good morning. coming up, steve jobs had one. so did president trump and even albert einstein, how creating a work uniform may give you more time at work. a kentucky based interior designer discovers the key to acquiring customers is interviewing them and will this fireman convince hsn executives to let him sell his coffee on their net work? let's grow fast and work smart. that's all coming up next.

welcome to your business. this show dedicated to helping your growing business. in junior high and high school i wore a uniform to school and simply taking out that one decision what to wear probably saved me hundreds of hours a year that would have been spent sifting through my closet. wouldn't it be great to have a work uniform? we know some famous ceos that have adopted this idea, would we all get more work done if we didn't have to think about clothes or would it take awe way part of who we are? it seems easy for men, but what about women?

i set out to find out what a work uniform is all about. what do steve jobs, former president barack obama, mark zuckerberg and albert einstein have in common? they all embraced the idea of a work uniform. with so many daily decisions to make, they took one out of the mix. samantha known for her self-improvement expertise thinks they're on to something. >> how can that decision what to wear, how can that derail your day? >> it's already forced to make so many decisions today. we constantly rethink it. we're trying on different things and so it becomes this decision cycle of pain before we even get to work in the morning. >> choosing an outfit every day uses up energy and time and many people believe that kind of

brain power and those precious minutes are better spent on the more important decisions throughout the day. >> we can eliminate one decision if you have more energy for the things that matter. >> take the famous founder of apple and his trademark look, a black turtle neck, black shoes. steve jobs liked a uniform for the daily convenience. the former leader of the free world alternated between gray and blue suits so he could free up his mind and mornings for more pressing manners. >> i'm trayiying to pair down decisions. >> and the founder of facebook likes grey t-shirts would be an understatement. he once said quote, i feel like i'm not doing my job if i spend

any of my energy on things that are frivolous about my life. it's clear it can work for men, but what about women? don't we have the pressure to look different every day? i went to meet the cofounder of cuyana, a company that focuses on fewer better things. >> could she help me put together my version of a work uniform? >> i grew up wearing a uniform to school and i wish i had a uniform. >> to me it feels like that would clear out half of my morning. >> i think women know that if they wear that they're going to feel great. the woman who feels confident is unzstoppable and she knows what she's going to do that day and she can plan effectively. >> this sounded perfect to me. for my uniform, she first focused on top. >> the silk t is one of my

favorite pieces because it dresses up and down so seamlessly. we also do make this in other beautiful shades and we'll have some for you to try on. and then just a very nice beautiful wrap skirt. so a wrap skirt we love because it fits many different body types. it's very easy and fluid throughout the day. we have an extra tie so you can keep this closed and if you're going out at night if you want to loosen it up you can. >> let's give it a shot. >> my uniform. >> it looks beautiful. >> i mean, what i love about this as a uniform is it's pretty and it's not in your face so you could wear it every day. >> exactly. >> but it has a little personality to it. >> it feels totally appropriate for work. it feels appropriate to go out for drinks with somebody afterwards. >> do you think it would be less

complicated in the mornings. >> a thousand times. this is exactly what i think of. >> is this my look? are you going to be seeing me in some version of this outfit on the show every week for the next year? we'll see. but if i am, know that it's because i'm spending all that extra brain power on something much more important. >> i'm here in florida at the campus of hsn, the original television shopping network and i'm here for our elevator pitch segment. and the stakes are huge and our pitcher is going to show our product to two executives from hsn. the second one is the head of qc quality control. if there's something wrong with the product he is going to know about it. if he gets the on air signs,

they get to pitch their product to 91 million households. this could be life changing. mike, hi. >> so nice to meet you. >> good to see you. the paramedic coffee guy. what's the name of your product? >> fire house coffee. >> okay. and what will it mean to you to be on hsn? >> this is life changing. this is huge. it's an unbelievable opportunity and i can't thank you enough. >> do not thank me. you're the one who's put in how many years of work into this? >> we've been in the coffee business for about 11 years. >> you'll have a chance to pitch to two people who decide if you will be on hsn where you'll have the chance to sell to millions of people and they're going to hear what you have to say. i know you're going to do great. >> thank you. >> hi, how are you? >> hi, we're fine. >> i'm from allentown, pennsylvania. nice to meet you. i got you some fire house

coffee. you're more than welcome to enjoy. >> we'll try it out. >> i got a flavor. >> i hope you like it. that's our rum and caramel coffee. >> wild rum. >> one for me. >> no alcohol. it's all flavors. >> go ahead. >> as a paramedic i work long nights and challenging days drinking and depending on a lot of bad tasting coffee. merging my passions i created fire house coffee, a gourmet coffee centered around paramedics, doctors, nurses and police officers. it offers great tasting coffee. here are some of the coffees that we offer. cpr, 911 coffee is our sumatra medium roast. every day i go to work and help people at the time of need.

today you the buyers have the opportunity to help a paramedic resuscitate his small brand and turn it into a reality. thank you for the consideration. >> all right. the last thing you said to me before you went on is i hope you don't mess up and you did not mess up. >> you did a great job. >> thank you so much. >> i want to hear feedback from you guys. >> first of all, fantastic pitch. you talked about your benefits, you talked about some of your features. love the names. >> coffee, good. right? i love -- i love coffee and you know, really creative with your names. you have this strong commitment to first responders and that comes through in your product. you're in a highly competitive market in terms of premium coffee so to be able to stand

out is extremely important so how you get that affinity with your future customers. >> it smells so good. >> i want to ask, what are your retails? >> it averages on the size of the bag, so anywhere from 11.95 to 12.95 a bag depending on the size. a 12 ounce bag might be 8.75 to 9.50. >> i'm going to let you two talk for a little bit. they're going to decide if you get the chance to go on hsn and sell your product to millions of people and you guys chat. thank you and you're providing two things people really need. their lives as a paramedic and coffee. and you've been working on this for how long? >> about 11 years. >> all right. here, the moment we can look on the on air sign to see, will you have a chance to sell on hsn? >> unfortunately, not.

i think it's a great product. it's a highly competitive market. i'm just not sure it's right for hsn, our customer and our audience, buzz really i think you've got the right start within the market that you're working. i think -- think about growing from that organically expand. >> ek o -- okay. >> you can continue to grow and maybe then we'll see when our local supermarkets. >> i want to know from two people who have tasted this, how did it taste? >> i loved the taste. i will tell you i will be a consumer. i just think right now our space on air is very crowded with coffee. we have a lot of locally grown and so from a price point and fitting into our mix right now probably not right but i'm going to say probably not right right now. >> thank you for the consideration and what an

opportunity. thank you. >> a pleasure. >> so a good product. a great product. >> thank you. i appreciate it. >> not the right fit for this but does not mean not the right fit anywhere. thank you for coming on to this show and sharing this with us. >> i'm going to take one of these to go. >> absolutely. >> all right. come on out. all right. how do you feel? >> i feel good. disappointed obviously, but you know what, what an opportunity and i think it's hopeful that maybe one day something will come along and blow it up. >> and i think really it all comes down to what's in there? what's in the cup and do people like the coffee and it sounds like so far you've gotten great feedback on that. >> we have a lot of customers and we're going to keep plugging. >> i wish you the best of luck. >> thanks so much. >> as a business owner you're answering questions all the time trying to make sure that your

customers and staff get the information they need. well, one kentucky based interior designer is mar than happy to answer any questions her customers have as well as they're able to answer her questions as well. >> liz really i believe listened to what we had to say and did exactly what beneeded. >> i tould tecould tell she anda very good match. i think she has a great way of matching her clients to the product they want. >> they know that liz makes it her business to ask a lot of questions. the owner of polka dots and rose buds interiors discovered early on that she needed to dig deeper and learn more about her clients' wants and needs. >> i didn't think i needed a psychology decree to decorate

someone's home, but you do. you really have to understand somebody. >> she came to the realization that every conversation is crucial when it comes to connecting with the right customer for her company. >> as a young business owner you want to help anyone but after a couple times of experiencing, you know, someone who really wasn't a great fit and that was the point where it was like okay, we need to have some questions and get a little bit deeper in the beginning and not be halfway through the process before rerealized this is not going to work. >> which is why liz interviewed her clients about the homes, store fronts and offices they wanted to decorate or renovate. >> it's not something that's an interrogation. it's just very conversational and they're natural questions that pertain to the project. >> liz knows how to get customers talking. she has her list of go-to questions to get the ball rolling. >> who's using the space and we also need to know about budget, what they're wanting to spend. >> the process is much like a

job interview. a simple phone call is the first step. in some cases it's the last one as well. >> not everyone who calls is a good fit. we may not be able to service them the way that we want so we have to figure that out before we meet with them. >> if liz thinks there's potential she schedules a time to chat in person. the answers can make or break the relationship. as liz sees it, there isn't only one right answer to her questions. she knows everyone's style is different, but the responses set the tone and the timing for the rest of the project. >> usually from seeing the space and coming up with a plan, that's maybe two to three weeks time so it's very important that we're clicking and that we understand each other fully in the beginning and we know what we're getting ourselves into. >> from that point forward, the questions get more detailed so that liz can come up with a game plan and create a look. >> we have to ask them specific questions like colors they like,

patterns they like. more importantly, what they don't like because that can be a little bit more telling. >> hr primary concern is giving clients what they want and not what she thinks they might want. liz also tries to identify the decision maker in her client interviews. >> sometimes it's a tug of war and a balancing act between a husband and a wife to be able to say, you know, well, she really likes this. i don't like that. so whose upon is going to win out? what do we have to do to balance that? >> it doesn't happen often but liz will turn down jobs base on the outcome of her interview. >> just like the customers need to know themselves you need to know yourself as a business owner. there's a gut reaction and you can just tell and if i get that feeling we don't do it. >> liz' customers get the sense that the interview process has made her a better listener. >> when you meet somebody gnaw and you're trying to -- you want

the the others to understand, i still remember the the day i came to the office to show us what they had learned from us and it was exactly on. >> i think she's listened to me and translated that into something phenomenal for the decor in my home. >> liz says she'll continue to ask, listen and learn from her customers. she believes it's the best way to give her customers top notch service. >> i want to leave them with a good feeling based on our experience. i work very hard to do that with compliants. the communication doesn't stop, it keeps going and that was just the foundation for it. >> tennessee yea years ago my n did away with the human resources department. he had a mock funeral and everything.

he's the founder of gee companies. so good to see you. i am fascinated by this particularly because you have 2,000 people working for you not including contractors. >> yeah, all around the world. >> so you need someone who's thinking about human resources but you guys do it in a different way. tell me what you've put in place. >> hr wasn't working for us especially in a fast growing company. so the elements of hr were about managing the the lowest underperforming people and it -- and you manage to the lowest common denominator and we wanted to learn how to manage our stars and the other part of hr that's really important is how you manage your culture. so we decided we wanted those two elements to be the main part of what used to be hr and we

formed a talent agency. >> the person who has the ability to find the stars and manage them and we'll talk about how you do that in a second, is not necessarily the same team who has the skills to be in charge of culture. they're put together under hr, but it is truly two different skills. so let's talk about first what the star agency does. how we look at managing those people upper out which is a very hard thing to do when you're a new company and you're trying to create a great culture. >> forget a new company. when it's an existing company it's harder i think. >> top people want to work with other stars and every company's goal should be to put a star in every seat. >> so how does the talent agency do this typically than a hr

department? >> they manage people completely differently. we look at how we recruit, how we train, how we write ads because we're looking for a certain type of too. we're doing this in a way to try to get the best people. >> i think they are trying to get the best skills to do a job and we find we need people that fit our culture. we believe we can teach anybody anything. but people have to fit within our team and our teams to develop high developing team that the demand excellence, you need a certain type of people for every team. so culture fit. and we've created the g-factor which is an interview process after you've been, you know, interviewed by all of your directors, vps, you've been decided on the candidate, you are interviewed by three random people on culture fit that didn't he know what level you are applying for, or the position, and you are being interviewed. and if you fail culture fit, you can never be hired again.

>> that is so interesting. >> everyone has bought this by the concept, so when someone gets a job, they feel like they have been approved by the rest of the company and everyone welcomes people because they are part of our culture. >> i love that. if you have a strong enough culture that everyone fits, yeah, they should be able to be interviewed by anyone. so good. okay. another thing you talk about that the talent agency does is recognize the brilliant jerks. those are hard people to get rid of. >> it is actually bringing them in. brilliant jerks when they come in, they promise all kinds of great things. sometimes they can bring lines of business, new partners, sometimes they come from your competitors or sometimes they come with new ideas or new concepts. and you might want those skill. but it is not worth it on your culture if they don't fit. >> so this is so fascinating. >> the jerk can become a cancer

in the organization. >> and this is where the final interview comes in. let's say i'm in charge of ad sales and here is this guy who comes from my competitor, he's done a killer job over at the competitor. >> not worth it. >> and i want him more than anyone. but he goes to three people not in the department and -- >> happens all the time. >> i'm so happy that you stopped by. that is such a need tip. >> thanks for having me. we have launched the second season of our podcast been there built that. and this week we are talking to the founder of hit water. she told us how when her doctor told her she was pre-diabetic, she quit diet soda and it inspired her. if you listen to it, please give us some feedback. the pod xcast is still pretty n and we love hearing what you think. you can find it wherever you you got your podcasts. still to come, is there is a down side to being the sole owner of a business?

and our expert tells us why you may not want to try to do everything yourself. the line between work and life hasn't just blurred. it's gone. that's why you need someone behind you. not just a card. an entire support system. whether visiting the airport lounge to catch up on what's really important. or even using those hard-earned points to squeeze in a little family time. no one has your back like american express. so no matter where you're going... we're right there with you. the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it. don't live life without it.

as we continue to grow our company and maybe we're meeting with potential partners, is there is a down side to being a sole owner? >> when you think about whether or not there are up sides or down sides to being a sole own he, you have to think about what it is that your goals are. as sole own, you have full responsibility, full control and full account ability. as you think about bringing on additional partner, you want to think about how much you want to relinquish that. what is it that you need? do you need additional capital, additional experience, do you need support in places where you are currently not doing business? be creative about how you bring on partners. talk to your financial as well as your legal professionals about what the best structure would be if you potentially bring on partners. but understand that ultimately if you want to maintain control, stay a sole owner. >> we now have top two tips to help you grow your business. let's introduce our panel.

allie web from dry bar. they have stores across the united states. revenue that tops $100 million. and josh reeves is ceo of gusto, a payroll company supporting 60,000 companies nationwide. valued at more than $1 billion. so congratulations to both of you. you both started it, so you have seen these companies through. through your journey, what is one tip you think other people need to know? >> i think as a founder of a very small company, which is all i really thought dry bar was going to be, i think we learned early on the importance of bringing in people who know things that you don't and bringing on people who are smarter than you who have skillsets and expertise in things that you don't. for us it was important to bring in people to help us grow and scale and not mess it up really. >> but was it tricky? because this is your vision. and then to have people say you should do this, do this. was it complicated at times to

say okay you do that? >> as founder, it is the hardest personally of growth for me is allowing other people to make decisions. but i think you really seek out good people that you feel like are aligned with your values and your culture and vision. and you have to trust them. unfortunately, they don't always make the decision you might have made, but i think in order to grow your company and your culture, you want to give those people the opportunity to shine and make decisions on their own. >> and fail on their own. >> it's how you learn. >> so my one tip would be not to do all the heavy lifting yourself. a lot of small businesses are wearing 20 different hats and some of those are definitely worth wearing. things like improving the product quality, giving a great experience to your customers, hiring great people. but in some of those hats like doing all the taxes, filings, all the pavements by hand are actually not worth doing and are not how you stand out, but are necessary.

so find the t trusted partner. and that is why we started gusto to make those things much easier for the companies. >> on that note, i always say running a business, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. so much of sort of the logistics of running a business, either you can outsource to someone like you, or find an adviser or friend who has done it before and then you concentrate on the stuff that is just about your business. >> highest and best use. we've had that conversation so much internally that you want people to have experience in things that you you don't know how to do. and it should be a partnership. you should work together to make sure that everything does stay intact the way you want to be, but i agree, you have you to let other people into help you build your company. >> a lot of these folks again, they didn't start the company because they wanted to do taxes. they wanted to offer a product or service or serve their community or hire a great team. and that is the way they stand out. >> and it could be anything. i need a payroll service, go ask

everyone what payroll service you are using. don't spend your time researching it. >> there is internet, social media. >> thank you guys so much. great to hear advice from people who have seen so many stages of business. >> thank you. can you tell where this week's your biz selfie is located? this is susan stone, owner of hired hands massage, obviously located in las vegas. she is seen here with two of her therapists and two show girls at the opening of a vegas golf club at which they are providing massages. why don't you pick up your smartphone, take a selfie of you and your business and send it to us. include your name, the name of your company, and its location. we love seeing the photos. don't forget to use #yourbizselfie. thank you so much for joining us. we love hearing from you. if you have any questions or comments about today's show,

just send an e-mail to yourbusiness@msnbc.com. also if you missed anything today, head to our website, msnbc.com/your business. we've put up all the segments from today and a whole lot more. and there is more on all of our digital and social media platforms as well. and remember to check out the podcast been there built that. we look forward to seeing you next time. until then, remember we make your business our business. it's pretty amazing out there. the world is full of more possibilities than ever before. and american express has your back every step of the way- whether it's the comfort of knowing help is just a call away with global assist. or getting financing to fund your business.

no one has your back like american express. so where ever you go. we're right there with you. the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it. don't live life without it. very good morning to all of you. i'm alex witt. 8:00 a.m. here in the morning. 5:00 a.m. out west. here is what is happening. maybe, maybe not. what a new report is saying about the chances of the president agreeing to be interviewed by special counsel robert mueller. michael cohen's new strategy, what the hiring of a new attorney means and could there be a greater chance of him flipping on the president. lost. the trump administration says it cannot locate the parents of 38 young immigrant children. whether an extended deadline would provide the help that is needed, we'll see.

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