and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. good morning. coming up on msnbc's "your business," we're here in austin, texas, at south by southwest where innovators and disrupters have gathered to talk about the big things coming next. we're going to pick their brains to find out how you as a brand can reach generation "z." and we head down to florida to meet a woman who's making a real difference. when it comes to big decisions at work, we have your back. that's all coming up next on "your business." ♪ >> announcer: "your business" is sponsored by american express business.

helping you get things done. welcome to "your business." this show dedicated to helping you grow your business. today we tell you the story of one entrepreneur who is making it her mission not only to have a successful company, but to help women be independent and have a voice at the same time. one job at a time. we head to florida to find out how she is helping women in crisis situations get back on their feet and also helping her grow her business. >> thanks to this company, i got my own place. i found my voice. i went through a lot of things like sexual harassment, domestic abuse, and now i'm by myself. i'm, like, i can do it. >> being around great coworkers, it helped me to see that everyone out there isn't a villain.

>> these women have both beaten incredible odds and both work at ur bath and body in florida. that's no coincidence. in fact, about 50% of ur body's workforce is made up of women coming out of crisis situations. >> being a single mother when i started this business, there were multiple times that could have been me. >> tracy gunn is the found ore of the company. when she was laid off, she started making and selling soap out of her home to help pay the bills. but a trip to new york city changed everything. >> i visited a homeless shelter in the bronx. the director of the homeless shelter as the ladies would leave to go about their day, she would stop them, hug them, say you are amazing. you are beautiful. you're going to get your life back. >> suddenly tracy saw an opportunity. she could do more than just sell op soap. she could help change lives. she got in touch with local

shelters and nonprofit ifs they knew of anyone that would want to work for her. one of her first calls were to place of hope. >> if we're going to help people who have been through tremendous trauma in their lives, everybody's got to be involved. that includes business. you can't make it in life without a job. you can't make it in life without skills that allow you to be employable. >> they connected her to jasmine west, a young woman who had a hard life that left her jaded and a bit weary of the world. >> between home, work, and school, i felt like it was always a give and take. there's always something. there's always a trick to it. and here it wasn't. >> two years later, jasmine now manages the business's shipping department. >> i don't know what i would do without jasmine. when jasmine first came to work for us, she was to herself, very

withdrawn, almost rebill yoellr. she had to fight for her life. when you spend time with someone, you get to know their situation and their history. you can turn those traits, though learned behaviors through her years of really surviving. when you take that and you embrace it rather than say that's bad, then you get a much better success rate by trying to understand the person rather than trying to correct the person. >> nadir left in 2012 looking for a better life for herself. completely self-taught and a victim of domestic abuse and sexual harassment, it meant everything when tracy took a chance on her and hired her as the company's web developer. >> she believed in me. and some people, they don't. i got an accent. so when you get to an interview or something, they just -- you know. they don't get to you. i want to continue my life as independent woman. and show other people that they

can do it too. and it's not impossible. >> that doesn't mean every hire has always ended with this type of happily ever after. >> i learned the hard way it's not always easy employing the people we want to employ. keep healthy boundaries. you are their employer. not their family. not their friend. >> through trial and error, she looked how to run a profitable business without losing sight of her mission. vet your organizations you work with. >> all organizations are not created equal. the ones we love aren't the ones that just send employees and say good luck. we want the ones that will come in if there's an issue. >> also every person that comes on starts with a trial period. >> we do a couple of weeks and make sure it's comfortable for them. we don't want to put somebody in a situation that they simply can't function well. >> and she doesn't put her core business at risk.

she has a group of employees always in place that guarantee the bottom line's met. >> we know every day that we have a certain number of production. so we can guarantee that but we also have people that should they be slower in their learning or they be slower just because they're having a really bad day or because they have a sick kid at home. we know our business is solid. >> she's also built a certain type of culture. with so many of the employees having experienced first hand just how far a little help can go, everyone here pays it forward. >> i know before i got here there were times in my life where that help wasn't provided. it wasn't there for me. so i had had to go out and look for it or i had to be without it. i know what it's like to be without it. i don't want them to experience that any longer than what they have already. >> it's not all about giving back. providing an opportunity to women who need a little boost has helped tracy build up a loyal workforce that's been the backbone of her business's

growth. >> no matter who you hire, they're going to come or go. they may or may not work out. so to take a chance on someone who life has really beaten down on, the ones that truly work out and embrace what we're offering here make the best employees. and in the end, we have people that are solid, believe in our mission, and believe in our company. that's what makes us so successful. >> and organizations hope more businesses will follow her example. >> you don't know what you're about to enter into sometimes. we've got to give them the opportunities. we've got to teach them, guide them, mentor them. more businesses need to look at these kids and think, wow. we could really work together to make something great happen here. i think looking at tracy's example is a great way of starting. at this point, most of us know about millennials.

now it's time to move to generation z. these are the people who are bour born 1996 and after. how do market to them or hire them? here at south by southwest we came to ask the founder and ceo of zebra intelligence. good to see you. >> you too. >> you are gen-z. you started your own company and your company talks to brands about how to reach people just like you in generation z. so tell me, what are some of the big things you tell brands who want to get to sell to someone like you? >> the biggest thing is that gen-z grew up on their smartphones so they can see through the bs very quickly. they will immediately skip through ads. they are in tune with identifying what's an ad and what's not. and that's why people have to -- or brands have to have more native ads. >> and what about influencers,

right? who get paid. does the bs button go up for that or no? >> gen-z can easily identify if it's a product placement or a sponsorship. and ftc is cracking down on making sure the influencers are showing that it's a sponsored post. and so kids obviously can see through that. some of the influencers who don't have the right partnerships and just try to make as much money as possible will build a very poor brand over the years because their fans are going to see that they're just selling out. >> but you feel like if a brand partners with the right influencer, even if they're paying them, that that might get through? >> yes. 100%. >> okay. >> but a lot of brands don't know how to find the right influencers like what pepsi did with kendall jenner and how that had a lot of controversy because it was out of the pepsi mission as well as kendall's. and so it just didn't work on both ends. >> so you have to really be careful that whatever you're doing is true, authentic.

>> yes. >> so that's one thing you tell brands. what's another thing you tell them? >> another thing is that every single kid is a content creator. and millennials weren't like this. baby boomers weren't like this. but since we grew up on instagram and snapchat, everything we take a photo of or tweet, it's a piece of content. and utilizing that for your branding and your marketing instead of trying to create your own ads or manufacture stuff, you can just use what your fans are already talking about. and -- >> is that also then about always having something that is worth a photo? right? if they're going to come to something, you better make sure you have something fun. because they will put that out to the world for you. >> exactly. another thing i tell brands is that gen-z goes to aesthetic first. that's what they think. any restaurant they go to, cafes

that go to, even vacations. it's all about how's it going to look on my instagram or snapchat. they think in terms of optimizing for photos that their fans and followers will like. versus for personal experiences. that's also tied to the fact that gen-z cares more about experiences than products and cars and stuff like that. and so that's a huge shift in these luxury brands and how they're going to market to this younger generation when they care more about experiences and renting stuff. instead of owning stuff. >> are there any particular brands that gen-z loves right now? who's doing it really well? >> well, vanz and adidas and converse are still relevant. supreme is obviously one of the hottest brands still. but majority of brands are just really struggling to adapt with how fickle ge nern-z is and howt they are moving. >> you said gen-z is fickle.

how do you as a brand deal with someone who is so fickle? >> my suggestion would be to constantly talk to your audience and constantly interviewing them. just understanding what's trending and what's not. what you can jump on and what you can't. because you can't follow every single relevant people ameme an hop onto it. then it becomes inauthentic. >> but you do have to keep changing. you do have to keep evolving or they're just going to -- you know, go there, go there. >> every week, every month you have to keep iterating. a big problem with a lot of the brands is they think that they want to -- millennials have purchasing power and they want to target millennials right now and they care less about gen-z. it's tail end of college, kids are about to graduate from college. they have their own purchasing

power because they know how to make money very quickly on the internet as well as the fact is that they have purchasing power. so that's also where people, brands think that gen-z doesn't have money. >> thank you for stopping by. i really appreciate you giving us some insight here. >> thank you, j.j. the official note takers at south by this year were the team at ever note. they summarized more than 50 talks outlining the big ideas coming out of austin so that you didn't have to. it's hard to believe it's been ten years since ever note launched the note taking evolution. long before it was cool to be in the cloud, evernote was there making your work accessible to you wherever you were. we spoke to the ceo about setting expectations and the importance of community in this learning from the pros.

♪ >> i've learned much of what i have in life by playing team sports. in team sports, the best team wins. it's not the best collection of individuals, but the best team. i think that's true in business as well. so being really intentional about your hiring is essential. play for the front of the jersey, not the back. when i'm hiring, i listen very intently to the number of times someone says the word "i" versus the number of times they say "we." that's important. and also hiring by committee. that sounds bureaucratic and like a bunch of red tape, but i think you can arrive at better decisions if you have the people. probing and asking questions about different areas and comparing notes afterwards so you avoid biases in your decisions. you're going to make better decisions.

whoops the monkey is a cute stuffed animal as it sounds like and it's awarded to the person who has the courage to stand up in front of their peers and admit their mistake. they also have to share what they learned. in turn they're granted immediate and automatic forgiveness for that mistake. you know, you think about that. allowing people to be okay making mistakes is absolutely essential. taking the right types of risks is essential for doing things differently. you know, innovation. it requires you being okay with making mistakes along the way. one of the things you do as a leader, you have to set expectations. you have to say what's expected of me and how am i doing against that and how can i improve. if you can't answer those three questions and you're not doing your job as a leader and you are, in fact, answering those questions, it makes those less

mysterious. if they're surprised, you haven't done your job. community is everything. these are people rerely upon for everything. so when we're developing a product, how do we develop it? we test it with our community. they're essentially in our sales forg force. we rely upon the community. in some countries we rely on them for support. we operate in 28 different languages. we can't be everywhere to everyone. we rely on our community in that regard. one of the things that i think has been a great lesson in my time here at evernote is the degree to which it is an emotional reaction to the product and the content and what people capture. and when we think about the value we deliver and how we ask people to pay us, we made changes last year to that. i was nervous about that. it's pretty important. that relationship where you ask

people to pay for something, it's emotional. when we did that, we were nervous. also it was a leap of faith. when we did that, we were pleasantly surprised that not only did people respond a little bit positively. they responded incredibly positively. it was, oh, i get it. you do something in my life that is greatly valuable to me. and you're asking me to compensate you in part for that. time for today's elevator pitch. we have leigh goodwin. good to see you. >> i'm happy to be here. my company is called leigh do. we do dorm decor and bedding. >> perfect. because i have two nephews going to college. can i borrow this is minute? this is for the freshmen going there using beautiful bedding. do you have any investors yet? >> we have no investors other than friends and family. >> how comfortable are you with pitching? >> i'm pretty comfortable.

i'm ready to go. >> let's see how you do. you're going to be talking to two people today. both entrepreneurs and successful. they know what it's like to be you. the first one is jessica johnson coe. and the second one is jason albanese. >> perfect. >> all right. let's see how you do. >> thank you. hi. i'm leigh goodwin the owner of leighdeux. i launched the company after my daughter went off to college and found trouble for the bedding in the extra long twin size. we designed a pillow shaped like a head board and that became the pillow head board, our best selling product. today we target girls going off to college and boarding school and reach them primarily using social media. the goal was luxury bedding at a great price. we do dorm decor differently than anyone in the space. we design our own textiles, we

manufacture our collection all in america. today i'm seeking strategic direction to open up new sales channels and drive revenue and i'm offering equity in exchange for funding to help accelerate the business. >> all right. nice job. >> thank you. >> good job. all right. i'm going to give you -- i will trade you the pillow for your score board. i need two numbers. one to ten. the first one, how do you feel about the product? the second, how do you feel about the pitch? it's so funny when you talk about the extra long twin bed. i remember going to bed bath & beyond with that list. i do not need an extra long bed, but it was so hard to find those sheets. >> it was. and that's part of the problem and the impetus for starting the company. we like to say it's not your momma's '80s dorm room. >> okay. let's go. jessica, let's start with you. turn it around. all right. >> i give you a nine and a nine. i think it's an innovative idea and i think it's very timely when you think about young

people and how they want to express themselves. it's nice to have something that's american made that they can get by in and make their dorm space their own. i also give you a nine for your pitch. i think that you were poised. you were confident. youpoised, confident, convincing. and i think that you're going to do extremely well as you reach out to potential investors. >> all right, jason, turn it around. >> i gave you 8 and 7. i think that the product feels like super high quality. it is very impressive that the coloring, the texture, which is something you can't tell if you're watching on television. >> it is really soft. >> the softness of it. and you can see it is super high quality product. i think it's important in this market today. >> what was she missing in the pitch? >> overall you did a great job. i would say talking a little bit

more about how you would utilize your proceeds if you were raising capital is an important thing to express. that way you can attract investors that have a specific focus and want to put their money to work in a way that will tkraoef immediate results. >> thanks both of you. good luck to you. we are twins coincidentally today. good luck with everything. >> exciting news. we get to announce that the finalist for our special hsn elevator pitch has been selected. they can come on our show to pitch for an opportunity to sell their product live on hsn. check out instagram to see a slide show of the finalists and their products. there is no turning back. we are fully in the digital age. but these five old school marketing techniques still can get you big returns.

>> one compelling sign. physical signs are still one of the best ways for businesses to tell people where they are and what they offer. just make sure they look good. two, face-to-face conversations. e-mails, social media posts are ready to do. but in-person communication allows salespeople to build trust with buyers. three, special promotions. sales and loyalty programs can help you attract new customers and encourage old customers to keep coming back. four, mailing list campaigns. mails and direct mailers are still two of the most effective marketing practices. just make sure you match the message with the target. and five, community involvement. volunteer work is a great way for business leaders and their teams to get to know the communities they want to serve. be sure to choose a cause meaningful to you and your staff. when we come back, we have

ways that can up your company's digital game. and what entrepreneurs off have to sacrifice in the pursuit of success. 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! we help all types of businesses with money, tools and know-how to get business done. american express open.

the last ten years i have devoted so much of my time, energy, so much of my family's time on building and growing my business. and i have had to sacrifice a lot. so what are the things you have had to sacrifice that you regret? >> i have an 11-year-old son. in addition to running my business the last 10 years, i have been raising a child. i have sacrificed for both of them. personal hobbies has been a big sacrifice to me. i love doing his hobbies and taking care of new business and nurturing it. it is easy to lose yourself you during that time. if either were around, what would you be doing? in recent years i have been trying to do more of. i started scuba diving again recently and crossword puzzles. i think it makes me a better

mom, better leader at work, and makes me a happier person. >> we now have is the top two tips you need to know to help you grow your business. jason and jessica are back with us. jessica, let's start with you. >> my tip is simple. show up. show up if it means you're in front of your employees, vendors, clients. people need to know how much you care. they can't do that if you're sitting behind your computer or have your face tucked away behind your device. when you get out in the field, that's where the magic is. you can get feedback from your customers and prospective customers and see what your vendors are doing to make sure they are delivering on the promises that you need them to deliver. show up and show out. that's how you grow your business. >> i laughed when you said that, it seems so obvious. of course, sho up. it is so easy to jot off e-mails

or twitter or something that a lot of times we don't show up and just assume work is getting done. but it is about the relationship. >> and you don't have to stay long. just hit it and quit it. you show up, get what you have to get, is say what you need to say, move on and go away long enough so they know that you care. >> jason? >> i work in the digital space. and we see companies more than ever trying to transform themselves and become more digital and keep their business not only growing but me srepbpr of erosion. my focus is measure and contextualize, not just compare themselves to other companies in their industry, but to best practices in general and look at companies out of their industry for tips and ideas of how they can perform better in the digital space. >> the thing is, every company needs to think of themselves as

a digital company. ultimately the back of what you do is all digital. >> that's right. >> with data, the companies with the most data are figuring out how to use it and know the tools to measure that data are going to win in the end. >> that's right. and a real secret to success that gives an edge today, is not having the data but looking at the data in a contextual way so you can make strategic decisions. it's easier said than done and it's critical. points of comparison are broad, not just specific. you don't just want to be just the digital in health care, you want to be the best in digital in a broad accepts and look outside for ideas and what the broad competition is doing. >> and the beauty of that too is you can go to people who are not competitive to you, right? and have honest conversations about what are you doing, what tools are you using, how do you get your insights and learn from them. >> that's right. >> thank you both so much. >> thanks, jj.

this week's your biz selfie comes from long time your business fan brent pullman. thank you for watching, brent. he is president of midwest laboratories in omaha, nebraska. you can see him with his dad, founder and ceo and their 150 employees as they kick off a campaign called driving smart decisions. they provide analysis in data particularly for the agricultural and food industries. pick up your cell phone, take a cervically of you and your business and accepted it to us at your pwpbs@msnbc so we can feature you here on the show. or tweet it. include your name or, the name of the business, and the location. use the hashtag your biz selfie. thank you so much for joining us. we love hearing from you. if you have any questions or comments, suggestions or just want to say hi, send an e-mail to yourbusiness@msnbc.com. also, if you missed anything on today's show, go to

openforum.com/yourbusiness. we put everything up on the show and so much more for you. finally, don't forget to connect on on our social and digital media platforms too. remember to check out our podcast, been there, built that. i go in-depth with founders, entrepreneurs, decisionmakers how they get through the day running their businesses. until then, i'm jj ramberg. remember, we make your business our business. so that's the idea. what do you think? i don't like it. oh. nuh uh. yeah. ahhhhh. mm-mm. oh. yeah. ah. agh. d-d-d... no. hmmm. uh... huh. yeah. uh... huh. in business, there are a lot of ways to say no.

thank you so much. thank you. so we're doing it. yes. start saying yes to your company's best ideas. we help all types of businesses with money, tools and know-how to get business done. american express open. ♪ >> morning glory, america. i'm hugh hewitt. is is it a trade war or not? do we need the national guard at the border or not? what does it mean when john bolton arrives at the white house on monday on the back of russian sanctions and what the heck are we doing in syria? i will get an answer to that age-old question is the pope catholic? a new book about pope francis raises that question, as well as the even morin trying one, who does he and donald trump have in terms of