And that the President Elect talked about a system where for every new regulation comes in, two have to go away. Im not sure how that works. But something along those lines where new regulations have to be counter weighted with reduction in the overall Regulatory Burden on small companies. Weve seen happen many times a regulation gets put into place and nobodys thought about how its going to affect the Small Business owner. I it may make sense for big business but Small Business gets talking up. You have to have institutional reform so that you force government to do this. Sunsetting regulations, for example. It forces the elected officials to say, does this still make sense . In terms of whats changed in technology and the economy, should we still be doing this . Is this a better way to do it . Look at the cost benefit analysis. Those types of reforms are needed so we bring sanity to the regulatory morass in washington, d. C. Todd, you did a survey about the cost for Small Business
whos never shotgunned a beer. Shotgunning a beer when is youre basically breaking into the bottom of a can, and then youre drinking from that hole. Reporter once the partners settled on what to build, they had to figure out how. We started calling people. Reporter the people they called for help were engineers, industrial designers, metal fabricators, and their parents. We both got a small investment from our dads. I think around 10,000. Reporter with all that help, the two created a sleeklooking, inexpensive product they eventually called the saber tooth. After graduation, they body got jobs in Silicon Valley. But quickly ditched those when they realized the saber tooth had some real teeth. This year weve grown almost 800 . Its been really great growth. Reporter they say it wasnt the product itself that caught fire, but the whole frat party brand, which they named Raging Mammoth. Raging mom moth is all about having a great time. Reporter the saber tooth opened their eyes to an
overlooked market niche. We look around, why has no one started a company around this lifestyle that we love . Thats really how Raging Mammoth formed. Reporter more than a logo, raging mom moth became a symbol of the highoctane adventure their customers craved and a brand with a mission. So why are we doing this . Our why is to create good times. Its literally the way you feel when you use the product. That was a defining moment for us. Thats what really drives our growth. Reporter not only did Sales Numbers explode but they say their customers hijacked their instagram and facebook pages. With Hundreds Of Unsolicited Pictures and stories boasting of their exploits. About 99 of our posts on social media, theyre all created by our customers. Theyre seeing us online and like, oh, this is what this brand represents. And then once they fall in love with that, then they can buy our products. Then theyre part of the community. Reporter now theyre using that brand idea as a springboard to new products. Really it doesnt matter what
we make. Raging mammoth, everything that we create is about having a better time with your friends. Thats all that matters. So then the products come out, that come out of that, how are we going to create a product thats going to complement that lifestyle . People come to us with an idea reporter thats where rob lang comes in. Then we work through the different faces of designing and developing and getting a product into manufacturing. Reporter they turned to rob and his san diegobased Southern California design company. Well meet with them and say, this is what we want, can you guys engineer this, what do you think . Well look at that idea, look how to make it better. Do a couple of prototypes, sign off on them. Then from there, theyll find manufacturers and get it moving. Basically manage the products lifetime. Were removing here, were going to flatten it out, right . Flip it back over. Reporter the next product up for release is their deluxe take on the Humble Shotski with
several magneticbased shot glasses lined up for group drinking. Our friends were upset they were spilling it all over themselves. What about the weight . You seemed to think it was good . Weights perfect. Hound the rigidity of it . Reporter this is only one of more than a dozen new Products Scotty and wyatt want to take to market as quickly as possible. They are going to be a massive part of our company in this next year because we have 13 original products were releasing. Reporter to keep things moving theyve outsourced the design and manufacturing to robs southern Southern California design company. The way we look at them, theyre up and comers. Theyre going to grow that business. Were confident in that. So instead of us going out and trying to learn like, okay, like we need to get a warehouse, you know. We need to pay for the insurance on the warehouse. We need to hire. Lets just give to it somebody who knows what theyre doing. Reporter with big dreams theyve outsourced the shipping and fulfillment, customer service, and marketing. They are concentrating on what they do best, developing the
brand and the supporting products. Where that leads, even they cant predict. We never started out to try to make this a huge company. We really wanted to prove to people we could do something valuable. So we could go do something bigger down the road. Just ended up doing a lot better than we originally planned. Millennial moms have some say. They have hugely influential. According to our guest, 55 of Millennial Moms say they are frequently asked for product recommendations. So how can you get them to start spreading the word about your product . Sharon bindering is the founder and ceo of parent tested, parent approved, one of the mostrecognized awards program busy consumers. Good to see you. Thanks for having me on. Youve grown your business a lot by Millennial Moms talking about it. Absolutely. Thats literally how we grew our business. Word of mouth, getting moms talking about it, telling them our story and getting them to
spread it for us. Look, so many people are trying to get to these Mommy Bloggers because they know that moms, as a whole, theyre speaking from the heart. It worked for my kid, it worked for me, im going to tell my friends. That was the whole concept behind our business. What i think a lot of brands are missing out on is theyre still advertising to these Millennial Moms in very traditional ways. So for example, they need to stop advertising showing moms in these very traditional roles holding a laundry basket, looking all disheveled, running after the kids. Reality is thats not a Millennial Moms typical life these days. Right, its not speaking to them. No, not at all. The husband plays a role in this. Yep. Or they have help at home. Because theyre likely working fulltime as well. So lets show them as professional, accomplished women. Even when we see as women in the board room, theyre always in a hurry. Why are they always waiting on the side of the street, theyre late, waiting for a taxi . Always, every ad ive seen in a
professional sense. So show them in a way thats more modern. So that theyll actually it will actually resonate. So they can relate. Also you talked about, we use the word authentic, everyone does. Authentic. But dont push stuff down. Yes. Right . Be authentic about why youre talking to them. Right, connect with them on an emotional level. Its funny, theres this video that publix put out, 2014, mothers day. Literally an ad of a mom and her daughter and shes a pregnant mom, she is standing in the Kitchen Baking with her daughter. Yes, theyre casually showing ingredients. But by the end of this commercial, nobody is not crying. And its three years later and i am still talking about this commercial because it resonated with me on an emotional level. So it made that connection for me and publix. So thats how you need to be communicating with people. I think a lot of these brands still think of Millennial Moms as my marketing tool. Ive got to get to them, got to get them to try my product. And you cant ram it down peoples throats. Thats exactly it. That used to work. It no longer works. They want a subtle message. They want to know a little bit more about the companies. Millennials really want to know about the companies. They want to know if they have a social conscience. If its food they want to know where its sourced. These things are more important than the advertising that youre ramming down their threats. They are turning to video. So we did a survey and 83 of millennials said they go online to search for the products theyre going to purchase. 3 of every 5 turned to video to learn more about the product. So that is a nobrainer for companies. Be out there, be on video. Again, make sure youre taking into account all of those emotional components that you want to have resonate with that consumer afterwards. Once you get one, once youve got a Millennial Mom who likes you, how do you encourage her to spread the word . So its all about making sure youre talking to them about the things that are important to them. What we found is really important to millennials, they want to know that there is value in the product theyre purchasing from you, they want to know that theres
convenience, and the number one thing is safety. So as long as you can incorporate that messaging, that customer will really stay with you. Because where it used to be a price plan, i wont say the price doesnt impact their purchasing decision. They are willing to pay a little bit more to make sure that they have all those three things encompassed in the product that theyre purchasing for their family. Right. Once you get someone like this to move it they stay with you. And spread the word. Exactly. The last thing you need to be on is social. At the end of the day social is such an important component because theme are talking about thins they love. Well go out and find influen influencers who loved a product we want to be talking about and make sure they are authentic. By authentic, i know its a buzz word, but to us its wont that theyve used the product, they really love the product, theyve talked about it in a positive manner before theyve been paid to do so. Thats how were trying to build
a positive buzz for the brands that we work with. All right, congratulations on your success. Thank you. You know more about this than anyone. Thank you for stopping by. My pleasure. I dont care if youre a Silicon Valley startup or a smalltown dry cleaner, technology is going to keep on changing your business. In order to stay one step ahead, you have to know where the trends are heading. Ink. Com highlights five of the top Tech Advancements coming our way. Five, upgraded wireless signal thats going to make smartphones and tablets even more valuable. Two, augmented reality. Companies like microsoft are Launching Headsets that could change the way you do training, sales demos and more. Three, chatbots. Systems that you interact with via text will get much more sophisticated in 2017. There are already ones that will handle your travel plans or tell you the weather, but think about
ones that you think will monitor your health or spending. Four, phones go wireless. Expect to have even more ways to charge all your mobile devices without using cables. And five, amazons alexa is already being used to lock your car, read a book, or make purchases. In 2017 expect to also see it shop at Public Places like your bank or local grocery store. Pleasure to meet you, chair onthomas. Pleasure. So look. In the Dining Industry theres a Gazillion Choices where to eat. Weve all been there before. Where do you want go . I dont know, where do you want to go . No more arguing. Instead of arguing you bust out spotluck, a free app. You get one spin per day, we pick a great local spot for you and give you the discount. Its a smart discount so we patented software that makes the discounts change based on day, time, weather, and other factors
that affect restaurant occupancy. Youll get higher insensitives on a monday than a friday, higher if its raining than if its nice out. Consumers love it because its fun. Like spinning a wheel. Weve got great traction, over 100,000 people on the a pchpp e month, were the number one dining app on itunes. A Good Foundation but a long way to go. We want to get the right people involved. Were raising 1. 5 million to launch new york, arguably the largest dining in the world. We have half committed. We have over 200 restaurants signed and ready to go live in march. So really, were here because by have a decent foundation and a good product but the team is magic. These guys eat, breathe, live, Sleep Spotluck and we can prove we can execute. Congratulations. Number one app on itune i say start the pitch with that. Because thats big. While were chatting i need two numbers from you guys. Number one, from 1 to 10, what
do you think of the product . Number two, what do you think of the pitch . Okay, lets see what these guys think. Im up. I gave the product a 7. I gave the pitch a 6. The product, i live if new york, im a foodie, we dont just use one app, we use multiple apps to find restaurants. I think there is a potential for something fun. Unlike j. J. , i always get a little suspicious, especially when a young Startup Company says that youre number one in anything. I dont believe it. How is it possible . Sure. I Like Companies that are sort of say where theyre going, what their intention is. In terms of the pitch, i wanted to know your story. I love a company born out of personal challenge, personal story. You were fighting with your friend. As opposed to the generic, when youre out, you know. For me, i was looking for something to relate to and i think thats the potential for improvement, that part. I appreciate the feedback. This is what simon is all about, connecting with the why. The why you started your business, the why your business. You should listen to his ted talk. Were big fans at spotluck. Thanks for the feedback. So 8 and 7. So on the product, i think you have a great product. What im looking at is that it does have other uses. And youve done a great job of kind of focusing on one thing right now, not getting distracting, which is really good. And ive learned the hard way that when you get distracted, you only dilute. You get in trouble. On the pitch, i have to agree with simon, make it your story. Put a little thing behind it thats personal. We used to have the story about wow, people would get instead of talking about money and results, they would get hung up on wow. Tell us about that wow. What does that wow mean . That became the bigger conversation than trying to talk about money and results because the money and results arent good in the beginning. It strikes me that you are a solution and next version of
groupon for these restaurants which was a problem, but you allow them to change the price discount. Absolutely. I agree with what youre saying. Our story is traditional. We started in my basement, quit our jobs, used our own money. What was the birth of the idea . S. Ing that prices in a restaurant at tuesday at 2 00 p. M. When its raining shouldnt be the same as friday night at 6 00. Thats real. We wish you the best of luck. Thank you for coming on the program. Thank you for giving your honest feedback, so helpful. If you have a company and you want to pitch our panelists like you just saw, send an email to yourbusiness msnbc. Com. Tell us what you do, how much money youre looking to raise, how that money is going to change the trajectory of your company. We cannot wait to see some of you here on the show. Still to come, when it comes to hiring managers, whats best . Hiring from within your company . Or looking outside of it . Why you shouldnt be chasing the money. 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. How do you choose your toplevel managers within your organization . Do you prefer to promote from within . Do you hire from outside . President quick answer is this. Both. And it depends. So clearly what we have to do, if youre going to hire from or promote from within, then the great news about that is that these people are going to bring they understand the corporate culture, they understand the history and the dna from the organization. And also what they do is they inspire other employees from your organization who want to grow. The great thing about bringing people in from the outside is that they bring a new level of energy to the organization. New blood. New ideas. A new fresh set of eyes. Clearly we have to bring people into the organization who have experience. We want to round out our team of strengths. More importantly than that, though, whether were hiring or promoting from within, hiring from without, we need to have people who are highly motivated, who have a lot of integrity, and who have tons of capacity so they can grow with you. We now have the top two tips you need to know to help your Small Business grow. Leadership expert simon cynic and tariq fareed, founder and ceo of edible arrangements, are back with us again. Not only leadership expert, top three mostwatched ted talk. If i can tout both of you, you were the second or first story we did on this show, one of the first three. You had 400 franchises . A little less than 400. Now . 1,300. So i clearly want to hear the tips from you. You guys know what you are doing. Its the show that did it. Exactly, i launched you both. All right, lets start with you, simon. Sure. So my top tip is, take care and work to see that those around you succeed. So many entrepreneurs make bit themselves. And they forget theres other people there who have devoted their lives, their work days, to support. And when they feel that theyre always subordinate and trying to see you succeed, its actually demoralizing. Work to see that those around you work to their natural best. They become valuable members of the team, and more and more they
will offer you blood, sweat and tears to see your vision come to life. What does that look like . Celebrating them at Company Meetings . Helping them grow. So part of it is offering aff m affirmation and positive feedback. Also offering them opportunities to grow. Its offering them classes and opportunities to learn communication skills. Or confrontation. Things that will actually help them grow as human beings. Put them in situations where they can fall and try again. Where you wont just take over because you can do it better. Let them screw up and let them thigh again, youre there to support them. People arent coming to your company to punch the clock . Right. They want to get something out of it too. They want to grow, they want to be better versions of themselves. So my best lesson that i learned was from the best Business Person i knew, my mother. I always say the same about my mom. I was 17, started my first business, struggled every day. I would come home disappointed. And she looked at me, she said, stop Chasing Money, it runs
really fast, go to the right thing, it will chase you. So it changed focus totally at that point and really focused on the customer instead of focusing on trying to make money. And just making the customer get that wow experience. And really listening and everything. So i think you have to, in a business, Small Business, as you get larger, it becomes tougher and tougher, youreally have to focus on the customer. A lot of people believe they do but theyll see they actually dont. Not the way they do it on the first day they started business when they were desperate for every sale. So did you lose money, you think, as you were changing from Chasing Money to understanding the customer . Did your revenue go like that . You know, to my surprise, when you take care of a customer, they always leave a little more behind than they needed to. So then they tell ten people about it. They come back because of you, not because of maybe the product you were selling. I was selling flowers. They could have gone to 30 different places but it was that
spooeshs they would come back for the wedding, theyd come back for all the other things. We stayed true to that but we tested to say, are we really true to that commitment to the customer . I think what you both say is dont cut corners. If you succeed by cutting corners with your employees, customers, it will get you here, but it will not get you here. It will eventually get you here. Take care of the people inside, take care of the people outside, watch the business grow. Your biz selfie come from the owners of s and s intimates in dearborn, michigan. They say theyre about empowering women in the way they look and feel and this is the sexiest your biz selfie weve had so far. Pick up your cell phone and take a selfie of you in your business. Send us to us at yourbusiness msnbc. Com. Include the name, the name of your business, your location, and yourbizselfie. Thank you to all of you for joining us today. We love hearing from you, so if you have any questions or comments about the show, email us at yourbusiness msnbc. Com. We read all of your emails. You can go to our website, openforum. Com yourbusiness. We posted all the segments from todays show plus a whole lot more. Connect with us on digital and social media platforms as well. We look forward to seeing you next time. Till then im j. J. Ramberg. 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