Key Idea #1: Buy a Business with a Promise

HATTIE: Hi. I'm Hattie Bryant. Starting and growing a business is hard, but not impossible, because 23 million Americans are already doing it successfully. The men and women who are creating work and wealth are the new American heroes: the small-business owners. Big business has not created one net new job in five years, but the economy is moving forward, in part due to the innovation of small business and the willingness on the part of new business owners to shoulder the risk involved in bringing new products to the marketplace.

Meet the heroes here, the founders and builders of business. You know the saying: `The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.' So they could be close enough to rock cradles, Judy Cannon and Kathleen Barnes initially ran their business from home to rock the cradle. They then traded the cradles for computers and a vibrant staff who delivers delight to Salt Lake City visitors. Now poised for a nationwide expansion, Judy and Kathleen tell you how they've built this business. And you'll see for yourself why they are new American heroes.

WENDY: This is our bus. Just find a comfortable seat. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the city tour. We're happy to have you with us this morning. My name is Wendy. Our bus driver's name is Ray.

(Voiceover) And we are going to see the downtown Salt Lake City area. You can see the spires of the Salt Lake Temple, which took 40 years to construct. The large, domed building to your right is the Salt Lake Tabernacle.
(Voiceover) It's the home of the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Now this building was constructed in 1867...
(Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice shown)

HATTIE: (Voiceover) This is a tour, but it's more than tourism. In the hands of the destination meeting company Sample Salt Lake, meeting attendees are entertained, educated, wined and dined. Meeting planners often outsource the work of registration, ground transportation and special events to companies such as this one owned by Kathleen Barnes and Judy Cannon.

KATHLEEN BARNES: Well, the company actually was formed in 1981 by a woman who saw a need in the city and developed this little--she just called it A Little Tour Company. It was a very small, little business. She serviced about six groups a year. Judy and I had both done a little bit of work for her, a tour or two.

HATTIE: So you were tour guides yourselves.

KATHLEEN: Right. And one day she just called and said, `I need, because of personal reasons, to sort of offload my business, and I'd like the two of you to buy it.' And we went, `Us?'

JUDY: Well, we didn't know each other.

KATHLEEN: No, we did not know each other.

HATTIE: You didn't know each other.

KATHLEEN: No.

HATTIE: You both worked for her and she decided that the two of you should together buy... Now did she get this revelation from heaven? I mean, how...

KATHLEEN: Who knows?

HATTIE: Let me ask you this. Did you pay this woman for this? I hope you didn't pay her too much. Not...

JUDY: We paid her a little bit of goodwill. Then the nice thing for us is she gave us money to start.

KATHLEEN: She gave us her bank account, which consisted of $1,000. And she gave us her furniture and, you know, her files, a few little things that she had. But she had no business on the books at the time.

HATTIE: So you didn't buy the business from her. She gave the business to you.

KATHLEEN: Basically, with the understanding that, over a period of three years, we would pay her out of the net profits of the business. And we determined an amount each year.

HATTIE: OK.

KATHLEEN: After we had concluded the negotiation, she very casually said to us, `You know, if you should gross $300,000 at the end of your third year, it would be really nice if you paid me an extra $2,000.' And we said, `We'll do that,' never dreaming we would meet that kind of a goal. It just seemed so far out of reach at the time. Well, the end of the third year we had grossed $300,000, but we had forgotten about this verbal agreement, until some many months into the fourth year and one day it dawned on us. And we said, `Didn't we promise her an extra $2,000?' So we sat down, we wrote out a check for $2,000. We mailed it to her. And she called us and said, `What is this for?' You know, she, too, had forgotten about it. But it was wonderful. We were happy and excited to do it.

Key Idea #2: Leave Home to Grow

HATTIE: So how old were your children? Were they grown and gone or...

JUDY: They were at home, and they were high school, elementary age. And so it was sort of a hard decision, but it was tempered by the fact that I had the opportunity to work in my home.

KATHLEEN: Absolutely. It was a very compatible kind of thing in terms of our own personal lives. It worked. And we weren't torn all the time between home and business. A year ago was the first time we actually had moved out of our homes into an office, simply because we could no longer exist in our home offices. We had grown to the point where we needed more space; we had outgrown the space in our home. Had that not been the case, we'd have stayed home.

HATTIE: Because you like the home as business field.

KATHLEEN: We liked it. Absolutely.

JUDY: Yeah.

HATTIE: How did moving out of your homes change the business?

KATHLEEN: I think moving out of the home changed the entire complexion of our business. It allowed us room to expand. It allowed us some physical growth, which we needed in order to expand our business.

JUDY: I think it also gave us a psychological picture that was different than when we were in our home. We saw ourselves as bigger. Customers actually came to our office; people would visit us, clients and other people that we were outsourcing to, and there was like almost a change of attitude.

KATHLEEN: We are a unique company in that we offer a complete service, not just a segment of the meeting package. We can take a meeting, from its inception, and do everything connected with that meeting, from booking the hotel, the airlines, all of the audiovisual, the packets, the meeting materials, the registration, everything to the tours and the activities and the evening events and all of the extra things that go with a convention and meeting like...

JUDY: There aren't any companies that are meeting planners that have a full fleet of guides, like we do, that are lovely--you've seen them they're outstanding and yet can technically go ahead and take care of the registration and those kind of issues.

HATTIE: OK. So it's a one-stop shop. That's how you're going to position yourself against your competition.

KATHLEEN: Right.

Key Idea #3: Tell Your Story

HATTIE: (Voiceover) People love to get together and do, so the people who predicted teleconferencing would eliminate face-to-face meetings were wrong. The meeting business is big. It generates $83 billion annually in the US.

So what did you do to quintuple the business? How did you get it to grow? Tell us about your marketing efforts.

KATHLEEN: We worked hard.

HATTIE: What does that mean? Did you call everybody on the phone you knew...

JUDY: Yup.

KATHLEEN: It was cold calls. We just started down through the list of conventions booked into Salt Lake, and we dialed them up and we said, `We have these services to offer. Would you be interested in our services?' And sometimes they said yes, and we were able to present a bid. And sometimes we didn't because they were not interested or they'd already contracted with someone else.

JUDY: It was also getting out and just connecting. We really are a fabulous twosome.

HATTIE: OK. All right.

KATHLEEN: ...tell you about the first convention we ever lost.

HATTIE: You ever lost?

KATHLEEN: That we ever lost that we bid on.

HATTIE: Oh.

KATHLEEN: And we cried. We were just heartbroken.

JUDY: Yup.

KATHLEEN: We just couldn't figure out what we had done. But one of the things we've always done, when we lose a convention--and we do because this is a very competitive business and we do have down times, when we feel like we have to regroup and regear and reinforce each other and stand on our feet and get going again. But that's the beauty of the partnership. You know, it's like a...

HATTIE: When you're down, she's up. When you...

KATHLEEN: Exactly. It is like a good marriage. You know, you sort of balance each other out and help each other along when things are hard.

HATTIE: What is it that you do when you don't get a contract? Do you go back and ask why?

KATHLEEN: Yes, always.

JUDY: We do. We do. We always ask questions till we get down to sort of the essential element of why we would lose. But then we also, when we win, we always ask the same sort of questions. You know, `What is it about that bid or the presentation that made you feel we were right for you?'

HATTIE: (Voiceover) Cara Swinson is a corporate meeting planner.

CARA SWINSON (Corporate Meeting Planner): And outsourcing certain services just make us look--everything just goes smooth, and it looks so professional. And it's great because it's off our shoulders and we don't have to worry about it.

JUDY: (To group) Let us just give you a brief overview of what our company consists of today. MeetingsAmerica offers group and incentive travel...

HATTIE: (Voiceover) Kathleen and Judy use their laptop to make one-on-one and one-to-group sales presentations.

Unidentified Woman #1: Well, we have a software program that we bought from MeetingWare here in Utah, and it's a program that we have back at the office where we input the registration when the people phone in for the tours. So our secretary, our assistants have called in, made their tour reservation over the phone, and we just bring the terminal to the table. And when people come, they just give them their name and they plug it in, give them their name card. Actually, we've already preprinted these, but if we had people that came that hadn't already registered, we could print it up here on site. It's really straightforward.

HATTIE: OK. So the same software is loaded in the laptop...

Woman #1: Right.

HATTIE: ...so you can print out--so it's not embarrassing. If I didn't sign up early, I'm not gonna have some handwritten `You showed up late, Hattie.'

Woman #1: No.

Key Idea #4: Hire Part-timers

HATTIE: Right. Why do you work part-time? What about this organization is appealing to you? It can't be the money.

These women deliver the product MeetingsAmerica sells: a heightened experience, not just show-and-tell. They love this place, and they want you to love it, too. They are proud of their hometown.

Unidentified Woman #2: I love the place. I love Salt Lake. It's my home. I grew up here. I enjoy it now, so I love to have other people love it. And the second thing is I love people.

Unidentified Woman #3: The wonderful thing about the hours is that they are flexible; you can still be a mother, you can still be a good mother.

Unidentified Woman #4: One of the reasons I'm here is I'm an empty-nester, and this has filled my nest.

JUDY: We only select guides that are referred to us by other guides.

HATTIE: Oh.

KATHLEEN: We have never advertised for guides. We have never, you know, opened the door in terms of anybody.

HATTIE: OK.

KATHLEEN: They all come to us based on referrals.

Unidentified Woman #4: Jan was just raving about it, said it was one of the best experiences of her life. It was so positive. And my son's in high school, and I just want to do something part-time. And I love the people, and I especially love just the beauty of Salt Lake, just our natural resources. And these people are just so kind to you.

JUDY: We sort of give them a heads-up and say, you know, `We're looking for a few more to add to our guide pool.' And we get referrals from them.

WENDY: The granite for the building had to be quarried from a canyon about 25 miles southeast of here. It was a three-day round trip. After they were able to break those blocks of granite off by drilling holes and pouring water in and letting the ice freeze and cracking the stone away, they had to haul it down by ox cart. And it was a three-day round trip, and that's one of the reasons it took so long to build.

Unidentified Woman #6: Well, I'm a former schoolteacher, and so to teach about the history of Salt Lake is just an extension of what I have always loved. And I love meeting new people. I'm kind of an outgoing people person, and it gives me an opportunity to work when I want to work, play when I want to play.

KATHLEEN: If we're doing a major move where we need 40 guides, we have a vast pool out there of people who have worked for us who will step in for a special event and help us. One of the things we always establish, when we're hiring a new guide, is we tell them, `This is not a full-time job. This is not seasonal'--I mean, `This is seasonal.' If they are dependent on this for a steady income, this does not meet that criteria. So they understand right up front that this is hit and miss; sometimes they work,sometimes they don't. But it has a lot of appeal for people who have been doing a lot of volunteer service. This is like volunteering, only you get paid for it.

Unidentified Woman #7: We are, you know, hopeful that as you consider who you'll choose as your DMC, that you'll keep in mind that there's an interaction. And we, hopefully--of fun and magic you hate to say that you aren't, and we are. And if you like us, all the rest of the guides are exactly like us. And if you didn't like us, they're all totally different. And we...

KATHLEEN: (Voiceover) They have to be a people person. There are people out there that just love being around other people. And they have to have a little bit of stage presence, you know? They have to be the kind of person that likes to stand in front of a group and have an audience and...

JUDY: They have to have a sense of themselves that they're OK taking charge, they're OK making decisions, they're OK when they meet a situation where it requires flexibility. And they have to be comfortable with themselves in that regard.

KATHLEEN: We do not provide any canned scripts for them. We provide them with lots of information. And then we expect them to present the information via their personality.

Group of Women: (In unison) Come sample Salt Lake.

Key Idea #5: Hire People Like You

Lightbulb HATTIE: If Kathleen Barnes and Judy Cannon look too happy, it's because they truly have found their place and love it. They are not driven goal-achievers striving to increase sales and profits. They are focused completely on creating fabulous customer experiences. They are competitive and want to know when they lose a piece of business why, but they don't get distraught. They have been extraordinarily conservative since they became business owners, so they haven't worn themselves out paying for excesses and overhead. One example is Kathleen and Judy have mastered the technique of hiring, teaching and keeping fantastic part-time employees. With the unemployment rate being low all over the country, I think every small-business owner could improve their service and increase profits by employing people part-time. I believe the concept underlying the success at MeetingsAmerica is like attracts like.

Look at Kathleen. Look at Judy. Look at Jan, who is the tour guide trainer. Now look at the guides. Even though they are dressed alike, they look alike beyond their clothing. They are all what they call mature: that is, they are over 30, mostly over 40; they are moms, they are coiffed and they all wear makeup. Now beyond the physical appearance, there's a likeness in personality. They all say they like to meet new people, they like to be onstage, which is the job of the tour guide. They enjoy creating a memory for their customers. If you need a job done repeatedly and you have one employee who is outstanding, why not try to find others like that person? Use the like-attracts-like approach. And when it comes to part-time, don't apologize. This is simply what you have to offer. Many people want to work part-time, especially those of a certain age, men and women who want to get away from the house a few days a week, be with people they enjoy and do something that interests them. Create part-time jobs and everybody wins: the employee, the customer and the business.

(Voiceover) With seven full-time and 15 part-time employees, Sample Salt Lake is newly named MeetingsAmerica and is positioning itself to roll out on a national scale.

KATHLEEN: We're gathering together a pool of people that know how to help us move the industry into the big arena.

Key Idea #6: Bring in Money and Advice

HATTIE: (Voiceover) Hal Milner and George Paulson have invested cash and time to turn MeetingsAmerica into a growth company.

Mr. HAL MILNER: I've known Kathy for a long time, really since college. I've always admired what she's done. I sold my company and retired. I thought this might be an opportunity. So I met with Kathy and suggested that if we could work together, we'd put together an investment group, put in some money and take this company to the next level.

GEORGE PAULSON: We expect to go throughout America with this concept and, later, internationally.

HAL: We have four key investors in our investment group. Part of it was putting up money, and the other part was contributing some time without pay as part of your investment.

GEORGE: We feel that, with our background and years of experience, that we can perhaps add something and help the business be more successful as it grows and develops.

Key Idea #7: Make Friends in High Places

HATTIE: Sample Salt Lake is the official destination meeting company for Salt Lake's Marriott. James Eggimann tells why.

JAMES EGGIMANN: As a hotelier, you develop a relationship, not only business when you need them, but you see them in other activities in town. So the partnership that we can work with MeetingsAmerica really works for us, and they take the time to understand more about my business, just as we take more time to understand their business. So it's not like we're going to use you this one time and then we're done with you. It's kinda like an ongoing, long-term partnership. Our industry and our hotel prides itself on taking care of the customer. Businesses that have that focus and have that attention to taking care of the customer is the people that we want to align ourselves with, and that way we're both meeting the same needs. Businesses that can see that that's where the goal of the hotel is and that's also their goal makes for a better match for a company to do business with a small company.

HATTIE: Once you determine that someone's good at what they do and they're honest and dependable, it doesn't matter to you that they're very small.

JAMES: No because the end user that's using that service that they provide has no idea of the size of the company. All they're concerned with is how wonderful their event took place, you know, in the immediate, now.

Unidentified Man: I think that it's important for us to maintain that...

HATTIE: (Voiceover) On our visit to the capital, state Senator Scott Howell did a little bragging.

SCOTT HOWELL (Utah State Senator): Small business, to Utah, is the lifeblood of our state. It's what makes Utah. It's a very independent group of individuals that live here.

HATTIE: It's the West.

SCOTT: It's the West, yeah. It is. It's the West.

HATTIE: `Give me my own stuff.'

SCOTT: That's right. `And give me my own car.'

HATTIE: Yeah.

SCOTT: `And let me make it on my own, and keep government at a minimum.' And they like that and, quite frankly, we like it, too. So her business promotes tourism, and we love tourism here in Utah. And I'll tell you why: They don't stick around, we don't have to educate their children, they pay a lot of money for meals and they stay in our hotels and they buy our things and then they leave. We anticipate about a million people a day for the 2002 Winter Olympics, and we can't get enough of the Kathleen Barnes. But she just represents what we really believe Utah's all about.

Key Idea #8: Thrive on Competition

HATTIE: What if one of your daughters came to you and said, `I want to start a business'? What advice would you give her?

KATHLEEN: Well, I think, first of all, you have to have a passion for what you want to do. I mean, you've got to have something that pushes you in that direction, either a basic knowledge or a basic skill or just a great love of something. It would be too hard to do this if you didn't love it.

HATTIE: It's not worth it.

KATHLEEN: It isn't worth it.

JUDY: Well, it wouldn't be worth it because so much of what you have to deal with is being inconvenienced. I mean, the business has its own life, and you have to accept that. And if you're committed to it, you have to be able to spend the time, you have to give up other things that might be even maybe more important. Now one of the things that we've always been careful about is to keep our families first.

KATHLEEN: It was just a little glorified hobby in the beginning, but when we got into it, you know, the juices began to flow and we got excited about what we were doing and we could see the potential, and we just started to roll.

JUDY: And we loved the competition. Can you imagine?

HATTIE: You loved the competition?

JUDY: We...

KATHLEEN: Well, it really moved us forward.

HATTIE: You mean...

KATHLEEN: We just couldn't stand to lose.

JUDY: I think you just have to feel OK about being out there in a competitive world and taking the knocks, and we're OK with it. Now I think it helps for the two of us to do it together because we can comfort each other, we can buoy each other up, we can inspire each other. I have had a lot of empathy for people who have partnerships because I can think of maybe 100 points at which, if you disagreed on even one of those and it was a major point, you would have trouble in the partnership.

HATTIE: OK. So it's probably better for most people just to...

JUDY: Go it alone.

KATHLEEN: Yes.

HATTIE: Uh-huh.

KATHLEEN: Yes.

JUDY: Unless you are just extremely compatible.

KATHLEEN: Yeah.

JUDY: Well, we have always prided ourselves that we have staying power no matter what.

KATHLEEN: And we've seen, in our years in the business, a lot of companies come and go.

JUDY: Our type companies.

KATHLEEN: Mm-hmm. There's a lot of satisfaction that comes at the end of a convention when you've done it. You know, you've worked on this at least a year out, sometimes two years out, where you've been putting this together and creating this and getting ready and taking care of the details. And then you get into it and it starts to unfold, and it is so exciting every time to watch this unfold. And when the last person drives off into the sunset, you want to just go, `Yes! We did it!'

JUDY: And you...

KATHLEEN: `And they were so happy!'

JUDY: I think we never planned that we would stay in this business as long as we have.

KATHLEEN: No.

HATTIE: And now you've got a plan to stay in it for a lot longer.

JUDY: Till, you know--even last year, when the investors came to us, we weren't even sure. `Do we want to work that hard?' You know, that was the question we asked. And we agreed we did.

HATTIE: You're very lucky.

JUDY: There's something in our nature that says, `We like the challenge.'

Delete for web play HATTIE: Remember, like attracts like. To grow your business, hire people like the good people you already have. We'll see you next week.

The Closing of the Show.