Transcripts For CNBC The Profit 20170621

This great family Success Story may not continue. 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. In 1994, michael and ramona woods launched ashtae a line of multicultural haircare products based in greensboro, north carolina. Ramona we have a total of 29 items. Lemonis the woods focused on salons and beauty schools within the region, and the response was unbelievable. Over time, sales broke through the 1 million mark. And as the business grew, their daughter taylore started pitching in. Taylore the numbers change every day. If were gonna do inventory, we just need to knock it out. Lemonis but theres one big problem. The companys profits go out almost as soon as they come in due to michaels costly side projects. Michael ive been working pretty aggressively on this app. Its the next big thing. Lemonis his lack of focus has hindered ashtaes growth, preventing it from expanding into new markets. Ramona can you imagine how successful we would be if you actually gave the company 100 . Lemonis and its left ramona exhausted and overwhelmed. Ramona my plate has been overflowing. I cant handle that. Lemonis ive been in the haircare business for a while now with my company erika cole, and i think ashtae products would be a great addition. Im confident that i can turn it around. Assuming i can find the place. Theres this gigantic building. I cant tell where the correct entrance is. Is this, like, a Little Village . Is it a big strip mall . Or is this their headquarters . I dont know. Hello. Hi. Taylore hi. How are you . Woman hi. How are you . Ramona oh, jesus lemonis [ laughs ] im marcus. Ramona im ramona. Lemonis ramona, nice to meet you. Ramona oh, god. Taylore hi. Im taylore. Lemonis taylore, nice to meet you. Taylore nice to meet you. Lemonis so, is this whole complex you guys . Taylore yeah. We rent out office space, salon space, barbershops. Lemonis do you own those businesses . Taylore no, no, no. Ramona we own the building. Lemonis okay, you own the building. Ramona yes, but my husband, i think he is. Michael dont talk about me without me being around. Lemonis how are you, sir . Im marcus. Michael so nice to meet you, marcus. Lemonis nice to meet you. Michael Michael Woods. Lemonis michael, do you dress like this every day . Michael every day. Ramona every day. Lemonis you look like a million bucks. Michael thank you. Lemonis so, tell me about ashtae. Ramona we are a multicultural haircare company. We only sell directly to beauty salons. Lemonis okay. Youre not in any retail . Ramona right. Michael we service salons door to door. Lemonis and when you say door to door, go to a salon, meet somebody for the first time, shake their hand. Michael correct. Lemonis and what region do you do business in . Michael south carolina. Thats where the bulk comes in. Lemonis if michaels going door to door, and thats how hes generating his revenue, its kind of obvious to me why they havent broken outside of the carolinas. Doortodoor selling is wildly inefficient. Taylore, what do you do here . Taylore a little bit of everything. Lemonis well, what is your actual job title . Ramona well, right now, taylore is a little in limbo. Lemonis what does that mean . Ramona deciding whether shes gonna work here or not. Taylore i was frustrated with not being able to actually implement things. Like, we need to update all the computers. Michael well, weve never invested in nextage technology. Lemonis is a computer the next age, or is it today . Michael well, no. Taylore its always an argument. Lemonis is there a place where all the products displayed or i could see it or. Ramona yeah. Michael we can go see the products. Lemonis so, how many different skus are there . Ramona 29. Lemonis okay. Whats special about this product . Ramona well, the formula. Lemonis so you have a special formula. Ramona absolutely. Lemonis and how did you come up with that . Ramona as we would develop, i started sending products to stylists, and they would say, oh, this works great. Oh, this is not working. And we did that for almost two years. Lemonis that was, like, your focus group. Ramona absolutely. Lemonis and thats how you ended up with this proprietary solution. Ramona yeah. Lemonis do you like the bottles . Michael i do. I like this look. I like this sleek look. Taylore to me, the bottles dont read upscale. I would change the design. Michael it has bold colors. The black, the white, and the red stand out. Lemonis let me just give you my opinion. It looks like a wholesale line. Michael okay. Lemonis not a consumer line, right . You have to wow people with packaging. Salon owners and consumers have tons of choices. And one of the most important things in making that choice is the package itself. This package couldnt be any more unappealing. What are the margins on things like shampoo . Michael it costs four times cost of goods. So if a shampoo costs us 7 bucks, we sell it for about 35 bucks. Lemonis so its great margins. Ramona yeah. We have great margins. Lemonis can you give me a tour . Michael mmhmm. Lemonis oh, my goodness. What is all this . Theres an Accounting Office here. Michael Accounting Office, beauty salon, beauty salon. We have Corporate Events here. We have weddings here. We have a church here. Lemonis there literally is a church here. Michael they rent out the space. Lemonis i understand what a big building looks like. I have big buildings. This place is massive. Michael bailbonds company, dance studio. Taylore photography studio. Michael photography studio. Lemonis what day is this place really busy . Michael every friday, saturday, its jumping. Lemonis its like hes running his own small city. How much was the building . Do you mind sharing that . Michael yes. About 1. 9 million. It was passion that i had to help other businesses that are looking for a start to have a place to grow their business. Ramona we try to help everyone get started by providing furniture. Like, every single business, he outfitted for them. Lemonis so you, all of a sudden, went from owning a haircareproducts company to subdividing property and becoming a master landlord. Which is not a distraction at all. Taylore no. Lemonis look, i dont fault michael for wanting to invest in a piece of property. Its a safe asset. It has cash flow to it. As a potential investor, i worry about, where is his focus gonna be . Ramona this is wendy. Lemonis how are you, wendy . Wendy excellent. Lemonis nice to meet you. Ramona she owns a beauty salon. Lemonis so you own your own salon. And whats happening in here . Wendy were doing hair. Michael this client has natural hair. We really separate ourselves because we deal with different textures of hair. The product smooths hair out. So it makes it look like its relaxed. It adds moisture to the hair, keeps the hair from being dry and brittle. Wendy and i love the fact that its not very heavily fragranced, so it doesnt clash with your other products. Lemonis you know what . Id like you to shampoo my hair. Wendy oh. Lemonis i want the treatment. Wendy okay. Lemonis i want clarify, emulsify, whatever all the big words are. Wendy comfortable . Lemonis am i comfortable . No. [ laughter ] im not comfortable. Its a lot, a lot softer. So, what actually happens in this warehouse . Walk me through it. Michael everything comes in in barrels. And then well fill the product. All the products are made in chicago. Lemonis so you have a copacker . Michael correct. Lemonis why doesnt your copacker actually give you finished goods in a bottle, in a case . Michael cause theyre saying that our volumes arent large enough. Lemonis so, you have not been able to find a copacker that can give you a finished good in a case ready to go . Michael we havent looked. Lemonis why . Michael because, see, we own our formulas. So its not that difficult to make the product. Lemonis is your vision to have a fullfledged factory here . Michael it is. Lemonis what are these . Michael these are the containers that we purchase to be able to get ready for the actual manufacturing. As we grow, were gonna have to go much larger. We could be the laboratories for other companies. Lemonis become a copacker for other people . Michael absolutely. Taylore yes. Lemonis im not quite sure if hes ever been to a true copacking facility to understand the technology thats required, the systems that are required. It isnt as simple as mixing things in a pot and then pouring them into the bottle. Whose desk is this . Ramona this is my desk. Lemonis so, is this where all the payables happen . Ramona yes. Lemonis walk me through whats actually happening here. Ramona this is what you call multitasking. Lemonis who does payroll . Ramona i do. Lemonis who does the payables . Ramona i do. Lemonis who collects the receivables from the customers . Ramona i do. Lemonis who sets up the trade shows . Ramona i do. Lemonis whos helping you . Ramona nobody. [ laughs ] lemonis okay. Michael honey, im sorry. Sorry. We got a few clients whove got some bulbs out on the other side. Can you make sure that these right here get done . And these are the receipts that need to be taken care of. Lemonis does this kind of stuff happen with him all the time . Ramona it happens every day. Lemonis earlier, i was trying to figure out how michael gets everything done, having all these tenants and doing all this buildout, having a haircare company. Its clear to me now he just dumps it on ramona. Okay, lets keep going. What is all of this equipment . Michael thats all the equipment that we have left over from the television station. Lemonis what television i dont im sorry. Help me out here. Michael yeah. Taylore basically, we tried to create a television station, and everything went south. Lemonis how much money did you spend on that venture . Michael about 200,000. Taylore what . Ramona Michael taylore what . close to 1 million payroll, equipment, traveling. Michael well, i have failed at very few things. Ive failed at very few things. Everything that ive done had a trajectory of that. Now, are there mistakes made . Yes. But we were on our way to a multimilliondollar venture. Lemonis taylore, can you and i just chat for a minute . Taylore yep. Lemonis well, ramona and taylore were getting frustrated because michael was unwilling to accept the fact that this stuff was worthless and it was a big mistake. And what a giant waste of money. I want to sit down with each of them so that i can get their side of story without michael around. Taylore i told my parents that that station wasnt a good idea. I said it multiple times its tough when you have this vision, and you have all these ideas, but you cant implement them, or you get this war in order to implement them. Lemonis i can see why you were frustrated by it. Taylore oh, absolutely. So, we were supposed to meet and talk about, what are gonna be the terms and conditions of my role here . And the main condition is, they have to make me c. O. O. Lemonis chief operating officer. Taylore yes. I have to have control over certain areas. Lemonis what was their response when you gave them that condition . Taylore we havent met yet. Lemonis oh, you havent . Taylore no. Lemonis all right. Well talk in a little bit. Taylore okay. Lemonis all these different ideas that michaels had, the profits from ashtae get used to funds those ideas. Ramona yes. Lemonis do you believe this business has been held back. Ramona sure. Lemonis . By those ideas . Ramona absolutely. [ voice breaking ] we put every penny we ever saved into all these ideas. And we. You know, my husband, i love this man to death, but there were some moments that i would just cry. Lemonis im amazed at how well you carry that pressure on your shoulders, cause theres a lot of crazyass ideas around here. Ramona yeah. Lemonis what id like to do is go over the financials. Ramona this is the total. Lemonis revenue. Ramona uhhuh. Lemonis so, last year, business did 1,453,000 of revenue and a net profit of 204,000. And how much cash in the bank right now . Ramona one account is 50,000. Lemonis okay. Ramona and this account, theres 10,000. Lemonis so thats 60,000 in cash. Thats an asset. Ramona right. Lemonis and against that, is there any debt in the company . Ramona yes. We owe 30,000 in cards. Lemonis credit cards . Ramona mmhmm. And then a supplier that we owe 60,000. Lemonis so thats 90,000 in total debt. So even after 1 million of business, we got a problem, cause i have 60,000 in cash and 90,000 of people asking me for cash. And the reason for that is that your ideas cost money. And the moneys leaving the business to go. Ramona [ laughs ] lemonis i want to look over the financials a little bit more, but i had a really enjoyable time today. Thank you very much. Taylore thank you for coming. Lemonis nice meeting you. Take care, guys. Ramona thank you. Lemonis thank you. Hey, guys, i wanted us to be able to talk away from everybody. So, you have a business that does 1. 5 million a year, and makes 200,000, which is a very high rate of return on not a lot of revenue. How much of an investment, michael, do you think the Business Needs . Michael i would probably say about 500,000. Lemonis okay. What is your number . Ramona 300,000. Lemonis what do you want to do with the money . Michael when i look at the business, i look at opportunity. I look down the road and say, well, what can we do that can be cutting edge . Lemonis i dont agree with how much cash the Business Needs. I think the Business Needs to be debtfree. So thats 90,000. And i think the balance of the money needs to really go into product development. So my offer is 200,000 for 25 of the business. Michael i think the number is just way too low. If you said to me, im gonna put 200,000 into the company and that thats gonna make it all better, well, what is better . Lemonis its actually making the company entirely debtfree. Michael but what value does that increase in our sales . That doesnt necessarily increase in our sales. Lemonis no, but, michael, im asking you to justify what youre gonna do with the 500,000, and youre taking me to, whats the 200,000 gonna do for my company . Michael okay. Lemonis the value in me isnt just supposed to be in my checkbook. Michael were not asking for the checkbook. Lemonis you are asking for the checkbook, cause youre asking for more. If i am just a checkbook, im the wrong guy. If your business is in trouble and you need my help, log on to. I put everything into my business. And i had all these points from my chase ink card. So i bought ingredients, utensils, even made custom donut cutters. Wow all with points. Thats how i created the ripple the doughnut in a doughnut in a doughnut. Suddenly its everywhere. I mean, it really took off. What will you create with your points . Learn more about the ink business preferred card. quiet chatter soft gasp record scratching excited chatter various whoa mixed exclamations cheering cheering where are mom and dad . saved money on motorcycle insurance with geico goin up the country. Love mom and dad im takin a nap. Dude, you just woke up im goin up the country, baby dont you wanna go . Im goin up the country, baby dont you wanna go . Geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. The future isnt silver suits anits right now. S, think about it. We can push buttons and make cars appear out of thin air. Find love anywhere. Hes cute. And buy things from, well, everywhere. How . Because our phones have evolved. So isnt it time our networks did too . Introducing americas largest, most reliable 4g lte combined with the most wifi hotspots. Its a new kind of network. Xfinity mobile. Lemonis the value in me isnt just supposed to be in my checkbook. Michael were not asking for the checkbook. Lemonis you are asking for the checkbook, cause youre asking for more. If i am just a checkbook, im the wrong guy. Michael no, im asking for a fair value for the company that i believe that youre investing in. Lemonis okay, so this is value question. Michael absolutely. Lemonis okay. So, what do you think the right percentage should be for 200,000 . Michael maybe 10 . Lemonis 10 . Its like, i cant even think of ever being that low. If you need more than 200,000, just tell me why. cause pay off your debt and you put the rest in the bank. What else do you need the money for . Ramona the reason i would like to see 300,000 versus 200,000 is, ive been tight for so long. Lemonis mmhmm. You just need more cushion. Ramona i just dont want the tightness. Lemonis okay. If i give you this check for 300,000 for 25 , i want to have permission from you to find extra cash wherever i can. Michael okay. Lemonis great. Do we have a deal . Michael we have a deal. Lemonis do we have a deal . Ramona deal. Yes. You gave it to the right person. Lemonis i know i did. Michael [ laughs ] lemonis so, yesterday, michael and ramona and i made a deal for me to invest 300,000 into the company. I invest in people, process, and product. I know we have the people, and i really know we have the product, cause i used it. The process. Michael its coming. Lemonis its coming . Michael [ laughs ] lemonis or its not here . How many people here, by show of hands, think michael has great focus on ashtae . [ laughter ] michael can we get one hand . [ laughter ] lemonis but all kidding aside, we need to put some focus into the company, so you will no longer be bottling in this building. This is a distraction. I want to understand how were gonna find new customers. Were gonna look at the branding, how to make more money, how to deliver it easier, where to make it, where to bottle it. Were gonna do everything. You ready to go to work . Michael lets do it. Lemonis whos excited . Taylore yes [ cheers and applause ] lemonis excited . Michael hey lemonis were about to get sold. Michael [ laughs ] lemonis i keep hearing about how great michael is with his customers and how much they love him. Well, the only way to find out if its true is to go on a sales call with him. So, walk me through your strategy of, you know, making these individual sales calls all the time. Michael well, its not necessarily im making sales calls. Were serving people. Were serving people our gift. Lemonis but just in this neighborhood, really. So, i would think that a market like atlanta would be a huge target for you. Michael the next big event that we do is there. Its called the bronner bros. Show. Thats the largest africanamerican trade show in the industry. Lemonis im a lover of conventions because you can get your product in front of thousands of people and reach a muchwider audience. If bronner bros. Is the next big event that comes up for ashtae, and its really as big as michael says it is, then i want to really be prepared for it. Michael good morning, good morning. How are you . How are you . Whats going on, miss lady . Good to see you. Whats up . Toya good to see you, too. Lemonis how are you . Toya im really good. Lemonis im marcus. Nice to meet you. Do you own the shop . Toya i do. Lemonis and do you also sell the product to your customers . Toya absolutely. We have somebody waiting just now. Lemonis where are the products that you would sell . Toya were sold out. Weve got a display. Lemonis thats normally where the display is . Toya yes. Lemonis so, you literally have nothing . Toya right. We were really waiting on you all yesterday. Lemonis does it seem odd that you have to wait for michael to come for you to get product on the shelf . Toya true. And i got people waiting on it. So, i had people placing orders for stuff. Michael cause the products sell quickly. Lemonis yes, but theres literally, literally nothing here. Toya right. Lemonis this looks to me like we were negligent in helping them figure out how to make money. Michael got you. Lemonis i was scratching my head while i was standing in the salon, thinking, this guy is so charming. I have never seen people so happy to see a salesman in my whole life. But theres got to be a science to it. What michael should be doing every time he goes into a salon is understanding the sales history of his products in the previous week or month. He would then take that data and then give the salon a recommended stocking amount. So if they sold four bottles a week, and he only comes there every two weeks, they should have eight bottles on the shelf. Sellthrough will lead to stocking. Stocking will lead to the appropriate amount, and it will generate sales. Michael and now you all can sell. Now you all can make some money now. This wont happen again. Woman never. Michael [ laughs ] im gonna make sure of that. Lemonis i love the enthusiasm. Lets put a little science with the love. Michael toya. Toya yes, sir. Michael let me see you for one second. One of the things that we do always talk about is that we always want you to make this look fresh. And what im gonna do is, im gonna get this upholstered. I think you have a little screwdriver. Lemonis are we taking a chair with us now . Michael yeah. Im gonna put it in the car. Toya a wrench. Michael a pair of pliers. Toya pliers. Do we have pliers somewhere . Lemonis this seems to be a trend with michael, where instead of focusing on product sales, he wants to repair their chair. Charming yes. Hurting profitability for both parties definitely yes. Michael hey, im just gonna go put this in the back. Ramona honey, you are stretching your focus too much. Was that not our argument . Michael but this is okay. This is my last chair. This is my last chair. Ramona but, honey, you told me that. I cant believe you did this in front of marcus. Michael this is my last chair. Lemonis do you believe him . Ramona no. Lemonis and everythings falling on you. Ramona yes. Where are your sales . Michael yeah, i didnt write a receipt for them. Lemonis you did spend more time fussing with this than you did talking about a way to get the inventory moving and get it on the shelf and never be out. Michael my friend marcus threw me under the bus. [ laughter ] lemonis im out of here. Youre on your own, buddy. Michael see . Thats what im. Lemonis you are on your own. Taylore had expressed to me some concerns about her role in the company. And before we started digging in and rebranding and relaunching things, i wanted to get those issues behind us. So i asked the family to meet me off property, where we can we have a private, quiet conversation without distractions. So, taylore mentioned to me that, as a family, you were contemplating getting together. Taylore has to determine if what is being offered to her from the company is gonna satisfy her, as well. Taylore okay. So, these are a few things i need or i would like. Let me say that. You guys say you want me to take ownership. Well. I would like to be chief operations officer. Michael the role that youre asking for theres a lot of responsibility that comes with that. Lemonis is it a yes or a no . Ramona jesus, dont go in here. Michael you cant throw these away. Ramona Michael Michael thats a good speaker system here, honey. Taylore you cant take my red off taylore i would like to be chief operations officer. But when we brought our daughter home, that was it. Now i have nicoderm cq. The nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release Technology Helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. Its the best thing that ever happened to me. Every great why needs a great how. Mmmm. Mmmm. Mmmm. Ugh. Nothing spoils a moment like heartburn. Try new alkaseltzer ultra strength heartburn relief chews. Its fast, powerful relief with no chalky taste. [ sings high note ] ultra strength, new from alkaseltzer. Enjoy the relief. Soa little too seriously. Es but you cant be serious with twizzlers. About to see progressives new home quote explorer. Where you can compare multiple quote options online and choose whats right for you. Woah. Flo and jamie here to see hqx. Flo and jamie request entry. Slovakia. Triceratops. Tapioca. Racquetball. Staccato. Me llamo jamie. Pumpernickel. Pudding. Employee hey, guys home quote explorer. Its Home Insurance made easy. Password was hey guys. But when we broughtce made easy. Our daughter home, that was it. Now i have nicoderm cq. The nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release Technology Helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. Its the best thing that ever happened to me. Every great why needs a great how. Michael the role that youre asking for theres a lot of responsibility that comes with that. Lemonis is it a yes or a no . Taylore im concerned. I think you guys work too hard, to a point that its unhealthy. [ voice breaking ] and, mom, the thing is, you know its unhealthy. Ramona and im ii im sincerely working on giving myself just a little bit more balance. And once i get 100 from both of you, right, then my quality of living will change, because ill be able to let go of so much. Lemonis part of it is, you guys have no structure. Nobody knows what theyre doing. Theres no assigned roles. Maybe the best thing for taylore is that she would be the director of seminars and trade shows. Michael im definitely comfortable with that. Lemonis okay. You say you want to have a big role. Your new challenge is for you to execute bronner and have a successful show. The fact that taylore wants to take on responsibility and work harder is a good character quality, but the only way that shes gonna be qualified to take on this business someday is for her to do a job, excel at it, hit the goal, and move on to the next one. Bronner bros. Is a perfect opportunity for her to have her first real task. I need to know are you committed to that . Taylore yes. 100 . I can do this. Ramona i believe you. Lemonis were gonna see. Lets go to work. Today, michael and i are in new york meeting with rejuvenol, a top manufacturer for haircare products and cosmetics. I want michael to clearly understand why it makes zero sense for him to manufacture or bottle his own products, let alone somebody elses. Woman this is where we make the raw material. I want to show you the big tank. Michael oh, yes. Huge. Woman this is our cooling tank. They cool the jar, the pomades. Lemonis when you can find a partner like this thats invested almost 22 million in this facility, utilize that asset. In a given day, michael could fill 1,000 bottles. In a facility like this, they could fill 20,000 on that same day. If michaels sales goals continue to go up, theres no way his current facility could ever meet the demand. So this copacker is a nonnegotiable. And youre focused on doing what . Michael selling. Lemonis selling. Michael its what we do best. Man is it an adventurous brand . Lemonis the key to marketing and growing your business is to have attractive packaging and attractive branding. We dont have that today. So i brought in vsa partners, a branding expert. Theyre gonna help us develop a whole new look. Man other words that come to mind . Just. Taylore big. Ramona we push the stylists to think big. Man what we want you to do is just, everybody kind of works on their own. Pick out images that really remind you of what ashtae wants to be. Taylore this just sort of shows that were for all ethnicities, all textures, all hair types, all ages, all lengths, all colors, everything. Ramona i like that. Man i think we have everything we need, and well show you some ideas. Ramona thank you so much. Taylore thank you. Lemonis were getting ready to go, team, go. I see a lot of wasted space in this building. Theres two postits here. You all are gonna share these. Im gonna participate. If you mark it green, that means its going to be sold to collect cash. If you mark it red, that means its going into the. Taylore trash. Lemonis . Trash. Taylore anythings up for game . Lemonis anything. The purpose of decluttering number one, generate some cash. But i also want michael to go through this process of ridding himself of things that dont help him focus on the business and move the business forward. Ramona jesus, dont go in here. Ooh taylore its a fumigator mask. Woman what is this . Michael thats cash. Lemonis no, no, no. Dont ask him. Dont ask him. [ laughter ] dont ask him. Dont ask. Michael i cant find much to put a red sticker on. That is a piece of furniture. Lemonis no, no. Dont. Michael [ laughs ] all the stuff you have red on, taylore, those items are still lights that are good. Ramona you cant take all the red off, michael. Michael no, but, look. You cant throw these away. Taylore i didnt put it on the to throw it away. I put this on to give away. You cant sell it. Michael you can. Ramona Michael Michael thats a good speaker system here, honey. Taylore you cant take my red off lemonis what the [bleep] taylore whats wrong . Lemonis wheres all the personality . Look, the booth looks terrible. Watching this breath you casavers protect minty. Neutralize the plaque acids in my mouth. I cant see anything thats because its working so hard. Hey, what are you guys doing . Karen. Were neutralizing. Maybe i want to neutralize. You ever think of that . Are you ok . What happened . Dad kinda walked into my swing. Huh . Dont you mean dad kind of ruined our hawaii fund . I thud go to the thothpital. There goes the airfair. I dont think Health Insurance will cover all. Of that. Buth my fathe without that cash from aflac we might have to choose between hawaii or your face. Hawaii what . Haha. Hawaii you might have less coverage than you think. Visit aflac. Com and keep your lifestyle healthy. Aflac mmmm. Mmmm. Mmmm. Ugh. Nothing spoils a moment like heartburn. Try new alkaseltzer ultra strength heartburn relief chews. Its fast, powerful relief with no chalky taste. [ sings high note ] ultra strength, new from alkaseltzer. Enjoy the relief. Wearing powerful sunscreen . Yes neutrogena® ultra sheer. No other sunscreen works better or feels so good. Clinically proven helioplex® provides unbeatable uva uvb protection to help prevent early skin aging and skin cancer all with a clean light feel. For unbeatable protection. Its the one. The best for your skin. Ultra sheer®. Neutrogena®. See whats possible. Deartheres no other way to say this. Its over. Ive found a permanent escape from monotony. Together, we are perfectly balanced. Our senses awake. Our hearts racing as one. I know this is sudden, but they say. If you love something set it free. See you around, giulia Ramona Michael michael thats a good speaker system here, honey. Taylore you cant take my red off ramona let it go, babe. Michael i know, but put cash on that, not trash. Ramona no. The deal was, we can do some trash. Honey, honey. Let it go, babe. Let it go. Lemonis hold on, hold on. Go ahead. What were you gonna do . Michael i mean, the fan is just not any good anymore. Taylore wait. What . Ramona you gonna trash it . Oh, good for you. Taylore where . On the fan . Michael theres a trash there, yeah. Lemonis thats your first red one. Michael that doesnt work there. I know that doesnt work. Ill put trash on this one over here. Im gonna join in, put some red stickers on it, too. All right, red over here. Lemonis the fact that hes picking up little trinkets to start getting rid of, its a sign that michael really recognizes that in order for this business to move forward, he has to compromise. We were able to raise around 23,000 by clearing out the entire building. I want to take that money and reinvest it back into ashtae, where it should have gone in the first place. The warehouse and several other rooms of junk are gonna be repurposed for offices for ramona and the entire events business. Meanwhile, we have three weeks until the bronner bros. Convention. So were headed to chicago to vsa to finalize the branding. Woman drumroll, please. Taylore ohh oh, my god i love the logo. I love the all black. Michael i guess the only the thing that sticks out to me is the black bottles. Lemonis so, look at the vessel in white. Taylore it is more playful. Lemonis in this case, were going to have to stratify the packaging options for our two groups of consumers. Were gonna use white for the salon owners, and were gonna use dark graphite for their customers. Now that weve all agreed on the design, we can move forward on production, getting ready for bronner bros. Woman so, this is the screen for the 4ounce. Michael okay, cool. Woman this is the screen for the 8ounce. Lemonis look how cool that is. Michael thats a big step, yeah. Lemonis for bronner bros. , i really want you to be responsible for the product. They need to use the Color Palette that vsa provided. Thats for the trade show. You tell them. Imagerys got to look like this. The fonts got to look like this. The Color Palette has to look like that. All right . Michael right. Lemonis meanwhile, back in greensboro. Taylore hey, quick question. Can we talk about bronner bros. For a quick second . Lemonis . Taylore is hard at work, designing the booth for the event. This is her first real test as the director of seminars and trade shows. And my expectations are very high. Michael yes, Michael Woods speaking. Lemonis hi, michael. Marcus. Michael hey, marcus. Lemonis were a week away from bronner bros. , and ive gotten an email that is quite concerning. So i wanted to give michael a call and find out what the hecks going on. The email that im reading says that you specifically are making changes to the package that is slowing the process down. Michael we have to have the back of the container correct. Lemonis michael, i cannot believe that this product is not ready yet. I cannot believe it. Its got to be ready by sunday. I asked michael to make sure that the bottles were done and ready and produced for bronner. But now im hearing that hes making changes to them, slowing down the process and putting the process at risk. And this is a good example of him not being focused on one task. This is a big deal. Its a big deal for you. Its a big deal for me. Youre confident that this stuff will be done for the event . Michael oh, yeah. Im very confident it will be done for the event. Lemonis okay, buddy. Im looking forward to seeing it. Im excited. Michael yes. Lemonis see you there. Michael all right. Thanks. Lemonis i just arrived at the bronner bros. Convention, and the energy and the excitement and the number of people ive been to hundreds of conventions in my business career. [ woman speaking indistinctly ] [ man speaking indistinctly ]. But ive never seen anything like this. Michael hey hows it going . [ laughs ] hows it going today . Lemonis how you doing . Michael you just getting in . Lemonis yeah, i just got here. So, the old products are still out . Michael the old products are still out, yep. So. Lemonis so, none of the new stuff came . Michael none of the new stuff came. I know. I know, i know. Lemonis when i realize the bottles arent there, were in the middle of a trade show. Theres customers everywhere. So i keep my emotion in check. But im just telling you, im pissed. All right, well make the best of it. Michael all right. Lemonis if the products gonna be missing, then the rest of the booth better be on point. What the [bleep] honestly, we look average. Stage is too small. The banner across the back is crooked. Theres really no flow for people to get around. The energy of the booth does not come even close to being what anybody at the front of the show looked like. Taylore. Taylore hi. Lemonis hi. How do you think the booth looks . Taylore better than it did last year. Lemonis it looks better than it did last year . Taylore whats wrong . Lemonis i think the Biggest Issue for me is, i dont like how dark it is. Wheres all the personality . Taylore right. Lemonis whereyour personality . Its all so serious and. You look at the banner, its looks. Taylore yeah. Lemonis look, i know youre capable of more, but the booth looks terrible. Claire hey, michael. Ive got an issue going on. Michael ive been loading up for the event for tonight. Claire no, i need you to come to the salon. Michael one of my tenants. Is this my car . Ck. State farm knows that for every one of those moments. What . This is ridiculous theres one of these. Sam, i gotta go. Is this my car . What . This is ridiculous this cant be happening this cant be happening oh, its happening sweetheart. Oh, its happening sweetheart. Shut up shut up thats why state farm is there, what a day. With car insurance, for when things go wrong. But also here with car loans, to help life go right. State farm. What a day we come into this world needi others. Then we are told its braver to go it alone. But there is another way to live. A way that sees the only path to fulfillment is through others. quiet chatter soft gasp record scratching excited chatter various whoa mixed exclamations cheering cheering hey youve gotta see this. Cno. N. Alright, see you down there. Mmm, fine. Okay, what do we got . Okay, watch this. Do the thing we talked about. What do we say . Its going to be great. Watch. Remember what we were just saying . Go irish see that . Yes im gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. Find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. Youre capable of more, but the booth looks terrible. Taylore what should i change . Lemonis i think what we need to do Going Forward is get with a company that makes tradeshow booths and bring some color to life. Taylore okay. Lemonis could i have given her more direction . Sure. But the key for this task for me was seeing if she could actually solve these problems on her own. The most important thing is what shes going to do with that criticism and how shes gonna turn that into a positive. But aside from all my issues with the booth, were here to sell. Michael for 36, you can get six. You wanted the detangling shampoo . The four colors for 60. You get your moisture plus. You get your sculpting lotion. That makes a gallon. You get your curl wax. 25. Woman thank you. Michael that ones sold. Thank you, dear. Thank you, thank you. Lemonis its impressive for me to watch michael do his thing. Michael let me see. Can you hold it . Can you hold it . Can you hold it . And it still doesnt mess up . Lemonis we need to get him on the Home Shopping network. Ramona exactly. Woman so, we went in with our moisture plus. Michael shake it lemonis the guys perpetual motion, and his energy level and his enthusiasm for what hes doing is infectious. Michael give me some walkingout music. Give me some walkingout music, ladies and gentlemen. Lemonis i knew when that when i made this investment, i was investing in him and his ability to pitch product. Michael here we go, here we go, here we go lemonis and i had not really seen him in action like this, but i would say the guys awesome at it. Michael [ laughs ] lemonis i leave here impressed by your sales ability. For taylores first time, i would say that we got a ways to go. I want you to be thinking about a Product Launch where we can actually invite stylists from around the community and we literally do a redcarpet Product Launch. Im gonna put you in charge of it. Youre gonna have a 10,000 budget. After seeing taylores poor performance at bronner, i wanted to give her a second chance. So i tasked her with putting on a productlaunch event. I want to see the right marketing materials, the right branding, the final product, and i want to see her put on a show. Lets see how to create a grassroots effort to get the product out there, okay . The team has one week to prepare for the productlaunch party that will take place in charlotte, north carolina. And with the newly completed offices, everyone should be able to focus finally. We spent over 25,000 to upgrade the entire space and create professional offices for everyone. Taylore what is youalls time frame for having that available . Michael i wanted to definitely stop by to talk to you about the ashtae line, and some of your stylists, as well. Woman okay. Lemonis while taylore is in charge of logistics, michaels in charge of inviting new clients. Michael used to do all of his sales within a 300mile radius of the office. But now hes gonna reach out to salon owners all over the southeast, from virginia to florida. This will dramatically expand his client base. I just want to make sure that everything for tonight is set. Tonights the big Product Launch, and i couldnt be more excited, but theres clearly a lot that still has to get done. So, are there salon owners coming . Taylore yes. Lemonis professionals . People in the industry . Michael yep. Lemonis wheres the product . Michael already there. Lemonis okay. Lets get back to work. Michael all right. Ramona okay. Lets load up. Claire hey, michael. Michael hey. Whats up, girl . Unknown ive got an issue going on in the salon. I need you to help me. Michael right now . Claire yes. Michael ive been loading up for the event for tonight. Claire no, i need you to come to the salon. Lemonis i walk outside, and i see michael talking to a salon owner about a problem, and i think to myself, okay, ive seen this movie before. And i can tell that he wants to go and help. Michael we have a client. One of our tenants has some dryer issues. Lemonis in this brief moment, im thinking to myself, if he tries to solve this problem, him and i are gonna have our own problem. Claire mmhmm. And i need michael to come fix my dryer. Lemonis for exclusives, extras, and business advice, visit. Michael one of our tenants has some dryer issues. Say goodbye to extra taxes and fees on your wireless bill. Switch to tmobile and get 4 lines of unlimited data for just forty bucks each. Taxes and fees already included thats right, get all unlimited, forty bucks per line. Nothing more. Switch today. We created the ripple the doughnut in a doughnut in a doughnut. Right away, it was a success. I mean, it really took off. What people dont know is that it all started with points from my chase ink card. I bought the ingredients, utensils, even custom donut cutters. Wow all with 80,000 points. What will you create with your points . Learn more about the ink business preferred card. You totanobodys hurt, new car. But there will still be pain. It comes when your Insurance Company says theyll only pay threequarters of what it takes to replace it. What are you supposed to do . Drive threequarters of a car . Now if you had Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, youd get your whole car back. I guess they dont want you driving around on three wheels. Smart. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, well replace the full value of your car. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Claire mmhmm. And i need michael to come fix my dryer. Lemonis im worried to see how michaels gonna handle this. Michael give me two minutes. Lemonis if he actually bites, i may lose confidence in him. Claire you cant come look at it . Michael let me send dennis over there. I got to finish up here, but dennis will definitely take care of you. Claire all right. Michael all right. Lemonis the fact that he was able to solve the problem and delegate it seems like a small thing to most people, but it was a really big thing for michael. Im not even sure what i saw just happen. Michael well, i cant just deal with the smaller things. I cant deal with the things that really are timeconsuming, but not profitable for the company. Lemonis id like to know where Michael Woods went. Michael [ laughs ] lemonis tonights a big night for ashtae, because its a chance for them not only to launch their new brand and their new look, but talk to salon owners from throughout the east coast. Im very nervous. I dont even know if the packagings gonna be right. Oh, this is nice. How are you, sir . Michael hey, looking sweet. Lemonis how are you . Michael looking sweet. Woman do you like it . Lemonis yeah, i love it. Woman good. Lemonis wheres the product . Michael lets go. Lemonis im excited. Michael all right, all right. Lemonis honestly, it looks. Ramona amazing. Lemonis . Amazing. It looks amazing. Lets go have some fun. Michael thats it. Lemonis wow. This place is beautiful. Michael ladies and gentlemen, we thank you all for coming out for our launch party. And were about to set it off here in charlotte, north carolina. [ cheers and applause ] lemonis oh, my gosh look at that hair. This runway walk was done to not only excite the salon owners that were at the show, but to show people these are the types of styles that you can create using ashtae products. Wow quality styles, quality products. Well, we know what that means quality earnings. Taylore everyone give out a big, big round of applause. Those ladies worked it nice. [ cheers and applause ] lemonis all right, ready . Look at us. Look how good we look taylore yeah yeah lemonis hey, i want to tell you something. You really impressed me, cause the event looks amazing. It just feels really classy, and i really feel like youve come a long way. I do. Taylore thank you. I appreciate that. Lemonis one of the benefits of taylore having some success is that shell gain confidence in herself and ramona will gain confidence in assigning more things to her and make her even more valuable to the business. Ramona, this organization, you are the heartbeat of it. But you have to continue to learn how to delegate. Thank you for everything. The success of this company is dependent on ramona and michael. And ramonas got to be able to function without the level of stress and without being burdened. I want to compliment you tonight. I tell you that im very proud of how you got focused. Ill see you guys soon. Michael will do. All right. Thanks a million. Lemonis thank you. It really feels like just the beginning. Ashtae products have a new look, a new feel, a new purpose, a new direction, and this thing is going to be wildly profitable. Okay, leeza. Were ready for you on set. Thanks, guys. Im walking to set with our ladies. Were gonna do a last, final mike check. Of course. All right. Have a good show, everybody. Female announcer the following is a paid presentation for dr. Denese skinscience. Male announcer and now the exclusive premiere of winning the wrinkle war, examining how powerful agerenewing and youthbuilding ingredients can actually deliver incredible results like these in just 14 days. Female announcer and transform your skin like this in only 60 days. Male announcer but first, lets join reporter and Emmy Awardwinner leeza gibbons. [ cheers and applause ] hi, ladies