yes! yes, indeed. amazing speed, coverage and control. all with an xfi gateway. find your awesome, and change the way you wifi. good morning, everyone. coming up on "your business," some big brands thought this north carolina running store was too small to care about. find out what the owners did to get those same brands coming back, clamoring to be included. and will the buyers at sam's club give the creators of these clever storage pillows the opportunity to be featured at the stores? that plus how to get customers to spend their holiday shopping dollars on your service business. let's grow fast and work smart. that's all coming up next on "your business."

hey, everyone. i'm jj ramberg. welcome to "your business." it is not a sprint, it's a marathon for the owners of a running store in north carolina. when they started out, they heard nothing but no from some of the big brands they wanted to carry, but that all changed when the owners created a culture and a customer base that were very tough for these large companies to ignore. >> if people want to be a part of our brand, then bigger brands will want to be a part of our story and our show. >> when alex warren and brent opened runology, they didn't have nike or adidas or reebok on their shelves. large brands that people would expect to see at a running store. >> big players like the nikes of the world, they were just like, you guys are really, really tiny at this moment. we need to be cautious because the market is saturated. >> those initial nos could have

resulted in disaster, but instead, they helped shape the success of the only independently owned running store in raleigh, north carolina. >> we've built a brand where people want to be a part of this community. people just really like our story. >> the owners got off to a solid start when they opened their business in 2014. the smaller brands of running shoes they were selling helped define their boutique shop experience. >> our core mission was small. we felt like that's where we should start and see what happens. it was treating the store as like an event place that people could come and hang out. >> the funny thing is once alex and brent developed a following, some big brands started to circle back and track their success. >> a lot of folks said we were turning heads on social media. it's certainly flattering, and it validates what you're doing. you foal lieel like, all right, taking the right steps. >> the secret seemed to be that they weren't pining after more

recognizable names. instead, they were focusing on what was already working. >> i think we all had this moment of, well, you know, we're still chasing these big brands, and maybe we should actually be the ones who are just going to sit back and continue to grow. it seemed like as soon as we started doing that, then bigger brands came knocking at our door. >> and this is why the owners proved to brands like under armour that the runology concept had legs. >> there are a lot of places that don't have that down home mentality of we are your neighborhood shop, and we wanted to fill that gap for raleigh. >> representatives for other companies like mizuno and skechers are in contact too. they had both worked at larger store, and what they saw there is exactly what they didn't want. >> you may not know who the owners are.

but when you look at our shop, they're going to see us and we're going to say hello and probably know their name. rather than them being a customer, they become a friend. >> running groups, races, and a major push for community events helped bring runology's social presence to the top of many feeds. >> you guys are doing these crazy events with treadmills on the sidewalk and people hanging out, watching. seems kind of strange, but you have people in your shop. >> more customers in stores means more eyeballs on products. and it's also translated into shares, retweets, and hashtags. >> do as much stuff outside your door as you are inside the door. and eastbound trafficly, that's going to create some energy and people buy stuff. if they're having a good experience when they're here, one person can be ten people down the road. >> the secret shoppers who visit runology have gotten a sample of the kind of customer who visits the store. they tend to be young, mostly female, and have money to spend.

>> our average ticket per transaction is fairly high. i think brands see the uniqueness and a certain market they're probably not hitting. >> alex and brent also started their own line of apparel, which has set them apart from major competitors and also makes them more attractive to larger brands. the first product off the line was a pair of men's shorts. >> one customer that we hit is this very fashion-conscious customer that comes in. i think a lot of other running stores hit people that just want a pair of running shoes and running shorts. they're seeing we're making stuff, so there's a lot of weight and value in that. >> every inventory decision today is made just as carefully as it was on day one. the size of the brand isn't the only thing that matters. >> we're at the point now where we feel like we've got some growth under our belt, and we don't have to just say, oh, we want to work with all these brands now. >> we're worried about the quality of the product and the product's story and how it walks out of our door. >> even as alex and brent pursue other large partnerships, they

recognize their local community deserves much of the credit. you never know where runology's "r" logo might pop up, but it's clear clients have embraced the brand and they're running with it. >> you could be 300 or 400 miles away and we see one of our hats or something. that's kind of the moenment are you realize, oh, you're having a bigger impact than just the normal running store. if you run a service-based business, do not count yourself out of getting some of those holiday shopping dollars. you can market your service that people give as a gift. so good to see you, daniel. >> thanks for having me, jj. >> so service businesses, i think, giving someone a service as a gift is a great, great idea. so how can you as someone who

sells these to get people to think of you that way? >> let's say you're an accountant, a cpa. you have client who are happy. i hope you have happy clients. you could suggest to some of those clients that if they have a friend or a relative who is a little number phobic that you can give -- that they can give them that friend or relative an hour of your services. if you're a designer and you've got satisfied clients, you could suggest to those clients that if they have a community group that they work with or a church or a synagogue or mosque, give them a gift of two hours of your design services. i like to think of this as giftifying your offering. >> i love that. i really love it. oftentimes what we really need in the moment is something that is more service than another gift that we could open right there and may not use later on. this takes educating people, though, on how to gift. how do you do it? >> i think you just -- i think

you can educate more broadly. i think that's another great thing at the holiday season that service businesses can do. service businesses in general are in the business of expertise. there's a premium now on expertise. so one of the things you can do, especially playing the long game, is to demonstrate your expertise. at the end of the year, write a white paper. hold a free class, write a newsletter. i like the idea because it's cheap and it's actionable of circulating a best-of list. what are the best ideas you encountered this year? what are the best books you've read this year? i want to emphasize so much that service is about expertise. if you're always demonstrating that, if you're always offering great information, great insights to people, in the long run, that's going to pay off. >> i think also, this is going back to the giftify one, you have to create something. it's a certificate or something that people can actually give to people. >> sure. that's a good point. there is something to be said for tangibility, the idea of one

person giving another person something of value. we also know from the social sciences a lot about gifts. i think service businesses should rethink poinsettias and boxes of cookies. here's what we know about gifts. pro social gifts are very, very widely appreciated. what i mean by that is that people love receiving gifts that do some good. the other thing, which is sort of peculiar, and this comes from the research at stanford, is people tend to prefer gifts that they ask for rather than gifts that are surprises. so we can combine those two things, and you can do this as a service business. go to your best clients, go to your best customers and say, folks, this year, no poin s poinsettias. what we want to do is give a charitable contribution in your name. tell us what charity we should give to. harness some of the science of gift giving and deepen your relationship with those important clients. >> i also like the idea of saying, let's just say you're an accountant. instead of giving those poinsettias, say we're going to

give an hour of our time to someone in a community you care about. >> absolutely. it's a great idea. really, again, and actually, social sciences has given us a lot of insights about what gifts are meaningful, what people like in gifts. here's a fancy word. gifts that are pro social, that do some good, are held in high esteem. >> and frankly, no office needs another box of cookies, right? we're already eating too many cookies around the holidays. >> thumbs up on the good deeds. >> all right. these are all great ideas. again, i love your idea of giftifying your service. i believe people love these kinds of gifts. >> absolutely. >> my mother-in-law, every year for the holidays, gives me a

gift certificate to a masseuse. that's a perfect example. >> any service business that works really, really well. >> good to see you. >> thanks, jj. we're here at sam's club in secaucus, 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 across the country with millions of members. so if our elevator pitcher gets the thumbs up from these buyers, they're going to arkansas where they will have the chance to get their product in a sam's club just like this one. let's see what happens. andrea, jennifer, hi there. i'm jj. nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> what's the name of your company? >> we are mimish. >> i love the designs of both of these. this is for kids? >> for kids and parents. >> anyone who wants to give away clutter. i don't want to give away what it is.

how do the two of you know each other? >> our children attend the same school. andrea is an inventor. she designed the very first original storage bean bag. >> and are your kids messy? >> very. >> that's why one day i was like, okay, everybody has bean bags, everybody has a lot of stuffed animals, everybody has a lot of stuff. >> save your pitch for inside. we're going to go inside. we're going to pitch to two buyers for sam's club. if they like what you have, they're going to invite you to possibly be in a sam's club like this one. >> sounds great. we're ready. >> hi. >> i'm steven. >> i'm andrea. >> amy. nice to meet you. >> hello. i'm jennifer. >> we are mimish. in 2013 i designed and patented the first storage bean bag. beans on top, storage on the bottom. >> in 2016, i partnered with andrea, and together we're building mimish into a full

lifestyle collection, focused on storage and organization for the home. all of our products feature storage compartments with a fun zipper detail. this is our storage poof. as you can see, it has beans on top and storage on the bottom. it holds hard and soft items like legos, books, clothing, and more. we also have storage pillows. they also feature our storage pockets with fun zippers and pocket placements for remote controls, your favorite toys, or keepsakes. >> our prices range from $19 to $69, and our own patent. and you can find the storage poof, the storage pillows, and the full category of products at mimishdesigns.com. and coming up in national retailers. >> in 2018. >> i snuck up behind you. you used your minute beautifully. anyone who has a kid who likes legos was looking at this with great envy.

all right. what did you guys think? any questions? >> who's your target audience? >> our target age range is from 8 to 18 years old. so we're really focusing on a wide -- it's age neutral. products that will appeal to kids but also their parents won't mind having them peek into the living room. we're also really focused on all of our products being appealing to boys and girls. so there really isn't that very specific target there. >> i love this. i think it's beautiful. i love these colors. >> we are trying to mix and match the fabrics, soft and fun colors and also metallics. >> metallics look great. >> so this one, it comes like this. you can see the storage underneath. then you zip it and use it. >> it feels great. the quality feels great. i think it's a great innovation as well. >> yeah, definitely. we just recently talked about our new target member. i feel like this fits that really well. >> that is a good place to stop you and ask, steven, amy, do

they have a ticket? >> it's a yes for us. we would love to have you guys come. >> thank you very much. >> congratulations. >> thank you. the end of the year is a perfect time to give your business a checkup. so here are five end of the year house cleaning tips to ensure that your business has a clean bill of health for the new year. one, review your supplier relationships. do your suppliers meet their deadlines? are their rates competitive? this is a good time for you to think about renegotiating contracts or nurturing relationships that are working well. two, go over your disaster preparedness plan. if last year has taught us anything, it's that you can never be too prepared. make sure your business can weather the storm if something unexpected and out of your control happens. three, review and update your digital assets. if you haven't already done so

recently, go through all of your social media accounts, websites, and customer review pages and make sure the content on them is fresh and accurate. four, check the health of your equipment and then talk to your accountant because there are tax implications. it may be more cost effective for you to replace your company's mission critical equipment sooner than later. and five, bring your team together. get their feedback on the things that went well and the things that could be improved in the next year. share your visions for growth with them so that you get everyone on board. over the years, we've met many business owners whose stories have inspired us. nolan stillwell is one of them. he's shown the world how young adults with special needs can transition from being a student to a successful entrepreneur. nbc's jo ling kent has his story. >> reporter: nolan stillwell knows to make the perfect jam, you need to pick the perfect

pepper. and it helps to have a pepper patch in your backyard. >> nolan, how about if you pour. >> welcome to the headquarters of sweet heat jam, this commercial kitchen provided free of charge by a texas church is the bustling center of nolan's jam empire. >> we saw early on that nolan was really gravitating toward food. he liked to cook in the kitchen. he'd be throwing his towel over the shoulder and saying bam. >> excuse me, bud. need some measuring stuff. >> reporter: christine worried about whether her son nolan would be able to find a meaningful job. so they created their own opportunity. >> i think that every parent of a special needs child should never underestimate what their young person can do. >> so nolan, what's your favorite part about making the jam? >> i like it here. >> you like it here? >> yeah. >> this kitchen?

>> yeah. >> you did this. >> yes. >> reporter: with 13 flavors, business is good. sweet heat jam is selling thousands of jars a year. and nolan has hired a team. four employees and four rotating interns, all young adults with disabilities. >> how does it make you feel to work at sweet heat? >> really happy. really -- they understand our disability. >> all right. let's load her up. >> reporter: nolan's dad randy helps with deliveries. >> there's our invoice sheet. >> reporter: to heb, the largest grocery train in texas. nolan's jam is available in six heb stores. >> which one is this, buddy? >> reporter: lucky shoppers can sometimes get a sample from the jam man himself. >> so good. >> reporter: enjoying the spicy sweet taste that carries an important message. jo ling kent, nbc news, texas. we've been doing this show for 12 years, and i love this

show, but one of the things i always regretted a little bit is that we have these really interesting and fascinating people here and we get about three or four minutes to talk to them. but not anymore. because we just launched a brand new podcast called "been there, built that." first of all, thank you to all of you who listened to it over the past week. it just launched last week. i'd love to hear your feedback. but for the rest of you, this is what we do. we interview people longer. this is our chance to go deeper with our guest to find out how they grew their business, what worked, and what i always find more interesting is what didn't work and then how did they deal with it. the podcast is free, and this week we're rolling out two new episodes. the first one is with jamie lima, a former tv anchor who founded i.t. koz mecosmetics an recently sold the company to l'oreal for more than a billion dollars. this is a longer conversation with her. the second one is with will

deedee dean, one of my favorite co-founders. he's the co-founder of tough mudder. check it out. it's called "been there, built t your podcasts. when we come back, we answer questions on how to get media coverage for your company. and you may want to ignore them, but why you should be seeking out the whiners and complainers amongst your clients is and employees. 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. >> as a growing business, what can we do to gain more pr in media. we reach out to journalists. we do pr press releases. >> okay. so pr is interesting. it is is like any other kind of advertising where you have to understand your audience. in this case your audience is not the people you want to reach. it is a reporter, journalist or a tv news person. and you have to understand that person's job and what they need to do every day. so it's not about you and how to promote yourself, how to provide value for that person. if you can give them a good story, a good angle, a larger contact, they will be very happy to talk with you because you're making their job easier.

if you're calling to promote yourself, it's somewhat offputting. >> we now have the top two tips you need to know to help your business grow. let's introduce our panel and get their advice. the founder and ceo of broughton hotels, and the author of the new book "victory." seven revolutionary strategies for entrepreneurs to el gate your impact and tran form your life. and the president and founder of the marks group, selling software and services to small and medium sized businesses and a columnist on the "washington post". >> thanks for joining us, everyone. see you later. gene, let's start with you. >> guys, we have a lot of clients in my business. i go out and visit a lot of them, small and medium sized companies. i have noticed more and more on buying into and subscribing to

project management applications. there has been this undercurrent. and i have to tell you something. i'm like buying into project math for small businesses a we head into 2018. >> we use them. absolutely. it is a life saver. >> trello. basecamp. we only have three people in our company. every company has projects. customer acquisition is. you're going to hire a new employer. >> can you explain for people who this sounds like jibberish what is project management software. >> they are generally cloud-based applications, right? so they are easy to get connected online. and frankly, they manage tasks. listen, we want to hire a new sales guy. okay. there's 16 things we need to do. we need to place an ad, write the ad. you can assign the tasks to different people in your company

or yourself. everything has reminders and alerts. >> and everyone sees what they're done, what the deadlines are. >> that's exactly right. my advice is first of all, the owner of the company, you have to buy-in, adopt it as a culture. put one person in charge. and drive a lot of reports out of it as well. where do we stand on these tasks and projects. >> here's the problem or the issue. if you get it, you have to use it. some people are using it and some people aren't, then it's a mess. >> you get out what you put into it. >> exactly. all right, larry, you're up. >> listen, i give tons of tips to business owners and entrepreneurs all the time. although this is probably the most powerful tip, it is the one that scares entrepreneurs the most. we have to actively listen to our customers and clients and intentionally seek out feedback from our whiners, complainers and even our haters out there. when we do this, we kind of embrace this learning mind-set. when we set up systems in our

organizations to actively learn and listen, then learn from our fail heiers, flaws, weaknesses, it presents an opportunity to improve our product and build loyalty among those people that were once haters. we have to weed out the nonsense from the trolls that are out there. i think when we do this, though, it creates an environment where we are constantly improving. and i'll just start with the minimal product and grow. >> talk do me about build systems. >> surveys in. >> absolutely. i think any organization needs to, whether you're in a restaurant, a hotel, a manufacturing organization. we all have customers and clients. so, yes, i think what we need to do is get to the consumer, the complainer, the whiner before they get to the internet and start reviewing you. any time you do a transaction, there is an opportunity to ask for feedback. >> got it. and be clear that we want your

honest feedback and respond to the people who have something that makes sense that did wrong. >> sure. and also i think we need to create an environment in our own organization for team members to be actively seeking. too often in organizations -- i'm staying at a hotel here in town. it is not the great environment. what i offer feedback to them, be you can see them shrinking. oh, my gosh, they're going to get beat up because i'm going to have to share this bad news with someone. >> got it. >> he we create an environment. we want this information because we're improved by it, that's a win-win for everybody. >> some companies you give them feedback. whoever it is taking it from you, you get the impression they could care less. >> and some you feel like you're saying thank you to. >> that's right. >> thanks, both of you. >> thank you. >> i have some favorites that i love. one of them is haystack. it helps me to file and scan business cards on the go. it's a free app.

>> one tool we use is login. >> i use an app called hours cracker. it's a phone app. a lot of companies come to me. they don't know what they want. so it's more hauler based. trying to quote something they don't know is tough. i have hourstracker. i tap a button to clock in, to clock out. it also synccs to the internet. >> i use cirras. we capture all our client interactions but do all e-mail through g mail. then we don't have to smith back and forth. cirrus works wonderfully well for us. >> this week's your biz selfie is from erika estes, a

professional realtor and relocation expert. she gives investing and real estate seminars and gives back to the community as founder of teens in crisis. good for you, erika. thank you for doing that. pick up your smartphone, take a picture of you and your business and send it to yourbusines yourbusiness @msnbc.com. or tweet it. include the name, the name of your business, the location. please use the #your back seat bizselfie. here's something we can all take away from today's show. with the company runology they opened a running store with none of the brands that people were probably walking in even though they would like to have those brands. they didn't let that stop them from creating something great and growing their business. it's just a part of growing a business. we would love to hear from you. if you have any questions or

comments about today's show, e-mail us at yourbusines yourbusiness @msnbc.com. or openforum.com/yourbusiness. we put up the is segments from today's show, plus a whole lot more for you. and you can find more on our digital and social media and our podcasts as well. we look forward to seeing you i'm jj ram pwrberg. until then, 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. what a week. the alabama senate race, tax reform, the previewing of a new national security challenge. we'll talk about these and other big stories of the week. i'm joined by four of the beltway's young gun's journalists. welcome to you all. biggest story of the week. tim, you actually broke one that had been making headlines since it appeared at politico on thursday. >> that's right. so speaker paul ryan is ready to hang it up after this congress. he has made it