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, everyone. Im j. J. Ramberg. Welcome to your business, the show dedicated to helping your growing business. This is a story we are all familiar with, factories close, jobs lost and downtowns become ghost towns. This week, we have three entrepreneurs who have done a remarkable job turning that story around. They are our Small Business heroes. They rebuilt a beloved Cheese Factory in bandon, oregon, put the town to work and they are creating a business on track to become a national brand. Nearly 15 years ago, as the last Cheese Factory in bandon, oregon, closed the doors, the town lost a part of its soul. I think theres a lot of stories for why it happened. It was basically consolidation, you know, eliminating a competitor. For more than 100 years t area had been known for cheddar cheese. Ten cheese factories in bandon and dairies. By mid century, just one factory left, the bandon Cheese Factory. When my dad bought it in, i think, 89, it was the same building from the 1930s. His dad bought the company in 1989. Later, brad joined him. After a bit of a love hate relationship with cheese making, it turns into pure love and brad became the head of production. Well, when we take a piece of cheese out and cut it and put it in our mouth and go, thats really good, that makes me broud. Bandon was the perfect climate for cheese making. It worked together to feed the cows and get its distinctive flavor. The grass is green and fertile. It could be the way the rain is filtering through it. We are at the mouth of a river that goes into the valley that produces the best dairy in the country. Its the flavor of the area. Make the same cheese out of different milks from different areas and they taste different. Sthak wasnt enough to save the last remaining cheese maker in town. A rival bought bandon cheese, kept the name and moved production to the midwest. They tore down the building and told brad and everyone else to go home. We no longer need your services. That was it. I walked out the door. Brad went on to make Award Winning cheese for a premier producer in seattle. Most of the other employees moved on as well. People left. Theres no jobs. You cant make a living here. It just went down. I mean, the schools shrank. The drug problem grew. It just changed. Not only were the jobs lost, but the towns identity was stripped away. Like taking the Auto Industry from detroit. So many people are employed by it and identified by it. Three men rebuilt the factory, brought back lost jobs and turned the industrial spirit to the 3,000 people of this town. He was proud of this place. When you are proud of something you are very, very sad when it goes away. Daniel called greg with a business proposition. I think i hung up. I dont think i was very interested in the project. He did. Greg hung up on me the first time. They knew nothing about cheese making, manufacturing food products. There are a lot of thing that is make it a complicated business. I was sure he would come around. He was confident he would change his mind when he said the key elements for cheese production were still in place. It preexisted. A model there. A clientele there. I knew the milk was here. Certain parts of the supply chain were around, we had to put the pieces together. There was one thing missing, a master cheese maker. With brad sinko gone, the band was, too. Thats why greg went to seattle to speak to brad. I didnt ask him if he was interested. I knew the answer would be no. He said if i wasnt interested in coming to work for you, i wouldnt have lunch with you. It took me by surprised. People were surprised, i was doing well where i was. I wouldnt i enjoy this. I enjoy doing start ups. When we heard he accepted gregs offer, that hit the papers, cheese making is coming back, brad is coming back. It was a big deal. The city understood the project. The council came through with tax breaks. The banks, they were not convinced. They said no. Not this project. Not now. We are not interested. So, greg looked elsewhere. I knew there was one more way to do it. I found other creative investors. I cobbled together seven loans to get 2 million together. They named it face rock creamery after a local landmark and efforts to build their own Company Started to build the town up as well. I would say 20 to 30 different businesses that maybe dont rely on us 100 for their income, but do business with us. Its been hard times in the dairy business. One of those businesses, milky way theme trucking is owned by david. He delivers the milk from his fathers farm 15 miles up the road. He says most of the dairy owners in the valley quit long ago. He might have had to until he got the face rock creamery contract. Its going to be a win win for everybody. If we werent near the farm the milk is from, probably wouldnt have kept farming. We saved at least one. You can see a skip in peoples steps. I get goose bumps thinking about it now. It was good to see that. They are businessmen. If they made the town proud, it makes them glad. They havent working this hard just to become other peoples heroes. I think that would be small if thats the only thing we thought about. You know, lets be truthful here. You are in business to make money. Thats what our aim is. I mean, its not our own aim. Sometimes you dont want to talk profits when talking nostalgia and why you are here. Without making money, the nostalgia is going to disappear. The business has to make money. I want to see a good return on my business z. Good business brought back local pride. Cheese making has been here since the 1900s. We want it here until 2100 and longer. Over the years we have heard our fair share of Business Owners complain about too much government regulation. One entrepreneur has done the opposite. The founder of Beauty Counter spent time in washington lobbying for more rules around the industry. Her company is growing rapidly. Rock star bono and his wife invested after the Company Acquired nude skin care. The three are deeply concerned about the toxins used in our every day products. Thats why they want to see more regulation. As women, when we lock arms or decide to do something, we can move mountains. That is what she is doing with her skin care and cosmetics line, Beauty Counter. I started it because i was impassioned with the Environmental Health movement. After watching the documentary an Inconvenient Truth she was concerned with the dangers in our environment. We are exposed through personal care and cosmetics. I was trying to find Safer Solutions for my family. Trying to elevate safety in her home, she discovered startling facts in the skin care and cosmetics industry. We are not regulated the law. Companies are allowed to do xhafr they want. We have 85,000 chemicals into commerce since world war ii, which almost 80 or some say 80 to 90 have never been tasted for safety in human health. It evolved into the inspiration for Beauty Counter. Greg thought her vision was simple, create a line that was 100 safe with high performing results. The first phone call i made was a celebrity and fashion make up artist, the first to clean up her kit and try to use safer products on her clients. I absolutely wanted to prove as an Industry Expert this could be done. Greg bragt on mia davis, the director for safe cosmetics. The idea was to have those represented on our platform. We took a list of 1500 ingredients and we said we cant use them, but they have to perform. People thought we were crazy. It launched in 2013 with the highest level of trance parn si. We created incredibly strict screening process, one of the most health protected in the world. Shes recruited 8,000 to make up a Robust Network of consultants. They are sharing the story of Beauty Counter and safe ingredients and helping communities and families make better choices. Im proud of where we are. We grew 500 . The mission goes beyond just growing her company. With the companys success under her belt, she set her sights higher, on capitol hill, determined to be a voice for change. We have taken action in washington, meeting with everyone in washington, introducing them to Beauty Counter, a company that is procommerce and proregulation. She wants to empower politicians with knowledge and awareness in hopes of inspiring significant regulation reform. We want the fda to take action, screen for harmful ingredients and protection americans. We host beauty socials around the world. We encourages consultants and their guests to call their senators and tell them we want more health protective laws. They called us back. They were saying they heard us loud and clear. Its safe to say, we are not creating a movement, we are a movement. It is an example of how one idea, passion and a real commitment to yourself and a world that you believe in is absolutely possible to make anything happen. We always say we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to build a Great Company thats financially rewarding, solid and sound while simultaneously having significant social impact. Its the greatest job in the world. You may not recognize the name alfred woelbing, but your chapped lips may know his product, the creator of carmex, he started out of his kitchen in 1937. Little did he expect the worldwide distribution he had today. 80 years later, its owned by his family with his grandson running the show. We talk about reaching out to expert frs help and why you shouldnt rely on voice mail in this, learning from the pros. Reach out to experts for help. Im an art major running a business. I had to learn everything. I literally had to learn everything. I couldnt do my job without the advice i get from people. When i started working here, i would call, i think first with the bankers saying, so, tell me how to do business. What is it about . Then insurance people. So, tell me about insurance and, well, here is how it works, here is what you do. If suppliers came in, i took them tout to lunch and they told me about their product. That is a huge help. Should a ceo be okay asking for help . I say absolutely. Hire smart, talented people. Im probably the least adept at any job around here of anybody. My philosophy is to hire people that, i call hiring aspirationally. If you hire smart people, trust them. The analogy i use is, if im at home and the water heater breaks, and then i hire a plumber, he comes in and sits down, gets his tools out, i reach around, grab tools and start trying to fix stuff. No, i hired you because you know what you are doing. Once you hire somebody and trust them, you let them go. Dont try being the smartest person in the room. Allow the other person to flourish. Dont overrely on voice mail. I like contact with people and conversations. Its something that comes up over and over in my life. Nothing frustrates people more than when you call people up and you get Automated Service and you wait. Theres a problem with a product you are getting or a component. I call the company up, kept getting voice mail. I finally yelled in the phone, if you cant afford to hire a person to answer a phone, you are probably going out of business. I got called back fast. If you call carmex, you will get a person first. Respect and respond to your customers comes from hi grandfather. One of the first things he stressed to me when i started working here in 1991 was at the end of every sale theres a person. Thats important. He said anybody who writes us a letter, they have sat down, they are thought about it, they put pen to paper, put a stamp on and they care. If they are happy, if they are unhappy, they deserve a response. So, if somebody wrote me an email, i would write them a customized response, thank them, send them a free product. A Group Discovered that, we came in monday morning to 6,000 emails. Our mind set is part of our company promise, we answered everybody, and sent them a sample. Everything is read. An upcoming case scheduled to be decided by the Supreme Court could change a patent law to affect thousands of Small Businesses. Impression products was refilling and reselling desktop laser toner cartridges made by lexmark. They sued patent infringements which was upheld. They will put Resale Companies out of business. Eric smith is the owner of impression products and paul hughes with mayer brown the company representing him. Good to see both of you. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to come talk to us. I want to unpack what this case is. Why dont we start with you, paul. Explain to us whats at stake here. Sure, j. J. This case addresses two important issues about ownership rights. When a patentee manufactures a good and sells it, the purchaser acquires it right to the item and can do whatever they want with it. There are two issues, whether or not a patentee can restrict the way the purchaser resells or prepares the goods. Lexmarks position is they can prevent the purchaser from either reselling a good they lawfully purchased or repairing it. The second question is when a patentee sells a good outside the United States, whether u. S. Businesses and purchase the good outside the United States and bring it inside the United States for use without violating the patent law. They are fundmental about the ownership of patented goods and whether or not there are ro bust sales for the goods. Break it down to what you have been doing, eric. Explain what your business does and what they are telling you you cant do or lexmark tells you you cant do. Thank you, j. J. Impression products is a family owned business out of charleston, west virginia. J. J. , we specialize in desktop laser printers, making the supplies, the toner cartridges that go in the printers and then for anyone that buys the toner cartridges through our company, we also give away a free, on sight printer support warranty, basically letting the customer know these cartridges are fully guaranteed and will work just as good as the oem product. You have been doing this for 40 years, about . Am i right about that . What . This company has been around for how long . 40 years, yes. Did something change about your business that this issue is coming up now . No. Not at all. I all. I think lexmark just found a way to they found a little loophole here in the system, and i think it gave them the idea to come after me and a lot of my contemporaries in our industry. And fortunately, i was the one that said this isnt right, were not doing anything wrong here. And jj, when youre making a product and you believe in the product and you have employees that you went to kindergarten with or you went to high school with that are working paycheck to paycheck trying to get to the retirement, you know, that have been with you for 20, 30 years and you want to see them retire with your company, its just not something when a competitor comes in and tells you, cease and desist what youre doing because we dont want to compete with you because youre kicking our butt here in the marketplace, you need to go away. Thats just not something. If youre a competitor and you believe in what youre doing, youre going to stand up and fight, and thats what were doing. And paul, youre obviously broadening this from this particular company and whats happening with impression products. From your perspective, what are the implications here . The implications are enormous. The question is whether or not there can be resale markets for patented goods, and that includes virtually anything. That includes cars, cell phones, any equipment that Companies Buy and use in their production. If lexmarks rule is correct, the seller of those goods can say, once you purchase it, you dont have the right to resell it on the open market or you dont have the right to repair it, or they can say you can only sell to licensed dealers who will buy it at fixed prices. Thats not how competition works. Our economy has always had robust secondary, used markets, and thats a fundamental aspect of this case. Got it. Well, thank you both so much for stopping by, unpacking this for us, and we will be watching closely to see what happens. Thank you, jj. Thank you for your interest, jj. Its nice being here. Its great to use freelancers for company projects, but knowing how to use them properly is essential. The folks at business to Community Share five great ways to do that. One set clear expectations. All your contractors should know their deadlines and any targets you want them to hit along the way. Two calendars are the best way to manage your teams time. Make sure everyone can see all of the target dates specific to the project theyre working on. Three reduce emails. Limit your digital correspondence to necessary messages only. Otherwise, time your contractors could be using on projects will be wasted going through their inbox. Four have status updates with your entire team, including freelancers on a regular basis. This keeps everyone on the same page, no matter where theyre working from. And five use collaboration tools. Replace those annoying reply all emails with one platform where your entire team can ask questions, share notes and documents, and communicate with each other. When we come back, the one thing you absolutely have to do if youre planning on selling your business. And one of our panelists tells us why you should follow the money and work the clock. 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. Im looking at some point in time down the road to sell the company. Of course, im 47 currently. Weve started to get financials in place. What are some of the other components that we should start looking at . You need to make sure your legal books are in order. You need to make sure your financials ar