good morning. coming up on msnbc your business, her ice cream business took a licking when the unthinkable happened. how this determined female entrepreneur rebounded, making the brand bigger than ever. find out how collecting data helped one shop owner, why it can boost your business. plus, what you absolutely must do to protect data from growing threat of cyber crime. let's grow fast and work smart. that's all next on "your business."

hi, everyone. j.j. ramberg. welcome to "your business." the show dedicated to helping grow your business. talent, hustle, guts. that's what jenny valleys most in her employees and partners. that's what got her business through a crisis that could have tanked the company, but instead strengthened it. the mouth watering ice cream. the trademark orange and white pint container, known for ingredients and unique flavor combination. it is a brand built on quality and it is changing the way we think about american ice cream, and it is not cheap. at about $10 a piennt, you pay

premium for this distinctive taste. >> we believe we're making the world's greatest ice cream, people will find us. our north star has to be making the best ice cream. >> she dedicated more than half her life to perfecting the art of making ice cream. the obsession started as a kid. wasn't until college she dropped out of school to open a scoop shop and realized it was a calling. >> it is delicious. i feel like watermelon. >> i am turning 44 this year. so much part of me, the lens through which i read and understand the world. part of my life. >> after years with two employees, the brand needed help with growth. that's when jeni turned to old friend john low. at the time he had a big job at

ge. >> i said i love you guys. that sounds awesome, wholesome, i would love to do it, i don't think you need a ceo for a four shop ice cream company. they said no. a kind of artist, we need someone to grow it. >> the company grew, turning it into a national brand, with big business in the scoop shop, healthy online sales, and retail distribution at high end super markets. then everything came to a grinding halt when a crisis hit that threatened everything the company stood for. >> we were informed one point in lincoln, nebraska tested positive for listeria. that moment lives on in my memory as the before and after moment for me. there's stress and then there's crisis. and crisis is when there is a before and after, you go forward in a different way than you were before. >> the news was devastating.

food contaminated with listeria could kill someone. with her name on each and every pint, the problem struck directly at the heart of this business, built on a reputation for being the best. >> we decided to pull all ice cream, not just that lot and not just that flavor and shut down scoop shops. we couldn't fathom the idea somebody could walk in to our scoop shop the next day and be injured. and fortunately we got through that with no one suffering serious injury. we overreacted some would say, but we thought it was the only way we were going to sleep that night. >> they decided the only way forward was to fully tackle the problem and do it with complete transparency. a costly decision but they felt it necessary for the business to survive. >> we had no idea how much money it would cost us. fact of the matter is it cost us millions. but there wasn't alternative.

i was saying to jeni at the time, i don't know if this means bankruptcy. frankly, i can't see a path we get through this without bankruptcy. and we're very fortunate. we threaded the needle to find financing, find backers to keep us afloat during that time. >> with the very survival of the company in the balance, they relied heavily on talent, hustle and guts. qualities they look for in employees and partners. but never expected would be tested like this. >> you want to say you have talent, hustle and guts. you want to tell that to the world, but you don't really know until you prove it, right? this is our proving it moment. we really came together and figured it out. >> the crisis management started with suppliers. like the employees, they had to have the same level of talent, hustle and guts to ride out this storm. mike hirsch worked with jeni's for almost ten years, has a

long-standing arrangement to grow the berries, many of which go into her ice cream. when the news hit, he admits he was moved. >> i am thinking what am i going to do with the strawberries and blackberry and raspberry season, what's going to happen. they were in constant contact. steps that were being taken. they assured me immediately don't worry, we're still committed to you. don't worry. that was in the first seven days, they put my questions to rest. they were taking steps, they were going to get through this, to stick with them. and here we are. >> with support of suppliers shored up, the next step was taking a hard look at production and processes to figure out what happened. with so many local ingredients from farm fresh milk to blackberry's, it meant looking at how they brought those items in and what they did with them in the kitchen. >> there was testing, realizing it came from the kitchen, need

to figure that out. and list tear i can and li and it is in the air, airborne, but it is dangerous if it gets into food. so you don't want that to happen. we were doing everything we knew how to do before, and still got in there. we changed everything. we changed everything we do. we did it i believe in record time. >> they hired a former food safety expert from ben and jerry's to oversee production. and decided to do something unprecedented in the industry. test every single batch of ice cream before it went out to be certain it never happened again. >> it has created a sleeker organization that's ready to go forward in a way i don't think we would have been able to do had we not had this. >> enabled us to take advantage of the crisis, think about the way we operate as a company. we have come out of it stronger in many ways.

there's a misconception utilizing data to grow fast is just for big companies. anyone that runs a business or department of a business should be collecting data. hiding in the numbers are great strategies to help your company thrive. to give you illustration of this, we went to visit the owner of a lunch shop in california who showed us how data helped her increase cash flow and decrease supply costs. >> next customer. >> take a close look at this turkey and cheese. if you're one of the customers at village cheese shop, that sandwich looks like lunch. but if you're lindsey hike en, the owner, it looks like data. raw data. >> these are the choices, spread

choices, meat, cheese, topping. and if they wanted deli salad on the side. >> at the 50-year-old lunch shop which she owned and operated since 2007, she turned everything into a number. >> opening 19 minutes, made 266 bucks. who is visiting my business. big slice of business is the 25 to 34-year-old demographic. that's the biggest demographic. >> yeah, lots of data in that store. >> big data expert is at vancouver based open tech. >> how much did the sandwich cost, who bought it. >> he says small business owners can learn from data if they ask the right questions. >> how many times have they bought it. where did the meat come from. how much did the bread cost. >> those are the questions she asks every day. >> last 30 days, paid 121 bills for total of $50,523.

>> the problem is tracking the numbers is harder than you think. >> something goes up 7 cents a pound, you don't notice it, but over time you see difference in money you're making, eating at, eroding the margin. >> if costs rise faster than prices, even popular shops like hers can go broke rapidly. no matter what industry they're in. >> i can't raise the cost of my sandwich up and down based on what the cost of tomatoes are or cheese. >> like any other high volume business, she says her survival month after month depends on monitoring food costs because profit margins are so small. >> somewhere between 86,000 and 110,000 in sales. which is a fair amount, considering average ticket price is about nine bucks. doing a million bucks, nine bucks at a time is a lot of toepfer. >> -- turnover.

>> suppliers don't always give notice when prices change. the second is the paper trail. receipts listing changes come in on scraps of paper, left behind by the delivery man. no digital record at all. >> you get paper every day from vendors, but there's so much paper, it sort of becomes pointless because you couldn't find anything. they might as well have thrown it out, to be honest. >> in fact, that's what lindsey does. she throws them all out. but not before she carefully scanned each one into quick books. >> these are food. >> that is e-mailed to bill.com account for payment and sent to a spread sheet, showing the rate she is paying, vendor by vendor, day by day, month by month. seeing this daily allows her to track price changes and respond as soon as they happen. >> bringing them back down with vendors or adjusting prices or

dropping something off the menu, those kinds of things. >> using data this way to revise vendor offers and update products offered, her retail business is what alan calls data driven. lindsey says other shop keepers who simply collect receipts in a drawer, wait until bookkeepers do the math, no matter what kind of business they're in, are getting information too late to use. food costs are not the only numbers she monitors. lindsey also uses bread crumb software to track cash in the register. >> a sign a single register, people make mistakes. if there's a consistent, she works every wednesday, every wednesday we are short, then you know, you tell her. >> alan says this access to data allows owners to make decisions and change plans quickly and effectively. >> the key to data is getting rapid feedback and thinking about action you take. >> data alone is not enough. when this vendor suggested she

could save 17 cents a pound on precooked roast beef to replace store cooked supply, she jumped on it and made a big mistake. customers could tell it was commercially cooked and didn't like it at all. >> the feedback was like you ruined my life. i realized it is not worth losing that business. >> that's where judgment comes in. some numbers matter more than others. every business owner must decide what to do with data once they get it. >> i can't say i've had a single day of being bored in this business, there's always something to do and it is never the same. >> equifax, target, verizon, whole foods have all been hacked. they're big companies with a lot of resources. you need to ask yourself, what are you doing to protect your own company? james c foster is ceo of a cyber

security company. thank you for joining the program. i am excited to talk to you. i think there are a lot of things we should all be doing that some people are not doing. >> thanks very much. appreciate the opportunity. >> absolutely. you go by foster, not james. >> i do. >> let's start. you have to start thinking about this, ask the right questions. >> that's right. it is not a question any more of if it will happen, it is when. you need to plan. >> what does it take. where should i be putting my money? >> you have to get beyond the basics. 23% of growing businesses, even on the smaller side are getting hacked every day. 23%. goes back to if. make sure you have a plan, if it happens, you know who to call, what to do. most find themselves in a reactive situation where something bad happened and don't know who to call. >> the number one, am i right saying the number one way people get hacked into is through employees still? >> employees are part of the

weakest link. >> maybe not number one, that's a weak link. >> absolutely. >> i clicked on a scam the other day, i know better than to do this, somehow they got me. the minute i did it, i freaked out and called the computer person and said i just did this, can you check the computer. >> it happens. used to just be e-mail. social has blown the problem up. everybody is on social, everybody is interactive. lot of business owners on social. 135 million websites in the dot com space. 200 million businesses on facebook. >> how do you warn employees to do something like i did, i know better. how do i keep my employees who probably know better from doing this. >> training is part of the equation. train the work force to understand the security challenges and risks that effect all sides of business. >> it is training. there are programs out there, we had some on the show where they test your employees, put some

red harerrings out there. >> understand the risks on the testing side. incredibly valuable. put a lot of time and effort in the protection side too. >> you talk about protecting everything. it is not just a website. you have to check social media as well. then you talk about the liability. it is not just your own liability. you've got to distribute that to people you work with. >> look, most business owners don't realize they have the opportunity to transfer liability back on vendors. >> how do you do that? >> part of contract negotiation. you go to buy a product or service, make sure they're willing to guarantee that capability. all too often businesses owners are stuck with bad end of the -- all too often, business owners stuck with the bad end of the stick. when something bad happens, a breach happens, guy says you didn't configure it properly. they need to transfer that back to the vendor, say if your

product doesn't work, there's a financial ramification. >> most people aren't thinking that through? >> i don't think they do. i'm not sure they understand they can do that. >> and then finally if something happens, you have to be up front about it. >> be up front, be honest, communicate quickly. reputational brand damage is one of the longest, hardest things to repair. i think your customers really appreciate if you come out and say we are doing a lot of things, missed this. had a problem because of it. here is what we have done. that level of transparency will earn big points in the long run. >> back to the first point, have a plan and know who to get to because if you do not have a plan in place and are scrambling to see who to call, you won't be able to be transparent with customers in a way that makes them feel safe. thank you for coming on the program. hope this is a reminder to everyone, they need to pay attention to this.

>> thank you. i'm here with this sam white, here to tell us about your new product. tell me about it. >> this is something i deployed in india to help dairy farmers chill milk without generators. my wife couldn't take the heat, fiancee at the time, is my wife probably because i developed this. >> this not only helps people, it helped your marriage. >> exactly. is this your color? >> i like purple. i will try on the gray. the cooling technology is nice. i should have this at the kids' soccer games. we have patrick mcginnis and mitchell wright, co-founder of a digital advertising company. >> fantastic. looking forward to it. >> i am sam white, inventor of

this -- millions suffer from heat issues. it helps you beat the heat in style. i was living in india, deploying an industry cooling technology based on creating compact ice. my wife couldn't take the heat. i took that technology and created a beautiful cooling necklace that when you take it out of the freezer lasts for hours. i sold 3,000 on amazon and my website at $49 retail. i am looking to raise $500,000 in exchange for 10% return on investment in order to expand internationally. this is a social impact investment. over 50 million people suffer from hot flashes alone in the united states. come help me improve lives of so many people who suffer from heat. thank you. >> nicely done. looks like you're wearing lays.

both of you, need a number one through ten, what did you think of the product and what did you think of the pitch. patrick. >> all right. gave you nine for the pitch and 8 for the product. thought pitch was pretty tight. you gave me metrics about how you're performing. you talked about the social impact, which is a really important thing to talk about today. and you explained to me why you were the right person to build this business. in terms of the product, i need to get out into the field. it's hot under these lights but i need to test it in the real world to know if it is for real. >> so i gave 7 for product and 8 for pitch. starting with the product, i don't know if this is a great look for me on national television. >> it is. >> but i love the idea. i think it could use a little more development. it is a great concept. in terms of the pitch, i agree there is a lot of great data in there. and you did a traffic job explaining it. i would love to have a little more passion, a little more fun.

>> that's great advice. and i know you're passionate about this because i have spoken to you about it. good luck with everything. thank you so much for coming on the program. thank you guys for all your feedback with this. >> my pleasure. >> how would any of you like to come on your business and pitch your company as you just saw? send us a video of you doing your one-minute elevator pitch. send it to us at your business @msnbc.com or post it to youtube and send us the link. include a short summary of what your company does, how much money you're trying to raise and what you will do with that money. we look forward to seeing those pitches. >> coming up next, what you need to do to maintain your company culture when your business is growing fast. we have all heard of fomo but have you heard of fobo?

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 you scale the business, how do you make sure that the culture, the core values, and the mission-driven focus continue to permeate every part of the business and are embodied

in every team member in the company? >> so for me what was very important is that those five values -- we call it five ps, you have to write down. you have to get everyone trained on it and disseminated within your organization. i follow 20, 20, 60. 20% of the time i tell people about the history of the company, 20% about the present. and i spend 60% of my time in the future but it is all about our past and what we learned. that is very, very important. first, getting it defined. you have to let people know about it. every week you have to communicate the values in different ways. motivate, inspire people. you know, you really don't train. you inspire people. you take those values, the things that made you successful, that are going to make you successful and make sure everyone in the organization knows about it and repeat it off.

>> we now have the top two tips that you need to help grow your business. patrick and mitchell are back with us. two tips. one from each of you. >> my tip is beware of fobo. >> i know what fomo is, fear of missing out. >> i'm credited with inventing the term fobo. it is fear of a better option. it is the idea instead of making decisions, we leave all the doors open and never actually decide, right? and so in this age of big data and analysis paralysis, it is really critical for people to be decisive. ask yourself why are you holding those doors open. if it's just to have an option, close the doors, make a decision, and move on. >> it's true. too many optionsis paralyzing at times. i agree with you. just be decisive, direct.

you can go back later if you need to and change everything up. all right. you're up. >> my advice is simple. don't stop. the temptation to try something else or give up or to quit. people don't realize when you start a company, you're embarrassed, humiliated, stepped on, beat up, abused. if you just go on, failure doesn't happen, just experiences and learning. and that is the main thing is just to keep doing it. >> so that is great, as you're looking back. failure never happened. it was just experience. when you are in the middle of it -- >> it's terrible. >> -- and everything is crashing down around you -- >> that's the thing. see, that separates people from who are successful and those who aren't. a normal person would never go through what an entrepreneur would go through. you have to put up with things that the average person would not. you have to want it that badly. it is is no fun, to your point. >> i want to know how both of you do that don't stop. it is common to want to give up

when things get tough. what do you do? >> i think the big thing that i found helps me is to enjoy the small things, the small victories. the big picture is something you can't solve in a day, but the small things you can attack one by one. >> okay. small victories. what do you do? >> my dad taught me it is all about inspection. when you look in those terms, it is is not a block, wall, or devastating. it is just difficult. and difficulty is okay. >> my mom used to read us "the little engine that could." she was a successful entrepreneur. i think i can, i think i can. as i got older i added i think i can't. we cannot be expected to solve every problem ourselves. if you just is recognize what you can't solve and then say i'm not going to solve the problem.

the only problem i need to solve is who is the person that can help me solve this problem. so recognizing what you can't do. >> that's great. >> that's what i do when i'm up at 3:00 in the morning worrying about something in business. i love this kind of almost self-help-y kind of stuff. as i talk to more and more business decisionmakers i realize that that is the part that often is the hardest in running a business. >> yeah. you feel alone. and you feel like -- be. >> orem bearsed. >> orem bearsed. that's something people don't talk bit. you're in the spotlight. you will say dumb things every once in a while. hopefully not on a show like this. >> if you do, we'll take it out. all right. thank you both. this week's your biz selfie is from alexander donaldson and little helper. it is a mover for residential

and commercial businesses. we love seeing these photos from around the country. pick up your smartphone and take a picture of us at your business @msnb.com. or tweet it @msnbc your biz. if you tweed it use the hashtag your biz selfie. thank you so much for joining us. earlier this week i had an issue with a company i was a customer of, and i was talking to them or hold for literally an hour talking to someone after someone after someone, none of whom were helpful until finally i reached someone who resolved my issue. that person saved the company, in my eyes. i would never have gone up but because that person was so great, i will absolutely go back to that company. the people on the front lines dealing with your customers can absolutely make or break your

business. so treat your customers well and teach your customer service team to treat them well. we would love to hear from you. if you have any questions or comments about today's show e-mail us @ your business at msnbc. or open forum. and don't forget to connect with us on all of our digital and media platforms as well. until then, i'm jj ramberg. remember, we make your business our business. is 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. this is my new year's eve-eve show where we look back at this saturday morning 364 days before it, full of busy news, fake news, true news, big and sometimes forgotten stories. and i do it with a great panel of the beltway's young gun journalists. collectively, we broke down the avalanche of news from the still unfolding me too