in an industry dominated by men enthusiasts and controversy, a female owner makes her way. get out your safety protection coming up next on "your business." small businesses are revitalizing the economy and american express open is here to help. that's why we are proud to present "your business" on msnbc.

hi there, everyone, i'm j.j. ramberg and welcome to "your business" where we give you tips and advice to help your business grow. when i walked into diane's store and met her, my first impression was this woman is a spit fire. she's a woman in a male-dominated business and it was her touch that turned this gun store business around. >> it made a very distinct noise. burglars all know that noise. >> there's no question about who is in charge here, but for some customers of this cuyahoga county ohio gun shop, diane can be a bit of a surprise. >> i shock people from time to time because i am a woman that

knows about guns. >> diane buys them, sells them and teaches people to use them. >> go ahead and put your finger on the trigger. that's good trigger control. >> she's one of a small number of female gun seller operators in the country. >> believe it or not, there's more than you think. but they are all behind the scenes. where i am out front here. most of the gun shops are family businesses. the men are out front but the women are in the back. >> diane who runs the whole show from stock room to showroom never planned to have a career in firearms. her husband got her into it. >> he had more experience about firearms. i really didn't know anything about firearms. >> tell me about the first time you shot a gun. >> oh, my god. well, let's see, the casing went out that way, hit me the head, i put this down and said, this is

not for me. i was just -- it was just totally freaking me out. >> diane didn't stay freaked out for long. in fact, she discovered she has a knack for the business. and a taste for the sport. >> it is like anything that is in you, if you are going to run any type of business, you have to know what you are doing. you have to know your product. you have to be able to sell it. >> lean out, you are going to push out. okay. put the magazine in, i'm going to relead released the slide. when you are ready, go ahead and fire. >> oh, where did it hit? >> right there. >> i can tell you firsthand she certainly knows what she's doing when it comes to operating firearms. >> take out the slide. that thumb up. all right. okay. lean forward -- whoo! i told you you were going to get

it. >> after 17 years in the business, she rarely takes her eye off the target. >> i'm not meticulous. i'm not very detailed when it comes to buying. i have to laugh when i go to the different shows. me reps will say, can i help? i say, yeah, just stay out of my way. >> staying out of her way has certainly benefitted the shop's investors. >> when we took over the old owners were doing about $300,000. we are at over $2 million. >> some of the increase in profit comes from cultivating a whole new class of customers, women. >> a majority of women do feel more comfortable talking to another woman about firearms. >> do you attract more female customers? >> i believe, yes u we do. but it is not only just because i'm here. it is because of my guns. i have a great staff here.

they have their days when i would like to ring their necks, but i do have a great staff. and they listen to them. >> teresa's number two in the back office agrees. >> every day you see more and more women coming in. you see whole families coming in. it is a lot different than what it was when i started here two years ago. >> this is going to shoot a gun, right? >> yes. >> do you need anything? >> a box of 38 speshlt specials. >> the every time you add a customer demographic to your economy you are going to make more money because you sell more and have more cli tell. >> diane savvies investors for putting money back into the business. >> i have a lot of different guns and calibers. >> i feel like you do not take no for an answer. you will bargain somebody down. by the time somebody walks out the door, you will have gotten

what you wanted. >> most of the time, yeah. >> after 17 years diane may be full of brovado, but she remembers how overwhelming it was to start up the business from scratch. >> when i came in knowing nothing about it, i literally got down on my hands and knees and gave the business to the lord and said, you have to walk me through this because i don't know what i'm doing. and he has been, you know, my support, my wings all the way through. diane said in her case being a woman in a male-dominated industry either didn't matter or was a benefit for her. so when it comes to gender i base, does it exist? stella is the managing director of ladys who launch in new york city and new jersey. and jean marx is president of the marx group and small business columnist for "the new

york times." great to see you both here. stella, you deal with female entrepreneurs, is there a gender bias when it comes to making money or being a manager? >> i think women do business differently, absolutely. but one of the biggest things i heard diane say is even her guys know how to listen to women. that's what it comes down to is really knowing your consumer, listening to their needs and responding accordingly. and i believe she contributed to that in terms of getting her staff primed to understanding women's needs and how they may approach the shooting range differently than men. >> you know what i love about her, i said it before, but she was a fit-fire. some of the entrepreneurs i have met i have gone in and just love them. she was this kind of woman who you think, wow, i want a little of what you have in there. >> i don't get it sometimes when i see a piece like this in 2011. if you are a smart business owner, i don't know if gender makes a difference.

just last week i wrote in my column saying that more women now are getting advanced degrees than men. just this week is coming out where there's another survey that came out to show that women entrepreneurs, there etically, are running more profitable businesses than their male counterparts, which is interesting. >> i just had coffee with jennifer, she helps entrepreneurs get funding. there's still a bias when it comes to women and funding. >> especially since women are launching businesses at twice the rate of men. and women are 85% of the household purchasing decisions. >> then moving on to the inspiration side, she walked into this business and didn't know anything. it was her husband who was supposed to be running the business. then she was better at it. >> that's one thing women do a little differently, they trust their gut and are more comfortable going in the unknown and not knowing the

one-year plan. they are more comfortable with that, i would say. >> i was just saying to my wife the other day, look at the advertisements on tv and magazines. when you have consumer products in the house, it is still targeted to the women. you still see the women cleaning the house nowadays are. we still at that point like it is 1950s? that's a barrier. >> not my house. we have to end here, unfortunately, but i have to tell you that the bull's eye, that was a little trick editing. thanks, guys. with the help of mobile technology, a smartphone or tablet may be all you need to get work done on the go. here are five productivity apps to consider courtesy of entrepreneur.com. bento, a personal database, that manages contacts, tracks products and plans events. dropbox is a virtual hard drive

where files are saved so you or a colleague or client can access it from another device. egnyte lets you create, share and the eat and snyc your server on your mobile dwit. evernote includes gee owe location information for mapping and search. and with quickoffice you have access to a suite of word processing, spread sheets and other office tools from wherever you are. costs around $10 based on your operating system. cost-computing services was one of the hottest tools around until a recent meltdown. amazon.com's services crashed for several days crippling customer sites including four square. that showed one of the problems with cloud-based computing but that doesn't mean small business owners should be weary of depending on it, or does it? ramon is the owner of

smallbuz.com. it is nerve-racking. there are benefits from putting your stuff in the cloud and it is nerve-racking, amazon.com showed this. >> i think you should trust it because you have no choice. 10 to 15 years ago you had items on your server, but now everybody is pushing it to the crowd. the benefits outweigh negativity of it. still trust the cloud, but weary of it. >> what's the benefit, it is cheap her? >> cheaper, faster, you, me and john are in different places trachlt decisionally i have to install software on all three computers. the cloud updates automatically. cheaper, faster, better collaboration. it is easier. >> how do i decide which system to use if i'm scaring something will break down, and it probably will, how do you decide what to

go with? >> what just happened with amazon.com, they are a great brand that just crashed. don't go with a company that just started for small businesses, basically. go to amazon, google, microsoft, the brands people know and trust. having said that, there will be hiccups and they may fail. >> then what happens? how do you protect yourself if something like this happens? if you don't have the money to do it, you can't can complete redundancy. >> two good points there. mentally be ready failure that happen. just knowing that is a piece of security. point two, have systems in place to respond if a failure happens. for example, you are selling a shoe online. if am san were to fail you, can you e-mail your customers. amazon will say, sorry, we are down now, be back up in four to eight hours. at least you are failed but have told your customers.

point three, having systems in place, that may have a minimal form of redundancy, maybe am don is down. maybe you can switch to another site for your technology there. >> have some of your systems on two systems. >> correct. >> maybe your e-mail list as well. >> xup communicate with your customers. nothing worse than not knowing. >> what about security when it comes to privacy? any issue there is? >> 77 million customers of sony playstationed a had their credit cards stolen. you need to protect the infrastructure. retina scans and all these kinds of things, is it perfect? of course not. still go for it, do it, but be aware. check your log files. are you getting an increase in orders with no sales coming in?

>> three days or how long? >> three days. some people are still suffering from the repercussions of it. servers need to be checked, auto loans need to be looked at, it still has the ripple effect. >> but you astill say still do it. >> correct. coming up, we'll meet with investors to talk expansion. and targeting a demo, what to do to attract the millenial generation to your product or service. i'm sam chernin, owner of sammy's fish box. i opened the first sammy's back in 1966. my employees are like family, and i want people that work for me to feel that they're sharing in my success. we purchase as much as we can on the american express open gold card

so we can accumulate as many points as possible. i pass on these points to my employees to go on trips with their families. when my employees are happy, my customers are happy. how can the gold card help serve your business? booming is taking care of your business by taking care of your employees. what's the biggest demographic next to the baby boomers? the millenials. if you are a business owner trying to connect with this group, demographic marketing expert ian of sound research has advice on how to do it yourself. >> i would say everyone needs to pay attention. millenials are the new boomers if you are thinking about a

generation to define american culture. there are 75 million of them in the u.s. that's 20% to 25% of your population. let's talk about the important part of millenials, they don't have much money. people often forget that being in your early 20s and living in new york or any big city, you're going to be struggling for cash. values are extremely important to them. if you have a facebook page and you are with a group of friends, you get ten friends to sign up, you get 20% off. those kinds of things are going to work. bring five of your friends to my restaurant, one of you eats for free. those are important to a group of people existing in a tough economic context. you need to be true to yourself. they have the sense of being

true to themselves. so there's a restaurant near where i live that was doing very well before the recession. the recession hit, you could sense the pan nick the restaurant and they started to introduce sunday lunches, chinese wednesdays. and you got the sense of panic coming through and it was not behaving authentically. you can see them pulling away from that in. you should be focusing on what you are really good at and keeping that kris call-clear minded approach to your business. being true to yourself is vile in terms of running a business and engaging the millenial. i think now they are still seeming to be a pretty stressed out demonstration. so i'm talking to the people to engage them. make it simple for me. nice simple choices. there's a nice restaurant in new york, if you want to buy a good bottle of wine, they have, good, decent and brilliant. you love it.

good, decent or brilliant tonight. there's a $3 difference between each one. perfect, nice and simple. engage the consumer. one of the first things you have to do with a small business is think to yourself, how do i get these guys to help me innovate? how do i get them to tell me and help me. look to the community, get them onboard, help come up with new ideas. off small coffee shop and a facebook community, millenials want to leave a legacy, which is another interesting thing about them. they talk about the legacy, what am i going to be remembered for and what am i going to do to make a difference? it could be as small as coming up with a coffee named after you or a new sandwich. if you give them the opportunity to have the sort of legacy, they will love it. it is time now to answer some of your business questions. stella and gene are back with us once again. the first question is appealing to potential investors.

>> how does a small innovative business seeking funds do so in addition to our business plan and a financial model, what other materials should we prepare for potential investors? >> i think it is a good question because you absolutely want to be prepared. what else does she need? >> i spent nine years at kpmg and twlant lot of public findings during that time. when you file something like an s-1 document to raise money, the number three page is risk factors. it is a list of like five or ten reasons why investors shout not invest in you. >> you have to be honest about them. >> you do. you have the financing plan, the budget and financial statements, you should be telling perspective investors here's reasons why you would not want to invest in this business. they will appreciate the honesty and credibility itprosprektive customers. >> and then that's an easy way for you to say here's why you should not the and here's why we

thought about that and this is our plan for all of this. >> it shows that you thought all the way through. riding on the whole other end of that, the materials and what you want to prepare is the experience you want to create when you are talking to your investors, and this is a sensory product, and i would spray the room and really transport your investor so that they can remember you and remember your user experience, so bring in testimonials and videos of your users and show them proof of concept in the room, activate them. >> and remember, you are getting them to like you as much as your product. >> exactly. >> this is a question about manning your finances. >> should we handle our or accounting or employ a professional accounting? >> we have gotten a few questions like this, and fur not good at it, get something that

is. >> definitely. if you master your books, good for you, you can continue to do that if you are saving money, but bring in an accountant. they are great for advising you when you expand your employees and how to be profitable. >> i am a cpa, like the world's worst cpa, because if it was close enough or good enough, which is not the way you want to be if you are a cpa, i learned to outsource things you don't do well. >> it doesn't have to be somebody full time. >> not at all. >> and we were talking about this last week, you can get somebody to do your books, but

don't outsource so you don't understand. >> yeah, you want to keep control. >> moving on to the next one, this is about bringing your product to retailers? >> as a new company where do i go to meet the buyer and get tests? >> we did a piece on a yoga person, and they would say, look at my product. >> we have been using linked in, all the time, the website. when you are trying to get buyers or big corporations or people you don't know, we have been relying on the service, because it connects in. it kind of gives some kind of a door we can open if you want to send a letter or e-mail or get an introduction that way. it's a good place to find people we want to talk to. >> i have people that go into

whole foods and make sinces that way. test your product and know your audience so that you can then match up with what distribution channels are appropriate for your brand. if you are a high-end product, you don't want to put your product in wall start to test it out, because that will destroy your legitimacy. you want to know who your target audience is, not just moms from 35 to 45, but moms that shot at whole foods and get a mani and pedi each week. >> yeah, test me out, and don't pay me anything if you don't make anything, but test this out. >> if you can start small, that's a great place. >> thank you so much, you guys. that was great. and if any of you out there have a question for our experts, go to the website, openforum.c

openforum.com/yourbusiness. if you would rather, e-mail your questions or comments, and the e-mail is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. and clout.com gathers information using social networks like facebook and twitter to measure the influence of people and topics on the web. the data includes the customers talking about your brand the most and the analysis of how influential your business is on the web. and clout also tells you about people who could be customers in the future. there are more and more business incubators opening up across the country. and being part of one could be a

way to turn your idea into a business. how do you get one to choose you? and great to see you, david. >> great to see you, too, j.j., thank you. >> and what is a busy cue baiter? >> it's a space where many entrepreneurs work, and gain access to counseling and mentorship support and access to financial networks, and wonderful networking opportunities. >> when you are starting out an an ontrintrapreneur, it's lonel and this helps with that loneliness. when you are trying to choose an incubator, what do you do? office space is important, but is that enough? >> it's more than the office space, j.j. it's like a university. the classrooms themselves don't provide the education, it's the mentors and counselors involved that provide the education.

>> when you are talking to the staff, how do you know if they are experienced? how do you know if it's the right kind of people staff-wise you want to work with? >> i ask questions about how actively involved they are in intrapreneu intrapreneurs' lives, and what kind of experience they have, and how many they have assisted and how much face time they engage. >> if you know the companies that are there to see the track record is interesting? >> yeah, i look to see how many companies graduated from the program are still operating and how successful they have become. >> can you talk to the clients, too. it's fine to talk to some other people who have been through the program? >> i would look at the programs or the companies that have graduated. they can talk about the representation the incubator have and the kinds of support they received and with the kinds of practice they have been given by the incubator managers, they

have better chances of success. i would check for their validation capability. >> shoe look for an incubator that work with businesses like yours? >> there are a lot of advantages if you go to one that serves what you have interests in. >> finally, really quickly, does it cost you something? do they take a piece of your company? what is the financial model here? >> it varies from community to community. in some instances, it could cost a little bit of equity, but in most instances, it does not. >> as i said in the beginning, it's a great way to be around other people, and you get a lot of good ideas when you get intrapreneurs together. thank you so much. >> thank you, j.j. >> to learn more about today's

show, click on our website, it's op op op openforecome.com. and you can follow us on twitter. next week, meet an an trintrapr. >> when is something else going to happen? it wasn't happening very quick, so we decided to indict ourselves. >> we will tell you how he managed to juggle so many establishes in such a small area. until then, i am j.j. ramberg, and remember, we make your business our business.