Open. Helping you get business done. Hi, everyone. Im jj ramberg. Welcome to your business, the show dedicated to helping your growing business. What do you get when you combine a baseball game with a circus . You get this Minor League Baseball team with an owner breaking all the rules, changing the lengthy game into a show that cannot be missed. Its a steamy thursday evening in savannah, georgia. And that crazy guy in the yellow tuxedo is gearing up to entertain a sold out crowd of baseball fans. Were all about the show. If im going to be on the field creating this excitement and kp entertainment, i need to look like a showman. I got the yellow tuxedo. I now own five. Reporter his plan was to pitch in the major leagues. Then a shoulder injury in college disrupted everything. That ended my baseball career. Shortly after that, i got an opportunity to be an intern for a summer collegiate team. I took the internship and had a lot of fun with it. Out of college, at 23 years old, i got offered the job of the general manager of the grizzlies in north carolina. Thats where it started. He had his work cut out for him. The grizzlies were one of the worst in the country. The struggling organization was losing money, they had no fans and the team was demoralized. I realized, wow, we have a serious problem. What did i walk into . I started learning everything about the baseball business but more about the entertainment business. I read every book i could and realized, wow, we cant be a Baseball Team anymore. He was most inspired by barnum, walt disney and bill vek. He decided the decision was speeding up the game, making it fun but providing nonstop entertainment. Baseball needs to change. The reality is, if you look at all the top businesses now, theyre being disrupted every single day. Theyre new and unique to go with todays culture. Baseball has remained the same for over 100 years. It was a great game and it still is a great game, but it needs to change if its going to be the great game of the future. And throughout the first few years, we learned so much. What happened was that everyone started paying attention to the team and attendance started skyrocketing. Then he and his new wife and business partner, emily, had an unexpected offer they just couldnt refuse. The owner of the team wanted to sell. Everyone looks at me and says, youre a younger person. How do you buy a Baseball Team . I go, you take on a lot of debt. Its as simple as that. It was a lot of responsibility but really gave us this unbelievable feeling of ownership that we can do anything. Theres no red tape. The 2014, 2015, 2016 seasons were tremendously successful, even as we had bigger goals to start new franchises. Jesse and emily felt they could market baseball in a new way. As luck would have it, they heard about an opportunity in the much bigger market of savannah, where a Minor League Team was loef ieaving. The in your opinions were down. From what everybody was saying, the team blamed the stadium. It needed a new ballpark. That that was going to be the catalyst to turning savannah into a successful minor league market. When they saw the beautiful, historic grayson stadium, they knew itd be the perfect home for starting a new team and resurrecting baseball in savannah. We always want to bring life back to old things. Were nostalgic in that sense. We knew that the potential was here. Savannah is an amazing city. Yet, you have the huge landmark thats empty. From that moment, we were talking to the commissioner of the league and starting to get ideas and knew that someday, it could be something. The success the coles had encouraged the plain League Commissioner to support them in launching a new collegiate team in savannah. It was our First Franchise in georgia. Going into a modern type atmosphere, where people were hesitant about who they were and whether or not wed be successful. The support for the new team in savannah was lukewarm at best. We had everything we had to start up the team. For some reason, the city just didnt buy into us. It seemed like, who are these guys . Its College Summer baseball, not professional. We dont understand this. No one was buying tickets. There was no excitement, no energy. We didnt have a name yet and no one was paying attention. So jesse put on his p. T. Barnum hat and remembered the quote, without promotion, something terrible happens, nothing. We did a helpless name the team contest. We wanted the community to be involved. We didnt want to be a sandman. We wanted something people liked. They got thousands of responses. One stood out. One woman said the bananas. My wife and i talked to our president and said, you know what, we can have fun with this. For the next couple weeks, we started thinking about all the different ideas. We looked at each other and said, the community could hate it. So we were so nervous. We said, you know what, you have to take chances. If it is normal, do the opposite. Theres no team in the country thats a banana. There is no team named after fruit. Lets do it. So we went all in and said, lets roll the dice and introduced it to the community. Toby wright has been coming to the stadium since he was 4 years old. His response was echoed all over savannah. I was not has been bppy. I hated it. Channelling p. T. Barnum again, jesse and emily pushed through the negative response, clinging to the idea that theres no such thing as bad publicity. They have done a wonderful job here in savannah. You know, it was not without hurdles. Not without a lot of naysayers. So i commend jesse and emily on not letting that tear them down. Being optimistic and persevering. With the start of the season, the community began to embrace the young team. Loving the fact that ticket prices included unlimited food, tons of give aways and a run of show that rivals a threering circus. Its fun. Its entertaining. It is a show. Just happens instead of having a movie showing, weve got a baseball game in the background. But theres interaction. Theres life. You hear it when youre parking and getting out of the car, walking in. And you see it in the crowd. Everybody is having fun. The Family Friendly atmosphere, being able to be cost affordable for a family of four, to be able to escape reality for three hours or so and come out here and enjoy yourself without it hurting your wallet is fantastic. But the job that they have done here with the savannah bananas really was what savannah needed. They got a fairy tail ending. The bananas won the playoffs in their inaugural season, giving them a huge boost for their year, with most games sold out. And they have a contingent of die hard fans now making it the hardest ticket to get in town. In massachusetts, a coach turned entrepreneur has a mission to help children with special needs thrive through playing sports like hockey, baseball and lacrosse. Nbcs Kristin Dahlgren has this inspiring story. Reporter if youre a kid in new england, you play hockey. Go, go, go. Go, go, go. Reporter 9yearold Patrick Sweeney is no different. And that makes this one of the few places thats the case. There was a point where we didnt think skating would be possible. That a boy. Reporter patrick has autism, but thanks to a new system developed by coach joe delino, patrick is engaged. All ive done is found a way to communicate and connect with them. Reporter his system is called small light sports. Follow. Reporter images projected on to the playing surface which lead kids through different drills. Lets hit a puck into the net. By having the light of the cue on the floor, it allows them to be in the right place at the right time. Reporter obrien is dyslexic and has adhd. For him, staying focused on his youth hockey team can be tough. But at smart light, he likes doing the work. Without the lights, its kind of harder. But with the lights, its a lot easier. Reporter joe didnt design it just for special needs kids. His system can help anyone, especially this techsavvy generation. It is something play can relate to very, very quickly. Theyll say, coach, whats the next drill . Reporter for patrick, it can be as simple as chasing his favorite flamingos around the ice. Nice. He is fast. I think this facility gives him a little bit of structure so that he can break down some of the basic hockey skills. Reporter patricks smile says it all. At the end of the lesson, he has to be carried off the ice. Hes having so much fun playing hockey and reaching his goals. Kristin dahlgren, nbc news, massachusetts. Its Lemonade Stand season, which means its the perfect time of year to teach your kids the basics of running a business. As the mom of three kids and an entrepreneur myself, this year, i took my lessons to a whole new level by writing a childrens book. They make slime, bracelets and, of course, sell lemonade. Kid entrepreneurs across the country are turning their trade into cold, hard cash. But how many of them can tell you the difference between revenue and profit . Who knows what profit is . Profit is its like the thing you get, money. Or have really thought through the pricing strategy. How much will you tell your bracelets for . 20. 20 . Those are very pricey. As an entrepreneur, a journalist who covers entrepreneurism and the mom of three, i realized this was a teaching moment too many parents are missing. So my sister, Melanie Staggs and i, wrote the startup club. An early reader book to spark your childs inner entrepreneur. We wanted to create fun characters your kids could relate to to inspire them to start their own Lemonade Stand. How much is it . 1. 1 . Studies show the earlier you can teach Financial Literacy to kids, the better. I think kids are natural entrepreneurs. And we thought that if they had the startup club, they could read and learn about Financial Literacy, learn a little bit about business and be comfortable when they go out and do these on their own. Our characters, who start a business called cj chainz do it all, from figuring out the finances, working the marketing and dealing with the competition. At the end of the book, kids should have learned how to start a basic business. How to consider what is their cost going to be, what is their profit and revenue going to be . How do i get a partner . How do i market . How do i make a sign . If your Business Owner is ready to start their first ve ventu venture, go to the store together and help them pay in cash. Theyll understand the cost of their supplies in a way they wont if you do the shopping for them. Do the math. A quick profit and loss statement is simple math that even your little ones can understand. Heres your 3. Thank you. Explain their sign is their marketing. To get them thinking creatively, ask them what store fronts they like in your neighborhood and why. Were going to put these out now. Which wants to be on the front . And it is never too early to teach corporate social responsibility. Work with them to choose a cause they care about where they can donate some of their profits. The more people know about you, the more customers youll potentially acquire. Here are five ways to get the word out about your business. One, take your products to the streets. Do some research to find where your potential customers are and get to know when they may be there. Then enlist a team to get your products and offers into their hands. Two, get celebrities to use your product. It can seem impossible to get to an alister, but its not. Ask the sales people at celebrity hot spots to carry your brand and send Television Producers samples to use on set. Three, when it comes to social media, be strategic. Dont be cavalier about what you post. Tie your social updates to your marketing initiatives and develop a plan for responding to your followers. Four, have your photo taken by a professional or a friend with a good eye. Youll be able to use your new pictures on your website, marketing materials and any stories that may be written about you. Five, dont rush to the traditional media. It can be tempting to send out a press release on the day you launch, but dont do it. Its better to launch in beta, to iron out all of the kinks before going to the news outlets. We hear a lot about the importance of diversity but our next guest is here to explain how inclusion is important. Bonnie st. John is the first africanamerican to win medals in downhill skiing. She is a Leadership Consultant and ceo of the blue circle leadership institute. She coauthored the new book microresilience, focus in drive and energy. So good to see you. Thank you. Great to be here. I should tell everyone, the reason youre here is i saw you speak and i was inspired by you. I called my team here and said immediately, book her. Shes fantastic. So im happy to share all your wisdom with our audience. Ter ri terrific. Ive had my own company, as well, for 20 years. I know. Inclusion is then making sure employees succeed, right . Most companies now, big companies, all think about dni, diversity and inclusion. The inclusion piece is are they thriving . Are they coming to work and feeling like they can make a major contribution . Are they getting mentors and sponsors and developing . Are they getting promotions . Otherwise, you can have a mixture of people but theyre not really thriving. Theyre not really contributing. Theyre just going to leave. Youre wasting talent. So companies are really conscious of this now. How do we not only have Diverse People but really capture the value of having Diverse People . What do you think people are doing . If you are a big company with a formalized hr department, you can have programming around this. For small and medium companies, what are they doing wrong . What happens when someone comes in that eventually makes that person want to leave or not thrive . Well, sometimes it is informal relationships. We work with a lot of multicultural women in our leadership programs. A lot of times they dont connect. If were trying to build a relationship and there are speed bumps in the road, were not driving across them. Not building the personal relationships and talking about holidays and what are you doing, getting closer to people so you are mentoring and developing them. It is easier to get close to people who look like you. Helping them to thrive. So lets say im head of hr and ive done a fantastic job hiring a Diverse Group of people. What are the steps i should take once theyre there, to make sure im creating a Good Environment for everyone . For small and Medium Businesses, it is different. There isnt a huge hr department. It is more about bringing in the right people. When we think about the why, why does a small and Medium Business do this, it is because of the markets you want to reach. You want to connect with different markets. One of the things thats come up is when you look at the patents being given out today in the u. S. , a huge amount are going to southeast asians, pakistanis. If youre selling b2b, can you sell to other markets other than the ones youre comfortable with . Im reaching out to different people, getting them in my team, what do i need to do then in managing all these different people so i make sure they can succeed . Is really understanding how different people are hearing things, as well. When you have a new strategy or a new plan, are you listening to the way different kinds of people are hearing it . Are women hearing it the same way that men are hearing it . Are they comfortable . Are they feeling like they can grow and develop as well . How do i do that, by simply taking them aside and having a conference . Y you want to be proactive but dont want to single out different people for reasons that might make them feel uncomfortable. Actually, you do. You do want to be conscious. Some people think being color blind or gender blind virtue. What were realizing is being conscious. One executive said, now i realize, i want to be color mindful. She said, ive been mentoring a lot of women but i never thought about the fact i havent been mentoring as many women of color. If im more mindful of that, then i am going to Pay Attention to the differences. Im not going to pretend the differences dont exist. A simple thing that everybody can do is think about the quiet people. If some people are more quiet in meetings and theyre not contributing their ideas as much, maybe you want to approach them after the meeting and say, hey, i didnt hear your ideas. Can i hear more . Or maybe before the meeting, tell them, im going to call on you about this subject. Be prepared to say something. Yup. People can be quiet for different reasons. It could be because theyre more introverted. Theyre not heard along the extroverts. It could be because theyre a woman from a different culture and dont think they can challenge anyone. It could be because theyre lgbt and covering it and they dont have the energy. Reaching out to the quiet people is a really simple way to start being more inclusive and making sure everybody is contributing. So great to see you. Thank you for stopping by. Thank you. Still to come, are you thinking of hiring an outside sales force . Well have some advice on how to get started. And our brain trust tells us how they managed to overcome the challenges they faced when trying to form partnerships. 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. Weve had real good luck with success in growth over the past ten years, but the struggle we have is what is the right time to hire an outside sales person . Okay. So heres something i think you need the consider. One is the product ready to scale . Can you handle it . The second piece is, do you have to back off the support when do you start hiring sales people . They will require assistance back in the home office. So you into ed to go check those two things first. If you have taken it as far as you can, as the founder of the company, you are the original sales person, you know its ready to spike, its tile to hire your sales force.