announcer: business nenews from the capital region. this is "washington business report" with abc 7 national correspondent rebecca cooper. [captioning peperformed by the national captioning institute, which is resesponsibible for its caption content d accuracy.. visisit ncicap.org] robb:rebecca:a: t thank y you for joinining for a fresh lookk at his finance in the washington region. staying true to yoyour ppose while still getting picked up a big customer. our small business spototlightt gives us a tastete of success. in the roundble, big by her a media company in t the spspotlight. turning employees into compa advocates.s. but first doingng business in the distririct is s not always easy soso it is hard to commence companies to open their doors in d.c. knowfor ststrong competition fromaryland anvirginia.

when t chamber of commerce had to fill the big and fancy shoes of the departing c c.e.o., thehey turned to a former navy seal turned lawyer turned google executivwith entrepreneurial titles also to his name.e. harry wingo joins us, predent and c.e.o. o of thd.c. chamber of commerce alonong wi dr. clayton lawrence, c.e.o. of leap, a medical stfing fifirm he toalk ababout doing business in the strict. you u havead a year whwhere u have had a lot of success.s. we want to talk about thatat. first, i i have to tn tor. lawrence. kudodos. you were selected the chamberer a small businessman of the year. tells whatat leap doeoes and why you do it in the district. dr. lawrencee employ doctors annurses to seserve veterans at military hospitals across the u.s.. i left the military in 2005. i hahave been fortunate to set up my business in whington. served as the vice surgeon off th pentatagon and across t

nati and abroad. i i felt washington, d.c.c.,ad the best climate to set up our business. rebecca: what made youhe smamall busine of the year in the district? dr. lawrence: in 2008, we won our first contra at wawalter reed. with great organizations like the chamber of comrce, we were able to expand t to virginia maryland kenentucky, and a as far west as calornia. it has been becaus of the inediblele suppo and collaboration in the washington regionon it was made possible. rebecccca: we ar friendsds. we c can spend ahour talking about the initiatives you have been pursuing over the past ye. onof them has been to focus on keeping good and successful bubusinesses in d.c. and atattractiting new ones, includi mo vetan-ownwned businesseses. let't's start with keepi successful businesses here.. whatre ways you are tryingo that? harry: the way the d.c. chchamber is working on that with the

devepment team i is to identify and annel the voices of all of our fantastic members on how to remove red tape. rebecca: you always do this. you spend your time, lamenting everyone and never get to the real pblem. i guess it is the navy seal in you not wanting to admit there is a problblem. i will lay it out for you. you have hh taxes to deal with.. you have high real eststate prices. you have your back against the wall to convince bubusinees to stay here. enough with the compmpliments. at are the c challenges? harry: one is s making it easier to do business with the government to ke sure we are not putting roadblocks up. taxes arone issue. we a also have regulatory issues. rebea: give th mayor and cocil a hugug. are e they the right cnsel t to do that for you? harry: i am enuraged because ththey are listening. we nowow have economic impact statemts, not just fiscal impact.

that is encouraging. before legistion, the cocounci will look at thehe economic impact. the business community is weighing in to s this is what wewe need to do on that fronont. rebecca: lt some of the other ththings you tnk have been progress. harry: working with the enomic development team, the mayor,r, we are open f business dersring we woululd like to show fortune 100 companies here isis how you can move i in, here is how we can counterbance higher real estate prices. we have one of the most educateded workforc in the country. we have access to e university's s here.. people want to live in washington, d.c. millennials are e flocking to the cityty. we are the number e city four veran women. people see the attractiveness. we have to k keep barriers to business down. we are working on thatat everyday. rebecca: he has a tough job on both es. it is tough to attract p

mpanies when they have maryland and virnia tantalizing them with econom incentive packages. it is hahard to o keep small businesses here cause of thehe cost. before t the s show, you said what is the downside to doing business in the districtct? yoyou are the eam candidatate for the e harry y wingo sales pitch. what is the attraction for doing business in didistrict? dr. lawrwrence: we ha a great climate of collaboraration. tatalented people here is renowned. i hahave been fornate like the surgeoeon general choices s have come to be a supportermentor to h help our b business and foundati get o off the ground. ththe e honorable mayor has also been great advocate. rerebecca: you are a military guy. you u want things to happen, get it done. you are e used to having to o deal with rules.

totoo much bureaucracy andules in the district or just t right? dr. lawrce: i am aa fighter. it is determination it getets any business through. i think if you have strong will and tetenaci, you can susucceed here. but it takes work. rebecca: we have about a minute left. we can talk an hour about attractis to the district you have been promoting the idea of thecosystem oinnovation. describe your ncept of the ecosystem of innovavation your building in the distri. harry: a creative ececonomy that includes cybersecurity. we have great tent. were ting to do a shift t from national security work and realizg the same talented profesonals can move ovever and provide work on projects like how to secure mobile phone payment systems.s. d.c. should d be leading on that. one e of the challenge is weave this great city ere talentan work o things ke cycybersecurity y and medical technologygy.

but we also ed to make s sure our transporortation system is working. we have an eyeye on metro. we need everyo to lelean in to ke sure we keep the barriers low and the good thingsbout the city on the up. recca: wingo the diplomat. i i know you want to say we have to collaborate andave in in the game. harry: we have to do that. rebecca: d dr. lawawrence, congratulations. haharry wingo, y you have your work cucut out for you. congratulations onour success so f far. when we return, a a company but on passion is the swee spot -- hits the sweet spot.

there are a lot of channels on your tv but only so many you want to watch what if you could pay for the types of channels you want and nothe ones you don't now, fios brings you a totally new way to customize your t starng at $74.99 per month with no annual contract. get custom tv, including internet and phone. price guaranteed for two years.

or from now until june 8th get a $400 visa prepaid card when you sign a two-year agreement. go to getfios.com. cable just gives you channels. fios gives you choice. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v rebecca: welcome back. a local company hitting g it big. dolcezza's gelato hass been

cultivating close relationships with local farmers t to create distinctive gelatos. husband and wife have formed lasting bonds as thehey incorpororate locally grown fruits milk, and cheese into the products. now that whole foods has started putting dolcezza on shelves in 44 stores, we had to find out their recipe for success. robb: it has been raining. the strawberries lack sweetness and acidity. we reduced the amount of water in our recipe. we add more sugar to make up for the sweetness and squeeze more fresh lemon to make up for the city. really always searching for the harmony. it is a moving point on the graph. always within the balance, but it is never going to be the same thing. i love that. rebecca: it is a tiny d.c. company that makes finding the balance in business look easy.

the husband and wife started making gelato in their georgetown store in 2004, a 3 300 square-foot basementrobb: for the last year and a half, we were scared to lean against anything for the fear it would collapse. rebecca: dolcezza has proven a discoverable expanding. it has eight locations including this factory. at a huge new customer, whole foods. violeta: we did analysis of our cost and what it would take. we looked at our machinery. we have a huge production now that we have moved to the factory. that was one of the goals, to expand. we worked on our menu to make sure the flavors we were offering were profitable for us, but at the same time making sure the menu was representining who we were in terms s of quality. rerebecca: the challenge of expanding is keeping it real, staying true to the pruct and passion, w working closely with local farmers. robb: we have about seven growers we work with. we go out to the farm. we kw their family.

they come to our house. that is an added dimension to this whole thing. one thing is the produce they grow or the milk they bring but it is also getting to know them and the characters behind this fruit and milk they bring to us. it makes it much more meaningful. rebecca: relationships keep dolcezza grounded and ready for g-league partnerships. relationships with parartners, rmers, customers, and mentors. vivioleta: i have wonderful father who was a businessman his whole life. helped me with anything and everything. he owned a paper plant with 500 employees and has a lot of experience. he is 83. he is my number one advisor in everything. rebecca: they are proving cultivating a healthy business with integrity can translate from small wholesome relationships into big profitable ones.

robb: i want you to try this. follow me. rebecca: defefinitelely hitting the swsweet spot. when we comeme back, a topic eveveryone has an opinion on. should potential and please be allowed to negotiate salary? some companies say not.

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rebecca: welcome back. it i is time forhe roundtablble. this week maki newss nationwide, a cocompany that started ouas a d d.c. startups sportsts blog is making headlines for g nuers anand a table acquisition. also in the newsws this s weekwhether employees should haggle over s salary and when to use

emplees asas youcompy's best advocates. joining us today, barry glassman, , named one of "washington busine journal" s's best places toto work a jennifer nycz-conner assistant managingdito congraratulations. let's s talk about box media i have to say, this mpany keeps amazing me. i keep picking them as the d.c. starte they have grown up. they are big kids now and justst bought a b name e to thohose ous whwho follow th news. for box to acquire them sayso me they y are in the g game. jennifer: they are certainly in the game. box is takinbig brands a and figuri out how to take them into t the folold and hopefully help them make money. that was one of the things it

was struggling with.h. it h has a loyal following but was not posting the numberers it needed to bring the money home iteeds.. rebecca: otherroducts have bier numbers than recode even though it does he a cucult following. they have done a good job guys who started box media, aa cotantly building -- of costly building the brand. they have so many titles and keep buying the most substantive names. "thehe washington post" is when lot of jrnalists took notice. jennifer: he has a lot of specialty subjects he covers. they have loyal followings in ingsike restaurants homome, retail, and things like that. recca: your ke on making news nationwide?e? terrific. it is a wiwin-win. it is a great culture fit.

both came from traditional media and a part of the new media enentity recode was havining struggles as far as reaching an aududience. ththey h have 1.5 million new viewers per monthth. the publishingng arm is a no-brainer f for walt and his team to have access to. rebecca: the founders have been the ones growing, , but they alslso brought in other people. form executives from a.o.l. and others to keep growing. barry: i d't think this will eat into their current audieience. i thinink this is additive. this is active to thoverall bran-- t this is addite to the overall brand. recca: i want to get to the topic making news this week. an article s spread abou how lot of companies are no longer allowing employeeso negotiate salariries and are makin positions salari public.

everybody kns what it is. youu take the position, get the salary, and it is a do deal. jeifer: it is a fascinating idea because it is a surprising thing you don't learn abobout when you're going out on job interviews. they teach you to negotiate and not take the first offer. they have this take it or leave it principal. people are not sure how toto reacact. reddit is a hot company. theyre finding p people are going that is fine.e. i want to wowork here. it is worth it to me and i willl accept that. rebecca: different people aree goining to bring different levels of experience and salary levelsls that may be competing for e same job. if you w want to get a certain person, you may have to pay more. on the other hand, it is women historically who have done the most poorly negotiating without transparency, when ty don't know wt the other r people arouound them are getting paid they don't do so well gettingng equitablsalaries. good or bad? barry: both.

thank yoyou for stealing my thunder. it is both because y you donon't want a a cultu where the peopl who are best compensated need to behe nags to go and ask the boss for more money every timime. that is not the kind of culture you want. on the flipside, you want emplees to havsome say somome bubuy into what t their compensation may be. lastly imagine if f half of the nfnfl, if all the quarterbacks were paid the same no matter what. what happensns the afc t otr side? they will steal all l of their ayers. once everyone e else k knows h how redd's employees are paid, it will be interesting to see how other firms may poach. jennifer --rebecca: i don't see it w working across the board but it hasas meritit.

jennifer, you wrote about using employees as y your st advocat once you have them on board. we brought barry on becse he is a good example of a a company that c do that. when you are voted best ace to work, you wantplace to be advocacates. you say it should be more than that. even if yoare not th best place to work, still give yo employees someole as a megaphone for the company.y. jennifer: there's an old saying inin the branding and marketing worl branding is what p people are saying about you when you are not in the room. th could be product or a a company. cocompanies should think about at their people are saying about them over the fourth of july picnic. are they saying great things and referring g them to friends? quantum research conducted thehe research on the best places to wowork for "washington business journal." they found employee advocacacy i high in the companies that sre well ibest places to work. employees are e tellining friends

thiss a great ace and feel th have a stake in ownship in the compapany. rebecca: do yoyou openly solicit that from your empmployees? how do youou manage it when you know yr employees are happy? barry:ou cannot ask them for it. you cannot tell themem what to say. it does not t work that way. yoyou have to earn the love. what you need to do is solidify the culture. if t employees thrive in that culture, they are going to talk about it. if there a differenceses ambulances and you standut -- if there a are differences and nuances from other employs, ththey will brag and tell other people about that. rebecca: you know what works andnd what does not. what has been the biggest success in keeping employees happy? barry: number one, emoyees have to ve a say regardless of what level they are in the firm. ey have to have say. you wantnt to enencouragage tha two, put people whwho thve inn their r roles.. recca: and let them drive.

very g good. we have the pop quiz when we come back. stay tuned for more "washington there are a lot of channels on your tv but only so many you want to watch what if you could pay for the types of channels you want and not the ones you don't

w, fios brings you a totally new way to customize your tv. starting at $74.99 per month with no annual contract. get custom tv, including internet and phone. price guaranteed for two years. or from now until june 8th get a $400 visa prepaid card when you sign a two-year agreement. go to getfios.com. cable just gives you channels. fios gives you choice. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v

rebecca: welme back, it is titime for the pop quiz, this is the question i want to ask eachh you. jennifer, as a busy working mom

what are thehe top three ingredients your employer can offefer you to keep your loyty? jennifer: first, you have got to feel valued. the can mean salary. also means feeling like you are contributing to e erall success of the company. that you are needeby your team and the company. send would be opppportunity. not just for advancement in terms ofof promotion but also in terms of training and education. constantly feeling le you are gring so it is new every day. third would be flexibility. stuff f happens.s. yo kidget sick. you have to be ablble to roll wiwith the punches and know you have the flex ability and trust to do it. rebecca: i agree with all three. bay: you are themployer. if you h to pick three ingredients you thinare the most important to keeping all of them happy, pick three. barry: thihis is easy. first is culture, why the business exists and what y you are trying to accomplish for the employees and the community.

culture eats strategy for breakfast every day. number two, employees want w ways grow personally and ofessionalit does not just mean new promotns.. it means learning new thgs. lastly, you haveo wanto come work. it is fun. rebecca: you can pay people enough to o offset a little biof fun. you are right. you want people to have a culture where ty el liki'm ing to spend the majory of my waking hours here,his is where i wa tbe. that can offsenot mang money inin p places. good answers from you all. thank you for joining us. let us know your thoughton the shows. join us on facebook and twitter and you can watch st interviews online. we hope to see you back here next wk for "washshington business report."

morris: this week on "government matters" -- >> our f focus has been on small business spending. we recognize there is a reciprocal effect. morris: the genereral services administration turns to tech to bring more small businesses into the procurement process. >> and liftoff. the falcon takes flight. morris: u.s. air force says spacex can compete space missions. we talked new blood in the lucrative satellite launch market. >> in the last several years, we have seen records request go unanswered. we have seen more reductions than ever before. morris: a house committee wants to know what happened to the most transparent administration ever. "government matters" starts right now. >> from abc 7 and news channel