Transcripts For CNBC The Profit 20240713

Lets go make some money. [ horn honking ] ive traveled the country trying to fix the people. And you do 1 million a year. You should be proud of it. Man 2 but we dont know how to keep any of it. Lemonis fix the process. See . It is flimsy. Dont ever make these again. You dont sell them. And create a few products. Woman it reduces anxiety and depression. Lemonis i kinda like it. I spend countless days working on these companies. Man 3 [laughs] how much money did you burn through . Man 4 650,000. Lemonis but we cant always fit everything im thinking into the show. [ musical powerdown ] so tonight, were gonna take an inside look at an episode from season 4, flex watches, a business with purpose. Travis each color represented a different charity that we partnered with to give back 10 . Lemonis it was essentially a social mission and it used a rubber watch as the vehicle. Over the next hour, im gonna take you behind the scenes to share with you what i was actually thinking during filming. Why wouldnt the box speak to the charities . Wheres the story . Amber youre still upset about this packaging. Lemonis honestly . [ laughter ] amber oh, my god. Lemonis . Share some secrets. I mean, honestly, if you had not told me the story about why you guys created it and how you got inspired, i wouldve been like, i dont need you guys. This particular moment was the instant that i knew that i did not want to invest in the watch business. I was investing in them. Brad and this is the moment we thought we lost a deal. Travis yeah. Lemonis . And give you an honest assessment of my decisions. My offer would total about 400,000, for 40 of the business. The money that i put into the business was essentially buying a team. My name is marcus lemonis, and this is an inside look at the profit. So tonight, we have travis and brad, the founders of flex watches. They started a social Outreach Company that happens to use watches. Amber and also, these two guys are lifelong friends, business partners, doing all of your businesses right now. Lemonis theyre in a lot of em. Amber i remember actually cause, through the casting, you didnt love the business, but you loved them. Brad you told us that at the deal table. Lemonis i did . Brad yeah. That you were investing lemonis oh. Lemonis brad, youre gonna talk tonight . cause you didnt talk much in the episode. Amber hes been talking more. Travis i positioned him perfectly. Lemonis do you think we should just watch the episode . Amber well, no. I think we should talk about it. Whatever. Alright. Lets lemonis lets watch the episode. Amber lets watch it. Lemonis ive been looking for an accessories business to pair with my fashion brands and flexs social mission just increases its appeal. I was fat. If i can get these guys back on track, we should be making money, and a difference, in no time. Hi, guys. Brad hey. Hows it going . Lemonis im marcus. Brad brad. Nice to meet you. Lemonis nice to meet you. Trevor trevor. Lemonis and trevor nice to meet you. Travis nice to meet you. Lemonis how are you . What are you guys doing . You were fat, too. Travis me too. All of us. [ laughter ] lemonis were losing time. Okay. Are those the watches . Travis yeah. So we basically started with a interchangeable watch, so the face pops out of the band. Yeah. Pull back. Pop up. Lemonis its a cool watch. What does a watch like that sell for . Travis 35. Lemonis these are nicelookin watches at a great price point. Trevor we wanted to do an accessory that was bright, that could match with all Different Things hats, shoes. Lemonis pause. Right now, everybody at home is wondering why theres two of you, when, on the episode, there was three of you. Amber i mean, we have to address that. Wheres trevor . Travis trevors still a good friend of mine lemonis great friend of yours. Travis i was in his wedding, best man. After about a year, i think he just kinda wanted to do his own thing and he ended up getting a creative director job with a big health company. Lemonis hes a good dude. This is a comfortable watch. Travis its lightweight. Lemonis yeah. Travis its durable. Initially, we had 10 colors. Each color represented a different charity that we partnered with to give back 10 . Lemonis thats pretty slick. Travis yeah, right . Trevor we wanted to do Something Different and no one was doing charity in the watch space, so, we started partnering with charities and people loved it. Amber how important to you was it that flex had a social message . Lemonis that was the only reason i was there. I mean, there was no reason for me to be there, other than that because, candidly, the watch that you guys made, i mean, theres no barrier to entry to make one. Travis and brad yeah. Lemonis it was essentially a Marketing Company that had a social mission and it used a rubber watch as the vehicle. Are these still made today . Travis no. Thats the first generation, five years ago. Lemonis so thats firstgeneration. What happened after that . Wheres generation two . Travis so we made a sport version, at 119. Lemonis and i look for watches that arent expensive. Like i dont like expensive watches. Why did you change your model . Travis well, we wanted to fit in with retail stores, when they said it needed to be about 100. Buying it at 15 and selling them for 35, they just werent getting the right ticket per door. They told us to make a higher price point watch. Trevor it wasnt gonna make it into the case. Lemonis at 35. Trevor no. Lemonis so you changed your whole Business Model over retailers asking you for a higher price point. Travis yeah. Lemonis so this is generation two. Travis yeah. Lemonis is there a generation three . That cheapass gold watch. Travis so thats gen three. Lemonis wheres the charity angle on this generation . Brad a lotta people dont realize we still do the Charity Aspect. Lemonis i think this is a total mess. Whos in charge of the three of you . Trevor travis and i own flex together. Travis yeah. And my brother came down and he was like the shipping center. Lemonis oh, you guys are brothers . Brad yeah. Travis we each own 41 . Lemonis okay, so 82 between the two of you . Travis yeah. Lemonis and then theres somebody else that owns 18 . Travis we have an investor. Lemonis why werent you part of the business from the beginning . Brad i was. I was doing all the daytoday, all the customer service, all the sales. Lemonis why didnt you have equity . Brad cause id never asked for it. Travis honestly, between me and him, i had discussions and i was like, youre gonna be part of this business with me. Brad its true. Travis and he never pushed and i never made paperwork. Amber so, brad, how did you feel during all the. . Did you feel that you were, you know, ignored or not treated well or. . Brad yeah. It was kinda just a hard dynamic being three of us, so i did step back a lot of the time and i definitely appreciated marcus coming on and seeing my value in the company. Lemonis i actually felt like and this is not against you, but i actually felt like brad was the most equipped to run the company, to run it. Travis for sure. Lemonis what are your guys individual roles . Trevor so im the creative. Everything you see flex, whether its a video lemonis trevor has marketing. Travis yeah. Trevor sorry. Just to jump in. And trevors visual. I source all the components and trying to work with the factory to figure out what can i get the quickest at the most affordable price . Lemonis do you literally do it like that . Travis yeah, literally. Lemonis yeah. Thats obvious. It shows. How much revenue does the business do . Travis 500,000 after we launched. Brad 2000. Lemonis thats strong. Travis yeah. 979,000 the next year. Lemonis getting stronger. Travis and then, we changed the product. Our sales dropped a half a million. Lemonis because of generation two, sales went down. Travis yeah. They dropped 50 . Lemonis im a big believer that numbers dont lie. The further they got away from their original story and the Charity Aspect and started making watches that werent fun, looked like a watch you could buy on a street corner, the worse their numbers got. What gave you guys this idea to get in the watch business . Travis so his mom ran a Breakfast Program in mexico. Lemonis okay, food program. Trevor yes. We would go down there and volunteer and so we wanted to make an impact with something that we really felt was cool and affordable. Lemonis is your mom still doing the Breakfast Program . Trevor she was until she. She got Breast Cancer eight years ago. We lost her three years ago. Lemonis she passed away. Trevor yeah. Lemonis how do you keep her momentum alive . What do you guys do to do that . Trevor nothing. We started as a purpose brand, but i think wed be more of a surfbeachy brand. Just didnt feel right, pushing a story of, this watch will provide meals for children in need. We wanted to make sure that people knew that it was still a cool watch and not just a donation piece. Lemonis the story that trevors telling me confused the heck outta me because, in one sense, hes telling me that it was about his mom and the charities, and then the next minute, hes telling me about surfing brands and cool things. I think the fact that you have that as your purpose is a very big deal. Youre driven to have this succeed because thats your connection to her. Trevor i dont think about that. I think ive pushed it out. Losing her is just i havent like dealt with it, you know . Im just bitter. But, yeah, we keep moving, for sure, cause she would love that. Lemonis i lost my mom, you know, not too long ago. Trevor i didnt know that. Lemonis yeah. You know, i appreciate your vulnerability, i mean, talking about your mom. I think thats always tough, but you gotta deal with it. You know that, right . Trevor i do. Lemonis and the way to deal with that is to have this business fulfill what she wanted you to do with it. Amber do you think its important that a person has to open up emotionally in order to push through in their business . Lemonis i think its actually important for me, with anybody, that theres full disclosure about who they are, why they do what they do, and what actually drives them. He needed to actually just peel the onion back. Alright. Lets head to the warehouse. Trevor alrighty. [ horn honks ] travis hey, guys. Naim hey. Hey. How are you . Lemonis im marcus. Nice to meet you. Naim pleasure. Nice to meet you. Lemonis how did you connect with them . Travis our office used to be two blocks away. Lemonis okay. Travis we came across this building, walked in, and said, hey. Hows it going . Within five minutes, we were creating a new watch. [ laughter ] damn it amber within five minutes. Travis theres so much good stuff in this. Wow. I was so goddamn honest. Lemonis yeah. So why did you make decisions like that . Travis i really just wanted something to happen [snapping fingers] quickly, you know . I was impatient. Lemonis as they developed new products and they would come, sit down with you, show you a sketch. I want to see that whole process. Naim yeah. Lets do a tour. So this is a familyrun business. Weve been doing this for about 15 years and all their product is here. I ship it out for them. Lemonis pause. This particular moment was the instant that i knew that i did not want to invest in the watch business. I was investing in them. Brad and this is the moment we thought we lost the deal. Travis yeah. Lemonis because i was like, what is this . Brad yeah. Lemonis it just looked like you guys were taking stuff off somebody elses shelf and slapping your label on it. Brad yeah. Lemonis who came up with the box design . Travis well, we actually were in a rush, and we lemonis it looks like that. Brad [ laughs ] this box takes the value way down. When this is at point of purchase, the packaging is gonna be more important to me than the watch itself because this is a commodity business and so you have to find ways to differentiate yourself. This is one of them. Is there anything patented about the product . Travis no. Lemonis nothing proprietary. Anybody can knock it off. Travis its just design and to get a design patent like takes years. Lemonis i was like, hmm. Amber you were like uhhuh. Travis so, ill show you the process of building a watch. We pick a shape. Step two is the band. Lemonis okay. Travis what kind of band does it go with this casing . Colors wouldnt matter. Nothing would matter, and then well pick the movement. Lemonis this feels a little on the fly. I mean, honestly, if you had not told me the story about why you guys created it and how you got inspired, i wouldve been like, i dont need you guys. You have to bring that stuff to life. What is your real story . Why do you guys care about it so much . Why do you want other people to care about it . All the charities that youre involved with, you should have things posting their events. Trevor thats an image that we try to uphold. Travis but theres no pulse. Theres no like real story. Yeah. Youve held back, and i feel like its not only a part of our story, but part of your life and like youre allowed to talk about the fact that we did charity and your mom was involved and talk more about the Breakfast Program. Brad i feel like we did that a lot more when we first started, when it was all the charities. Lemonis when you did 1 million a year. You have really two interesting dynamics happening right now. You have trevor, who wants to get as far away from the original brand story as he can; and travis, who wants to do things as fast as he can; and, when you combine those two things together, you end up with a company that makes gold watches in [audio drop] boxes. [ laughter ] travis oh, my god. Lemonis that was a little amber thats the best line, ever. Lemonis that was rude. Amber that was amazing. Travis that was so good. Lemonis so one of the things that travis doesnt like to talk about publicly, but its important to know, is that hes now working with a lotta companies who are coming to him, saying, hey, can you help me understand how to market my product . Can you help me understand how to communicate my story . And i think that, for me, is probably one of the more satisfying things and for him to be able to take how he was before and what he learned, then being able to transfer that knowledge or coach people. Amber come a long way. Travis yeah. I appreciate you guys patience with me and working with me through that. Lemonis i didnt really have a lotta patience with you, but, thats fine. Amber you never have patience. Lemonis i do, actually, but just not with travis. [ laughter ] amber alright. Lets play. Travis hey, marcus. Lemonis how are ya . Travis how you doing . Good. Lemonis so, 2011, you did 500,000 worth of business, gross profit of 129,000. 2012, 979,000 of revenue, which is a good job, by the way. 2013, the sales go to 436,000. They drop in half. You lost 200 grand. Travis that would be the year we started basically redoing the brand. Lemonis 2014, 311,000. Lost 87,000; 2015, 279,000. Lost 34 grand. Whats at stake for you guys in this business . Travis [sigh] the last five, six years of my life and my future, so, everything. Brad i moved home with my parents and my wife. Trevor the three of us have given blood, sweat, and tears into this business. Brad it broke my heart cause the whole Charity Aspect and giving back was what drove me to work so hard for the company. Lemonis and not take a pay. Brad yeah. Lemonis and move back with your wife to your parents house. Thats a big sacrifice. Brad trevor went through a tough time, obviously, after his mom passed. Trevor because of me, we just havent talked about it and discussed it as much as we should and i dont know how to tell that story. Its tough. Travis [crying] i feel bad. I feel bad for my best friend. [sniffle] thats it. I mean, no one deserves to like go through all that stuff. Just, it hurts, you know . Lemonis wow brad all those emotions came out at that table and amber marcus is gonna leave, or brad yeah. We literally thought we lost the deal with you. This is our last chance. Like if we miss this opportunity, like maybe there is no more flex. I mean, it was everything to us. Travis and like i started really like thinking like, holy jeez. Ive put so much time, effort, and energy into this thing and ive got nothing. Lemonis why is the back so plain . This thing looks like rushed and unfinished. This, to me, feels like a High School Art project. Amber in that moment, did you think marcus was gonna walk out the door . Brad mmhmm. Travis yeah. Brad we literally thought we lost the deal and i think both of us were just like, oh, [bleep]. Travis yeah. Where you can find games, news and highlights. All in one place, right on your tv. The new xfinity sports zone. Use your voice to search every stat and score. Follow the teams you love. And get notifications when the games about to start, with the xfinity sports zone, everybody wins. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Say xfinity sports zone into your voice remote today. Lemonis youre emotional because you believe in what youre doing. Brad you okay . Travis i started really like thinking, ive put so much time, effort, and energy into this thing and ive got nothing, except a gold watch and a [bleep] box, so. [ laughter ] and this kid lost his mom. It almost felt like we let her down. Amber and, in that moment, did you think marcus was gonna walk out the door . Travis oh, yeah. Lemonis play. Whats the business worth today, in your mind . Trevor wed like to think that its close to about a 2 million evaluation. Lemonis business that did 279,000 last year and lost 34,000 . And its a plastic watch. My offer, in paying off the liabilities, putting 100,000 of inventory, putting 100,000 of working capital in the bank so that rent and salaries and things can get paid, and then dedicating 100,000 specifically towards Mass Marketing to the world would total. Travis shocked. Lemonis . About 400,000, for 40 of the business. Travis oh, a 1 million value. Lemonis thats what it is. Travis so, obviously, we have to discuss this. Lemonis brads brad like what . Amber brad. Brad what is there to discuss . Lemonis brads like, uh, i dont think theres much to discuss. Travis where were at, we have to dilute each 20 . Trevor its not about that. We need marcus as a partner. Travis i think were gonna take your deal. Lemonis before i write this check, there is no question that im 100 in charge. We have a deal . Brad we have a deal. Trevor we appreciate it, marcus. Thank you so much. Lemonis absolutely. Trevor wow. Lemonis congratulations, guys. Travis thanks again. Lemonis get your ass to work. Amber just wondering like how do you put a valuation on a business . Lemonis in this particular case, the money that i put into the business was essentially buying a team and, oftentimes, in business and this is a really important thing big, large corporations will make acquisitions and theyll make acquisitions for the talent, not the asset. That was literally the math on the deal. It had nothing to do with the watches, nothing to do with the revenue. I kinda got a hell of a deal. Amber got a great deal. Yeah. Karlo hello, guys. Welcome to shiekh. Lemonis how are ya . Karlo how are you doing . Lemonis im marcus. Karlo nice to meet you, marcus. Lemonis are you the manager here . Karlo im the store manager. Lemonis how has flex watches done with your store . Karlo they did very well. Good price point. We had the other, different design. It wasnt these. It was a different rubberstyle watch. Lemonis generation one. And you still carry those today . Karlo that style, no. Lemonis what happened to the old style . Travis there was a Corporate Office and they requested that we had a more expensive price point cause it was just not worth his time to sell the watch. Lemonis so you did 1 million with the watches and then, all of a sudden, youre like, thats too much. Travis essentially. Lemonis brad, were you consulted in that process . Brad yeah. I was. If its not broke, dont fix it. Lemonis what do you think this company, the Corporate Office, would say if there was a display that was built on our dime just for them that was really beautiful and it told the story . Trevor i think theyd be onboard. Lemonis do you know what a silent salesperson is . Trevor something that sells itself. Lemonis sells itself. And so, if we had something built, probably cost 300 bucks, whats the wholesale order that would go into that first slot . Travis 1,000. Lemonis whats your margin on it . Travis about 500 bucks. Lemonis okay. 300 investment, 500 in gross margin, 200 in profit. If we provide retailers with a simple, affordable, silent salesman display, it makes it easier for everybody. [ clock ticking ] they dont have to invest the valuable time that it takes telling the initial story. The silent salesman display will cost flex about 300 to provide to the retailer, but, it will be able to carry about 1,000 worth of inventory, the 50 margin, so, while well only net 200 with the first order 500 of gross profit less the 300 from the silent salesman every order after that will yield the full 500 in gross profit. What were gonna do is were going to design a freestanding trade display. I wanna task you guys with coming up with a vision board that incorporates everything that you think you are. Amber to do a silent salesman, you need to know your vision, right . And know your story. Lemonis yeah, because, if you dont have a clear vision of who you are and why you do what you do and why the customer should give a crap, then i dont know what you put on this contraption youre building. Brad you dont know what youre selling with the silent salesman. Lemonis yeah. Travis that scene was the first time that i was having the visual realization that like my story is not working. Like this packaging doesnt tell a story and i was like seeing it. At that moment, i was like, alright. Maybe he does know what hes talking about. Trevor lets see here. I thought this would be good. This is newport. This is where i learned to surf. This is where i grew up goin to the beach. Travis obviously, san diego, since we started in san diego. Brad i feel like theres a lotta beach. The whole brand isnt beach. Youre not gonna wear this to the beach. Trevor lets move on to these. Travis okay. Travis i think Something Like this shows having fun. I mean, personally, i skate, so, i feel strongly about this. Trevor so, heres my thing with skating. Obviously, we dont make skateboards. I dont like the street side of it. I dont like the grungy skatewear, asphalt, the colors. It just feels like it doesnt fit. Travis should we kind of include something about your mom and the meal program . Trevor i dont wanna use it. Travis it fits into our brand. Trevor i think were way more of a travis so you would say trevor theyre fine. Travis im kinda lost. Brad trevor, youre gonna want this, right . Travis hold on. Dont cut me off. Im in the middle of trying brad well, im trying to back you up here. Travis alright. Let me just make my point real quick. Im telling us who we are. Trevor this is not the imagery that fits our watches, the style. That is not our direction. Travis lets be honest. Trevor that doesnt have to be the brand travis this is who we are amber how hard was that, to work on the vision board . Travis it was very hard. That was like a fourhour process. It was very difficult. There was different personalities and things were clashing in the office and then like we just couldnt make a brand that like made sense. Kate tell me more about why youre doing this. Travis we started with 10 colors, 10 charities, and we donated 10 . Lemonis you have a flex watch on . Amber i do. What charity is it going to . Travis thats the antibullying one. Amber i am so into antibullying. Lemonis you are . cause i feel amber im 100. Lemonis very bullied, right . Amber you bully me all the time. Lemonis if youre looking to take your business to the next levevel, log on to. Amber they are now w assimilad intoto many of your businenes, did yocould be signs that syour digestive systemwn isnt working at its best . Taking metamucil every day can help. Metamucil supports your daily Digestive Health using a special plantbased fiber called psyllium. Psyllium works by forming a gel in your digestive system to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. Metamucils gelling action also helps to lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. So, start feeling lighter and more energetic. By taking metamucil every day. My bladder leak underwear. Orried someone might see so, i switched. To always discreet boutique. Its shapehugging threads smooth out the back. So it fits better than depend. And no one notices. Always discreet. sensethe lack of control when iover my businessai, made me a little intense. But now quickbooks helps me get paid, manage cash flow, and run payroll. And now im back on top. With koala kai. vo save over 40 hours a month with intuit quickbooks. Which is, i think, really interesting. How many episodes have you been in . Brad at least five. Travis yeah. Amber five. Lemonis you guys have seen a lot of people come and go. Brad mmhmm. Travis jd customs. Lemonis brad, who deals with a lot of fulfillment in retail, and they wanted to talk to you a little bit about some product. Travis the diaper dudes. Brad brad. Chris nice to meet you. Brad nice to meet you. We handle all the operations for all the brands that we bring in. Chris right on. Awesome. Travis feat socks. Travis for you to call yourself a leader, and then discredit me. Taylor but thats why travis you havent taken the time to learn [bleep]. Im over it. Like, you guys figure it the [bleep] out. Brad it wasnt our fault theyre not around anymore. Amber play. Travis could we kind of include something about your mom . Trevor this just isnt us. Travis it is. Its part of who we are. Trevor that doesnt have to be the brand travis this is who we are walk away, then. Ugh. Im literally over this. Like, i cant do this. Lemonis hey, guys. Travis hey. Trevor hey. Travis marcus, how you doing . Lemonis ive engaged a renowned branding agency based in los angeles, called oishii. Theyre experts at really giving people good feedback, and helping them develop their brand. Ismael hi. Hows it going . Travis hey, guys. Ismael hey. Great. Brad brad. Travis travis. Kate hi, travis. Im kate. Express yourself. Get creative, flexible. Ismael how about this . Flex isnt just a fashion statement. Its a lifestyle. Kate i mean, obviously, this is a very. Californiainspired mood board. Ismael it feels like a travel agency, you know, like youre enticing me to go to california. Lemonis did you know it was a watch company . Kate no. Amber pause. Im curious as to when you decide to basically outsource, to go to someone for branding. Lemonis well, because i felt like they needed along the way, i wanted them to continue to hear it from other people, because i didnt feel like they were listening, or i didnt actually think they believed what i was telling them. Amber did you . Travis the positive reinforcement from other people telling us we didnt do it right helped, for sure. Lemonis thats code for no, right . Amber no. Lemonis play. Amber okay. Play. Trevor i think a lot of Middle America buy that california lifestyle. Kate mmhmm. The market is very crowded with people wanting to tell the california story. Sometimes, it can come across as very disingenuous. Trevor this is like home to me. I feel like this is part of who we are. Lemonis i saw you shake your head. Travis im just bummed. Lemonis well, what are you bummed about . Travis our story doesnt come across. Amber in this moment, like, how embarrassed are you, when youre. Brad you can see it on his face. Amber i could see cause in your face more than anybodys. Brad yeah. We all wanted to impress marcus, you know, and again, our story wasnt coming across. Travis i understood digital marketing, but i couldnt execute it in the way that i do now because i couldnt tell the story. So, like, once he kind of unlocked me, i really started to find my way, and i could sell shoes. I could sell glasses. I could sell cookies. I could sell pretty much anything. Lemonis in my opinion, youve really evolved as a person. Because a lot of people come to you for you to help them. Travis for sure. I think just. Lemonis just like a giant twist of faith. Travis giant twist. Ismael a lot of brands try to infuse lifestyle. Part of the problem of that is that it becomes a cacophony of lifestyle images. At the end of the day, its like, who cares . Kate tell me more about why youre doing this. Travis we started with 10 colors, 10 charities, and we donated 10 . So, it was 10 colors, 10 charities. Ismael i love that. You guys have to understand that creating a brand with a cause goes above and beyond the product that you sell. What im buying is you guys. Kate right. Ismael its the story. Its the belief. Its a conviction. Its a passion. You guys have it, but youve missed it completely. Kate now that we have that, i can actually see why youre doing what youre doing, and im definitely more in love with what it is. Ismael thank you very much. Travis yeah. Thank you very much for all the help. Lemonis very nice. Thank you. Kate thank you. Lemonis thank you so much. Ismael thank you, guys. Lemonis the fact that you didnt make your mom the showcase of it all, i cant understand it. Weve talked about it. What is it that didnt make it the big frontandcenter thing . Trevor i really feel like too much of that, i dont. For this board, im not gonna put pictures of me and my mom on there. This is not who i want flex to be. Amber can you tell me why a customer would, like, crave a clear story . Lemonis a customer wants a clear story so they understand how to connect to it. And people like to buy from people or connect to a cause. And if we look at how the millennial trend is moving, they want to buy from Small Companies with a story. Travis like the autism watch, for instance, its like all people who have identified as someone with an interest in autism, because they like an autism page, or they follow an autism group. Right . Amber right. Travis so, thats how we find our customers. Lemonis you have a flex watch on . Amber i do. What charity is it going to . Travis thats the antibullying one. Amber i am so into antibullying. Lemonis you are . Amber 100. Lemonis because i feel very bullied, right . Amber you bully me all the time. Ill give you 100. Maybe itll shut him up. Brad done. Lemonis coming up. Travis i need to make a display as fast as possible. Naim its like 20, 30 days. Travis i dont care. We have to rush it. I just need to throw artwork together, dude. Can you help me throw some artwork together . Lemonis this will go down as the worst scene in the history of the profit. It was so bad. I watched this episode, and i was like, what in the piss is this . Lemonis when you guys watch this, robinwithout the commission fees. So, you can start investing today wherever you are even hanging with your dog. So, what are you waiting for . Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. Think you need to buy expensive skincare products [ ] to see dramatic results . Try olay skin care. Just one jar of microsculpting cream has the hydrating power of 5 jars of a prestige cream, which helps plump skin cells and visibly smooth wrinkles. While new olay retinol24. Provides visibly smoother, brighter skin. For dramatic skincare results, try olay. And now receive 25 off your purchase at olay. Com brand power. Helping you buy better. I dont have to worry about that, do i . Harmful bacteria lurk just below the gum line. Crest gum detoxify, voted product of the year. It works below the gum line to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. Gum detoxify, from crest. What do you think to yourself . Brad damn, we were fat. [ laughter ] amber damn, we were fat. Brad i mean, i feel like were in a lot better place mentally, physically, like, in business. Travis you actually have to slow down, instead of speed up, and really assess whats happening around you, so that you can make the right decisions. And i was, like, frantic, and you were the one who was like, slow the [bleep] down. You know what i mean . Lemonis and i move fast. Amber speaking of slowing down, what did you call him in the very beginning, the minuteman, or the minute rice . Travis yeah. Amber minute rice . And then, there was, like, a meme . Brad his face on the minute rice box. Amber can you pull that up . Do you have it . Lemonis for real . Brad yeah. Amber yeah, for real. It went viral. Amber oh, my god. Lemonis lets keep going. Were finally ready for production, but candidly, these guys still lack in their process, and im not just gonna let them run loose. Were gonna start with something much easier first. Travis we could change the pattern on this to match whats on the watch. Lemonis ive arranged a meeting with tinsel, a Worldwide Packaging design company, to come up with a special box that will separate us from everybody else. Trevor when you open this, thered be Something Else right here, cut out, and this would be a different color. Lemonis also, ive asked travis to come up with a new display case, and make a list of various manufacturers. Travis i need to make a display as fast as possible. Naim its like 20, 30 days. Its conceptualizing, then drawing it lemonis pause. Pause. Pause. Amber okay. Lemonis theres moments where im not there, and theres moments where i should be there. This is one of those moments. When we make our last episode, this will go down as the worst scene in the history of the profit. I watched this episode. I was like, what in the piss is this . Travis this is gonna be the first box. Lemonis box is cool. Are these the towers . Travis yeah. This is more of your freestanding store. Lemonis im gonna pull this out, if thats okay. Travis yeah, yeah, totally. Lemonis does it have wheels . Travis no. Lemonis why is the back so plain . This thing looks, like, rushed and unfinished. I couldnt be more disappointed with the display case that im seeing. This silent salesman has to be able to sell the product on its own, but the one that im looking at right now isnt selling me anything. This was travis responsibility, and yet again, it looks like hes rushed through it. Lemonis when you make a freestanding display for a store, they want to move it around. It has to be seen from all sides. Wheres the story. This, to me, feels like a highschool art project. That ended up being the coolest box ever. Brad yeah. It was cool. Travis yeah. Lemonis because it has weight, and because it has structure to it, and hard walls, it made the watch seem infinitely more expensive. And then, you guys ended up. You ended up. Brad moving to that for 30 cents. Travis 3 versus 30 cents. Lemonis and i disagreed with this change cutting it, and making a crappy cardboard thing. Travis well, i made a version of it, trying to be economical, because when you use a lightweight packaging it saves you a lot of money on the packaging and the shipping. Lemonis bad move. Amber bad move. Why . Lemonis when you start to cut corners a dollar here, a dollar there i dont think the savings in cost outweigh the perceived value. And i told him that, and he did it anyway. Travis i still really like this box, though. Lemonis yeah, no, clearly you do. Good luck to you. [ laughter ] coming up. How is that on story for the company . Trevor i dont think every design has to be on story. Lemonis i knew that, if they could grasp this concept, it would change the business forever. For exclusives, extras, and business advice, visit theprofit. Cnbc. Com. Hey, our workers comp insurance is expiring. Should i just renew it . Yeah, sure. Hey there, Small Business owner. Pie insurance here with some sweet advice to stop you from overpaying on workers comp. Try pie instead and save up to 30 . Thirty percent . Really . Sure get a quote in 3 minutes at easyaspie. Com. That is easy. So, need another reminder . No, im good. Reminder for what . Oh. Ho ho, yeah need workers comp insurance . Get a quote in 3 minutes at easyaspie. Com. Lemonis i am upset about it. But well move on. Travis well go back. Lemonis no, dont go back. Dont unhunh. Dont do it now. Travis no. I want to go back. Lemonis no, go play. Travis im still learning. Lemonis play. The base feels plain. Theres no casters. The back is plain. The top is plain. But we saved 2. Travis it doesnt represent the charity at all. Lemonis why not . Travis the watch will, but. Lemonis but why wouldnt the box speak to the color . As a consumer, do i know what the message is if i just walk by it quick . Youve got to fix that case. You guys have to come up with something better. Im sorry to keep coming back to this thing. Amber oh, no. Lemonis the product inside the box. Amber oh, my gosh. Lemonis okay. Can i have the watch, please, for a second . Take the watch off. Amber can i have it back . Lemonis theres nothing magical about what this does. People dont buy it because they want to know what time it is. People buy it because they want to support an organization thats meaningful to them. In this particular case, i wanted to give the sender of the gift 100 comfort that what they were sending was gonna be perceived as value. And thats why the box mattered. Amber okay. Its a great business lesson, everyone, on perceived value. Lemonis its the receiver that perceives the value. Amber i get it. Why are you angry at me . They didnt listen to you. Lemonis honestly. Amber oh, my god. Lemonis yeah. Ive just got to move on. Amber id like that. Travis wow. Awesome. Russell how you guys doing . Lemonis the silent salesman is an important marketing tool, but its not the most important one. That would be the website. So, ive set up a meeting with my friend, Russell Brunson, one of the worlds top experts in internet marketing. Hes gonna give the team some feedback, and hes gonna help us go to the next level. Russell i was looking around flexwatches. Com. Looking around. Theres all these options. Kind of got bored. Was the charity thing obvious to you when you first went on the site . Russell not at all. Like, the story wasnt clear. Trevor yeah. Russell i own a Company Called clickfunnels, so any entrepreneur can build a sales funnel. Lemonis at its most basic, an online sales funnel is a series of pages that leads consumers to the checkout introducing the product, telling the story, getting them invested in it, finally, taking them to the sales page, and even upselling them additional products. Its a great way to convert visitors into customers because youre giving them stepbystep guidance. Lemonis did you put some ideas together on paper for them to see . Russell i did. The first thing i want to show you for a redesign for the home page. We did this, right here. So, what happens is, it shows right here, and then, theres a video of you guys telling your story. And then, you tell them, look down below, and find the cause that matches what you care about the most. They come down here, and they say, oh, hey, im interested in Breast Cancer. Lemonis look at travis shaking his head. Russell . How much money has been raised so far, and they can come click on it. Then, it takes them to the first funnel. Trevor this is sick. Travis im floored. Im literally floored. This is. Lemonis okay. Lets get some more boards. Travis alright. Brad hed been talking to me about Russell Brunson that morning, so it was like. Amber yeah. You were a big, like, Russell Brunson fan. Travis i loved it. Yeah. I watched all his youtube videos on how to do funnels and ecommerce. Lemonis what did you think when he showed that to you . Brad it was awesome. Travis i thought that he finally like, we could finally tell the story online. It was the first time that id actually seen the story told so clearly. Russell if someone was to click on Breast Cancer, for example, so whats the process, now, we take that person through . Here, we would have a very emotional video of somebody telling their story about the cause. We have whatever the watch offer is, persons story here. If we can connect with them here, then weve got them as a customer for life. Travis that, honestly, is beautiful. Russell you get hit with the cause, not the product right away. Travis exactly. Thats awesome. Lemonis any other boards . Russell yep. So, now, theyve purchased the watch. They need more watch bands. If i got the yellow one, i wanted want the black and the blue and the purple one. I would want the whole kit. So, make a very special onetime offer, where they can get a big discount on all six watches. All they do is click yes on this button. Trevor it all just looks so good. Lemonis any final direction for them . Russell the biggest core thing we need is a really good emotional catchy video from you guys, telling your story, and you need a really good video for each charity. Lemonis anybody could sell a watch, and i want to know why you want me to buy it. Create that connection with somebody. I really want you to work on that. Amber okay, so, i have a question about you redesigned your website, obviously. Travis now, we use a combination of shopify and clickfunnels. We still have those funnels. Amber and how have the funnels really helped your business . Travis they help a lot. Once you get into a funnel, you can really only buy that product, and upsell whats predetermined. And, like, with a shopify website, you can have a shopping cart, and you can have multiple products. So, the funnels are still really good. Lemonis come on in. Trevor hey, marcus. Lemonis how are you guys . Trevor good to see you. Jason hey, guys. Nice to meet you. Trevor trevor. Travis travis. Brad brad. Lemonis printed village connects artists from around the world with Companies Looking for unique designs for their products. Lemonis take a minute, the three of you, and i want you to pick out designs. Trevor alright. I like this. I like that its different. I think the skull thing is kind of fun. Brad i dont think skulls, and the edginess, and the darkness im not a fan of. Travis dont like the skulls. Its a no for me. Brad no. Amber when you come into this business, and you see someone like travis, that is very, like, shoot from the hip, and doing a bunch of Different Things, and trying new things, is that risky for you . Lemonis no. Because i see a lot of myself in travis. When i was his age, i was always trying stuff, throwing stuff against the wall, seeing what worked, seeing what doesnt work. And i didnt have the blessing of having somebody like brad that close to me, so i would make a lot of mistakes. Travis risks were mitigated by brads conservativism. But theres one Common Thread that connects the two of them, and thats their sincerity and integrity. We havent seen it very often. Amber no. Lemonis all jokes aside, i think you guys are the reason that our relationship has lasted as long as it has, is because i can call you at 2 00 in the morning, and ask you to drive to kentucky, and you would go no joke. Amber id go, too, for you. Lemonis no, you wouldnt. Amber yes, i would. Lemonis no. You would tell me that youll check it out, and then you have a blowdry appointment and a dry bar appointment in the morning. I mean, i still love you, but. Amber lets continue. Lemonis yeah. Play. Trevor i still like it. Brad how does it have to do anything with who we are . Trevor well, people love halloween, though. I could argue that this is a fun thing to launch in october. Travis you lost your mom to Breast Cancer, so i dont think we want to push skulls. Trevor i think thats irrelevant. Travis i dont know that thats irrelevant. I think thats pretty relevant, but. Lemonis how is that on story for the company . Trevor its a design. Its patterns, right . I mean, this is. Lemonis but how is it on story for the company . Trevor i dont think every design has to be on story. Lemonis coming up. Im proud of you guys. Nice job. Watching their personal development, its a better payoff for me than the financial side. Like, all the other stuff just doesnt matter. Amber like the box that he didnt change. Lemonis no, the box still matters. [ laughter ] you want a freshsmelling home, trevor i think the but some air fresheners use heavy, overwhelming scents. Try febreze one; a range of innovative air fresheners with no heavy perfumes that you can feel good about using in your home to deliver a light, naturalsmelling freshness. Febreze one neutralizes stale, stuffy odors and releases a subtle hint of fragrance like bamboo or lavender eucalyptus. To eliminate odors with no heavy perfumes, try febreze one. Brand power. Helping you buy better. Fun. Travis i think thats the complete opposite for what we want to be pushing. Trevor its a cool design. I like that. Lemonis we went to the creative agency. What did they tell you . Brad we were trying to be cool. Lemonis and what did they tell you would happen when you started to market it . Travis you get swallowed up by everyone else. Lemonis we cannot depart from story. Find out what the story is, and have a business with purpose. Alright . Next . Brad this one, i think, is the most fun. Trevor i dont care for those colors. Theres a lot going on. Travis i personally like the other geometric shapes that you chose with the right color, so. Brad i prefer that one, as well. Travis when we do the meal program, there was, like, arts and crafts in mexico. So, like, all these kids get around, and like make fun stuff. Lemonis and thats a great story. Youve seen the path that im looking for you to go down. Im looking for you to come up with a cause, and then, were gonna submit it to printed village. So, i want to do the one about your mom, okay . Trevor absolutely. Lemonis okay. Thank you, buddy. Appreciate you. I like the printed village scene because i really feel like it started to pull them together. And it was another exercise of immersing them in a situation where, they werent all gonna agree, and thats okay, but they were starting to understand that they needed to have some sort of connectivity. When we met with russell, we talked about a video. Any progress been made on the video . Trevor yeah. We have a couple things, actually. Lemonis can i see it . Trevor yeah. Lemonis im nervous and excited at the same time. While this video is gonna give me the indication of whether trevor is qualified to be the marketing guy, more importantly, its gonna tell me if hes really ready to tell his story. Woman 2 hi. The same pain man 5 what does she do . Doesnt she lay there, and read her magazine . Trevor no. She slobbered. Man 5 oh. Woman 2 love my kid. Man 5 hold it up. Lemonis not only does the video tell the story, and not only will it resonate with people, but trevor really has come to grips with the reality of why they started the business. But on an emotional level, hes made a ton of progress, and thats good for business. Its really nice. Trevor thank you. Travis he produced the song. Lemonis you wrote that . Trevor i wrote it. I played guitar, sang. We feel so good. Its crazy. We feel so inspired, again, to share with people about these causes that we care about. Lemonis the reality of it is, is that the reason your business was good is because people like the story, and you had to fall in love with the story again yourself. Brad this is why i was so gung ho about flex. It was about doing positive things, and about raising awareness. I have more pride in our brand. I am excited to tell the story. Lemonis im proud of you guys. Nice job. Nice job. Nice job. Brad thank you. Lemonis the video was, for me, the most important thing that happened. I knew that, if they could grasp this concept, it would change the business forever. Travis i think that was the first time that all of us kind of had, like, one vision. After seeing that, and meeting with russell, and, like, putting together the displays, and the packaging, and really, like, going through that process, i felt like we all had our confidence back. That was the beginning. Like, we could have closed any deal after that, it felt like, you know . Amber yeah. Lemonis watching their personal development, and watching their success, its a better payoff for me than the financial side. What happened after this episode, i think, is more important. The business really exploded. It became a legitimate business pretty quickly. What was the most that you sold since the show aired in 1 year . Brad a million two. Lemonis 1. 2 million. We made good money. Travis yeah. Lemonis brad and travis have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities since this episode aired. Amber thats incredible. Lemonis weve raised almost 100,000 for autism alone. Brad yeah, and bullying. Amber wow. Travis yeah, bullying. I mean, weve planted. Brad bullying, clean water, Breast Cancer. Travis weve planted tens of thousands of trees. Weve given tens of thousands of meals. Weve given clean water to hundreds of people for life. Amber wow. Lemonis like, all the other stuff doesnt matter. It just doesnt matter. Amber like the box that he didnt change. Lemonis no, the box still [bleep] matters. The box still matters. Amber you Better Change that package back, i guess. Lemonis or not. He owns the business now. He can have a sucky package, like he did before. Amber on that note. Brad buy flex watches. [ laughter ] its 5 00 a. M. At cnbc global headquarters. Another wednesday whips off for wall street after stocks stage a wild rally into yesterdays close. No biden bump this morning despite the former Vice President securing more key delegates in his fight to become the democratic president ial nominee. And washington on alert, the Trump Administration exploring multiple options to shore up the u. S. Economy in the face of the growing coronavirus threat worse than after september 11th, strong words from the ceo of one of americas Largest Airline operators, when it comes to fallin