you a front row seat to the billboard music awards, including throwback clips from some of your favorite artists. the 2018 billboard music awards, sunday, may 20th. only on nbc. coming up on msnbc's "your business" -- the second generation of an auto repair center comes out to his family and colleagues changing mind and culture. and why you have to keep reinventing your brand and why she often rehires people she fired. and linda mcmahon kicks off business week. let's grow fast and work smart. coming up next on "your business."

msnbc "your business" is sponsored by american express. don't do business without it. ♪ "your business" is sponsored by american express. don't do business without it. ♪ hi there, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg, welcome to "your business." the show dedicated to helping your growing business. who you are as a person and your life experiences have a lot to do with shaping you as a leader. one arizona business owner, based on authenticity and respect. he said this in large part was influenced by his decision to come out at work and channel his experiences from when he was in the closet to better understand his customers. ♪

>> it was a different industry back in the day. and i grew up, you know, in the old school ways. i was scared. >> he remembers all too well repeating conversations from his auto repair business with his son. >> i called him at colleague. i had no idea. that's what went on in this business. >> what glenn didn't realize to brian those jokes may not have been so funny. >> when i realized i had done it, i started to cry what i was putting my son through. >> brian moak came out to his parents when he was a junior in college. >> it's in my blood. basically since i was 2 i've been coming to work with my dad. he made like a playpen out of tires. i would literally hang out with him. >> his plan bass to join the family business. but he knew as an openly gay man, it was going to be tough. >> it was not today.

it was 15 years ago. if i wasn't the boss' kid i probably wouldn't be as welcome as i was so that set me on a mission to really open up our environment. >> brian now owns that same chicago repair auto repair business but he's changed the name and the company culture. >> i love the business that i'm in. i love the fact that i can be who i am and i won't settle for less. a culmination of the journey i had been on. >> and shattering stereotypes. >> i kind of get a shock out of it, because you don't think you'll have a gay mechanic. i'm not a mechanic, i'm not the one working on your car, but still, that some the impression people have of this industry. >> road to the heart hasn't been easy. brian remembers what it was like to return to the shop after his father told the staff his son was gay. >> i was a nevrvous wreck. i called a company meeting. and i said in the meeting.

brian was home over the weekend and this is what happened. i want it out there, i want all of you to know. >> glenn was admittedly worried. he couldn't help but wonder if his son would be a good fit for the business. >> a father's job is to protect their child. you know, it's not an easy industry for an openly gay man to be in. >> to be in this business, you had to be a mechanic first. if you weren't a good mechanic, you wouldn't be good at the business. brian was not a mechanic. >> but what brian could bring to the table was a fresh set of eyes and a personal journey that he was willing to translate into a business one. >> any individual that goes through a coming out process at some point in their life hears things that keeps them in the closet. anybody that knows me knows i don't take no for an answer. when someone says, you shouldn't do this, i say watch me. >> some of the feedback glenn got was troubling. glenn calls brian one of the

toughest guys he knows. >> i have loyal employees who said i feel so sorry for you you only have one boy, now you have none. these are guys you're paying. they're working for you. and he's going to work with them. >> even after catching a gruen of employees early on mocking him behind his back, brian wouldn't be stopped. he realized what strengths he brought to the company. >> when you're in the closet and you grow up that way, you learn how to be a chameleon. you learn how to judge the situation. how to find out who is a friend, who is a foe, who you can trust and who you can't. that enabled me to create a new approach with how we deal with people. doing something that felt unique in an industry that is not about feeling. >> that approach centers on the understanding that everyone, each employee, each customer counts. >> the heart of who we are is acceptance. and so, everybody is welcome here. how do we make someone feel good

about something that isn't a feel good. we've actually looked at this as we're in the hospitality business. we just happen to fix cars. >> brian harnessed the vulnerability of being a gay man and connecting it with someone walking into the someone. >> it wasn't about them being gay or straight or whatever it may be. it was the vulnerability of coming in, being told they need something. not understanding, being kind of afraid. >> the solution was to remove that fear by folding the customers more fully into the process. and taking the time to explain everything. that starts with taking pictures of potential repairs and talks through the images. >> people don't know what we're talking about. it's the big uncertainty that they're worried about. the pictures show more transparency. it's just that we're trying to be more open i guess. >> in addition to setting the bar high, brian does the same thing for the employees.

he offers health care and fun extracurricular activities. >> brian every time he sees you is going to greet you and ask you, how's your family, how are things? it's sincere. >> i love that i feel like vie a voice. that i matter. i really feel i matter. he cares about customers. he cares about his employees. >> as much as brian has committed himself to being authentic in the workplace he expects the same of his team. the number of lgbtq employees is now at a new high. >> if someone can be who they are, they will do an outstanding job of taking care of their customers because they're not doing it in a fake way. >> brian says there are still stumbling blocks to his mission. but he wouldn't change a thing. >> if someone doesn't like who i am, i kind of feel it's their loss. if i was still in the closet, i

don't think i'd do anything today the way i do it now. not a single thing. because it's stifling, suffocating. i wouldn't be someone that cherishes the freedom of being who i am. ♪ i'm here in floridale at the campus of hsn. the original television shopping network and i'm here for the elevator pitch segment. and this is a big deal because the stakes are huge. and our pictures are going to show their products to at hsn. one runs the american dreams programs which finds entrepreneurs in all over the country and brings them on to the show. the second one is the head of qk, quality control, if there's something wrong with the product, he's going to know about it. if they get the on air sign from their executives, that means they get to pitch their product on hsn to the 91 million households. this could be life changing. christie, it is so good to see

you. >> thank you. >> congratulations on making it this far. >> thank you. >> what is the name of your product? >> it's a chair, a portable indoor/outdoor camping style chair for babies. >> i'm going to let you do the whole pitch to hsn. >> you're talking to two people. what does it mean to get to come to be potentially on hsn? >> well, it's every consumer product person's dream to be on hsn. for me also, it's my children. i have five girls. they can see what i've accomplished with the product. >> one thing you didn't say is you're a grandmother. which is so crazy. >> look at you. you're a grandmother. five girls and one little boy going to watch you on tv. good luck. >> thank you. >> hello, dara. >> hello.

>> i'm christy from atlanta. >> nice to meet you. >> i'm here to show you the go with me chair. we are a family on the go with five kids i'm completely outnumbered. oftentimes, i just needed a safe place to set the baby down. and that's why i created the go with me chair. it's the perfect parking spot for your baby or big kid wherever life takes you, the soccer field. the beach. vacation, camping, grandma's house or your kitchen. this indoor/outdoor camp style chair was designed so your baby could safely sit and relax using the five-point harness. but my favorite feature is the standing option. you pull back the seat cover, exposing the leg holes and baby can stand and relax safely. and for your big kids, up to eight years old. you just take off the harness completely and it becomes a big kid chair. also comes with a removable tray

and sun bonnet. in a camp style bag. it's the perfect parking spot for your baby or big kid and i can even sit in the chair. >> wow, that is a strong chair. by the way, this was spoken as a true mom. because you start this thing out by saying it's a place to park the kid. >> right. absolutely. >> and who doesn't want to park their kid. >> you did a really good job. >> thank you. >> let's hear from you guys. what's some feedback. >> speaking personally, i have two kids. this would have been fantastic tour kids as they were growing up. i do think it's very innovative. it's different and unique. >> you know what, i think it's a really great portable solution that's out there for the mom and the family on the go. there's -- you know, as you probably know, a lot of heavy regulation on children's products. so, we would just want to make

sure that we have all of the testing in place to make sure it meets all of its requirements. >> i'm holdi ining on to you hes you quite see what happens. congratulations on the fabulous pitch. now we get to find out do you have the chance to sell this in front of millions of people on hsn. you talk to each other on hsn. and then we will find out. now, we have a chance. if you can just look over here for a second. and we will see, do you have the chance to be on hsn. oh, not this time. >> oh. >> but it is -- this is not -- >> go with me. not grow with me for a moment. okay. so, i really like your product. and i think we were just talking, matt could probably help us get this through the qa and the testing.

>> sure. >> i think i'm going to probably do something that we've never done before on hsn, so for american dreams what we've never done is we've never done a test just to see what our audience says. >> okay. >> so what i'd like to do, i'd like to create a promo, put the product on air. see if our customers like it. drive them to digital. and we go with what our customers tell us if they like the product. if they do, i'm going to have you back on air with your product. >> all right. >> will you help me with the test? >> absolutely. >> okay. >> can we get there? >> we'll get there. >> this is not a no. that is a we're going to wait and see. it's a test. all of you watching, you should go -- if you think this is a good product. let hsn know. >> okay. >> it's an opportunity. >> absolutely. >> we're here to make dreams

happen. that's what we're doing. >> you did a fantastic job. thank you for coming on. i think this is such a neat product. >> thank you. >> let's head on out here. >> all right. so that must have been a little bit of a roller coaster. >> it was. but they're going to give me the chance, you know. once in a lifetime test opportunity. that's better than a no. >> oh, my god, it's so much better than a no. by the way, your product -- as any mother or father knows or caregiver, that product is great. so the question is is it great for hsn? >> right. >> the audience is going to let them know it's perfect. congratulations again. good job. >> thank you. happy nationals love week. it kicks off with a number of workshops health jointly by the small business organization and the score organization. joining me from the white house is sba administrator linda

mcmahon. thanks for being with us. >> absolutely. >> tell us what you're going to be doing. >> well, it's national small business week. and we're going to kick off our ceremonies on sunday at the institute for peace. we'll be welcoming our district corrector sba from around the country. we're also welcoming our state winners for small business of the year award. and we'll have ceremonies on sunday evening. i think on friday, the president will sign the proclamation of national small business week. we'll have ceremonies on sunday and monday. on monday evening, i'll fly down to jacksonville, florida, we'll meet with our district office there. we'll visit a small business. the sunshine peanut company where they make peanut butter. and then we'll go up the coast, virginia to south carolina and north carolina on friday. and on friday, i'll get to give

the commencement address at my alma mater, east carolina university. it will be quite a week. we're going to be on a bus tour coming from florida so look out for the sba bus, celebrating national small business week. so, it's going to be a lot of fun. for the first time, we're going to have like a three-day virtual conference where we'll be giving seminars, different instructional videos. it will be great. we'll be doing live streaming. my team doesn't know it yet but a may tee them up to do live facebook on the road. >> when you talk about it that you're trying to help solve for, what do you see out there? >> well, i can tell you, a few months ago, the number one issue we heard was tax cuts. they wanted to see tax cuts come through. with the president's assurance to them that we were going to cut taxes. and then when tax cuts were

passed, the businesses i've talked to said where they're taking that money, they're reinvesting in businesses. or they're opening another branch or they're producing more goods and services. increasing wages, all of those good things. >> this is a fantastic week. good luck on all you're doing that week on behalf of all small business owners for recognizing what they do. >> thank you so much. for more than two decades iconic designer nicole miller has remained an unstoppable force in the fashion world. her designs are adored by hollywood and music's elites southwest fans across the globe. she took us behind the scenes at her headquarters and opened up about the secret staying power in this learning from the pros. ♪ >> i want the brand to always stay young. and i don't want it to ever look like a tired brand. because i think some brands get

tired. and it's their end. the longer you're in business, you always have to reinvent yourself. and you get type cast. a lot of people think we do dresses. i haven't done dresses for 15 years. we try to do that with instagram and posts on our website and the runway show. we always like to turn everything upside down and change things. ♪ >> when we have meetings, it's more like a pow-wow. maybe not always talking about problems or ideas. you may just be talking about fun things. or things that happened last night. but it's good to get everybody bonded. it could be talk about a great restaurant you went to. or something you saw last week. it's good to have communication and make everybody comfortable and have story telling.

and then after that you can accomplish what you have to accomplish. i think maybe sometimes we're so stiff. and our meetings aren't like that. >> i have great bonds with so many girls that worked here. at least once a month i meet some of my ex-employees for a meal. a lot of employees have come here and they've work here for a while. and they've moveed on to other companies, but the funny thing is, sometimes, they come back. there is one girl has left for about a year and she go, i hate my job, can i come back? quite often, i rehire people. i've actually rehired people that i've fired. yeah, situations change and they come back here. ♪ >> we started having design lunches. maybe 20 years ago. and pretty soon, everybody wanted in on the lunch. before we knew it we were making lunch for everybody. very often, it's a good place to

congregate and have a casual conversation. it's great because it puts everybody on the same level, whether you're a seller or cutter or sales team or design team. everybody up for lunch. it's just evolved. it's something that everybody looks forward to on friday is their big lunch. i've done fashion shows for like 20 years or. so we used to go crazy. we would stay up all night. we didn't have the right shoe size, didn't the right clothes. we were in a panic. we don't do that anymore. we don't get stressed. it's a waste of time. everybody is agung-ho team play. i just love coming to the office every day. some of my friends say do you really like work every day and i go yeah. i love coming to work every day.

i feel like i'm coming to a beauty store. there's fabrics and there's colors and there's fun things to do all the time. great. i have the best will time here. >> we have launched this second is season of our podcast, been there, built that. and this week we're talking to andy dunn, founder of bonobo is s. andy tells me what it was like to build a company when everyone was telling him it wouldn't work. and he gave his team a big pep talk at an all hands meeting and it completely fell flat. it is a good listen, and i hope you all get a chance to listen to it. the podcast is still pretty new, and i would love to hear what you think. listen for free. been there, built that. you can find it on apple podcast on or wherever you get your podcasts. when we come back, as a ceo, how

do you handle customers that only want to work with you, not anyone else on your team. is and why being told no can actually be a good thing. ♪ ♪ (baby crying) ♪ ♪ don't juggle your home life and work life without it. ♪ ♪ and don't forget who you're really working for without it. ♪ ♪ funding to help grow your business... ♪ ♪ another way we have your back. ♪ ♪ the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it.

how do i continue to provide customer service and at the same time be the ceo of my company where still the the customers want me personally? >> there are three steps here. the first one is get somebody who actually will be the the customer service point of contact. if you haven't already gotten somebody, you need to find someone, nominate someone. secondly, start with new incoming clients and customers. set aside the existing ones for a moment. they have a method of working with you that will be hard to disturb them, they are sort of glued. from everyone here on in, start from day one by saying this is joanna, or whatever it is going to be, and she will is be your contact for all of your customer client service is. the third step is to slowly wean yourself after from the existing customers who are currently dependent on you. just do it quietly, one customer

at a time, get a little busy. defer one or two issues to jenny whoever your new person is, and let her take over from there. look at it from a six month to one-year process, and you'll get there. >> we now have the top two tips you need to help you grow your business. let's introduce our panel and get their advice is. the co-founder, chairman and ceo of clear, the biometric company that helps you get through airports and stadiums fast. and the daily newsletter that simplifies wall street headline. i love to have you two together. it is entirely different paths and different kinds of companies. you bought a company out of bankruptcy and scaled it. and you started yours as a side project in school and have grown it. let's start with you, karen. one tip. >> one tip is that innovation is about bringing people they did not know what they want. you get a lot of nos.

you have to term them into yeses. they are just times to pivot. >> how do you know that no -- you started your company, or you bought clear and you got a lot of nos from airports not wanting to work with you. >> yes. >> you didn't have to pivot the idea of the company. >> but you have to pivot how you're sharing information. better to meet in person, than on the phone. better to send them data or something that makes them know more about you. better to bring customers in. what did i do that i didn't express the opportunity to you. >> one thing i also think is when you get a no, people might be interested in what you have to offer later but they forget about you. having a newsletter or checking in with people often to, hey, i'm here again is really smart. >> and most importantly, knowing what's important to you. clear is about security. it's about customer experience. it's about creating jobs in cities. what are your priorities and how

do i bring our story to you and what matters to you. >> put yourself in the shoes of every single pepper you're talking to. >> everyone is busy. they don't want to hear about you. they want to hear what you can do for them. >> very true. next? >> always is ask for one more. we have incredible interactions with the thousands that read every day. we get testimonials. when we ask for feedback, it is a gift. it led us to develop features that are now some of the most popular items in our daily newsletter. >> how do you ask them for one more? how do you continue the conversation. >> people tend to think just because they sent one e-mail, there is a disconnect. that's it. the relationship ends. just very openly and honestly. as a co-founder you have a commitment to your reared, your customer. simply writing back and saying we would love to get your thoughts on other things we could be doing seems simple. very few people actually do it. when we have done that we developed our fact of the day,

our new job postings, focusing on international business to make them accessible. >> right. >> they came from pushing back to get more info from your customers. >> basically free brainstorming for you. >> you're almost crowdsourcing in a way. >> you also have this thing with e-mail, getting e-mails from people and then calling them, which follows up on this. >> i think there's two pieces. we are obsess issed with the customer experience. asking customers their feedback gives you a big view into what is going on in reality in your business. you used to get one person's perspective. now you can get holistic. it can be dangerous. people can say anything in a faceless, nameless way in writing. but when you call them on the phone, and we got he mails when we relaunched clear, people were right offully upset how the company went away. i called all of them. getting them on on the phone and hearing my voice created constructive dialogues that were

incredibly helpful. >> and trust. there is someone on the other side that actually cares. thank you. good seeing both of you. this week's your biz selfie comes from clarence rod well who owns llewdor gardens microgreens. he delivers to a local restaurant. i think i see basil and kale. send us your selfie to yourbusiness@msnbc.com or tweet it to@msnbcyour biz. 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, just want to say hi, accepted us an e-mail at your business business@msnbc.com. or check out

msnbc.com/yourbusiness. we put up everything from the show today, plus a whole lot more for you. connect with us on our digital and social media platforms as well. check out our podcast been there, built that. you can find it on tune in or wherever you get your podcasts. we look forward to seeing you next time. until then, i'm jj ramberg. remember, we make your business our business. ♪ ♪ (baby crying) ♪ ♪ don't juggle your home life and work life without it. ♪ ♪ and don't forget who you're really working for without it.

♪ ♪ funding to help grow your business... ♪ ♪ another way we have your back. ♪ ♪ the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it. morning glory, america. i'm hugh hewitt. with a week in review show that could span a week itself rather than just 30 minutes, but to break it down i have four of the best in the beltway. courtney kube nbc news, alana shore of politico, eugene scott of the "washington post". before i go to the biggest stories of the week, john mccain is on the mind of so many, what is his legacy at the pentagon going to be? >> tough. very tough minded. well respected. he did