With a huge space and [bleep] collecting, and it doesnt really matter because julie will just write another check. Then this business. What the [bleep]. May just crumble. Please help us make money. Please help us make money. My name is marcus lemonis, and i risk my own money to save struggling businesses. Were not going to wake up every morning wondering if we have a job. Were going to wake up every morning wondering how many jobs we have to do. Its not always pretty. Everything is going to change everything. But i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. This. Lets go to work. Is the profit. New orleans is one of those cities that always stands out, and whether its the food, the music, the architecture, its just a really fascinating place, and it doesnt look like anything else in the states. So when a local business reached out and even their product was unique everything they make is from cork i headed to the French Quarter to check it out. Amanda hello. Lemonis hi. Amanda im amanda. Lemonis im marcus. Amanda nice to meet you. Lemonis nice to meet you. Amanda so welcome to queork. Lemonis this is cool. Is everything in here cork . Amanda yes. Theres bags, jewelry. Lemonis hats, place mats. What is cork . Amanda its the outer bark of the cork oak tree. It grows mainly in portugal and spain. Lemonis are there cork trees in. . Amanda california, yes. I actually tried to bring one back here. Actually, julie told me not to. Lemonis are you julie . Julie yep. Julie. Lemonis im marcus. Julie hey, marcus. Very nice to meet you. Lemonis nice to meet you. Julie welcome to new orleans. Lemonis thank you. How long have you guys been in business together . Amanda since 2012. Lemonis okay. What did you do before . Julie im a lawyer. I still am. Thats my day job. Lemonis okay. Uhoh. Julie yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Amanda i was a builder. I built townhomes and condominium developments. Lemonis how many stores do you guys have . Amanda four. Lemonis really . Amanda yeah. So two here. Julie two here. Amanda we have one in santa fe, new mexico. Lemonis oh, you do . Amanda and then we opened one in santa rosa beach, florida. Lemonis well, first of all, is that how you spell cork . Amanda no. [ chuckles ] julie she was so obsessive about it. I was like, you are the queen of cork. Lemonis because phonetically, its said almost the same, queeork or something. Amanda yeah. Thats what siri said. Lemonis thats what siri calls it . Amanda mmhmm. Julie yeah. Lemonis hey, siri, where can i buy cork in new orleans . Siri couldnt find any matching places. Lemonis am i saying it wrong . Is it quirk . Amanda maybe she thinks its. Lemonis how do you siri i have everything i need in the cloud. Lemonis i get it, but not cork. Amanda yeah. Lemonis can you find queeork in new orleans . Amanda [ laughs ] siri here is what i found. Amanda is it there . Lemonis yes. Julie yeah. See . [ laughs ] lemonis can you take me through some of the products . Because im honestly fascinated. I know nothing about the product. So theres hats, place mats, messengertype. Amanda bags. Lemonis . Bags like an ipad. Amanda travel. Yeah. Its hypoallergenic, waterproof. Lemonis its waterproof . Amanda yes. Julie yes. Amanda it floats. Lemonis really . Amanda oh, yeah. Lemonis oh, yeah. I guess that makes sense. Julie yeah. We get that question all the time. Its, like, its a bottle stopper. Amanda scratchresistant, stainresistant, it wont ever smell. Lemonis so its good for your feet. Amanda yes. Lemonis makes your feet not smell. Amanda this is actually the ax that they use to cut the tree. Lemonis this is it . Amanda uhhuh. Yeah. Lemonis oh, yeah. Amanda they put it into a tree, and it knows just about where to go. Lemonis this is how i feel when i meet a smallbusiness owner that doesnt know their margins. Amanda [ chuckles ] lemonis its a pretty store. Its wellmerchandised, but literally every single thing in there is made of cork, and i was hoping that i would see some diversification of materials, maybe a little canvas or a Little Leather mixed with cork, and while the products are beautiful, i wanted to see a little more pizzazz. How much have you guys invested since you started . Julie close to 200 grand. Lemonis 200,000 . Amanda yeah. Julie yeah. So. Lemonis and have you put any money in . Amanda no. Lemonis okay. Amanda i just work the store. Lemonis and where do you office out of . Amanda out of where we manufacture. Lemonis and you have a manufacturing facility . Amanda mmhmm. Lemonis and you have all this for 200 grand . Amanda oh, yeah. Lemonis thats not bad. Julie well, we do amanda theres more debt is the thing. Julie theres debt also. Lemonis how much total capital has been invested in the concept, whether you borrowed it or put it in . Amanda i mean, probably around 400,000. Lemonis does it lose money . Amanda yes. This last year, it did. Lemonis do you wholesale any of this product . Amanda no. Lemonis how come . Amanda our biggest problem in the store, in these stores, is keeping it stocked. Were always running out of the most popular products. The problem is just having the manpower to be able to make more. Julie neither one of us had any experience whatsoever in any sort of retail. Amanda when i started it, it was just me. Then i went to julie and asked her to partner in. Lemonis was she your lawyer, or is that you were like, im going to get a contract . Amanda no. Were a couple. Lemonis you guys were already together at the time . Julie yep. Amanda yes. Lemonis how long have you guys been together . Julie seven years. Amanda yeah, eight years. Julie seven, eight years. Lemonis so longer than the business has been around . Amanda yes. Julie yeah. Lemonis and your relationship has lasted through the business, no problem . Amanda yes. Julie no problems. Lemonis none . Amanda well, i mean, honestly, like, because she doesnt have much to do with the business at all. Lemonis except shes got money in it. Im noticing an uncomfortable dynamic between julie and amanda, and you often find that when theres two partners who are owners of a business and one put up all the money and the other one put up all the work. How has it affected your relationship . Julie amanda is very competitive and she wants to do everything herself, and its too much. And then things happen, and she gets herself in a bind. Weve gone up and down in our relationship because of, you know, the arguing about it. So i just learned the other day from amanda that the debt was around 400,000, and i was just like, really . Lemonis you didnt know that . Julie no, and if we were not life partners, then id be calling her and have that lemonis thats the challenge in getting in business with somebody youre in a relationship with. Julie yep. Yes. [ chuckles ] i agree. Lemonis how do you take feedback . Julie she is very open to, like, learning and lemonis from you . Julie not from me. Amanda she just doesnt know much about the business, and so we dont talk much about it. Lemonis what would you like her to know . Amanda everything, and so ive asked her to help me. Julie thats untrue. We talk about it every single night. You know, shes so stressed out, and ill be like, amanda, whats the matter . Ugh, you know, its just so [bleep] up, and you dont want to hear about it, and im just like, okay. Im going to go quietly to bed because its going to just continue to snowball, and its not worth it to me. Lemonis almost looks like amanda keeps julie at bay, gives her not too much information to maybe expose some of her decisions. When you look at it from julies perspective, she wants to be supportive of her partner by putting money in, but it almost feels like shes burying her head in the sand and doesnt want to know too much, either. I would like to see the factory. Amanda yes. Lemonis so can you take me there . Amanda absolutely. Okay. Lemonis okay . Amanda hey. Lemonis hello. This is awesome. Amanda so this was the space that really you cant keep cool. Lemonis its hot in here in the summer . Amanda yes. Lemonis i legitimately did not know that cork came, like, in these sheets. Amanda yeah. Lemonis and so is this essentially a cutandsew operation . Is that how i should think about it . Amanda yes. Mmhmm. Lemonis and who runs all this . Amanda jackie. Lemonis really youre sort of doling out the jobs, keeping people on task. Jackie yeah. Yeah. Amanda and we found a local notforprofit called the yep locally here. Lemonis yeah. What does yep stand for . Amanda Youth Empowerment project. Lemonis i like that. Amanda mmhmm, and so mimi went through their program. Frank and ashante went through their program. I mean lemonis whats the program for . Mimi its for youth who are looking for something to better their future, basically. Lemonis they basically give you different trade skills . Mimi yeah. You either go through sales, graphic design, or, like, the business route. They set you up for success, basically. Lemonis here . Wow. What i like about what queork provides the yep kids is an opportunity to learn a skill and a trade. Thats a Business Plan as long as it makes a profit that i can buy into. Youve really done nothing that added a little bit of life to the bag, and so when i look at, like, the stitching here, like, if you did that in red or if you did it in purple and gold. Have you tried to do stuff like that . Jackie amanda has certain tastes. Shes not really into color. Amanda this is safe. Jackie yep. Lemonis i want to give the artists and the workers there the freedom to put their own stamp on things. We know that a basic product will sell 8 times out of 10, but i want those extra two sales. Delivering the same product, making brown shoes all the time isnt going to work. Also, the zippers suck. Jackie yeah. All of our hardware sucks. Lemonis really bad. Jackie yeah. One of my most frustrating things. Lemonis it just feels like you took a really goodquality construction and a really interesting fabric, and you just took it down pegs. How did you learn how to make all this stuff . Astra trial and error. Jackie trial and error. Yeah. Astra we dont really know what were doing. Lemonis have you been to a leather manufacturer before to sort of see amanda ive never been to any kind of manufacturer. Lemonis you havent . Amanda no. Astra that would be cool. Amanda yeah. Lemonis whos responsible for all the inventory here . Like, what amanda thats not inventory. Thats, like, the bags that we either took apart or returns. Lemonis where are all the Raw Materials . Like woman in there. Lemonis you have to keep going back and forth . When i look at this facility and the talent thats in here, it seems like a really cool way to be a market leader, a trendsetter. You cant because doesnt seem like theres much of a process here, like, no inventory management, no workflow, nothing like that. I feel like im in somebodys garage of things they collected over a series of years. You want to run it like a lean, mean machine, and that includes what it looks like, how its organized. Its details, and i dont think amanda understands that. Id like to hear from you sort of what your objectives were in calling me. Amanda well, before we started, i was in real estate, and it was a bad time for me. Lemonis personally . Amanda financially. That was kind of my identity, too, you know, and i was successful in that up to that point. I filed bankruptcy, and more devastating than just filing bankruptcy was losing who i was. Now i feel like im kind of failing again. I dont want this to all be for nothing. If we dont stop borrowing and not having enough money to repay things, theres no way we can survive it. Its been six years now, and weve never made any money. Ive never been able to give julie a check, and thats why you got to ask for help. Lemonis you feel like your relationship would be in jeopardy if the business closed . Amanda yeah. It scares me to death to think of that. Lemonis so i would love to be able to meet tomorrow morning if thats okay. Amanda yeah. Lemonis i would like julie to be there, and i think part of you overcoming these fears that you have of the business are understanding that you have to share information even when its bad, and maybe you dont have to bear the brunt of all the solutions on your own. Amanda yeah. Lemonis all right. Have a good night. Ill see you tomorrow. Amanda all right. Thank you. Lemonis yep. Good morning. Amanda hi. Lemonis how are you . Amanda good. How are you . Lemonis good to see you. How are you . Julie good. Lemonis so i thought itd be good for us to go over the financials. Sales, lets start with that. In 2017. You have 1,491,542 in sales. Amanda mmhmm. Lemonis . Which is a highfive on that one. I didnt know that many people actually bought cork. Amanda yeah. Lemonis okay . Amanda it should be higher. Lemonis cost of goods is 466,835, so you had 1 million in gross profit, an unbelievable margin, spectacular. So the way to think about it is, with that, about 1,024,000, you have to pay all your bills 231,000 of rent, utilities at 35,000. Supplies 25,000. Furniture, equipment and improvements 40,000. Payroll at 507,000 for the year. Advertising is 125,000. Creditcard fees and loans 257,000. Amanda so thats principal and interest. Lemonis youre spending more than youre generating, simple, so the cash that came into the business is the amount of her original capital, 200,000, plus all the debt, 463,000. That totals 663,000 of money that has come into the company. So lets talk about this 85,000, taxes payable. When is that due . How old is it . Whats amanda its past due. [ sighs ] lemonis that is something that scares me to death because the shareholders of the business are personally responsible for that. Did you know that . Amanda no. Lemonis you cant hide from taxes. I cant fund into a situation where im going to have any risk that thats going to happen to me. I just cant do it. Amanda i didnt know it would do i didnt know at the time that this is what would happen at all. [ clears throat ] lemonis i just dont want to do it. If your business is in trouble and you need my help, log on to theprofitcasting. Com. Lemonis you cantbe right back. Es. With moderate to severe Crohns Disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be. Is she alright . I hope so. So i talked to my doctor about humira. I 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, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. 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 gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. When didwhen i needed ton . Jumpstart sales. Build attendance for an event. Help people find their way. Fastsigns designed new directional signage. And got them back on track. Get started at fastsigns. Com. I swibecause they let metual, customize my insurance. And as a fitness junkie, i customize everything, like my bike, and my calves. Liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Hey i live on my own now ive got xfinity, because i like to live life in the fast lane. Unlike my parents. You rambling about xfinity again . Youre so cute when you get excited. Anyways. Ive got their app right here, i can troubleshoot. I can schedule a time for them to call me back, its great you have our number programmed in . Ya i dont even know your phone anymore. Excuse me . what . I dont know your phone number. Aw well. He doesnt know our phone number you have our fax number, obviously. Todays xfinity service. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Ill pass. I cant fund into a situation where im going to have any risk that thats going to happen to me, and so. Julie i can pay that off. I can pay off the 85,000 and just becomes more of my equity share. You know, its a way forward. I know its scary, but dont let fear hold you back. Lemonis im not sure that amanda necessarily recognizes the magnitude of julie making this decision. Your partner stands up and solves a huge 85,000 problem that potentially couldve blocked the deal from happening. I mean, maybe its standupand givesomebodyahug time. Im willing to go in for a couple of reasons, but its largely driven by julie is just like, ill continue to help, which means she believes in it and she believes in you, so im willing to invest 150,000 into the business. But im going to want to own 50 of it. Youre going to need more resources than money. Youre going to need distribution. Youre going to need to find out how the wholesale market works. Amanda i think my biggest hangup is the percentage, is 50 . I feel very obligated to make sure you get paid back. I think if you bought in at 1 3 and we all could be 1 3 partners. Lemonis okay. Amanda . Id be great with that. Lemonis okay. Then ill put in 120,000. Amanda okay. Are you good with that . Julie yeah. Amanda yes. Lemonis and this gets cleaned up . Julie yes. Lemonis were going to make sure the taxes get paid so that were not exposed. You will not be able to have control of the financial decisionmaking like you did before. Amanda please. Lemonis okay. [ trombone playing ] really . Amanda yeah. Lemonis only in new orleans. Julie i know. Amanda i know. Thats why i didnt even look, because im used to it. Lemonis honestly. We have a deal . Amanda we have a deal. Lemonis okay. Julie thank you, sir. Lemonis thank you, and thank you for believing in her. Julie tear up. Lemonis i thought itd be a good idea to just get as many people from the team as we could together. So i decided to invest 120,000. I would say that the program that you guys came through i would say that was probably my single biggest motivation. If you wanted to hire two more workers tomorrow from the yep program, could you find them . Jackie for sure. Lemonis lets find people that need a chance, that want to make money, that are super talented and have them join our team. So were going to get in the wholesale business. Jackie yes. Astra you guys might lose me from the factory if you do that, though, because i have a sales background. Im warning you. Lemonis if you love selling and youre the astra i do. Lemonis . And youre part of making it, then youre going to come with me when we go wholesale it. Were going to make dramatic changes in the stores. I dont feel like the stores do a really good job of telling the story of what it is and how it works and what are the attributes of the product, that its handmade in new orleans by really cool people. You have a lot of education to do for consumers. Its just a much bigger story. Candidly, im questioning the quality on some of the items. In order to go wholesale it, youre going to have to make it a lot better. Amanda right. Lemonis and the warehouse honestly was a disaster. It looked unkept. It looked unorganized and should have the proper equipment. It should have the proper Inventory System so they can grab from stuff. Also, i want to see if theres a way to add a couple more textiles to the mix. Jackie ive been waiting, waiting for the chance. Lemonis if its leather, canvas, or something, i want to try to break out of everything just being so onedimensional. Ready to go back to work . Man oh, yeah. Jackie yeah. Lemonis okay. Ill see you at French Quarter. Amanda yes. Lemonis so let me tell you what i want to do. I want to understand sales conversion so number of people that walk in and the number of people that leave with a bag. Its a real big deal for me. Customer conversion is increasing the level of information or enthusiasm in the initial stages of meeting to increase the possibility of converting to a sale, how to take a lead and transact through the register. All right. So, you guys, work the store. Ill work the door. Amanda okay. Lemonis okay. You ever seen cork . Man not quite like that. Lemonis this is actually what cork is. Its a layer around the tree, and then youll see what they do with it inside. Come on in caitlion we source all of our cork from portugal best quality, biggest industry. Lemonis come on in. Everything inside is made of cork. Do you know where cork comes from . Man cork . No. Lemonis okay. Do you know where it comes from . Woman from a pig. Lemonis from a pig . Woman you said pork. Woman from the tree. Lemonis cork. Woman oh, okay. Lemonis amanda. Amanda yes . Lemonis . Come on out. Amanda all right. Lemonis come on over here. What does amanda need to do better to get people in the store to understand about queork . Woman maybe stand out here and talk to people as theyre walking by and get them to feel it. Amanda right. Lemonis on that idea, im going to grab an apron. Woman nice. Lemonis would you like to feel my apron . Woman yeah i know. Lemonis anytime you can engage with a customer, a little bit of enthusiasm may actually turn into more sales. So how would you describe your selling style . Amanda im not a bubbly sales person. Julie shes way more quiet and introverted. She wouldnt go out there and drag somebody in here. Amanda i dont like being pushy. Lemonis im not asking you to be pushy. Amanda right. Lemonis it is true that youll have to come out of your shell, but i need you to have enthusiasm. Amanda right. Lemonis we saw a lot of people in one hour. Amanda mmhmm. Lemonis how much do you think we did in an hour . Amanda probably lemonis is there a way to look . Julie yeah. Amanda yeah. Lemonis lets look. What is the sales for the day . 6,193. What does this store normally do on a day like today . Amanda 3,000 would be good. Chance mmhmm. Lemonis so a good day . Amanda yeah. Lemonis and so i think part of what we learned today is, whats the missing element that would drive conversion up . Woman knowledge. Lemonis education, right . Knowledge. Woman yes. Lemonis tell people what the heck this is. Okay, guys. Thank you. Amanda all right. Lemonis its been two weeks, and im back in new orleans. And im excited to see what improvements to the warehouse the team has come up with. Joey welcome back. Lemonis thank you. This looks like new stuff. Joey yeah. I made those for you to see. So this is all scraps that we have, and theres suede and leather and cork, and i just kind of mixed them all together. Lemonis these are awesome. Joey thanks. Lemonis really good. Dont you think . Amanda well, you know im not a color person. Lemonis who made this . Joey jackie. Lemonis this is solid. Jackie, my only feedback on this is straps. Theyre too short, and then back to the hardware issue. Its just really junky. Where are, like, the zippers organized . Like, where is everything . Astra in there. Lemonis and why so you have to just keep going back and forth . Astra yeah. Lemonis and so why wouldnt you have it over here close to where youre working . Joey this whole place needs to be reorganized. I think we all agree on that. Astra definitely. Joey yeah. Lemonis what is all this . Amanda well, thats scrap. Lemonis all of their accessories are all over the place. Theres no one place for the finished goods to be. Youre asking the folks to be more efficient and be more profitable, but youre not giving them the tools for success. I guess the frustration that i have with you is that if you guys had a limited amount of space, what would you do . And if you had a limited amount of resources, what would you do . And its almost like everybody has just gotten comfortable with [bleep] collecting, and it doesnt really matter because julie will just write another check. Thats how it feels. I dont want to put all this pressure on you, but right now, youre trying to sell a commodity and the story doesnt resonate. And the viability of the company is ultimately going to rest on your ability to tell that story, or we should just go home. Lemonis its almost like hebut im kindai want tehhhhhhhhhhhh about buying one. Youre ehhhhhhhhhhhh . Well, its more like a aaaiiiiiihhh. Well, good news. Carmax will buy your car even if you dont buy one from them. Ahhhhaaaaaa. Mmmmmhmmm. Oooh. Ahhh. Ahahaha. Mmmm. [woof]. 6, 7, 8 big dreams start with small steps. But dedication can get you there. So just start small. Start saving. Easily set, track and control your goals right from the chase mobile® app. Chase. Make more of whats yours®. Theres one thing you can be sure of. Theyre changing by the nanosecond. Thats why cognizant created a unique engineering approach to design and build new digital products. Learn how cognizant softvision designs experiences and engineers outcomes. Cool. Cool. Ahh doctor pepper . and delicious dr pepper are you worried your time travel will alter the future . The butterfly effect . Nahahh. Woahahh oh, theyre gentle creatures. Dr pepper. So nice to treat you this is jamie. Youre going to be seeing a lot more of him now. Im not calling him dad. Oh, nno. Look, [sighs] i get it. Some new guy comes in helping your mom bundle and save with progressive, but hey, were all in this together. Right, champ . Im getting more nuggets. How about some carrots . You dont want to ruin your dinner. Youre not my dad thats fair. Overstepped. Thats fair. Everybody has just gotten comfortable with [bleep] collecting, and it doesnt really matter because julie will just write another check. Frank i think its lack of communication, though. Like lemonis is it . From who . Frank from, like, us as a team. Were not communicating with one another on, like, man, here, put this up. Lets stop looking at this and organize this this way. Lemonis well, lets get everybody else and talk about that. What im noticing in amanda early on is that while she may internally possess the qualities to be a good leader, she doesnt have the ability to express those things. Its confusing to me why the place looks the way it does. Its in total disarray. It feels like nobody really gives a [bleep] astra i feel like theres no rules structured around accountability. Stuff doesnt get put away. Nobody is in charge. Lemonis so how do we move the ball forward today . Astra lets get rid of all those little, tiny zippers and all those bins. Lemonis were going to get rid of everything. Amanda oh, this is scraps. We need that. Lemonis amanda, they need leadership. Whos leading them . This is more on you than you think. Amanda you know, im being pulled in so many directions. Im not doing a good job of it. Every day, i do tell them, it needs to be cleaner. It needs to be more organized. Lemonis yeah. I can sense that youre feeling overwhelmed. We need to translate how hard youre working into just working smarter, good inventory management, good rawmaterial management, good production flow. Amanda im all for that. I definitely am. Lemonis but lets allforit to the truck. Amanda right. Lets go. Lemonis after meeting the kids that work at queork and hearing so much about the yep program, i asked amanda to set up a meeting at yep. My goal in this company is to have the bulk of the workforce come out of the yep program. We need website redesign. We need logo improvement. We need packaging. We need a tag. We want to have a combination of design works, bringing people on to work under frank on the floor. Man i can tell you is this where you at now is going to lead to Something Else like that. Its crazy because i didnt know how much i was into sewing until i got in front of a machine. Lemonis whos interested in getting involved . Lets get the buses moving. Man lets do it. Lemonis thanks, guys. Well see you soon. [ chatter ] we got everybody . I also wanted to take the team to new york city for one of the coolest field trips ever, and our first stop is botani, one of the greatest resources for hardware in the entire city. I wanted them to see not only what was available to them, but i wanted the resource to be available. Buy whatever zippers you guys want, whatever hardware you want, and then take it back and put it on product. Man these italianmade zippers youre not going to get any better than this. Lemonis i also wanted to take the team to unionwear. Woman oh, my god. Lemonis its a largescale manufacturer in new jersey that specializes in a similartype manufacturing that queork operates in today. I want the kids and amanda to see if we grow big enough, this is whats possible. Man you notice everything is really organized here. We got our setup time down from about three hours down to about 15 minutes on embroidery, just looking for thread. Amanda wow. Man it would be way, way easier, son. Frank yeah, yeah. Lemonis were improving the process and the quality of our products, but i want julie and amanda to understand how critical it is to enter the wholesale market, so were flying across the country to meet with a potential customer that could be huge for business. So the reason that i brought you to ferraricarano is, theyre one of the biggest vineyards in all of northern california. Is there a way to take the product that you make and penetrate wine country and really see if theres a way to expand the business . In order to grow our wholesale business, we need more lines of revenue, and when you think about cork product, the first thing that normally comes to your mind, of course, is the cork on a wine bottle. And having been to wineries, i know that all of them have gift shops. I also want to see how you explain to the people that are here what your business is and why youre in it. Amanda okay. Lemonis so lets go in. Amanda all right. Oh, its beautiful. Patrick this is a cork tree. Lemonis holy moly. Amanda they cut into it, and these guys, usually the grandfather who planted the tree lemonis and it doesnt kill the tree . Amanda no. Lemonis i want to be a tree hugger. Please help us make money. Please help us make money. Candis hi, amanda. Amanda very nice to meet you. Candis nice to meet you. Julie im julie. Candis hi, julie. Julie hey, candis. Nice to meet you. Lemonis this is a big gift shop. Patrick this is a big gift shop. Candis this is my baby. Amanda and so what is it that you find people. You know, you have your best sellers in here or. . Candis yes. Yes. Lemonis candis, did amanda tell you what she does for a living . Amanda im sorry. Lemonis i dont sense that they really understand whats at stake. Amanda we specialize in cork fabric and make everything from cellphone cases to handbags. Candis okay. Lemonis we need the business. We have to have it. The program with the kids depends on it. Amanda if you went to another winery, would they have a lot of the same things in here . Candis we try not to. Amanda okay. Lemonis i mean, its like, want to buy some cork product . No . Okay. Like, hello. Candis but every time they leave the store, we want something to go as a memory. Yeah, and what i feel the customers will, you know. Amanda buy. Candis . Buy, enjoy. Yeah. Lemonis are you bored . Candis but. Lemonis why, yes, i am. Amanda is it important to you guys to have things personalized with your winery name or. . Lemonis honest to god, i cant even stay [bleep] awake. Amanda its amanda. Lemonis amanda, marcus. Amanda hey, marcus. Lemonis im at the warehouse, and it looks like you guys got ransacked. What the. . Geez, what did i. . But were also a cancer fighting, hiv controlling, joint replacing, and depression relieving company. From the day youre born we never stop taking care of you. Another wireless ad. Great. 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Look at their shoes. Candis cute. Lemonis look at their bags. Candis cute. Lemonis look at their belts. Candis i love your shoes. Julie thank you. Amanda thank you. Lemonis i think what the ladies failed to tell you is they employee people from a program in the city that gives people an opportunity to fix their lives. Well, the two of them are giving them a chance to put their hands and their minds to work. Candis love that. Lemonis huge social impact. Candis real cool. Lemonis real cool. Okay. Candis i love it. Yeah. Lemonis okay. Lemonis these are some samples of things. Candis i love this. Amanda this is actually one thats new. Candis this is fun. Amanda its very popular. Candis i love these. Lemonis what do we retail that for . Amanda 39 is what we retail it for, and it sells very well at that. Lemonis and you may be able to buy it for 10. Candis i like it. Amanda yeah. Candis i can see these flying out of here. Lemonis and so were looking to make a reasonable margin so we can keep these young folks employed. Candis yes. Lemonis and were looking to make sure that youre able to make the kind of margins that you want to make but also know the story behind it. Candis i love your story. Lemonis thank you, candis, very much. Candis thank you. Lemonis we really appreciate it. So how did you think that went . Amanda i thought it went well. Lemonis julie, you got to help me here. Julie if her job is to sell product, you got to tell the whole story. The story certainly is, if nothing else, a selling point. Lemonis the story doesnt resonate. I dont know the people that made it. I dont know why the factory exists. This isnt a cork business. This is a business around a social program, and if she cant really figure out the difference between the two, then i have no idea what im doing here. Their livelihood and the viability of the company is ultimately going to rest on your shoulders and your ability to tell that story. Amanda right. I just dont think i realized how important it is to everybody else. Its everything to me. Lemonis is it . Because you dont really it doesnt really roll off naturally for you. Amanda it really does mean everything to me, and its been something that ive fought for because when you watch what happens to somebody becoming confident like that, and, you know, to me, theyre like my kids. Lemonis that is really important to you, and so let that out. Think about that, how strong that pitch is. Do you want to change the life of some of these young kids . Yes, i do. Well, great. Let me tell you how. Julie yep. Lemonis okay. After being gone for a couple weeks, i wanted to make a quick visit to the store in the French Quarter. Oh, hey, julie. Julie hey, marcus. Lemonis whats happening . And i wanted to see what has been done since i left. Did they make the new tags . Did they do everything that i asked for . Whats the progress look like . Caitlion with all of our new equipment, now we can make bags like this. Lemonis and these are the new zippers. Julie right. Caitlion new zippers, yes. Lemonis theyre the ones we got in new york, i think. Caitlion yeah. Julie yuhhuh. Lemonis wow. Look at the difference. Caitlion isnt that nice . Lemonis a lot better. Caitlion yes. Julie like butter. Lemonis thats totally different. Caitlion yeah, and the inside, frank did that bottom. Lemonis so the quality has gotten better . Caitlion oh, yeah. Lemonis its awesome. Im surprised that none of the products have all the new tagging on it, and then wheres all the messaging about the product, the history, the tree, how it works . Julie it will happen. Lemonis its disappointing. I want the customer and the staff to be able to understand the story of why were making and selling these products. Amanda didnt do any of it. I want to make sure were on the same page, so while im here, im going to check in with amanda. [ horn honks ] what the. . [ ringing ] amanda its amanda. Lemonis amanda, marcus. Amanda hey, marcus. Lemonis where are you guys . Amanda what do you mean . Lemonis im at the warehouse, and it looks like you guys got ransacked. Amanda [ chuckles ] we moved. Lemonis i dont remember ever talking about moving. Amanda i started looking, and i found another space, basically the same price. Our lease is coming due there and so lemonis when is the lease up here . Amanda august. Lemonis so its 2 more months. Amanda yeah. Lemonis can you text me the address . Amanda yeah. Lemonis okay. Amanda all right. Lemonis okay. Bye. Amanda bye. Lemonis i think for me more than anything else is the way she left the place. Its the lack of communication and the lack of respect for the goods. I dont like it, not one bit. What the. . Geez, what did i get myself into with these people . 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Geico. Over 75 years of savings and service. What the. . Jackie right . Lemonis i didnt know you guys moved. Why did you think it was a good idea to move that quick . It just, like, didnt happen with a plan. Amanda it did, though. Lemonis well, when you go back and you look at the warehouse, it doesnt look like you left with a plan. It looks like you left in the middle of the night because theres [bleep] everywhere. Amanda i had a builder come out and bid to get the space to be airconditioned. Lemonis right. Right. Amanda it was 129,000, so i went to the landlord, and she said that she would want to raise the rent. Lemonis the landlord wanted us to put the 120,000 in, and she wanted to. Amanda and raise the rent. Lemonis . Raise the rent . Uhhuh. Amanda so we started looking for other spaces. Weve got a place that is the same price. Lemonis im not arguing with your business logic. Im arguing with the process to get there. Your argument is solid. Its just that you made that argument, in my opinion, without me. In this particular case, it is hard for me to be tough on her because the final product is good, but i want her to understand that there can be a process to do both, make good decisions and be a good communicator. Can i get a quick tour . Amanda oh, yeah. Lemonis okay. Hey, you got a nice break room. Amanda yeah. Lemonis it just feels amanda and even up there, they all love it, you know . Lemonis how much is the rent here . Amanda 4,128. Lemonis 4,128 . Amanda mmhmm. The other one was 4,119. Lemonis i mean, its a better space. Amanda mmhmm. Lemonis ill give you credit for finding it. Amanda yeah. Lemonis and you did a nice job finding it. Amanda now everything is laid out so that they can get what they need quickly. Lemonis this is cool. Amanda thats an automated sewing machine, one of the new machines. Were going to use it for all the box xs, the zippertab pulls, all the Little Things that have to be perfect. Lemonis what does this do . Amanda scrap would run through here. It gets painted, and it goes immediately into a dryer. Lemonis amanda and the team have continued really bringing this business up to the right standard. Theyve laid out the equipment in a way that allows for an assemblylike production process, and theyve bought new equipment that will dramatically improve the quality of the goods. Amanda want to take a peek in the hardware room. Lemonis oh, my god. Look at this. Different widths, different colors its the way its supposed to look. You guys are kind of legit now. Amanda so this is inventory. Weve been doing what you told us, manufacturing where we do a whole bunch at once. Lemonis stuff looks good. Weve put an Inventory System in place. All of those things combined will result in one thing increased capacity and the ability to take on a huge order. We have a meeting set up with wine enthusiast. Its a huge account opportunity. Everybody has an opportunity to grow their career and make more money, so we want to have some samples ready and some products ready. Make sure everything looks flawless, visual presentation so they understand the story behind the company. What is the company . What is it . How do you say it . What do we do . Why do we do it . Amanda okay. Lemonis okay. Astra got some work to do. Lemonis i set up a meeting for amanda and astra at wine enthusiast in new york. Wine enthusiast specialize in selling products to people that like and live the wine lifestyle. If youre going to get a way to sell into wholesale, this is it. Were meeting with the owners and their buyers. I think the most important thing that i want to see out of you is enthusiasm for the people like ive never seen before. The wine enthusiast catalog today gets circulated to approximately two million people. If we succeed, we could take the business from a Small Business in new orleans to a legitimate business in the united states. Amanda so, my name is amanda dailey, and my nickname is the queen of cork. Sybil [ laughs ] amanda and we basically make and sell any usable product that we can using cork fabric. We do that by training and empowering some very talented but underserved new orleans youth that sybil fantastic. Amanda yes. Theres a whole big problem in new orleans with the youth not having opportunity, and so i just feel like theres so much more that can be done. Watching their transformation, you know, people who were dishwashers and didnt have a chance, theyve got a trade that theyre very proud of, and to see who theyve become over the last few years is just its something i hope everybody can experience because it works. It really does. So this is a lot of our most popular products. Astra our customer is very interested in authenticity and sustainability. Theres not a cork shortage. The cork tree can be harvested every three years. Sybil well, this is very interesting that you presented this because travel with wine, bottles specifically, has been a huge trend for us. Nancy but theres some Product Development involved there because in order to hold your wine bottles, you need protective inserts in which, you know, the customer can divide their wine. Theyre not just going to throw this in here. How can we tie the marketing of it back to our customer . Lemonis anytime you go into a pitch meeting, you expect the seller to be prepared for any objection that the potential buyer may have. Glenn have a lot of success with used corks. How do we sell this to the wine enthusiast customer just that, okay, it happens to be the same material . Lemonis this is that moment, and my biggest fear is can amanda actually handle it . Sybil we would only carry if we were to carry anything, we would only carry one or two products. Nancy from a development standpoint with everything that i see needs some work. Amanda okay. Lemonis for exclusives, extras, and business advice, visit theprofit. Cnbc. Com. Sybil we would only carry one or two products. My name is taylor, and im a tv producer. This surface laptop is amazing. Its very powerful and just speeds up your whole day. This is the type of laptop that ive always needed. It feels weird to be on this side of the camera. With the Capital One Savor card you earn 4 cash back on dining and 4 on entertainment. So when you go out, you cash in. Whats in your wallet . Hi, its real milk, just00 farmwithout the lactose, id. So you can enjoy it even if youre sensitive. Delicious. Now, ive heard people say lactaid isnt real milk. Ok, well, if it isnt real then, i guess those things over there cant actually be cows. Must be some kind of really big dogs, then. Sit bad dog. My name is taylor, and im a tv producer. This surface laptop is amazing. Its very powerful and just speeds up your whole day. This is the type of laptop that ive always needed. It feels weird to be on this side of the camera. Hey i live on my own now ive got xfinity, because i like to live life in the fast lane. Unlike my parents. You rambling about xfinity again . Youre so cute when you get excited. Anyways. Ive got their app right here, i can troubleshoot. I can schedule a time for them to call me back, its great you have our number programmed in . Ya i dont even know your phone anymore. Excuse me . what . I dont know your phone number. Aw well. He doesnt know our phone number you have our fax number, obviously. Todays xfinity service. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Ill pass. Nancy from a development standpoint with everything that i see needs some work. Amanda okay. Cameron do you guys have an inhouse design team, or how is that handled . Amanda we do. We can do just about anything that you want us to do. Cameron are these margins sustainable . Because thats, like, the worstcase scenario is, you come back to us and say, actually, you know, we didnt have the infrastructure in place, so do you really feel like you can maintain this with the production you have now . Amanda definitely. It comes down to the equipment that marcus invested in, and so thats where we are right now. Lemonis im really impressed. Every time wine enthusiast is throwing an objection at amanda about customization, about volume, about delivery, they had an answer for everything. Sybil so if we were to revise this bag to accommodate three bottles, which is the magic number for us, i would forecast that we would sell about 1,500 pieces in 8 weeks. How much notice do you need . Amanda for that kind of volume, the lead time is four weeks. Ideally, were the only one selling that product. Glenn exclusivity . Sybil exactly. Amanda yes. Sybil thats key for us. Amanda our goal is to obviously educate the world and sell as many cork products as we can. Sybil this has been one of the most interesting stories ive ever heard. Its fantastic. Your passion its so exciting for us because thats not very common these days. Amanda sounds like all the things that you guys want. Sybil i think we can certainly do something together. Lemonis after getting that reaction from the buyer, i dont want to say that i got goose bumps all over, but i did. I thought you did a significantly better job than the first time we ever talked to somebody. Amanda for the most part, you know, i feel like they got the gist of who we are and that were passionate and that we, you know, have a little more than just a product. Lemonis i thought you did amazing. Astra thanks. Lemonis i feel like its a completely different Business Today from a mindset standpoint. Astra all of the changes are exciting, positive, and theyre really going to propel the business into the future. Lemonis good job to both of you. Amanda yeah. Lemonis good energy, good excitement. You want to call the team and let them know how it went . Actually, you should call julie. Amanda shes in a trial. Lemonis oh, she is . You think shes going to be happy about this . Amanda yeah, for both of us. This is fantastic. Lemonis while im happy that the meeting with wine enthusiast went great, im glad that amanda has done a much better job of communicating with julie not only as a partner in life but as a partner in business, but what im really happy about is how the Youth Empowerment program has really grown inside the company. Weve hired more kids, and theyre working on creating new messaging, new tagging, new pointofpurchase material. Were giving these folks the chance to tell their story. Do i think amanda has made Great Strides . Yes. Do i think im still going to have to push her and get her to be focused . You bet, but i do feel like she now understands whats really important in this business, and if she does that, shell make a very good profit. Lemonis good job to both of you. For online trading academy. Very disillusioned in my profession in the mortgage industry because of what happened in 2008. I thought i was really brilliant, until the 2000 crash came around. We had more month than money. I was concerned, and i was thinking what am i going to do . The most important thing is make a decision. Or the most important place is you should invest in is yourself. [narrator] what if you knew the Income Strategies professional investors used . The strategies designed to generate active income from the financial markets, to enhance your lifestyle today, and create passive income