Hi, everyone. Im j. J. Ramberg and welcome to your business, the show dedicated to helping your growing business. For us, a strong leadership may be the difference between the life and death of our companies. For those in the air force, it could be the difference between life and death. We recently visited the exclusive United States air force Weapons School in nevada where colonel mike draley is obsessed that he trains his students to become the best leaders out there. We wanted to learn what characteristics and values are at the core of their education and how those qualities can translate to the business sector. Known as the home of the fighter pilot, nevadas Nellis Air Force base is just a short ride away from all the glitz of the las vegas strip. Its also home to one of the most prestigious Training Programs in the military, the United States air force Weapons School. Twice a year, some of the most gifted warriors of the sky are chosen to attend the ph. D. Level program there to learn the art of the most advanced integrated combat across land, air, space and cyber domains. Not only do Weapons School students become tactical experts in all areas of warfare, but they also received an unmatched education in leadership. These airmen have to be the best of the best leaders. Theyre called upon for the most complex and dangerous situations. Faced with decisions that are often the difference between life or death. Colonel mike draley has served as commander of the Weapons School for the past two years. He believes leaders who have the highest level of integrity can consistently deliver successful results, not only in military but also in business and in life. And they all possess these key traits. Theyre selfless. When you go into an extremist situation where lives are on the line, your life is on the line, its not about you. The very first thing that goes through your head is what can i do to help. Ive got friends, comrades that are on the ground that are under fire. What can i do to support them. They think of themselves as of service. The school, the institution is all about you. Its all about making you better, making you a better leader, making you a better person, making you a better tactician. Its all about helping others reach their fullest potential. Theyre humble. Every time im engaging with my team, i try to do a quick crosscheck of what im about to say. Am i learning as much as i can, checking my ego at the door. Everybody is fallible and thats just part of the learning process. If you have somebody that doesnt own up to those mistakes, that immediately causes you to lose trust. Theyre approachable. We want somebody we feel like has a vested interest in us that we can go and talk to, theres a level of trust there, and that helps you relate to that leader. Weapons School Graduates become instructors to the air forces instructors, and many serve as advisers to some of the militarys most senior leaders. Its a Pretty Amazing transformation. When the students show up to the Weapons School, they know theyre in for a five and a half month marathon of experiences. Youll never be as smart as the day you graduate Weapons School, so our students feel like they can conquer the world. The Lessons Learned at Weapons School and the front lines of battle are invaluable and can easily translate from the military world to the business sector. Hire people that are confident navigating the unknown, mitigating the unknown in calm ballot is possible. The same applies to any business venture. Building a team of people who can face uncertainty with confidence is critical. They have the trust and empowerment to say even though im in the unknown, i know where i need to be going and ive been empowered to get there. They have the right vector in place to get to where the leadership has asked them to go. Whether youre building an Integration Strategy for combat or a company, knowledge of all moving parts, players and departments is critical. The familiarity has to run pretty deep. You dont want to micromanage, but you want to be able to enable wherever possible. Im not a cyber expert, but i know what can make them more advantageous in what theyre trying to do. Thats where maybe some Companies Fail is when they are so stove piped and just worried about their own success of their department and its not integrated with the rest of the strategic vision. Thats not an option for Weapons School students. They must execute an Integration Strategy thats seamless every time. At the end of their journey, theyre put to the test with a Keystone Mission called joint Forcible Entry. Our joint Forcible Entry mission brings all those capabilities together to do a very complex and difficult mission, which is to drop an Airborne Force out and own a piece of terrain in hostile territory for a period of time. And the only way that youre able to do that is if you take everybodys capabilities, maximize them and integrate them across the board. We want our students to be well versed in how to understand all the Mission Planning complexities, how to understand the execution complexities and deal with all the contingencies that may potentially arise. And when students graduate, they receive the Weapons School patch, a badge of incredible honor given to some of the most resilient and remarkable leaders, who will stop at nothing to protect our nations safety. Old is becoming new again in the hands of these entrepreneurial sisters who are no strangers to the military life. Their company recycles old military goods and transforms them into fashionable bags and accessories, employing veterans and giving back to the military community in the process. These bags used to be military tents. The Company Takes old recycled military goods and turns them into bags. Not only that, its owned by and employs veterans. What in my life is sometimes wasted that could be harnessed and turned into something really beautiful with a powerful mission. The nunez sisters started their company with a kickstarter campaign. Weve worked with everything from tents to parachutes to repurpose bdu, uniform fabrics, to repurpose 50 caliber shell casings. Emily is a former u. S. Army captain who served in the 10th special forces group. It really embodies this life cycle where were repurposing this material and giving back and empowering the community from where the bags materials are coming from. According to the bureau of labor statistics, in 2016 there were 453,000 unemployed veterans. Its also really meaningful to us, because we personally know just how amazing veterans are to the civilian to civilian communities and civilian workforce. So i think the more that we can do to communicate that veterans are empowering assets to civilian workplaces, that thats a really huge part of our mission too. The sisters have repurposed more than 35,000 pounds of military surplus and supported more than 65 veteran jobs. The fact that were able to build a business that has a quadruple bottom line and give back to the community that were most passionate about supporting and that we grew up in our entire lines and that emily served in and that our dad served in and so many of our family members have been a part of, i think its an immense feeling of pride, but also joy. And they give back even more. Sword plough donates 10 of their earnings to veteran organizations. Were extremely, you know, hopeful and excited to hear that the bags are conversation starters. And i think we just hope that they have the opportunity to share their experiences within their service with the entire civilian community as well as really anywhere that they are, because we know their experiences and their leadership and their Technical Skills is something that everyone can learn from. When were coming up with ways to move our business forward, we shouldnt be constrained by looking only to our own industry for inspiration. For example, when the owners were creating their packaging, they looked at candle and shoe boxes to come up with their signature look. And when Steve Geissler wanted to grow his company, he took a page out of the book of the fishing industry. Growing up in idaho, theres always been two constants in steves life. Horses and business. I always tell people its a hobby gone bad. When he wasnt working at his fathers farm supply and fertilizer business, chances are you could find him at a local rodeo. It was at one of those events that steve got his inspiration to start his own ropemaking company, cowboy cordage. I was actually in a College Rodeo and there was a horse for sale. So i went down and i was looking at the horse. He said, you know, i think i sell this kind of rope that you guys use. I said really . He said yeah. Could you show it to me . Even though it was typically used for japanese fishing nets, steve knew that the rope would be great for his rodeo needs, with a few adjustments. The problem is we could give them specifications how we wanted it made, but it would either come in maybe too soft or too stiff. You know, not really within our specifications to use. And i thought, man, theres got to be a way to fix that. So i actually invented a machine to run the rope through to make the rope no matter how bad it was, we could straighten it and fix it. His invention made it possible to customize the rope to specific customers needs and also resalvage inventory that would have been wasted otherwise. Its made a Loyal Customer out of rancher jay hogan. Hell make them any way you want them. They know what i want so i dont got to screw with the ropes when they come, theyre just how i want them. Cowboy cordage is now one of the industrys leading distributors. They sell district to surconsum but theyre also stocked in supply stores like smith edwards. I would think theyd be up there in the top five. I think with the poly, theyre the main distributors on the coiled stuff. The brand now includes the original rope line, Rocky Mountain ropes, as well as two other brands that they acquired over the years. Its their consistent quality that has the oldtimers coming back and the way they reach some of their customers hasnt changed. A lot of our industry isnt necessarily on the web yet. Were a little bit behind with the farmers and ranchers. Some of them dont even have internet service. So we really wanted to have a nice catalog, we wanted to have our name out there and pull the brands together. But cowboy cordage has attracted new business by constantly updating and growing. First up, their marketing. The internet has opened them up to a whole new customer base, international ones. Steves daughter came on as general manager a few years ago. She says that rounding up what the next trend will be isnt an exact science. And some of it is going to be great and some of it is going to be terrible. We just have to market our way through it. Marketing isnt the only department that has benefited from some thinking outside of the box. One of their most successful products was inspired by one of steves side hobbies. My boys and i, we are competitive shooters. And i was coming home one day and im like you ask about an aha moment and this is it because we all wear shooting glasses similar to these. It enhances the colors. And i thought, man, if we could get a neon rope and do that, that would be amazing. And it just really changed a lot of things. When it first came out, it absolutely exploded. Everyone had to have the bright, crazy colors. I would say most of the industry, no matter what you go to now, everyone has something similar. But the companys biggest influencers have been and always will be their cowboy boot wearing, rope throwing core customers. The ranching industry, just when its just gotten a lot bigger in the past couple years. Weve really listened to a lot of our customers an just kind of take what they think would be best for them. Everything from the ropes being really soft to the ropes being a certain length that they want. We try to just adapt to the latest trends and get a product out there that they can use. And steve says the best way to know your product is to continue to be your own customer. You cant be in the rope business and not rope. Seo, Search Engine optization can be a scary term for those who dont understand how it works, which is most people. Many of us simply dont know how to get up there. I recently went down to blog her in orlando where i chatted with chloe spencer, who gave me some helpful tools and advice on how to rank how in seo. How important is it for companies to think about seo. Its absolutely crucial. You need to build the traffic from the Search Engines to get the sales that you want so you need to be ranking in google. When you think about seo, how much of it is technical, things that you can do you to your site that you might not understand, versus, hey, just have a great site that people love. Theyll keep coming back and you will rank higher. Its absolutely about both. You need to be creating really compelling content and you need to be doing those really technical seo tweaks as well, which sometimes youll need an seo expert to do for you because those are equally important. Tell me some mistakes people make. I have three top mistakes. Number one is the gut check mistake. This is when youre picking key words using your gut instead of using tools. So you need to be choosing your key words based on popularity, but its often counter intuitive which sin anymoynonyms are the. Number two is the broken record mistake. So you need to be placing your top key words in your title tags and in your headings and in your page copy but you do not want to be stuffing key words repetitively throughout your content. This is against googles guidelines and can get you penalized. Number three is the blue light special mistake. Having links point to your site is crucial to ranking well on google but you do not want to buy links for cheap because its all about quality, not quantity. So focus on building authoritative trusted links. Are there any shortcuts to seo . Are there tricks that people need to know or is it just, hey, you need to do this over time and really build authority and, again, just have a great site . Sure. Theres definitely a few little tips and tricks. I have an seo formula. Seo stands for Search Engine optimiization. S is for strategy. While tactics are help. Strategy is the game changer and is your road map to online success and e is for expert. You need to position yourself as the expert in your industry and only be providing really compelling content to your users. O is for on page. Offpage seo is only half of the equation, which is link building. So you need to not forget about on page seo which is your title tags, your key word placement, your technical seo tweaks such as page speed which is a ranking signal. When you talk about link building, you mean having other people talk about you. Google uses that as a sign that this is an important website. Absolutely. Its one of the main core pillars of seo. You need to be building up your inbound links so people point to you. To get people to talk about you, its just like public relations. Absolutely. Thats why you need to provide really compelling content because then youll increase your trusted links from other sites and build those natural links. And how much do i have to pay for an seo consultant if im listening to you and i think this is overwhelming, i dont want to have to think about it myself. Absolutely. Seo can range from a few thousand a month, which is really, really low up to 25,000 a month. So it really, really depends. But you get what you pay for. And also theres a lot of information if youre just starting out online that you could learn for yourself. Thank you so much. This is really, really helpful. Again, i think it is a scary term for some people who havent gone into it yet and we all need to Pay Attention to it. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. Remember, if i could do it back when i was 14, then anyone can do it. When you grow a business or a department from the ground up, it can be so hard to let things go. It is normal to want to be involved in every aspect of everything thats going on, but at some point you have to learn to delegate if you want to scale your operations. So weve got these five ways for managers to master the art of delegation. One, prepare diligently. If you dont take the time to fully develop your ideas, you risk setting your employees up for failure. Think about the budget, the timeline and the end goals before reaching out to your team for help. Two, assign tasks according to your employees strengths. Even the bestlaid plans will fall apart if you choose the wrong person for the job. Three, check in but do not micromanage. Youve already planned your project. You delegated your tasks to competent people, so trust them to get the work done. But remember, they say trust but verify for a reason. Schedule time to check in with your teams and track their progress so you can change anything if necessary. Four, provide constructive feedback even if your employees do a great job on the tasks you give them. You have to give them feedback. You want them to know what they did well, why they did it well and what they might need to work on so that they can grow and do better in the future. Five, celebrate wins publicly, your employees work hard for your Company Every day, so celebrate them as often as you can. You dont need to throw a party for every effort, of course, but a little recognition can boost morale and show other employees how you like to see work done. When we come back, why you need to pay close attention to Online Reviews of your business and our brain trust tackles the tricky question, what do you do when your most productive employee is also the most toxic person in the office. Thank you so much. Thank you so were a go . Yes we got a yes what does that mean for purchasing . Purchase. Lets do this. Got it. Book the flights hai si si ya ya ya what does that mean for us . We can get stuff. Whats it mean for shipping . Ship the goods. Youre a go you got the green light. That means go oh, yeah. Start saying yes to your companys best ideas. Were gonna hit our launch date scream thank you goodbye let us help with money and knowhow, so you can get business done. American express open. The question we would have with babyboomers is how can we come across that they understand that going on line to look at Google Reviews is very important for the business. The best way to communicate the babyboomers the importance of checking the reviews of the companies and services is to communicate the value of being able to read peoples minds. I always tell people the most valuable superpower you can have, in most peoples estimation, is to be able to understand what other people are thinking about them. Well, we live if a day and age now live in a day and angel n age where its public. You should be able to google resources to find out what do they really think about your company and business. Market research that is totally invaluable. I think if you communicate it in those terms, everybody will get it. This is the braintrust where i get to interest a yet to as some of the smartest in the business, the most tricky or controversial questions. Today in the braintrust, i have cindy whitehead, the founder and ceo of sprout pharmaceuticals, best known for pushing the female viagra through the fda. You sold that company for 1 billion which congratulations. That is so fun to say. Thank you. And sam ski, president of she knows, one of the top five Media Companies on line for women and run a blogger for women. Youve been there for a while and helped the company grow three times . Three times in revenue. Twice double in audience reach. All congratulations. Awesome. You guys have done it. The question were going to talk about today is about employees. And i find this to be a really tricky one because there is a pat answer that everybody gives, and i dont think its the truth of what everyone does. The question is what do you do if your numberone employee, the person who if you had to look back on the last three years came one the items that propelled your company forward, if it werent for this person, your company may well be in the dumps is also poison when it comes to culture . Right . Fire them. Wow. Is that the answer that everybody gives . Thats the answer i did it. Okay. Ill give you an example. My numberone salesperson in the company. You are never going to live on one persons contribution alone. It created paralysis of everybody around him. He was so toxic to the culture that nobody else was performing. A baby step version different from that, you have to create competition with that individual. Two purposes a, it will keep them at their game and intellectually stimulated. If they think that theyre always number one, theyre not going to continue to compete. You actually have to have somebody come in who believes they can beat them. Right. Then you start to change it. Lets take your situation its a salesperson. Presumably the fear is this person leaves and then my revenue goes down 50 or whatever theyre responsible for. Its scary. You can start to fill that in, right . Start to fill that in. You must fill that in or think how vulnerable you are. If youre dependent on one person as your lone contributor and theyre devastating to the cuccinelli especially in culture especially in Small Businesses, in a Small Business you have one person who doesnt fit, its just completely toxic. Kills it. Which is why you always want to say get rid of them. But ive been in situations go ahead. Its hard. It is hard. I love your decisiveness about that. Im going to the place of how are we defining toxicity. How old, experienced is the person because maybe we go through a wave of thinking we know everything before we dont know everything. I think salespeople and likewise ive managed and revered people for two decades, good salespeople are often Difficult People in my experience cant you put them on the side . Yes, if theyre individual salespeople. Got it. Which was in your case. If theyre managers toxicity is, i think, untenable in a manager. And speaks to things theyre probably not going to work out in the workplace. I think that it is you can rehab toxicity in some situations. We talk about this, but i go with do i like this person, trust this person, do i respect this person . If you have two of those, toxicity usually to me relates to trust. You dont trust. Youre not aligned. Say you trust them, you like them. But no one else on the team can relate to them. I think i like the competition idea. Yeah. Thats right. Not knocking them down in a malicious way but humanizing them. My feeling is if theres toxicity its a lack of humility. Particularly if theyre a particular star contributor and start to disconnect. Just bad communications skills. Fair enough. I think creating some like humanity around them in a couple shots at them that brings them to everybody elses level give them a more challenging task also. Sometimes we become so comfortable with people that it is easy for me to manage that person. Its easy for him or her to communicate quickly, rapidly with me. Maybe their job isnt hard enough which tends to turn us into far, in my experience, worse versions of ourselves. Maybe you need to give them a Herculean Task that will cause them to struggle and reach out. One thing i wouldnt do that i think were jumping around is telling them to not be a jerk never works, explaining how they hurt peoples feelings never works. Its got to be intrinsic, not extrinsic. Like they feel like they need somebody else and they do need somebody else. Dont send them out for coffee. Bad idea, very j. V. Thank you both. One of the apps we use at fpg is groupme. That allows us to have a social component where were talking and communicating together. For example, we have a dale theme like daily theme like freaking awesome friday where we talk about what caused success in the organization. One of the apps that we recently started using is refersion. An minneapolis to an to set up an affiliate program. We get a lot of referrals from word of mouth, people who tried the product and love it and want to refer it to other people. We thought of a way to provide an incentive for other people if they want to share the product. Refersion allows you to set up an affiliate program. When someone signs up as an affiliate, they get their own dashboard and can track sales and commissions. All of the payments are made seamlessly through paypal. People who want to share the product with other people can get an incentive for doing that. Personally, i like the app dark sky. Its a weather app. And dark skys pretty accurate up to almost the minute. It will alert me based on my gps and area if its going to rain. To take cover and not get rained on. This weeks yourbizselfie has the art school, victory spot in fayetteville, georgia, was created by speech, the alternative hiphop Group Arrested development. You probably remember their hit tennessee. Victory spot has classes in dancing, acting, and teaches people how to play instruments, as well. All of you out there, we would love to see your business. Take a selfie of you and your company and send it to us at yourbusiness msnbc. Com, or tweet it to msnbcyourbiz. Include your name, the name of your business, the location, and dont forget to use the hash tag yourbizselfie. Thank you very much for joining us today. Wed love to hear from you. So if you want to get in touch with us, just email us at yourbusiness msnbc. Com. You can also go to our website, openforum. Com ye openforum. Com yo openforum. Com yo openforum. Com yourbusiness. We posted all of the segments plus a whole lot more. Connect with us on our digital and social media platforms, too. We talk on there all week long and give you more information. We look forward to seeing you next time. Until then, im j. J. Ramberg. And remember, we make your business our business. So thats the idea. What do you think . Hate to play devils advocate but. I kind of feel like its a game changer. I wouldnt go that far. Are you there . Hes probably on mute. Yeah. Gary wont like it. Why . Because hes gary. phone ringing what . Keep going yeah. laughs voice on phone its not millennial enough. There are a lot of ways to say no. Thank you so much. Thank you so were doing it. Yes start saying yes to your companys best ideas. Let us help with money and knowhow, so you can get business done. American express open. Morning, glory, im hugh hewitt. Monday through friday, hear me on the Salem Radio Network and its affiliates from 6 00 to 9 00 a. M. Eastern. Saturday mornings im here on msnbc. In the second part of todays program, ill be talking with a couple of new media superstars, Political Columnist anna marie cox, and perry bacon jr. , Senior Writer for 538. One of the leading analytics in politics website available today. First there is perhaps no one better to talk to about the state of the world as it exists today than a novelist specifically, pe