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hi there everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg. welcome to "your business" where we give you tips and advice to help your business grow. after months of political maneuvering on both sides of the aisle, small business got a boost from washington. president obama has signed the $30 billion small business lending bill into law. it sets up a fund to give community banks money to lend to small businesses. in addition, there are also $12 million in new tax breaks. the president said the bill will open up credit to thousands of small business owners. >> government can't guarantee success. but it can knock down barriers to success like the lack of

affordable credit. >> meanwhile, republicans who oppose that legislation made their own small business proposal in their pledge to america. they suggested that small business owners be able to make a tax deduction equal to 20% of their income. the needs of small business owners have clearly been a much debated topic in the nation's capital but are the administration and congress actually listening to entrepreneurs' concerns? we went to the floor of the recent "new york times" small business summit and gave owners the chance to tell washington what kind of help they could use right now. >> president obama, please get the banks to cooperate. it's not just about telling people that you're working for it. get them to cooperate and really help the small business owners because we are the engine of this country. for sure. >> see, if i went to washington i would say look, you want to help small business, create affirmative action for small

business. make government have to buy the products that small business is creating. or services that small business is creating. affirmativetive action for small business, worked elsewhere. it will work for small business. >> why doesn't the u.s. government start like and i cue basing program with top exper hods have retired who would actually help you form your own business. this would help you navigate the red tape. it would also help these people who have this experience to determine where the money is going to be granted. based upon performance and based upon potential of return. >> my advice to washington is this. instead of taxing us further, please make money available to small businesses such as ours, medium sized businesses that will employ people, that will allow us to buy new equipment. be more aggressive in the

marketplace, be able to compete with china. but more importantly, make it attractive enough so that we can put the money back into business with the additional monies that we would have. >> so i think the new proposal to write off the first 20% would be a great initiative for people to take the chance to go into small business because that 20% might take you over the top. it might be the boost that you need to make a difference between survival and not surviving. >> i think they should stop changing the rules every month. what small businesses need is certainty. we need to understand what the rules are, we'll play by any rules you set but don't keep change them because we build our business around the rules the way they are. >> what i would say to the folks in washington is how about this idea. why don't you create a voucher system for small business where you would distribute vouchers to

every american for a given amount of money and those vouchers could be used as cash in any business with annual revenue of say under a million dollars. >> i think what president obama has to do, he has to, you see, if you tell me that he will give me a tax writeoff if i hire somebody, tax writeoff from the central government is just a small portion of it. what about worker compensation? what about liability insurance? what about the other insurances? what about the state and local taxes? so it's a whole package. they all have to write it off. and then maybe you are talking. otherwise, it's not going anywhere, sir. >> well, the state of small business is still a hot button issue in washington. local businesses are plowing ahead. that's especially true for farmers who are reaping the benefits of farmers markets and the popularity of locally grown

produce. this buy local movement has meant big business but it's not without its challenges. meet ron benogi junior ♪ he's the american farmer >> he's the owner of northern new jersey-based stokes farm. you could say farming is in his jeans. >> we have been in business since 1873. >> so you grew up here. >> i am fifth generation to own this land. >> today ron and his son, that would be ron iii are hard at work gathering produce to sell at their farm stand and more major at farmers markets 30 miles away in new york city. years ago, this was as simple as picking toe pait mate toes but times have changed on this 137-year-old farm. >> we're up to about 74 items. >> how many did you grow 50 years ago. >> we grew about five items, toe mate toes, peppers, eggplant,

strawberries, and asparagus. >> the variety is all to meet the needs of increasingly savvy shoppers. three days a week, they're out at farmers markets selling herbs, vegetables, and fresh cut flowers. ron was one of the original farmers at the union square market 34 years ago. in recent years, he's noticed a drastic change in his customers. >> there's this light bulb that went off in the consumers head. all of a sudden, they're like wait a minute, where does my food come from. >> it's not just new yorkers looking beyond their local supermarket. in fact, the number of farmers markets around the country has tripled to more than 5,000 in the last 15 years. this buy local movement has been a blessing for small farmers but there are challenges that come with having a more knowledgeable customer base. >> this is my favorite customer had i two years ago. are you organic, honey? because i only eat organic. really, that's interesting. does philip morris grow organic

tobacco? she goes what. >> this is the million dollar question for them. while some farms are organic meaning they only use natural organics to grow products, they are not. when that lady said that, i said i have no answer for that. now i ask people, people say are you organic, in what way? you know, organic. in what way. that serves the conversation which is what i wanted. >> i bet you every third person comes by, that's the first question they ask. they think you have airplanes going over your farm and fumigating and sprague things. >> we've chosen that route not to be organic because there are certain things we do like we use fertilizer. it's not manure. it's granular made by man. hence, it's hard for us to be organic while we use fertilizer. >> they tackle this issue head-on by trying to teach differences in the way food is

grown and encouraging people buying local is the way to go even if that means buying from a competitor. >> there are organic things that come from chile and california, from all around the world actually. it's labeled organic. do you know it's organic? i don't know. the label says it is. what does that mean? i don't know. >> when you come here, you are not only buying a toe pay the toe but buying into the farming experience. >> i like the consumer to be the smartest person they can be. if they don't want to shop at our stand, fine. at least they have the information. >> they're also listening to people. stokes farm is constantly evolving based on friends in the market. >> we're all about retail. and our market now, our whole market in the united states is consumer driven market. it's not a product-driven market as it was years ago. like we make a tv and you have to buy it. now there's a thousand tvs and you can have your choice. the consumer tells us indirectly

what we should grow and shouldn't grow. >> what's something you're growing right now that you probably won't have except you heard from one of your customer you need to have this? >> we grow vietnamese cilantro. i had a customer from thailand and she said why don't you have vietnamese cilantro? she brought me seeds. we plant it had. it's become this niche item for us. vietnamese cilantro. >> their product mix changes based on how well items are selling. looking forward, they're confident as long as they stay in tune with what people are looking for and keeps preaching the buy local gospel, his business will continue to grow. >> when i pick a tomato, it could be on your plate, it could be in your stomach within 24 hours, maybe soon fer we picked them late yesterday afternoon, here they are. you could be within 12 hours eating a tomato. ♪ it's just country boys and girls getting down on the farm ♪

>> farmers aren't the only one who's can grow profit biz capitalizing on the buy local movement. this week's boards of directors we'll talk to about this. can carol roth at carol roth.com and mike mack cowwitz is the founder of obsidian launch. he is also author of the book "the toilet paper entrepreneur." great to see both of. >> you great to be here. >> one thing i thought was interesting is how much education had to go on between the company and the customers about this buy local thing. that's not just for farmers. also if you're a small bookstore versus a big bookstore. how do you get people interested in the education part? >> i think people jump on trends. the trend right now is the buzzword organic. i think the opportunity, and they kind of started doing this is pointing out how they're organic by being local. there's low environmental

impact, for example. being local, there's no pollutants going in the air so we're breathing more healthily because they're local. so we have to define or understand what they mean by organic environmental impact and show how we're addressing it in a different way. >> how do you get your customers to listen? you have three seconds with someone, a sign on your stand and walk by. >> good old, what's in it for me. that's what everybody cares about, what do i as a consumer get out of it. buying local means more money is going back into your community which means you have better schools and maybe better property prices. what's the benefit for the consumer in terms of buying local whether you're a bookstore or a farm stand. >> i've got one thought. if you write the words better than organic, that will at least get the conversation going. that's what you want. >> to build on that, pepsi challenge. bring an organic piece, grown legal piece, have people taste it. this they can taste the difference, that will sell more

than anything. >> if you keel over from chemicals you put in. >> exactly. >> that's a good idea. i hate to say the word but almost some gimmick. that's the better than organic. it starts a conversation going this draws people in. so really it comes down to marketing. >> yes, always does. >> it always boils down to customer involvement. have you their interest. now you have to get them involved, talking. >> as they were saying, so much of it is listening to their customers. i almost was thinking when i was talking to them, are you listening to your customers too much? i mean, one guy says that you should have one product. and suddenly, they've dedicated part of their farm to this product? >> we call that the vocal minority. there are some people who are really, really loud about things but don't reflect what everybody's thinking. if you do some kind of taste test you get a lot of feedback in and can decide a lot of people are liking this not so many people are liking this and you can get a wider range of feedback.

>> thanks, guys. selling your product or service in a down economy can absolutely be difficult. but there are ways to make the best of a tricky situation. here now are five common sales mistakes to avoid, courtesy of david madsen, ceo of the sales training and management company sandler training. number one, abandoning sales procedures. even in slower periods, you should not compromise your selling process. two, stop prospecting while you don't want to ignore current customers, make sure your sales staff is keeping an eye on long-term accounts. three, cutting marketing and advertising. leads generated through marketing efforts are important to sustaining business. four, trying to do it all yourself. empower your sales staff to close deals and be accountable for their business. and number five, not accounting for seasonality. make sure your projections are realistic based on time of year so eventual an accurate deaf your cash flow.

when we come back, we'll answer your small business questions. including one about how to decide where to base your startup. and the four essential things you need to know before asking an angel investor to give you money. we're part of nature, and as we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. it's a selfish thing to want to protect nature. i never intended to be a businessman. we made the world's best climbing equipment out of here. we realized that putting in and taking out of all these pitons was causing damage to the rock. so, i made these little soft aluminum chalks that you just put in with your fingers. and i'm a dam buster. we've been working for years to take this dam out. the reservoir behind it is only 4 feet deep-- the water gets real warm, kills a lot of the life in the river.

when you take out a dam, that's a real victory. i mean, a concrete victory so to speak! when i get an idea to do something, i like to take the first step. if that feels good, i take another step. to do good, you actually have to do something. no matter what you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer or donate at membersproject.com. for many prurnz, the greatest challenge in starting and growing a business is money. one source for initial funding is an angel investor. how do you attract one and what do they look for? let's find out from entrepreneur, susan preston author of "angel financing for entrepreneurs."

♪ heaven must be missing an angel ♪ >> when you go out as an entrepreneur, everyone is excited about their new gadget and their new technology. the problem is that entrepreneurs don't necessarily realize that the angel investor is a sophisticated investor very early on in the process and they want to know what the market is. they want to know there's a sizable market for your product. they want to know that you are meeting a market need or a market paying out there. so that you have an understanding of who's going to buy, how they're going to buy, how you're going to distribute. all those factors. ♪ competition is the american way ♪ >> you need to understand the competition from your consumer or your customer's standpoint, not from your own as the entrepreneur. i as an entrepreneur would be always excited about what i have and what i do. but what people see and how they perceive your product is not necessarily how you see it. so you really need to understand

it from who's buying it. ♪ big idea >> this is very involved and very complex. and the whole area of law around here can be really hard for people to understand. but there are some bakes. first of all, if you're licensing the technology from another source, make sure that you really actually have exclusivity to it and there's not restrictions on geographics, the amount you have to sell within a certain time period can be a real wakening for individuals when they get into starting to sell and finding out they may lose that license because of that. also, some entrepreneurs take the approach that they don't want to actually transfer the ownership to their company. they want to hold it and license it. that's just not what angels are going to be interested. even when you're just a one or two-person company, you have the ability to build intelligence around you. and one person doesn't have all the answers. and so when angel investors go

out to look and analyze companies they are looking for other people you surround yourself with, that intelligence. it's like a third-party validation for what you're doing. if you have this terrific person who's a success in their industry, working with you and advising you, that tells the angel, i'm -- you might be a good investment for me. it's time now to answer some of your business questions. carol and mike are with us once again. the first one comes from julius. he writes just last month i start add internet store selling organic items. i've used twitter and facebook accounts to contact friends. what more can i do to get my store going? he doesn't have very nice friends. someone should have thrown him a bone and gotten something. his friends, someone shut have bought something. >> people think social media and all of a sudden i'm going to put this announcement out and there's going to be a big parade and everyone's going to be

lining up to buy things. there's a trust gap particularly if you're selling something like food. of information, you build a relationship an then you ask for the sail. >> what about sending out a free sample in his case? i mean it's a product and probably won't cost that much compared to other marketing. >> my fear here and the misunderstanding of what facebook and twitter is all about, it's a crisscross of all different traffic that's not interesting you in the moment. it is what carol is saying. i'd like to show a little tidbits of interest and invite

people to share their e-mail address because once you get their e-mail address you can build a rapport. >> that's the thing. then you get their attention a little more, assuming your open their e-mail. but a twitter, no, a tweet that goes by. >> it's a shot in the dark if you're trying to sell on facebook or tweet. >> ask your friends why didn't you buy? did you not get my e-mail? but ask them the question. >> let's move onto the next one. this is about picking a location for your business. one of the things i always ask myself is where do you locate your company. so my question is what does a young company consider as far as a community or region when they're trying to decide where to locate their new company? >> so what kind of research did you do? >> you have to look at the quality, where they are, know the tax consequences for sure. think about your own lifestyle. small businesses are here to support the small lifestyle we

want. i know people move into a hotbed where the talent is but they compromise themselves. >> the third thing to consider is where are your customers. you want to make it easy for them to get to your business. even if you're in a b to b realm, you might want to drop in on your client. >> we have people who for a retail store go to an area, count how many are walking into the neighboring stores, note what time they're coming and going, look at the parking. there's so much to consider. >> absolutely. >> let's move on to the next one. ave writes i have a company that provides five varieties of carrot cake and a few other select products. my business is comprised of whole sail and retail. i have had a terrible time finding an adviser who can answer questions for me specifically about the food and grocery industry. where can i find one? where do you find good advisers and someone willing to help you?

>> your most is your own network. yo u want to get trusted information. you want to make it easy for them. what kind of adviser are you looking for? are you looking for somebody for capital raising advice specific to food or perhaps you're looking for somebody on the retail side to help you negotiate. so be really specific about it an put it out to your own network and you'll get a great recommendation for that. >> i think you should look for a moach. there's mentors and coaches. they're not going to be with you every step of the way. a moach is where you take the best parts of a mentor, maybe a competitor, but they have a piece of the action, a piece of equity in your action. >> so you suspect giving someone a piece of equity. >> if you want them to stay long

term they have to be deviriving value. >> as soon as we're done here you're going to go to trademark dot? this is an e-mail from karen. she's the owner oh of a hand-blown glass gallery. she and her husband are struggling to keep their doors open. karen writes we need to make $40,000 more a year. we own all of our inventory. we do have a few consignment pieces. we have only about two months left to use for our living expenses. we will not be able to get credit due to poor credit from the business. is there a way to sell? >> i can feel the desperation in this question and so many entrepreneurs are going through this. you know when to hold them and when to fold them. she's coming through loud and clear she needs to get out of this business. first she and her husband have to right the ship.

they have to go make moneyful they have two months of living expenses. somebody needs to get a job or part-time job. in terms of selling, the business itself doesn't have a local of value. it's obviously going south. but there's a lot of value in the inventory. she can approach auction houses or galleries or chunk it out in pieces or try her own auction. but at the end of the day you need to get the value out of the inventory. >> i'm hearing fire-sale, fire-sale. it's the worst time to sell. maybe one option. this is a bit of a risk. you go to competitors and say we're trying to grow our business. would you be interested in taking a small stake of our business and if it pans out you can get more. they don't take a huge amount of risk and put all their money on the table. >> if you can, someone still goes and gets a job so your whole family is not on the line. >> i think the key thing here is

i think that's a great idea but i think at the same time if the business is not working out as part of your investment portfolio, you don't want to throw good money after bad. equity investment may help you along for a little bit. >> unless they bring something to the company you don't have. thank you so much, mike and carol. this is great advice. if you have any questions for our expert, go to our website. there just hit the ask the show link to submit a question for our panel. again the website is openforum.com/yourbusiness. or you can e-mail us. now that we've heard from mike and carol, let's get more survival tips from entrepreneurs just like you. >> make sure you have a business plan and you follow through and update it frequently, stay creditworthy and not to worry about motivating your employees but to find the correct employee

and the control will take care of itself. >> people don't like having their pay cut or vacations cut without knowing why, and that two-way communications is very important right from the beginning and involving everybody as much as possible. they look to leadership to tell them what's going to happen even if we don't know and especially because we don't know. >> this is the third company i've started. this is the most challenging time because the capital markets are very difficult, but i guess the most important thing is to achieve small measurable milestones which create value and which can build a concrete story for investors. no matter how much experience you have, it always helps to be able to bounce ideas off of someone. if you're looking for some help, you might want to check out our website of the week. mic

micromentor.org, you can create a preprofile describing your company and the type of help you're looking for and potential investors can communicate with you and contact you if they're interested in communicating. for more on today's show click on our website, openforum.com/yourbusiness. you'll find more information to help your business grow. don't forget to become a fan of the show on facebook. we look forward to getting some of your feedback and you can follow us on twitter. next week, the new owner e of a bookstore gives his staff a chance to focus on their strengths. >> sometimes we have to buckle down and do something we're not good at or don't like but as much as possible i think it's great if people can do what they like. >> how job craft can make for happier and more productive employees. until then i'm j.j. ramberg, and

remember we make your business our business. what had happened in central harlem was failure became the norm. the schools were lousy... the healthcare was lousy... gangs were prevalent. violence was all over. families were falling apart. you can't raise children in a community like that. people had been talking about things, but not doing anything. hi, mr. canada... how are you? i'm doing great, how 'bout you? right here on 119th street. if we could fix this block, then we could fix the next block, then we could fix the next block... we promised parents, if your child stays with us, i guarantee you that child is going to graduate from college. failure is simply not an option. the sixty...the seventy... the eighty... the ninety-seven blocks which ends up being 10,000 children. we start with children from birth, and stay with those children until they graduate. if you really want to have an impact that is large, you will get there going one step at a time.