show me decorating shows. this is staying connected with xfinity to make moving... simple. easy. awesome. stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and two-hour appointment windows. click, call or visit a store today. good morning. coming up on your business. why this l.a.-based media company is calling itself the uber of contact creation and how to turn content into sales. we'll show you how these two women entrepreneur rs disrupting the medical scrub industry and changing the way doctors and nurses suit up. plus, changes revitalizing retail and getting customers into stores. when it comes to your business, we have your back. that's all coming up next on "your business."

>> announcer: msnbc "your business" is sponsored by american express. don't do business without it. hi everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg. welcome to your business, the show dedicate today helping your growing business. we know how important it is to keep your social feeds full of fresh pictures and stories. creating all that content can be time consuming and expensive. we met up with an entrepreneur who found a way to keep up with content and keep down the costs. he's done it by enlisting armies of customers to supply the content and earn money for themselves, uber-style. >> the first one we developed was a credible razor that has

everything you need to shave on the go. >> los angeles-based lela -- she developed this razor. she developed a company to market her invention. >> social media demands fresh images and fresh videos on all the platforms all the time. that, layla, discovered can cost thousands of dollars just for a single professional location shoot. >> costing $5,000 and getting 630 photos at the park with one or two models. >> that expensive old school approach to getting advertising images worked well for traditional media because people spent a lot of time looking at each magazine and newspaper. >> i have memories of my grandfather reading the newspaper. how many pictures did he see? >> he says today's approach

towards media is very different. >> the next generation will flip their finger up and look at maybe 50 or 60 different images and videos in a couple seconds. >> according to facebook, the average time spent on a mobile phone video, only 1.7 seconds. >> that's the window you have to get someone to listen to you. as long as in that 1.7 seconds i can capture your attention, you will watch more of my video. >> david says capturing viewer attention isn't the hardest part. >> which one do you like? >> what's harder is keeping their attention once they're watching. >> today we live in a world where content fatigue is a real iss issue. at a certain point i stop paying attention to your message. i'm out of here. >> the problem of capturing and holding attention may seem baffling to many of us. but for david, solution is obvious. >> there's 3 billion smartphones on this planet.

can we create a marketplace with uber or airbnb and empower people to create great quality content. his company helps large and small brands build their feeds with custom tailored pictures. he does this by bringing together picture taking consumers and the brand they love to film. >> it's a world where people want to hear from one another. a young mom can create content for other young moms. >> people mostly want to watch other people who look and sound like themselves. they tune out if they can't identify. this isn't news. advertisers have known this for a long time. >> you can save 180 calories today and every day without going on a diet. >> without going on a diet? >> that's right. >> the difference is that group identities are more narrower and more personalized. soccer fans don't want to hear from baseball fans. dog owners don't want to hear from cat owners.

the technology allows the groups to find and create that specialized peer to peer content just for themselves. >> the beauty of technology is that now it can give the -- microphone or camera. >> this means advertisers need hundreds of individualized messages reflecting the identities of each group of customers. >> no brand is say of a multimillion dollar budget to make videos for all types of people that use my product. that's not happening. >> but now it is happening. with david's model, brands can get content created by members of all sorts of groups quickly and cheaply. >> we're giving them what they're looking for. content looks like it was made by friends and family. >> i can take whatever the item is, envision how i would use it in my life or how it affects me and then turn that into a story i want to portray in that image. >> kimberly is one of the

armies. she gets notified when a client needs her. if she decide to submit something, she gets paid. that's just the beginning. client like layla discovered that these content providers will also providing useful marketing data. >> you can say things like pick the color you want. they reply back saying -- wow, i know if i should launch with this color. >> the pictures themselves sometimes reveal new uses that you never imagined. >> we got a wide range of options that i could really help me think of different ways to market the brand. >> like many, this content on demand is both answering a new need and creating new answers. >> we all need water, we all need soap. we all need transportation. those needs will never go away. how we communicate the value of the needs has changed dramatically. that is 100% the future of advertising. no question about it. >> we're here in las vegas at

shop.org where we're talking about everything retail. i just took a walk through the innovation lab, which is showing everything new in retail. i took that walk with matt shea who is the head of the national retail federation. good to see you. >> good to see you to. >> it's so exciting to see what's going on in that innovation lab. i want you to share with the audience a few of the things that are the most forward looking. >> the i lab, the innovation lab is designed to showcase technologies and new applications that retailers are deploying to engage with nair customers. we know that in today's world, it's how you engage with your customer and marry the experience of being online, being on your phone, being in a physical location in a store, interacting with the inventory, the sales team and so the i-lab has a series of exhibits and companies representing the things they're doing in a whole

range of ways. it's transforming the experience. >> let's talk about the smart shelf. that i walked up to the shelf and it was looking at me. there are colors and points on me. they knew who i was. what are they doing in response? >> i think what technology like smart shelf or similar sorts of managing the inventory. thinking about pricing and placement of the product. >> they're also thinking about messaging, right? >> pushing messages out to you, getting data, what are you responding to, what kinds of things do you look excited about. where do your eyes go on the shelf. it helps with placement and pricing and the whole range of things. really important data. >> i know that when i am online, they know who i am and i'm getting an ad targeted directly to me. now they're bringing that same experience to a brick and mortar retail store. on that shelf, the message i'm getting is entirely different for me than for you. >> the data is -- as you go

through the store, you'll get messages and products placed and presented to you in a way that's appealing and of interest to you because they'll know what it is that -- that you like what it is you're looking for and what you want. that's going to enrich the experience and going to make customers happier. they want an efficient experience, they want to be engaged and related to in the way -- they don't want to be sold something they're not interested in. they want it presented to them and know that's what i'm looking for. >> the price is a different discussion. i want to let the audience know we're not getting into for this conversation. it is a discussion out there. >> yes. >> smart mirrors, fascinating. how does that work? >> so there are several different approaches to this. at the end of the day, i think the opportunity is for a retailer to say, if you want to try this vest on, how is it going to look and fit, what's it going to be like in a different color, what's the style look like? so you can, with a tablet device, you can go through the

tablet and see on the mirror how something would look on you, how it would fit, what the colors are like, different styles and you don't have to have all the inventory there. number one, it helps you with the inventory management and number two, it creates a unique experience, rather than putting on 50 different pieces. it thinks about how you accessorize it, with these shoes. >> to me more than anything as a person who is shopping and a person who hates shopping, that is the best thing i've ever heard. i can stand in front of a mirror and given 20 ou fits and i choose which one and never lifted a finger. >> i stood in front of one in new york at a store last week with a tablet in hand and picked out a swatch of fabric and saw what that fabric looked like in navy blue and brown, in a sport coat, in a suit with different shoes on. >> on you? >> on me on the mirror. it was really amazing. it was an expensive visit, too. >> why? >> because it worked. it sells things.

>> we know about this because the amazon stores because it feels a little bit weird. this ability to check out, pull something from the shelf and check out on your phone without ever talking to anyone or going to a centralized place for a checkout. i'm getting my advil, putting on my phone and walking out. >> not even your phone. >> you put it in your pocket and you walk out. if you have a small bag, you put it in your bag and walk out. >> one of the things we know, among the paying points in the retail relationship is the checkout -- the payment process. >> yes. waiting in line. that's where there's friction. how do we make that process as compressed and seamless as frictionless as possible? there are all kind of technologies around point of sale and around payments and around stores where it's just -- it's mobile checkout or frictionless checkout. it's unbelievable. >> any kid who has stolen a pack

of gum. no more. they know. your phone is going to be charged. >> it's fascinating. >> great to see you. congratulations on this fantastic show. >> thanks for being here. october is women's small business month. we've been commemorating it with stories of female founders. in california, two women saw a need when it came to the way doctors and nurses dressed. with a little creativity and vision, they decided to revolutionize the traditional scrubs. sheinelle jones goes inside the business as many are touting the lululemon of the medical world. >> spend a bit of time with these two women and it becomes apparent, this duo is in sync. >> heather brings the ideas and the vision and i make sure all the trains go on time. >> the entrepreneurs $100 million medical apparel company is disrupting a niche market transforming the scratch i

scrubs. >> it's been around a hundred years with no change and no innovation. scrubs, before figs were outdated. >> we're taking fashion and we're taking technical and we're combining it two one. speer the harvard mba andth former handbag designer joined forces to come up with a solution to gaping hole in the $10 billion u.s. market. >> we designed with thought and function. >> with purpose. >> yes, purpose. >> it wasn't an easy sell. >> there's a lot saying what are you doing? why are you making scrubs? >> everyone said are you nuts? now i think they're all pretty surprised with what we've created. >> a creation that was almost pre-destined they say. >> i loved designing and creating as a kid. >> i wanted to be different. you got to be a hustler a little bit when you grow up in miami. >> today that hustle was paying off who were on a mission to --

20% higher than competitors. this is the first directed consumer brand in their space. >> these are people saving lives and curing diseases and no company was there to deliver them a better product in a better experience. >> a better way of thinking that has donated half a million pairs of scrubs to medical professionals around the world through their giveback program threads for threads. >> it repels bacteria, stain repellant. four-way stroech. yoga waistband. similar to athletic wear for the athlete. >> touted by some as the lululemon of the medical world. >> having that maniacal focus on a health care professionals makes us who we are today. >> it's more risky in 2018 to not take risks and not be putting yourself out there in really scary ways than not.

>> being an entrepreneur, there's extreme highs and extreme lows. you really have to see the future. you have to create it and believe in something bigger than yourself. >> there's a lot of attention paid to the beginning when you launch a business and then the end when you sell the business or have an exit. the hardest part are the middle years. our guest knows this firsthand because he's led successful companies through their triumphs and setbacks during the course of their business ventures. >> he's the chief product officer at adobe. he's also a venture partner at benchmark capital. he has a new book out called the messy middle. finding your way through any bold venture. it's nice to see you and talk about this. it's kind of the least fun part to talk about. >> it's a largely misunderstood part of every venture that i

think need to have more discussion. >> you did it, right? you started your company from nothing. it got to this point where you have a great exit with adobe. you've been around pinterest, uber as they've grown. let's talk about book. build the narrative before your product. it sound like an early thing. but you're building products all around. >> i think a lot of teams and founders build the product as a solution for customers suffering a problem. but stopping and thinking about not only the brand itself but the narrative and putting together a splash page of how to present the product once it's launched starts to fill in a lot of the gaps what your product should be and develop the tone of it. who your customers are. sometimes you realize, wait a second, i don't know if we're going to have a good go to market story around this product. there are a number of successful entrepreneur who is have done

this. a camp who found it -- a co-founder at uber, he would think about the icon and the design of it and is it everyone's private driver, is it an aspirational brand or taxis on demand. is it in every person's brand. to finding that debate helps with the product itself. >> make one subtraction for every addition. i interviewed the founder -- co-founder of nail chip recently. he talks about one of the things he really does great is kills things off. >> it's funny. i call it the product life cycle. customers get super excited about a new, simple product because of its simplicity. that new product takes all of the new customers for granted. tune in to the needs for the greatest customers or the power users by adding complexity, adding more features, adding stuff that makes it a more premium product with higher willingness to pay and then what happens, customers flock to simple product. the cycle repeats itself again

and again. how do you maintain that simplicity as a zen of your product. one little trick is that every time you have a new feature or addition to make, you ask yourself, first of all, is there something live already that i would trade for this new feature. is there something i would take out? >> you're talking product specific about taking things out. that's so smart. you end up with a product that isn't so simple because you're adding so much stuff. >> it's hard to kill anything in your product or service, right? in writing, they call it dilg your darlings. anything you've made you have an affection towards. for every new thing we're going to do, we're going to stop doing something or take a fie teature of a digital product. it can help you scale. >> let's talk about leadership now. being a steward, you say, of your perspective. >> i liken the journey of those middle miles of a journey to

taking an endless, seemingless endless car ride with the windows blacked out. you don't know what milestones you're passing. however, if the driver is narrating you through the journey saying, hey, we just passed this milestone or this landmark, in your head you're saying, okay, i'm making progress. progress begets progress. as the leader of a new venture or small business, you are the day narrator of this journey for your team. it may sound superfluous and redundant -- >> no it makes perfect sense. people need to know why what they're doing is important and where it's headed even if there's not a particular end point. >> especially without near h-te reward. to get customers and to share, you have to in some ways short circuit the rewards system by walking people through the journey and narrating it.

internal merchandising is as important as external marketing. >> congratulations on the book and your career. >> thanks, jj. employee engagement begins with employee engagement begins with strong leaders, here are five ways to keep your employee active. >> pay attention to what people are saying, rephrase it and ask questions. this will show them that you are really listening. two, check in often. you got to get regular feedback from your staff and let them know that you care. setting up quarterly review will allow you to communicate with your staff in a professional way. >> three, be flexible with roles. if you have a great employee but they're in the wrong position, think about where else they can contribute and help them make the shift to the right job.

four, be personal, minimize distractions like your phone and try using people's name when speaking to them and give them a friendly smile. this will make you approachable as a boss. five, get social, building friendship outside of a work conversation makes people happy at work whether grabbing a coffee or a team's lunch. the effort is important. >> we have some news that i am excited about. we are about to launch the third season of our podcast, been there, built that. i talked to the ceo of beauty counter. she tells us how she picks things up and how she runs a beauty line and how red lipstick may move legislation. i found her incredibly interesting. if you do, please give me some

feedback and spread the word. it is called "been there. built that." you can find it where ever you get your podcast. we have advice for you how to hold meetings that actually accomplish something and why you should be managing your company like a sports team. don't forget that the past can speak to the future. ♪ ♪ i'm going to be your substitute teacher. don't assume the substitute teacher has nothing to offer... same goes for a neighborhood. don't forget that friendships last longer than any broadway run. mr. president. (laughing) don't settle for your first draft. or your 10th draft. ♪ ♪ you get to create the room where it happens. ♪ ♪ just don't think you have to do it alone. ♪ ♪ the powerful backing of american express. don't live life without it.

we have an e-mail from bill, he writes a lot of time can be wasted in meetings. what are your advice for scaling business to get your out come and not going around in circles. >> bill, it is a good question. warren buffett does not have anything on his calendar and he lose plenty of time to have people call him or calling others. i am sort of the same school. i think that you have to individually deal with your direct reports on an everyday basis to make sure everybody is in sync in the business plan. i like to call that playing business. people lead to play business less and do business more.

we have the top two tips you need to know to help you grow your business. >> scott harrison, founder and ceo of the organization of charity water. an organization that works as supplying clean water to people all over the world. jessica johnson, a family owned security firm in the bronx. it is great to see you both. we feature both of your businesses on the show because you have fantastic stories and now we get to learn something else from you guys. >> nice to see you. >> scott, let's start with you. charity water, you started this with nothing and you have raised more than $320 million from more than a million donors? >> cleaning drinking water. >> you helped around 8 million people around the world? >> yep. you run your non-profit like a for profit. we say business and no,

organization. >> you have the tendency of what so many businesses are trying to get of. one thing you learn along the way. >> the thing we embrace 12 years ago, we are trying to get cynical people who did not trust charities to take another look and care. we said look, we'll use 100% of your donations to always directly fund water projects and give people clean water and prove where that money goes and another bank account, we'll raise your rents separately so you know where every single dollar go. i trust in him and i can see the satellite images of the well that i built. i can see photos and videos and now we have sensor on our project across the world and letting us know how much water is flowing. we just made this bet that people want to see the money and

i impact. >> it is great, it has been really fun to watch you on the sideline. congratulations. >> jessica, you come on quite a bit, you are an old veteran. your company is so interesting. it is third generation and you took it over and have grown it from where it was and your company has been through this through the generation. you have taken charge of it. thank you for having us back j.j. >> one tip for maintaining your automatic s automat success is managing your clock. the coaches are really great at making sure they're managing the game from start to finish. when the clock hits 00, they are managing the i mpact of what th players do. you have to measure throughout the course of the season or throughout the course of your time period what you are doing. you need to reserve enough of

your resources and investment strength for the end of the game and make sure that one is going to make a difference that you are doing the things that matter. i think of government contract and we know that the government has a fiscal calendar that starts on october 1st and end on october 30 oeth. you have to start well in advance. when we start going out with the client, we get better results at the end data approaches and we are able to monitor the impact we are having and able to use our resources better. that also means that sometimes you need to pull people back so they can rest. you got to take people at the court. you can't go for a whole 48 minutes or a 60 minutes or a whole year, you have to pace yourself. managing the time clock is significant in our success. >> when we did the story on you, it was a big deal to get the

contract when you were a tiny shop in the bronx and you were beating out other companies. >> great to see both of you. thanks so much for stopping by. >> thank you, j.j. >> this week's selfie ace furry one. it is from colin roche from pennsylvania. he's a trainer and a dog behavioral specialist. that's one cute dog there. all of you out there. pick up your smartphone and take a selfie of you and your business and send it to your business at msnbc.com or you can tweet it to yourbusiness @msnbc. >> thank you so much for joining us today. if you have questions on the show, send us an e-mail to yo b

yourbusinnsuneiness@msnbc.com ao connect with all of our social media platforms. check out "been there. done that." we look forward to seeing you again. until then, i am jj ramberg. remember we make your business our business. sponsored by the powerful backing of american express, helping you turn your ideas into reality with money and know how so you can get your business done. same goes for a neighborhood. don't forget that friendships last longer than any broadway run. mr. president.

(laughing) don't settle for your first draft. or your 10th draft. ♪ ♪ you get to create the room where it happens. ♪ ♪ just don't think you have to do it alone. ♪ ♪ the powerful backing of american express. don't live life without it. good morning and welcome to "politics nation." it was a dramatic cliff hanger in a 50-48 floor vote saturday, the senate confirmed judge kavanaugh nomination to the supreme court. a triumph for the republicans who staked their political futures on president trump's historically controversial pick. just one month out from