

as they're performing. >> you have to be clear about what the results are. if you want to have a flexible schedule, okay, but you need to perform to this level. >> just like any promotion. you have to make a case for everything. >> learning and development. it is not the case where people come in and say i'm going to give that all to you. employees want to know the company is in verifying in them as well. >> especially for young people they're not going to invest in time spent working at your company. the younger you are the more learning development you need because you don't know very much. >> right. >> the older you get, the less likely you are to say you need some extra training and support. >> will dean, ceo of tough mudder was on recently. he has his whole staff do harvard business school cases. he teaches them. even when they were a start-up they did this. >> people need to be challenged and constantly learn. they're going to get bored for other opportunities. >> finally, this is so

important, link your were responsibilities to the impact. even if you are the person who is filing, you should know why that's important for the company. >> a lot of people get meaningful work. they think the young person just wants to change the world on the job. that's not true. sit is linking the work they're doing on a daily basis that is manageable to their team, ceo, to customers, partners, and maybe even the world. if they can't see that linkage, they're not as especially gauge said and more likely to quit. >> you want to know that it makes a difference for something. i appreciate all the research you have done. >> thanks. happy to be here. this week's your biz selfie comes from elizabeth davis who owns you're so sweet in pennsylvania. a former accountant who loved cooking, so she created her business who makes crepe cakes like the ones you see there. pick up your cell phone, take a

picture and you in your business, no professional pictures, please. sends it to us at msnbc.com. or tweet @msnbc your biz. one of a group of people survived a plane crash in the ades. for three months he lived up there in the snow with no boots, no coats, no water, no food. he told us his story. he is a very successful businessman. what he was wanting us to get out of this is, look, business is hard. we're going to face hard things in business and in life. and we should face those things and but we need to remember at the end of the day what is important and keep your eye on that as you go through the hard things as you go through business. hug the ones you love. at the end of the day, that's what's important. of course we need to grow our companies and we want them to be successful for a million

reasons. remember what is the most important, which is the people that you love. we would love to hear from you. and if you have any questions or comments about today's show, e-mail us at your busines business @msnbc.com. we post all the segments from today's show, plus a whole lot more. and connect with us on our digital and social media platforms then. we look forward to seeing you next time. until then, i'm j.j. ramberg. and, 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. great panel coming up over advance of a breaking news heavy week from fires in california to the aftermath in the las vegas massacre, president trump's many executive orders. but first a quick word on the constitution. i have been teaching law for 21 years. i served as general counsel of assistant council in the white house and to two attorneys general. i clicked on the d.c. circuit. some things about the first amendment are pretty