The Opening of all Shows.

HATTIE: Hi. I'm Hattie Bryant. Every week this show we take you inside a business, introduce you to the founder, and you have a chance to learn how to start, run and grow a business from men and women who've already done it.

This is our 100th episode. And because so many of you have asked us how this business got started and how it works, on the occasion of this particular milestone, we decided to tell you the story of our small business.

At the end of every episode you see this.

(Voiceover) `... created entirely by small-business people.'

Whereas most often, you meet one business owner in an episode, today you'll meet many small-business owners, who together create what you see here every week.

BRUCE CAMBER (Executive Producer/founder): We push to find truth.

JOHN FULTON (On-Line Editor): I think it teaches some timeless things.

LYDIA CURTIS (Administrative Assistant): It's a need that needed to be addressed, number one, because I am a small-business owner.

HATTIE: Small-business people ought to be on the front page of every newspaper every day because we are what makes the country work.

(Voiceover) We live in California, so we're both on the phone by 6 AM California time.

Bruce really is a workaholic, but it's like a loveaholic. I mean, he loves it.

BRUCE: I love the small-business owner because they're risk takers. They say, `Why not?'

HATTIE: He wakes up about three, sometimes two in the morning, gets on the Internet, has built our Web site. He charts our course.

(Voiceover) People who watch the show see my face.

And I'd like to explain it this way. It's like there's a wall right here underneath my face, and Bruce is there and I'm on his shoulders.

BRUCE: I have a love, an absolute passion, to see people become as creative as they can be, to lock on to something that is truly their own and make it happen.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) Bruce and I own the production company. And one of the things we do is produce the show.

HATTIE: Beginning back in 1979 I started providing services to small businesses. I bought a franchise and that made me a small-business owner, and all my customers were small-business owners. I would go in and teach customer service, sales, management skills. And all my customers, 100 employees or less, that was my target market, and I would spend hours and hours inside their businesses working with their people.

Then I started speaking at conventions and meetings, and all my audiences were full of small-business owners. I was sitting in my office when it occurred to me nobody's doing television about small-business people or for small-business-people. And it seems to me the way you do it is you have to have content, which I know. I mean, I have been living, breathing, eating, sleeping small business since 1979. Content? No problem.

You also have to have money to make television. And you have to have a distribution channel to get it to people.

At that time, Bruce was also looking for an educational television show about small business; when we met in 1993, it was easy to begin working together.

One of the huge puzzle pieces came when I realized I cannot get the money without articulating my idea. And I couldn't just talk my way into IBM and the US Postal Service. I had to have a demo.

I called the North Texas Film Commission and they gave me several names. I called agents and I said, `I'm looking for a television producer.' And I got a bunch of names. I got at least a dozen. And I saw one tape and I loved it; it stood out. It was different. So I said, `How do we teach people how to start, run and grow a business?'

My mind-set is blackboard, bullet points, whatever. And then do you remember what you said to me?

(Voiceover) We called this 30 minutes a Master Class.

All right. So can we really say we're a how-to show? Or should we talk about the difference in how-to and documentary, you know? You know...

I lived in Texas at the time, in Ft. Worth. I flew myself to Armonk, White Plains, Somers, to IBM headquarters, eight times to get a very little amount of start-up money. Bruce and I made it happen.

FRIEND: Eight to five, you've got to be kidding.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) I found a contact, a person at the Dallas public television station who said, `Oh, you should send your demo to Chuck McConnell.

FRIEND: I'm doing this for more than just money. When my business took off, I went back to the place I used to work and said, `The following people can kiss my...'

CHUCK McCONNELL (National Educational Television Association): Well, I mean, first of all, there was nothing like it--heck, there was nothing like you on television at the time.

HATTIE: Chuck McConnell was, at that time, in charge of programming for NETA. NETA is a syndicator to public television stations. And Chuck is the one who decides what goes up on their satellite.

CHUCK: And one morning I come into work --and nobody ever comes to my office; it's all out there on the phone -- and our first voice person, our receptionist, our front person called up to my office as soon as I came in and she said, `There's some lady up here to see you.' And I thought, `Whoa, what is this?'

(Turning to Hattie) And I had gotten a letter or maybe you called, I don't remember, but at least I knew your name. And I go up there and there you are. You've come from Dallas to say, `Look, I'm working on this thing and I want to know how to make this go on public television.'

And to me, the most exciting part was that we spent -- I don't know-- you were probably there for four hours that morning. And we went through chapter and verse in detail of how to make this work, not the content. You know the content, but I could explain the distribution path and that chain and how it worked. You took a lot of notes.

You went away and did it all, and it worked. I mean, obviously that's affirming for me and I liked that, but it's also incredibly satisfying to see someone who says, `I want to learn this,' and they do learn it and then they do it.

And, wow, it works.

HATTIE: Welcome to SMALL BUSINESS TODAY (from the very first series of shows). There's lots of information coming your way in the next few minutes.

Now what everybody also needs to understand is we give the show to NETA. I mean, how would you like to run a business where you get all the customers to pay for the manufacturing of your product and then you have to give it away? We don't sell the show, we give it away. But that's only the beginning because every programmer makes their own decision as to what they air or don't air. So we have this other huge sales job to do.

LYDIA: Good afternoon. SMALL BUSINESS 2000 (reference to the second series of shows).

HATTIE: Lydia is my sister and she works for Bruce and me at Flying Leap. And the reason she's perfect for us is she works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week when you need her. She's like us.

LYDIA: Let me see, what don't I do? I do whatever needs to be done, and that's exactly why it's a good fit for Hattie and Bruce.

HATTIE: To me, she sees what we're doing as a football game because her husband's a football coach. And she is in a home where they're used to winning. And, for example, when a public television station who has not aired us in the past, which are very few, we're on everywhere. And it's really because Bruce and Hattie and Lydia are just relentless. But she's a part of this team. When we get a new station or a better time slot, she'll call and she'll say, `Yes! Look what we did!' I mean, she is our cheerleader.

And, I mean, who wouldn't want somebody like that answering their phone, talking to their customers? I mean, she's amazing. She does all the paperwork. She does all the money. She does all the contracts. And she works 1,800 miles away from us. And Bruce has set her up with file transfer over the Internet. We're totally connected. We share documents. I mean, we might as well be in one place.

BRUCE: So this file transfer protocol allows us to send an entire file, Lydia is able to take it off the Internet, and she doesn't have to retype a thing.

HATTIE: What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of working 2,000 miles apart?

LYDIA: Well, what's amazing is that it doesn't seem 2,000 miles apart because we pick the phone up and within seconds we are communicating as if we're sitting across from each other. And then, of course, with the Internet, it hooks us up to access to any information we need. And then a fax machine, we can document things and have them back and forth to each other in a matter of seconds. So I don't see it as any kind of a disadvantage.

HATTIE: OK. So you don't feel like if I could just be in the room with Hattie or Bruce, I could certainly understand my instructions better, or I could be on their wavelength.

LYDIA: No, I think that the detriment in more than the space is time because the demand for your time on the road filming, producing, taking care of that end of SMALL BUSINESS 2000. Your time is so limited. That's where we have a problem is when I don't get enough time to get details that we need or to finish a project because there's an unanswered question.

HATTIE: Here's what I've learned from Lydia, and that is you just don't give up. There's another way to go around, under, over, whatever.

LYDIA: Because the other thing that I love doing is solving problems. And every day my phone rings all day long with people that have questions and want answers. It always intrigues me. My days just fly by.

HATTIE: How has watching all these programs about these small businesses changed you or affected you or affected your thinking or how you do your business?

LYDIA: It cemented the fact that you can do anything you want to do if you have the energy and the desire to do it.

HATTIE: What I know now that I didn't know in 1992 is that I really am a missionary. I'm really not a businessperson. And the reason is an outstanding businessman or woman looks at an idea and tries to find out: Is it for real? Is there a market? Does anybody want it and will anybody pay for it? And they do that research before they invest too much time or blood, sweat and tears.

But that's not at all the way I've ever operated my life.

My franchise was a missionary effort. I mean, I taught people how to sell, how to supervise and how to manage people and all that. But it really ended up, when you get in there and start working with people, it was like counseling. I mean, I was like their therapist or their minister. So that was that. Then speaking is the same way. You get up and make a speech and people say, `That was so inspiring.'

CAMERAMAN: OK. That looks good. How are we on sound?

SOUND: Sound's clear.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) Jimm Givens is a free-lance sound engineer. I don't think we could afford him or get him as much as much as we get him if he didn't want to be a part of this team.

OK. When we see shots like Jagged Edge Mountain Gear...

Unidentified Man #5: Give it a little weight test.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) ...how was it that we were hearing the mountain climber?

JIMM: (Voiceover) Oh, that was a wireless that we planted on the climber. And I have a receiver over here by the mixer, and it plugs into one of the channels on the mixer.

Man #5: Right now I'm putting my hands in the leash. That keeps me attached to the ax, which keeps me attached to the ice.

HATTIE: Now you are self-employed.

JIMM: Uh-huh.

HATTIE: Give some advice to people who are trying to build a free-lance career. How do you keep your customers happy?

JIMM: Well, you wear a lot of hats. First thing, you don't say `no.' Like I started at the bottom in this business and I learned every job. So I know how other people do their jobs. Accessibility--it's real important for people to get ahold of you. Go get a cell phone. They're so cheap now and a second phone line for your fax and Internet. That way your phone's never busy. I also have call notes. And call notes lets you call forward to a pager. So instead of call forwarding my telephone to a pager, I call forwarded it to my cell phone. That way I have a nationwide pager because my cell phone roams.

HATTIE: Wow. OK.

JIMM: And it rings twice and I know that I have a call at home.

HATTIE: So if you get a message, what do you do with it?

JIMM: You call it and return the phone call.

HATTIE: Really fast.

JIMM: Oh, yeah. You know, I check my messages probably four times a day. I'm open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Yeah. I never close. Some people work to live, I live to work. That's it.

HATTIE: So you like it?

JIMM: Yeah, I love it.

HATTIE: Yeah.

JIMM: It's exactly what I want to do with my life and I don't plan on changing anytime soon.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) John Fulton is the post-production editor. He created the opening for SMALL BUSINESS TODAY and SMALL BUSINESS 2000, enormous enthusiasm for the project. He's a musician, which we all are, too. And we just grew.

JOHN: (voiceover) I think I have everything that I need.

It's the only thing that I've been involved in that's had this kind of longevity and where the main core of people have stayed together. And this is going to sound a little hokey, but I think it's because we believe in what is said in the show.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) ... John's studio when we created the opening that appeared on the demo.

And John sat and talked to me. And he said, `What's your vision? You know, what are you trying to get across? Who's the audience? What are you trying to accomplish?' Well, at the beginning, we were trying to raise money. So we wanted it to be professional. But on the other hand, we wanted to have this feel of what is a small-business owner. Well, we're feisty. We're creative. We're everywhere.

(Voiceover) We're the pillars of America. And he did it.

The founders of this country were small-business owners.

JOHN: It's kind of like a cook or something who's got all these ingredients. He's got a little pepper over here. He's got, you know, all these different things that he's trying to put together. And to give a flow and a feeling, if you see it every week or every day, you're not going to get tired of it.

HATTIE: When you first meet John, you just assume he's an employee. I mean, he's just back there in that edit studio. And soon we discovered he is part owner of Stokes, and he, basically, bought in with sweat equity.

JOHN: We were getting ready to make some big jumps with the direction of the company, and they approached me and said, `We're getting ready to make some major strides. We need to make sure that you're going to be here for us because we don't want to make this step without you.' And they offered me a percentage of the business.

HATTIE: OK. Would you suggest that as a strategy in any small-business owner in order to keep talented people?

JOHN: Absolutely.

BRUCE: We began looking at the evolution of television-- where it is going, how the Internet is really changing the business model, creating a world without boundaries. So we have begun thinking about this television series as more than a broadcast television program; let's make this show available all times, in all places!

Now with the evolution of the Internet, we're going to discover what a real economic force small business has become and we'll begin finding ways to measure it. I predict that small-business as a category will be the major economic indicator, plus we will begin to realize how it is transforming our cultures and society, and then, we may even begin to see where small business is taking us.

There are so many things that we want to do with the show. While it thrills my soul, it is going to be a constant uphill battle.

HATTIE: When we started I had all this enthusiasm. I mean, you know, getting the demo tape, getting the first round of funds, getting it on TV. All that was exciting. But after two years I said, `Wait a minute. This isn't working. This is too hard. There's no money. We can't get on the air.' And this is like, `Whoa, I don't want to do this.' And Bruce said, `You can't quit.'

(Voiceover) `You've got to keep going. This is too important. People need this.'

And about 3:00 in the afternoon I'm really ready to quit. I mean, OK. I'm burned out. I've been doing this since about 6:00 this morning. I'm ready to go for a jog. He'll say, `Oh, no, no, no. I have a few more things to do. Well, then at 5:00, I'll say, `I'm going. I'm out of here.' And he'll go, `OK' like he's disappointed to leave his desk. And then after dinner, your apt to find him back at his desk to finish up some special project.

We've seen lots of people on show that are the same way. They love what you do, and they constantly move it forward. Whenever I'm down, he's always up. Someone called me and asked, `Well, how's Bruce?' Bruce is always great. He's our optimist, our visionary ... our futurist. He sees life like a little kid. Every business should have a Bruce because they're always lifting you up and inspiring you.

BRUCE: This show represents to me a whole new form of television. I call it Integrity TV. There's no exploitation of anybody. When I turn on television, the minute I see somebody being exploited, I say, `Turn it off. Just turn it off.' It's not good to see anybody being exploited. It is the wrong analog to take into your being. You don't know what that's doing to your soul. So much of television is exploitive or somebody acting out their victimization, `Oh, poor me.' . . . all these talk shows .... I say, `Turn it off. Don't think of yourself as victim. Think of yourself as possibility.'

HATTIE: Public television is not the place to be if you want to make a lot of money, you know. But it is the place to be if you believe that what you have is so important and the country needs to see it because people watch television in this country.

We thank our underwriters, especially IBM and the US Postal Service, for their long-term commitment to us. And the new underwriters such as Travelers Property Casualty, who keep us inspired to keep on keeping on. We've had the best of the best in our underwriting family, so many: Mass Mutual, AT&T, MCI, Dun & Bradstreet, BusinessWeek, Success, Forbes, Bell Atlantic, Southwestern Bell, US West, Bank One and the Edward Lowe Foundation. Our underwriters know that the world is in the midst of a small-business revolution, and they stand by to help small-business owners achieve their dreams.

We thank you, our viewers, for watching over the years. To learn more, come online. Transcripts of all our episodes are available and so much more. You can request our free information about starting, running and growing a business. You can sign up for cyber-mentoring. And soon you'll even be able to watch the programs and parts of programs online. We have the stories of many, many more small-business owners to share with you in the coming years. So keep watching. We'll see you next time.