Minneapolissnbcs your bus sponsored by american express. Dont do business without it. Your business is sponsored by american express. Dont do business without it. Hi there, everyone. Im jj ramberg. And welcome to your business, the show dedicated to growing your business. A few years ago the idea for using key Market Strategies was still very unfamiliar territory for many Business Owners, but today the tides have changed. The use of social influencers to promote brands is skyrocketing. And businesses of all kinds are using instagram and facebook and others to sell products directly to consumers. That is how the watch Company Movement went from a startup to doing 80 million in revenue in just a few years. I recently met one the 20something openers to hear how they got a jumpstart by opting the strategies very early on. When jake and cramer started their watch company mvmt in 2013, they knew exactly what they didnt want. The watches that were at our price point, we just didnt resonate with the brands. The watches we liked we couldnt afford. They looked around at watch companies and mostly saw oldschool Business Models with oldschool marketing. It was an industry right for disruption. Smartphones have been around, the utility of the watch has changed, right . Its a fashion accessory. College dropouts starting businesses consistently since a young age, jake and cramer were students of the internet. Being a generation that was born on social media is also a unique value, just like seeing different trends in realtime. Reporter when they launched their idea, it was simple. Nice design as an affordable price. And the way to get there . Dont work with retailers and dont spend a lot on getting the word out. Whats the one thing you did early on to reach customers that completely worked . It was simply just finding smern people of it was not Rocket Science at the time. And it was not called influence marketing. Jake and cramer built their brand on instagram and sold their products only from their own website. From the beginning, they understood the power of the post. We were pushing our customer to send us pictures, post on instagram, tag us. So sourcing that content was huge, just because it made all the early adopters feel like they were a part of this brand from the very beginning. The mvmt brant was an invitation to the world of millenials which the founders and creators created together. We enjoy this lifestyle of kind of getting outdoors or traveling the world. And that is really what the brand represents. But that was then. While the companys following has continued to grow, both founders understand the world has changed from the early days. And they are not quite sure they would be able to follow the same playbook if they were launching today. I dont think people would know we were willing to pay them 1,000 to post. Now, we get lucky if we can pay someone 10,000 to post. Do you think Influencer Marketing works today as well as it did five years ago when you started . I dont think so. Because there just wasnt theres saturation now. Customers are used to seeing adds and the feed. So they dont know if it is authentic or not. But that doesnt mean jake and kramer turned their backs on the business that launched them. For one, they saw a lot of value in big names. Today, those posts are incredibly expensive and not necessarily effective. We try now to go after more of the smaller accounts, more authentic, people not posting as often. People with womhom we can build relationship with. So you invite me into this office. How do you get me to love the product . We love them to come in and check out different products. If they are going to like the product and wear it on a regular basis, thats better than a product they will wear once. Not only that, but mvmt is not a startup anymore. With jewelry and accessories, they have had to shift gears in order to stay on top. The pair has started to embrace all they turned their backs on in the beginning. Early on, they avoided traditional tv ads. Selling wholesalers to retailers was also out of the question. Now they have exclusive accounts with bloomingdales and nordstroms. As we grow bigger, we couldnt do tv back then because it was expensive and didnt know if the money was going to give us return on our investment. But they are clear that none of this could have happened if they didnt start small. Growing a direct Consumer Brand rather than going too wide too quickly. Do the two of you say in this office late at night, oh, my god, we did it. No late night high fives . You deserve it, one now. Instagram played an enormous part in the success of mvmt, but what if you dont have a product business that is easily photographed . We met up with instagram expert jasmine star at the traffic and conversion summit to find out how the use the Popular Social Network to get more customers. Its the Fastest Growing social platform and boasts the highest engagement. If you want to hedge your bets and say there are so many platforms to choose from, what should i be invested . You want the one with the more engagement. I think it is easy to think about what to put on instagram if you have a very circumstantial circumstance like this. How do you figure on what to put . The idea becomes a showcase for you professionally from a standa standard. So if i was a lawyer, a life coach, i would hire a photographer or barter, trade my services to ensure i got at minimum 30 photos every month. Then i have to showcase what my bear do does. So to get the right mix on instagram, you want to have the feeling of your company through visuals, right . And then mix that in with something a little bit. We are selling the idea of the business and the benefits it provides, not the widget were ultimately talking about. So how did that alone attract sales . It doesnt. Trust is a Digital Currency on instagram. If people dont trust you, they will impact your professional business. There are too many people that do what you do and what i do. So the sea of options. Seth goodan is a decision why someone chooses one business over the other based on memories and experiences. Erer this could empower you to take your family on vacation. Its no more like, shes living the best life. It is like, ive worked this hard and hire me as a division of things you want in your own life. So you figured out step one for you, its figuring what you post on instagram. No. Im so sorry. Step one, figure out who you are selling to. It is so basic but it amounts to your success. Are you selling to men . Women . Are they 25 . 35 . What was their last youtube search . Where did they go forvacation . Do they live in the midwest or are they coastal . All the considerations customers. Im not about getting millions of figure out who precisely youre selling to and create content to attract those people to your account. Okay. Now to number three, which i am creating a great content. How do i get people to start seeing it . First well focus on some hashtags. But i dont want to encourage them to use entrepreneur. The example of me being a business coach, i do not want to use a word like entrepreneur. Im presupposing my dream customer is going to instagram looking for business tips. Thats not the icology of how people engage on instagram. If i knew i was targeting men in their young 30s to buy my proneed supplement. I need to say, what do they do on the weekends . Where do they hang out . What do they like to drink . All of a sudden, they are in a hashtag chewing the fat and hanging out on saturday afternoon. They think, what is this photo . And oh, this is the thing i didnt know i needed and cannot live without it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Im in st. Petersburg, the campus of hsn. The original shopping tv company. Now, this is a big deal because were doing our elevator pitch here. Our guest is going to have the collapse to show their product to two executives from hsn. One runs the American Dreams program, which finds entrepreneurs from all over the country and brings them onto hsn. The other is in charge of quality control. If theres something wrong with the product, they will figure it out. This could be lifechanging. Hey, lucy, its jj. Hey, jj, so good to meet you. Im just so excited to hear about this cool product. Tell me the name of the company again. The company is slick lizard design and the product is called slink. I want you to purge and take the chance of pitching onset. If you get this, what does it mean for your company . This is sort of makeorbreak. This product will be benefited from being demonstrated on tv. I think if it works for tv and i get through and sales are good, this will be a great test for that. How do you feel going into this . Im a little nervous. Thats funny because you dont seem nervous. Lets get you inside to see how you do. All right, great. Hey, guys. So good to see you. How is everything . Im well, im dara. Lucy. Nice to meet you. My name is lucy pellagrino and my company is slick lizard design. Imagine a case for the ipad or ereader that bridges the gap between fashion and protection. Slate is a patented multireversible neoprene sleeve that can be turned insideout 16 different ways to give you 16 different looks in one case, all while keeping both sides of your tablet protected rather than just one side. There are three sizes currently. The 9. U7inch size, one for the pro tablets and a smaller mini version. Let me show you how it works. Basically, you reach in and turn it insideout. And now you go from a pattern to a solid color. And there are three solid colors. So just reach in and turn it again and then again for your fourth color. And then you can keep changing it by turning a flap in one direction, the bottom flap or both flaps. Until you get to 16 combinations. Its like a magic trick. I was just going to interrupt you because your 60 seconds are up, but it feels like a magic trick. Oh, wait, theres more. There are so many things in this. This is so neat. Fantastic job. Thank you. Thank you. Lets hear feedback from you guys. Breathe now. I like it. Its really unique. And for our customer, our customer loves to customize. So i think this is really good for our customer. Question for you, the name, slate, yet i see chameleons, i feel like it is more of a chameleontype of product. Slate comes from tablet. Thats where slate comes from. And the sl is slick lizard, its a chameleon that changes color. So you can change the look of your case to match your outfit, where you are going, what you are doing. What i really like about this, one, youre bridging fashion and function. And its highly demonstrable. So, you know, the customer at home and the market can see all the Different Things you can do with it. Absolutely. I really think its a brilliant idea. So glad you have got your patent together on it. Thank you. But i think i tell you, it just once you get started you cant stop. Well let them talk and end this with what you were talking about earlier, lucy, this is something that needs to be shown. Absolutely. Now that you have done your job i feel better. Do you feel better. I feel a lot better. They are chatting. What is going to happen is we are going to come over here, look at the sign where it says on air, im going to stop them in a second and well see if you have a chance to be on air. Does that give me a thumbsup or thumbs down . Its a light on or not. Im done twisting this as many ways as i can. Come on over here, lucy. Will lucy get a chance to sell this on hsn to millions of customers . Take a look. Oh, yay youre going to be on hsn. Sorry, coming in for a hug. Hug first, hug second. Thank you. This is a great, great product. Thank you. It speaks for itself. You dont even really you just keep going. You just need me to be selling it. Go girl. Im going to bring you back just to demo it. Such great news. Such a great product. So many layers without a lot of bulk. Thats the other great thing. Im taking you and your product off. Thank you so much, guys. Thank you. Congrats. You did it it worked. Im so much less nervous than i was. Well, you just did it, yes. Of course you are less nervous i. It worked, you did it. Thats amazing. Mmpblts many of you with kids have probably heard of california baby skin product that is are organic and free of chemicals. A mother of two took a quest to look for a safer baby shampoo and turned it into a booming empire. Natalie morales has her story. Reporter inside this california store, the name is synonymous with kid safe and pure. And the mastermind behind the 85 million brand is jessica, a former stayathome mom with a great idea. Some people start their companies from inspiration. And i started my company with outrage. Reporter it was the early 90s, she left her job as a fashion buyer to be a fulltime mom, wanting to use Safe Products on her son, she decided to research the ingredients in his baby shampoo. And got the shock of her life. I found a chemical dictionary at the library and started looking up the ingredients that were in this shampoo and found that a lot of them were listed as carcinogens with synthetic fragrances, harsh cleansing agents and really found that unacceptable. You were ahead of your time. This was the early 90s. Before the organic baby cleansers and all that even became a reality. With no background in chemistry, she called a top scientist to help her create an all Natural Organic shampoo in her own kitchen. And with that, california baby was born. The process to making that first batch of products, you did borrow about 2,000 from your mom, is that right . I did. I wanted complete autonomy. I didnt want anybody telling me what to do or how to run my business. Now what does mom say . She said, i knew you were going to do it. I knew you could. She started selling her sham pooh in a chain of stores in los angeles. When that chain was bought by whole foods, she went national. Now california baby has over 90 products from shampoos and washes to body lotions and sprays sold everywhere from target to walmart. And they are all made here in this solarpowered fdacertified organic factory near her home in l. A. Why was that important for you . It was important because i wanted to have control. And i also wanted to up the background. No mba or anything. Nothing. What is better than a science background is a momma bear instinct. Is that what drove me. She is involved in every step from manufacturing to marketing. To r d and regularly testing her products for purity and safety. She even started her own nonprofit to push for stricter government regulation of skin care products. I didnt start this to start a business. I started it to make change. And it is a movement for me and that is why i love it every day. You are one of the most successful ceos in the country. How do you think being a woman helped you . I didnt try to be a man. We have a lot of gifts. I dont think we always tap into. So i used my instinct a lot and used my power of observation a lot. I used my communication skills a lot. A lot of what i do is about saying no. No, its not good enough. And it is probably a hard thing to learn. I have a hard time saying no. It is something you have to learn. It is not something that comes naturally. I realized that i needed to have a sense of entitlement. Im entitled to be at this table. Nobody gives it to you. You have to take it. You claim it. And i think that is how women can help each other sharing their experience. We have launched the second condition of our podcast been there and built there and this week were talking to martina. She tells us what it was like when she paired chocolate with brakon and revolutionary when she first did it and very honest about the high and tough part of growing the company. I hope you get a chance to listen and if you do, give us some feedback. This podcast is still new and we would love to hear what you think. So go listen for free. Been there and built that on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. When we come back. A viewer grapples with weather to bring on investors and grow fast or stay the course. And why you should be setting time aside to investigate future opportunities. Dont work your way upfront without it. And dont watch her dance, like nobodys watching without it. Early ticket access. Another way we have your back. The powerful backing of american express. Dont live life without it. So for my business i have been completely funded selffunded. So im trying to figure out what is the deciding factor in whether to bring in a group of investors to help me grow my business tenfold, or do i just keep growing at a slower pace. So when you think about fundraising, i got a very good advice from a friend of mine named beth ferrara and she told me fundraising isnt about money, but it is about power. And that is the case. When you raise money you have a new partner, you have in essence a boss and so you think about how that will change the way you run your business and understand whether you are getting value for the money that you bring in that goes beyond just the dollars but also in terms of expertise and support. So what i would encourage to you do is talk to investors and figure out what they could bring to the table and then sit down and have a hard conversation about what they expect from you in terms of when they will get out and sell their shares and what you will do together as partners. And if you could find somebody who shares your vision, then definitely consider taking money from them. We have the top two tips you need to know to help you grow your business. Lets introduce our panel. Phil pound is motivational speaker and bestselling author and from the podcast, invested, the rule number one podcast and coauthor of the new book invested which he cowrote with his daughter. And from a consulting firm, the author of the new book next is now, five steps for embracing change, build a business that thrives into the future and your company just got acquired so congratulations. Thank you very much. Fantastic news. Well lets start with you. One tip. As a business owner, you have to allocate time and budget time to worry about the next not as much as seeing what are the trends that are coming, there is so Much Technology coming into so many businesses and Business Owners who are busy with the operation and fulfillment of customer needs are so busy into now that they are not paying attention to the next and then one day your success is completely irrelevant because you havent seen what is going on. It is natural to worry about it you have to budget time to see what is next in your industry and around it and incorporate it into your business. And how do you suggest doing that . Setting up time what do you do . Do you read blogs or books . Some very simple things which is part of what im doing, once a week i will see what is the tech talk least relevant to my business and explore something i didnt think about. The thought might come from biology or health care in africa or whatever it is, try to see where it is coming from. The first thing. And second try to identify blogs or podcasts that are not in your mainstream and see what are they telling about the overall customer environment in which we are seeing. But the notion of not paying attention to the next is your important not how do i fulfill the next request from customers. And phil, your book is a bestseller. Congratulations. Thank you. Another bestseller under your hat. You have grown your business quite a bit over many years. What tip do you have . The most important thing that i think about when were building a business is to kind of copy the best investors in the world and that would be Warren Buffett and charlie monger and they are looking at specific things when they want to buy a business, so build your business that would match those things. Because those guys might buy it some day if it is big enough or somebody else will. And the main thing is there is ann annin intrinsic for your business and protecting it from the need to change rapidly. I remember buffet was talking about not investing with bill gates who is his friend. And preferring to just invest in chewing gum. Because it doesnt change very quickly. So the thing you have to look for in building your company, what characteristic can i put into this company that nobody could copy or take away from me and copy exactly. So what happens with most enterprepures is they start to compete on price. Ill do a House Cleaning company and have a lower price than everybody and compete that way and it is a disaster. It is not sustainable and then someone undercuts you and it is horrible. Thanks so much. Good to see you both. This weeks your biz selfie is from reginald smith. His product used no sugar or chemicals or additives and comes in pineapple and maple and date. That sounds good. Now do exactly what he did and pick up your smartphone and take a selfie of you and your business and send it to us at yourbusiness msnbc. Com or tweet it and let us know your name and the name of the your company and the location and use the hashtag yourbusiness selfie. And remember this week, earlier this week washington issued a warning about russian Cyber Attacks from Small Companies and private companies as well. This is not new but i bring it up because it should be a reminder to do a security audit at our companies. Something we should be doing any ways but sometimes it doesnt happen. We would love to hear from you. If you have any questions or comments, email us or go to our website at msnbc. Com yourbusiness and we put up everything from todays show and even more on the digital and social media platforms and listen for free to our other nat podcast on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. We look forward to seeing you next time. Until then im jj ramberg, and remember we make your business our business. baby crying dont juggle your home life and work life without it. And dont forget who youre really working for without it. Funding to help grow your business. Another way we have your back. The powerful backing of american express. Dont do business without it. Welcome to politics nation. Yesterday i concluded the National ActionNetwork National conference here in new york having spent four days listening to the nations most prominent politicians, performers and media personalities discuss how to move the country forward amid the regression of the trump era. I came away as i always do with the renewed sense of why i host this convention