Monica [ voice breaking ] anybody who wants to support my mom, [bleep] go for it. Lemonis if i cant convince her to trust my process, Monica Potter home may be at risk of closing forever. Monica i just i cant do it. Lemonis sit tight for a second. Monica ii cant do any more. Lemonis my name is marcus lemonis, and i risk my own money to save struggling businesses. Were not gonna wake up every morning wondering if we have a job. Were gonna wake up every morning wondering how many jobs we have to do. Its not always pretty. Everythings gonna change everything. But i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. This. Lets go to work. Is the profit. You might recognize Monica Potter from nbcs longrunning series parenthood. But when shes not making movies or tv, shes making products like skincare, room sprays, and candles and selling them through her company, Monica Potter home. Monica the best part about the whole company is we are bringing jobs back home. Lemonis a cleveland native, monica opened her first retail store in nearby garrettsville in 2014, employing her sister jessica, along with other members of the community. They soon found success with their signature product a balm that monica personally developed. Monica Sea Buckthorn balm. People use it for eczema, burns, scar tissue. Its made of all natural ingredients. Lemonis before long, they opened a second shop in downtown cleveland, and sales blossomed to over 400,000 a year. But monicas expenses . Well, they grew even faster. Al credit cards basically maxed out. Lemonis today, the business loses money. Debts are piling up, and the downtown cleveland store has closed. Monica i dont want this to fail, because if it fails, you guys lose. Lemonis the personalcare industry is extremely competitive, but having a celebrity attached to the brand can separate it from the pack. So im headed to monicas store in garrettsville. Oh, this is pretty. When i walk through the front door, it had a warm and homey feel, but i spent time trying to find these skincare products. I saw everything from scarves to jewelry to greeting cards to dishes, but that isnt what i thought i was coming to. Hi there. How are you . Im marcus. Jessica hi. Jessica. Hi. Nice to meet you. Lemonis do you know where monica is . Jessica she should be here any second. Lemonis okay. Jessica im her sister. Lemonis oh, youre her sister . Jessica yeah, im her sister. Lemonis okay. Im surprised she wasnt here. Jessica yeah. Well. Lemonis youre surprised, too . Jessica no. Lemonis youre not surprised . Jessica [ chuckling ] youll get me in trouble. Lemonis how often is monica here . Jessica once every, honestly, month, couple months. Lemonis every couple months . Jessica yes. Lemonis what do you do for the business . Jessica in the beginning, i started it with her, with the product line. I was kind of lemonis wheres the product line . Jessica very, very first product that we ever had was a candle. Lemonis okay. Whats the reason that you guys started the business . Jessica this has always been a passion of hers. My dad was an inventor. Were very creative people. Lemonis parents still around . Jessica my mom is. Dad passed. Lemonis dad passed away. Your familys here. Jessica yeah. Were here. Lemonis okay. And what are all these products . Jessica this is kind of monicas baby right here. It is a product that its all natural, made from the Sea Buckthorn berry. Lemonis and why do you say its her baby . Jessica she had eczema as a kid, and its good for scars, burns, psoriasis, eczema. Lemonis its obvious to me that monica has come up with something unique with the Sea Buckthorn, but in order to really demonstrate that, you want to have the packaging reflect the uniqueness. The jar, to me, looks like Somebody Just bought a jar off the shelf and slapped a label on it. So whos in charge of the store . Jessica right now, officially, caity. Lemonis and wheres caitys at . Jessica caity is. Shes back here. Caity im caity. Nice to meet you. Lemonis im marcus. Caity thanks for coming. Lemonis so youre really the person that runs this business . Caity yes. Lemonis okay. Caity but with the help of an amazing team. Lemonis do you guys sell online . Jessica we do. Lemonis how much does the web do . Caity it varies. Were really trying to increase web sales, but right now, year to date, our average is about 2,700 a week, and our goal is more like 5,000 a week. Lemonis oh jessica speak of the devil. Monica you guys, i am so sorry. Hi. Lemonis how are you . Monica youre really cute. Lemonis nice thank you. But youre really late. Monica i said i was sorry. Lemonis im kidding. Jessica [ laughs ] lemonis talk to me about the store. What are you thinking about . Monica this store and the website are both extensions of my home. Lemonis everybody said you dont spend much time here. Monica i dont. Lemonis why . Monica because my job and my kids are in los angeles. Lemonis makes sense. Hello, ladies. Welcome to Monica Potter. Monica hi. Lemonis come on in. Monica how are you . Woman hi. Lemonis how are you, by the way . Im marcus. Kali im good. Im kali. Lemonis nice to meet you. Okay, so i want to understand who the fulltime crew is. Caity, kali. Adrienne hi. Im adrienne. Lemonis adrienne, nice to meet you. Adrienne nice to meet you. Lemonis adrienne. So can you guys walk me through the store . Its a bit of sensory overload for me. Like, im not really sure what im supposed to focus on if i came in here. Who buys all of this monica . Jessica monica has a say in it, yeah. Lemonis like, who picked this . Jessica that i did not pick. Lemonis dont know . Jessica its i lemonis who picked stuff like this . Caity kali actually purchased the angel stuff. Monica is big into angels, so she wanted to have some angelinspired items in the store, so we purchased these. Lemonis and the dishes . Jessica thats probably caity. Lemonis and the clothes . Jessica the shirts were monica. Lemonis and the scarves . Jessica that would have been caity. Lemonis okay, it looks like you guys basically just buy stuff and put your sticker on it. Like, is there a buying plan . Jessica no. I dont know. Lemonis cause i look around, and i see bowls and scarves and popcorn and coffee. Its like, am i at a Country Store . Am i at a fiveanddime shop . Am i at a flea market . I dont know where im at. So all this stuff theyve just collected over the years . Adrienne yeah. Kali me and her have started throwing a lot of things away. Adrienne just making decisions. Kali we know its junk. Kali but were also told a lot, dont throw it away, cause well know. Lemonis you guys have a lot of good stuff in here. Monica i already know where youre going with this. Lemonis how much money do you think is locked up in here 50,000, 60,000 . So how many times have you guys tried to sell stuff or get rid of stuff . Adrienne we had a yard sale this summer. Lemonis did monica know about it . Kali i dont know. Did you . Monica you guys, this is the [bleep] problem. Theres no communication. So if im emailing you, like. Adrienne no, its not i dont mean it to come across that way. Monica no, for real. No, its like you guys are afraid. You cant walk on eggshells with me. Tell me so we can address it. Lemonis its a little odd that this early on, the Business Owner would go from cold to hot so quickly. And what im sensing is that there is this undertone of tension that exists between the people that work there and monica. Lemonis i think this really gets back to, what is the purpose of the business . Jessica oh. Monica dont look at me. Jessica we may need therapy for that. Lemonis is it a Skincare Company . Is it a Wellness Company . What are we selling on the internet . Adrienne theres a whole shelf i can show you. Lemonis can you show me . Adrienne yeah. So, its right over here. I do all of the shipping. Lemonis these are all the products that have your name on it, right . So theres diffusers, room sprays, candles . Monica right. Lemonis this is the facial oil. Monica the lip balm. Lemonis this is the buckthorn. Monica i had eczema growing up, and everyone always said to me, what do you use on your skin . And i would make all of my own essentialoil products with my dad, with my sisters. Lemonis youve seen real results from this product, and other people have, too. Monica that are tangible. Lemonis and its the ingredients that you believe create the difference. My big question is hi, sir. Al im al. Lemonis how are you . Jessica this is monicas accountant. Lemonis you handle the financials . Al i do. Lemonis as you look at the financials, are you able to say how much revenue is generated from these items . Al its significantly strong. Lemonis 50 of the revenue . Al probably more. Lemonis and what are the margins on these two products . Al the margin on both of those is 82 . Lemonis whats the total revenue that you guys do as a company . Al approximately 450,000. Lemonis 450,000 . Thats awesome. How do you break your revenue down . What are the categories that make up the 450,000 . Monica skincare, right . Lemonis is that one . Al yes. We do manufactured goods. Lemonis manufactured goods. Thats sprays, candles, balms. Al absolutely. Lemonis how much is that . Al 200,000, yes. Lemonis okay. The next category . Al branded wholesale. Lemonis privatelabeled products where you source them, and you put your brand on them. Al yes. 45,000, 50,000. Lemonis okay. Al wholesale would be all of the items, some apparel, other home goods youll see out there that dont have the Monica Potter brand on them. Lemonis thirdparty vendors that you buy and resell. Al right. Lemonis its clear to me that this Company Needs to get very focused on the manufactured products those are the skincare products, like Sea Buckthorn because their margins are exceptional. 80 margins means we need to pay more attention to that. Do you guys have defined roles . Does everybody know what their role is . Caity we all do everything we can do every day. There is a lot going on in this business. Sometimes i end up having communication issues with monica due to her schedule. I was hired to make decisions. I dont feel like i can do those things without you thinking im going behind your back. Really, i have your best interests at heart. Theres a lot on my plate. I dont know how long i can do it for. Lemonis have you thought about quitting before . Caity yes. Lemonis has anybody else thought about quitting . Jessica i did. Lemonis what did you quit, jess . Jessica i felt like i had nothing enough to offer to help this business. I didnt want to fail her, and it was like, i got to get out of here. Im turning into a crazy person. Lemonis and you came back. Jessica yeah. I missed it. I missed the customers. Lemonis you can sense that jess has a level of insecurity. I dont know if the reason is because monica wants to drive the process. Lemonis have you always struggled with selfconfidence. Monica can i answer . Yes. Jessica i guess. Lemonis why . Jessica because she went and did the acting thing, and shes very successful. And i had resentment. Money and myself and finances and paperwork i dont. Lemonis you dont have to apologize any more for, like, im not good at something. Were here to find out what everybodys good at, not point out what theyre not good at. Jessica i think, too, marcus, what i try to do is tell her what to do, and i can be extremely critical, because im critical of myself. Lemonis i think when jess compares her life to monicas, she feels less significant. And enables monica to take control. Lets you and i go outside and get away from everybody. The family dynamic in a business like this really has an impact, so i want to take monica aside and see if i can get a little bit deeper on this issue. What was the real reason you started with this . Monica my dad. When i was little, i would go to the factory where he made fishing lures. I felt, you know, very inspired by that. And his products were good, and we have great products. And so its just like with my dad, this goes way deeper. My dad thought i was gonna be a boy, so he designated me the boy of the family. And a week before he died, he was like, make sure you take care of your mom and your sisters. Lemonis i think shes convinced herself that she was ultimately now responsible to be everybodys caregiver. And i think when she took that role, jess accepted that that was monicas role. And thats why theres this tension between them. So, whats the revenue for 2016 . Al total gross sales were 427,000. Lemonis okay. Thats a good number. Monica really . Lemonis yeah. Monica i didnt know that. Thats really cool. Lemonis thats a problem. [ laughs ] 14,000 of gross profit a month, and the operating expenses are 20,000. And so theres a 6,000 loss a month, or 72,000 a year. And so where does that 72,000 loss come from . How does that get funded . Al in 2017, it has been funded by our payables. Lemonis which means youve deterred your vendors and said, ill get to you when i can . Al right. And the credit card payable. Lemonis i can see that. So theres a credit card payable for 12,000. Al yeah. Thats higher today. Its almost lemonis theres a line of credit at City National for 44,000. Theres a huntington line of credit for 50,000. There you go. Youre funding your losses with debt or payables. Something has to dramatically change. Al absolutely. Lemonis you have 99,000 of assets. Thats made up of cash and inventory. Whats the total paidin capital . Al shes put over a Million Dollars in. Monica [ sniffles ] lemonis thats a lot of money. Monica my job. I saved it up for lemonis how many years . Monica 10. From shows and movies and stuff. Yeah. Lemonis and its all gone . Monica yes. Lemonis if you hadnt gotten new gigs, how would you be funding this . Monica i dont know. Al all of her advisers would have been telling her that she couldnt support this anymore. Lemonis youre throwing money into the trash right now. Monica [ sobs ] jessica we were treated different by our dad, if you want to go way back. Monica [ voice breaking ] im tired of the resentment. If anybody wants to support my mom and the [bleep] city of cleveland, then [bleep] go for it. But he wanted snow for thelace holidays. So we built a snow globe. Ill get that later. Dylan but the one thing we could both agree on was getting geico to help with homeowners insurance. What . Switching and saving was really easy i love you what . Sweetie hands off the glass. 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Treat yourself to the perfect gift today, because the aussie 4course wont last long and try our everyday lunch combo starting at 7. 99 lemonis youre throwing money in the trash right now. Monica sorry. [ sniffles ] lemonis im gonna go talk to her. Whats up . Monica im okay now. Lemonis huh . Monica im sorry. Lemonis theres a lot of emotion coming out today. Monica im crying more today than i have on seven seasons ofparenthood. You know, like, im lemonis but this is real. Monica this is beyond real. Lemonis did you start this business because you thought it was gonna keep the connection between you and your dad together . Monica yes. But i also love people and want to help people. I thought, well, i can do more through acting and use that money for something good. Lemonis and youve done it put people to work, delivered people products that they can benefit from. And so i feel like i can help. I think that the business will need a cataclysmic change. Theres no doubt that monica has some good ideas here, and ive had a few days to look over the financials. So i was out in california while monica was working, and i thought itd be a good idea for us to sit down and see if theres a way for us to do business together. Ultimately, the reason that i really like this idea is the Sea Buckthorn products have benefits to people, have purpose for you. The margins are great. It requires Product Development and packaging, and to me, thats the easy part, by the way. Monica yeah. Lemonis the hard part is, is that one person has to be in charge that isnt you. Monica i dont want to be in charge. I cant be in charge. Lemonis yeah, no. Yeah. And so im willing to put up 100 grand to get things off the ground so that i can have full control of every change that has to happen, and well be 50 50 partners. Monica marcus, what about the million ive put in . Lemonis where is the million youve put in . Monica in all of the mistakes that ive made. Its gone. Lemonis so why would monica but its also in the products that weve developed, too. Lemonis how much did you spend doing that . Just the actual Product Development. Monica youre smart. Lemonis probably what . Monica 100,000. Lemonis right. We got a deal . Monica deal. Lemonis its your check. Monica can i give you a hug . Lemonis you can. Monica okay. Thats my deal. Lemonis bye. Monica thank you. Bye. Ill see you soon. Lemonis see you soon. Monica travel safe. Lemonis thank you. Monica thank you, dad. Lemonis so, i agreed to invest 100,000 into the business. I would like to invest in you guys. But at the end of the day, this business cant be managed from california. Whos in charge of this Business Today . Al daytoday operations is caity. Lemonis okay, and were gonna respect that leadership. Once we build out what this Business Needs to look like, jess, i want to work directly with you to try to figure out what a perfect role is here for you. What would you want to do . Jessica you know, business isnt my thing. I did take photography, and i did go to art school. Lemonis jess, if Something Like that interests you, id like to help you do that. Monica i dont know if t