that s why we are proud to present your business on msnbc. hi there, everyone, i m j.j. ramberg and welcome to the start of the seventh season of your business. where we give you tips and advice to help your business grow. entrepreneurs are faced every day with decisions about how to grow their companies and their own personal changing roles within the organization. so how do you figure it all out? we met two companies who are growing by making a conscious decision to stay the same. there s a history here that you just can t duplicate anywhere else. you re going to get the product that you had 50 years ago. our business decisions are solely based on making a quality product. reporter: allen, aaron and aaron are literally cut from the same cloth. we re in the fourth and five generation, two cousins and myself who operate the business on a day-to-day basis. this trio is the driving force behind streit s, the new york-based company well known for its matza. w
hi there, everyone, i m j.j. ramberg and welcome to the start of the seventh season of your business. where we give you tips and advice to help your business grow. entrepreneurs are faced every day with decisions about how to grow their companies and their own personal changing roles within the organization. so how do you figure it all out? we met two companies who are growing by making a conscious decision to stay the same. there s a history here that you just can t duplicate anywhere else. you re going to get the product that you had 50 years ago. our business decisions are solely based on making a quality product. reporter: allen, aaron and aaron are literally cut from the same cloth. we re in the fourth and five generation, two cousins and myself who operate the business on a day-to-day basis. this trio is the driving force behind streit s, the new york-based company well known for its matza. we try to toqueous on your original line. this family owned co
Primary season. what will 2012 bring for our entrepreneurial community. brian hamilton, the co-founder of a company that has software for small businesses, brian hecht and phil town. great to see all of you. thank you. bill, you have been here every year, i think, doing this with us at the end of the year. i want to start with you, also because we cited your survey. optimism up three years in a row. do you expect this to continue next year? i think it will continue as we look at the basics in the economy. either we are getting used to bad news and we are going ignore it and move forward or good things are happening. i think the latter is the case. we saw improvement in the optimism index. seven of the ten components went
How to step your game up to get capital when it s not available. that s coming in 2012. when brian hecht was here saying things are getting better, you are shaking your head. look at the data. revenues are up. it s a fact. it s happening right now. it s already tipping. the attitudes are catching up to the data. we have to get that data out there. things are not a mess right now. they are not. revenue is up for private companies. about 6% to 7% across the board. across 1400 industries. itis not all doom and gloom. we have to get that out there. bill, what do you think your small business owners need the most to keep optimism up? we need customers. the university of michigan index for consumers is the worst we have seen since 1980, not a great time. we had the index go up for three months now, it s still lower than in january.
business on msnbc. hi think, everyone. i m j.j. ramberg. welcome to your business where we give you tips and advice for your business to grow. it s been up and down for small business owners. there s positive news for the new year. business optimism rose 1.8 points, the highest level since february. it showed an increase in small business owner who is expect sales to increase and those expecting to hire. it was a political football in 2011 with president obama pushing his small business jobs plan and supporting small business saturday. his political opponents raised issues affecting small business owners in debates running up to primary season. what will 2012 bring for our entrepreneurial community. brian hamilton, the co-founder of a company that has software for small businesses, brian hecht and phil town. great to see all of you. thank you. bill, you have been here every year, i think, doing this with us at the end of the year. i want to start with you, also becau