Transcripts For CNBC The Profit 20240712

You said, we can sell anything, and i think i need to put that to the test. But if they cant put aside their pride and arrogance. Parker im pretty sure that i ran the biggest business before out of all of us. Travis ive actually done more than you in three businesses that ive owned. You havent taken the time to learn [bleep] lemonis . And prove to me that they can achieve the goals ive set for them. Have you figured out your specific business entirely . Taylor no. Lemonis well, what the [bleep] nobodys stopping you from figuring that out. Taylor were trying. Lemonis . Theyre gonna lose this follower for good. Taylor this is where we think we can add the most value because we just lemonis well, youre not gonna add the most value by getting it and pissing people off. Thats not a good way to add value. My name is Marcus Lemonis, and i risk my own money to save struggling businesses. Were not gonna wake up every morning wondering if we have a job. Were gonna wake up every morning wondering how many jobs we have to do. Its not always pretty. Everythings gonna change. Everything. But i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. This. Lets go to work. Is the profit. I just arrived in venice, california, and im heading over to taylor and parkers office. Socks are popular. You see them everywhere different patterns, different colors. And while theres definitely a Business Opportunity here, i have a very limited interest in investing in the sock business. Im more interested in understanding how these guys generated over 2 million of revenue selling socks. They have over 100,000 followers on instagram, they have a great youtube presence, and every time they do a video, they get tens of thousands of views. Pretty impressive for two guys that are selling socks. Is that your Business Plan . Parker oh, boy. Lemonis playing football by the beach . Taylor exactly the Business Plan. Lemonis whats happening . Im marcus. Taylor whats up . Taylor. Nice to meet you. Lemonis taylor, nice to meet you. Parker parker. Good to meet you, yeah. Lemonis so, is this your house . Parker yeah, i live here. Taylor this is the place of residence. Lemonis wheres the office . Taylor right here. Lemonis and what is this batmobile . Taylor this is a car that i made a bet with a big youtuber that if he could sell 20,000 pairs of socks, id give him my car. He ended up selling like 18,000 pairs, and it brought him like 500,000 of revenue. I got to keep the car. Lemonis what do you when it rains . Taylor umbrella. Nah, i just take an uber. Lemonis so, this is the headquarters . Taylor this is it. Well do a couple Million Dollars out of here. Heres a box of socks. So, it would be nine pairs. Lemonis whats one pair of socks sell for . Taylor depending how discounts we always have discounts floating they sell for anywhere from 7 to 15. Lemonis and whats the cost . Taylor its 2. Lemonis what does the box sell for . Taylor that sells for 100 bucks. Lemonis when did you start the business . Taylor 2014, our senior year at umass amherst. Parker we were in the back of an entrepreneurship class. And taylor was in the front of the class and hes got his chest out and hes like, i made 20,000 selling tshirts to fraternities and sororities. Taylor and so parker comes up to me, super humble, and hes like, oh, thats cool, man. I make custom stuff, too. I make custom lacrosse uniforms. And ive done over 1 million in sales. By his senior year. Lemonis you were like, oh, excuse me. What . Taylor he was saying everyone with the lacrosse uniforms parker wanted socks to match their uniforms, and i was like, what is this trend . Why do people care about socks so much . And taylors like, lets sell socks on campus tomorrow. Taylor parker had this little, dinky, 500 heat press. Parker were just printing taylor and we would just get Google Images and print socks, and we made a couple hundred pairs. That day, we sold a couple thousand dollars. Senior year of college, we were like, how do we blow this company up . Oh, so, we were very, very set on going after influencers. And i learned all these influencers lived in the same building in hollywood. There was like 20 kids with over a million followers. Lemonis each . Taylor yeah. So, i told parker, i was like, hey, were moving into this building. Were living with these kids. Were becoming friends with these kids. Were gonna work with these kids. Lemonis an influencer is somebody who can influence or drive somebodys behavior to act in a certain way, to buy a product, to go to an event, and they do that all on social media. Imagine a celebrity promoting a breakfast cereal. The way that these guys have actually tapped into that is they understand how to tap in to other influencers and create that same effect. Its kind of genius. Parker after graduating college, we raised 250,000. Lemonis from who . Parker one of our advisors. And then probably 18 months ago, we raised 1 million from a single angel. And then once we got that money is kind of when we had some of our highest highs but also our lowest lows. Taylor so, we had this money. We were like, cool. Now we have to go hire people. Anyone want a job . Doesnt matter what you do. Come join us. We need people. We had a 5,000squarefoot warehouse over here in inglewood. We did all distribution, and we had a sales team in house, our marketing, graphic designers. Parker three content creators. Taylor . Customer service. Parker but collaborations with influencers was so up and down. Taylor wed do a 550,000 month, and then wed do a 50,000 month. Parker at the time, that was kind of the backbone of how we made money. And it was an inefficient business model. Lemonis and when did you shut that model down . Parker that would have been taylor about a year ago. And we realized it was just better to outsource and automate everything in our business. Lemonis so, how much money did you burn through in that experiment . Parker 650,000, plus 300,000 in inventory. Lemonis and this is the only job you have . Taylor yeah. Parker we try to pay ourselves a salary. Lemonis okay. And how much . Parker were each 60 grand a year. Lemonis okay. And the company can afford that . Parker um, most months. Lemonis im intrigued by the fact that you were able to do a couple Million Dollars worth of socks without any retail distribution, the fact that you understand the influencer game, which is different than understanding digital marketing. Parker we understand digital advertising. Like, thats something we personally have gotten really good at, the creative. Taylor we think we can sell anything with a kind of dominance. Lemonis have you ever had to do it with a different product . Taylor yeah. So, weve actually done it for hoodies. And our hoodie sales in the past, what, four months parker in one month, our hoodies sales passed our sock business. Lemonis do you have a hoodie . Parker let me just grab one and pull it out here. This is the softest hoodie in the world. Lemonis so, now youre not in the sock business . Taylor we are. Were still selling. Lemonis so, is it better for me to think about you guys as your own selfmade digitalmarketing agency . Taylor yes. Were the digitalmarketing agency that understands millennials and how to market to them and how to use social media to talk to them and market and brand. Lemonis who owns what in the company . Taylor our First Investor has, what, 16 . Second investor has 10 . Lemonis and then you guys own the rest. Parker yeah. Lemonis and then what are your roles in the company . Taylor i focus more on the social aspect so, instagram, being active there, then also customer service, oversee that, and then making sure the packages get out. Lemonis so, youre social and logistics. Taylor exactly. Parker i focus on finance, most product development, and all the digital acquisition, actually buying ads. Lemonis okay. So, whyd you guys call me . Parker a big thing on our mind right now is q4 of this year. We should do 50 of our total revenue on the year in q4. We had to take such a bet to make that happen, all the purchasing, all the manufacturing. And it, a little bit, scares us cause we just went through all the stuff we went through. Lemonis and where do you get the money from to do it . I think its really understanding what assets you truly have in your vault. I feel like we need to go somewhere other than this. Too often, businesses, small or big, think that capital is the answer to everything. Okay. These guys think they need outside capital for their operating expenses, but they dont, and im about to show them why. Let me see these socks first. Taylor so, this is, like, a random collection cause we dont really hold any inventory here. Lemonis how many pairs of socks in stock . Taylor we are sitting on 96,000. Lemonis of that inventory, how much of it is garbage . Taylor i would say maybe 25,000 to 30,000. Lemonis why . Parker bad licensing deal, bad influencer, ordering. Lemonis so, problem one lockedup cash. And that lockedup cash, 30,000 pairs at cost, is 60,000 bucks. Parker yep. Lemonis problem two no plan. Parker no plan. Lemonis have you ever guys put a video out that just said, we fd up, and we need your help . Taylor yeah, we could definitely do that. Parker lets make a selfie video. Taylor i could post on instagram right now. Lemonis lets do it. Taylor five minutes. Well do 10 socks for 20 bucks. Well move them at 2 a pair. Lemonis what do you want to call it . Taylor we fd up box. Were here with parker right now, and whats this product were making . Parker its called the we fd up box. Taylor were making the we fd up box. Lemonis ill buy 10,000 worth of socks. Taylor okay. Lemonis . If you can generate 50,000. Parker okay. Lemonis right now, though. Taylor youll give us 10 grand . Lemonis yep. Im not giving you 10 grand. Im buying 10,000 worth of socks, and ill donate them. Taylor are we live . Parker were live. Taylor its called the we fd up bundle. Its 20 bucks. Swipe up right now. Marcus said we need to sell 30,000 pairs today cause we have 30,000 extra units of socks. Go. Swipe up. Swipe up. We need your help. Lemonis if these guys think that theyre so good at what they do, i thought i would take a test drive. Before i give them any idea of what i want to do with them, i want to see if they could actually solve their own problem. So, im gonna give you guys about an hour, and then im gonna have you guys meet me at a restaurant. I want you to bring your financials, and i want you to bring your laptops. Taylor eight boxes so far. Parker count em down, baby. Lemonis okay . Ill see you guys in a little bit. Parker all right. Taylor whats up . Lemonis how you guys doing . Taylor good to see you again. Lemonis hows it shaking . Taylor uh, just getting, like, chachings every maybe two seconds. Lemonis that ding is a register that keeps ringing, right . Taylor we could turn it off if its annoying. Lemonis no, no, its not annoying. How is the sound of a register ringing annoying . So, walk me through the financials. Do you have them printed out, by chance . Parker we dont have them printed out. You kind of knew that was coming, didnt you . Lemonis yes. Parker this is our p l this year, yeah. Lemonis so, lets just look at the summary so far year to date. Taylor yep. Lemonis 1,236,000 worth of business. Your gross profit was 544,000, not even 50 , on a directtoconsumer business. 439,000 of advertising, which is your cost of acquisition, paid search, all of those things, right . Parker thats right. Lemonis your Net Operating Income for the year, after paying those expenses and those growths and the marketing, is a loss of 100 grand, which is kind of terrible on a sock that costs 2 and youre selling it for, you said, about 7. Taylor well, no. I mean, like, an average of 5, 6. Lemonis well, theyre not even. If your margins are 50 , youd buy for 2 and sell for 4. Taylor yeah. Lemonis so, youre selling it for less than 4. How is that . Parker through bundling and sales. Lemonis just to get volume. Parker yeah, we were just trying to get volume. Taylor any cash we could. 50,600 now. I think we might be able to pay for dinner. Lemonis you havent factored in one number. Taylor 10,000 . Lets go. Lemonis winters coming, and well give people some socks. Taylor cool. Lemonis you want to take it here . Taylor yeah, we can do it here right now. Im doing charge. Credit card declined . Just kidding. [ laughter ] there it is. Lemonis parker, did you think youd get to 50,000 this quick, truthfully . Parker not really, not that quick, no. No way. Taylor i knew. This is where i lemonis theres your cockiness. Taylor i wasnt cocky. I knew wed make it happen. Lemonis i like their energy and i like their enthusiasm and i like the fact that theyre confident. But it can tip over into arrogance, and arrogance can tip over into sloppiness and negligence. They didnt know to just put the socks on sale and generate the 50 grand. So, its like, great talent, but theyre green on the business side. Im fascinated by your energy and your enthusiasm. I think i can help you. I think you can help me. I think theres a lot that could be done. But i dont know where to start. This isnt like an internship. Parker yeah. Lemonis and im not gonna be here every day to say, okay, guys, heres your task for the day. So, normally i would sit down and say, okay, i want to invest 400,000, but i cant do that cause i literally dont know what the hell its gonna be. And so i dont think im willing to make an investment right now. You have the biggest mouth in the room. You are the mouthpiece. And so i believe that you could sell anything. Or maybe i was wrong. Honey, did you hear about these new geico savings . Mom . Youll get an extra 15 on top of what geico could already save you. Can i call you back . You know your fathers learning to make sourdough. Even though he knows i prefer rye theres never been a better time to save with geico. Switch by october seventh for an extra 15 on car and motorcycle insurance. Hey, next time lets do a face call ok, so, magnificent mile for me i thought i was managing. My moderate to severe Crohns Disease. Yes until i realized something was missing. Me. You ok, sis . My symptoms kept me from being there for my sisters. Flight boarding for flight 2007 to chicago. So i talked to my doctor and learned. Humira is for people who still have symptoms of Crohns Disease after trying other medications. And the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief. And many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. Serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Tell your doctor. If youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections. Or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Be there for you, and them. Ask your doctor about humira. With humira, remission is possible. If you cant afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. If you cant afford your medicine, wow. Jim could you ipop the hood for us . . There she is. Turbocharged, right . Yes it is. Jim, could you uh kick the tires . Oh yes. Can you change the color inside the car . Oh sure. How about blue . Thats more cyan but. Jump in the back seat, jim. Act like my kids. How much longer . Exactly how they sound. Its got massaging seats too, right . Oh yeahhhhh. Oh yeahhhhh. Visit the mercedesbenz summer event or shop online at participating dealers. Get 0 apr financing up to 36 months on select new and certified preowned models. Okay, i want to invest 400,000. But i dont think im willing to make an investment right now. I think we need to try some business things that perfect this talent. You said, we can sell anything, and i think i need to put that to the test. So, the next time we meet, id like to figure out how this company, whatever its gonna become, can turn into a multimilliondollar business three or four times over, okay . Taylor makes sense. Lemonis ready to get to work . Taylor yeah. Thank you so much. Parker thank you so much. Lemonis ill see you soon. Hey, travis, brad, juli, have you guys met . Juli hi. Juli. Nice to meet you. Parker good to meet you. Juli juli. Taylor hey. Taylor. Juli nice to meet you. Lemonis ive asked taylor and parker to meet me at my office in downtown los angeles, where i house a staff that sells a multitude of products that are already in my portfolio inkkas shoes, flex watches, ellison sunglasses, everkin phone cases. Travis and brad were originally my partners at flex, but now they handle sales and logistics for the entire group. And juli really oversees workflow. I now want to add taylor and parker so we can add these socialmedia and web skills to the entire group, essentially creating a super group. You guys took shoes that were doing nothing, and you tripled the business. You guys took socks. You created a market. You did 100 grand in 5 hours. So, we could take a bunch of businesses that we already own inkkas, flex, everkin, and ellison and we can partner with you guys, put feat socks in the pot, and say to ourselves, we have a digitalmarketing agency that owns these assets. Juli mmhmm. Lemonis but my goal is also to create an environment where people that dont have access to a big, highdollar agency can come here. And how do you folks become millionaires without having to buy any inventory . Unless thats not interesting to you. Taylor no, its very interesting. Thats exactly what we want. Parker yeah. Lemonis we ultimately need to prove three things we can sell the products we have thats one stream of revenue. Second stream of revenue would be other peoples products that you would represent, controlling the inventory and manage the logistics and marketing for other, smaller business brands that dont have the ability to do it. And these businesses contribute to the cash flow. But if we want to truly prove out this theory, youd want to almost see the five of you actually create a new brand. You say you can build a brand from scratch . Lets prove it. The first stream of revenue that i want them to work on are the existing products that everybodys bringing together inkkas, socks, flex watches, ellison sunglasses, and everkin phone accessories. The second stream of revenue is to find other Small Businesses that have great people, great products, or great process, but they need inventory management, manufacturing tools, marketing, digital marketing, accounting, et cetera. And in turn, there will be a fee to access those resources. And the third stream of revenue that i want community to come up with is to develop a product from scratch. What are we calling this thing . Parker community. Travis yeah. I like that. Lemonis great. Community i love. So, i have an idea. Why dont we all get on our social media and say, were gonna pick products. Youre gonna get launched in our digitalmarketing campaign. I want my team to get the ball rolling right away, and so im giving them two hours to find entrepreneurs that can pitch their product or their services and be represented by community. Essentially its like a casting call for businesses that want to take their company to the next level. Taylor if you have an idea and you want to work with marcus, respond with a dm lemonis not just with me. Taylor with all of us, shoot us a dm with your idea, any idea in the world. Please dm us. If youre in l. A. , let us know. You can come down and pitch us. First you got to get people excited, get some good ideas, and then well narrow it down. Lemonis so, what were gonna do is were gonna have people come through and sort of pitch their thing. What im gonna want to understand when we go in there is what your collective thought process is for picking them. Parker yep. Lemonis are you guys ready . Travis yeah. Lemonis im kind of shocked with how many people showed up. The office and the waiting room and the elevator is packed. Im stunned. Bryan this is swaggy. Hes, like, the richest dog on instagram. I want to start our own dogfood line. Arman the brand at hand is called half dead. Its a jewelry lifestyle brand. Ashley ive brought to you today an earth jade roller. This will help with eliminating those toxins from your skin. Juli i think, like, this is the next trend. Taylor but im scared. If i look this up on amazon, i can find it for 5 bucks, right . Ashley absolutely, but its not branded. Taylor so, we help you make this cool. Lindsay we launched in july of this year and have just hit 100,000 in sales. Brad you have 70 influencers that have a 50 million combined reach right now . Lindsay yes. Taylor i dont think this matches our model, unless anyone else wants to object. Lemonis taylors almost aggressive and somewhat dismissive. Like, if hes not interested, hes like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. The next . Steve cuts makes shirts. Weve been selling shirts via instagram and facebook for the last two years. Taylor theres nothing viral about it. Its a cool shirt. Man what im speaking about is an app and a platform that i have coming out called tenton. Within the app, im gonna have a section that has photos that ive curated before that also have, like, inspirational quotes. Taylor i dont understand who does this and how big the market is. Robbie so, im the cofounder of tenzo tea. The matchas a stoneground greentea powder. Its an amazingly healthy beverage. Taylor i just dont see where we could add a ton of value. Lemonis if your business is in trouble and you need my help, log on to. In a highly capable lexus suv at the golden opportunity sales event. Lease the 2020 nx 300 for 339 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Experience amazing Gillette Proglide and proglide gel. Five blades and a pivoting flexball designed to get virtually every hair on the first stroke, while washing away dirt and oil. So youre ready for the day with a clean shave and a clean face. Hold on one second. Sure. Okay. Okay safe drivers save 40 guys guys check it out. Safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 thats safe drivers save 40 . It is, thats safe drivers save 40 . Hes right there. Its him hes here. Hes right here. Hi hi. Hey thats totally him. Its him thats totally the guy. Safe drivers do save 40 . Click or call for a quote today. Safe drivers do save 40 . When you start with a better thats no way to treat a dog. You can do no wrong. Where did you learn that . The internet. Yeah . Mmm with no artificial preservatives or added nitrates or nitrites, its all for the love of hot dogs. All strength we aint stoppin believe me go straight till the morning look like we wont wait were taking everything we wanted we can do it all strength, no sweat to visit all the places we didnt know meant so much. S to get out and go again. But were all going at our own speed. At enterprise, peaceofmind starts with our complete clean pledge, curbside rentals and lowtouch transactions. With so many vehicles of so many kinds, you can count on us to help you get everywhere you want to go. Again. Whenever youre ready, were ready for you. Enterprise. In a highlyconnected lexus vehicle at the golden opportunity sales event. Lease the 2020 es 350 for 359 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Experience amazing its an amazingly healthy beverage. Taylor i just dont see where we could add a ton of value. Lemonis do you like green tea . Taylor id say no, no. Lemonis okay. So, the fact that you dont like green tea is the first challenge for you. So, is it fair to say that you dont do well with things you dont like . Taylor its obviously harder to sell something and be involved with something youre less passionate about and you dont use on the daily. Lemonis im concerned that if its something that taylor doesnt like, hes not even openminded to the idea that the marketplace may actually want to buy the product. Youve pretty much said no to all of them. And in business, you sometimes have to work with people or products that you dont necessarily like. Knowing what you guys want to do and what were trying to build here in the Community Pick one of them and fall in love with it so that when i ask you to sell it, you can. All right . Parker got it. Brad cool. Travis dope. Lemonis okay, guys. Awesome. Ive been told that we have the first draft of the new company logo. Juli these are the two that we landed on. Lemonis i would go with this. Taylor dont love it, but pick and choose our battles, and its not a battle we want to fight. Travis i think what was more important to them was associating it with you. Taylor i like the name Marcus Lemonis in it. Juli their main thing was they wanted Marcus Lemonis on it. Lemonis i dont want it just to take on my personality. I want it to take on your personality. Taylor and it will. Yeah. Lemonis it doesnt seem centered on the glass. There you go. I also want taylor and parker to get started on our first line of revenue, and thats driving sales for the original five products. So ive tasked them to come up with a campaign for flex watches. Whats the business objective . Taylor the business objective is to show that if you buy this watch, youll be supporting how much is it . Clean water . Is it youre supporting a kid for a day or lemonis in order for you to sell anybodys products, including your own, you got to know the dna of all of it. Youre gonna put a watch in there. And, yeah, its gonna be a cool visual, but you dont even know what youre telling people. Taylor yeah. I think its cause ive always got by just kind of winging it on the fly. Lemonis did you do that as a kid . Taylor yeah. I didnt really study. I mean, i got decent grades, the things i cared about, but also lemonis ah. Lets go back to that. Taylor yeah. For me, its easier to go into the details with things im passionate about. Its hard for things im not passionate about. Lemonis what i want you to understand is, what is available to you as a businessperson if you just decided to care about everything. Ill help taylor out. Flex is a very special brand because it takes a portion of their sales and helps charitable organizations. But what i dont want to do is always have to educate him on the business that hes working in. Good ideas are fine, but i need substance behind them. We got to work on the product knowledge. Taylor cool. Yeah. Parker sure. Lemonis were also moving along with revenue stream number three coming up with a brandnew product that we can add to community. Taylor the product were coming up with were introducing blnkt threaded goods. So, its a weighted blanket, and we have a prototype here. Travis are you ready for your extras . Taylor wow, youre so relaxed right now. Juli it reduces anxiety and depression. Lemonis im gonna be honest with you. I kind of like it. Juli it is. No, people love it. Its a big point [ laughter ] taylor this is our viral video. Brad man, hes relaxed. Lemonis this blanket is the communitys idea for its sixth product. This is the third source of revenue. Taylor that being said, i dont think its a priority right now. Lemonis well, the task is you had to come up with something. Taylor yeah. We came up with it. Lemonis no, but you have to, like, do it. The whole idea behind community is that theres all of you guys multitasking. So, inkkas has done 500,000 bucks in a month. The watch has done 175,000 for the month. The socks have done 100 and. Juli 30. Lemonis . 30,000 for the month. The glasses have done. Travis 10,000. Lemonis and the cases . Brad 1,000. Travis 1,000. Juli yeah. Lemonis this whole community should make 5 million bucks a year in profit. I wanted to get the entire Community Team together because as i look at the sales data, everkin and ellison, quite frankly, arent doing anything. And i want to make sure that everybody is very focused on treating each of these businesses equally. Taylor everkin i think the cost now is like 7 a case or something. The consumer i dont think i can convey its a different quality than 1 i could make them for in china. Lemonis look, you have the biggest mouth in the room. You are the mouthpiece. I believe that you could sell anything. Or maybe i was wrong. Taylor youre not wrong, but i could sell a couple phone cases, or i could sell thousands of shoes. And thats what im gonna ask you is this a nonprofit where its fun for you, where youre gonna go and, lets go help all these people . If my moneys tied to it, i want to make the most money for community. Lemonis this is not fun for me, but you know whats gonna be fun . When i get a big check. Is taylor actually telling me that he wants me just to abandon the business because the results dont meet his expectations . Part of the reason that i even brought them in is to supercharge these startups. And instead of him getting engaged and giving ideas, hes basically trying to tear it down and close up shop. Do you guys want to take everkin out of the community . Travis i want to try and make it work, like the cellphone case wardrobe. Juli no. Brad im willing to give it a try. Juli meaning, no, i dont want it out. Taylor yes. Parker yes. Lemonis im not sure if taylor and parker actually grasp the concept of community. Its starting to become apparent to me that what theyre really focused on is just making money the easy way. Taylor you feel better now. Lemonis we know you want to get rid of cellphone cases. The good news is theres five of you and not just you. Im paying taylor and parker a visit because, to be totally honest, i was really bothered by the attitude they showed me back at the office. Taylor marcus is here. Lemonis so, what have you guys been doing . Taylor working. Lemonis yeah . They have amazing marketing skills. But when youre part of something bigger, you have to spread that love across all of the businesses, not just the ones you like. So, now i want to see you actually take something that you dont like, that youre not comfortable with, and prove that you can sell it. And we can go down the street to washington and actually just see if you can peddle. Taylor cool. Lemonis okay, so, what do you want to sell . Do we have ellison glasses . Parker no, we dont have inventory. Taylor i mean, i could sell these off my face for 100 bucks right now on the beach. Lemonis you can sell those off your face for 100 . Do you really think you can do that . Taylor yeah. Lets go walk around. I want to sell some [bleep] lemonis so then lets roll. Lets go. [ engine starts ] feels like tron. Taylor lets see. Who wants some glasses . Lemonis its time to put taylors big mouth and his overconfidence on his selling skills to the test. And lets hope he does better with the sunglasses than he did with flex watches. Taylor whats up . How you guys doing . Whats up, guys . You interested at all in learning about these glasses . The name is called ellison. Man 2 no. Thats okay. Taylor we have these for sale. Man 3 i like these. Taylor nice, right . You feel the weight . Theyre nice and light. Man 3 yeah. For real. Taylor so, i can give you these glasses today for 100 bucks. Dont you wish you could have a pair . Man 3 no, i dont. Man 4 im an optician. Ive been a master optician for 30 years. Taylor sweet. So you probably know more about this than me. Man 4 i know a lot. Rivet all the way through. Makes it a solid frame. Itll last forever. Whats up with the lenses . Are they polarized . Taylor im actually not too sure. I think they are, though. Man 4 are they polycarbonate . Taylor im not sure. Man 4 whats the metal made out of . Is it nonallergenic . Taylor im not sure. Travis for you to call yourself a leader and then discredit me parker but thats why travis you havent taken the time to learn [bleep] im over it. Like, you guys figure it the [bleep] out. In a highly capable lexus suv. At the golden opportunity sales event. Get zero percent financing on all 2020 lexus models. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. On all 2020 lexus models. All strength we aint stoppin believe me go straight till the morning look like we wont wait were taking everything we wanted we can do it all strength, no sweat with one protein feels like. What getting fueled with three energy packed proteins feels like. Meat cheese and nuts p3. Because 3 is better than 1 sounds like a really good deal jake, from state farm at 3 in the morning . Who is this . Its jake, from state farm. What are you wearing, jake from state farm . Uhkhakis. Like a good neighbor, state farm is there. They fell in love with itsusing irresistible scent. Uhkhakis. Looks like their dog michelangelo did too. Gain ultra flings with two times oxiboost and febreze. In a highly capable lexus suv at the golden opportunity sales event. Lease the 2020 nx 300 for 339 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Experience amazing taylor im actually not too sure. I think they are, though. Man 4 are they polycarbonate . Taylor im not sure. Man 4 whats the metal made out of . Is it nonallergenic . Taylor im not sure. Lemonis what do you mean, youre not too sure . Taylor i dont know of every lemonis so, you dont know the features and benefits of the glasses . Man 4 good luck to you. Taylor thank you. Lemonis you didnt know what the lenses were. You didnt know what the frame was made of. I think if youre gonna sell a product, you really have to understand what the heck youre selling. And your personality makes up for whatever youre missing. Parker mmhmm. Taylor yeah. Lemonis but if you took your personality and your confidence along with the product knowledge, you would be unstoppable. Brad so, i think we should discuss what seem to be our Top Three Companies out of the ones that we interviewed that night matcha, swaggy, and the jewelry, which was half dead . Travis yeah. Brad okay. Travis what are your guys thoughts on swaggy . I mean, like, i really liked how he presented. I thought it was cool he had all this swag to him. Taylor which i didnt like. And working with influencers in general like, theyre not professional. Juli so, what about the green matcha tea . Brad greentea matcha. Juli i thought he was great. Travis i am interested in the tea. Brad i feel like he had one of the stronger Business Models out of everyone we met with and a product that we could actually sell. Taylor it rubbed me completely the wrong way. Travis but i liked the guy, and i thought his product was cool, so. Taylor dude, why you trying to finesse me . Like, we know how to do this [bleep] we just did this [bleep] and im at the point in my life where i want to make more money than help more people. The hardest thing is to get excited about something, then not know how and if well ever make any money off it. We have no idea if and when well ever make money off anything. Travis but youve seen what weve been able to do with these other brands, and you know were gonna do millions of dollars. And you know that theres gonna be some net profit off of that. So theres going to be hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake. Parker i think one of the biggest miscommunication things thats going on here is that, like, when taylor keeps saying, how do we make money . Hes not saying we, taylor and parker. Its like, how do we how do these businesses make money . Right . Like juli mnh. How you guys have come in here and really only focused on the businesses that weve spent years driving to actually have some sustainability and having no interest in the newer businesses that arent as stable, it seems like youre only out for yourself. This is our livelihood. This is what we have literally poured our heart and souls into for the last three or two years or however long weve been here. Parker why, from your side, have we not been involved with projections and the community and the setup things . Brad because you guys havent been 100 on if youre all in or all out. Parker we want to see p ls so we can understand the business, like, because that is gonna indicate to you whats happening. Travis quite frankly, i dont really care about talking about the p ls or any of that [bleep] parker i think the most confusing thing for me so far has just been, honestly, like, theres no one clear leader. Like, i thought in my head, oh, maybe thats marcus, but hes not a daytoday operator. Juli and we dont turn to him for that. Parker and we dont exactly. So, like, we need a daytoday leader. Its confusing right now. Theres five of us having side conversations and no clear leader. Juli and who do you envision being the leader, like, in your grand scenario . Parker like, me. Juli no disrespect. I dont even think youre a leader in your own relationship with taylor. Parker again, i think juli i think taylor would be the one that people would assume is the leader. Parker but juli so, i dont understand, out of the whole parker yeah, probably because you dont know where we came from, but im pretty sure that i ran the biggest business before out of all of us. Brad so, whats that business . Parker feat. On our own, i think i ran the biggest business. I agree that you guys are running the biggest business now, but i ran the biggest business. Travis how much revenue did you do . Parker 2. 5, like travis a year . Parker yeah. Travis no, but in totality, like, that business that you ran by yourself . Taylor it doesnt have to be a travis no. Im just curious. Im just curious. Parker a pissing contest. Yeah. Travis no, its cool because no, it is a pissing contest. I ran a Manufacturing Company before i met marcus, and i did 10 million selling socks and greek apparel juli yeah. I think we all have i dont even see how youve shown yourself a leader in this scenario. Travis for you to call yourself a leader and discredit me. Parker but thats no, travis, thats travis . And then say that i havent ran multiple businesses that have done millions of dollars in sales ive actually done more than you in three businesses that ive owned. You havent taken the time to learn [bleep] i actually opened the office youre sitting in and painted the [bleep] walls. Parker no, thats fine. Travis and the desk that you have is in my office. So, im just curious what the [bleep] you guys are gonna do to lead the ship cause at this point, im over it. Im over it. Like, you guys figure it the [bleep] out. Taylor we dont have access to things that matter to figure it out better. Lemonis have you figured out your specific business entirely . Taylor no. Lemonis well, what the [bleep] nobodys stopping you from figuring that out. Taylor were trying. Travis you havent taken the time to learn [bleep] all strength we aint stoppin believe me go straight till the morning look like we wont wait were taking everything we wanted we can do it all strength, no sweat trust us. Us kids are ready to take things into our own hands. Dont think so . Hold my pouch. Hey frank, our workers comp insurance is expiring, should we 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 . Get a quote in 3 minutes at easyaspie. Com. Wow, that is easy. So, need another reminder . No, no no, im good. Uh, yes please. Oh. Ho ho ho, yeah need workers comp insurance . Get a quote in 3 minutes at easyaspie. Com. Tada did you know Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need . Given my unique lifestyle, thatd be perfect let me grab a pen and some paper. Know what . Im gonna switch now. Just need my desk. My chair. And my phone. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. So, im just curious what the [bleep] you guys are gonna do to lead the ship cause at this point, im over it. Im over it. Like, you guys figure it the [bleep] out. Juli i just think its offensive. And i think, honestly, like, from what we all just talked about, like, it just proves a point, to be honest. I would put you guys under travis. Like, i would have travis oversee you because i think that travis is better at seeing the bigger picture. Like, so, not that hes micromanaging you at all cause i dont believe in micromanaging. I dont think any of us operate that way. It feels like you guys need a little bit more delegation. If this were just my business and marcus wasnt involved, i dont know what you guys have shown me that would make me want to hire you. Were not getting offended to the point that were leaving when you say wed go under travis in the org chart. Good. Lets hear you out on that. Like, i want to hear more about that. Juli yeah. Taylor same thing when parker says that. Lets hear him out and lets understand each other versus, im done with this, were out. Its easy to have things get super personal, but its like, lets just take a step back, and can we put these pieces together of the puzzle or not . Juli yeah. I think if we just maybe give ourselves some time and then come back together, it might be more productive just to, like, let all of the emotions settle and really get clearheaded. Parker cool. Taylor hi. Lemonis you dont have to stand. Taylor what . Lemonis . And be all weird. My team told me that taylor and parker want to have access to all of the Financial Data of all of the businesses because apparently they think they can run the business more efficiently. Well, heres a news flash. Your business wasnt run very efficiently, either. Whats happening at the office . Like, they dont want to work with you guys. At all. Parker who . Trav and brad and juli . Lemonis all of them. Taylor as an owner of community, dont you think we should be able to see the p ls for community . Parker without that, you cant understand the business. Then you dont know what decisions to make. Taylor we asked juli. We asked travis. Nobody knows lemonis well, they know. Theyre just not giving it to you. Parker why . Lemonis . cause they dont trust you guys. They feel like you guys only care about yourself. Parker we think about business a little bit differently than they do by nature. Like, we think about these businesses and where we can cut fat and where we should stop spending. Lemonis you come off, whether you realize it or not, a little arrogant. And you can understand that it comes off slightly insulting, like, you guys dont know what the hell youre doing, so we want to see your p l cause we think you guys are totally fd up. And were gonna come in and were gonna cut stuff cause we think youre wasting money. Taylor we dont have access to things that matter to figure it out better. Lemonis have you figured out your specific business entirely . Taylor no. Lemonis well, what the [bleep] nobodys stopping you from figuring that out. Taylor were trying. Lemonis youve asked me more about p l and balance sheets, and you cant even tell me how the glasses are made. Parker dont businesses live and die in the numbers, like lemonis no. They live and die with the people and the product. But if you dont understand the product then it doesnt even matter what the p l says. Taylor were learning the product. Lemonis i dont know that you spent any time learning the product. Taylor okay. I dont know all the minute details of the product, sure. Lemonis well, i dont think that the fabrication of it and whats inside of it is really a minute detail. You are trying to crack all these codes instead of just doing what you were the best at. Parker yeah. Lemonis the reason i wanted to work with these guys is cause they have a fun side, a real talent for selling products. And instead of them focusing on driving revenue, driving sales, and driving visits to the website, theyre focused on things that dont concern them, like the accounting process. Taylor thank you for giving us the clarity that we needed on this. Were excited to go back to the team. Lemonis okay. Let me know how it goes. Travis will do. Parker the hoodies are here. So retro. Taylor theyre sick. Parker right . Taylor all right, brandnew hoodies just came in. Parker, you want to show them to these people, but you dont want to show them to oh, i thought were not showing them. Parker oh, okay. Taylor you guys have to vote on them. Taylor vote on the next one. [ cellphone rings ] brad hey, steph. Stephanie hey. How are things going over there . Brad good. Im here with juli, trav, taylor, and parker. Taylor yeah. I came by. You werent there. They said you took off. Im just trying to learn as no, nothing specific. I just wanted to see how everything operates. With others i dont care about your business. I went and talked about just how cash works in general. I literally just wanted to understand everything more. Stephanie all right . Taylor cool. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Stephanie okay. Bye, guys. Brad bye, steph. Taylor what the [bleep] was that . Travis what happened . Juli what happened . Travis so, you went to their office. Like, who did you actually talk to . Taylor so, im just trying to piece together everything. I want to talk to someone whos in the organization who knows the finances of these companies and understands finances. I was like, hey, heres what i see with these businesses, not talking [bleep] its very objective. These businesses arent gonna make money, theyre gonna do 8 million in sales, and theyre gonna break even. Is there a world we can make money on this . Im serious. Like, i didnt do anything i dont normally. Like, i have no re i dont give a [bleep] about stephs business or her. Juli even sharing information about these businesses taylor no. I told them that were trying to be profitable. Like, thats smart. Travis did you tell them that we werent profitable, since we are trying to be profitable . Taylor [bleep] is a mess. Juli how is it a mess, taylor . Because you dont even have all the information, youre saying. Taylor but ive been asking for information since day one, juli. That was a setup by you guys. Were gonna nail taylor. Travis that was not a setup. Juli okay, i think for right now, we can just travis were not trying to argue. Taylor i just im being accused from everyone. Like, im trying to figure out whatever i can. Im not playing these games anymore. Juli okay. Taylor im going for a quick walk, if anybody wants to come. Want to come outside . Travis whatd you do, take your mic off . Taylor yeah, i took it off. Taylor im not playing these games anymore. At tmobile, you dont have to choose between a Great Network and the best prices. We give you both. 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No matter what challenges life throws at you, were always here to help with Fast Response and Great Service and it doesnt stop there were also here to help look ahead thats why were helping members catch up by spreading any missed usaa insurance payments over the next twelve months so you can keep more cash in your pockets for when it matters most and thats just one of the many ways were here to help the military Community Find out more at usaa. Com to help the military Community Want to come outside . Travis whatd you do, take your mic off . Taylor yeah, i took it off. Lemonis look, i knew taylor was in new york city speaking at some sort of event. But what i didnt know and what i just heard from multiple people on my team is that while he was in new york, he did something very inappropriate. Why were you guys out here . Taylor because stephanie starts accusing me of talking [bleep] about her company and her, and im like, stephanie, i dont know you, and i dont give a [bleep] about your company. Lemonis did you go to her office . Taylor i went to her office. Lemonis right. So, wait. If you dont care about stephanie or her business, whyd you go there . Taylor theres so many random numbers coming around. We want concrete numbers on the businesses. Lemonis i just dont understand why you want to go after everybody and their pay and their expenses. Taylor im almost consulting for these companies for free. Lemonis okay. Taylor and now i get destroyed for it. I dont want to talk. Lemonis youre not getting destroyed. Taylor i am. Today i got accused by everyone. Lemonis you went to new york. You go to stephanies office, which that is her office. Shes the president of that business. I dont know whether she was there or not. Taylor she wasnt there. Lemonis okay. Most people wouldnt think it was cool if you walked into somebodys office and started talking to the employees that youve never met before without talking to the person thats actually responsible for the business. Its weird. Taylor if it was all under the same thing lemonis but its not all under the same thing. Taylor maybe i misunderstood. I thought this was all kind of i dont unders yeah. Im trying. Lemonis but its not. Ml fashion is a completely separate company from community. And while it was totally inappropriate for him to go into stephanies office, talk to stephanies employees, and ask them a bunch of questions, it was also inappropriate for him to be involved in any business that doesnt concern him. Taylor if theres a world where we can try to make all this more efficient by doing things that weve learned from our business lemonis why is it your business . Taylor cause im trying to understand what lemonis mind your [bleep] business. Do you find it to be a good use of time, early on in the relationship, being the cop or the principal . Taylor sorry if we came in like the cop. We came in like, this is where we think we can add the most value because we just did. Lemonis well, youre not gonna add the most value by getting in and pissing people off. Thats not a good way to add value. Taylor seems to be more focused on cutting costs and cutting jobs than he is focused on doing what i brought him in to do, which is to drive traffic and drive sales. Taylor day one, we werent included in any budget talks. And were like, guys, whats going on . Lemonis well, lets ask them in front of them. Taylor okay. Parker yeah, lets go. Lemonis lets just do it in front of them. Okay . I think whats happened in this particular process and i wanted to say it in front of everybody when you come into a new environment, you have to understand that everybody has warts. We took you warts and all, and i dont think you took us warts and all. And by the way, they never said to me, does feat even make money . They never asked. Taylor i feel like, for us, there was friction from day one. Im literally getting zero extra dollars from coming here every day. Its been two months. Im trying to keep my business in business, number one, but then im getting pulled to go do this. Dude, what the [bleep] is going on . Like. Charlotte so, i think that mentality is the issue. Its that, like, me, me, me, me mentality. Like, you came in here like, what am i getting out of this . Okay, im just gonna work on the businesses that are making money cause i want to make money. Its like, no, you got to be a team player. Like, literally the name is community. You have to be a team player. Lemonis charlotte from everkin phone cases and aristotle from ellison eyewear happened to be in the l. A. Office, and because their products are part of the community, i wanted them to sit in on this conversation. Taylor were trying to focus on our own business and keep our own business afloat, and then at the same time, were trying to join these other five business. Its like and then start another business, and its like, for me, my brains just going all over the place, like, what do i work on . Aristotle but in full fairness, i mean, to say that you were working i mean, you really didnt do anything with any of the other brands, just in full fairness. I mean, you had the opportunity. I think that you guys put a very minimal effort. Lemonis do you feel like they learned your business . Aristotle not at all. Juli i think the potential that you guys have like, we were excited about that. You came in here with this opportunity to be a part of a team, and it never really felt like you wanted to be a part of the entire team. Parker before, this was just taylor and i sitting around, you know . Its different to work with more than just taylor. Lemonis sometimes people dont do well on teams. Travis id rather not fight with these guys every day. Lemonis i think the reality of it is that you guys have expectations that this group isnt going to be able to meet, not today, not tomorrow, not next year. Brad i just dont think these guys are gonna be happy ever with the way things are structured and working on other brands that arent making money right away. Lemonis want them in the deal or not, brad . Brad i just dont think they can be in the deal. Lemonis juli, yes or no . Juli no. Lemonis travis . Travis i dont think its possible. Taylor im sorry you feel that way. Lemonis i dont see how things move forward. I dont know how its possible. But thats okay. You guys have been successful in your own right. So, community lives on. I think its a concept that we all believe in. And we wish you guys a lot of luck. Parker appreciate that. Lemonis all right . Im sorry it didnt work out. Taylor its okay. Lemonis this process definitely was one of the most disappointing processes thats happened to me in a long time because ive identified two very talented young men that i think could add a lot to anybodys business. I think ultimately that taylor and parker werent a good fit for the organization because they didnt know how to meld themselves into the community. And rather than trying to squarepeg roundhole things, sometimes you just need to cut bait and move on. Good luck to you. Parker thank you. Lemonis nice meeting you. Good luck. Im craig melvin. And im natalie morales. And this is dateline. Hes just my first love. Narrator the guy who disappeared. Except in her case, he really disappeared. Woman hes going to call me on a couple days. He never called. Narrator his family, in agony. I wrote letters to oprah winfrey, to americas most wanted. Narrator a rookie detective finally broke the case. I said, oh my gosh. I think ive hit paydirt. Narrator a strange phone call revealed a secret. 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