good morning, earn. coming up on msnbc's "your business," ferraris, porsches, lamborghinis. if you own one of those cars and live in l.a., this is the woman you take your car to. how amber beat the odds to grow her economy, gi automotive. and the owner of a candle company puts personal heart ache aside to pitch to get her product on the shelves of sam's club. let's grow fast and work smart. that's all coming up next on "your business."

hey, everyone. i'm jj ramberg, and welcome to "your business", the show dedicated to helping your growing business. when amber started gi automotive, a one-stop shop for maintenance, detailing, and tuning luxury cars sherve, she y 25 years old and 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 gi automotive has become one of the top spots for high-end car enthusiasts in southern california. ♪ >> the doors come up like that. >> this is entirely different than the car i drive at home. for amber, founder of gi

automotive, the super exotic and the ultimate in luxury are what fuel her passion. >> i wasn't prepared for that. >> gi automotive is one of the top service and repair destinations in los angeles. from tuning the fibnest engines to crafting exquisite expeer kors, amber's team handles everything from the inside out for many of the city's priciest cars. >> this is the ferrari f-12. we added all these carbon fiber pieces. the wheels are adb-1. they're aftermarket wheels. we did the ecu tuning. >> and this is the language you speak. >> yes. >> this is your world. >> 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 broker to a new business owner wasn't an easy road. >> i didn't come from a car background. so i kind of had to like 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 talk about learning how to be comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. >> if you're an sbeentrepreneur you have to kind of come to a place of 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 that 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 tried to discredit me. >> how have you dealt with that? >> it's like body hardening. i think they do it in the military where they keep hitting you in the same spot so your body actually becomes more resistant to that. you just become more resilient and come to a place where you really don't care about what other people think. >> in almost every article that i've read about you, you've minimized the story of the female owner of this company. why do you do that? >> i don't like to play the female card because, you know, everybody has their challenges, right. i'll never be a victim. i don't want to be a victim. like, oh, poor me. i'm a girl, it was 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, like, 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'm like 5'7" and 120 pounds. i'm not trying to be scary here. >> and have you made mistakes? >> oh, lots of them. i make so many mistakes. like all the time. i mean, if you don't fail, you don't succeed. that's the thing. most people are so afraid. like, oh, my gosh, if i do this, 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. people kind of, like, if they say something to you, it's true. being in l.a., everybody has a story. everybody has these promises. >> what kinds of things have people promised you that just had no basis in reality? >> i get a lot of people who

come and they're like, oh, you know, we've got this giant collection. do me a favor and take care of this for little to nothing, you know, i'm going to bring you 20 more cars. >> and she's learned another lesson that has 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. so that's just kind of my response. >> gi 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 keep to success, she says, is going brandless by eliminating what she calls the brand tax. that includes advertising, retail space, and distribution. here's her story. >> reporter: when a new company sets up shop, so much of luring in those early customers is about the brand. but this san francisco start-up is redefining that. ceo tina sharky cofounded brandless, which shipping everything from barbecue sauce to hand lotion direct to consumers. 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. >> the people actually understood what things cost versus what people pay for them. they'd be rioting in the streets. >> i see maple syrup right there. how much is that? >> three 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 an entire system. it groez froes from the supplie. then they have to pay a distributor to get into their retail outlet. then they go to the retail outlet who gets their markup. >> brandless products are only sold online, many of them organic, gluten, and gmo free. maggie akers heard about it from a friend who works there. >> 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 eliminating what it sells to a couple hundred products. but brandless may not always be the better deal. at trader joe's, staples like peanut butter, toothpaste, and salsa are even cheaper. the company is trying to break in as consumer tastes are changing. among the top 100 household product brands, 90% of them have lost market share, including categories like frozen foods and

cereal. >> consumers are much more about things that are local, that are authentic, that have a story that connects to them. 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 just redefining what it means to be a brands. >> disrupting the future of how companies become a household name. nbc news, san francisco. if you want to distinguish yourself from your competition, you don't want to look like everyone else. here are five ways to draw inspiration from unrelated industries. one, take a cue from fashion. try a high-profile partnership with a complementary brand, livestream, 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 flush 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 secaucus, new jersey, where our elevator pitcher is going to have the chance to pitch to buyers from sam's club. sam's club is a membership-only retail warehouse club with more than 650 locations.

so if our pitcher gets the thumbs up, they're going to arkansas to get the chance to have their products in a club just like this one. let's see what happens. lisa nielsen, hi. jj ramberg. >> nice to meet you. >> so nice to meet you too. so excited you're here and get to pitch. wine wicks. >> yes. >> and this is a special time for you to get to do this. your inspiration for the candle was who? >> my cousin terry. last wednesday before i had come, she unexpectedly passed away. and she was 56 years old. >> and she helped you along. >> yes. >> well, i believe -- >> she was my main supporter. she was my backbone and my biggest cheerleader. >> 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. >> totally. >> okay, good.

you're going to pitch to two buyers from sam's club. you can see we're in the candle area here. picture this. >> i know, i know. in a four pack. that's what i'm pitching. >> amy and steven are going to let you know what think think about this. >> okay. >> good luck. best of luck. let's go see them. >> okay. >> hello. i'm lisa nielsen. i have a wine-scented candle line that i developed in 2006. wine wicks candles is not just for wine enthusiasts. it's for anybody that loves a good quality candle in their home. i created this candle line because i love wine, and we have family from all over napa valley, works for wineries. 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, it would be dynamite. so i'm excited to see if we can work together as a team.

>> great. >> thank you. >> well, i can smell them all the way over there. they smell beautiful. what do you guys think? you see a lot of candle pitches, i imagine. >> we do. >> smells delicious, though. i definitely like the innovation of it. the whole wine, for the wine enthusiast but also for other people. i also like that you mentioned a four-pack idea. that really could provide that savings to our member, which is really what we're looking for. i appreciate you thinking of that idea. >> good, good. >> from my perspective, i believe this is a seasonal type product that would sell really well in the seasonal. 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's the moment. does lisa have an invitation to bentonville. >> what i would say is we'd like to invite you into bentonville and introduce you to the seasonal team to see if this could be a seasonal item or not. >> wow. >> great. i'm really excited. thank you so much. >> yay. you did it! terry and you did it.

oh, that's so great. thank you, guys. >> she's watching over me. >> all right. thank you, guys. >> they smell great. thank you. nice to meet you. >> such a pleasure. so great to meet you. >> thank you so much. >> 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 focusing on during interviews? david lewis is the founder, president, and ceo of operations inc., a resourcing and consulting firm. he's here to talk about hiring for core skills versus specific experiences. good to see you. hiring is so hard. >> it's a crazy process. think about selecting a spouse like this. y you get three hours with somebody and decide if you going to marry them. we're doing that in employment. we're talking to people for about 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 years 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 got 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. >> and maybe the point is -- so let's just say i have a key marketing role i need to fill, and i can't find the perfect person with experience. maybe i could find someone who can learn and get an adviser, which might be easier to find who can help them. >> the question becomes what's more trainable. their experience within an industry or the core skills that make them successful. and the answer is the experience in the industry is much easier to train. so if you find someone who's a good communicator, who works well with a team, who's able to take initiative, who you're able to give work to and they just do it and they don't know anything about the business that you're in, train them on the business.

hire them for the core skills. >> okay. which gets to the next point, which is you better figure out what those core skills are. >> you have to go ahead and benchmark. organizations are best served by looking at who the successful people are within their organization and what makes them tick. forget about the resume, per se. look at people's 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? and then use that as your benchmark to go ahead and interview. but you can't go the opinion route. are you a good team player? 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. and the other key thing these days is don't just trust your intuition. our intuition fails us more times than not. people who come in who are attractive and who look like they came out out of central

casting, they're going to get hired but not necessarily be successful. you need more. you need to test people. some great test out there designed to test people's personality pro file and benchmark them. so predictive index, for example, are great tests to be able 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 the next people you're planning to bring in, are they benchmarked against that well or not? if a test tells you not to hire them, don't do it. >> one last question. i'm going to put you on the spot. i don't know if you have the answer. do you have a favorite interview question? >> i like to ask people about their job search, that they go ahead and have looked. they 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 from their perspective, those are what values they're looking for in a company. >> that's so good. i love that question. i'm going to use it. all right. thank you so much. so good to see you. >> you too. this week we're launching something new here at "your business," our very own podcast called "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 podcast 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. she then sold that company for a billion dollars. cindy is fun to listen, to, ani

promise you will learn a lot. i did. go check it out. "been there, built that," wherever you get your podcasts. when we come back, one of the people you'll hear on our podcast, jamie of i.t. cosmetics. she talk about what is 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. stkpwhrao how do we keep our millennial staff engaged for a long period of time. i really desire a culture where our millennials want to be like our parents and stay a long time in our company. >> if you think people are going to work for you for tenor 20 years, you have the whole workforce completely wrong. people will work for a company 4.2 years before moving on. young people are likely to change jobs when they're younger. do i work at a large company, small company. what department would i work best in and who do i want to work with. it is about creating flexible programs. it's about paying people fairly.

it's about showing that the people who are your employees can get meaningful work out of their job. if you don't make those connections, if you don't invest in their development, they will not stay with you very long. >> time for today's brain trust. working with relatives. perfect panel for this. ken you work with your mother. she founded the natori company. now you're the president. >> yes. >> and jamie kern lima you sold it cosmetics with your husband. >> yes. >> you have been together the whole time through. >> yes. absolutely. it is tough. they say never work with your friends and family. in my case i started with my husband. and my employee was a girlfriend for 20 years much we are all

still together. >> have lines of division, right? you go home and you don't talk about it after 7:00. or 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've worked at the company for ten years now. and i was fortunate to have two work experiences prior. that was helpful in terms of framing how i approach thing. there are so many great things about framing a family business. interests are aligned, you have a long-term vision. that's great. 90% to 95% of the time working in a family business is wonderful. what i would say is that 5% to 10% of the time when things are tough, it's tough in a much more complex way than just having work issues. >> tell me how you guys deal with it. what have you done right, both of you? >> we have tried to really separate things. my wife and i are very close

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

>> and the phones. we try not to look at our phones. when you get 1,000 e-mails a day, it just doesn't stop. >> you have limits. you have none. # why do you think it's work? what else have you done? >> my situation is even a little more unique because my mother founded the company. she's the ceo and i'm the president. i do -- i tried to do a lot of things to change the company and to adjust where we're going. but i recognize there are hot topics of things that are sensitive and important to my mother. even though i may agree or disagree with those, i definitely hear her space with things that i know are very important to her. >> as you should with any partner. >> right. >> those are the battles. >> right. # she's really about you know, design and product. she is involved in everything.

i'm a lot more involved in our operations. >> and did you guys divide it up very clearly? >> yeah. we divide a lot. one of the best parts about it is obviously you have that trust. you have that ride or die history, that trust where you know you can really count on that person. i think that's 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 in an area. you have to go with that and show respect. >> how do you deal with conflicts? one of the things you is obviously may be a little more out there with your emotions or anger or anything that you would with a colleague. >> i would say one thing that's important is to really recognize that working in a family business for our other employees can be a little strange at times. situations that they may just feel uncomfortable in. i think my mother and i try to do as good a job as possible to

really take them off loan and address the one on one in a broader forum. and then just other things. i used to call my mother mom on he mail. the first couple years i thought people probably think that's strange. so now i use her initials. >> how do you avoid disruptions? >> it is important to have a united front. everyone wants to feel safe and that everyone is aligned. it's been also evolving as we grow. as we work as a married couple to have more balance in our life. we are doing that for our employees. we just changed the company hours from 9:00 to 5:00 from 9:00 to 6:00. it is very tough as an entrepreneur. >> thanks. congratulations to both of you in all of your success. it is wonderful to be able to

share with family members when it works. >> thank you. >> so we had flat sales 10 years ago. and i think that really did it for us was getting out on the road, making the trade show rounds, getting in front of the customers. doing dem mys, training. and that helped us grow the business the past 10 years. >> being in the industry a long time, i have to grow everything from my desk. i use a lot of social media apps to find out what's coming in, what events that are going on. people are doing what they like to do. that has helped me grow. this year we're adding 200 plus more units just because of the growth of calling people and talking to them. >> small business development centers have been an absolute resource for us. because they have services they offer at a basically grant level

funding in order to get the advice, accounting, marketing, good market strategies. everything we need to be successful. and that was invaluable to us. so definitely without a doubt sba, small business administration, has been a champion for us, and we can't thank them enough. # stkpwhrao this week's your biz self-y from cretia cakes. she used family recipes to start selling her local cookies and cakes online. then she and angelo opened a bakery full time. i love that, guys. pick up your smartphone. no professional photos. your business @phpbz.c msnbc.co.

thank you so much for joining us today. if you have any questions or comments or just want to say hi, send an e-mail to your business at msnbc.com. go to open forum.com/your business. don't or forget to connect on our digital and social media platforms too. i'm jj 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. i'm hugh hewitt. on thursday i interviewed "meet the press" khud todd on my radio show about which of the stories were raining down on us would matter the most five years from now. i think the answer is actually tax reform. we will talk about that next week. later in the show, i will talk about electronic surveillance and sexual harassment.