Hi there, everyone. Im j. J. Ramberg and welcome to your business, the show dedicated to helping your Small Business grow. We have met some exuber rapt entrepreneursoff the year, but greg whitt stock of aqua scape really stands out. His story is unbelievable, filled with drama and excess, Great Success and failure and then rebirth. Not to mention some family infighting and reconciliation. The zigzag roller coaster ride his business has endured in the last 25 years is nothing short of epic. That crazy guy up there on the forklift is greg whitstock, founder and ceo of aqua scape. And this enormous place which will embodies everything whi stchltstock is all about is called aqua land. Lets open up the gates. Today is the biggest sale of the year for the st. Charles, illinois based business that got its start 25 years ago. Its the kickoff to a new season of water gardening and pond building. An industry built and popularized in large part by whitt stock himself. But just a few years ago, the fate of aqua scape was in question. The business suffered a body blow that could have easily been the he said. Adversity can pull a together or apart. It pulled our team together. Sai. Adversity can pull a together or apart. It pulled our team together. I never looked at anybody the same because without them, i could have never done it. His adventure started at just 12 when he built miss firhis fi in his backyard with his dad. Every summer i would just spend my summers ripping it out, rebuilding it and macgyvering up my own filter system. Over the next seven years, he perfected the craft, innovating along the way and figuring out how to make the maintenance of a pond relatively simple. I thought, man, in has to be a business here. So i came up with a concept of building peoples ponds in their backyards just like i had already done for myself. And i remember telling my mom and dad that i wanted to start a pond Building Business and i said all i need is a strong back, wheelbarrow and shovel and i could have a business. Greg then a student at ohio state university, went into business that summer. I had 22,000 in sales and 11,000 in profit. The business took off from there. The Second Season that i was in business, i had done 12 ponds, five my first, 12 sepgd. And then august 2, 1992, my life changed when the Chicago Tribune ran a front page story on me and my bus went through the roof. So my fun summertime gig became my career before i even graduated college. The newspaper article catapulted the business into the big leagues with greg ramping up quickly to serve the tidal wave of new customers. When i was 24, i got my first patent, a skimmer on one side and falls on the other. And started to manufacture those and distribute them to other landscapers. And that is really where the business really took off when i was selling to other contractors. In those early crazy days when the company had just gotten started, gregs dad gary an engineer was a big supporter and helped his son with the business. My dad is a conservative 50 somethingyearold engineer at the time and im a wild ass 20 something entrepreneur. So it was pretty much oil and water. I was the gas pedal and he was the brake. The strive he straef escalat. I lost a lot of relationships. My best friend this. Anthony embhigh school he e bem ezed from me. When its family, it gets tough. It was a conflict that couldnt be resolved. And the two parted ways leading to years of estrangement. We only worked together for the first three years and then he became my first competitor. He set out to say he was going to show me the way if really should be done. The challenge from his father trove greg to work harder than ever. That was a big motivation because i wanted to prove not just to him but myself that we could come it. Aqua scape was enormously successful especially during the housing boom. Easy money also spurred the building of aqua land, the companys sprawling 250,000 square foot headquarters. I like to say god has a sense of humor because for the first 16 years of my business, i had double digit growth. Everything i touched turned to gold and i thought, hey, i got the midas touch. Then 2008 came along and changed everything. The company lost 12 million in just one year. And they were forced to lay off nearly and a half of the employees. Everything went to hell in a hand basket the. Colleen is president of aqua scape. And whitt stocks right hand person. She witnessed the tail end of their incredible growth, including whitt stock erect cop still yags with miss dad and friendly acquisition of his business. But she also witnessed the decline that hit the company like a ton of bricks. 2006 was our first year in this building. 2007, we saw the wheels shaking. And 2008, we just banded together and held on and made some really, really hard decisions. Then in february of 2011, as aqua scape was limping along trying to go survive another day, the unthinkable happened. When the economy was at its worst, snowfall wiped my building out. The entire building collapsed thank god when i saw the entire 700 foot span on the ground, i just fell to my niecknees about the timing could not have been worse. With the ramp up to the busy spring and Summer Season just a few weeks away. Everything i had touched turned to gold and now everything was not turning to gold. Greg went from having a business that was through the roof to a business that was collapsing under the weight of the recession and then to a business with a collapsed roof. The building was condemned. We were basically out of business. And just like the conflict with his father, the challenge of rebuilding aqua scape became a rallying cry for whitt stock and his remaining employees. This image taken just a few days after the building collapsed said it all. Life is 10 what happens to you and 90 what you do about it and we were actually standing on the roof of our business when we took that photograph. Because that was my management team, the people that i was rebuilding the business, leading the charge to rebuild the business. And now several years later, aqua scape is leaner, meaner business. Ready for anything. And not only do t. Did we rebuild the building, we matt the Company Stronger than it was even though sales where they were, coming out of 2011,matt te Company Stronger than it was even though sales where they were, coming out of 2011, this was a Stronger Company and i dont know if we would have done that if we didnt face the adversity that we faced. If youve been in las vegas, you have likely seen the amazing fountain in front of the about a lanlg i dont hotel. The Company Behind that work of art is constantly coming up with new ideas and the way they do it is all about the training and versatility of their staff and their determination to determine a culture of innovation. Drive by the about a lanlg yoe or dubai, you cannot help bistop and stare. This is the work of a fountain designer. After working on the Disney Epcot Center water installation, mark fuller and two colleagues took that experience, left their corporate jobs and started the Southern California based Water Feature Design Firm wet. Their first fountain was for fpt place in dallas, texas. And the company hasnt had a quiet day since then. The the phones started ringing, people saying who did that, were building a Shopping Center or were building a project. Could you do that for us. To them the days of simple spouting water are long over. Wet creates interactive works of art that elaborately marry natures elements to music. The fountain show at the Shopping Mall in california is just one example of their innovative work. Innovation means doing something new. Innovation equals learning. And what we work very diligently at wet at is creating a learning environment so people want to learn. And that learning starts on day one when someone joins the wet team. Every employee goes through an intense two week immersion program. No matter what youre starting at a receptionist or head of the robotics team, during the two weeks, you rotate through every stage of development. From the model shop to fountain making to the machine shop, not only does this help new employees understand all aspects of the company, it helps them understand the people theyre working with. And it helps break down traditional hire arcable walls that some Companies Struggle with. I think that i can pat ourselves on the back and say we have obliterateded the notion of blue collar, white collar, shop guy, engineering guy just work innovative collaborative. He believes if he gets his team to learn new thing, they will be inspired to create new things. And that doesnt end after the immersion program. So some days you might find employees not looking at new fountain designs, but an improv comedy class. That is a snail. Or taking a workshop on Graphic Design or welding. Or whiteboarding. This is all part of wet u, a constantly series changing of classes offered to all employees. And the fun here is what happens when you get those different disciplines people together in the same room brainstorming, and you come up stuff that you would never get with 100 of the smartest people in one field all locked together in a room. . It doesnt come cheap. First of all, it takes time away from meeting the constant client deadlines. Doesnt come cheap. First of all, it takes time away from meeting the constant client deadlines. But mark says it helps create a cull can chur where people are always looking for the best ways of doing things, not the easiest. When we hire young people out of college now, a huge amount of them are very gifted at doing things on a computer and we have a lot of classes in hands drawing. Once youre really good at drawing by hand, if you think the right thing do is a computer illustration, thats great. But if youre doing a computer illustration because you can and you cant do the other, then that is making the decision for the wrong reason. Youre short changing the project, youre short changing yourself. And the classes help develop employees creativity and provide Clear Channels of communication. But mark says the biggest advantage to an emphasis on creativity and versatility isnt internal. The client ultimately benefits the most with wet delivering exactly what each customer wants, a one of a kind experience for every visitor. Our objective for our client is to give them very innovative work as rapidly and excellently as possible and everything and anything that we can infuse into our Company Culture is an immediate payback to the client. Economists continue to keep an eye on the financial fallout of brexit. Great britains referendum vote that approved leaving the voou. The vote has rocked Global Markets with long term ramifications still to be seen. Small Business Owners may eventually feel the brexit impact. Jonathan todd is a data analyst and he has warned of a possible dropoff in business investment. Robert paulman is also concerned about blekss effect. Hes a professor at New York University stern cool of business and author of the book global advice, how companies can overcome the pitfalls of globalization. So good to see you both. Thank you for having me. On the scale of we should be worried about this to, hey, its not that big a deal for american Small Business owner, where to we fall some. . I look at it from the small bes own respect who are looking to go overseas and i think this will make life a lot more complicated. Youre expanding overseas somewhere else. Likely not much of an impact. So expanding overseas to europe, the issue is that you used to or most Companies Used to run operations for the european continent out of the uk. And it made access to the European Union much easier. Now they have to have two sets of businesses, businesses in the uk and now on the continent to to business on the conity nebts. So this will raise costs to companies. And i think the real issue is they dont know what handed, wh happened or how to start. And we wont notice for some time. Handed, happened or how to start. And we wont notice for some time. We dont know when the ur will invokenotice for some time. We dont know when the ur will invoke article 50. And start that exit. Until that gets resolved, theyre in limbo right now. And where do you think we fall on that scale some gli totally agree that there is a lot of uncertainty brought to Global Markets from the brexit decision, but youve seen a flight to safety among Global Capital since then, youve seen selloff of the pound, but that has gone to u. S. Treasuries for example where were seeing all time lows in yields. That has actually going to potentially be good for u. S. Based Small Businesses. They will have lower costs of borrowing if they want to start a bhis or expand a business and if you combine that with recent strong data with consumer confidence, those two things could create a very favorable environment for u. S. Small businesses. So what about just simply the uncertainty in the Global Economy . Sure. It would be difficult for a Small Business to decide to move overseas maybe to england or grit britain because there are more restrictions with trade, with movement of labor. So it does bring more uncertainty there. But if youre going to look at a focus of a u. S. Based Small Business, then this could be a potentially good opportunity. So to you bou do you both ag youre a u. S. Based Small Business, that no worries . I largely break thagree that extent youre a u. S. Focused Small Business, you probably wont notice much of an impact with two exceptions. The first one is lets remember why Interest Rates are low. Interest rates are low because the economy is weak right now. And with a weak economy, its hard for Small Businesses to grow. So that is one thing that i would caution. The second thing is what weve also noticed is that with the flight to safety that jonathan has talked about, the u. S. Dollar has increased in value against currencies throughout the world. This makes u. S. Goods more expensive for foreign buyers. So again, for foreign businesses that are largely in the u. S. Economy, there probably wouldnt be much of a give or there probably wont be much of an effect unless there is a recession if the european continent and it spills over to the u. S. Economy. So that is the worry right now, that people should be thinking about . I think so. But again, there a Silver Lining there, too, because of the strong u. S. Dollar. That makes it better for a u. S. Based business to buy overseas goods. Better for consumers. And that could provide a sort of tail wind to u. S. Economic growth. And if you were a Small Business watching this, what would you be watching out for . I think for me personally, we talk about spillover effects and they could be recessionary effects moving from europe or the Great Britain over to the u. S. , but there also could be spill overeffects of capital or labor. If youre in london, youll get a harder time getting computer code for example because youre working with a smaller market. What is keeping them from moving to new york where they will have a much bigger pool to work from. I say watch the economic data, see how jobs are going, see if jobs fit job growth in the economy, see how your consumers are reacting. See he if demand is increasing. Be extra vigilant and aware to what are the trends going on moving forward. Well, thank you both so much for shining some light on this. Have you ever ban watching tv and found yourself cuff vetting an out fit that someone was wearing . Ban watching tv and found yourself cuff vetting an out fit that someone was wearing . Gas pitcher has an app for that. Lauren is costar of oxygens quit your day job. And scott is qvc of Entrepreneurial Organization community co. Hi, my name is anna and im the founder and ceo of tag it, the mobile app tv viewers use to buy items from their favorite tv shows. Have you ever found yourself watching tv apthinking, wow, where can i get that dress or perhaps that crutch . If so, youre like 150 million americans who are watching tv regularly and engaging in a second screen, that is a cellphone, tablet and laptop where they are shopping. That is why tag it is the platform that top retailers are using to he will sell products to billions of tv viewers. Tag it is now raising 250,000 from investors like you to help propel the momentum and growth that weve been experiencing. We want to grow our operation and continue to build our platform so we can license to retailers and tv networks. Remember, if you watch it and you want it, all you have do is tag it. Nice job. And nice tag line at the end, 0 too. For both of you, i need two numbers from one to ten. The first is what do you think of the product and the second what do you think of the pitch. When good you stadid you start . In october, it will be three years sense we published the app pp. Do you publish the number of users . No, but it is eninvestigation tore privileged information. Got it. All right. Scott, lets start with you. I did 8 and 8. Love the pitch. Love you personally. You have great energy. The things that would have made it a 10 for me, i want to know how do you get users. I get the idea that this is a big market, but how do you attack it, how do you get people to download the app, know to use it. Big education thing there. And then secondly, what is the actual revenue model . I understand there are some things being sold, but how are you make money so i know how im making my money back. Thank you. Lauren. So 8 and 8. Great minds think alike. So i was really impoliced with you, youre polished, youre poised, incredibly articulate, but you didnt tell us enough about the business. I know its hard do in just one minute. But we dont know how the Technology Works and there must be some user friendly way even if its proprietary information to explain to us in lay terms how the Technology Actually works. How can we actually just tap if in the second screen. And so i dont feel like we knew enough information if we knew nothing about the industry. Great. 8s across the board. Congratulations. Three years in, it must be doing okay. Good luck Going Forward p. Thank you both for all your advice. Good luck. If any of you out there have a product or service and you want to feedback from our pitch panel on your chances of getting interested investor, send us an email. Yourbusiness msnbc. Com. In that email, through a shorts summary of what your company does, how much money youre trying to raise and what you want to do with that money. You never know, somebody be out there watching the show may be interested in helping you. Still to come, what to consider when adding managerial manpower to your business. Plus analyzing your brand and building a community. Will your business be ready when growth presents itself . Our new cocktail bitters were doing well, but after one tradeshow, we took off. All i could think about was our deadlines racing towards us. A loan would take too long. We needed money, now. My amex card helped me buy the ingredients to fill the orders. Opportunities dont wait around, so you have to be ready for them. Find out how American Express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open. Com. As you get larger as an organization, how do you think about adding that managerial level that you need in order to actually take a businesslike ours to the next level . You have to realize that, first of all, go to the 3457k gearial level requires a different level of expertise. Biggest mistake is they take the existing team and elevate them up but theyre not prepared for it. So if you need a managerial team, hire managers. Often look outside of your business to find these people and youre not looking for people with the talents to do the work, youre looking for people with the talent to work on the business and manage the work. Its a different set of skills. Here is one tip also. You yourself may not be a manager. Certain entrepreneurs take their business to a certain level and then try to convert over to a managerial business and actually hurt their business. So consider that number one employee that you have which is yourself maybe shouldnt be the manager. We now have the top two tips you need to know to help your Small Business grow. Scott and raulauren are back wi us. Scott, lets start with you. So community, every brand needs to build a community right now. And there is an important reason why. It is the next generation of customer service. Right now brands have to invest in themes that ultimately they can own, control, but also at the same im be able to listen and let go a little bit. And a community ultimately allows you to to many of those things. Connecting like minded people around your core brand philosophy. Things that matter to you. Where can you own the considers, whe considers and leaded considers before and also how do you extract value from your own community. Ders before and also how do you extract value from your own community. For example contact marketing, the act to exfratract content. Transition your customers into a closed curated community and youll win. Lauren, youre up. I think either thes important that entrepreneurs are managing their own brands as much as theyre managing the brand of their company. That ent their own brands as much as theyre managing the brand of their company. Its interesting to see entrepreneurs hunker down to build their business and it goes on with its own reputation, but the cofounder, the ceo, coo, the president didnt have their own brand necessarily consistent with that of the company. And so a lot actually to scott thes point ill have to say is not just around building community, but also around building your voice. Because in this day and age, marketing, you are marketing your business. Like you are your best advocate for the company that youre building. So make sure that whatever it is youre doing in social media and linkedin, even on your snapchat, any articles that youre writing, whether they be user generated kept for personal purposes or legitimate content that youre doing on behalf of the company, but that that really resonates and is in line with the objectives of the business and the brand. So what do you say to a founder, and i met one recently, who doesnt want to be out there . She saeays my product speaks fo itself, it isnt need to be about me, ive grown this far and thinking about how to grow it even more, but i dont like being on tv, what do you say to someone like that . One of two things. Tell me how youre going to win then because this is the game these days. You have to be the voice of your own product, of your owner is advice. You have to believe in it enough that youre willing to be in front of it if you want other people not just to buy into your service, but especially if you want to attract the best talent as a founder. If youre not willing to be at the forefront of your business, how is it that you can expect someone else wants to go in front, this brand that youre creating if you were showing your own trepidation . So i tell me how youre going to win because im curious. But i also say there is a slight chance that you can perhaps tackle that problem with the right press team around you and with maybe coming a company evangelist that does that for you. You can get a core group of influences around you and really be meaningful to them by providing them a lot of value, the ultimate impact that youve provided will come back in spades in the way that they represent your brand and the way they want to talk about it, bring their friends in to the fold and ultimately create more engagement, more conversation and they become your all right. Great. Thank you so much. This week your biz selfie comes from owner of shining the stars. He calls himself the celebrity boot black. He owns and sprats shoe shine stands at several hotels in annapolis. Why dont you get your cellphone and take a selfie of you and your business and send to us at your business at msnbc. Com so we can feature it on the show or you can tweet to at msnbc your biz oig. Please use the your biz selfie. Thank you so much for joining us. Wed love to hear from you, so if you have any questions or any comments about the show, email us at your businessbusiness msn head to our website, openforum. Com yourbusiness. Weve also posted all of the segments from todays show and a lot more over there. And please dont forget to connect with us on all of the dinl talg and social media platforms, as well. Until next time, im j. J. Ramberg and remember, we make your business our business. Will your business be ready when growth presents itself . American express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. Find out how American Express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open. Com. You know, its funny. If you go right now to trumppence. Com, what you will find is this. Its just some random squatted website that someone is still trying to sell today. Trumppens. Com. Did you want to see clintonkaine. Com . Do we have it . Clintonkaine. Com. Come on. Yes. Hillary po
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