Transcripts For CNBC The Profit 20240714

This is a terrible representation of the business. Im embarrassed. But his most important relationships, as well. Ben then i said, well, whats the plan . Is there a timeline . Kristin you didnt say that. Ben Something Like that. Kristin you didnt say that. You didnt say that. Thats when you said youre the real housewives of new jersey. Lemonis if i cant help him learn to respect his staff. Ben to be frank, i dont really see a relationship continuing. Lemonis . And relinquish some control. Do you not trust people . Ben no, i dont. Kristin theres been times when hes said to me he hasnt trusted me. Lemonis . This business may just wither away. Ben this is my home. This is my life. Sometimes i cant shake it if i dont feel comfortable. Lemonis 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. Everythings 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. The homedecor market is huge. Its Something Like 600 billion, which makes it interesting to me, but it also makes me reluctant because i know how hard it is to stand out. So, when i heard about this designer ben busko who makes nearly everything he sells, i thought, maybe this is a way in. Wow. Wow, this place is beautiful. Bens space almost feels like an oxymoron to new york. You go outside, and theres traffic and sirens and horns. And you walk into his store. Its quiet. Its peaceful. Its beautifully decorated. It just feels like an oasis. How are you . Im marcus. Kristin im kristin. Lemonis nice to meet you. The store is gorgeous. Kristin thank you. Fernando fernando. Lemonis fernando . Fernando yes. Lemonis nice to meet you. Im marcus. Ben im benjamin, mr. Lemonis. Lemonis benjamin, how are you . Ben im very well. Lemonis ben or benjamin . Ben well, benjamin when im in trouble. Lemonis youre not in trouble. Ben so, bens the way to go. Lemonis ben, this store is gorgeous. Its really wellmerchandised. Im really impressed by it. Ben thanks. Lemonis is everything in the store stuff you guys make . Ben about 90 . We dont make the books or the plants. Lemonis you dont make the books . Is he normally this funny . Kristin hes pretty funny. Ben no, im pretty dry. Lemonis so, you make all of this stuff . Ben yep. Lemonis really nice quality. Ben yeah. Lemonis and all of this . Ben yeah, cocktail napkins. I design all the product that we sell, also, that we make. Lemonis wow. Ben and these are coaster sets. We sell a monstrous amount of them. Theyre a very easy gift to give, and theyre all unique. This is, the trouble with trouble is it starts out as fun. Lemonis alcohol you later. [ chuckles ] these are excellent. Did you come up with all these quotes . Ben for the most part. Lemonis everything here you did . Ben yes, all of the artwork. Lemonis this is all yours, too . Ben yep. This is decoupage. Lemonis that is the treatment . Ben yeah, so its a french word that just means applying paper to glass, essentially. Lemonis these are awesome. Ben theyre practical. You can use them as a valet. Theyre foodsafe, wipe clean. Lemonis this retails for 68 . Ben mmhmm. Lemonis how are your margins on this . Ben they fluctuate between 87 to 90 something. Lemonis percent . Ben yeah. Lemonis oftentimes, when i go into different retail businesses, they have reasonable margins. 45 , 50 , maybe even 55 . The reason that bens margins are so much higher is because there isnt a middle man. Hes a vertically integrated company, which means that he makes everything that he sells. Take this 68 tray. A regular retailer would buy it from a wholesaler for about half the price, giving them a decent margin of 50 . But in the case of ben, he actually makes the product for maybe 6. 80, and so he keeps all of the margin, like 90 of it. Being a good designer is hard. But being a good manufacturer is also hard, and the fact that ben is good at both of them . I would say thats what makes him really special. Whos your biggest customer today . Ben we sell to National Chains like barnes noble. Kristin, who else do we sell to . Kristin dillards. Ben dillards, okay. I want to scale and grow, and thats what ive been really stuck on. Lemonis and so has your business gone down . Ben yes. Lemonis who did you used to sell to that was a big part of your business thats gone away . Ben anthropologie. Lemonis what else . Ben nordstrom. Lemonis anything else . Ben neiman marcus. Lemonis okay. So what is the biggest problem this company has . Ben staffing the right positions and retention. Lemonis and hows communication in the company . Ben in terms of, like. Lemonis do people understand whats happening . Are you a good communicator . Ben i try to be that. I try to follow a lot of rules. So, like, this is a binder we have. This is an example of what they initial every day. Lemonis so employee entry, 9 45 a. M. Disarm the alarm, open the register, turn on the main store lights, answer the phone, review followups, be productive. Carefully check plants so they do not die. How do you not carefully check the plant . Ben when bens garden has a store of dead plants, its just bens, which is a deli, so. [ laughter ] lemonis that actually was funny. What is your role, by the way . Kristin im the chief of staff. Lemonis meaning that everybody that works in the Company Actually gets their communication from you . Ben shes very involved in wholesale. Im communicating as, like, an owner would to their employees. Lemonis who trains them . Kristin ben. He goes through training when they start. Lemonis wouldnt the chief of staff be doing that . Ben shes very involved in managing the we have a 14,000squarefoot warehouse. Lemonis oh, you do . Ben where we make all these things. Lemonis so, this whole section is thirdparty vendors. Ben yep. Lemonis so who buys the stuff that you dont make for the store . Ben i do. Lemonis so let me understand this, ben. Youre the designer. Ben yep. Lemonis youre the buyer. Ben yep. Merchandiser. Lemonis the merchandiser. Youre the chief communicator. So you have your hands full. Ben yep. Lemonis and how long have you had this business . Ben since i was 8. Lemonis how old are you now . Ben 34. Lemonis was it a legitimate business at 8 . Ben yep. Lemonis thats awesome. Ben growing up, it was really my parents thought i was, like, really special. Like, wow, this kids making all this stuff and selling all these things. But i wasnt communicating with kids on the playground. I was water coloring at home. About seven years ago, i was diagnosed with aspergers syndrome, which is a form of autism. And i think more creatively than emotionally. Lemonis and what prompted that . Ben just noticed socially, like, i wasnt picking up on certain things. I dont actually generally like to be touched, which after y lemonis thats going to be a problem. Im a superbig hugger. Ben i think i it kind of just creeps me out when, like, i dont know someone. Id be like, okay, this is really nice. And then we can let go at any point youd like to. Lemonis so you have a very special talent. Ben uhhuh. Lemonis and youre ridiculously creative. Id love to see the warehouse. Ben great. Lemonis and so if we could meet there, that would be great. Ben okay. Lemonis then i really want to understand how it all comes together. Ben okay, thank you very much. Lemonis great job. Kristin hey, Marcus Lemonis hi. This place is huge. Kristin yeah. Lemonis how many square feet is this . Kristin i think its 14,000. Lemonis wow. Can i get a tour . Kristin yeah, of course. So, right when you walk in ben okay, so you guys just entered you just entered through a door. Lemonis is it all right if she does it, or do you want to do it . Ben oh please. Kristin so right when you walk in, this is where were hoping to set up a sales team. Lemonis okay, you dont have one today. Kristin no. Ben can we talk about the door . Kristin sure. Lemonis sure. Ben okay, so this complex was built by irving bush, and he deve he made his fortune importing bananas. Which is why our door is banana yellow. Lemonis because you like the history of it all . Ben yep. So, kristin, you can now join in. Lemonis so this is this area is setup for the future Sales Organization . Kristin yep, we hope to build a whole sales team. Ben this is where the previous Sales Organization was. Lemonis and what happened to the previous one . Ben they turned out not to be so smart. Lemonis who was their leader, you . Ben yes. Lemonis so. When you say they werent good enough, some of that culpability has to fall back on you. Ben ive never thought of it in that way. Can you and i look at the rest of the warehouse . Im just going to take some time with her. Ben okay. What do i do . Do i leave . Kristin yeah, you ben im kind of curious to see what he looks at. Lemonis so, all of this here is inventory, yeah . Kristin yes, so all of everything in the metal racks is going to be finished goods. Lemonis all finished goods . Kristin finished goods. Lemonis how long have you been here . Kristin its gonna be two years in october. Lemonis two years. Whats it like working with him . Kristin he does, like, really have a great vision. Lemonis oh, yeah. Kristin you know . And, like, really, theres not, like, a nicer person that you would want to help succeed. So, like, thats what drives me. Lemonis whats causing the revolving door . Kristin i think from doing this for 25 years, hes got the highest standards of all of us. Lemonis so, why do i see empties everywhere . Like, this is an example. Ben were back ordered on crystal paperweights, and we dont have 4x6 trays. Why dont we take a look at a pick ticket . So these would be examples of orders that determine the pick quantity. This says we have zero on hand. We need to make four. So lemonis lets keep going. How do you spell love, a 4x6. Ben thats a bestseller. Lemonis zero in stock. Zero in hand. Make four. Zero on hand. Make four. Zero on hand. Make four. A lot of zeroes here. Ben im apprehensive to spend that much money on 4x6 trays when i have 700,000 worth of onhand inventory. Lemonis youre telling me that theres 700,000 of inventory in here . Ben yes. Lemonis but what you have is the wrong stuff. Unfortunately, you have to actually put the right stuff on the shelf while you work out of the bad stuff because you create gridlock. Ben has what i call inventory gridlock. Hes made some choices with particular products that arent selling, and hes unwilling to liquidate them. He has other products that are selling at a superfast rate, but because he doesnt have the working capital because its tied up in bad products, he cant even fulfill the orders of the products that people do want. Essentially, like, locking up everything. Bad Inventory Management and the wrong inventory are the two things that kill companies when they least expect it. Okay, do you have your financials . Ben yeah. Theyre in this folder. Lemonis okay. So, it shows that last year, the business lost 78,000. Ben yes. Something shifted with the economy and how people spend money, which has dramatically affected our bottom line. Lemonis consumers or your wholesale customers . Ben our wholesale customers, so theyre stocking less of our product. Even though theyre selling out of our product, theyre were either not getting back to them soon enough, and theyll be unhappy with us lemonis or you dont have it in stock. Ben uhh, yes. Lemonis okay, so 1,659,000 in total revenue, and of that, 675,000 of it came from your retail stores. Ben right. Lemonis so the total, the wholesale did 984,000. Ben um, i wouldnt know off the top of my hand. So i have a business consultant, barry moltz. And so hes supposed to be helping manage the finances. But since weve been working together, which is now over two years, sales have gotten worse. Lemonis because of his direction or yours . Ben well, his influence, but iive been trying to trust in him. Lemonis do you not trust people . Ben no, i dont. Lemonis okay, well. Thats problem number one. Thank you for telling me that. Ben i dont there are still times when kristin will be upset with me because i will say something, and itll seem itll come off as me not trusting her. Kristin theres been times when hes said he hasnt trusted me. Lemonis so, in order for us to work together, we would need to spend a disproportionate amount of time working on how you think about people, which means changing the way you think about employees, allowing kristin to actually run a part of the business where you may not be involved, and i recognize what you called and labeled a disability, and i want to build an infrastructure around you that allows the other people to not have to go through whatever the Collateral Damage is from it. Ben thank you. Lemonis for their sake. Ben no, i want it for them. Lemonis . And for the business sake. Get the best out of you. So, ben, i want to make a commitment to you. I want to make an investment. I want to invest 200,000 for 25 of the business. Okay . All of a sudden, your face changed. Ben it wasnt what i was expecting. Lemonis what were you expecting . Ben uh, like. A million and a half. Lemonis a million and a half dollars . Ben yeah, i think the business is worth at least 5 million. Thats what im thinking. Barry im frustrated that i cant help more. I put together all sorts of plans that i thought was the way to go forward for ben, and we havent really been able to implement any of those plans. Lemonis do you trust barry . Ben uh, uh. No. [ text notification now that you have] new dr. Scholls massaging gel advanced insoles with softer, bouncier gel waves, youll move over 10 more than before. Dr. Scholls. Born to move. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance, hmm. Exactly. So you only pay for what you need. Nice. But, uh. Whats up with your. Partner . Not again. Limu thats your reflection. Only pay for what you need. Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty minimums and fees seem to your typical bank. N of capital one is anything but typical. Thats why we designed savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. This is banking reimagined. Whats in your wallet . Wanna take your xfi now you can with xfi advantage. Giving you enhanced performance and protection. When devices are connected to your homes wifi, theyre protected. Helping keep outsiders from getting inside. And if someone tries, well let you know. So you can stream, surf and game all you want, with confidence you can get coverage where you need it most. Thats xfi advantage. Make your xfi even better. Upgrade today. Call, click or visit a store. Ben i think the business is worth at least 5 million. Thats what im thinking. Lemonis for me, the business is worth no more than a million. cause the business doesnt make any money today, and its not that big. For me, i dont want to invest more than 400,000, because i dont think the Business Needs more than 400,000. My offer is 400,000, and that would mean that for 400,000, id get 40 of the business. Ben right. Lemonis right . Ben yeah. Um. Um. Lemonis you want to talk about it with her by yourself for a minute . Ben um. Lemonis im gonna let you guys talk for a minute. Ben im just im just lemonis ima let you talk for a minute. Kristin i think that youre at kinda, like, a crossroad. Ben yeah. Kristin and you have to decide. Ben i think i real i think i need his help. Kristin so whats the hesitation . Ben that i guess now the clock has started, and its tick. And we really have to be on our game, and that makes me anxious. Kristin but the payoff could be big. Ben yeah. No, no, no, absolutely. So its yes. Kristin okay. Ben so now i have to hug him. Lemonis okay. Ben so, we came to a conclusion. I would, um. I would like to be id be honored to work with you. Lemonis thats awesome. I would be, as well. Congratulations. Ben thank you. Kristin were so excited. Lemonis congratulations. Ben very excited. Now were going to now were gonna hug. [ chuckles ] lemonis see, thats not so bad, is it . Ben no, no, its not. Its fantastic. Lemonis all right. Ill see you guys. Were going to have a little team meeting real quick. The last time i was here before i left, i made a decision to make an investment in bens garden. So ive agreed to invest 400,000. Were going to work on things like inventory and sales, and were going to go see a rep or two to improve your wholesale business. Ben okay. Lemonis okay . Thats the easy stuff. One thing that im worried about is fixing the culture of how people communicate and how they get along. It appears its a little broken. So, what could be improved . Victoria um. I guess being being blamed for things. Its a lot of finger pointing that im not doing my job. Im not doing anything. Im costing the company money. Sometimes i have felt that way. Ben i mean, im really sorry that you would feel that way. Lemonis ben, what were gonna work on is the people side of things. Ben right. Lemonis okay . Ben mmhmm. Lemonis so, i want to get back to work, but what i do want to do is, i want to see one product from every category. A glass piece, a note card, and just put everything out. Thank you. Kristin so, ill grab something from each. Ben i can grab the stuff. Can you run the report . Lemonis actually, going forward, kristin is going to be in charge of the inventory. Ben oh. Lemonis okay . Kristin okay. Lemonis my plan for this is very clear. Ben is going to focus on creating and designing and coming up with new products, and hes going to allow kristin to manage the staff and interact with them in a way that can keep things moving in all departments. So theres one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine things. Ben mmhmm. Lemonis are they in is this in the right order . Ben of bestselling . Lemonis of revenue . Kristin yeah. Ben i dont think so. Lemonis so the first thing is the decoupage. Kristin there you go. Lemonis picture frames. Ben picture frames. These have exploded. Paperweights we sell for people who cant afford a tray. Lemonis okay. Ben magnets. Pillows. And artwork. Kristin so all three of these dont really do that well. Lemonis six of them are great. Three of them are terrible. Kristin i would have trouble placing these in lemonis great. Dont ever make these again. Ben the margins are really great on this. Lemonis it doesnt matter. Thats not her point. Her point is is that you dont sell it. So who cares . Ben no, but we do we just dont sell a lot of em. Kristin we dont sell enough. Lemonis to justify it . Kristin yeah. Lemonis should these go away . Should the pillows go away . Kristin i like to keep it moving. Theyre not coming back. Lemonis should the artwork go away . Ben no, i would be devastated. Kristin i dont think we sell a lot of those. Lemonis so, if these are gonna go away, you have to start to replace three or four things. Three or four new ones need to be born and developed by you. Were not gonna stock stuff that doesnt sell. Ben um. I would like to get into candles in a big way. Lemonis okay, so thats one. What else . Ben wrapping paper. Lemonis wrapping paper, i have a source for that. Ben wallpaper. Lemonis if you want to be in that space, thats something we can explore. By eliminating the three bottom sellers of pillows, artwork, and magnets, im not only going to free up cash for the topselling items, but im going to replace those three items with indemand items like wallpaper, wrapping paper, and candles, giving us a chance to regain our foothold in the wholesale market. Lemonis guys. Barry hi. Ben hey, how are you . Lemonis barry . Im marcus. Barry hey, marcus. Barry. Nice to meet you. Lemonis nice to meet you. Hey, buddy. Ben hey, how are you . Lemonis i want to address the concerns that ben has about barry, his business consultant. So, i thought it would be a good idea to actually get barry and ben in the same room and find out if bens concerns are actually as legitimate as he thinks they are. How long have you guys been working together . Barry about two years. Ben is really a genius at what he does. Hes really creative, so ive tried to have him bring people in sales, bring people in production, bring people in customer service, but theyve been driven away either by the environment or sometimes you get upset at them. They stay two weeks, or they stay a month or whatever it is, and then they leave. Im frustrated that i cant help more. Lemonis so were you helping him get his financials organized, as well . Barry i was helping monitoring getting the financials organized, yes. Lemonis okay. Barry theyre better than they were two years ago. Lemonis oh, really . Wow. Barry i put together all sorts of plans that i thought was the way to go forward for ben, and we havent really been able to implement any of those plans. So im frustrated that we havent been able to take the necessary steps in order to make much progress. Ben but i hesitate when you say, like, your financials are in a good place because barry i said theyre better than they were. Filing your tax returns and not filing your tax returns, thats being in a better place. Lemonis do you trust barry . Ben uh. No. To be to be frank, i dont i dont i dont really see i dont really see a relationship continuing. Kristin well let those go. These go. Those are gone. Ben that seems that seems like poor judgment. Lemonis dont say we have poor judgment. She doesnt want all this stuff in her inventory, and you dont want to say goodbye to the size option. Ben no, i dont want to say goodbye to a sale. Hilda, i like the new do. Got some layers in there, huh . The more, the merrier. Got to have this stuff in the morning. Oh, thats too hot. Act your age. Get your own insurance company. Carlo, why dont you start us with a little bit of cereal . You can spread it all around the table. And were gonna split the warm hot dog. And ill have a glass of grape juice to spill on the carpet. Oh, uh, do you want some to spill . Act your age. Get your own insurance company. Oh, uh, do you want some to spill . At comcast, we didnt build the nations largest gigspeed network just to make businesses run faster. We built it to help them go beyond. Because beyond risk. Welcome to the neighborhood, guys. There is reward. Beyond work and life. Who else could he be . There is the moment. Beyond technology. There is human ingenuity. Every day, comcast business is helping businesses go beyond the expected, to do the extraordinary. Take your business beyond. When crabe stronger. Strong, with new nicorette coated ice mint. Layered with flavor. Its the first and only coated nicotine lozenge. For an amazing taste. That outlasts your craving. New nicorette ice mint. Yeah. You got your yeah . Ork . Hey, give me a kiss. [ kisses ] announcer whats the role of a car company . Go announcer to take your kids to and from school . Mari. Yes . What are you doing . Dont forget your science project. Announcer we think it can be something bigger. Announcer this summer, announcer volkswagen is supporting americas teachers. Announcer join us, announcer and drive something bigger than yourself. Girl dad keep on watching amazing, honey. horn tooting who can say why your heart sighs as your love flies kraft. For the win win. As your love flies barry i just want to help, and by not being here, if that helps you, if you needed this meeting to be able to separate from me, thats okay. As you know, ive always wanted to do what was in your best interest because in the end, i love you and i love what youre doing. And if i can be a part of it, great. But if i can help by not being a part of it, thats also great, too, ben. Ben im really good at hiring people. Im not really good at the other part. Lemonis okay. I think you need to i think you need to stay around. Barry i would agree. Lemonis youre going to learn how to just not be so dismissive of people. Its not a good quality. And i think you need to stay around because he has to learn how to work with people in uncomfortable situations. And i need him to focus on making new, cool stuff so he can generate some revenue. Barry i would agree with that. Lemonis i want ben to understand that everybody has a role in the company. And whether thats barry fixing the books or kristin working with the staff, that he has to rely on other people to help make the business as good as he wants it to be. He cant do it all himself. Ben i just want it to be i dont want it to be, like, uncomfortable. Lemonis for who . Ben for anyone. Lemonis barrys not uncomfortable. Ben okay. Lemonis you want to hug barry . Barry ive hugged him before. This is not the first time. Ben oh, barry, youre a germ freak. Barry thats not true. I hug people. I just dont kiss them. Lemonis high five . Is that permitted, or ben yeah. Lemonis okay. No, im not a germ freak. Lemonis good. Im taking ben to agilex. Its one of the countrys premiere fragrance developers. I want to accomplish two things. One, i want him to be able to launch his candle business, which is a replacement for an under performer, but more importantly, i wanted to see what his actual Creative Process was like. Ben hi, guys, im ben. All hi, ben welcome natalie this is the team that put together our presentation today. Ben okay. Natalie they did some work, and they looked at your brand online. Christie products are gorgeous. Ben thank you. Christie so, the job of marketing is to inspire, and given that your company name is bens garden, we immediately took it to the modern farmhouse, which is a really big trend among consumers right now. Ben right. Christie but, like so, im imagining a collection of scents. There were four main categories of sentiment that people would connect with. So, like, family, love, friendship, and baby. So, im imagining four main categories that form a collection. Christie lets smell a little bit. Natalie yeah, lets smell. Nancy do you see a little bit of greenness in the top note . Ben i do, i do. This one is too light and a little too green. Lemonis lets keep it rolling. Ben this i dont really smell. Nancy its based upon vanilla, bourbon, and woodiness. Natalie do you like it . Ben no. To me, it smells like heavy floral. This is a no. I cant identify the components. Nancy basil and sage. Ben oh, basil is popular. Nancy do you want to smell it again . Ben no. Lemonis i think ben kind of lacks the communication filter that most of us have. And so he just tells you exactly what he thinks. And if you dont know him, you could get offended. But its also part of his charm. Ben, i think you got to really try to collaborate better than this. Ben okay. So, this ones pleasant. It smells like lilac or something. Nancy and youre absolutely right. And jasmine. Ben okay. Nancy and theres some citrus on top. Lemonis so thats a yes. Ben this would be a yes. Lemonis so we have one yes. Ben this, i like the citrus. I think that it would be directly geared to, like love you to the moon and back would be a quote we could use or Something Like that. All aww. Lemonis and so theyll go work on creating libraries of fragrances. Ben mmhmm. Lemonis youre gonna go to work on creating designs around those four. Kristin, this is a project. We have to project manage it. Theres going to be dates and times and tasks, and we have to hit em, okay . Lemonis can we see all the 10 designs . Ben yes. Lemonis ben is hard at work designing new products. You got this done already . Ben yeah. Lemonis as part of our textile initiative, ben has created 10 new designs for wrapping paper. These are awesome. Ben thank you. Lemonis when i look at this work, it motivates me to want to work harder. Ben this is my favorite one. Lemonis whats this one . The hello. This is actually really nicelooking. Next, were taking bens designs to a textile Company Called flavor paper. Jon pleasure to meet you. Lemonis nice to meet you. This is my friend, ben. Jon hey, ben. Lemonis where they can bring his creations to life in large format as wallpaper. I mean, that is spectacular. Jon i can see doing hello in every language known to man. Lemonis awesome. Also, ben is designing and choosing new packaging for his candle line. Whats the newest one . Ben this one. Lemonis absolutely beautiful. Ben thanks. Kristin so, all of these are bad. Sizes that were just not moving forward with. Lemonis and then what well do is well just build piles with that, okay . Kristin continues to move forward on the process of cleansing the inventory, and i tasked her with separating out the top sellers from the low sellers. And then take those low sellers and liquidate them. Kristin 6x10, 4x9. Lemonis the items that were liquidating arent just the pillows, the magnets, and the art, but the slow movers inside of the good categories, like the oddball sizes of the trays. Kristin those are gone. Ben so were getting rid of 8x10, 8x12, and 9x14 . Kristin yeah. Ben completely . Kristin yes. Ben that seems that seems like poor judgment. Lemonis dont say we have poor judgment. Dont judge us. Ben i think cutting some of this stuff, well lose opportunity. Lemonis thats not her argument. Ben i know her argument. Lemonis her argument is, she doesnt want all this stuff in her inventory, and you dont want to say goodbye to the size option. Ben no, i dont want to say goodbye to a sale. Lemonis if your business is in trouble and you need my help, log on to. Look limu. A civilian buying a new car. Ug lets go. Limus right. Liberty mutual can save you money by customizing your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Oh. Yeah, ive been a customer for years. Huh. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Wearing powerful sunscreen . Yes neutrogena® ultra sheer. Unbeatable protection helps prevent early skin aging and skin cancer with a clean feel. The best for your skin. Ultra sheer®. Neutrogena®. But some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. Fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. Some only call when they have something to sell. Fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. And while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. Fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. Maybe thats why most of our clients come from other money managers. Fisher investments. Clearly better money management. Is it to carry cargo or to carry on a legacy . . Its show of strength or its sign of intelligence . In crossing harsh terrain or breaking new ground . This is the time to get an exceptional offer on the mercedes of your midsummer dreams at the mercedesbenz summer event, going on now. Lease the gla 250 suv for just 329 a month at the mercedesbenz summer event. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Plike. Zelle. To conveniently makesend money sier, to your babysitter. For overtime. Or pinacle, to tap into your organization in the office, on the go, or in the stopandgo. Pnc make today the day. [ text notification now that you have] new dr. Scholls massaging gel advanced insoles with softer, bouncier gel waves, youll move over 10 more than before. Dr. Scholls. Born to move. Lemonis she doesnt want all this stuff in her inventory, and you dont want to say goodbye to the size option. Ben no, i dont want to say goodbye to a sale. I just want you guys to be aware of opportunities i know we will lose. Lemonis i dont want to tie up cash. I want to put cash in things that are right in the strike zone. Ben okay. Lemonis look. I know that its hard for ben to put his faith in other people, but its my job to push him along that path. If he doesnt rely on other people to help his business, i dont know that it could actually survive. Do you trust her judgment . Ben um. I trust her judgment. Lemonis so, youre not going to worry about it . Ben im not im not i mean, im not worried. I just i would like to help. Whene kristin knows this. I worry about not being able to help. Lemonis and were grateful for that, but we need you to focus on making this money. Ben okay. Kristin this is the scan bob, and this will show you exactly how to link it up. Lemonis in order to give ben more time to focus on design, ive asked kristin to train fernando on being the store manager. Kristin so go ahead and click that, and that kind of, like, links the ipad to the scanner. Lemonis meanwhile, ben is working on his three new product lines. And barry is working on streamlining the entire accounting process with the help of my team. Barry you can go in, and you can actually look at the journal entries, but this cant stay where it is. Lemonis while i was hoping that ben would be happy about all the progress and maybe even ease up a little on kristin. Kristin the problem is, theyre everywhere. Ben so, umm kristin its not really like ben theyre not everywhere. Theyre under their respective work tables. Lemonis . Apparently, thats not the case. Whats happening . Kristin good to see you. How are you . Lemonis good to see you. Over the last week, ive gotten random texts from both kristin and ben separately expressing their frustration with each other. And rather than going back and forth like its high school, i asked them both to sit down around the table and find out exactly whats going on. Hows it been going between the two of you . Ben pretty bad. Lemonis how come . Ben were having were not communicating. And her disposition has changed in saying, im in charge of everything. Kristin ive never said that. Ben just because marcus gave you more responsibility, it doesnt give you the right to say this. Kristin i really hate to break it to you, ben, but ive never said that. Lemonis wheres the strife between the two of you coming from . Ben it really started with the pick up of the merchandise. Kristin inventory. Lemonis the inventory that i had put on the floor, and a good chunk of it was sold, and the cash was brought in. Ben right, but lemonis so then what upset you about that . Kristin had sent me a text message saying, the stuffs on a pallet. The stuffs been palletized. And then i said, well, whats the plan . Is there a timeline . Kristin you didnt say that. Ben Something Like that. Kristin you didnt say that. You didnt say that. You didnt say that. You did not say that. Im sorry, no. You did not say that. As always, youre always fantastic about communicating. Ben right. Kristin and i wrote back, if its not working for you, i could work on it, and you wrote back, doubt it. Ben right, doubt it. Kristin i mean, doubt it . Ben and i never got a response. Kristin thats when you said youre the real housewives of new jersey. This is just so ugly. Even coming here, you know, this morning. Its just, like. Its ugly. Lemonis i really felt like i was making a lot of progress with ben, but its obvious to me that he still is reluctant to trust people. When it really comes down to it, im not confident that bens willing to give up control just yet. I think the question that you have to decide is, do you want to work with kristin anymore . I mean, i think we should just get to that. Kristin just, yeah. Ben um. I dont know. I just lemonis be honest. Ben i think i just, um. Uh. Ben this is, like, an example of what your reps on the road would use. Scott just looking at this product, were not going to necessarily see what the brand is really all about. Ben i guess this would although uhh. Lemonis ben, i want to just i want to just stop. Has been excellent. They really appreciate the military family and it really shows. With all that usaa offers why go with anybody else . We know their rates are good, we know that theyre always going to take care of us. It was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago. It was funny because when we would call another insurance company, hey would say oh we cant beat usaa were the webber family. Were the tenneys were the hayles, and were usaa members for life. Get your usaa Auto Insurance quote today. Play it cool and escape heartburn fast with new tums chewy bites cooling sensation. Tum tum tum tums with new tums chewy bites cooling sensation. When it comes to scent, helens motto is, the more the better. So, when she tried new gain scent blast detergent, she loved it. Her son loves it, and her husband loves it, too. And the delivery woman . Awkward. New gain scent blast. Love it or hate it, its intense. Laso you can enjoy it even ifst youre sensitive. Se. Yet some say it isnt real milk. I guess those cows must actually be big dogs. Sit i said sit do you want to work with kristin anymore . I mean, i think we should just get to that. Kristin just, yeah. Ben i dont know i just i, uh. Lemonis be honest. Ben its not that i dont want to work with her. Its just that, um. I guess im used to people not people disagreeing with me and then leaving. Lemonis and so is that what youre anticipating us both doing . Ben yes. Lemonis is that what you want us to do . Ben no. This is my home, this business. This is my life. And i cant sometimes i cant shake it if i dont feel comfortable. Lemonis i understand. The only way this company can move forward is if there are people around you that you truly trust. And will take some criticism from and not be upset about it. Where do we go from here . Ben kristin and i have always been most effective when we work handinhand. Kristin lets give it a whirl. What do we have to lose . If anything, like, i kind of see this as like the bottom. So we could only kind of climb back up. Lemonis kristin, we trust you to make good decisions for our business, and we need you to actually make them. Kristin okay. Lemonis but you got to let her help you. Ben i understand. Lemonis do you feel better . Ben yeah, i do. Kristin thanks. Lemonis after ben vented his frustrations and his anxiety about kristin, he committed to trying to do better. Okay, buddy. Smile. Ben thank you. Kristin thanks, marcus. Lemonis and hes openminded to the idea that other people can help him in his business. Thats progress. Ben thank you. Lemonis take care, buddy. Back at the warehouse, kristin has been doing an amazing job managing the inventory. Kristin so i did 20,000 the first two days, and then yesterday, i probably sold another 10,000, so its probably like 40 grand allin. Lemonis have you been able to order Raw Materials that solve our cold products . Kristin yes. Lemonis great. And ben is staying focused on the development of the new products. Natalie this is all the individual ingredients. Ben wow. Lemonis so hes back at agilex, finalizing the scent and candle line. Natalie okay, im going to make this one 6 , okay . Ben yeah, i love it. Lemonis and completing the designs for the wallpaper and wrapping paper. Ben so this would be, make a wish. Its your birthday. Lemonis these are excellent. Ben yeah, thanks. Lemonis although its going to take a while for the newly created products to go into production, i wanted to start to generate some revenue, so ive set up a huge opportunity with the harper group. The harper group is one of the foremost rep groups in the marketplace. Are you ready to go in . Ben im very excited. Lemonis a rep group essentially acts as a sales agent that will wholesale the products to other retailers around the country. We need the rep group. Scott so we kind of work in four primary product categories. Ben okay. Scott we work in personal care, home fragrance. We work in personal accessories in gift. We work in a little home and tabletop, and then we have our paper and publishing business, as well. Ben very good. Kristin we were interested in having you rep our brand. Scott oh, that would be great. Kristin so we do a little bit of tabletop, home decor ben so were here i make home we make home and gifts, gifts and stationery. And we were interested in do we have, like, a table . Scott absolutely. Ben so these are examples of key products of, like, what your reps on the road would use. Scott just looking at this product here, were not going to necessarily see what the brand is really all about. I mean, really, ben, what we find is that if the retailer is new to the brand, theyre gonna want to see and feel the product. Especially some of the bestsellers in each of the categories in order to show that. Ben okay. Scott if our team doesnt have the right tools when theyre in the stores, sometimes that can be an impediment to trying to get sales. Lemonis im frustrated with the fact that ben didnt even bring any of the new stuff that hes been working on. He could have at least brought a few samples, even if they werent perfectly ready. Now i know why his sales people have struggled. An artist is terrible at picking the frame for the art, and its the same for ben where he doesnt actually understand the kind of packaging that needs to go around his art for the salesperson to actually deliver it. Ben i guess this would although terribly uh. Uh. Not a terrible introduction. Lemonis ben, im embarrassed. I want to just i want to just stop. For exclusive, extras, and business advice, visit. Lemonis ben, im embarrassed, so i want to just that i won the best of i casweepstakes it. And i get to be in this geico commercial . Lets do the eyebrows first, just tease it a little. Slather it all over, dont hold back. Well, the squirrels followed me all the way out to california and theres a very strange badger staring at me. No, i cant believe how easy it was to save hundreds of dollars on my Car Insurance with geico. Uhhuh, wheres the camel . Mr. Big shots got his own trailer. Wheeeeeee believe it geico could save you 15 or more on Car Insurance. Starts with looking buiat something old,nk and saying, really . So we built capital one cafes, with savings and checking accounts you can open from here in 5 minutes. This is banking reimagined. Whats in your wallet . 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. From the day youre born i want to just stop. Ben okay. Lemonis this is a terrible representation of the business. Ben oh. Lemonis im not comfortable asking him to take on this product. Ben we did this based upon past experience, but from both of your reactions, this wasnt what you were expecting. Lemonis lets turn it into a positive. Ben right. Lemonis when i went into the store in soho, blown away. I apologize, and im being sincere. I dont know what your schedule is tonight. Is there any possible way that you could swing by the store so we can get, like, a restart . Scott yeah, we can do that. Lemonis look, this was a total mess, and i knew that if i could get scott to come to bens store, he would see what i saw. If we could just pack up ben theres not very much. Lemonis i didnt say it, but thank you for genuinely sorry, but i want to put our best foot forward. Scott no, thats fine. Ben hello scott how are you . Ben great. Welcome to bens garden, round two. Scott wow. This is really very impressive. This is a completely different vibe and feel from what we saw in the showroom, for sure. Ben im really embarrassed and still kind of, like, unsettled. I dont i generally try to get things right. Scott uhhuh. Ben so, im going to kristin might lead for a little bit to walk through things. Kristin when you come right in through the door, our numberone category that we sell through is going to be decoupage. Scott i was just going to say, so youre keeping your highselling categories up front so thats the first thing that the consumers see. Scott oh, its beautiful. Kristin then the next category that we excel very well at would be tabletop. So our coasters are fantastic. They come in these great giftable boxes, which is very easy for our wholesale customers to kind of gift wrap. They come ribboned, and theyre all set to go. And then a really fantastic category that does really well for us would be photo frames. And they, too, will come in the really great orange and yellow boxes. Scott thats very cool. This is really very impressive. In the showroom, when i saw the samples and the product that you had, it in no way reflects what is here. Now seeing this and immersing us in the experience and in the product, i think its a great opportunity for us. Lemonis so, is this approved to do a deal . Scott its approved. Thank you very much. Ben thank you. Kristin love it. Ben we look forward to it. Lemonis kristin really stepped up, and ben actually let her do the talking. Finally. Ben thank you for coming here. Scott of course, yeah. Ben and im sorry for what im sorry for lemonis no. Were moved on past that. Were all good. Ben im learning. I got to stop sometimes. I just keep going. Lemonis dont talk past the sale. He said yes. All right, thanks, scott. Ben all right, thank you. Kristin hi lemonis hi, how are you . Kristin good to see you. Lemonis wheres ben at . Kristin hes on his way. Lemonis he texted me, and he said he couldnt get his bow tie on. Now that bens landed the harper group and hes developed the new products. Hey . I wanted to invite local sales reps and customers to bens soho store for product unveiling and a celebration. Is bens mother here . Ben mom . Lemonis oh, hi, bens mother. Im marcus, by the way. Mira nice to meet you. Lemonis can i hug you . Oh, my god. Your moms a hugger. I love that. Ben thank you very much for coming and celebrating what were trying to do here. The experience has enriched my life and really brightened my future. Lemonis theres a lot of new products. Ben yep, so these are all of our designs. I designed the candles and wrapping paper and wallpaper. All these things are things that i have wanted to work on for a long time, and marcus has been able to create these opportunities to manifest themselves. Lemonis you want to tell everybody to have a good time, or what do you want to do . Ben please, enjoy. Lemonis thank you for coming. Ben thank you. Lemonis the new products and the deal with the harper group should help us clear at least 2 million in wholesale business during the next year double what we currently do. Ben virginia, hi, you are the sweetest thing. Lemonis and in my journey with ben, ive seen a ton of growth. I do like the fact that hes more selfaware of how his interaction with people can affect them, and hes now trusting people to pitch in. And it really allows ben to focus on the things that hes spectacular at designing and creating. This guy may be the most creative person that i have ever met. Ben thank you. Lemonis ill see you soon, okay . Ben thank you for coming. Really. Youre really very nice. Lemonis ill see you soon. 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 to build your retirement accounts for the future