For those who constantly find new ways to grow on every step of the journey, American Express open proudly presented your business on msnbc. Hi, everyone. Im j. J. Ramberg. Welcome to your business. The show dedicated to helping your Small Business grow. Partnerships in a business are like a marriage, truly. You go in hoping for the best, but unfortunately it doesnt always turn out that way. That could be for all kinds of reasons, ultimately partners are individuals with different life plans, val use and goals. As much as you talk that through in the beginning its hard to account for everything when youre signing that partnership deal. The owner of a souvenir sticker Company Learned this the hard way when his partner wanted out. Well see how he is moving forward and making sure his next partnership sticks. I feel like i just got divorced in a lot of ways. When chris and his Business Partner launched a souvenir sticker company, steamboat stickers in 2012, hed never ago than less than five years later, he would be the only one there. He announced that he didnt want to do this anymore. At the beginning, it seemed like they were a perfect match. Chris brought the design background, and his partner had the needed capital to far the the business. It went so much quicker than we ever anticipated. They were flying off the racks at resort souvenir shops and specialty stores, thanks to clever designs and sturdy construction. I like this one, look at this, the moose. We had to started selling them like crazy. He got us a bigger rack and we sold them even better. It seems Everybody Needs a sticker. But the Pressure Cooker of growing a new business became a reason for each to really evaluate what they wanted out of the company. We were on the same page at the beginning but i think what we didnt discuss was, you know, how do we see the business serving our individual interests . Thats where i think we started to diverge a little bit. I was longterm focused. Two owners with different views on the future. Its a situation that lawyer Nina Kaufmann says is a lot more common than youd expect. Partners should have those conversations right from the beginning. You want to begin with the end in mind. Its a vital part of being a Business Owner. And understanding what your exit strategies may need to be. Because there are things that happen, that come up in the course of a Business Partnership you may not help. If youre going to niz about with a partner, there are things you need to know to hopefully avoid a painful and difficult separation in the future. What do you think about taking vacations . How quickly do emails need to be answered . What do you each want out of the business long term . Include your time horizon. For some partners it may be we want to start a business because this is what we want to do for the rest of our lives. For example, for millennials who often dont see the rest of their lives in one place, they may want to build to sell in five years or ten years. To understand your partners communication style. Do they need time to mull over a decision or are they quick with the draw . And three, make sure good advice is only a call away. Have an outside Advisory Team to hold up the mirror and help you move forward in your goals in a safe way. Even if you account for every possible hurdle the future may hold, reality rarely goes as planned. You can write whatever bylaws you want. Unless there is the actual ability of the company to serve that end, it just cant happen. For chris and his partner, the breakup, though sudden was relatively easy. His former partner wants his money back. To get that, the Company Needs to succeed. They both have the same goal of seeing the company make money. Chris, instead of being draw into a long battle was able to concentrate on restructuring to ensure the future of steam boat stickers. He distributed the work that his partner had done across multiple people and brought on a brand new partner, the main sticker designer for the company. Since her designs have been a driving force behind the companys growth and theyve always had a great working synergy, it was the next move that felt natural to both of them. When the other partner decided this wasnt a good fit and he was ready to leave, it was a nobrainer for me. We both really share the same vision. It was just a perfect fit and huge opportunity. They dont want to leave any room for history to repeat itself. This time, theyre approaching it differently. Hindsight being what it is, i would have had many more of those conversations on the way in, you know, where do we see ourselves going if this happens, running scenarios, what if this, what if that . We have a really open line of communication on every level. We always have. As we have moved forward, though, i was definitely more like, i want to protect us both and make sure that everything is just so neatly legally tied up. So that neither of us hit this point. These may be the first of these conversations but they certainly wont be the last. When you see how many loopholes there actually can be in a Startup Company that you really dont know what could happen, its something that we have talked at Great Lengths about and were going to talk more about. Now its full steam ahead for these two partners who are unified in their mission to take over the souvenir world one sticker at a time. We own it. We got behind something that is growing. And succeeding. Chriss ability to hustle and get new clients and to, you know, understand all the different markets and my understanding of different markets, the possibilities are endless. Her current companys product, tates cook riz are on store shelves around the country. Youve probably seen them. Kathleens success came on the heels of a terrible situation. She lost her Previous Company and brand to her Business Partners. We want toed revisit this cautionary tale of a partnership gone bad. Tates bake shop is known for these buttery, thin, crisp chocolate chip cookies. Tates wholesale factory on the east end of long island churns out more than 2 million cookies a week that are distributed nationwide. Sales of those special treats amount to more than 10 million a year. The cookie has to be crisp because if its not crisp its not tates. Tates is kathleen kings second bakery business. Her first company, kathleens bake shop was an institution in tony, southampton, new york, for 18 years until she made a bad business decision to form a partnership with a former employee and his brother. That mistake cost her her name, her brand and her first thriving bakery business. They destroyed everything i ever had from kathleens bake shop. Everything. Baking since she was a child, kathleen started selling cookies at her familys roadside farm stand. I grew up on a farm in southampton. I started baking cookies when i was 11 years old. My dad told me i was old enough to buy my own clothes for school now and i should bake the cookies and sell them at the farm stand. Kathleens bake shop was a success right from the start with a slew of celebrity regulars, great press and a wholesale business that was growing steadily in the new york metropolitan area. She bought a Historic Building in southampton to house her bakery, worked crazy hours making pastries, croissants, cookies and cakes. Was also taking care of the finances, marketing and Everything Else in her business. She had generous offers to buy the business on the table but she had always promised an accountant working for her that shed give him the chance to buy the Company First should she ever decide to sell. He jumped at the opportunity but insisted his brother join the deal. That sense of fairness set her up for a devastating fall. The business deal i made was crazy naive. I didnt have the best lawyer obviously. And the deal was one third, one third, one third. In my brain i was like, yeah, were all equal. But together they were twothirds. As soon as the deal was done, the brothers started making major changes, diminishing the quality of the ingredients, moving the wholesale bakery to virginia and hurting kathleens reputation. They just continued to kill the quality of the brand and it was heartbreaking. It was embarrassing because my name was on it. Ultimately, after about six months, they came and fired me. A legal battle ensued. When the dust settled, kathleen was saddled with 200,000 of debt from the brothers short time in control of the business as well as legal fees from the fight. She also lost the kathleens brand name. The only thing she walked away with was her bakery store front in southampton. She had no choice but to start all over again. I had zero money left in the bank. And i opened tates in two weeks because i had to. Around that time, kathleen was introduced to michael, a business adviser for creative entrepreneurs. She told him the whole story and that she was getting ready to sell her home to get muchneeded capital to fund the new business. And i look at her and i said, do you have a bake shop . Do you have a building . Yes. Do you have a recipe . She said yes. Okay, youre not selling anything. Roll up your sleeves and well make it happen. How does a entrepreneur form a Successful Partnership and avoid a misstep like kathleen . Michael points out some simple things you can do, like keeping 51 of the company so you can have voting control and making sure you have veto power on important decisions written into your contract. Youre the founder. Youre the visionary. Theyre coming to you. You dont need them. They need you. Often times private capital comes in, entrepreneur with this great vision, great idea, beautiful placement in the market and all of a sudden they want to make millions so they come in and they totally destroy it. And you lose your grand. With michaels guidance and the emotional chapter of kathleens bake shop behind them, tates has cat pucatapult focusing primarily on the cookie business. Kathleen says now the whole ordeal was worth it and in many ways, its the best thing that could have happened. When you go through something very challenging that tests all your limits, everything becomes easy. I dont have any fear to take chances, because whats the worst that could happen . Ive already lost everything before. Having good communication skills is a must when running a business. It has a huge impact on whether your team can get something done or goes around in circles. Ink. Com put together five habits that will improve your ability to communicate well. One, customize your communication. Dont speak to everyone the same way. Some people like details while others just want the bottom line. Know your audience and act accordingly. Two, actively listen. Maintain eye contact and respond with small gestures that show that you care about what that person has to say. Three, be polite. Dont check your phone or look at your watch when someone else is speaking. Have some respect. Four, ask questions that are simple and open ended. Why, what, when, where and how are still the gold standard. And five, let people finish. If youre anxiously awaiting for a chance to jump in and speak, youre probably not really listening. Train yourself to avoid interrupting people by making sure theyre done talking before you start with your thought. Last year out of a concern about predatory lending practices in the Small Business lending market, a coalition of lenders, brokers, nonprofits and others banded together to introduce the Small Business borrowers bill of rights. The hope was to create Greater Transparency and accountability across the Small Business lending sector. Joining us now to talk more about best practices among lenders in order to help Small Businesses gain access to loans is jared hecht, the cofounder and ceo of fundara. You are working with online lenders and consumers who are reaching them. Thats exactly right. Why did you feel the need . Youre only working with great people, i presume. Right. You are vetting the lenders that you work with. Why did you feel the need to create this bill of rights . So Small Business lending has historically been a sellers market. Its one of the few industries where the internet has done literally nothing to transform the way it operates. Thats generally meant theres been a lack of information for Small Business owners to actually come out on top in the entire process. And youre a Small Business owner, im a Small Business owner. You recognize how frequently youre bombarded by people trying to sell you things that you ultimately dont need. What ends up happening in Small Business lending with, Business Owners are taken advantage of. Terms are otaken from them. Its all about empowering Business Owners with information so they can come out on top. What are some of the tenets of the bill of rights . Theres a broker section on the bill of rights. The way a broker generally operates is theyll put a Business Owner into a product or work with a lender that will pay the broker the most amount of money, not a lender that will provide the lowest cost capital. Brokers must provide a Business Owner with all the information about all of the products for which theyre actually eligible. Is this actionable at all . You have a bill of rights out there. What does it actually do . In my mind it lays a foundation for best practices for lenders and brokers to abide by to ensure that the whole world and ecosystem of online lending can grow in a responsible manner. If i were a Small Business owner who wanted to borrow money, would you suggest i bring this bill of rights and basically say can you check off all of these. Honestly . Yes. Yes, i would. If youre a Small Business owner, you should know that youre treated fairly, know exactly what youre getting into. The last thing you want to know is that youre not being taken advantage of. Heres a list of questions. Ask the people youre working with if theyre following this. Thats exactly right. Its also almost a Mission Statement for your company, right . Exactly. Hopefully others that work with you. Weve had a bill of rights on our site almost ever since we launched. Its really a way to demonstrate that we are in the corner of the Business Owner every step of the way and our interests are aligned with theirs. You are steeped in this world of online lending. Yes. How quickly do you see this growing . The industry is roughly doubling every single year. We dont see that slowing down anytime soon. Right. The nice thing about the growth, its not a zero sum gain here. The pie is growing. Theres bank lending and online lending which is provided by nonbank alternative lenders. Theyre complimentary and coexist. Got it. Jared, thank you so much for coming on the program. Thank you for putting together this bill of rights. Its so helpful for people who dont understand this that well yet are going out there to get money, funding. Thank you so much for having me. The booming Service Economy continues to offer opportunities for forwardthinking entrepreneurs. Two clever brothers have created a successful business doing the things most of us hate, haggling over bills with a variety of companies from cable to phone to insurance. Nbcs Olivia Sterns has their story. Reporter nancy and Mike Montgomery have dreams of traveling the world. What they dont have is the extra cash to splurge. Our bills should not be that much. Reporter looking to cut down on expenses, they started with their cell phone bill. That alone cost 180 a month. Were paying more than we thought we should be paying. Reporter then they discovered the bill fixers. We could be saving them a couple hundred more. Reporter two brothers in nashville who work the phones, negotiating bills, tracking the latest deals in their basement war room. We kind of got it down to a science where we can get it done in probably less than an hour. Reporter ben and julian started their business in college. I used to negotiate for my clothe roommates. Reporter clients give the brothers permission to claim to be them, handing over Social Security numbers, birthdays and pin numbers. They charge 50 of what they save customers for the first year. They say they save clients an average of 300. We helped about 1,300 people so far. Reporter their number one piece of advice . Be nice and theyll take care of you. Reporter other tricks, call in the morning, ask for customer service, not billing and start by saying you want to cancel your service. The brothers threaten the montgomerys phone company with switching to the competitors cheaper plan. The couple was shocked to learn how much the brothers cut their cell phone bill from 180 a month to 60 bucks. Oh, my gosh. No way. Reporter paying money to save money and can be well worth it. Lets travel. I need to hug you. Reporter nbc news, nashville. When we come back, the pros and cons of trying to diy your seo and more of our viewers favorite online tools and apps. Our cosmetics line was a hit. The orders were rushing in. I could feel our deadlines racing towards us. We didnt need a loan. We needed shortterm funding fast. Building 18 homes in 4 ½ months . That was a leap. But i knew i could rely on American Express to help me buy those building materials. Amex helped me buy the inventory i needed. Our amex helped us fill the orders. Just like that. Another step on the journey. Will you be ready when growth presents itself . Realize your buying power at open. Com right now were having trouble getting traffic to our retail site. Im also having trouble being able to afford paying for an expert. Id like to know if there are ways i could diy my seo while were working towards hiring someone full time . Yes, you can certainly diy your seo. Lots of good tools out there in the modern world. If you go on youtube, there are a ton of tutorials that will show you how to do seo on your own. A lot of times its about band width. You have to be consistent with seo. Its not so much about setting it up once and letting it ride. Youll need to do searches for key words and make sure that all of your pages are technically set up properly. A lot of it is about consistency, not so much about hey i did seo correctly, now im good to go. Eventually your bandwidth may get stretched thin and you may need to hire someone. You can absolutely set it up so youre done properly from the beginning on your own. We now have the top two tips you need to know to help your Small Business grow. Lets introduce our board of director and get their advice. James reinhart is the cofounder and ceo of the Largest Online consignment and thrift store. And larry broten is the founder and ceo of broten hotels operating through california and chicago. So good to see you both. Good to be here. You have such a great story, james. You started your company from nothing, you just got 80 million from goldman. I use your company. Youve taken it from zero employees to how many now . About 700 now. What have you learned . Weve learn a lot. Focus on the culture at the company. I think its easy as you grow quickly to think about the top line and bottom line. Its ultimately about the people. Great companies always get back to cull tear and why employees want to work there and what theyre trying to accomplish. The biggest thing weve learn, you can never forget its all about the people. They ultimately help you become successful over the long term. Do you feel like youve had your culture right from the getgo. Youre always tweaking it. What works for five people in a coffee shop is what different than what works for 700 across four locations. Be relentless talking about it. Have you had to get rid of people because they didnt fit the culture . Sure. I think people that help you go from your first zero to a million to the people who help you get to 100 million are different people, different responsibilities. The job of the ceo is to keep figuring out who are the right people to be on the bus. Larry. I am going to remember ditch the pitch. Once and for all, ditch the pitch. The elevator pitches have their place but too often we go to Networking Events and people are immediately going into their elevator pitch. I started asking venture capitalists, investors and ceos, how many of you bought something right off of the first pitch you heard . Nobody ever has. The truth is we want to do business with those we know, like and trust. Im going to recommend that people do this, start your conversation with this, when somebody says hey, what do you do . Use these three sentences. I hate it when, fill in the blank. I love it when, fill in the blank. So i, fill in the blank. For instance, ive got this mentor and coach, entrepreneurs, so id say i hate it when i see entrepreneurs out there floundering, struggling, they have no idea what they do, they dont have tools or tips or resources to get the job done. I love it when they can change multigenerational strain of poverty theyre in and i love to see them get to their fullest potential so i coach and mentor them, give them the resource and tools to do a great job. Ditch the pitch. You know what, i love that. I love it because pitching after youve said it so many times starts to feel canned. Right . It is canned. Just having a normal conversation with someone exactly. I mean, i find myself even when i start to talk, im like here i go again. Right, right, right. That makes it much more personal. Just remember i hate it when, i love it when, so i. Then fill in the blampgs as youre talking. I use a version of that all the time. I think its great. It lets people connect with another shared way theyre thinking about a problem or your problem. What do you do . I hate it when you look into your closet and you have a closet full of clothes you arent going to wear. I love that feeling once youve purged. You can point things you want. And so were relentless about helping people have that magic moment. I think everybody can relate to that. That was good. Bing. Good advice. Great advice, both of them. Thank you both. Thank you. It is hard to sift through the apps and websites that can help you run your company. We periodically go out and ask viewers which ones they find most useful. Here are some of their discussions in this small biz tools. Elevate biz training is a site specifically for women entrepreneurs. Its a Wonderful Community you can go and be a part of. They have lots of great content and have an annual membership site you can join. Its quality women from all over the world growing and launching businesses and are highly successful. An app that i love to use is blue vine. They do invoice factoring and youre able to get money up front for purchase orders you have received and youve already invoiced out. It allows you to keep your business going, maybe take care of payroll, other issues you might face as a Small Business if you are boot strapped and looking for ways to finance. They are simple tools and youre able to use them at the click of a button. Our business has been greatly helped by the manufacturing extension program. It can be found at nist. Gov mep. Its federally funded program that allows manufacturers access to industrial engineers. As Small Businesses we cant afford an industrial engineer of our own. They allow them to work for us under a contract at a discounted price. As you get bigger you pay the full price. You have a great, welltrained, experienced industrial. Near available to you just for the project you need. One app we use is prolo. They can track their product real time. We love it and its grown our business. This weeks your biz selfie is from robbie turner. Hes from citizen ciao. He donates part of his sales with help Homeless Children with shelter and education. Email us yourselfy to yourbusiness msnbc. Com or tweet it to msnbcyourbiz and use yourbizself. Thank you for joining us today. Heres one thing i learned from todays show, it is never too late to create a partnership agreement. If you dont have one, sit down with your partner and create one. You have to talk about things like your vision for the future and values. You need to sit down with an vo adviser or lawyer who can go through potential scenarios you may not have thought of. Its easier to do this when things are going well instead of when you have disagreements. If you have questions or comments, email us at your business m business msnbc. Com. Weve posted the segments from today and a lot more. Connect with us on our digital and social media platforms as well. Next week, if you thought starting a business was tough, wait till you see what comes next. I have to work on branding, marketing, managing people, managing money, managing strategy. Which has been a big maturation process for me personally. Find out how entrepreneurs like this one get the help they need to deal with everything. Until then, im jj ramberg. Remember, we make your business our business. Brought to you by American Express open. Visit openforum. Com for ideas to help you grow your business. The orders were rushing in. I could feel our deadlines racing towards us. We didnt need a loan. We needed shortterm funding fast. Building 18 homes in 4 ½ months . That was a leap. But i knew i could rely on American Express to help me buy those building materials. Amex helped me buy the inventory i needed. Our amex helped us fill the orders. Just like that. Another step on the journey. Will you be ready when growth presents itself . Realize your buying power at open. Com you. Just when you think you know whats going to happen next, just when you think you have a hand him on a story and where its going, just when you think its under control, things go a little bit nuts. There are still some known knowns in the world. We do still know a few things about whats going to happen next. I can tell you with all certainty that tonight is South Carolina eve. Tomorrow polls will open and then polls will close in the South Carolina democratic primary. That will happen. In terms of what is going to happen in that primary, nobody can tell you that for sure in advance. The voters, of course, will decide. But we decided to take a little snapshot today of thst