Can join in on the celebration. But were going to kick this off with one of the Coolest Companies that i had seen in the past 500 episodes. From the moment you step inside the headquarters of the l. A. Based two bit circus, you are immersed in a world of wild inventive entertainment games. Brent open eric are the Innovative Minds at the helm of the fast growing business. But they never intended to turn their passion for interactive art into an Entertainment Company. Now theyre on a mission to reinvent the way people play. They create margarita making robots, dump cakes filled with flames and wild Virtual Reality adventures. This is so cool. So as you can imagine, visiting the offices of the l. A. Based company two bit circus is a thrill. Down, down, down, yay. Go. To the left. Stand up tall. The cofounders started the Entertainment Company in 2012. Were basically a big band of nerds. Robotists, electrical engineering, game design and weve been building big toys with laser enand fire and robots for years. All right. Youre going to jump up and down three times to start this game. Ready. Go for it. Both had a background in engineering and in big tops. Eric and i are obsessed with circus and carnival. Were both trained clowns. Before you met each other you were trained clowns and you met each other not on clown business whatsoever . Engineer clowns that found each other. The friends werent planning on starting a business together. They were two guys who loved making interactive art in their downtime and sharing it with their friends at an open mike night for cool stuff. It was called mind share and it was in downtown l. A. Youre the comedians going out trying out your stuff. Invaluable to push it in front of people and try and fail and see what doesnt work. This is this is an early robot bartender prototype. Its not working. Its not happy hour yet. Come on. People saw potential in their work and started hiring them to bring their games to small Corporate Events and holiday parties. Then came the call that changed everything. Microsoft calls you. Microsoft says hey weve got our e 3 party coming up, would you come and bring all of that stuff . Wed love for you guys to do the entertainment. This was the Tipping Point. Suddenly they had a real growing business with brands like intel, pepsi and honda calling to work with them. In the beginning this was passion based. There doesnt seem to be a focus on is there going to be revenue at the end. It wasnt about making money. With serious clients lined up, clowning around wasnt an option. They hired lots of close knit friends to help with their rapid growth but business was unpredictable so firing those friends became frequent. Its a hard combination to have a bottom line to worry about and say hey, we love you and right now in order to keep this alive weve got to part ways. How do you get people to come back to work for you again. It helps to be transparent. When people feel like youre entrusting them with information so they can make their decisions, then you have a long term friend. Many big name clients paid for projects months after delivery which made managing cash flow extremely challenging. Big companies have very different timetables than small companies. 120day payment psych sl abusive. We were on the wrong side of cash flow. We literally didnt know how we were going to pay everybody a week out. There are so many times we should have blown up on the rocks in a million pieces. It was maddening. See all of this gray hair . All this red hair is covering up the gray hair. With the demand to deliver growing by the day, implementing a streamlined Creative Process was a must. Their team was made up of inveigh tiff minds with diverse backgrounds. When youre sitting around the table and you have ten people very passionate about their ideas, which i imagine happens here, how do you finally distill that into something to move forward with . I think our process is a little unique if in that we build more ideas than maybe we should. Thats one of the wonderful things about having a working shop pep we can come up with an idea in the morning and test it in the evening. And if its not good, out the door. In order to raise capital, they needed a Business Model that was more scaleable. So they added two bit circus events to the mix with their steam carnivals. Despite their success, the manpower required for such short lived event wasnt sustainable for the business. We were like, oh my god, that was so much work, a year to plan it, a week to set it up and we operated it three days. It was crazy. So after 18 months of brainstorming and now with years of experience under their belts, brent and eric came up with their most ambitious concept to date. A chain of permanent microAmusement Parks blending arcade games with all kind of Virtual Reality games in a 50,000 square foot place. Now im addicted. Our park will be filled with gags like this. Two bit circus has raised more than 21 million and plans to open the first microAmusement Park next year in downtown los angeles. There you go when you look around your offices here, can you believe that this is how you make your living . This is a company . A successful one . Never thought for a moment that we would be in a place like this doing what we do for a living, coming to work every day and building awesome crazy entertainment. The founders of two bit circus know that fun events are where the customers are. Thats a lesson another successful sbre prenush has learned that help his company go global. Hes the founder of a bean bag furniture business who insists that he and his employees get out of their stores, step away from the computers and go meet their customers at hundreds of gatherings every year. Try this thing out. We know youll like it. Its fun. That is so crazy. Its flexible. And you may be able to find it at a fair or festival near you. You really need to sit on that to believe it. The yet is yogi be, a line of bean bag and accessories launched in 2009. This new take on an old item is a hit. Kids go with their parents and get bored but then they find the yogi be tent. The founder of the New Hampshire based company figured out early on that he needed to meet his customers face to face. You really have to think out of the box. We cant sit still and wait for people to come. The strategy has been wildly successful. The company is now worth about 20 million with dozens of stores in the u. S. And asia. Theyre starting to franchise as well. Its not enough to have a brick and mortar store or a great online website. This is the best marketing you can do. He gets asked why hes still attending these events, the answer is because customers need to touch and feel. Are you still coming to these . Yeah, im having fun. Were talking here, having fun. Whats wrong with that. We understood that in order to sell the product we have to get as many people as we can to try to product. You can see him and his team at places like the heritage days festival in massachusetts and super smashcon a convention of gamers. Yogibe has booths at more than 400 events a year. You might understand how our flagship item, the max, how that can be a chair, recliner, a couch and a bed, all of these Different Things until you get to see it. He initially launched his concept as an online only business but he abandoned those plans when the sales were sluggish. We built up a website but then we realized with no matter how much of Online Marketing we did, people didnt get that. Its like, oh, its a bean bag. Selling through other retailers seemed like a good idea too but the employees there werent as enthusiastic as they should be. The stores that we worked with, we couldnt get them to demonstrate the product. They placed them in the corner or the staff of the store didnt encourage them to try it. And yogibes first brick and mortar location didnt make a splash either. We opened the door and it was a sunny month in new england, which is unheard of, and the mall was very quiet. While still trying to figure out the most effective way to sale, a. L. Took a chance. He listened to a friend who said he should sell at a festival. That experience got him hooked we sold a good amount of units but the amazing part was the week after that festival, more than 100 people came to the store, hey we saw you to the festival. It was awesome. And they came to the store to buy the product. And that week i was like, okay. This is how its going to work. A. L. Saw similar results every time yogibe branched out. It was easy for him to commit to this Growth Opportunity for the long haul. Literally every weekend i was going to every big festival in new england to demonstrate the product and i think that was the Tipping Point that really made the break through for the brand. Yogibe doesnt worry about these events hurting their online or brick and mortar channels. Each compliments the other. Its a 33 split between these three things. They all kind of bounce of each other in a positive way as opposed to this one is can beizing this pieces. They have three themes in the northeast. Theyre constantly on the move to keep the brand visible. We have an event thats basically 7,000 people. Theres probably a good 3,000 that are trying, like in and out between kids and families and stuff reich thlike that. Its hectic at some points but they love it. Not every event is perfect but yogibe do its best to minimize the risk. We try to send the best salespeople we see fit for those event. Whats your booth space like, who are our neighbors, whats the traffic like, whats the crowd like. Despite occasional frustration, the sfaf contintafs to do their home work to be sure theyre participating in the best events. We look at the people that go to the event, the net sales from the past, a different product that we can sell at the event or a new product. A. L. And the team say their dedication to these fairs and festivals isnt changing. Its a proven model. And no matter their size, theyll continue to take their brand of funiture to their customers. Its part of our history. If we were a 100 Million Company we still want to be on main street because thats the best way people are going to find our products. We dont want to talk to someone over a live chat. We want to talk to them in person and we always will. Fairs and festivals and amuse musement parks tloif in the summer. Santas village is a park in nomp that attracting guests from may to december. After 60 years in business, its still a draw for customers but its the annual reinvention that keeps staff and guests spreading good cheer. People love christmas. Dont even bother asking the date at Santas Village. Here its always december 25th. If you give joy, you get it back. And our santas helpers know that. And customers are more than happy to join the celebration. Most everybody is in the Christmas Spirit when theyre here, whether its in june, july, august or the first of december before christmas. This jefferson, New Hampshire park is a community staple. The Company Started in 1952. The inspiration came from their daughter elaine. One day we were driving down ruth 2 and a little fawn jumped out in front of our car. And i asked dad if that was santas reindeer. And that property just happened to be for sale, which is where Santas Village is today. But he thought an Amusement Park might be great. More than six decades later the company is owned and operated by the familys third generation. Norman and ceciles grandchildren, as well as melanies husband nick. Its fun. It can be difficult at times, and frustrating. But overall it is fun. Carrying on a legacy is a lot of responsibility. But this trio welcomes customers to Santas Village seven months a year, whether it feels like christmas outside or not. We call it santas summer home. This is where he comes to warm up from the north pole, take a break from making the toys, visit with the kids. Thats how we get away with christmas in july. With attractions like rudys transit coaster, the reindeer rendezvous and a chance to visit with st. Nick himself, marketing a easy. The challenging part of if business is getting family to return for in some cases generations. We need to create an awesome product, something that they love, that they see and want to come back again and again. In order to keep them coming back, we have to keep exceeding their expectations. The fact that jefferson is somewhat isolated means that most of the customers are making the conscious decision to come to Santas Village. Being a destination for a lot of people, you have to not only keep up what you have but you have to bring in something every year because people expect this that now. Some of the newest editions have become favorite. We introduced the water park five years ago. Weve added to that Elf University where the kids go around with their tickets to find the elves. The most tasks are taken down while the park is shut down. Any expansion at Santas Village has to be planned out. A small local population means a limited pool with which to hire staff. These small groves add five, six, seven employees a year. We can find those excellent people to work with us. If we grew exponentially, it would be much harder for us to staff our park. Despite longer summer hours, the park still attracts its biggest crowds around the holidays. Were open at christmastime. That is our busiest time. People travel. We have snow. Its cold but beautiful. The days are busier because were only open two days a week versus seven days a week in the summer. The familys work is paying off. Our best marketing is word of mouth. Our guests will remark to all of their friends and family and tell them about their wonderful experience here and that is our main form of advertising. Numbers are up and positive reviews online are helping drive the foot traffic too. The best gauge of our Customer Feedback and reviews happens to be through trip adviser in which we were selected as one of the top 25 Amusement Parks in the united states. The goals for this family remain the same. Improve the Customer Experience at Santas Village and preserve this small businesss legacy. What norman and cecile started 63 years ago is just amazing. Hopefully we can continue that tradition for the next 63 years and keep those generations of families coming back year after yea year. Summer is over which means if youre doing things right, this is the time you should start thinking about the holidays if you can believe it. So what should you be doing to get customers to pop by your business rather than your competitors when theyre ready to do all of that Holiday Shopping . I went over to the new york now show to catch up with lindsey, the ceo of see endless. She creates marketing and Business Development strategies for a wide variety of high end clients and she shared some great suggestions on prepping for the holidays. By what date should you have your Holiday Plans set in stone . You should definitely be working on it now. You know, not in q4 when youre panicked. Having more time to sort of plan, it allows you to, you know, book more events, things like that in advance. Lets talk about what we need to do for the holidays now. Absolutely. Lets start with the first thing we should be thinking about. I think that brands are becoming obviously Story Tellers for a long time. What you want to be doing is having content driven events, you can do that online or off line. If youre a bakery, have how to make the per pefect dessert bar this is something you should do all year round ord just over the holidays . You should do it all year round but the great thing about doing it in the fall is you get a captive audience. You have them captivated, interact with them and then you can sell your product. Saying these are all of our holiday products if you book now, youll get 20 off or free delive delivery. It incense vises them to come and allows you to show case your products for whats coming up in the fall. Youre trying to get as many customers through the door in anticipation of the holidays being a great time to sell to them. Absolutely. The earlier you can capture your customers dollar the better pep then you dont have to worry as. Maybe by small events. Book before it gets crazy around the holidays. A book signing, local celebrity. All of that allows people to come into your store, relieve before it of anxiety when it tkpwetsz deeper into q4. What about partnering with people . What kinds of things can you set the groundwork for now . You need dates right, times right, marketing on both sides. August september, september, who has a really great social Media Presence and how you are going to tease customers to come in for the event or whatever youre collaborating on. What other things do i need to be thinking of today that i might want to the launch on december 1st . You want to plan your marketing calendar early. And i always tell people to not push the week of thanksgiving because people are traveling. Theyre getting so many black friday emails. Send out teasers or emails the week before and the week after so they know they are sort of planning their shopping they need to get into your store. After, if they still need products. No one usually gets it done the first day. You will have another chance to capture them. Is the week before early enough . It gets pushed earlier and earlier. Obviously, you know, if you can tease them earlier, its great. But people dont necessarily start feeling that push to and arent as motivated to buy until a little bit later in november. And capture email addresses. Or social. People to follow you on social. Yes. When youre partnering with people, partner with someone who has a bigger email list than you or bigger social Media Presence. Lindsay, thank you so much. Thank you. We have an exciting announcement to make. We are offering five people the chance to come on the program and give an elevator pitch in front of two buyers from sams club. Theyll be judging the pitches and they will vote on who will be invited to their headquarters to make a more comprehensive presentation. Accepted us an email or video of your pitch or a link to that video at yourbusines yourbusiness msnbc. Com. Send us a short summary of your product. We look forward to seeing those pitches. When we come back, john tapptap er talks about a scaling business. Thank you so much. Thank you so were a go . Yes we got a yes what does that mean for purchasing . Purchase. Lets do this. Got it. Book the flights hai si si ya ya ya what does that mean for us . We can get stuff. Whats it mean for shipping . Ship the goods. Youre a go you got the green light. That means go oh, yeah. Start saying yes to your companys best ideas. Were gonna hit our launch date scream thank you goodbye let us help with money and knowhow, so you can get business done. American express open. If every new Customer Acquisition in Human Resource training and marketing costs, lets say, 22 and youre targeting a 100 new customers, do the math. You know the dollars you have to have in order to budget for the training and the facilities and resources to serve those new customers. Its now time for the brain test. Today we have jodie. I met you when you just opened your company, dani jo jewelry. That was nine years ago. You have done so well since then. And andrew pearlman, owner of express spa. We have 52 and we are opening another 10 before the year is up. I want to talk about p. R. You both came with someone from your p. R. Teams. I think it is an incredibly hard job to hire an outside company. I want to hear what it takes to do it well. One of the mistakes people make is you just find the best p. R. Firm and give them the reins and everything takes care of itself. I have found you constantly have to tell them whats going on in your business. As a result of that you to find a group of people you truly believe in and get along with. And who understand what youre doing. What i find is its hard to measure, right . Lets just say youre paying 7,000 a month retainer. Its not like marketing. They might come up with nothing in a month. How do you deal with that . For us it has to be a collaborative process. We dont like to think every other company out there. So i dont think you can look at every Fashion Company and that they have done. Find out the dna of your brand and whats important to you and find a team or firm that cancan execute your goals and you feel like there is a lot of synergy left. Your dream is to have an article. You want to be in the new york times, have something on the today show and usa today. Thats a lot to ask. It is not guaranteed. You paid them 21,000. They havent gotten you any of them. It cant be just completely go. In 15 years of managing p. R. Agencies, you say here is the target time frame and it has happened. Collaborative is exactly the right word. If youre collaborative with your p. R. Agency, if you feel they are doing their job well. It cant be solely focused on something they dont have complete control over. How do you work with them . I think its good to have high goals and expectations for them. But what we always do is these are our number one priorities. Of these are the three things we would like to accomplish. If a doesnt work out, heres plan b. Dont just focus on this one thing and if that doesnt happen we dont want nothing to show for the next three months. Say he cant get the big story in this publication, this is our second choice. You need to go back to the drawing board and renew. You both have done a great srob with p. R. Im glad to have gotten to pick your brains and get your insight. Thanks so much. Thank you. This weeks your biz selfie comes from arron barnes from vancouver, washington. His is called like butta. I like these selfies because i find out about products that it to try. Pick up your self phone, take a selfie of you and your business, no professional shots, please and accepted it to us at yourbusiness msnbc. Com. Or msnbcyourbiz. Today marks our 500th episode. To celebrate we are looking back at our favorite stories and we would love for you to chemical them out. Great advice, a lot of lessons and a lot of fun as i learn how to negotiate at a fish market, go undercover as a mystery shopper and run through fire all in the name of helping you run your business. Go to our facebook or twitter pages where you will find our top 10 stories of the past 11 years. If you have any questions or comments email us at your business msnbc. Com. We look forward to seeing you next time. Until then, im jj ramberg. Remember, we make your business our business. Thank you so much. Thank you so were a go . Yes we got a yes what does that mean for purchasing . Purchase. Lets do this. Got it. Book the flights hai si si ya ya ya what does that mean for us . We can get stuff. Whats it mean for shipping . Ship the goods. Youre a go you got the green light. That means go oh, yeah. Start saying yes to your companys best ideas. Were gonna hit our launch date scream thank you goodbye let us help with money and knowhow, so you can get business done. American express open. Morning, glory, america. Im hugh hewitt. You hear me on the Radio Network 6 00 to 9 00. But saturday morning i am here on msnbc. I returned from the United Kingdom late last night and have been following the news through the british media. To catch me up on the National News i have asked three of the belt waughs best young reporters all rising stars in the craft of journalism to bring me and thus you on what mattered most in the p
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