fashion icon norma kamali on keeping up with trends and staying interesting. that's coming up next on "your business."ç hi there, everyone, i'm j.j. ramberg and welcome to "your business" where we give you tips and advice on how to make your business grow. a new phenomenon called a cash mob is spreading the nation and

spreading worldwide. people are gathering to spend $20 en masse at a local small business. the cash mob acts sas a community-based economic stimulus and a reminder that shopping small can give a big boost to a local company. >> everybody, wave those 20s. let me see them. >> this mob of eager shoppers is not out to find a bargain at a giant super store. >> might be more expensive but it's much more personal. >> that are a friendly mob spontaneously descending on a local small business with the objective of spending $20. >> today i bought a pair of flip-flops and a bottle of wine. >> this is a cash mob. >> it doesn't require you to come out and spend a fortune, you come out, see what this is like and you can't help but buy and enjoy. >> hey, come on in. >> igniting the cash mob movement in cleveland, hey high is a young lawyer named andrew,

who has a passion for meeting new peop$e and supporting local small businesses. >> the slogan on our blog is we each do a lot, we all do a lot. if each person gives $20 to the store, 20 people would give them $400 and also get something back in return. it's not charity. >> there are three main rules to participating in a cash mob. >> the first rule is that you spend $20. the second rule is that you meet three new people you didn't know before and the third is you have fun. >> it all started just a few short months ago in the fall of 2011 when andrew posted an invitation on his facebook page to show up in a local cleveland neighborhood with $20 to spend at a small business. >> it's one of the ironies about cash mobs that we use social media to get the word out but we're almost anti-social media. we're using social media to organize people socially. and get them to actually meet each other face to face. >> the small grass roots campaign quickly took route.

andrew set up a website instructing people on how to start a cash mob and similar scenes started playing out all over the country with local organizers selecting the stores and getting the word out to the community. carolyn holtz, the owner of the variety mart in bellport, new york, describes the experience. >> it was absolutely amazing. they were hoping for 40 people. we had over 100 people come. there was a line outside the store, a line inside the store, people waiting to pay, three of us behind the counter quickly ringing people up and bagging things. >> on this particular saturday, andrew orchestrated the very first international cash mob day. with over 200 cash mobs happening around the united states and the world. in cleveland, the mob was happening atheç a small natura foods grocery store called nail's bnai nature's bin. >> it's a fun, exciting environment and a fun way to shop and support a local store. >> how much did you spend today?

>> exactly, 142 and change. >> i just looked at the numbers from today from 2:00 when cash mob started, to 3:30, which is an hour and a half. we had over 300 people come through the store and they spent way more than $20. our total for that span of time an hour and a half was $9,000. >> at the same time, in bellport, new york, the cash mob was happening at two local downtown stores. somersault and bellport liquors. >> i bought local wine in a local liquor store. that also supports the commune. >> the method for selecting a small business to be cash mobbed is simple. >> first off they need to be locally owned and independently operated and secondly they need to give back to the community. i think the second part is something you can't fake. you can't say i'm going to start sponsoring a team, bring a cash mob to my business so i can do

this. we generally look for people who have a longstanding commitment to their communities. >> afterwards, andrew encourages the cash mob participants to hang out at a local watering hole. >> they do their shopping and they congregate again so they can relax and have drunks. there's an old saying you're not friends with people you like, you're friends with people you do things with. >> a cash mobç can give a selected small business a shot in the arm and some much-needed exposure and support. especially when business is slow. >> if a local business isrely ing on a cash mob to save it, there's probably bigger problems than a cash mob can fix. when we go into one of these stores, generally speaking there's a lot of people in the mob that have never been to that store. when they go in, they're bringing money and exposure to the store. >> and beyond the boost it gives the small business, it's bringing people and communities

together to make a difference, $20 at a time. >> i think the importance of the cash mob concept is to build community and show people they have the power to make the difference in their own community. is it the answer to our economic woes? absolutely not. but i think it's leading to something that can show people that they can make a difference. the cash mob phenomenon is the latest entry in the shop small and local movement. let's turn now to this week's board of directors. norm broadski is the founder of eight successful startups and now an ink magazine columnist and michael ros michael rosenbl. great to see both of you guys. two more ventures,zt a hotel - >> a hotel in tioga, north dakota, the gold rush of the 21st century and a restaurant

chain, kobyaki, fast, casual japanese dining. >> it's great, it's a part of a movement, a çone-time thing. but what it shows, people care, right? people care enough to come out there and support a small business. how do you harness that caring? >> yes. i think i totally agree, i think the pendulum has switched so far in one direction, we've become so transactional, disconnected from the things we buy. i think my kids think the food shows up in the supermarket and don't know where it comes from. >> money comes from the machine. >> we order things online and they show up at the front door. the days of going into the shop where they knew your name and what you wanted to buy, you have to capture that again. people do miss that. i think we are human beings, we need that interaction. there are businesses that are able to really -- the local coffee shop, the local store that can help you fit sneakers just so that you can't do online, you can't do any other way. i think there is a trend back

towards that direction of a business. >> and if you really understand how it's helping your community, suddenly the convenience sometimes is not as important if you have the extra time you'll take it to go shop at one of these stores. >> yes. it doesn't increase commerce because those people have so much to spend, disposable income, but what it does, it brings people together. what i'm concerned about and what they should be concerned about, it shouldn't turn out like occupy wall street where it has no reason or value. they should take this a step further, you no he, take these people, take the list of these people, invite them to go to other places. it's a good start but they have to have some vision of where it's going. >> of where to take it. what else can you do as a small business to get the point across, shopping at my store;h% means you're shopping for your neighborhood, not just that you're providing money for me but we're going something for all of us. >> it's all about service, how you treat your customer.

there's plenty of places in the neighborhoods that give that great service. and that great service spreads by word of mouth. better than the internet. if you do that and give that service, people want to come and see you instead of shopping on the internet. >> yes. i think people tend to be loyal to other people. particularly when they're in their own community. i think they feel a little more camaraderie than the chain store. i think it comes down to service and a personal relationship. you want to go back to see that person that helped you last time because they did such a great job in helping you find whatever. i do think selection also matters. in this world of commodityized goods, easy access to buy just about anything, i think being differentiated, finding unique products, cure rating a little more than the other place, a slightly different wrinkle on coffee than starbucks, i think that contributes to the small business differentiating itself. >> we have to wrap this up. they opened up an artisinal

mayonnaise shop around the corner from me. you can't get that anywhere else. >> social media is important in this case. >> that's the essence of cash mobs, too. thanks so much, you guys. is your revenue stream based largely on the effectiveness of your e-commerce site? if so, here are five common pit falls to avoid if you want people to stick around and buy something from you, courtesy of mashable.com. one, your site is too slow. no one wants to waste their time waiting for a site to load. keep third-party plug-ins that can slow your site down to a minimum. two, your site's too complicated. if your consumers have to take more than five steps to buy something off your site, you're asking for too much. keep it simple. three, your credit card entry system is punishing. there's a standard sequence of information for credit card entry. if you mess with that order, users are more likely to enter

the wrong information and be forced to start all over again. four, you're charging too much for shipping. don't charge more than 10% of the total cost of the item. people are more likely to abandon your cart after seeing a price jump up significantly. and number five, your site performs horribly on certain browsers. your potential customers may not use the same browser as you so test your site on every browser. on this show, we focused on facebook marketing, google plus, twitter and so today we are going to tackle pinterest. what is it and how can it help your company? jamie hamill it a digital strategist for the s-3 agency, a public relations firm. >> thanks for having me. >> you just worked with us on a makeover. >> yes, we did. >> for people who have heard the name, have no idea what it is, tell me what is a pinterest page? >> a pinterest account is the a

photo sharing website where people, they can share photos, they can share videos. it's put into like a personal pin board or like a theme board. from there people start -- itç works in the interest graph where people start talking to each other, they may not necessarily know each other but they repin stuff to their own page, commenting, liking, following. >> i basically find some pictures on the web or my own pictures, put them on my page, other people see my pictures, repin it on their page. it's like retweeting almost. >> yes, it's similar to tweeting. it's a microblog. the interesting thing from a business perspective, a business wants to get involved in that engagement. you have people going back and forth and talk. you're two clicks away from sending them to your e-commerce page or contact us page where you can do lead generation. >> got it. as a small business, you say i'm a bakery or something. i have pictures that i put on my

page, other people can see them, they put them on their page, all of a sudden, the word gets out about my bakery. >> exactly. >> one of the things that's so important is to combine your efforts. >> yes. make sure you're ready to set up your twitter account, facebook account, include your web address and also do a location-based pin that you can put on there to show people where you're from also. i see a lot of businesses not explaining who they are and what they do in the about section. that is something you really need to concentrate on that will move you up on the fcl level. >> for a business there are two ways to participate in this. one is to have your own pinterest page. >> yes. >> another way is to have photos that other people can pin. >> exactly. >> to make a pinterest friendly page, what you can do, you go straight to theç pinterest sit and you can download a pin it button and put it on your

website. what you can get, eye balls on the page, they're going to click pin it and it will go directly to their pinterest page. you don't have to do anything other than putting the pin there. it's driving eye balls to your site. >> that's so easy. >> right. >> you have access to get your stuff all over pinterest. if you're going to pin something, create something that you hope will become viral on pinterest and will draw people back to your site, what's something you can do? >> there's a couple things you can do. one is to take a -- you can make a coupon. put a coupon on your site. $10 off of a dress. they can come in, print it, show it and show it on their smart phone. incentivize a pin. again, like you said, you want this to become viral and interact with your pins. you can do repin to win type of promoti promotion. we've seen a jean manufacturer, you ask them to repin a photo

and you win a pair of jeans. it's a standard giveaway. it's an easy thing to execute. >> are those too commercial to be very successful or does that work on pinterest? >> not a lot of people are doing it. i think people will be drawn to it. >> they will? >> yes. >> okay. so interesting. i don't think we can have a full discussion about pinterest without talking about copy right issues. >> what's the liability of being on pinterest which is very quickly growing social media channel that's visually based. there's a lot of issues with copy right. i just want to make sure my firm is protected. >> this is a tough one but the good rule of thumb is always ask yourself do i have permission to post this con ten. if you're a small bids and you're taking a photo of a cupcake in your business, you clearly own that. if you use con ten that the somebody else owns, you need permission. if you own the content you have to look at your license and see if it's covered. this goes for blogs, twitter,

this goes for facebook. my own personal blog has been in a monetary compensation situation, too. you don't want to be in that area. ask yourself do i have the permission of the person who owns this to use it? >> that's interesting. that is one if you're taking pictures from elsewhere, but the one you brought up, too, about the own pictures, the ones on your site. if you have a photographer take a picture for you, you better make sure if you want that to be repinned that you own it, right? that you own the rights to that picture. >> exactly. these are situations that may not come down the pipe but -- >> but they may. better be safe than sorry. >> exactly. be safe than sorry. ask yourself whoever took this picture, do i have their permission? more often than not the answer will be yes. but don't take the chance. >> for people who think it's so overwhelming, at the very least, if you have visual assets on your site, put the pin it button on there. >> definitely.

there's no reason not to do it, if you can get the programming in, it's simple. there's a how-to guide on the pinterest page on how to do it. you'll just be losing eye balls if you don't do it. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. what should you pay a consult and to the write your business çplan? and from charlie's angels to lady gaga, designer norma kamali on how she stays relevant in this week's "learning from the pros." ♪ i was born this way they have names like idle time books and smash records and on small business saturday they remind a nation of the benefits of shopping small. on just one day, 100 million of us joined a movement... and main street found its might again. and main street found its fight again. and we, the locals, found delight again.

that's the power of all of us. that's the power of all of us. that's the membership effect of american express. from farrah fawcett's swimsuit in charlie's angels to the sleeping bag coat and her famous shades, norma kamali is a designer who defied four decades of fashion. she continues to expand her empire with kamali culture, providing timeless styles for women of all ages and sizes for under $100. we recently sat down with her at her new york boutique to talk about the importance of getting attention and challenge yourself in this "learning from the pros." ♪ i'm special ♪ special so special ♪ ♪ i've got to have some of your attention ♪ ♪ give it to me k3 c1

>> it's very important for a designer to understand that you need to sell and you need to get people to pay attention to you. it started, really, as a retail store owner. learning about merchandising and selling and how to change the window and all the things you could do to excite people and make it entertaining for them. i remember designing a snake skin patchwork cape that was all done with stitching around each of the different colors of snake skin. i opened up the cape so it filled the whole window. it was very exciting to see for the eye. that's when started to get the celebrity mostly rock and roller following. who wanted to wear those things. ♪ ♪ >> i think it's important to evolve personally.

fashion moves quickly. and it moves seasonally. and so does the social environment. so does the economy. so do so many other things. and so you must stay in pace with all of those things. and if you are, then you are evolving as well. p &h(lc% if you're in a business that is about women, you need to be a part of the community and the world. ♪ >> i made it and then i challenged myself again. so i'm doing kamali caught tur which isç very different from anything i've ever done. so the key is you do things that are important for you to do. and that are exciting for you to do. but initially, i think initially you have to know who you are,

who is the authentic you. i've done films. i've done children's clothes, men's clothes, all kinds of accessories. i made chandeliers and metal furniture. i've done some architecture. i designed the building. i -- just whatever i felt like i wanted to do, i just did it. and made it happen. because it would keep me excited about fashion design, which is my base. so doing a lot of other things keeps you stimulated and then it feeds back and gives you more ideas for what it is you do. ♪ >> when i worked at the airlines, this is the '60s airlines, that's like the peak business you want to be in. like pan am. well service was the ultimate goal for everything. and so you learned service there.

better than you can ever imagine as ever happened since then. that service experience, i am now sitting with the, we call them special agents for kamali culture. and i am teaching them everything i ever learned at the airlines so that we develop a reputation of having extraordinary service. and that we never let anybodyç down. every experience you have should be used, what else do you need to know? it's time now to answer some of your business questions. norm and micah are with us once again. first is a question about how to brand your company. >> how do i create consistent branding with a very small company, with limited funds, across all the social media and my website? so creating that consistent image even though i have a

limited budget. >> i think the budget almost doesn't matter in this case, right? it's the time you want to spend on creating the branding. >> i think that's right. and you know, i've seen examples, you know, of trader joe's or groupon that have created a distinct voice. the way they write each of those, the way they brand their products, the way they write each of those emails that come out. and i think i would encourage the person that had that question to actually look at models of other folks who have created a good voice in the market. and then kind of write down the one or two kind of messages that you want to consistently get out. and twitter and facebook and pinterest, and ask yourself, is that what we're about and am i hitting on that theme to stay consistent? >> i disagree a little bit. you have to be personal. you know, number one and you have to be honest. and you have to be who you are. and really, if people are thinking that you're selling a good and services, that's all

you're doing, they're not going to pay attention. and besides the social sites, you should be a blogger to do that. if you can get those qualities of beingç personal, being hone, and giving something else, something extra, like a great social site i'm told is okay cupid, where they they tell you best way to put your profile on is not the front end, but the side, where people pay more attention. so if you can give tips that are really good within the business yourself, you can succeed in doing that. >> i like the idea of being personal. let's move to the next question, an email from christopher who writes, how much should i look to pay to hire a company or consultant to help me with my business plan? >> nothing. nothing, because the biggest mistake that people make is they figure a business plan is to raise money. or a business plan is to show their future. but a business man ostensibly, the first thing and the most important thing is for you. and if you write that business

plan, and understand that business plan, you get a more honest approach to it. so don't pay anything. you know, there's plenty of programs you can see to dress it up that you can look for. talk to other business people. but the process itself, you should understand is it. and if you do it, you're going to understand it you're going to understand your cash flow. you're going to understand the future of your business. so don't pay anything. >> micah, someone who has to look at a lot of business plans. >> i would agree completely. and i would say the days the writing 50-page microsoft word business plans are gone. nobody is reading that and frankly a lot of that is filler, not the critical stuff. what we encourage entrepreneurs to figure out, what are the five, ten, seven critical questions facing this business? how do i get customers, how do i price it? what exactly is the product. put those in slides. keep it çshort. that's a much better approach and a much better use of time. >> those presumably have answers to things in your back pocket.

you don't have to put them in a novel. >> the best business plans are people who are able to articulate the business plan and don't need lots of power points or pages to document what their approach should be. >> michael writes i'm having a lot of trouble finding a company/bank to process credit cards. any ideas? where would he go to find something like this? how does he figure it out? you guys are having a lot of trouble, too. >> a hotel we just opened in north dakota, we had the same problem. and you have to plan for this. they want a lot of background information. they don't just accept you, period. so you have to be prepared and it's going to take a while. it took us almost a month to find this processing company. we had to fill out lots of forms, credit checks, lots of things. it's not like it was ten years ago, where anybody would accept you. so today, they don't just accept you. you have to do your homework. you have to do the research.

>> how do you do your homework and research? >> online is a good way to do it. other people, which every business does, ask them. there's a lot of hidden charges involved in this thing. they can advertise they're the cheapest and they may be the most expensive. so i go to other businesses and ask them who they use. are they satisfied with it? you'll find that they've been two or three different processes over the years. and they'll tell you the best thing to do. >> like with everything, just go find people who are already doing this and get their advice. all right,ç thank you so much r your advice, both of you guys, really appreciate it. and if any of you out there have a question for our experts, just go to our website, the address is openforum.com/yourbusiness. once you get there, hit the ask the show link to submit a question for our panel. the website is openforum.com/yourbusiness. or email your questions at yourbusiness@msnbc.com. is paper invoicing slowing you down? check out our website of the

week. fresh books.com is a simple site that will help take the paper out of your billing system. using fresh books, you can track time, organize expenses and invoice your clients. billing can be automated and you can invoice clients in any currency. to learn more about today's show, click on our website, it's openforum.com/yourbusiness. you'll find all of today's segments, plus web-exclusive content with more information to help your business grow. or you can follow us on twitter, it's @msnbcyourbiz, don't forget to be a fan of the show on facebook. next week, one guy with a pretty fun idea takes on the guinness book of world records. >> we love giving people the opportunity to dream up and create their own world records. >> we'll tell you how record-setter.com is opening up the world of record setting. till then, i'm jj ramberg, and

remember, we make your business our business. you know, those farmers, those foragers, those fishermen.... for me, it's really about building this extraordinary community. american express is passionate about the same thing. they're one of those partners that i would really rely on whether it's finding new customers, when we all come together, my restaurants, my partners, and the community amazing things happen. to me, that's the membership effect.