Business. Will your business be ready when growth presents itself . We can help you take on a new job. Or fill a big order. Or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. For those who always find new ways to grow their business, American Express open proudly presents your business on msnbc. Hi there, everyone. Im j. J. Ramberg. Welcome to your business, the show dedicated to helping your growing business. When it comes to travel, Lonely Planet is one name backpackers and wanderlusters trust. As apps and mobile sites took place of guide books, the company was in danger of getting left behind. We met with the ceo, Daniel Houghton to find out how they managed to avoid going extinct and changed to keep up with the times. A chance encounter with an american billionaire and at age 24, only three years after graduating from western kentucky university, Daniel Houghton found himself running the largest travel guidebook company, Lonely Planet. Whatever range of emotions you can imagine one might have during that process, i have probably had all of those. In some sense, probably glad i didnt know what to expect. When he joined, the company was a sinking ship. Guide sales plummeted 40 industry wide from 20072012. Daniel knew it was going take a major upheaval to save the brand. He also knew there was real value in a brand so many people loved. Its really hard to go into something that has been around for so long and try to understand and do the best you can with, you know, the pieces that make it special that you never want to change and what pieces, you know, you need to make a change on so that you can get back to being on the forefront of whats happening. The leadership was just the beginning of the changes in 2013. The executive office moved from london to franklin, tennessee and about a fifth of the companys employees were laid off. Its an unbelievable amount of responsibility when anyone loses their job to handle that the best way possible. It was a necessary process we had to go through. Pierce has been with Lonely Planet since 2006 when the brand was still under the bbc. On a personal level, i was seeing friends leave the company. Professionally, it seemed the right thing to do. Everybody knew the change needed to happen. It was hard making it happen. He knew content wasnt the problem. They were great at that. The issue was that the company had not changed how they delivered that content in years. The world was changing around them and they werent changing with it. It was more to us about setting up the structure of the business so that the content we worked so hard to gather could be utilized across different platforms. We have people that will go to a destination and gathering video content, writing a story for a magazine that are working on part of the guidebook that are posting updates on snap chat. Thats how you share the world with people, in a number of different ways. How do we Gather Content . What type of content do we gather . In what ways are people going to interact with us. As it does with business z, it came down to what the customer wanted. For Lonely Planet, that included better photos, a mobile app, web resources. The guidebook has its place and its a big one, just not the same place. Now, instead of information on hotel places, its filled with stories and experiences. The problems we are trying to solve are changing. People increasingly arent so worried about finding things like accommodation or reviews. They can find those in lots of places. They really want Lonely Planet to advise them on how best to spend their time, what they can do, great experiences they can have and how they can connect with people and places they are visiting. It was a big change in philosophy that required a lot of new thinking and buy in. After all, they have been doing things the same way over 40 years. But, its working. Today, guidebook sales are up 27 and they have a growing social media audience. The challenge now is to not fall behind again. We were a partner with google for the google home device so you can say i want to talk to Lonely Planet and away we go. It will talk to you about experiences. You have to show up if you want to get in it. Thats the truth. So, you definitely have to be there. Its an opportunity to watch spaces like that evolve and be part of the conversation. The culture of the company has changed. Instead of thinking, well, we have always done it this way, the conversation now starts with what can we be doing better . In many ways, it was like creating a start up with insight and operating a business to launch initiatives. Theres nothing we do that isnt a constant check on are we going about this the right way . Could bit differently . Because we have done it before, doesnt mean we are going to going forward. The companies evolve dramatically. Its gone back to its roots. All the changes have less to do with reinventing the wheel and more about returning to the values Lonely Planet was founded on. The business has been an innovator since day one. I think tony was the first guidebook company to public digitally to make travel guides. One of the first 25 on the internet. A long history of being out in front. We want people to think about travel and automatically think about Lonely Planet. It really is that broad from a leaned back tv experience to, im on the road specifically with this planned thing that i have meticulously organized and i want to have a great experience. We want to be synonymous with travel. Challenging circumstances can often lead to you having to rethink your entire company. That was the case for an owner of a maine based tote bag company when her Business Partner left because the two couldnt see eyetoeye on direction and business z. It was a good thing. New partners helped her change everything. The company was growing at a pace that was hard to keep up with. We needed more bandwidth, more capital into the business z. Not money, but we needed skills we didnt have. Beth and her sea bags were at a cross roads. They wanted a change. While the company had been growing fast, beth knew she had to do something to make sure it went the next level. Hannah has a desire to step back from the daytoday and i wanted to see the company grow and scale it up. They coowned the brand since 2006. Sea bags makes things like totes, duffels and bucket bags from use zed sales. Before she could restructure anything, beth needed new partners, ones that would ideally add cash and savvy to the business. We wanted the product to continue to be made in maine and stay out of recycled sails. The product and our practice to be as green as we could be. She discovered she wasnt going to meet her match immediately. Not everyone saw sea bags future the same way. Some of the people thought it would be so much easier if you made it in china. Wrong business. Thats not what we set it up to be. It was business as usual. The operation never slowed down, despite the inevitable changes. We kept investing in the business as if we were going to continue to own it in the current structure. Its the only way we knew how. We had to keep our foot on the gas and keep growing. We had 30 employees that we were proudly responsible for. Something switched. They set the ball in motion. We are from maine and born and raised here. She wasnt looking for investors, but partners and needed bandwidth and people that could work in the business. Before a formal agreement was signed, they got to work. The hope was that their involvement would ensure a smoother transition. The most important thing i needed to do was learn the business. I was looking from the outside in and now to sit on the inside. After eight months, the deal was done. Both sides had to look beyond negotiations. Don and fran came on as beths new partners, don as ceo and beth as the president. Leadership is collaborative. The twosided desk their share is proof of that. We are not big on titles. Theres nothing going on that beth or i doesnt know about and one of us taking the lead. Thats how we work it. Step one was to reorganize the company. The women structured a deal with investors. It was more beneficial. Within weeks sails could be stored and cut. On the sail side, beth knew where to focus. It has been strong over the year because that was my comfort zone. She spearheaded a look look for the dot com. The branding and the look and feel. We shot all the bags in a consistent way. Stk addition of new staff is spurring growth. I have a marketing team. Can you believe it . I cant have one before. I have a sales team, which is amazing. Before, i had a person. She consulted with employees to find out if theres a better way to do business. The changes we made were focused on how to improve the business and focused on the little steps that make peoples jobs easier. After the comings and goings, the staff is at about 50. With that increase is a push for more open communication. Our core team is in place. We need to get everybody settled and on the same page. As sea bags goes forward, beth has no regrets. Shes grateful she found not just partners but the right partners to restructure her business. For me, owning a smaller piece of a Bigger Company is better than owning 100 of a smaller company. I got the best partners. If you are an entrepreneur who has to or wants to live out of a suitcase, it is easier than ever to leave your desk behind and work from across the globe, whether you are traveling on business or making the leap to become a Digital Nomad, five ways to stay connected and productive on the road. One, drop in and get busy. These days, a cafe with reliable wifi is on every corner and shared work spaces are global. Apps like work from anywhere are in 100 countries. Two, find a place to live. Housing for Digital Nomad needs to be flexible. High Speed Internet from bali to miami. You can rent for a week or a month. Three, network globally. Travel opens us up to great networking opportunities. Apps like nomad base are for traveling entrepreneurs to learn, collaborate and socialize. Four, learn how to fly. The savvy nomad finds flight deals about being flexible and when and where they go. If you dont mind layovers, sites can find low rates and multiple spopovers. Five, keep your finances in order. Globe trotting entrepreneurs dont need an address. Sites help with International Money transfer, Exchange Rates and data security. What came first, the chicken or the egg . In the case of perdue, when Arthur Perdue founded the company in 1920, they started out selling eggs. Today, they are one of the largest american producers of chicken and the business is still in the family. We sat down with grandson jim perdue in salisbury, maryland to talk about the importance of getting facetime and why you shouldnt get defensive in this learning from the pros. Im third generation. My grandfather was first. We have four fourth generation in the business z. When my grandfather, Arthur Perdue was, its fair to say risk averse and growing up in the depression, he didnt want to owe money so he didnt want to borrow money. He established the values of the company of quality. My dad came in in 1939. He was the entrepreneur who took the risk that was necessary to grow the business. I knew he wanted to advertise, then he hired an agency in new york. After watching him manage people around here, said you have to get on tv and do it. He refused. After about a year, they talked him into it. He actually was a shy, introverted person, not really excited about being on camera. The line that convinced him was they said you will sell twice as much chicken if you get on tv. That caught his attention. He decided that was something he would try. We are a big business, but we try to run it like a family business. Once a year, we go around all the plants and share information on how we did that year, what we are planning for next year, answer questions. They need to see a face and hear it from the person in charge of the company. There was a couple undercover videos on two of our farms. The normal reaction would be to be defensive and say, you know, they snuck on the farm and those sorts of things. Our response was, we thanked them for letting us know. There were truly some situations that were not acceptable on these farms. Then what we did was we said why dont we invite those two groups to our corporate office, let them look at it and tell us what they think. Thats a reaction that is the right reaction. We have 21,000 people, there are a lot of decisions being made. Somebody has a can of solvent in a plant. At an expense, make sure its under the proper way or go in the backwoods and dump it. I want to make sure he understands the value of the company before he makes that decision. I cant be there when he makes the decision. I want him to think about the values because those decisions are what make us successful or not. My dad used to say, ready, fire, aim. Meaning, you know, move forward and do it now. Dont take so long to make the decision. If you stop learning, you will die. Stop listening, your consumers will die. You have to continuously improve, reinvent yourself, innovate all the time and be a learning organization, which is something i push a lot on our people, you need to learn something every day. It is not always easy as many of you out there know for Business Owners to get ahead financially, even if you have a great product. You have customers, you may be sinking. If this describes you, you are not alone. The founder of daily worth, a finance Media Company for women and author of worth it your life, your money, your terms. Its been a long time. A couple years. Congratulation on your book. Your company has been growing so much. Lets get to it. Lets do it. A lot of people are in this position. It eesz hard when you are putting all your money into a business. Lets get hacks for you to save money in some places. The first one, you talk about, just ask. Yeah, feel free to ask. You have to hire accountants, lawyers to get incorporated, get your books set up. They have standard rates. Sometimes you can ask for a discount. Im just starting my business. They dont want your onetime business. Be with them a long time. How do you do that without feeling awkward . You are doing yourself and them a service by sustaining and perpetuating longevity for the future. Just do it. Swallow whatever akwardness you feel. Im investing and they are investing in our collective future. Bartering. Great idea. Bartering is something i used enormously for daily worth. I needed to generate a lot of journalism for dailyworth. Com that was financial advice. At the time, i was a Computer Programmer when i started it. I worked with a lot of journalists. It was 2009 and everyone needed a website. I was exchanging my service for theirs. For the first six months, you could grow for free. Find another company that goes after the same customers and barter marketing. Exactly. If you have an email newsletter and they do, do a promotion together. Absolutely. We still do this. We are 11 years in and we do. Then, because were all trying to reach the same people. Going on to the third one, this is different than when you were first starting, people needed you to create a website. Now people can create their own. Everything is digital, so everything runs through a digital conduit. So if you are needing to hire someone and pay designers and pay programmers to continuously change your website, if you want to save money, its a really good idea to look at square space or some of the other services that allow you to do it on your own. Its not that hard. Spend a few hours. Maybe take a class. You will save thousands and thousands of dollars and youll have more control. Youll be happier. Not only dollars, youll save time, because if somebody else is doing it for you, and particularly if theyre not on your team and you need something changed, you have to wait for them to do it and it may be something critical to your business. And wait until you have money, then you can hire people, once youve proven your concept. But even then there might be a typo and you cant reach the person to fix it. Spend the time to update your own website. Its not that difficult. And hire slowly, which is something everyone has trouble with, and the reason it fits in here, i suspect, is because when you hire quickly and then you have to fire someone, its expensive. Yeah. You know, every business is different, obviously, but as far as the businesses ive always run, peoples salaries are always the greatest expense. And people, especially if youre not a skilled hirer and youre hiring someone out of a corporate job who hasnt worked in a startup or a Small Business environment before, theyre coming with certain expectations about salaries that can be quite expensive. So, what i have learned to do is hire much more slowly over time. Start them on a project basis. Make sure, you know, i have rosecolored glasses. I love everyone at first. It turns out not everyone can do the job the way you think they do. Hire them hourly, let them grow into the company more slowly and wait until you really know they can do the job and then hire them. And at that point, too, you also know if they want the job, right . It gives them a chance like dating. To see does this work with us also. So good to see you thank you for stopping by. Thanks for having me. When we come back, what you need to know about turning your personal brand into a Company Brand and why you need to have fun in the workplace. 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. A schnall fraction of businesses will ever be a 30 billion company, but its okay to dream big. But just as important, do not be delusional about how big you are right now. Never think you have arrived. When people approach me and say, matt, wow, youre doing great stuff i say, i put things into perspective. If an elephant had a trunk and on the trunk there was a mosquito, and on the mosquito had a back leg with an itch, not even an itch yet and so compared to your 30 billion. Dont be modest. Youve had 100 growth year over year over year. You are a large team, just not as large as you want to be, and so, thats what youre saying, dont be delusional about where you are right now. Thats exactly right. And never be complacent. Never think that youve arrived. Because at any point you think youve arrived, youre in trouble. Then you will start slipping backwards probably. Yes. Yes. I very much believe in that. Steve, what about you . Jj, what i would like to say to my Small Business brothers and sisters out there is to remember the immortal words of bill murray, which is, lighten up, francis. You know, people go into business for all sorts of reasons. Maybe they get an idea that they cant let go of or wont let go of them, or they want to make more money or be more creative. Or if youre like me, you wanted to get out of the corporate grind and away from that crazy boss. But whatever the case is, if youre going to start your own business and youre going to be the boss, then be not just a good boss, be a great boss. And i think that necessarily entails having fun in the office and creating a culture that incorporates fun in the office. You know, if you ever see profile of these hightech Silicon Valley firms, google or facebook, those kind of companies, one of the things that you really notice is that theyre having a great time at work. Maybe theyre riding scooters around the office or theyre playing foosball during a break or theyre writing on walls, things like that. They know that doing that kind of thing is great for business. Yep. Its good for morale. People like working at places like that. Its great for creativity, right . You get a big idea not from reading a book and being quiet but from playing around with the kids or whatever it may be. And its great for productivity as well, i think. And it doesnt have to be expensive. So you dont have to be google, you dont have to be linkedin with those kinds of budgets. At my company, we have a fun committee, its called, and their whole job is to come up with great, fun things for the employees to do together. Its fantastic. And a lot of them are free. I couldnt agree more. Yeah, i think its great. You could put up a basketball hoop out in the, you know, parking lot or bring in a foosball table or just incorporate, as you do, jj, the idea of having fun in the office. And the great thing is, as you said, it doesnt really cost you anything to do that. Exactly. Ping pong tables are not very expensive, nor are foosball tables. Very good. And even a couple of kegs in the office are okay, too. [ laughter ] you know, we just put away our ping pong table. We finally noticed no one was playing it anymore. Now its an xbox lounge. Thanks so much, both of you, great advice. This weeks your biz selfie is from laurie ash of englewood, new jersey, owner of transition guardians, a certified relocation and transition specialist with a special emphasis on helping seniors with physical and emotional demands of moving and downsizing. Thank you for what you do, laurie. Now, all of you, we love, love seeing the pictures of your businesses, so why dont you pick up your cell phone, take a selfie of you and your company, send it to us at yourbusiness msnbc. Com or tweet it to msnbcyourbiz. And this is important do not forget to include your name, the name of your business, and your location, and use yourbizselfie. Thank you so much for joining us today. If you have any questions or you have any comments about the show, email us at yourbusiness msnbc. Com. We read every email we get. You can also go to our website, openforum. Com yourbusiness. We put up all of the pieces from todays show, plus a whole lot more. And dont forget to connect with us on all of our digital and social media platforms as well. We look forward to seeing you next time. Until then, im jj 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. Good morning, and welcome to politics nation. Earlier this week, i traveled to washington, d. C. , to meet with attorney general Jeff Sessions together with other National Civil rights advocates. We voiced concerns about a range of issues, including the trump administrations revised travel ban and restrictions to voting rights. Sessions did not give us much,