Office. For those who constantly find new ways to grow on every step of the journey, American Express open proudly presents your business on msnbc. Hi, everyone. Im jj ramberg and welcome to your business, the show dedicated to helping your Small Business grow. When a small town retailer fiegs back to save his Family Business in torrence, california, it gets very personal. This week we meet one of the last men standing in an industry that has been decimated by the internet. Brick and mortar Camera Stores. Despite the insane levels of online competition, he has found a way to keep his customers coming back. John is going to be so jealous. Oh, my god. Its like light painting, they call it. See how cool that turned out. When these amateur photographers get together, they have one thing on their mind. Who took the best photos, where, and how they did it. Ive never done that before so its so exciting. For mark coman, gatherings like these have been the secret weapon that has kept his small camera shop in business while many others have had to shut down. Were like the cheers of Camera Stores where Everybody Knows your name. And we really have a good time with it. Thats the problem. Pauls photoisnt run by him anymore. His son has taken over. As my peers got older, they were not capable of keeping up. As i would not be capable of keeping up if it werent for mark. Its an entirely new ball game. If you listen to mark, its not even a new ball game. Its a completely new business model. So when my dad started, the camera store business was all about consumables. Film, processing, developing. We could see customers on a regular basis. That was the cash flow. That went away with digital. Then in 2008, 2009, here comes the internet and retail is struggling. Without the predictable cash flow of film and processes or the vast product range of the internet, Industry Analysts say most of the local camera shops like palms simply closed up and disappeared. We had 17 Camera Stores sold nem the 1990. Now today not a single location that we were in has a photographic application. All of them have become something else. Bill mccurry is a business adviser to what he now call this imaging industry. Hes watched this painful process of extinction play out in large and small towns across the country. Ten years ago, ritz camera had 1200 Camera Stores. Today there are 11 operating you should the name. The problem, they say, extends beyond technology and the internet. They blame the suppliers as well. We have no control over pricing in our business. The camera manufacturers control the price. So when i sell you a 1,000dollar camera, you have to realize that 950 of that 1,000 goes to the camera manufacturers. We get 50 bucks. You need other things to survive. Other things for mark coman begins with this army of camera buffs whove been hired by marks energy style. Tonight 45 night hawk students have gathered in the dark. One, two, three. Not just to shoot pictures of the christmas lights, but to share the excitement of learning from each other as well as getting amazing pictures. Look at that. Look at that. Look at that. See . Yes, evelyn. Great. I love that. Its experienial marketing. They respond by keeping his business in the black. I came into it to learn how to use a camera and did in eight weeks buy a whole new camera. And so i kind of went to the classes, sort of doing the homework, took a back corner seat and just got pulled into it. What makes this work is that marks enthusiasm is contagious. Well generate a thousand dollars worth of revenue tonight which is okay. But what were going to do is were going to get 40 people to have a great experience. And theyre going to tell their friends, post it on facebook, post it on flickr. Theyre going to tell all their neighbors, man, i had a great time last night and pauls photo was the place to go. Mark takes the classes to an o olympic sports level. Marks ability to keep local retail relevant rests on his ability to provide experiences for his customers that cant be found anywhere else. Its an ecosystem that weve built. Its this symbiotic relationship between the camera store, the lab, and the classroom that feeds itself. Pauls photo is not alone. You can see this ecosystem approach as well. Sfl my friends who have Running Stores and bike stores, how many have a free class . And theyre doing the same thing we are. To a big picture guy like bill, marks passion for teaching is a twoedged sword. On the one hand, its kept marks business afloat when others have gone bust. On the other hand, bill worries it may be preventing mark from taking the steps to prepare for the future. Theres others who say they want to build something they can retire from nap means it has to be big enough you can sell it to an investor. To mark, however, the big picture looks very different. And if i can get every customer within ten miles to buy their camera here and have their pictures printed here and to take a photo class with us, thats enough for me. Im not crete i did. Im a small time guy and know what i do and like the customers. Each january people flock to las vegas to see the coolest and Newest Technology unveiled at the Consumer Electronics show. We bring you the top picks this year to help your Small Business from entrepreneur. Com. Nextbit robin. Two, omnity takes the idea of a Search Engine to the next level. Instead of just being able to put in a few key words, you can entire an entire document to find other relates articles and sites. Three, job site ear buds from tough tested. These will perform well in a high Energy Startup space. Four, the app speed fi mobile has the combination of the phone so youre using the fast fest speet at any point in time. And five, the bluesmart carryon suitcase has a remote controlled locking system. What do oprah, justin timberlake, and george w. Bush have in common . The answer is they have all hit the road in style thanks to brothers james and joey huntville. They took their experience and created a luxury bus company that caters to a celebrity client list that includes the biggest names in music, theater, and politics. If youve ever wondered how lady gaga, justin timberlake, britney spears, aerosmith, cher, or even the president get from point a to point b on tour, talk to these guys. You have to stay focused on what youre about. Thats what we do. Our customers have to be famous though. They get people where they need to go in style and comfort without having to worry about the details. You have to know that youve done everythingic to get them a safe and comfortable experience. When you walk around the business, youll see the walls covered with many of their celebrity clients. Clients that relied on their service because they did one simple thing right. They delivered on what they promised. And in the topsyturvy world of touring, they rely on hemphill to be a stable force in the unstable world. Its a world trent and joey know first hand. With a history in music, they grew up in a Partridge Family style bus singing with their family band. I traveled singing gospel music. So it was an interesting way to be raised. With an intimate knowledge of what its like to be on the road, they know about what someone needs to have a relaxing trip. So they decided to start their bus company. We know that feeling of being on the bus, riding down the bus, being on the stage. Pioneers in the luxury coach industry got two buss to get their start. They transformed them on the inside and the out so they looked brand new doing most of the work themselves. They didnt have a lot of money, but they had a ton of experience and learned early on to underpromise and overdeliver. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, they did whatever it took to keep their buses rolling. Support the drivers and keep their clients happy. They started doing small local tours at first. Their big break took shape when van halen called. Ill never forget when they were in nashville and they needed to add a bus to their tour. Just so happened we had a bus available. And took the bus down there with a driver. And got to meet the management and obviously we did a good job, because 30 years later, we did the whole van halen tour 2012. Theyre able to buy and customize buses to u fit the needs of highprofile clients. As the company grew, they put all their resources into every aspect of building their customized buss in house. From the woodwork to upholstery and painting. If a bus is ordered for a tour and is to be delivered on a certain date, it is. You might have an artist that has a special mattress. Or one that likes all white everything. White furniture, white drapes. So well take an existing bus and well make it white for that tour. There are families that travel together that have babies. They want the cribs. Weve put tanning beds in buses. Sometimes well set up a Recording Studio in a bus. That way they can go down the road and record their latest hit. Hemphill brothers expanded their fleet slowly only doing so when they could adequately increase their driver pool and support staff in nashville with the right people. With less than 5 turnover, they have cultivated, build an extremefully loi group of employees. We went out there and hired the best of the best for our company. Even when we really felt like we couldnt afford to do that. We couldnt afford not to. So we had to have the best drivers that we could possibly find. And that built company pride. Getting a call from air force one, you know, booking buses for the president. Getting a text from George Strait saying i want you to build me a new bus. Or getting a call from the oprah show saying we want to use your buses for her show. Its always something new and its never boring around here. If you ask around, i bet you will find so many more people than you possibly imagine who have been victims of embezzlement. Though ive not experienced it myself, one Family Member and one close friend have. Both of whom i think of as very smart and on top of things at their companies. This doesnt count the stories ive heard from people in this program. So today we have brought in jim ash the National Leader of the forensics Practices Group and independent Public Accounting and advisories firm. Jims here to tell us what we need to do so this does not happen to us. Its great to see you. Thank you. First and foremost, if youre a victim of it, dont feel badly. You are not alone. It is a very prevalent event. We see it all the time. From very smart people. Yes. And it just happens toechb the most, you know, people who are watching the situation where are closely. It just happens. So lets make sure it doesnt happen to anyone whos watching this. Tell us what to do . Typically this happens a lot more in Small Business and it could be from 10 to 20 employees. And theres a combination of two things happening. One is that theres a trusted employee whos been there probably for 5, 10, 15 years. Its very trusted by the owners. And its somebody usually in the age group of 30 to 45 and theyve been there at the company for a long time. And theres that trust factor. The other thing is in a Small Business, very hard to segregate the duties between different employees. So you cant have a situation where somebodys a bookkeeper whos in charge of signing checks and making deposits. You have to separate all those duties out so you have one person sort of responsible for the books and records and another person responsible for writing checks and other person responsible for taking the checks that come in to the bank. And then some oversight over all those people. The important thing is the owners oversight or Key Employees oversight. Like a checks and balances type of situation. An owner really has to do a number of very important things. They have to open up the bank statements. They have to look at the bank statements. Theyve got to see that the checks are made to legitimate payers. Because even if you have a different person writing the checks than the bookkeeper, they may still trust each other. Oh i see this person is getting a check every month so it must be good. So as a person thats not the owner, it doesnt raise a red flag for me. I trust jim. Right. So that owner when they get a folder of checks to sign, they have to look at the voucher. They have to look at the check. Ask questions. If the dollar amount looks wrong or the payers name. If its above a certain threshold, make sure that you are the one to sign it. For sure. I recommend any Small Business and it depends on the nature of the business, but usually a threshold is 1,000 or a little more and requires a double signature on the check. That way you have the Check Balance in place. It is not brine surgery what were talking about right now. It is simply saying look at this. Yes. Be vigilant. You have to be vigilant. It happens so frequently that you have to have those checks and balances in place. Particularly in a Small Business where you cant necessarily have enough people to do all the segregated out. You cant divide it out. You need to be watching. Correct. Right. And even if theyre embezzling 100 here and there, right . It all adds up. And in Small Business, thats a significant amount of money to a Small Business. And is it always or often just people who the owner says i would have never expected this . Thats a great comment. Thats exactly what i hear every time. I cant believe she did it. I just cant believe it. She was with me at the picnic at our house last weekend. We were enjoying hamburgers together. Its true. Happens all the time. So this conversation should be enough about Cyber Security as well. You know what you need to do. You got to do it. Yes. Jim, thank you for coming on and reminding us. Thank you. Want to wear your fancy high heels but theres 2 feet of snow on the ground . Todays elevator pitcher has a product. Alisha surrete is part of Angel Investment firm and Heather Thompson is a former real housewife of new york city and founder of yummy by Heather Thompson. Hi. Im Cassandra Jurgen and we have pyisys for protect your shoes in style. Theyre designed for when your outfit calls for dress shoes but the weather disagrees. Protect your shoes and tackle that puddle or snow mound in style. Theyre just as sturdy as a regular boot but theyre light and roll up and come with this carry back for storage. Our initial style this is the carry bag. Our initial style is selling online. And we have 35 we have customers in 35 u. S. States and six foreign countries. Our customers are women who are who hate to change chang their shoes or ruin their shoes and they are loving the fashion forward look and unique elastic closure. They are asking for many more styles. Were currently seeking 500,000 to design and develop new styles and to begin our wholesale launch. [ bell ] okcassandra, we have the Perfect Panel for you. So, you know, i want two numbers from you guys from one to ten first. How was the product . What do you think of the product. Second the pitch. While they were writing that down i want to congratulate you on your ability to give the pitch while taking off your shoe. That was very well practiced. Youve done that before. Easy to do. Lets start with you. To start i gave you and eight on the product. Im totally enamored by the shoes. I feel im your target demonstrate demographic. For the pitch i gave you a six. Im left a number of questions. I dont know anything about your background, why you are best suited to execute on this idea. I dont know why other competitors might, may or may not be able to replicate your product. I dont know anything about sales to date and i dont know how youre reaching your audience. Im intrigued to learn more but im left with more questions. Its interesting. She only had 60 seconds so you cant get to all of that. Really did she give you enough of anything to say, oh, she might be good at this. Youre shaking your head. I agree. We have no time. 60 seconds moment to tell us everything about you. I think like for example the spelling, i didnt think was that important right now so i would maybe have spent more time talking about sales figures. A little bit about marketing. How youre separating yourself from others. I gave you eight for the product, seven for the pitch for the same reasons. You definitely hooked me and we both want to know more. And congratulations on fashion forward design. I like that you made it high. In the rain its always about the pants getting wet not just the shoes so kudos to you and best of luck. Congratulations on your success so far. Great to see you. Thank you for all your advice on this really helpful. Coming on this elevator is a very good way to get some good honest feedback like you saw from real entrepreneurs and real investors. So if you would like a chance to pitch them send us an email. The address is yourbusine yourbusiness msnbc. Com. We look forward to seeing some of you here on the show. Up next,000 keep changes in software and technology from upending your company. And the danger of over hieyping with an aggressive sales approach. We didnt need a loan. We needed shortterm funding fast. Building 18 homes in 4 ½ months . That was a leap. But i knew i could rely on American Express to help me buy those building materials. Amex helped me buy the inventory i needed. Our amex helped us fill the orders. Just like that. Another step on the journey. Will you be ready when growth presents itself . Realize your buying power at open. Com at what point do you know you need and how do you transition from Software Systems that worked when you were smaller to the larger Software System . So, we want to talk about moving your