My name is mike, im in Product Development at comcast. Were working to make things simple, easy and awesome. Good morning from bell light, wisconsin. Coming up on a special Small Business saturday edition of Your Business this restaurant Grocery Store wants to become the Tourist Destination for beloits main street. They need help. Well bring in our Your Business makeover team. Plus, i sit down with linda mcman to talk about how important it is to support your local businesses. And well show you exactly how the money you spend on your local businesses helps the entire community. When it comes to making this Small Business saturday the most profitable ever, we have your backs. Thats all coming up next on Your Business. Your business is sponsored by American Express. Dont do business without it. Hi there, everyone. Welcome to a very special edition of Your Business. We are here in beloit, wisconsin, as Small Businesses are getting ready for Small Business saturday. Thats the day that comes between black friday and cyber monday when we are all encouraged to shop local. Beloit has a lot to offer. Its a college town. Big Companies Like Pratt Industries and frito lay have industries here. Its attracted a lot of fast growing tech companies. As the city has changed, so have the Small Businesses. We recently got a letter from the founder of this company here, bushel and pecks, a beloved beloit institution. The owner told us that she grew this company from a small farm stand into what it is today but she still has big dreams and she needs help. She is overwhelmed so weve assembled a great Team Together and were going to go give this business a makeover. Come on. Jackie, im j. J. Hi there. Hi. This place is fantastic thanks. I love this. Jackie jeanette is the owner of bushel and pecks, a Grocery Store, restaurant and commercial kitchen. She started out 16 years ago when she left her corporate job in chicago to buy a farm outside the city of beloit, wisconsin. At first she sold produce at the local Farmers Market, then in 2008 she bought this store front and opened a restaurant. Now ten years later its expanded to become a Sprawling Emporium on the main street in town. Show me around. Okay. Lets go this way. Tell me what this is all about. Restaurant is on the right, the store is on the left. We have a cafe. While her customers love the place as is, jackie told us shes got bigger dreams. She wants to turn bushel and pecks into a branded regional chain of stores, but thats a long way off. So she wrote to us for help and asked for a Your Business makeover. Most people walk in, look up, look around and go, wow and then they still dont know what to do. While the space itself is loaded with charm, its a distracting tangle of random merchandise all jammed together. Theres a restaurant, a Grocery Store, a plant nursery, a commercial kitchen, a used book section, a wine store and a gift shop. On top of that, there is inconsistency between her Digital Branding and her Brick And Mortar branding. I cant say no to anything, thats one of my biggest problems. So we gathered together a s. W. A. T. Team of experts to shake things up and give jackie the boost she needs. Dana isam johnson is the trend expert who brought everything she knows to help jackie and her team to take bushel and pecks etsys shopping site. And gordon came to give her products a whole new look and branding guru aaron hodola of minnesota volunteered to work on the instore and Online Customer experience. I want to hear your First Impression. My First Impression walking in, there is some good bones in this place, really good. I honestly dont know where im supposed to go or do next. Thats what im working on. Meaning you dont know if youre supposed to buy something. If i want river food, how do you get there . If im looking for product, how do i flow through the store . What are the opportunities to help me understand that. Thats what im looking for. Do you feel like you can make big changes . I think we can make small changes that have a lot of big impact. Aaron studied how people moved through the store and developed a plan to upgrade the photography, sharpen the brand image and make it easier for customers to find what they need. He told jackie it all starts with one word, consistency. Half the Battle Oftentimes is just not being consistent. Doing it this way one day, doing it different the next day and how do we bring consistency so you have to work less and have the opportunity to make more. The first step started with finding a unified look and logo that identified the store to its customers. Its already right there above the door. Its instant identity. Expanded if you open a new location anywhere, boom, you put that on the building and people see it and its classy yet comfy. Aaron then suggested that a few directional signs would eliminate the confusion about where to go. Its an opportunity to use these graphics, these photos. Aarons graphics came from gordons brand new pictures which made the products look fantastic. Gordon also offered to show jackie some Photographer Basics so she could update her Product Shots herself just using her cell phone. Basically what ive got set up here is a basic Lighting System that anybody can build just from parts from a hardware store. So i built some basic stands out of some wood. I bought some 10 shop lights with some clamps and then i put Daylight Temperature le d. Bulbs in it. Daylight . Daylight would give you the most true color so your smartphone doesnt have to try to balance the color as much. Gotcha. Then what you can also see is ive put Freezer Paper over the lights. Looks nice. To diffuse the light. Its important to light a scene like this to brighten it up and make your colors and everything really pop out of the picture. Secondly is angle. Just changing the angle of your photo can add so much more dynamics to it. You can shoot low, you can shoot overhead. Another aspect is focus. We want to pick out not only to have a tight focus, sharp image, but what is the focus of the image . What are you trying to convey . In this particular scene by staggering the bottles so we will focus on the foreground and then well fade out the back. So the back two bottles in this case would sort of fade out . Right. Naturally. Enough to where you can still read them but it just adds a little bit more of a dynamic. Okay. This is great. I think im going to make one of these. Great. Next came dana, she brought her plan to completely revise jackies etsy site. Jackie, i am so excited to be here with you and really dig into your shop. So at first glance i think its really great that your shop truly tells a story. When you go into your about page here, which is very important, you have access to 35 million buyers across the world on etsy so you can really share your story and give them an inside look to the behind the scenes, the farms that you work with, really highlighting that local feature that you guys are showing here in the retail location. Dana and her crew incorporated all of gordons new pictures into the etsy plus program which they showed to jackie. Are you ready to see your new and improved shop . Okay. So you worked with the photographer and got some really clean, new branding images. They see the variety of hot sauces that you offer. The beat ketchup, which i hear is quite the rage. Thats one of our most popular products. We have all of these great images and then when you tag things on etsy, what that means is youre calling to all of those customers who may not know you exist. Okay. We are gearing up for the holiday season. You have great options that are gifts but i notice in your category listings theres not a tag that says gifts. Right. Your shop has incredible hot sauce, pickles, bloody mary mixes and all of these things. As a shopper, i think, okay, i maybe would look for a foodie gift or i maybe look for just the word gift, period. I want to on board you on to etsy plus which is our latest tool that were offering sellers. Whats great about etsy plus is youre able to customize your shop. You can add up to three or four images that will be a carrousel so people can get more of a visual option. Great. Its a great place for you to feature the bestselling items and really put more of a visual aspect to t. Right. Youve also got promoted listings. So just like we talked about, if i as a shopper type in hot sauce, because youre doing promoted listings, its going to push your item up to the top to be found quicker. And then the third thing is about the restocking option is really going to be able to notify customers if its back in stock so that youre not losing out on opportunities for those shoppers to come back, especially during this holiday season. So we know from data from etsy that when our sellers offer Free Shipping, that they sell a lot more items, right . But we also know that youre a Small Business and you cant do that. Right. Its kind of unrealistic to think that what. What that really means is rethink your pricing so that those prices, those Shipping Prices can be baked into the cost of your item so that you can bring to life a fair and competitive Pricing Structure for your shipping. Right. So do you think that someone is more likely or is more likely to buy a 23 item that is Free Shipping versus a 15 item that we put shipping on to . Yes. Thats something to think about. Also you have to bake that into your listing prices. Right. Right. Tell me what your favorite feature of the difference . I think the general appearance. The opening the introduction to the shop that someones going to see when they click into something i think really tells the story a lot more than it has so i think thats great. Photography is just great. Being able to put that online, it just looks really different than it did. Looking forward to using it. Awesome. Im so happy. Im so happy. Honestly, i cant wait to get shopping myself. You made it cheers. Cheers. Coffee and our tea. What did you think . I thought it was great. I got to learn a lot of things from people and i especially loved seeing all the imagery. From everyone. The pictures are beautiful, right . Yes, words to build on, i thought. In the beginning you told me you felt overwhelmed. Right. Right. Do you feel less overwhelmed, more overwhelmed . I feel as overwhelmed as always but i feel like some steps have been taken to get to the next level in terms of especially for the holiday season, being ready for that and not being overwhelmed by having to make everything perfect by myself and having the resources of other people to help me do that. You wrote to us and you said, i need help. Right. Was this the help you needed . Yes. Absolutely. It was definitely a jump start and a kick start at getting some things done that i just dont think otherwise i would have been able to do on my own. Sounds good. I wish you the best of luck. Thank you. I think you have Amazing Products here. Ive had so much fun Walking Around your store. Thank you. I am excited to see you continue growing. So excited too. There is no bigger supporter of Small Business saturday than the nations Small Business administration. With me here in the studio is sba administrator linda mcman to talk about why she thinks this day is so important. It is so nice to have you in new york. Thank you. Its great to be here. Thank you for coming to our studios. This is our day. This is our holiday. This is it, november 24th. Saturday, november 24th. Shop small. Visit your Small Businesses because Small Businesses make communities and so we need to support our Small Business owners. Go there, shop, go to the ones you know, find ones you dont know. Go into a restaurant, have lunch. Go to a cafe and have a cup of coffee in the morning. Just wander in and out and go with friends. Go with family. Its a great day to go shopping. So many people have told me that when they do shop small businesses, especially on Small Business saturday, that they just love it. About 73 of those folks who go in have such a positive comment to make and to businesses for those days. We want to convert Small Business saturday, please go. Thats in between thanksgiving and cyber monday. Yes. Right after black friday so its shop small saturday. You know, start that let it be a trend that youre starting and keep Shopping Small throughout the year. I sound like a broken record but i always say, if you do not, those companies arent going to be there, right . Yup. Thats right. Dont go to your toy store in the neighborhood to buy some of your Holiday Gifts and that toy store is going to go away. Its that simple. It is. Small business will ask me, how am i going to compete . How do i compete with some of the Big Box Stores . When you think about it, what can you offer that they cant . Niche products sometimes. But its service. Its being that part of the neighborhood. I mean, what name do you see on the back of the Little League shirt . Exactly. Its joe pizza or its the commune ity bank. They support the fundraisers, bake sales to send the band off on a competition. Theyre the glue in the communiti communities, and so its so important to keep them alive and well. So i i want to spend a little time just talking about the sba. I know you had made this promise to go visit every district in the first two years. 58 out of 68, is that where you are now . 47 states. So you are almost done with this . Yes. What have you learned and what are you telling people . What does our audience not know about the sba . Well, first of all, i dont think that people really understand the full breadth and scope of sba. I think youre right. How many of you think sba is about loans. Youll see hands go up. Do you really realize we dont make the loan, we guarantee loans. Do you also understand that we have all of these resources to help businesses start, grow, expand and sometimes recover from disaster. We have our score offices, sbdc offices, womens business centers, Veterans Outreach centers. Lets go through quickly. Score is amazing because you can go into score and get an advisor for free. For all of these services are for free. Any of these offices that you might go into. So scores manned by volunteers, often Business Executives who have retired. Theyre giving back. Sometimes executives who are still there, sometimes marketing representatives or experts in other fields and you can go, let them take a look at Your Business, help you with a business plan, your marketing plan. Its incredible resource right there. It is. Someone who will work one on one with you. It is. So if you go to sba. Gov and you can go to different states, different districts and find out, you know, how is the best way for you to maneuver where you live. And i urge folks, take advantage of all of the resources, the mentoring, the networking aspects. I am the chief advocate for 30 million Small Businesses around the country so i want to make sure they know about the resources that are available to them, not only access to capital but also the mentoring aspect, the actual connecting with businesses that might be beneficial to them, helping them export because we have an International Trade department at sba helping them look at those markets outside the united states. So its very robust and im very proud of what were doing. Lets end with one last thing. Shop small. I found something really amazing in beloit, wisconsin. Great beat ketchup which was so tasty from bushel and pecks in wyoming bushel and pecks ketchup from bushel and pecks in beloit, wisconsin. Then also this amazing popcorn on the cobb. So you stick it in the microwave and it sticks on the cobb. Small business. Niche business. Shop local, shop small. Thank you very much. November 24th, saturday. Ill see you in a small store. All righty. Yes, you will. Weve launched the third season of our podcast, been there, built that. In honor of Small Business saturday, i talked to three Small Business owners who faced a really tough time in their business and overcame them. Bruce schoenberg is owner of oasis spa in new york. He literally brought his business back From The Ashes following a fire. Jenn rosen dms baun told me about her story. I hope you git a chance to listen to this episode. If you do, leave some comments. Wed love to hear what you think. Go check it out, its called ben there, built that. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts. Our Small Business saturday from beloit, wisconsin, continues. We take a stroll with the city manager who tells us what the town is doing to get people to shop local. And a look back over the years to see what businesses around the country have done to attract customers on Small Business saturday. The community doesnt just have Small Businesses, it is Small Businesses. And thats why American Express founded Small Business saturday. So, today, Small Business saturday, lets all get up, get out and shop small. I got croissant. Shopping small, a small way to make a big difference. Bit in the last 20 years. One of the reasons is because theres a group of people concentrated on turning this city into what it can become. One of those is lori, city manager here. So nice to see you u. Thank you so much for coming. Ive had a great time in the city and would love a tour from you. Theres a lot of old and new mixed together. There are. Were right in our Downtown Area and we have a couple of businesses here, Stanton Shoes and the barber shop across the street. They have been here over 100 years. The same family running the store all of this time . Yes. Its been in their family over 100 years. How have you been able to get all of these businesses to Work Together to try and revive this area downtown . We have one of the oldest associations created 30 years ago to promote his physical area of the city and businesses here. And do you guys do this all year round . I know you do a lot around Small Business saturday, but what else do you to . There are events all the time. This area and the block are closed every saturday morning for our Farmers Market and several of our downtown storefronts started as vendors in our Farmers Market. Bushel and peck is one of them. This is north woods premium. My favorite. Yes i love candy stores more than im like a kid. Oh, yes. Youre getting gummies, right . Oh, yes, yes. You get the gmummies. How long has this store been around . They started as a vendor in our Farmers Market and came into this space. Were thrilled to have them. Homemade fudge. You make this right back there . You do . All right. Fantastic. One thing ive noticed about this area on these two streets you have all of these great restaurants . We do. Brand new ones as well. Lucys burger bar has stuffed burgers. Even a macaroni and cheese stuffed burger, if you can believe it. That is my 11yearolds dream. Right . Two of his favorite dinners mashed up into one thing. Smells very good walking by there. Looking for something a little more sophisticated, sushi. Come here and feel just as though you were in chicago. And getting people from all neighbors cities and towns to come to these restaurants . We are. Weve become quite the hot spot. Having this river go right through your city is special. One of oof our biggest asset and this bridge. Looks new . It is brand new. Donated by a family and the city maintains and owns it but it connects these campuses. All the people working in the iron works campus can just cross the river. Go downtown for lunch. The iron works campus is what . So this was the site of the former beloit corporation. Also known as the iron works, and so it went out of business in 2000. It had been here since 1850. It was devastating to this community and all of the jobs lost when it closed. So beloit have been having a renaissance to diversify its Employment Base and have a campus completely revitalized. I also think when you have a combination of Big Companies with more staple jobs, you can bring in employees and then you have small companies, you just get to attract a lot of people who could work here, because one of the problems of being a Small Company and opening in a town or a city is that where are you going to get your employees . Right. So we do have that diversification, which i think is really what is making us successful today. We arent overly reliant on one major employer. We have several large employers and also a variety of Small Businesses as well. And then there was one one Building Back there you were telling me about. Yes. So that is the former generating station. The power plant. It is going it be the power house for beloit college. Currently underconstruction. An incredibly unique Student Center with recreational activities, a pool. Its going to be a really wonderful asset, not just for the college but for the city as well. How fun. The first Small Business saturday was on november 27, 2010. It was created to get people to shop small, and to remind them to think about what it means when they put dollars back into their local community. Over the past nine years weve had the chance to travel around the country and see some of the fun and really creative promotions communities have done to encourage people to shop local. After nine years, Small Business saturday is now a national movement. Motivating independent Community Businesses to develop innovative ways to get consumers away from the malls and on to main streets and locallyrun ecommerce sites. That push has Business Owners thinking out of the box. We are going to give away to all customers who spend 50 or month a 25 holiday surprise bag. This Small Business saturday were going to be having factory reps coming in to demonstrate and food tastings, which people love. Its fun to come in and taste something good on Small Business saturday and gets people in the mood for the holiday gift giving season. Over these past nine years Small Business saturday has spurred a Shop Local Movement that has helped businesses get customers to understand that when you spend local, your money stays local. In arizona, a statewide 10 shift campaign got the word out about how moving 10 of your spending to a local business can have a big impact. What were saying is, lets all be mindful of where our money goes when we spend it and understand the local business then in turn will have a local accountant or graphic designer, and that money stays in the economy and creates additional jobs. In oregon a Loyalty Program was started called supportland. Customers use a card making a purchase giving them points to exchange for rewards. The rewards are important as more of like a hook, a game. It makes it fun, but our customers are not in it for the rewards. They just want an excuse to get out and support local. In Mountain Brook, alabama, theyve made Shopping Local A yearround opportunity with live local saturday movement encouraging customers to buy from any Community Business that day and for businesses to sell locally made products. We ask all the businesses in Mountain Brook to come up with a list of items that he were already selling that were made locally and branded it for the day and people knew, you want to buy those pair of earrings, they werent Made In New York but made here in alabama. And in fargo, north dakota, businesses historically closed on sunday until retailers decided to start the Open Sunday Initiative to get customers to shop local. Sunday is a day for families and friends to get together and a lot of times thats the only day that people can go out and do their shopping. If were not open on sundays, where else do they have to go other than like the mall or the Big Box Stores . Or our competition. Nine years later, Small Business saturday continues to encourage people to shop local year round and are keeping it top of mind for customers, owners and even celebrities. I think that its really important in the our communities to support Small Businesses, and local businesses. I think its good for everybody, for the community and for, certainly for the economy to support Small Businesses. We are always encouraging you to shop local and support your neighborhood Small Businesses, but if you need a little more inspiration on that front, here are five reasons why you should do it. One, your dollars support the community. When you shop local you not only support the retailer itself but also the whole infrastructure around it. Two, local businesses create more local jobs. Small local businesses are the largest employers nationally and provide the most jobs to people in the area. Three, invest in your community. Local businesses are owned by people who live in the community, and are more invested in its future. Four, support the environment. Locally owned businesses make more local purchases, requiring less transportation. And five, it keeps your community unique. Where we shop, where we eat and have fun, all of that builds our communitys character and make it is a place we call home. This weeks Your Business selfie means a lot to us. It comes from Philip Ritter seen in the middle with his fabulous staff at Ritters Custom Woodwork in flemington, new jersey. They make beautiful cabinets and furniture. Phil wrote to us and told us how much he appreciates the information from our show and how hes used it to grow his business by 30 annually. That makes me incredibly happy to hear, phil. Thank you so much for writing in. We look forward to sees you next time. Im j. J. Ramberg. Dont forget to shop small and, remember, we make Your Business our business