Present your business on msnbc. Hi there, everyone. Im j. J. Ramberg and welcome to your business. Small business saturday is fast approaching. The yearly effort to get folks to shop local the saturday after thanksgiving has blossomed into yearlong efforts around the country to get customers to support independent businesses. Here is a great example of how one persons successful startup has boosted the Business Growth of retail shops and eateries all over her small town. This is exactly the kind of winwin business story that other communities can learn from, too. Im cheri and im going to be your guide. Cherimarie poulos has lived in the carlsbad area for more than 30 years and she loves showing tourists and locals the things that make her neighborhood so special. Were going to do a threehour guided walking tour around town. And then were going to do stops at seven different restaurants, and wine tastings. Anybody like wine and food . Lets go. Earlier this year, cheri started carlsbad food tours. She did it as a way to prepare for her retirement. Ive been a nurse for 32 years now and im still actually nursing. This is kind of my Retirement Plan job. What she didnt realize is that her one Little Company would have a Ripple Effect that would help other Small Businesses, and the local community, thrive. I think the tours been a great promotional opportunity for us. Many people that go to the tour didnt even know that we existed here on the corner. Reporter laura ryier is the owner of the chocolate bar. For her cheris tour gets people to come down her street in a direction too many people miss. They dont even know that we exist, even though were only a block and a half away from the main strip. Reporter jackie, owner cafe topes also needed some help getting people to check out her store. Theres no question, people who try her Cinnamon Rolls love them. Wow. Whats the number one breakfast spot in carlsbad . Okay, heres the highest rated cafe topes from carlsbad. Reporter but she says when people go out to eat they often hop on the freeway and head to the nearby malls. Completely ignoring local places like hers. Just a couple exits away we have a lot of major chains. Reporter its hard for here to compete with the big name restaurants. But cheris tour introduces new people to her place. And thats what many of the Small Businesses like hers need. Just know that if you can just get them in here, just get them to try it you have them. But its expensive. Reporter steve grady recently opened an innovative ice cream shop called subzero. He makes custom flavors on the spot, using liquid nitrogen to flash freeze the portions. Despite his great location right in the center of town hes selling something new that people dont totally understand and its hard to get people to try it. Which is once again where cheri is so helpful. Thats what we think about 90 of the time. Theres no doubt about that. Not only have cheris tours helped boost customers but theyve also helped the businesses take notice of each other. The businesses Work Together because now we recommend our customers to go to each others spot. Tim is the owner and publisher of carlsbad magazine. He says even nonfood businesses not featured on the tour have benefited too. As you kind of meander through even though youre on a food tour you certainly are noticing the window displays. You might say were going to come down here tomorrow and get a new pair of shoes, or, you know, whatever it is. Her business is still in its infancy, but as she grows so do the number of people visiting these off the beaten track food establishments, and thats gotten everyone excited. What cheri is doing with the food tours is very different. It was an opportunity that she presented to us of how she could group us together, cross promote to the, and how it was just a winwin. So in that aspect, shes done a great job. Americans go to the polls in what is shaping up to be a potentially house toric midterm election. While recent surveys show that Small Business owners are optimistic about the economy, they also show deep skepticism about whether washington will fix problems that directly affect them. As they head to the ballot box, government regulations and health care weigh heavy on the minds of americas Small Businesses and entrepreneurs. Rick newman covers business and Economic Trends for Yahoo Finance and jay goltz is the ceo of the goltz group. He owns and runs five businesses. Hes also a Small Business blogger for the new york times. All right, jay, i want to start off with you. Were going to go through a list of things Small Businesses should be thinking about as they go to the polls, lets just start with one of them. Any one you want. Immigration reform. Theyve been talking about it for years. It is a real problem. We interview people all the time. We like them. We go to put them through everify and it doesnt go through and weve had people literally sitting in the office crying saying my father told me this was straightened out. Ive been in this country for 32 years. And its a problem, and its bad for the economy. Its bad for the workforce. Its a problem, and they keep saying theyre going to fix it but they havent. All right, rick. So our crystal ball. Is anything going to move forward . Crystal ball is pretty cloudy. So lets assume we end up with a republican controlled senate. Were going to have divided government just as weve had for several years now. So i dont think were going to see any big breakthroughs at all. One big thing for businesses i think they can look forward to is the absence of selfdestructive antics like shutting down the government, threatening to follow up on the debt. If the republicans want to persuade voters they can run things they have to do that going into 2016 elections. Thats good news. That removes some of the uncertainty Business Owners complain about a lot very legitimately. Immigration reform is really hard. Really complicated. I think its unlikely well see anything on that before 2016. We could see a few other small things happen, you know, fiddling on the margins if you will. Lets talk about things that could happen that Small Businesses care about that could happen. Well, businesses say, you know, their top three concerns are they want more revenue. I dont think theres much a government can do about that. They want lower taxes. Were going to hear a lot of talk about Corporate Tax reform. I dont think its going to get any reform the individual tax code too complicated to do in two years. Possible there could be some kind of Corporate Tax reform. President obama has said he would accept a lower rate down to 28 , republicans have said they want it lower than that. Theres room to meet in the middle if theres a willingness to compromise. One part of a compromise could be the minimum wage. Thats another thing Small Businesses care about. That the cost of Small Businesses, you know, there are fast food workers advocating for 15 an hour. I think theres no chance well see a federal minimum wage there. Its now just above 7. We could see it settle out around 9. President obama has asked for 10. 10. You do see room for negotiation there. Americans do support in general a higher minimum wage. So we could see some action on that. So you have faith that actually things will move forward . I would never say i have faith. These things are possible. A lot depends does each party see they have something to gain by doing something positive and proactive. Okay, jay, what about loans . What about Small Businesses out there looking for money . You know, i will tell you, ive done sba loans, im doing one now, the sba loan program is great. Theres some tweaks there, though, if you had a 504 loan theyre not allowing you to take money out of the building now if youre refinancing. Its out there in congress trying to bring it back to where you could get money out of it. And that should that would be helpful to businesses, because theres the 504 loan program, and then theres the 7a loan program where you can take money out but its more difficult and a lot of the Smaller Banks dont have the facilities to do the 7a program so it would be helpful if they could just bring that back to where it was two years ago. You know what i find, for Small Businesses who are so steeped in getting so much stuff done often you dont know something is a problem until you know its a problem. So, jay, if you had never gone out to get an sbo loan you might not even know what those numbers mean, right . And so you wouldnt even know to think about how your congressperson would vote or you might not even know to think about how they care. So is there anything else that Small Business people just might not have on their radar that they should be very aware of right now when theyre voting . I would say the section 179, accelerated depreciation was a great thing. It absolutely helped. You could deduct things if you bought a big piece of equipment, you could deduct it quicker. That they restored it for this year but its questionable whats going to happen next year. That would be something. And j. J. To your point, youre absolutely right. I wouldnt have known about the sba program issues if i wasnt in the middle of refinancing. So there are things like that out there that arent going to cost the government any money that accelerate depreciation just pushing forward the deduction. Theyre going to get their money in the back end. Its very, very helpful to Small Business. And its frustrating that every year you dont know what theyre going to be doing. One thing i would add is you know were having elections not just at the federal level, but at the state level, too. One thing that really is difficult for Small Businesses is the overlap of regulations. I mean practically every Business Owner will tell you, you know, im dealing you know, i got the same pile of paperwork from the state and from the feds, and they overlap. Its extremely difficult to sort this out. I mean a lot of these regulations are statelevel regulations and even local regulations. Were so fixated on National Politics you forget you maybe can make a little bit more of a difference at the state and maybe the local level. Its very worthwhile to get involved there and see whos running what other policies. Such a good point. Because it is true, so many of the Small Businesses that i talk to, the regulations on the local level are the ones that bog them down. And oftentimes they may make sense for big business and not for them and yet theyre still having to fill out all the paperwork. You can get involved at the local level. Thats where government arguably works at the lower level. You can get involved and make your views known and maybe get something done to change them. All right, rick and jay, thank you guys so much for having this discussion with us. We look forward to seeing what happens on election. Thanks guys. Whether it is during the midterms or outside of Election Races hispanic entrepreneurs are like all Small Businesses owners. U. S. Hispanic chamber of Commerce National convention they simply want an environment that sets the stage for their companys success and they want to help power the economy. Small Business Owners from across the country gathered in Salt Lake City to attend events and ceremonies held by the u. S. Hispanic chamber of chers. The United StatesHispanic Chamber of commerce represents 3. 2 million hispanic owned firms in this country that collectively contribute over 468 billion to the american economy. Additionally, hispanic owned firms in this country are growing at a rate of 3 to 1 when compared to the general market. From break jut sessions to Networking Events the focus was on helping hispanic entrepreneurs gain information about resources, make connections, and grow their businesses. What we do as an association is ensure that were helping to close the gap when it comes to knowledge on running the business. The standard information and skill sets that sometimes are off are missing in the hispanic business community. The head, administrator, the first hispanic woman to ever hold that position, says the sba is working hard to help latina Small Business owners flourish and be able to get access to market opportunities. One of the reasons that im here as the United StatesHispanic Chamber of commerce is that women are starting up businesses at much theyre overindexed. Latinas have a start rate six times over the National Average and thats remarkable when you figure how women in many instances dont have a choice. Thats why i asked the congress to act on what we call sole authority. When women come in to secure contracts from the federal government the u. S. Government is the largest procurer in the world. Most of all the focus was on making sure that no hispanic Small Business owners are left behind. Helping them to grow and survive is just good business. From both the public and private sectors, i think that theres a lot to be gained. It is a pleasant surprise to us that as we stand this right now is the largest gathering of hispanic Business Leaders in the history of the United States. Thinking of offering a new product or releasing a new upgrade to your service, here are five ways to get your launch off to a good start. One, ask your top customers to text. Incorporating their opinion will make your product better and also shows you acknowledge their expertise in the industry. Two, get some publicity. When launching a new product make sure your potential customers know about it. You can give bloggers and the press a heads up that youre releasing something new. Three, develop a plan. Figure out the best way to market and advertise in order to reach your target audience. Four, sell to your existing clients first. Let them know about your new model and why they should upgrade. Consider offering a promotion to upgrade from old to new as appreciation of their loyalty. And five, ask early users for reviews. Possible buyers will Pay Attention when somebody they recognize, or is similar to them, directly and clearly explains how your product benefited them. Still to come, how to get customers to be as engaged with your e commerce site as they are with your brick and mortar locations. And our viewers share their favorite online tools and apps. Also we stretch out with todays elevator pitcher who wants our panel to get physical with her exercise product. 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. I tried to grow too quickly. And, you know, the company got very overextended. And if you dont think about what could go wrong and prepare for what if it doesnt work out, you can leave yourself very exposed. Now, as i look towards the future and i think about the business im always trying to weigh the pros and the cons, and always trying to make sure i have a safety net for whatever decisions we make. Are you looking for a new workout that will help you take off some bounds and build muscles . Todays elevator pitcher says he has the idea product to keep you in shape. Lets see if you agree with our panelist, Angel Investor alicia syrett, and heather thompson, founder of yummy by heather and one of the real housewives of new york city. Im barbara graffeo, ceo, and 2014 women of the year with napw, ben hart my trainer. We are rexist 360 a patented Innovative Technology based resistance band Training System from the home to the gym to the field, and even in your suitcase were a gym in a bag. Four levels of resistance bands give you functional training, space and prevents injuries. The science and Technology Behind the bands is worn around the body give you even distribution of weight burning muscle tone evenly. Theyre made of material poly, and rubber. They give you mobile flexibility, complete movement, linear and lateral. For the athlete youve got the pull and the push and the drive giving them first foot quickness. Youre working inner and outer legs for true resistance. Unbelievable product true results. Were currently selling on our website, amazon, sports authorities coming soon. We started classes in manhattan gyms, boutique gyms, its phenomen phenomenal. Were at 99 retail. We have approximately 75,000 in sales. Were seeking 225,000 for product and placement. But you got the that was great though. Congratulations. Im going to give each of you guys one of these. I can trade you. Thank you. I have pens. So one to ten, not how much you like the product, but how much you liked the pitch. And it sounds like youve got a real groundswell going. Yes, we do. Seems like a good time to start pitching people because youve got something there to tell people its working. Okay. Lets see. Alicia, you first. I gave you an eight. I thought you did a really good job. I thought that you told us great information about the product. You were clearly very energetic. You gave us some information on traction. And financials. How much you were raising. And you also told us a little bit about your marketing efforts. I might have liked to hear maybe a little bit more about how large the market was. But overall i thought you did a really great job. Thank you. Congratulations. This is your target. Because Alicia Heather . I gave you a six. Because i loved hearing about the product. But i dont know what you need the money for. So that i missed. I didnt find that in the pitch. Like what are you looking to invest for. Youre already in stores. Youve got the technology down. You know, its a great product. I like the in the bag. I think it would be a great video idea for you. You know, hotel idea where you could brand it with a hotel so theres inroom training with it. I want to know more so the product you sold me on but i dont know what you need me for. Thanks so much for your advice on this. Thank you. Thank you for being our fitness model. Really appreciate it. Good luck with everything. Thank you so much. And if any of you out there have a product or service and you want feedback from our elevator pitch panel on your chances of getting into investors, all you have to do is send us an email. In that email do not forget to include a short summary of what your company does, how much money youre trying to raise and what you intend to do with that money. We look forward to raid iing reading your pitches. Lets get heather and alicia back in here to help us out. The first one is about customer interaction. To help us out. The first one is about customer interaction. In my business, i encourage people to come into my shop and play and engage their senses and really have a connection and a realtime fun experience. How then am i supposed to encourage Online Shopping when my store itself is the an thissis of just looking and shopping online. Good question. I love that one. Ive been to her store and its beautiful and an amazing experience which you cannot replicate online. She shouldnt try to replicate it online. What she can do is take the online viewner to the store. Give reactions of people when theyre touching the product. What she is writing in her copy is really, really important. Reviews. What tapped their senses about it. She can tell the story online without being able to go in there. Dont forget, oftentimes people who see things in a store then go online and shop for it. She has to grab who she got in the store and then through promotions or online promotions she can get them to shop online, as well. Im thinking, if she thinks of this as one big thing, this is who we are. I think the online present should be an extension of her brand. So, if shes really priding herself on having this wonderful instore experience, what are her creative aspects she can portray online. Not just having a website where its like heres the product and heres the price and are there rewards that you can do . Are there promotions and fun ways to engage the audience. Are they giving information, uploading pictures. So, really making that website an extension of the brand and then it is a little more seamless and it makes more sense. Video is really, really great on websites and shes the candidate for it. Lets move on to the next one. Engaging with the allimportant members of your staff. What else could we be doing to ensure that we retain those individuals that essentially make a professional Service Corporation viable and successful. Thats a great question. Particularly for people who are running Small Businesses, youre so busy that you just assume everyone is happy and youre doing a good job and oftentimes its not, your employees are often your biggest customers. So, for him, his employees are the front line, too. Retention is incredibly important and a number of formal ways and informal ways. Formally, how do you include your employees in equity brams where theyre earning equity in the company. Its much tougher to walk away when youre part of it and then also maybe have that ecquuty invest over time. Its hard to leave when youre forfeiting equity. You can think about rate creative benefits. How are you about the 401 k plan . Is that generous . Are you providing snacks in the kitchen . Generous vacation policy. These are all things you can do that really differentiate your company and help it set apart. It is really harder to leave that company when you feel benefits are tailored and not easily recicable else where. Sit down with your employees and maybe they feel like they want one day a week and they work at home, if provider providing everything, its harder for them to leave. Other than financial things, team building. I love this idea of stay interviews versus exit interviews. You go to the people who have been with your company for a long time, what do you love here . What to you love about the culture and you grow those ideas. You have to invest in your employees. You have to do workshops. Everybody loves a good pat on the back. Recognizing when people have done a good job and creating a culture that has a real entrepreneurial spirit. Maybe if theyre not given a part of the business, they feel like theyre a start of the business because its all about the building whether theyre financial or theyre not. You have to spend time with the nucleus of your organization because when youre building it and when you have built it, your employees are the most important thing. I love this idea, the stay interview. I called it that before. The companies that i interviewed, it is not haphazard. Those founders fought very hard about what is our culture and they trained people who fit the culture and it is embedded in the whole company. We do it at yummy. Were six years old. Its really important to let your employees let you know whats cooking through outside agencies sometimes. It is so fun to have two really strong business women who have been so successful on the show this week. Great to meet heather. Thank you for having us. If any of you out there have a question for our experts, we answer them here on the show every single week. Go to the website openforum. Com yourbusiness. Once you get there get the ask the panel, openforum. Com your. Business. Drop us an email if its easier for you. Your smartphone, your tablet or your computer can help you better manage your crazy life as a Small Business owner and thats why we asked our viewers to share some of their goto apps and web tools. Ive always been surprised at how many sales we generate through instagram. Provides beautiful images and a social media experience but people often contact us and new customers and purchase because theyve seen us on instagram. One of my favorite apps is visco. Makes it easy to take photos and upload them into instagram. They can provide filters for us to make them look professional and it helps our brand as we try to build it and Great Community of people who want to follow us as we continue to share about what we try to do. Our team uses a new app called pocket which allows us to store our ideas in this idea bank and then as an innovative company, we have a million ideas flying through our heads and we have this policy of creating an idea bank. So, anybody who likes or thinks of a new idea, we like to create it and put it in our idea bank for a team meeting. My favorite app to use is ditch labs. An inventory tracking and helps manage your orders and your expensives and i love working with it. Its a Small Business, too. Realry cool to kind of support each other. I love hand shake which is a mobile application which allows you to take orders on your iphone or ipad. Its fannestic because we can take orders all day long and upload them at night and analyze our numbers right away. A new number we connected with is waze. I find even though i know where im going in new york or los angeles, there is always unexpected traffic. Waze is way to guarantee im never late to a meeting or missing a flight. Thanks, everyone, for joining us. If you want to learn more about todays show, head over to our website. Openforum. Com yourbusiness. Youll find all of todays segments, plus, web exclusive cop tent with more information to help your business grow. Follow us on twitter msnbcyourbiz. Next week, continuing our Small Business saturday countdown, we look at a community in arizona thats encouraging shoppers to shift 10 of their spending to local businesses. The important thing about the 10 shift is that were conveying to people that small incremental shifts in their behavior could make a big difference. Find out how this Successful Campaign is getting local residences to change their spending habits to support their main street. Until then, im j. J. Ramberg, 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. Is it slipping away for democrats . All right, good morning. Thanks for getting us up with this sunday. Two days to go. Two days to go, 48 hours until election day. We reached the home stretch of the home stretch and comes with latebreaking signs that the senate may, may be slipping away from democrats. Overnight the Des Moines Register released its final poll. It shows the republican joni