♪ hi, everyone, i'm j.j. ramberg and welcome to "your business." deciding where to manufacture your product is a big decision. do you go overseas, where things may be cheaper, but the complications may be trickier? or do you keep things stateside where you face a whole host of other issues? today we follow one business owner who decided that he wanted his golf products to be 100% made in the usa. so how was he able to source everything locally? he literally packed his bag and started knocking on doors. ♪ >> dollars and cents-wise, it's actually cheaper for us to make the product here than it is for us to make it overseas, and it's more effective for us. we can drive and within two hours we can be at every one of our suppliers. >> when charlie burgwyn was ready to launch his line of luxury golf accessories he knew he wanted to source all of his supplies locally. >> it's important to our business and it's important to our brand to have a product made domestically. >> founder of stitch golf in cary, north carolina, took advantage of all the possibilities he saw in his home state. >> north carolina is rich in a couple things. basketball, you know, barbecue, and furniture. i tied in to a furniture industry. we figured out that they use a lot of the components in their business. >> knowing that north carolina's furniture industry had fallen on hard times, he recognized the potential, got in his car, and started driving until he found the materials he needed. >> i told my wife, we'll leave in the morning. and i wasn't coming home until i figured it out. that was my objective. whether it was three days, four days or five days. >> this entrepreneur went door to door looking for the right partners to help make his first product. >> we started out with leather covers and it was something that we could manufacture here in north carolina because of the resources that we had. >> persistence paid off. stitch now has an established supply chain. >> we have suppliers in cary, suppliers in carrboro, high point, greensboro, hickory, charlotte, conover, concord and gastonia. >> anthan leather is one of the companies in high point. >> as long as we have the leather in stock we can turn around pretty fast. >> i can either get the product that day, i can get it the next day. >> the company sells stitch the leather it needs based on demand. >> we can order one hide or 5,000 hides. it allows us to react to market pretty quick, too. that's been so key for us to be able to buy small quantities we can manage our inventory, we can manage our capital. >> supplies from high point fabrics are also delivered fast. at the start, terry bishop and charlie walked around the warehouse trying to figure out which liner would be best for the golf club covers. >> the fabric that we deal with is made here in north carolina. so, that's very important to us to keep it as much local as we can. >> as a business owner who used to deal mainly with the furniture industry, having someone like charlie knock on terry's door was a welcome change. >> a lot of times you don't have people coming in, and wanting to do business with you. and we're able to sell more so that helps our business also. >> back in cary, charlie needed someone to embroider his product. and that's where royal embroidery and more fit in the picture. >> we've done covers for the presidents, we've done covers for the greatest resorts in the world, and a lot of celebrities, and so we're very particular about, you know, these embroideries that we put on it. so we don't want these ending up just anywhere. >> the two companies, and their production floors, are quite close. figuratively and literally. >> we had to move the office closer to them because we wanted to be able to get product turned around faster. >> if we have a problem or we need something to be, you know, need more leather from them, they're right on the street. >> royal embroidery has expanded because of its role in this local supply chain and part of its operation is now dedicated solely to stitch's needs. >> in the last four months we have hired four more employees. we have another machine. we have one machine, and one employ hee that is in his exclusively doing their stuff on a full-time basis. >> one of the biggest advantages of having local supplier the is charlie can keep an eye on the quality of his expanding line. >> when you build a product in asia, you really don't know what product ends up looking like. but i can react fast to the clientele. >> while charlie says that sourcing locally works for his company, nothing is perfect. >> we brought in large lots from overseas. so it is a drawback, you know. that we can only do so much. >> stitch's own production manager, who previously worked with major brands, has even said that manufacturing stateside can be even trickier than manufacturing overseas. >> sometimes she says that was easier, you know, it was easier to do that, to coordinate 100 factories, and to coordinate suppliers all over the world. >> but charlie knows that his local suppliers and contractors helped keep him and his bottom >> you can control your distribution. you control your growth. by sourcing the product regionally, now we're able to control the volume that we need to do the inventory so we don't tie up our resources. >> charlie says his products are made in the usa, and that's the way it's going to stay. and if he can do it, he believes other entrepreneurs can do the same. >> think about what's in the backyard. find out what people do. what are the industries in your area. how can you tie into it? >> it's one of the hottest entrepreneurial trends and growing by the day. the legalization of marijuana is spawning all sorts of small businesses in colorado and washington, as you can imagine. there are now at least three dozen stores licensed to sell recreational pot in colorado. as nbc's gabe gutierrez reports, one of them is aiming high, trying to expand nationwide. >> in the mile-high city. >> this is like bringing kids to a candy store. >> at least one store says it never ran low on recreational pot. >> it's a sea of green. >> medicine man calls itself the largest marijuana dispensary in colorado. here under the watchful eye of armed guards and security cameras, the owners are building what they're calling the costco of weed. >> we're trying to make this into a industrial process rather than a stoner process. and i think we're being very successful with that. >> pete williams, his brother andy and their sister sally started selling medical marijuana in 2010. now ten relatives from three generations work here. there's kayla in reception. ryan on quality control. and grandma michelle counts the other kind of green. since recreational cannabis sales became legal in colorado on january 1st, business has been so good, these entrepreneurs are planning a $2.6 million expansion this spring. that will double growing capacity. this is weed in bulk. >> our margins are very low. so we're able to continue to knock down the prices. and grow a lot. >> reporter: next up, franchises. possibly in washington state when recreational sales fire up there later this year, and legalization. >> we already have people wanting to use our technology and our model, and we are ready for them. >> reporter: still, the national debate is raging. >> it scares us. >> reporter: testifying before congress recently, a high ranking drug enforcement agency official blasted the growing industry. >> going down the path to legalization in this country is reckless and irresponsible. >> reporter: but so far, it's paying off for medicine man. a budding brand hoping to plant itself in a state near you. >> medicine man wants to be the name in the marijuana industry. >> your small business probably sends out hundreds of e-mails a day to current customers and potential clients. well if you're looking for a way to make your correspondence do a little bit more work for your company, check out our website of the week. whystamp.com is a tool that jazzes up the signature on your e-mail. you can include social content from facebook or twitter, or put photos and contact information there. it basically makes the signature on your e-mail nicer than what most of us can do on our own. emergencies can strike at any time, and without warning. whether it's weather related, or water main break, your company needs to be prepared. so here now are five things you can do to keep the disruption to your business to a minimum courtesy of ink.com. number one, understand the threats. know what weather conditions your business is susceptible to and prepare accordingly. two, have an escape plan. identify who your critical staff are that need to stick around if things get bad. and create an evacuation strategy and make sure all of your employees know it. three, back up data. during an emergency, you do not want to be concerned about your files. so, keep an extra copy of everything. four, keep an updated list with every employee's phone number and address readily available. include local emergency service information, as well. and five, review your insurance coverage. have a conversation with your insurance representative to make sure your business is covered for the most likely events. still to come, handling hiring during a period of large growth. simon sinek talks about the traits of a good leader, and we get you in the mood for the winter olympics, as burton snowboard founder jake burton gives us his strategy for business survival in this week's learning from the pros. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. i'm not the kind of businessman that, that, you know, goes on a trip and calls in every day and say, you know, how are things going? i don't need that. in fact i never call in. never. so, my attitude is to get these very smart, independent people, teach them what they need to do, and then leave them alone. let them do their job. >> let's catch up with what's going on with three things you need to know about small businesses this week. small businesses are apparently paying their bills faster. moody's analytics reported a decline in 30 and 90-day small business credit delinquency rates in 2013. federal statistics also show a decline in small business bankruptcies last year. we recently had a discussion on the show over the possibility of raising the minimum wage. now, a new survey conducted for the small business majority of 500 small business owners showed that two-thirds of them feel the minimum wage should be raised from $7.25 an hour, adjusting it yearly for the cost of living. 85% of those people surveyed say they already pay their employees more than minimum wage. the security experts are warning that small and medium-sized businesses may be more at risk than the big retailer when it comes to data breaches. that's because small businesses don't have the same resources to combat those breaches. according to semantics 2013 internet security threat report, 31% of all cyber attacks were aimed at companies with less than 250 employees. people like olympic snowboarder shaun white owe a debt of gratitude to jake burton. more than 35 years ago, burton spotted a trend. a lifelong outdoor sports enthusiast he noticed more and more people on the slopes of vermont who were trading in their skis for snowboards. he started out modestly selling just one line of snowboard. but as the sport has grown into an international success, even becoming an olympic event, so has burton's business. ♪ >> when i got started it was just very, very challenging. and i did like a little business plan on the back of a napkin, so to speak and figured well if i made 50 boards a day, i could make $100,000 a year. and it was sort of pretty materialistically oriented. and i got started, and i built a little factory and i hired a couple of people, and sure enough we got to where we were making 50 snowboards a day. but the problem was we sold 300 in the first year so that was six day's production so i had to shut down the whole factory, let everybody go, get it all the way back down to myself. i hit rock bottom there after that first year and obviously money was very important, and more from the perspective of survival than making money. but i started to really focus on the sport, and just what became important to me was i made the right decision. i left new york, i started this company, tried to get this industry rolling, and once i focused purely on that, everything sort of fell into place. we make boards for each constituency and we take our feedback from that group of people. we're making a board for 13-year-old kid, we're not really making the board for what his mom or dad are going to want to buy for him, we're listening to the kid, getting their feedback and going to where they want to go with it. i remember when we first got into kid stuff we did what we felt would be cool for kids. they were like that's too cartoony and kid-like. so we started listening to them and you can't go wrong when you listen to the riders. that's what we're all about. we operate several different brands. but burton is a brand that's about snowboarding. we don't want to dilute that. we decided to get into eyewear, goggles and ultimately shades. red is our safety, you know, helmets, and safety equipment and some tools, accessories around the sport. the same thing with skateboard, we acquired a company called dna which makes alien workshop and habitat skateboards. we feel like we're pretty well balanced. we're involved in the sports we want to be in. we've got a hard goods foundation which is important for us to have that sort of technical real element to the sport and not just making clothing for it. i think that maybe to a fault that i'm not a real long-range planner. and my approach is more year-to-year, and i think that you -- that's the best way to approach your business. you don't want to get into an overproduction situation. you really want to manage your inventory. now obviously you want to make your decisions based on the long-term ramifications. but stuff like keeping your product fresh, not overproducing, keep it scarce in the market. things like that, are short-term decisions that have long-term ramifications. and that's kind of how i operate. but i'm not a big one at looking at three-year, five-year financial plans. they never seem to work out. but i think you want to be very focused on the present to succeed in business. it's time now to answer some of your business questions. alfred edmond, senior vice president and chief content officer at black enterprise magazine and jen groover is a serial entrepreneur best known for creating butler bag as well as her lifestyle brand empowered by jen groover. good to see both of you guys. that is one of your new bow ties. every time you come on the show you have a new one. >> i'm going to work my way through the whole collection. >> okay, great. this first question is from a business owner who wants his products to be american made. >> where can we go within the u.s. to find the resources to help us with the manufacturing costs to make our business more cost effective? >> you have worked in the manufacturing sector quite a bit so where do you go to find these resources, is there one clearinghouse? >> well, there's the thomas register dot net which is a universal resource for people to find distribution and manufacturing. there's also madeinusa.org, which has become a really good resource for people to make. there is this desire to manufacture in the usa has really grown. so also if you see somebody on air, or in a magazine, who has made their products in the usa and it might be in a similar category, but not necessarily competitive, you could reach out to them, through social media. i have people reach out to me all the time to ask where i get my products manufactured. and if there's an agent that i could recommend. there are sourcing agents that people should definitely work with if you don't know how to manufacture. there's a lot of ins and outs about the business. >> there's a resurgence in popularity about getting things made in the usa. it now means something to consumers now. i wouldn't have said this two years ago, but now it's worth going to sba.gov/content/manufacturing because now they actually do have helpful resources. i wouldn't have said that a couple of years ago. but because of the resurgence. the other thing is realize that not only when you're talking about made in the usa think about states and counties who are competing to bring businesses to their areas. who want to be able to say not only made in the usa, but made here because of job creation. shop that around for the types of product that you make in your industry. >> because maybe you get some tax benefits? >> tax benefits. relocation benefits. all kinds of things, because they want you to not just make it in the usa, but make it in their county or their city. >> let's move on to the next question. here is one about reaching a niche audience. >> i have a kind of a different challenge than most people. i am the only girl guitar company in a very male dominated industry and my question is how to sell and market more to females, where there are no other companies doing what i do. >> what she sees as disadvantage i see as an advantage. i went online and saw the designs, and they're amazing. there's many strategies. some firsts are product placement. trying to get into the tv shows on nickelodeon or disney, some other she's children are watching to get people in the different bands on these shows to use the product. product placement is huge. other influencers are young girls in their own band bus also doing a comp tipgs so girls can do videos and send them in, then girls can vote on them and the winner gets a guitar or different guitars from their store. a fun idea. >> here is the tough question you want to ask yourself when there's nobody doing what you're doing. >> why? >> why is there no competition? you want competition because competition is a prime indicator of demand and all you have to do is differentiate what you are offering as better or different in some special way from the competition. so i would spend a lot of time talking to girls and young women who are musicians or aspire to musicianship, who do they admire, where do they want to take their musical ambitions, to come up with that unique thing that will help to you understand what are they looking for. if you're doing it right, somebody else should be trying to take some of that market away from you. >> maybe there is something is in the product that's not resonating, versus the market not resonating. >> i know musicians, women musicians are are very sensitive about not getting something different from what a goo might play. i want the best guitar. now, i think there are ways to differentiate and still have the best guitar. she needs to find them off and make them say i'm proud to play this guitar. >> the designs were awesome, very current and relative to the girl trends today. and girls are empowered to be musicians that were typically male dominated. i think it's an easy sell for them. >> so good to see you guys. thank you so much for stopping by today. >> thanks for having us. >> our pleasure. >> we answer questions from our viewers every week here on the show. so you should take this opportunity to get some free advice. if you have a question 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. or if it's easier for you drop us an e-mail at yourbusiness@msnbc.com. now that we heard from jenna and alfred, let's see what people are talking about on twitter. some small business hiring wisdom from frequent guest dave anderson who tweets, culture tip. culture can be a compelling recruitment and retention tool. top performers are drawn to places they can become more. another of our favorite guests, les mckeown says subject lines have the greatest impact on whether e-mails will get opened and acted upon. and the founder of hub spot with a humorous warning. the probability of computer drive failure is proportionate to the time elapse since last full backup. minimize that probability. in my travels talking to small business owners, i've always been struck by those who have been able to create working environments where everyone in the company is excited to come to work in the morning, where they all truly feel like critical parts of the team, and where there's a sense of cooperation and wanting everyone to succeed, which is why i am excited today to talk to simon sinic, who is the author of the new book "leaders eat last." great to see you, simon. this is the thing that every owner is jealous of when had they see a great corporate culture. in your studies you go back to the beginning of man to figure out how this works. >> well, i think people forget that trust and cooperation are not instructions. you can't tell people to trust you, and you can't instruct employees to cooperate. they're feeling. and those feelings come from the era when man started walking on planet earth because it was a matter of survival. we lived in a dangerous world. and if we didn't trust and cooperate, we would get eaten or succumb to the elements. >> when you work there is also elements out there. there's competition, a bad economy out there and you need to work together. >> exactly the same. all the systems in our bodies are designed for our survival and designed to get us to trust and cooperate. there are certain chemicals in our bodies that incentivize us to repeat behaviors in our best interests. that's why when we do something nice for somebody, it feels good. when we have friends, it feels nice to be around them. >> but so many people don't like coming to work and don't feel it's a safe place so how can you as a leader, as a ceo, make it feel like a safe place? >> so leadership is exactly like parenting. if you think about what makes a great parent, a great parent is somebody who puts the well-being of their child first. they want to educate them, open up opportunities, discipline them when necessary. and very often would be willing to put their children before themselves. we feed our children before we feed ourselves. a good leader is exactly the same. a leader wants to educate their people. they want their people to grow up to be more successful than they are. they want to reward good behavior, discipline bad behavior. most importantly, when it matters, would be willing to sacrifice their own interests for their people. >> so are you saying, okay, 2013 was a terrible year. i'm going to have to lay off one-third of my staff. actually, i'm going to reduce my salary to the minimum so that i can keep people on? >> sometimes it's a salary based thing. it's just like, again, if the family falls on hard times, we don't get rid of one of our children. having a kid is expensive just like an employee is very expensive. the problem is using people as a disposable resource, we would sooner sacrifice the people to save the numbers, rather than sacrifice the numbers to save the people. there's a company that in 2008 suffered hard times and lost 30% of their orders overnight. couldn't afford their labor pool. and so the question of layoffs came up. the ceo bob chapman refused. instead they implemented a furlough program. four weeks of unpaid vacation, employees could take it anytime they wanted and didn't have to take it consecutively. but it was how bob announced it that's most important. he told his people it's better we should all suffer a little than any of us should have to suffer a lot. and in a hard economy when people sit down with the numbers and they say, well, if we just cut a few people, we'll make the numbers. if we ask the people would you rather lose four weeks of pay or lose your job. i think the answer is very simple. most importantly is that when barry implemented that furlough, morale skyrocketed. people started doing things for each other that nobody predicted. people who could afford it more would trade with those who could afford it less. >> you know what's interesting? we covered a design company at that same time, and that exact same thing happened, they reduced everybody's salaries and everyone came together in this. so people don't fear for their jobs then and so then they trust the company more, what about i'm ambitious. i want to get the ahead. this person is after my job. how do you get rid that have dynamic? >> the tone is set from the top. and when the leader believes in looking out for each other and when the leader believes in putting the interests of others first, what starts to happen, people work to see that leader's vision advance. it's the same for all of us. when we're willing to expend our time and energy to help the people next to us, the people next to us are willing to help us. this is what the marine corps has known for years. when you become a recruit at paris island in san diego, you want to become a marine, they all show up and all want to prove to the drill instructor that they're strong, they're smart, they can outdo it. but the marines keep putting them in situations that they can't complete by themselves, and they have to learn to rely on each other. in time they start to learn they will do so much better and advance so much more if they put themselves out there and help each other. it's exactly the same in a business. when we work together, we are better. the human animal is designed to be cooperative and work together. when we wok to our design, everything works perfectly. >> simon, so good to see you. congratulations on the new book. >> thank you so much. >> i suggest everyone read it. your last book was amazing. thanks, simon. >> thanks, j.j. thanks so much for joining us today. if you missed anything just head on over to 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. you can also follow us on twitter. it's @msnbcyourbis and do not forget to become a fan on facebook. next time, an entrepreneur launches a new yoga trend a little bit prematurely. >> i ended up just my little kind of outreach got me a huge feature in "self magazine." and we were a tiny company, had this big future with no product to sell, which was a huge mistake. big wasted pr opportunity. >> a lesson in making sure your infrastructure is firmly in place so you can maximize every opportunity. until then, i'm j.j. ramberg and, remember, we make your business our business. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. on november 2nd, the president made a new holiday. >> it's official, the dream of a family, friend abdomen fallower. president reagan signed a bill declaring the third monday in january a national holiday honoring martin luther king jr. we were there for the ceremony. >> reporter: there was an heir of celebration and underlining tension. they finally decided to embrace it. >>