with speeds of 250 megabits per second across our entire network, to more companies, in more locations, than at&t. we do business where you do business. ♪ ♪ good morning, everyone. coming up on msnbc "your business" -- ferraries, porsches, lamborghinis, you take your car to this woman. how amber beat the odds to grow her company g.i. automotive. and the owner of a candle company puts personal heart ache aside to pitch for the opportunity to get her product on the shelves of sam's club. that, plus avoiding conflicts when running a family-owned business. let's grow fast and work smart. that's all coming up next on "your business." >> announcer: "your business," is sponsored by --

hey, everyone. welcome to "your business." this show dedicated to helping your growing business. when amber started g.i. automotive, one-stop shop for maintenance, detailing and tuning luxury cars, she was only 25 years old and she had no background in the fiercely competitive male-dominated car industry. she had an uphill journey. and there were roadblocks and constant ridicule around every corner. she faced every fear head on. she never played the female card as an excuse for tough times, she says. and now g.i. automotive has become one of the top spots for high-end car enthusists in southern california. ♪ >> the doors come up like that. >> this is entirely different than the car i drive at home. >> for amber, founder of g.i.

automotive, the super exotic and the ultimate in luxury are what fuel her passion. i wasn't prepared for that. >> g.i. automotive is one of the top service and repair destinations in los angeles. from tuning the finest engines to crafting exquisite extear yors, amber's team handles everything from the inside out, for many of the city's priciest cars. >> this is the ferrari f-12, added all these carbon fiber pieces, the wheels are adv-1, aftermarket wheels. we did the tuning and this is the language you speak? >> yes. >> this is your world? >> yes. this is what i do all day. >> but back in 2004, when amber first opened the doors to a former version of the company with her now ex-husband and $30,000 in savings, she came from the world of finance, not

the fast and the furious. ♪ switching gears from a series 7 broker to a new business owner wasn't an easy road. >> i didn't come from a car background. i kind of had to learn on the job. when i started google wasn't as informative as it is today. now i'll just run and hide and google something if i don't know it. >> we all do, by the way. >> yes. >> but amber never let the fear of the unfamiliar deter her. >> you're talking about learning how to be comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. >> if you're an entrepreneur, you have to come to a place of like truth with yourself where it's like, okay. i'm going to be really uncomfortable for a while. i'm going to work all day, all night. if i want to be successful, it's going to suck for a while. you're going to go through a lot of struggle, a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of exhausting days to get to where it is you want to be. >> it was a challenge to build credibility in a male-dominated industry. >> you know, over the years a

lot of people have made fun of me and tried to sabotage my business and try to discredit me. >> how have you dealt with that? >> it's just like body hardening. i think they do it in the military where they keep hitting you you in the same spot so that your body actually becomes more resistant to that. you just become more resilient and come to a place that you don't care what other people think. ♪ >> in almost every article that i've read about you, you've minimized the story of the female. >> yeah. >> owner of this company. why do you do that? >> i don't like to play the female card because everybody has their challenges, right? i'll never be a victim. i don't want to be a victim. oh, poor me. i'm a girl. it's so hard. i'm just not going to do it. >> and when competitors speak negatively about her or the shop, amber has a simple response -- she believes in keeping it clean and dealing with issues head on. >> if it seems like something that is worthy of a response, i just try to confront them directly. instead of spending my time

trying to fire back at them. >> do you call to tell them you're coming? >> i did this once and the guys refused to come outside. >> wow. >> i was like, um, i'm like 5'7" and 120 pounds. not trying to be scary here. >> have you made mistakes? >> oh, lots of them. >> like what? >> i make so many mistakes, all the time. i mean, if you don't fail, you don't succeed. that's the thing, most people are so afraid, oh my gosh, if i do this, like i might fail. people might judge me. i think that's the thing for me. i just don't really care. >> she believes one of her biggest mistakes along the way has been taking customers at face value. >> i grew up primarily like in minnesota, north dakota. i mean, people kind of like if they say something to you, it's just true. being in l.a., everybody has this story and everybody has these promises. >> what kinds of things have people promised you that just

have no bases in reality. >> i get a lot of people who come and they're like, oh, you know, we've got this giant collection. you do me a favor and take care of this for little to nothing, i'm going to bring you 20 more cars. >> and she's learned another lesson that's helped her company grow, the art of saying no. >> no is like this really great word. it's very empowering. it's very fun to say. >> so when people ask you to do stuff as a favor for free, anything, the answer is just no. >> it's just no. >> are you going to go to rodeo drive and try to negotiate the price on your purse, they're going to say no. that's just kind of my response. >> g.i. automotive has become an unstoppable force in the highly competitive car industry. ♪ amber's winning formula, a fearless attitude, thick skin and full throttle determination. we talk a lot on this program about the importance of

brand, which is what makes this next story so interesting. one entrepreneur's key to success she says is going brandless, by eliminating what she calls the brand tax, that includes advertising, retail space and distribution. nbc's joling kent has her story. >> reporter: when a new company sets up shop, so much of luring in the early customers is about the brand. this startup is redefining that. ceo cofounded sharkless. each item is priced at $3 or less. the idea eliminate what the company calls the brand tax which includes advertising, retail space and distribution. >> people actually understood what things cost versus what people pay for them, they would be rioting in the streets. >> i see maple syrup right there, how much is that? >> 3 bucks. >> $3. >> but maple syrup at the grocery store is probably twice

if not more. so are you telling me that that entire difference is all brand markup? >> it's not just brand markup, it's basically an entire system. it goes from the supplier. then they have to play a distributor to get into their retail outlet. then they go to the retail outlet who gets their markup. >> they're only sold online, many organic, gluten and gmo free. maggie heard about it through a friend who works there. >> i'll try the salsa. >> she orders ahead when she has friends over. >> i think at $3, you might be a little worried about quality. like what am i going to get for $3. but i was really surprised. >> brandless also keeps prices down by limiting what it sells to a couple hundred products. trader joes staples lieng peanut butter, tooth paste and salsa are cheaper. they're trying to break in as consumer tastes are changing. top 100 household product brands, 90% have lost market

share including products like cereal and frozen foods. >> they're much more about things that are local, authentic, that have a story that connects to them and that often means putting aside those traditional brands they may have heard of for years and years. >> it sounds like brandless is kind of developing a brand of its own. >> oh, absolutely. we are unapologetically a brand. we're redefining what it means to be a brand. >> disrupting the future of how companies become a household name. joeling kent, nbc news, san francisco. >> if you want to distinguish yourself from your competition, you don't want to look like everyone else. one, take a cue from fashion. try a high profile partnership with a complimentary brand, live stream or create your own accessory lines for a fresh approach. two, think like a tech firm. those companies use data and consumer feedback to diversify their products. so do your own reconnaissance to

uncover innovative opportunities. three, learn from the print industry. publishing companies used to be flushed with subscription cash, but the internet hit them hard. plan out how you might create other lines of revenue in case your core business gets disrupted. four, tap into your inner salesperson. retailers can get clever when it comes to slow-moving inventory. they create brightly colored signs and rearrange their products regularly. mimic their inspired tactics when thinking of ways to highlight your products. five, focus on measurable gains. think like a personal trainer and try to frame your business model as a step by step program to help your clients see progress. we are here in sam's club in new jersey where our elevator pitcher is going to have the chance to pitch two buyers from sam's club. sam's club is a membership only retail warehouse club with more

than 650 locations. if our pitcher gets the thumbs up, they're going to bentonville, arkansas, to have the chance to have their products in a club just like this one. let's see what happens. >> hi. >> nice to meet you. >> so nice to meet you, too. i'm so excited you're here and you get to pitch win wicks. >> i'm thrilled. >> yes, wine wicks candle. >> this is a special time to get to do this as well. >> yes. >> your inspiration for the candle was who? >> my cousin terry. last wednesday before i had come she unexpectedly passed away. she was 56 years old. >> and she helped you along getting all this. >> yeah. >> well, i believe -- >> she was my main supporter. she was my backbone and my biggest cheerleader. >> she was. well, you have us as your cheerleaders today. >> thank you. i'm so excited. >> i'm so excited. i know she's out there somewhere rooting you on right now. >> she is.

totally. i feel -- yes. >> you're going to pitch to two buyer's from sam's club. you can see we're in the candle area here. >> i see. >> picture this. >> in a four pack is what i'm pitching, yes. >> amy and steven are going to let you know what they think about this. >> okay. >> good luck. >> thank you. >> let's go see them. >> okay. >> hello. >> i'm lisa nielson from california and i have a wine scented candle line i developed in 2006. wine wicks candles is not just for wine enthuse yiss, for for anybody who loves a good quality candle in their home. i created this candle line because i love wine and have family from all over napa valley, works for wineries. and i just want to share this with everybody. i think we have a good quality candle and i think that if we offer sam's club a four pack of these candles, i think it would be dynamite. i'm really, really excited to see if we can work together as a

team. >> great. >> that's great. >> thank you. >> well, i can smell them all the way over there and they smell beautiful. what do you think? you see a lot of candle pitches, i imagine. >> we do see a lot of candle pitches. >> we do. smells delicious, though. i like the innovation of it, the whole wine for the wine enthusists for also for other people. you mentioned a four-pack idea. that really could provide that savings to our member. so i appreciate you thinking up that idea. >> from my perspective, i believe that this is a seasonal-type product that would sell really well in the seasonal. and i think that if you did them in a four pack and provided a savings for them, it might be something to think about. >> wonderful. >> yes. >> that's what i'm hoping for. >> here is the moment, does lisa have an invenation to bentonville? >> what i would say, we would like to invisit you to bentonville and introduce you to the seasonal team to see if this could be a seasonal item or not. >> i'm really excited. thank you so much. >> yeah! >> you did it.

>> i did it. >> terry and you did it. that's so great. thank you, guys. >> my cousin is watching over me. >> blessing. that's great. >> they smell great. thank you. >> nice to meet you. >> such a pleasure. >> so great to meet you. thank you so much. >> thank you. success in business comes with having the wisdom to hire the person who is the right fit for the job. so, what should hiring managers be focussing on during interviews. david lewis the founder, president and ceo of operations inc, a human resources outsourcing and consulting firm and he's here to talk about hiring for core skills versus specific experiences. so good to see you. >> good to see you, too. >> hiring is so hard. >> it's just a crazy process. think of selecting a spouse like this. three hours with somebody and decide if you're going to marry them or not, but we're doing that in employment. that's what we're doing. we're talking to people fasht three hours and deciding if they can be the part of our success or our failure. so you have to be really strategic about what you do these days in order to pick the right people. >> should i be looking at their experience more or kind of who

they are as a person and do they fit in and could they learn? >> so, in 2010, you're looking at experience. five years of this, two year of that, a particular type of degree. in 2017 and beyond until this market cools down, you can no longer find candidates as easily that way. so you have to start looking at core skills. and looking at behaviors. focus less so on where they worked and how long they did it for. focus more on what they're capable of doing and see if that's going to be a fit for this particular role. >> maybe the point is, let's just say i have a key marketing role i need to fill and can't find the perfect person with experience, maybe i could find someone who can learn and get an adviser, right, which might be easier to find who can help them? >> the question becomes what's more trainable. >> right. >> their experience within an industry or the core skills that make them successful. >> yep. >> and the answer is the experience within the industry is much easier to train. you find someone who is a good communicator, works well with a team, able to take initiative, you gi work to and they just do it and they don't know anything

about the business you're in, train them on the business, hire them for the core skills. >> which gets to the next point is, you have to figure out what the core skills are. >> organizations are best served by taking a look at who the successful people are within their organization and what makes them tick. forget about the resume per se. ask people, look at their performance reviews. ask the people who work with them, what makes them successful. why do you like them? why are they successful in these roles? then use that as their benchmark to interview for. but then you can't go the opinion route, are you a good team player. >> right. >> or are you strong at this or weak at that. >> and so during this interview process, you are really trying to understand what's their style, what kind of culture will they fit in? what kind of person are they? how will they deal with conflict more than do you understand x, y and z. >> it's all of that. the other key things these days don't just trust your intuition. people who come in who are attractive and look like they came out of central casting,

they'll get hired but not necessarily going to be successful. you need more. you need to test people. so some great tests out there designed to test people's personality profile. and then benchmark them against other tests. >> like what? >> predictive index or disk for example are great tests to determine is someone a good fit for your organization? because the way it's ideally done is you test those people who are successful in your company first, that sets the benchmark, and then you use that as your guide to determine are the next people that you're planning on bringing in benchmarked against that well or not? even if you love them in the interview, if the test tells you not to hire them, don't do it. >> don't do it. one last question i'll put you on the spot. do you have a favorite interview question? >> i like to ask people about their job search, that they go ahead and have found the perfect ad in the newspaper or in this case online. read it to me. what does it say? because it tells me a lot about what their values are. perfect to them may be that they

found an environment that is flexible or that they have good benefits or good compensation. the answers really depend on what's valuable to you. you want to hear somebody sit there and say it says it's got a great culture. it says it has an opportunity to grow. they're telling you that from their perspective those are what values they're looking for in a company. >> that is so good. i love that question. i'm going to use it. all right. thank you so much. >> my pleasure. >> so good to see you. >> you, too. this week we're launching something new here at your business, our very own pod cast called the been there, built that. this is my chance to go deeper with many of the smart and fascinating guests we have on the show. we get to really learn how they grew their companies, what went right and then what went wrong. then how they dealt with it. the pod cast is free. and the first guest is one of my favorite founders, cindy whitehead who started a pharmaceutical company that pushed the female viagra through the fda and sold that company for a billion dollars. cindy is fun to listen to and i promise you will learn a lot. i certainly did.

so go check it out. been there, built that. which you can find wherever you get your pod casts. when we come back, one of the people you'll hear on our pod cast, jamie of "it" koz metdices talking about what to avoid when running a business with your spouse. and a viewer grapples with millennial employees who don't assimilate into his company culture. 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. how do we keep our millenial staff engaged for a long period of time? i really desire a culture where our millenial employees want to be like our parents that stay in the job force for a long time and stay in our company. >> if you think people are going to work for you for 10 or 20 years, you've got the whole workforce completely wrong. people work for a company an average 4.2 years before moving on. and young people are more likely to change jobs when they are younger. and that's always the case. because they are testing out what they like, what they don't like. what type of department would i work best in and who do i want to work with? so it is about creating flexible

programs, it's about paying people fairly. it's about showing the people that are your employees can get meaningful work out of their job. and if you don't make those connections, if you don't invest in their learning and development, they're not going to stay with you very long. time for today's brain trust and the topic today is working with relatives. perfect panel for this, because ken, you work with your mother, she founded the company, the natori company and now you're the president. and jaime kern lima. you founded the company "it cosmeti cosmetics" that you just sold for a billion dollars with your husband. does it work? >> yes. it can and it is tough. they say never work with your friends and family. in my case, i started with our husband and my first employee was my best girlfriend of 20 years. we are all still together, thank god. >> so people say if you're going

to work with family members, have lines of division. you go home and don't talk about it after 7:00 or make sure this is your job, this is your job. i founded my company with my brother, all the rules went out the window. it is completely mixed. how do you guys do it? >> it's tough. i worked at the company for about ten years now and was fortunate to have two work experiences prior. so that was helpful in terms of framing how i approach things. you know, there are so many great things about working in a family business. your interests are aligned, you trust each other, you have a long-term vision. that's great. 95% of the time working at a family business is wonderful. what i would say to people thinking about entering a family business, is the 5% to 10% of the time when things are tough, it's tough and a much more complex way than just having work issues. >> tell me how you deal with it. what have you don right, both of you? that other people can learn from? >> we have really tried to separate things. so my wife and i are very close

with my mother and father. and when we're outside of the office, we really try to limit the work conversation as much as possible, because i think that is probable, not necessarily fair to my wife or to my father to have it always be work conversation when it is my mother. >> what about you? do you limit it? >> it is tough. like, just to be honest, it is so difficult. because i think every entrepreneur relates to this once you start your business, you are all in. it is 24/7. and what i find the most difficult part is, when you do want that five-minute break of, okay, i'm just going to do something else. if that person is really needing to talk about something going on, it is very hard. it is very hard to turn it off. >> do you have limits? >> we are working on it but still working on it. we started the business in you are to living room and the last decade has been 100-hour weeks 24/7. and now selling through l'oreal. >> so there's no date night when

business is on the phones? >> we are trying to stop looking at the phones. when you get a thousand e-mails a day, it doesn't stop. it's tricky. >> so you have limits. >> i should lie, i just can't. >> they are going home together. why do you think it is work? what else have you done to make it work? >> my situation is more unique because my mother founded the company, she's still the ceo and i'm the president. there are -- i do try to do a lot of things to change the company to adjust where we are going. but i recognize there are hot topics of things that are sensitive and important to my mother. and even though i may agree or disagree with those, i definitely give her her space with certain things that i know are very important to her. >> as you should with any partner, right? know the battles. >> she does the same with me. one thing that has helped in terms of our skillset, we focus on different parts of the business. she's about design and product. and while she is involved in

everything, i'm a lot more involved in terms of the digital businesses and the operations. >> and did you guys divide it up very clearly? >> yes, we divide a lot. but to your point earlier, one of the best parts is you have the trust. you have the ride or die history, that trust where you know you can really count on that person. i think that is one of the best parts about it. so as long as you can have that respect and really even if you don't agree, really support that person, especially if they know more than you do in an area. you have to go with that and show respect. >> how do you deal with conflicts? because one of the things with family is you obviously may be a little more out there with your emotions or anger or anything than you would with a colleague. >> i would say, one thing that is important is to really recognize that working in a family business with other employees can be a little strange at times. there are situations they may feel uncomfortable in. so my mother and i try to do as good as job as possible when

there are conflicts to take them offline and address them one-on-one as opposed to in a broader forum. and other small things, i always used to call my mother mom on e-mails. >> so what do you call her? >> after the first couple years, i was like, that is probably strange so. call her by her initials, jcn. >> and how about you guys? how do you keep the interruptions or do you not? >> no, you have to. i think it is so important to have a united front. everyone wants to feel safe and that everyone is aligned. and it's been also evolving as we grow. i think as we work even as a married couple to have more balance in our life, we are doing it for our employees through better benefits or we just changed our company hours, 9:00 to 5:00 instead of 9:00 to 6:00. we are trying to make a balance everywhere. it is really tough as an sb entrepreneur. >> congratulations to both of

you to share it with your family members when it works. thanks to you both. >> thank you. so we had consistent flat sales ten years ago. the thing that did it for us was making the trade show roubds, getting in front of the customers, doing demos and training and that really helped the grow the business. >> being in the industry, i learned i have to grow everything from my desk. i use a lot of social media apps to find out what is coming in, what events are going on, what people are doing and what people like to do. that has helped me grow with the best. i make a lot of phone calls, which this year we're adding 200-plus more units just because of the growth of calling people and talking to them. >> the spdc, small business design center has been a great resource for us. they have services they offer at

a basically grant-level funded cost. so it is no cost to us in order to get the advice or accounting expertise up, good marketing strategy, everything we need to be successful. that was invaluable to us starting off. definitely, the sbca and the small business administration has been a champion for us. and we can't thank them enough. this week's "your biz" selfie comes from lecretia and angelo allen who own cretia cakes in indianapolis, indiana. they sell home made cookies and cakes online. in 2015, they opened up the bakery full-time. i love the logo, you guys. pick up your smartphone and take a selfie of your in your business. no professional photos. and send it to "your business" @msnbc.

include the hashtag and yourb yourbizselfie. if you have an e-mail, send us an e-mail at yourbusiness@msnbc.com. or go to openforumbusiness.com. don't forget to connect with us on the digital and social media platforms, too. we look forward to seeing you next time. until then, i'm jj ramberg. remember, we make your business our business. sponsored by american express open, helping you turn your ideas into reality with money and know-how so you can get business done. 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 and welcome to "politics nation." i went to a pennsylvania prison this week to meet with rapper leak mill who was put behind bars earlier this month for violating probation. later in the show i'll tell you why mill is a symbol of someone victimized by the system. also on the show, if candidate donald trump ran a campaign with a racist