Msnbc. Hi there, everyone. Im j. J. Ramburg, and welcome to your business. Today we bring you the story of a Small Business and a small town whose fortunes have been tied together. The business is the Missouri Star Quilt Company, and the town, hamilton, missouri. Hamiltons main street, like so many in small towns across america, has been struggling to survive with store fronts empty and crumbling. As the Missouri Star Quilt Company grew, the family that started the business in 2008 saw an opportunity to improve their main street and grow their business by bringing quilting enthusiasts from all over the world to town to shop and to sew and to meet up. And so far its working. Well show you how in this weeks main street u. S. A. Welcome to hamilton, missouri, population 1800. They have been known as the birth place of jcpenney, but today this city which is an hour away from kansas city is known for something quite different, quilting. Its been dubbed the disneyland of quilting, and thats all because of the vision of one family which started the Missouri Star Quilt Company. People have come from all over the world, from as far away as australia, but once they get here, turns out theres not much else for them to do. So missouri star has broadened their vision. Now theyre working with local partners to turn this sleepy town into a true destination. How many of these buildings do you own . Right downtown hamilton we have 12 of them. Youre really youre taking over this town . We kind of are taking advantage of people not using them and letting them just kind of be run down and fall apart and putting together something new and exciting. And some of them, i see, you have the sewing retreat here for quilters, you have sew seasonal over there. Yeah. Well, so, were focused on quilting. We want to have the most quilt shops of any town in the world. Its a big idea for a very small town whose main street has been in decline for a long time. With just one street light and until recently only one restaurant, there just wasnt a whole lot going on in hamilton before the Missouri Star Quilt Company came along. Jessica green, the hamilton bank, 75 years on main street. Reporter have people started things here that havent stuck or has this just been kind of a dead downtown for a long time . We have some great businesses that have been here and have stuck it out during the downturn. We werent figuring out a way to get other people into town. I think Missouri Star Quilt Company uniquely has gotten people from outside hamilton into downtown and on our main street. Alan gentry, proud mayor of hamilton, missouri. Been a resident since 1978 and serving my first term as mayor. Reporter what do you think the Missouri Star Quilt Company has been doing for this town . Theyve brought in employment. Theyve brought in 100 people now. Theyre the largest employer and very possibly in caldwell county. Theyve improved buildings in disrepair and delap pi dated and going to fall down. Its been a good situation for the city of hamilton. Reporter and the city of hamilton has also been really good for the doane family. 20 years ago ron and jenny doane were barely making ends meet living in california when they decided to pack up their large family and move to missouri with the hope of finding a slower pace of life. We picked a place off the map and within three days after we came to the midwest, i said, you could bury me here. I was an odd ball in california. I had a lot of kids, i liked to sew, i canned, i gardened. There werent many people around that did that. It was a completely different way of life. We fell in love with it. Reporter with a fresh start in missouri jenny stayed home, raised her seven children, and then suddenly found herself with an empty nest. She took a class in quilting, fell in love with the craft and found she was a natural. Everybody was finishing their quilt and i had made 12 of them by the time i was done. I was so addicted. Reporter with the economy shaky in 2008 and ron nearing retirement, the doan children were concerned that their parents had little money for their golden years. Since jenny was spending so much time on her new hobby, the kids thought purchasing a professional quilting machine might be a good investment for the future. Helping them start a little business that might bring in a small income for their parents. We got a building for 24,000, then a quilt machine for 40,000. The quilt machine costs more than the building we were in. That was the catalyst that got us all going. Reporter and from those humble beginnings, the Missouri Star Quilt Company was born. Alan, his sister sarah and another partner boot strapped a quilting website based on a daily deal. When the website gained some traction, they realized jennys larger than life personality was perfect for youtube. The competition is large. I know this looks crazy, but ive done crazy things before. How cool is that . But wait. Always been a big ham. She loves reform. She was what people were going to fall in love with because shes a good teacher. She doesnt mind that youre not perfect and every stitch isnt just right or your block didnt come out square. Reporter now it turns out jenny is the real star at the Missouri Star Quilt Company. All i was hoping for was, heres jenny reporter as jennys notoriety on youtube grew, so did the business. She now has a devoted following of more than 150,000 subscribers and her folksy videos have been watched more than 28 million times. Shes Just Sunshine in a barrel. Oh, shes an awesome instructor. You know, it helps that she has a wonderful sense of humor, too. Reporter the business was humming along nicely when something totally unexpected started to happen. Jenny wasnt here i was kind of disappointed but today i got to talk to her. Reporter people started making the pilgrimage to hamilton to start to see the quilt shop and meet jenny if person. The family saw an opportunity to grow their brick and mortar business and the town to support the influx of tourists. We cant all be quilt makers. We know we have to build an ecosystem that supports everyone. So we have a couple of these buildings that are going to be refine fished into retail space or just space that people can come in and rent and run their business in there. And thats really exciting to me because that means everybody gets a chance to succeed here. Reporter one of those new businesses hoping to succeed is poppys bakery, a local caterer, poppy has always agreed of opening a store front of her own, but hamilton just didnt have the foot traffic to support a retail store. That is, until the Missouri Star Quilt Company came along. Poppys bakery in business for four days. I was in the process of looking for a place to land and open a business of my own. It gave me a huge step up because it allowed me to focus on the business, not having to repair buildings. We were able just to come in, design the kitchen to fit my needs. Reporter the doans helped navy diver and burger con know sour. It shares an outdoor patio. John dawson, burger dive, three weeks on main street. Reporter what did the Missouri Star Quilt Company do for you . They provided the building that we lease from them and financed us to get the business started and running. Reporter and with lines out the door, the demand for burgers, fries and shakes in hamilton is there. People are coming in making milk shakes. Yeah, we sold over 500 milk shakes in our first week. Reporter a remarkable change for the sleepy town of hamilton where the chamber of commerce just started up again after years of inactivity and their local mail truck can no longer manage the package pickup at missouri star unless they make several trips a day cramming packages into the small truck on each visit. Reporter is there a Ripple Effect from the success of the Missouri Star Quilt Company . One of them is i can think of this years banks christmas party, typically we travel out of town and held that at the restaurant. This year because of the retreat center, they have a large banquet area. Were able to feedback into the community. Im so proud of my children. You know, they were at a town meeting sometime and somebody said this is going to be a one dimensional town. Alan said, isnt it better than know dimensional. Were doing something. Im just as tickled as i can be to see it happening. I think most everybody is, too. Reporter hamilton has a storied history because jcpenney was born here. Do you think the point of pride around that might be taken over by the missouri Quilt Company . I think its possible that it could be. Theyre a booming business. I think they have a lot of the same values jcpenney did. Reporter so is the focus of hamilton going to move from heres a place that jcpenney was born to here is this quilting capital of the United States . Its very possible it might. If you think we should visit main street in your town, please write us and tell us why. Email address is yourbusiness msnbc. Com. Taking your Small Business mobile doesnt have to be an excruciatingly difficult process. To help you, check out our website of the week. Dudamobile. Com converts your website into a mobile website. The layout, color scheme and images to fit your needs. Also, you can preview your site just as your mobile customers will see it as you make adjustments. There are hundreds of great books out there for entrepreneurs and Small Business owners. Entrepreneur magazine created a list to help us figure out which ones to tackle first. Here now are five books every Small Business owner should repeated read in 2014. One, the power of habit by charles duhig. Learn how our customs predict life changing events but also the behavior of consumers. Two the innovators dilemma by clayton m. Christiansen. His 17yearold book still provides helpful take aways for the modern Small Business owner. Three, the lean startup by eric reid. This book offers a fresh perspective on how to start and grow your company. Four the wisdom of failure by laurence g. Weinstimmer. This explores the failures of individuals and companies through a sevenyear study. And, five, the gold, a process of ongoing improvement. This will teach you how to be a better Decision Maker for your Small Business. Since its creation in 1992, Ethan Allen Furniture has risen with a worldwide brand recognition. At the helm of the company is surutkus swari. He became the chairman in 1987 after years of supplying the business with lighting and other accessories. We headed over to ethan allens headquarters to sit down with him to talk about everything from the importance of getting your team on board and why you cant be afraid of change in this weeks learning from the pros. One of my main jobs is to make sure that ideas are sold internally, that people have a great buy in so when we have an idea or i have an idea, i ask opinions. I say, what do you think . Not only do i get input but they become part of that idea. At the end of the day good ideas work if people accept them as their ideas. You have to take it on the road. You have to talk to people continuously because a good idea is good if it is accepted by peop people. Being relevant is very critical. I question myself all the time. I ask, are we relevant . When this Great Recession took place five or six years back, it really hit us like it hit everybody else. Ethan allen brand is only sold in ethan allen stores. It is sold by 1500 interior designers so we questioned it. Are we relevant . Should we have 1500 interior designers when the world is moving towards more service. Are we relevant in our technology . You question it and you keep on improving. Youve got to embrace change. Invention has to be part of our dna. Ethan allen is a great iconic american brand. When i got involved ethan allen had over 85 to 90 brand recognition. It was known for early american colonial furniture. When i got involved things were starting to change. Colonial and early american was no longer the predominant style. The manufacturing that had been established since 1932, some were great and some were not in the right places so we had to change. We had to change our product lines, our image, our manufacturing, even many people in the leadership positions. A leader has to be captain of the team. That is playing with the team, strategizing, sharing, not be sitting on the sidelines. We have complex obligations, lots of talented people so one has to be careful that on one hand you remain involved but on the other hand youve got to let people do their work and do their jobs and be involved in the Decision Making of determining what the strategy is and then letting people implement it and be part of it understanding that its being implemented but not being involved on every detail. My involvement is generally at the beginning and at the end. In the middle our associates develop the programs. Coming up, the answers to your 12 business questions about moving your business out of your home and into an office. And whether College Grads should work for a Small Business before starting one. And do you get frustrated trying to recharge electronics from different manufacturers with different systems . Todays elevator picture has the ideal power solution. Announcer brought to you by American Express open. Visit openforum. Com for ideas to help you grow your business. One thing ive learned is my philosophy is real simple American Express open forum is an online 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 its open for everyone. Theres not one way to do something. No details too small. American express open forum. This is what membership is. This is what membership does. As a business person or a person who wants to get into business, you should always have an open mind, always, especially with somebody who is successful. You listen, listen, listen. You grab and take what you feel is best for you and then you incorporate it into your own style because youre never going to be like this. Youre going to have your own style on how you do business. And then go for it. Over our eight years on the air weve shared many stories about inspiring entrepreneurs. Many have overcome hard times by starting a successful Small Business. For a North Carolina couple, it took a move prompted by their Childrens Health needs to discover an unusual opportunity. Nbcs harry smith has their story. Heres a big bump. The ball family sets out for an afternoon stroll in asheville, North Carolina. Troy and her husband charlie moved here from texas ten years ago to save the lives of their oldest boys, marshall and colton. In texas their frail constitutions were constantly compromised by the heavy pollen. Life in the cool, clean air of the appalachians has agreed with this family, including their youngest, luke. Its also provided a unique business opportunity. Doesnt it smell good . Like grits. Its exactly grits, right. Troy ball makes moonshine. You heard that right. Corn liquor. This is whisky . This is whisky. Put your finger in there. Smell it. Oh, it smells like whiskey. Thats hard. Thats the good stuff . Thats the good stuff. Reporter troy got the idea of making moonshine because when they first arrived in asheville shed get mason jars full of the stuff as house warming present. Soon troy was headed back into the hollers to find out for herself how it was done. Came home one day with a Pressure Cooker and said to my husband, i need you to help me convert this to a still. And he said, youre nuts. Im not going to do that. That little Pressure Cooker turned into this, a thriving distillery that makes the real mountain dew. Just take a little there you go. Reporter wow. The key ingredient to troys whiskey, Crooked Creek corn grown for generations by farmer john mcintyres family. This is not genetically modified corn. We are proud to say that. Reporter yeah. This is old school corn. Call it moonshine for the masses. You know, once you take the first sip, youre kind of prone to want to take a second. Plenty of people here thought she might be crazy, but troy believed if she could overcome the myriad obstacles to keeping her sons healthy, she could probably do almost anything, thus, on every label it says, troy and sons. So i spent 24 hours a day for about 18 years taking care of the boys. It was my job to keep them alive. And so when it came time to finally have a moment to develop a business, this is my way of honoring them and making a statement about our lives. Reporter a statement that could double as a recipe that life or even moonshine is pretty much what you make of it. Time now to answer some of your business questions. Lets get our board of directors in here to help. Barry most is a Small Business consultant. You can find him online at barry multz. Com. Also the brand new book how to get unstuck, 25 ways to get your business growing again. And alexis is a business developer. Thank you for being here. Good to see both of you. Lets get to the first question. It is about growing out of your home office. Im wondering what the best way is to go about going from a homebased business to getting ones own offices locally. So, alexis, when you started guilt it was tiny, two of you, or a couple of you, few of you, right . How do you know when its time to move from just sort of business at home to the real deal . Well, in our case my apartment was way too small to host all of our employees. We borrowed space at the beginning. And at a certain point if you can afford it, you have the resources, you need to start carving out your own space to build the culture and the sense of team around the business. And theres so many resources that are out there now which is the good news. At least here in new york the new York Economic Development core, they list all the incubator spaces in new york. They list Square Footage prices in different areas. So there are resources now to explore what your options are more so than i had at the time seven years ago when i started gilt. With my company, right, we moved from my apartment to a space that we rented for the month, then another place we had to sign for two months until finally its scary to sign that lease. Exactly. You have to do it very slowly because in a successful business you want to make sure you keep your fixed expenses as low as possible. I know that it feeds your ego to say im moving from my house to have a real office. Do it slowly. Find an incubation space. Lets move onto the next section. This one is advice for college graduates. One thing ive noticed as a College Professor is the large number of students who are now interested in going straight into owning their own business rather than working for someone else, and im wondering what advice you would give them . Would you suggest that they get a job and work as an employee first or do you think they can just jump right in and be brave and go into business for themselves . I spoke to a young woman recently who she was a babysitter for my friend and she was interested in industry. She did not want to go work for anyone because she thought, that is a waste of my time. Nobody learns anything from working with people. I have to go out and start my own thing, thats how successful people do it. I said to her, that is one path. And theres another path. She it was going through one ear and out the other. Youre an entrepreneur. What do you tell people . I certainly believe you learn a lot by doing. You learn a lot in the trenches of other businesses and certain rules or functions, but that said, entrepreneurship, innovation is the driver of our economy so i find it very encouraging seeing all the people coming out of college wanting to start their own thing. Its often a question of resources. Do you have the resources . Do you have the support that you need to do it right now . And that said, i have done businesses that have been successful, others that have not been quite as successful. Its so true that you learn so much by building a successful business. You learn even more by failing. And so take those experiences, whether its failing fast, starting your own business, learning, there is no wrong or right route. Youve just got to do what feels true to you as an entrepreneur newer. The good thing about being out of college your risk profile can be a lot higher. Youve got nothing to lose. Listen, given the choice, id much rather make mistakes on someone elses dime than on mine. Remember, starting your own business is not about the people you work with, its about the idea. You find a group of people you congrue with, you have to go for it. It is interesting. Theres a cult of entrepreneurship. Thats what we all celebrate. Thats what were here to talk about. There is something to be said for going and having a mentor and learning under somebody who you work for as well. Its different personality types, too. And its a lot about the team you are able to surround yourself with, whether its mentors, other employees with specific information. If you are going it alone that early in your career, you have to be really willing to listen and learn. Right. J. J. When you talk to entrepreneurs, when they say whats the one thing that really helped them, its finding the right mentor. Thanks, guys. Great advice. Stick around because were putting you in the elevator later on in the show. Thank you. If any of you out there have a question for our experts, we answer them here on the show every single week. Go to our website. The address is openforum. Com yourbusiness. Once you get there hit the app for this show to submit a question for our panel. If its ieasier, email us. Its yourbusiness msnbc. Com. Lets head to the twitter sphere to get Small Business advice from our social media influencers. Rhonda abrams says a no interest lone from a friend or Family Member may still face imputed interest. Ask your accountant. Rieva points to a survey that says 58 of u. S. Consumers consider companies that produce video content to be more trustworthy. And sales guru and your business panelist Grant Cardone says find examples creating success today with their brand and biz and study them. If you have electronics from different manufacturers like an iphone from apple and a tablet from samsung, it can get incredibly frustrating to have all of those different chargers of the todays elevator pitcher has a solution to get your wires straight. Hello. Im jack strawser, ceo of easy docs. We own the intellectual property to the best meth thoz to universally charge all brands of phones, tablets, portable media devices. You name it, we can charge it. This is a 2 billion industry. Were looking for a 1 million incompetent vestment. We expect in five years to give you a return of 15 million, which is about 10 market share if we can gain. All the devices that it will fit any device. It doesnt matter which device you want to fit into the thing. This one will actually charge five devices. It will have a speaker so you can blue tooth any one device at one time. Were cash flow positive and were also our first year were profitable. All right, jack. Thank you very much for your pitch. I am going to give each of you guys one of these and a pen and on a scale from one to ten, i want to know how you think he did on the pitch . Not the product but the pitch. Jack, i wish you could see my desk it is a series of 50 different chargers. This would be helpful to me. Lets see what you think. Barry . J. J. I gave it a six. A couple of words i thought were great. You said cash flow positive which as an investor, i loved. The thing i didnt hear was about distribution. Any kind of Consumer Product is all about how many stores are you in and whos going to see it. Got it. Alexis . I thought you did a good job. Its solving a true need that we have as a consumer and thats great. I would have loved to have learned more about why youre the right person to pursue this or your team and what else is out there in the context. Is there competition . What makes this the right moment. 12 out of 20, easy things to stick in there in your quick pitch. Great advice you guys. Thank you. Thank you, jack. Congratulations on your success so far. We want to hear what you thought about jacks pitch today. Go ahead and tweet us. Were msnbcyourbiz. One to ten and tell us why. To learn more about todays show, just click on our website. It is openforum. Com yourbusiness. Youll find all of todays segments plus web exclusive content with a lot more information to help your business grow. You can also follow us on twitter. Again, its msnbcyourbusineiz. Next week one Small Business switches gears after feeling customers werent getting enough attention. Well tell you how this mothe Mother Daughter Team is raising the bar. Until then im j. J. Ramburg. Remember, we make your business our business. If i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing ive learned is my philosophy is real simple American Express open forum is an online 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 its open for everyone. Theres not one way to do something. No details too small. American express open forum. This is what membership is. This is what membership does. Thank you for being with us. Happy friday. We have a big show tonight. One of which involves a bit of monty python. Here we go. If you had the power of time travel and you could go anywhere and be anyone at any time in history, i would recommend against you deciding to be a woman in salem, massachusetts in roughly 1692 because from 1692 to 1693 in salem, massachusetts, salem, massachusetts went completely nuts. That community went into a panic over the fear of witchcraft. They put more than 200 people on