Hi, everyone. Im j. J. Ramberg and welcome to your business. The show dedicated to helping your growing business. This is a story we are all familiar with. Factories close, jobs are lost, and downtowns become ghost towns. Well, this week weve got 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 oregon, put the town back to work, and they are creating a business which is on track to become a national brand. Nearly 15 years ago as the last Cheese Factory in abandon, Oregon Closed its doors, the town lost a part of its soul. I think there are a lot of stories for why it happened, it was basically consolidation, eliminating a competitor. For more than 100 years, the area had been known for its cheddar cheese. In the 1800s there were ten cheese factories, lots of dairies, cows everywhere. There was one factory left, the bandon Cheese Factory. When my dad bought it in i think 89, it was still the same Building Made in the 1930s. Brads dad bought the company in 1989 and later brad joined him after a bit of a lovehate relationship with cheese making, it turned into pure love, and brad eventually became the head of production. Well, when we take a piece of cheese out and we cut it and we put it in our mouths, and we go, oh, my god, that is really good, that makes me proud. Bandon was 9 perfect spot for cheese making, the climate, the ocean, all worked together to feed the cows that produced milk that gave the cheese its distinctive flavor. The grass here is extremely green and fertile. Were on the sand, and the beach. Could be the way the water filters through it. It produces some of the best dairy in the entire country. Its just the flavor of the area. Make the same cheese out of different milks from different areas and they taste different. But even that special combination wasnt enough to save the last remaining cheese maker in town. A rival bought bandon cheese, kept the n and moved production out to the midwest. They tore down theuilding and told brad senco and everyone else working there to go home. We no longer need your services and that was it. I walked out the door. Brad went on to make Award Winning cheese for one of the premiere producers in seattle. Most of the other employees moved on as well. People left, you know. Theres no jobs. You cant make a living here. And it just went down. I mean, the schools shrank. The drug problem grew. It just it changed. Not only were the jobs lost, but the towns identity was stripped away. Its like taking the Auto Industry from detroit. Not only are so many people employed by it, but theyre identified by it. This is the story of how three business partners, greg, daniel, and brad rebuilt the factory, brought back lost jobs, and returned the industrial spirit to the 3,000 people of this town. City was really proud of this place. And when youre proud of something, youre very, very sad when it goes away. It all started when daniel called greg with a business proposition. I think i hung up. [ laughter ] i dont think i was very interested in the project. He did, yeah. Greg hung up on me the first time. I knew nothing about cheese making, manufacturing food products. There are things that make it a complicated business. I was sure he was going to come around. Greg was confident brad would change his mind when he understood most the key elements for cheese production were still in place. It was something that had preexisted. They had a model that was already there. They had a clientele that was already there. I knew the milk was here. Certain parts of the supply chain were still around. We just had to put the pieces together. There was just one key thing missing, a master cheese maker. With brad senko gone, the secret formula for the cheddar was gone, too. Thats why greg went to seattle to speak with brad. I didnt even ask him if he was interested because i knew the answer would be no. Greg, if i wasnt interested in coming to work with you i wouldnt have had lunch with you. It took me by surprise. I wasnt anticipating that. People were surprised. I was doing pretty well where i was. Why wouldnt i entertain Something Like this . Again, i enjoy doing start ups. Theyre real fun. When we heard that he had accepted gregs offer and was kimming back, that hit the papers. Cheese making is coming back, brad is coming back. It was a big deal. The city understood the project. At daniels request the council came through with tax breaks and expedited permits. But the banks, they were not convinced. They said, no, not this project, not now. Were not interested. So, greg looked elsewhere. I knew that there was more than one way to do it so i found some other creative investors. I cobbled together seven loans to get that 2ish Million Dollars together to start the factory. They named the company face rock creamery after a local landmark and their efforts to build their own Company Started to build the town up again as well. I would probably say 20 to 30 different businesses that maybe dont rely on us 100 for their income, but do business with us. You know, its been some hard times in the dairy business. One of those businesses, milky way feed tack and trucking is owned by david. He delivers the milk each day from his fathers farm 15 miles up the road. He says most of the dairy owners in this valley quit long ago. He might have had to do the same until he got the face rock creamery contract. It saved his fathers farm. This chance came along and i think its going to be a win win for everybody. Lets put it this way. If we werent here, the farm we are taking milk from wouldnt have kept farming. At the very least we saved one. You could see the skip in peoples step arounder hoo. Its cool to see. I get goosebumps thinking about it now. It was good to see that. These three, however, are businessmen. If theyve made the town proud, it makes them glad. But they arent working this hard just to become other peoples heroes. Well, i think that would be small if thats the only thing we thought about because, you know, lets be truthful here. Youre in business to make money. Thats what our aim is. I mean, its not our only aim. Sometimes you dont want to talk about profits necessarily when youre talking about nostalgia and why youre here. Were aware without making money nostalgia is going to disappear. The business has to make money. I want to see a good return on my investment. Happily for bandon, Good Business has brought back local pride. Shes been here since the 1900s. We want it to be here until 2100 and longer. A over the years weve heard our fair share of Business Owners complain about too much government regulation. But one entrepreneur has done the exact opposite. Greg renfrow, the founder of beauty has been in washington lobbying for more rules on her industry. Her company is growing rapidly. Rock star bono and his wife recently invested after the Company Acquired the line, nude skin care. The three are deeply concerned about the toxins they say are used in our everyday products, which is why she wants to see more regulation. As women, when we lock arms or we decide to do something, we can move mountains. And that is exactly what she is doing with her skin care and cosmetics line Beauty Counter. I started Beauty Counter because i had become passioned about the Environmental Health movement. After watching the documentary an inconvenient truth, greg became concerned about what she perceived as everyday dangers in our environment. I have learned that we are being exposed to toxic chemicals through our personal care and cosmetic products and i was trying to find Safer Solutions for my family. While hoping the elevate the standard of safety in her home, the mother of three discovered startling facts about the skin care ask cosmetics industry. We had not passed a federal law regulating this industry since 1938. Companies are allowed to do pretty much what they want. We have over 85,000 chemicals into commerce since world war ii of which almost 80 or some will say 80 and 90 have never been tested for safety on human health. These realities soon involved into inspiration for Beauty Counter. She thought her vision was simple. Create a line that was 100 safe with high performing results. The first i made was to christy, celebrity and fashion Makeup Artist who was the first leading Makeup Artist 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. She also brought on mia, campaign for cosmetics. We took a list of almost 1500 ingredients and said, we cant use those ingredients, but the products have to perform. People thought we were crazy. They said we couldnt do it. Beauty counter launched in 2013 with the highest level of transparency and unparalleled standards and safety. We created an incredibly strict ingredient screening process, one of the most health protective processes in the country if not in the world. Her customers became believers. So much so that shes recruited nearly 8,000 of them to make up a Robust Network of passionate consultants. They are sharing the story of Beauty Counter, sharing the story of safe ingredients and helping families and communities make better choices. Im proud of where we are. We grew 5,000 percent, 350 this year. It goes beyond growing her company. With the Company Success under her belt, she set her sights higher, on capitol hill, determined to be a voice of change. Everyone in washington, introducing them to Beauty Counter, pro commerce and pro regulation. She wants to empower politicians with knowledge and awareness in hopes of inspiring some significant legislation reform. We want the fda to be able to take action to be able to screen for harmful ingredients and to protect american citizens. We hosted Beauty Counter socials across this country. We had well more than a thousand and during those socials we encouraged our consultants and guests to call senators and at the time them we want more health protective laws. We placed thousands of phone calls and they called us back. They heard us loud and clear. Its safe to say we are not create aig movement, we are a Movement ManyBeauty Counter is 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 at Beauty Counter we have a once in a lifetime opportunity right now to build a Great Company thats financially rewarding, solid and sound while simultaneously having significant social impact. I mean its the greatest job in the world. You may not recognize the name alfred, but your chapped lips may know his product. Carmex, he started his company out of his wisconsin kitchen in 1937. Little did he expect the worldwide distribution his invention has today. 80 years later carmex is still owned by alfreds family with his grandson paul running the show. We speak with paul about reaching out to experts for 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. Literally everything. I absolutely couldnt do my job without the advice i get from people. So, when i started working here, i would call up i started i think first with the bankers and say, so, tell me how you do business. Whats it about . And then insurance people. So, tell me about insurance and, well, heres how it rkz would, heres what you do. If suppliers came in, i take them out for lunch and they tell me about their products. I would say that is definitely a huge help. Should a ceo be okay with asking for help . I would say absolutely. Hire smart and talented people. Improbably the least adept at any job around here of anybody. And 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 and i suddenly reach around and grab his tools and start trying to fix stuff. No, i hired you because you know what youre doing. Once youve hired somebody and trust them, then you let them go. Dont try to be the smartest person in the room always. Allow the other person to flourish. Dont overrely on voice mail. I like having contact with people. I like having conversations and that seems to come up over and over in my life. There is nothing that frustrates people more than when you call some place up and you get an Automated Service and you wait. Theres a problem with some product we were getting, some component. I called the company up and i kept getting voice mail. I yelled at the phone, if you cant afford to hire a person to answer the phone, youre probably going out of business and we should be looking for another supplier. I got a call back fast. If you call carmex now, youll get a person first. Respect and respond to your customers comes from my grandfather. One of the very 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, theyve sat down, theyve thought about it, theyve put pen to paper. Put an envelope, stamp, they care. If theyre happy, unhappy, just a comment, 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. And a mommy Blocker Group one weekend discovered that, we came in monday morning to 6,000 emails. Well, our mindset was, this is part of our company promise. We answer to everybody. We sent everybody a sample. People are heard, everything is read. An up cupping cage scheduled to be decided by the Supreme Court could change a patent law that would affect thousands of Small Businesses. The case revolves around a Company Called impression products which was revealing and reselling desktop cartridges made by lex mark international. They sued Patent Infringement which an Appeals Court upheld. Advocacy groups said it is trying to expand intellectual Property Rights to put resell companies out of business. Eric is the owner of impression products and paul hughes is with mayor brown, the firm representing eric. So good to see both of you. Hi, j. J. Good to see you, j. J. , thank you. I want to unpack what this case is. Why dont we start with you, paul. If you can explain to us what is at stake here. Sure, j. J. This case addresses two really important issues about ownership rights. When a patentee manufacturers a good and they sell it typically the purchaser of that good acquires the rights to that item and can do what they want with it. There are two really important issues here. The first is whether or not a patentee after selling the good can restrict the way in which the purchaser either resells or repairs those goods. Lex marks position is a patentee can prevent the purchaser from either reselling a good that they lawfully purchased or from repairing it. The second question is when a patentee sells a good outside the United States, whether u. S. Businesses and consumers may purchase that good outside the United States and bring it into the United States for use without violating the patent law. Both of these questions are fundamental about the nature of ownership of patented goods and whether or not there are robust resale markets for those goods. Lets bring it to what you have been doing, eric. Explain what your business does and what they are now telling you you cant do or lex mark is telling you you cant do. Well see what the Supreme Court says. Thank you, j. J. Impression products is a familyowned business headquarters out of charles ston, west virginia. J. J. , we specialize in desktop laser printers, making the supplies, the toner cartridges that go in these printers and then for anyone that buys the toner cartridges through our company impression products, we also giveaway a freon sie onsi printer support letting customers know these cartridges are fully guaranteed and will work as good as the oem product. Youve been doing this 40 years, am i right about that . This company has been around for how long . 40 years, yes. Did something materially change about your business that this issue has come up now . No, not at all. I think lex mark lex mark just way to they found a hoop hole 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 i dont think this is right. Were not doing anything wrong here, and j. J. J when youre making a product and you believe in the product and you have employees that you kent to wi kindergarten with or high school with working paycheck to paycheck that have been with you for 20 or 30 years and you want to see them retire with your company, its not something when a competitor comes in and tells you cease and detist what youre doing because we dont want to compete with you because youre kicking our butts in the marketplace. If youre a competitor, you stand up and fight. Thats what were doing. Youre broadening this from this company and whats happening with impression products. From your perspective, what are the implications . They are enormous. The question is whether or not there can be resale markets for virtually