i'm jerry. >> and i'm evelyn. see how msnbc got our playground business back in swing with a small business makeover. >> that's 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 evelyn anderson of a just for fun play grounds wrote to us a few months back she had no idea her e-mail would spark our next business makeover. her question to us was simple, what do you do when you sell a once in a lifetime product that doesn't generate repeat customers? when we dug a little deeper we found a really interesting business in need of some serious help. we decided to assemble a rescue team to give them a much-needed push in the right direction. ♪ when evelyn anderson and her husband gary hyatt bought just for fun play grounds in asheville, north carolina, five years ago, business was booming. >> the first three years that we

were in business, we worked summer and winter. just straight through the year. we had four guys in the shop. we had two sales people, and then we had a winter where we went four months without a phone call. >> the company was known for their high-end custom designed play grounds. but by 2009, the recession had eroded two-thirds of their business. forcing them to let all of their employees go. after two difficult years of scraping by, evelyn wrote to us, here at "your business," asking for help. >> i wondered how you get business when you don't have repeat customers. when you're selling something that is a once in a lifetime purchase. how do you continue to find new customers? >> to answer those questions, and help get their business back in full swing -- >> we assembled a rescue team, led by mike mccalvin to surprise the owners with a small business makeover. >> i am the author of "the

toiler paper entrepreneur" and i'm here to get your business back on track. while we wrap up here i'll help you carry that roof in, we'll finish up. and let's stop working on play sets today and let's start working on your business today. ♪ >> here's our wonderful show room. >> first thing's first we've got to change that to open, right? >> sure. >> so why don't you take me for a quick tour so i can get a sense of what's going on and we'll get to work. >> sure. this is the show room. >> okay. >> and the train is here for parents to let their kids play on it while we talk to them about their play ground. >> mike's tour got stopped in its tracks when he realized that jerry and evelyn were living behind the show room in a motor home. >> so we're just really happy we have a roof over our heads. we're lucky. >> and it's paid for. >> so what could be done to resuscitate their once healthy business and get them back on track? mike and his team quickly homed in on a few things jerry and evelyn could fix, including improving first impressions, online and off, with a name and

branding change. finding a industry insider to serve as a sounding board and mentor. and getting more exposure with customer reviews and local media. first up is denise, who was given the task of clearly designing jerry and evelyn's business. her first suggestion, to eliminate confusion with another local play ground company was to rebrand their business with a name change. >> we've been through a lot of things and came up with two names we want to present to you and see how you felt about them. >> okay. >> first one we came up with is asheville play grounds. what we like about this is asheville is really well-known for their quality, craftsmanship, where with this logo, almost a little bit churchy looking, too, like a steeple. we know that's a growing portion of your business so we thought that was fun. and there's a lot we can do with that logo. you can have kids climbing all over it. >> so i think i feel reserved because it seems a little too sophisticated from the, a little bit perhaps goofy, just for fun

play grounds, and the goofy train, and the smoke and all that stuff. >> that is a good point that you're bringing upg. that was something we kept in mind because we saw what you had going on. but we also know these are not low end and they're not really low priced what you're doing. >> that's true. >> and it's not kids that are looking on the website. it's adults making decisions. so we wanted to make sure we're reaching out to the right audience. so this one, i don't know if you're aware, but the state mammal of north carolina is a gray squirrel. and we thought, calling it gray squirrel and having a tagline from play grounds to park grounds would really allow you to say what you do. and see everyone smiles when they see gray squirrels. and you think outdoors. we thought having acolor that looks like wood and having a little fun right there. >> the gray squirrel makes me chuckle. i like that it doesn't have play grounds in it. and i don't like that it doesn't have playgrounds in it, you

know. >> with a vast knowledge of the business, matt miller, third generation owner and ceo of play world systems, offered to mentor jerry and evelyn who are still relative newcomers to this complicated business. >> matt, have you had a chance to check out their website and see what evelyn and jerry are doing? >> i did. i looked through it. they're making some really interesting pieces of equipment. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> yeah. that's completely your strength. but when i pulled up your website i wouldn't have known that right away. >> oh, interesting. >> yeah, you've got to lead with that. that's something that somebody can really latch onto and say, you know what? i can make this look like my church. >> mm-hmm. >> or i can make it look like the play ground that i had when i was a child. >> matt also emphasized the importance of selling fun, and not just the equipment, when it comes to marketing their play grounds. >> when you're selling a play ground, you're selling an experience. you're not just selling a piece of equipment. so try to capture the imagination, and the image, and

the excitement of what it was like when you were a child, when you first got to go to that play ground. >> our next rescue team member, dana hewins, is a marketing and p.r. expert who was tasked with getting jerry and evelyn some exposure. >> so i have another surprise for you tomorrow. a reporter from the asheville times will be here to interview you. >> oh, that's awesome. that's fabulous. >> and then i'm going to sit down with you and spend some time refining your messages and looking at your traditional media, your social media, and looking at how we can blend in your customer reviews of that to get you some additional exposure. >> after a very long day, mike gave jerry and evelyn a homework assignment for the next day. >> first of all, you have to identify your top ten clients. second thing is the mentor schedule. we have to work with this mentor and it's our responsibilities the mentees to manage the schedule. they give us knowledge, we give him commitment. the third thing is clearly, the logo we love may need to change a little bit. i think it's changing, pushing

the limit of what we normally are that's going to evolve the business. all right? >> okay. >> okay. >> good. >> we'll give it our best shot. >> okay. >> team break. >> we'll find out whether the asheville couple can overcome their business problems later in the show. if anyone knows about persevering in the face of hardship, it's the people of new orleans. being in the middle of hurricane season reminds us of the challenges that community faced after katrina's devastation six years ago. but that city's small business community has rebounded, and is booming. ♪ >> six years after the devastation from hurricane katrina, new orleans is experiencing a renaissance, and small business owners are leading the way. >> new orleans is becoming this national laboratory of the next generation of entrepreneur leaders. >> it's created sort of an, you know, interesting synergy, if not an alchemy of committed

natives, as well as these very enterprising, idealistic newcomers. >> those who stayed in new orleans like matt wisdom and ken were considered pioneers. >> we felt like the wild west and it made us feel like we were pioneers rebuilding something from the ground up. >> when everyone else was fleeing the city and businesses were closing left and right, and the news was piling on about who's leaving town next, i said you know, i'm going to do something right. >> and today, while other cities are struggling to stay afloat during this tough economy, new orleans has been growing, thanks to a low cost of living, generous tax credits, and a riff culture. >> you could start a business here for 30%, 40% less than new york or san francisco. so why offshore bangalore when you could offshore to new orleans. you could come here and do it better and do it cheaper, and do it with more people than almost anywhere else in the country. >> louisiana is now number three

in the united states in terms of film production behind only california and new york. >> at the epicenter of all of this entrepreneurial activity is the i.p. building. entrepreneurs, and the ice house. inspired by silicone alley in new york the three hubs house some of the most innovative companies in new orleans. >> we're in the i.p. building in new orleans. and what you have here is a community of entrepreneurs that had moved into this building in the last year, from the fastest growing companies in the country, iseatz to feel goods. what this board represents is the entrepreneurial community within new orleans, and it's just one of the few innovative hubs that's sprouting all around the community. >> kyle burner of feel goods and craig met at the i.p. building and found that they could collaborate on the packing of kyle's flip-flops in cordina's large warehouse space. >> we're shipping out

margaritas. why not add flip-flops to the mix? a venture was formed and we're now shipping out feel goods flip-flops. >> the desire to help rebuild new orleans was so strong, she left her job in new york as a sweater designer to follow her dream of starting her own clothing company. >> the enthusiasm for any business here is just incredible. i mean, they rolled out the red carpet for us, you know, and was like, whatever we can do to have you succeed, you know, we want you to succeed. >> new orleans is on the rise. a recession-proof haven, eager to support new businesses, with entrepreneurs working together to succeed. >> new orleans is my huge business partner. it's on the label. and it will stay on the label. business partners invest in your business and new orleans invests in my business. both, people on the street, in the community, my friends, the businesses here. i mean, they want me to succeed. and, you know, and in ways that are beyond just capital investment.

>> stick around. when we come back, we tell you what you need to know to export your products overseas. and what name did they choose for the playground business? we go back to asheville, north carolina, as we complete our small business makeover. shazi: seven years ago, i had this idea. to make baby food the way moms would. happybaby strives to make the best organic baby food. in a business like ours, personal connections are so important. we use our american express open gold card to further those connections. last year we took dozens of trips using membership rewards points to meet with farmers that grow our sweet potatoes and merchants that sell our product. vo: get the card built for business spending. call 1-800-now-open to find out how the gold card can serve your business.

earlier we introduced you to evelyn anderson and jerry hyatt, the owners of a custom playground company who needed our help. when we visited their show room and workshop we saw firsthand some easy fixes to spruce up their business. in mart two of our small business makeover, you'll see the outpouring of support from the entrepreneurial community to give this business a boost. >> so yesterday was sorting out what's going on here. there's a lot going on. but today, where the rubber hits the road, we're going to do heavy lifting and get things cleaned up. >> first up, checking to see if jerry and evelyn did their homework. >> good to see you. what about the top ten clients. we figure them out? >> oh, yeah, we got a list of 15, actually. >> 15. any common trend that you identified? >> yes. i think that they're all really creative, interesting projects

that we've done. >> that commonality is a seed for finding other clients just like that. so it's perfect. tell me about the mentor. how did that go? >> i'm inclined in the beginning to like to meet every two weeks. >> now, the big reveal. what is the name of the new business? or the new name of the current business. >> asheville play grounds. >> asheville play grounds? >> yes, we decided to go with that because it's a little less playful and a little more to the point of what we do. but, we're going to play with the graphics in that we like what gray squirrel looks like, and if we take the backgrounds from gray squirrel and put it with the asheville playgrounds logo, i think it will be a nice blend. >> it's not what i expected, but i love the decision speaking to your customers. well done. >> with their homework done and a new company name chosen, they got to share the news about the changes taking place at the business with the local paper. the "asheville citizen times." >> this overwhelming for you? >> oh, of course. >> the resulting story was

front-page news in asheville. which was exactly the kind of local exposure dana was looking for. building on that momentum, dana also approached the customers on jerry and evelyn's top ten client list and asked them to do an online review. mike took the business owners aside to talk a little more about their original question. how to boost sales when they sell a product that doesn't have a repeat customer. >> you've got to increase sales. here's how you do it. tip number one is i want you to start asking for what's called vendor referrals. stop going to referrals and asking them for other customers. instead ask them for other vendors they trust and like. if they refer you to them and you can build relationships you're going into common customers as a team. two is trade shows. stock a boost, it costs a lot of money and it doesn't yield many results. guess who is at the trade shows? other vendors. start walking the trade shows. it costs nothing. gives you an opportunity to meet all these other vendors and start building relationships.

third tip is growing by saying no. you grow by saying no. what you have to do is start saying no to the projects that are not within your wheelhouse. not your specialty. we have to stay in our sweet spot. okay. and if we stay within our sweet spot, we can start hitting what's called a concentric circle. people in the same type of community, stay in the same circles. and it's usually two or three spots. and if you have a presence in those three or four spots, they will perceive you as being everywhere. and the fifth and final tip i wanted to share with you, i think there's a huge opportunity for what's called additive sales. when you do a project, install a setup, a whole new play set, i think there's an opportunity to offer maintenance. right there in that moment, when they buy it, $10,000 or $20,000 play set you could say for $100 a month we'll come out and do a check, make sure the safety standards are met, that it's clean, and give you a report on it. if anything needs to be fixed or adjusted, we'll do that, too. with your quality of work, that's rarely going to happen. >> the next order of business was improving first impressions

at the show room and workshop. perched at the intersection of two busy streets it was time to spruce up the newly renamed business with a little help from some friends. >> everyone has volunteered to help clean the place up, clean up the signage outside. thank you, everyone. you guys ready? come on in. come on! ♪ in the playground in my mind ♪ ♪ in a world that used to be ♪ ♪ close your eyes and follow me ♪ >> with the entrepreneurial community taking an interest in helping boost asheville play grounds, several local businesses contributed not only their time, but also some much-needed items. like new signage. >> that is so cool. >> they also planted flowers, and provided a new phone system to finish the transformation. >> we wanted to give you a lifetime virtual phone system. make sure that when people call you, your first image is

professional. >> cool. >> when they try and reach you and call you the calls are going to forward to wherever you are. >> i really didn't even know this kind of thing existed. so this is really cool. >> after some tweaks to the asheville playgrounds logo and branding, karen of studio 88 built jerry and evelyn an entirely new website. >> i want to show you your website. >> oh, wow. all right. >> packed with lots of pictures and information, the old site was busy and sprawling. the new site is organized, and easy to navigate with the custom designed play ground images taking center stage in galleries separated by categories. residential, commercial, and churches. >> it's online now. it's interactive. you can click on some of the pages if you'd like. ♪ >> in just a few short weeks, the extraordinary transformation of just for fun play grounds was almost complete. >> i'm special delivery for you. we've prepared your business cards for your new business. >> oh, wow. great. >> beautiful.

look at these. >> we found our two business owners more confident and ready to turn the page in a new chapter of their playground business. >> i have absolute confidence. i see it in you. maybe you don't hear it. maybe you don't hear it in your own mind but it's in your heart. you got it. it's going to work. you're going to do it. all right? >> no, no, no. >> yes. >> take care, all right? we appreciate all that you all have done for us. >> take care. >> thankfully we were able to get mike to come in from the playground to talk to us today. as we mentioned he's the author of the best-selling book "the toilet paper entrepreneur" and he is the founder of obsidian launch, a company that provides online behavioral marketing services. and jason goldberg is the founder and ceo of fab.com, a website that offers sales on items from leading designers and manufacturers, but that doesn't even begin to describe you, because you are a serial entrepreneur. you've already sold two companies. this is your third and fourth, i guess, kind of blended into one. >> number four.

>> great to see both of you. mike, amazing ease. you did a great job with them. >> it was wonderful to be out there. they are really, true, american entrepreneurs. their heart is they are true entrepreneurs, their heart is into this. >> they had so much given to them with your guidance and they were so open to you. do you think it's going to work? srk i do. the amazing moment was when the mentor came on. he went in there and i saw on their faces, they changed their thinking in that moment. they decided to break the pattern that's getting them in trouble and take a new path. i think it's going to take a year or two to play out. i'm confident they are on the right pattern now. >> jason, you have been extraordinarily successful. how do you get out of tough spots when something happens? >> focus on one thing. draw a circle around your one thing. i think you talked about the things they shouldn't be doing like taking on business that's

not profitable. honing in on things to emphasize. it's key at this stage. >> taking on business. you said this, saying no. especially now in this economy, to say no to a customer. >> you do grow by saying no. a struggling business starts grasping at straws. they try to take on any business. they are a playground manufacturer but they are making bridges, gazebos and signs. it's grasping at straws. they were making no revenue and in a lot of cases, losing money. >> a lot of what you did was fixed up the look of things. they have an amazing new website. you started a lot of websites. for a company like theirs where it makes sense to check them out, how important is the website? >> a couple things really struck me. one was the imagery of how beautiful their playgrounds are. that is their centerpiece.

all the words on the page. the story is the objects they are building. focus on the objects. another thing that really struck me was i think it's great they got a new website. one thing that maybe the next step with them, in a bad economy, there's not many people doing web searches for building a new playground. the traffic may not be coming naturally to their website. look for ways to take the imagery and put it where people are going to see. >> find other venders to partner with. >> take pictures of playgrounds and put them on facebook. get the people who are actually taking advantage of and using these playgrounds to share with friends. >> great idea. i am excited. mike, we are going to have you back in a year from now to go bok and see how they are going. i have faith in them from watching this. thanks for all the great work.

>> thank you. making mistakes while running a small business is inevitable. some of the errors are unavoidable. here are five mistakes businesses make. hiring in advance of revenue. decide how many people to hire based on what money you actually have in the bank. borrowing money when it's not needed. just because a bank is willing to lend you money doesn't mean you should accept it. borrowed money adds a huge burden to your business. pricing too low. it's better to sell fewer units at higher prices than more units at a lower price. offering credit terms. unless there's good reason, do not offer credit to customers. businesses fail because they can't collect receivables. count on one source of revenue. depending on one source is dangerous.

build multiple sources of revenue so when one dies off, you are still building your overall business. doing business abroad is helping a lot of entrepreneurs get through tough times here at home. this year, the obama administration launched an effort to get small businesses to export their goods. getting small business export financing is on the rise and is going to share tips for expanding. fred is the chairman of the export/import bank. >> thanks for having me on the show. >> we get a lot of questions about this of people making something and want to sell it overseas. one of the things you say i have to pay attention to is reduce your risk of not being paid. that makes sense but how do you do that? >> well, you know, when you are a company and located in chicago and selling products to new york or arizona, if there's a reason

you don't get paid, you know what to do, how to collect, you know what the laws are. it's not difficult to collect. itis not a risk to the business. when you have a company and selling to india, saudi arabia, brazil or columbia, they don't pay, what do you do? >> what do you do from the start, fred, so you make sure it doesn't happen? >> one, most importantly, know your customer. you should know your customer and a knowledge of what their business is and their reliability. two, we can help you step in by providing insurance. we insure the receivable. if there's a company we work with in miami. they sell surgical supplies. where do they sell them to? egypt, libya, iraq -- what we do is ensure that receivable. >> got it. you offer foreign buyers financing. a lot of people done have the

cash to pay up front so this is incentive for them? >> right. in a case like that, usually, it's for capital goods. we just sold solar technology to india. in that case, we provide the buyer with financing. they can pay for that over 18 years so they can am torize the cost. >> when you say we, you mean your import/export -- >> thank you. the export/import bank for an independent agency. we do this at no cost to the taxpayer. we collect a fee for our work, the customers, the foreign buyer or u.s. exporter. that pays all our costs. we guarantee the receivable or the loan. >> you see cure capital loan from your bank. some people are going to listen to that and laugh. everyone is having trouble getting loans. >> what we provide, we will look

at your receivables, look at your inventory and work with your local bank and provide them with a 90% guarantee so they make the working capital loan. the bank has little risk. >> competing against foreign companies. you might not be cheaper, but better quality than they will find in their country. >> we make some of the most innovative products. lower lifetime costs. maybe the actual cost of buying it initially might be more expensive, but if you look at the total lifetime cost, locomotives, airplanes, solar technology, lifetime costs are far less. we are selling high quality products. >> one last question. if somebody is interested in this, where do they go? you make it sound easy. we guarantee financing, we find people for you. it can't be that easy.

where do you go to take the first step. >> it's not that easy, but not nearly as hard as people make it out to be. if you want to figure out where the buyers are, the department of commerce is the first place to go. they help you identify buyers. if you have a customer and need financing, working capital or insurance, go to the export/import bank. exim.gov. >> thank you, we have been getting so many questions about this. it's very helpful. >> happy to be here, j.j. a strong business plan is very helpful to launching any successful small business. want help writing yours? check out our website of the week. enloop.com writes a business plan for you. they rate the strength of your business plan and generate financial forecast.

limited services for free. to learn more about today's show, click on our website, it's openforum.com/yourbusiness. you'll find all of today's information with information to help your business grow. become a fan of the show on facebook. we love getting your feedback. follow us on twitter@msnbc your biz. i'm j.j. ramberg. remember, we make "your business" our business. sam: 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 empls to go on trips with their families.