That weve ever had on the show minus michael, of course, right, michael . Ramona especially Michael Lemonis were gonna go ahead and get started any time we want. Taylore wait, is this real . Like, were really starting . Ramona yes. Yes, youre starting, taylore. Taylore oh, okay. Lemonis over the years that ive been making the profit, ive visited countless businesses. Lets go make some money [ horn honking ] ive traveled the country to try and fix the people. And you do 1 million a year . You should be proud of that. Man but we dont know how to keep any of it. Lemonis . Fix the process. You see . It flimsy. Dont ever make these again. You dont sell them. And create a few products. Juli it reduces anxiety and depression. Lemonis i kind of like it. I spent countless days working on these companies. How much money did you burn through . Parker 650,000. Lemonis but we cant always fit everything im thinking into the show. So tonight, were gonna give you an inside look at an episode from season 4 ashtae products. Michael shake it lemonis over the next hour, im gonna take you behind the scenes to share with you what i was actually thinking during filming. How do you think the booth looks . Taylore better than it did last year. Lemonis oh [bleep] taylore we physically put together those shelves. Lemonis that was clear. It looked like a school project. Share some secrets. Who does payroll . Ramona i do. Lemonis who does the payables . Ramona i do. Lemonis who collects the receivables from the customers . Ramona i do. I was thinking, please help me. I cant do this much longer. Lemonis . And give you an honest assessment of my decisions. It looks like a wholesale line, not a consumer line. Who thought it was a good idea to have 29 skus . Ramona my husband. Lemonis and how many do you have today . Michael 17. Ladies and gentlemen, we thank you all for coming out for our launch party. Lemonis lets go have some fun. The event that you guys put on was the best launch event i have ever been to by 100 miles. Taylore aw lemonis my name is Marcus Lemonis, and this is an inside look at the profit. Who applied to the show . Ramona ashley. Taylore my sister, ashley. Ramona you know, ashley, she said, mom, im going to sign you all up for the profit so that marcus can teach yall what youre doing wrong because it doesnt make any sense for you to have a company for over 20 years, and youre still working the long hours that youre working. Lemonis im gonna be honest. Marcus doesnt really mind that much. Im just gonna be honest. Hello . Sorry. Woman hi. How are you . Lemonis hi. How are you . Ramona oh, jesus. Oh, my god. How are you doing . Lemonis im marcus. Ramona im ramona. Lemonis ramona, nice to meet you. Ramona yes. I almost had a heart attack. You were really here in the flesh. Lemonis i came to see you and taylore. Then i had to have michael there as well. Ramona yes. Lemonis so is this whole complex you guys . Taylore yeah. We rent out office space, salon space, barbershops. Lemonis do you own those businesses . Taylore no. No, no, no. Ramona we own the building. Lemonis you own the building. Ramona yes. But my husband, i think he is. Michael dont talk about me without me being around. Lemonis how are you, sir . Im marcus. Michael so nice to meet you. Im Michael Woods. Lemonis michael, do you dress like this every day . Ramona every day. Michael every day. Lemonis you look like a million bucks. Michael thank you. Lemonis so tell me about ashtae. Ramona we are a multicultural haircare company. We only sell directly to beauty salons. Lemonis okay, youre not in any retail. Ramona right. Michael we service salons doortodoor. Lemonis and you were literally knocking on doors. Michael what it does for an individual who is trying to grow a business, it helps them to understand how to overcome objections. Lemonis is rejection key to being successful in business, knowing how to handle it and actually having it happen to you . Michael absolutely. Rejection is like a slap in the face, be like, okay, you hit me there, but im coming back again. Lemonis and how did you deal with rejection every time you asked ramona out, and she said, no . Howd you deal with that . Michael i kept coming back. I wore her down, man. Thats what you do. You wear them down. Lemonis is there a place where all the products are displayed or i could see it . Michael yeah. We can go see the products. Lemonis so how many different skus are there . Ramona 29. Lemonis okay. Who thought it was a good idea to have 29 skus . Ramona my husband, probably. Yeah. Michael the more, the merrier. Lemonis and how many do you have today . Michael 17. Taylore we go through a 6month process of getting feedback, surveys before introducing it into market, so. Lemonis how was it before you put that process in place . Ramona if michael said we need a, we would just get a. Taylore there was no process. Lemonis let me just give you my opinion. Michael uhhuh. Lemonis it looks like a wholesale line, not a consumer line, right . You have to wow people with packaging. Salon owners and consumers have tons of choices, and one of the most important things in making that choice is the package itself. This package couldnt be any more unappealing. Can you give me a tour . Michael mmhmm. Lemonis oh, my goodness. What is all this . We know that diversification is an important tool that we like to tell people in business, but i think you guys set the alltime high for what appeared to be intended diversification but looked like mass confusion with your building. Michael were less diversified but more focused on our core competencies. Thats what id say we changed. Lemonis right . You were running a church in your building. Michael the Bail Bonds Company is still here. Just in case you got to go to church, and you get out of jail, we can get you out. Either side, we got you covered. Lemonis so that viewers understand, you and your wife own the building. Michael yes. Lemonis and ashtae is a tenant of that building, much like all the other businesses are. Michael right. Lemonis so what actually happens in this warehouse . Walk me through it. Michael everything comes in in barrels, and then well fill the product. All the products are made in chicago. Lemonis so you have a copacker. Michael correct. Lemonis why doesnt your copacker actually give you finished goods in a bottle in a case . Michael because theyre saying that our volumes arent large enough. Taylore right. They got bought out. Lemonis so you have not been able to find a copacker that can give you a finished good in a case ready to go. Taylore we havent looked. Michael we havent looked. Lemonis why . Michael because, see, we own our formulas, so its not that difficult to make the product. Lemonis is your vision to have a fullfledged factory here . Michael it is. Lemonis where are you producing the product . Ramona with the connection that you gave us. Lemonis nothing is in house, or some stuff is in house . Taylore no. Ramona no. Ramona nothing is in house. Taylore nothing is in house. Lemonis whose desk is this . Ramona this is my desk. Lemonis so is this where all the payables happen . Ramona yes. Lemonis walk me through whats actually happening here. Ramona this is what you call multitasking. Lemonis who does payroll . Ramona i do. Lemonis who does the payables . Ramona i do. Lemonis who collects the receivables from the customers . Ramona i do. Lemonis who sets up the trade shows . Ramona i do. Lemonis whos helping you . Ramona nobody. Lemonis okay. Michael honey, im sorry. Sorry. We got a few clients that got some bulbs out on the other side. Can you make sure that these right here get done . And these the receipts that need to be taken care of. Lemonis does this kind of stuff happen with him all the time . Ramona it happens every day. In that scene, i was thinking, please help me. I cant do this much longer. My husband is a wonderful man, but hes not gonna change. I dont know how i did it to just keep it separate, knowing that every time he piled things on me, it wasnt personal. I remember one time that it did get really bad for me mentally. I sat down, and i literally did mikes list on the left, ramonas list on the right. Michael it was a book. I think it took me maybe 3 weeks to finish reading her list. Lemonis one of the tips that we want to give people is to understand the importance of separating homelife and work life. Most Small Businesses in america are defined by a familytype atmosphere because you dont have the financial resources, and it requires people to have a very clear line between whats gonna happen at the diningroom table and whats gonna happen at the boardroom table and keeping them very separate, and you guys have done a nice job doing that. Okay. Lets keep going. What is all of this equipment . Michael thats all of the equipment that we have left over from the television station. Lemonis what television. I dont. Im sorry. Michael yeah. Lemonis help me out here. Taylore basically, we tried to create a television station, and everything went south. Lemonis how much money did you spend on that venture . Michael about 200,000, maybe 250,000. Taylore what . what . Ramona Michael. Close to 1 million payroll, equipment, traveling. Lemonis taylore, can you and i just chat for a minute . Taylore yep. Ramona it was very scary, the whole process. Lemonis it was scary . You know what was scary . Ramona yes, at first. Lemonis that storage room that you had, that was scary. Taylore i told my parents that that station wasnt a good idea. I said multiple times. Its tough when you have this vision, and you have all these ideas, but you cant implement them, or you get this war in order to implement them. Lemonis i can see why you were frustrated by it. Taylore oh, absolutely. So we were supposed to meet and talk about, what are gonna be the terms and conditions of my role here . And the main condition is, they have to make me coo. Lemonis chief operating officer. Taylore yes. I have to have control over certain areas. Lemonis what was their response when you gave them that condition . Taylore we havent met yet. Lemonis oh, you havent . Taylore no. Lemonis alright. Well talk in a little bit. Taylore okay. Lemonis why did you, that early on, know that you wanted to run the company . What is it that you knew qualified you to do it . Taylore i am uniquely gifted at making things more efficient, and i knew from the moment of joining the company fulltime, this is not making sense. This is not adding up. There are so many Different Things we can do, and i believed in myself in being able to change that. Lemonis all these different ideas that michael has had, do you believe this business has been held back by those ideas . Ramona sure, absolutely. We put every penny we ever saved into all these ideas, and we, you know, my husband, i love this man to death, but there were some moments that i would just cry. Lemonis im amazed at how well you carry that pressure on your shoulders because theres a lot of crazyass ideas around here. Ramona yeah. Lemonis hey, guys. You have a business that does a million and a half a year and makes 200,000, which is a very high rate of return on not a lot of revenue. How much of an investment, michael, do you think the Business Needs . Michael i would probably say about 500,000. Lemonis okay. What is your number . Ramona 300,000. Lemonis what do you want to do with the money . Michael when i look at the business, i look at opportunity. I look down the road and say, well, what can we do that can be cuttingedge . Lemonis i dont agree with how much cash the Business Needs, so my offer is 200,000 for 25 of the business. Michael i think the number is just way too low, but if you said to me, im gonna put 200,000 into the company, and thats gonna make it all better, well, what is better . Lemonis its actually making the company entirely debtfree. Michael but what value does that increase in our sales . That doesnt necessarily increase in our sales. Lemonis yeah, but, michael, im asking you to justify what youre gonna do with the 500,000, and youre taking me to, whats the 200,000 gonna do for my company . Michael okay. Lemonis the value in me isnt just supposed to be in my checkbook. Michael and were not asking for the checkbook. Lemonis you are asking for the checkbook because youre asking for more. Michael im saying. Lemonis if i am just a checkbook, im the wrong guy. Taylore these are a few things i need or i would like, let me say that. I would like to be chief operations officer. Ramona at that moment, i didnt think she was ready. Taylore ah ramona thats what i was thinking. Michael i felt the same way. Lemonis the value in me isnt ju it started with a few fifty dollars here. Eighty dollars. A hundred dollars. I had good health insurance. Why isnt this covered . Well, then they started getting bigger. Eighthundred dollars. Eighteen hundred dollars. I saved for this. But not that much. Im glad i had aflac. They gave me money when i needed it most. Thats why aflac is here, to help with the Expenses Health insurance doesnt cover. I love that aflac duck. Aflac get to know us at aflac. Com there are times when our need to connect really matters. To keep customers and employees in the know. To keep business moving. Comcast business is prepared for times like these. Powered by the nations largest gigspeed network. To help give you the speed, reliability, and security you need. Tools to manage your business from any device, anywhere. And a team of experts here for you 24 7. Weve always believed in the power of working together. Thats why, when every connection counts. You can count on us. Im going to start the bidding at 5. Thank you, sir. Looking for 6. 6 over there do i hear 7 . 7 in the front 7 going once. Going twice. Sold to the onion lover in the front row next up is lot number 17, a spinach and artichoke dip, beautifully set in a hollowedout loaf of sourdough bread. Dont get mad get e trade and get more than just trading investing. Banking. Guidance. Get e trade and get more than just trading to be in my checkbook. Michael and were not asking for the checkbook. Lemonis you are asking for the checkbook because youre asking for more. Michael im saying. Lemonis if i am just a checkbook, im the wrong guy. Ramona i wanted to just kick him because. Lemonis me too. Ramona . I just. I didnt care about the money. I just wanted the mind. I wanted the relationship. Michael yeah. For me, it was both, marcus. I mean. Im gonna be honest with you, man. We needed the money. Lemonis if you need more than 200,000, just tell me why because pay off your debt, and you put the rest of it in the bank. What else do you need the money for . Ramona the reason i would like to see three versus two is, ive been tight for so long. Lemonis mmhmm. You just need more cushion. Ramona i just dont want the tightness. Lemonis okay. If i give you this check for 300,000 for 25 , i want to have permission from you to find extra cash wherever i can. Michael okay. Lemonis great. I told you that i wanted to find extra cash. What were you thinking . Michael where is it gonna come from . Because i dont see that 100,000 youre talking about. Lemonis do we have a deal . Michael we have a deal. Lemonis we have a deal . Ramona yeah. Yes. You gave it to the right person. Lemonis i know i did. Let me ask you, michael. Both of us have a lot of pride, and at least initially, i felt like you were more concerned about how you looked and how you sounded and what people thought. Michael first of all, you have to put on the superman cape. Thats part of being a leader in your business. However, clark kent appears, and we dont, as clark kent, want to share that side of ourselves with anyone, and then when guys like you come along, and you shared with us, you know, hey, michael, you cant be strong all the time, it makes you feel like, wow, i could be the superman and the clark kent all in the same day, and its okay. Lemonis im excited michael hey. Lemonis youre about to get sold. So walk me through your strategy of, you know, making these individual sales calls all the time. Michael well, its not necessarily im making sales calls. Were serving people. Were serving people our gift. Lemonis were just in this neighborhood, really, and so i would think that a market like atlanta would be a huge target for you. Michael the next big event that we do is there. Its called the bronner brothers show. Thats the largest africanamerican trade show in the industry. Good morning. Good morning. How are you . Toya good morning. Michael how are you . Whats going on, ms. Lady . Good to see you. Whats up . Toya good to see you, too. Lemonis how are you . Toya im really good. Lemonis im marcus. Toya how you doing . Nice to meet you. Lemonis do you own the shop . Toya i do. Lemonis and do you also sell the product to your customers . Toya absolutely. We had somebody waiting just now. Lemonis where are the products that you would sell . Toya were sold out. We got a display. Lemonis thats normally where the display goes. Toya yes. Lemonis you literally have nothing. Toya we were really waiting on yall yesterday. Lemonis theres literally, literally nothing here. What michael should be doing every time he goes into a salon is understanding the sales history of his products in the previous week or month. He would then take that data and then give the salon a recommended stocking amount, so if they sold four bottles a week, and he only comes there every 2 weeks, they should have eight bottles on the shelf. Sellthrough will leading to stocking. Stocking will lead to the appropriate amount, and itll generate sales. Michael so now yall can sell. Now yall can make some money now. This wont happen again. Toya never. Michael im gonna make sure of that. Lemonis i love the enthusiasm. Lets put a little science with the love. Michael toya. Toya yes, sir . Michael let me see you for one second. One of the things that we do always talk about is that we always want you to make this look fresh, and what im gonna do is, im gonna get this upholstered. So i think you have a little screwdriver. Lemonis were taking a chair with us now . Michael yeah. Im gonna put it in the car. Toya a wrench. Michael have pliers . Toya pliers, we got pliers somewhere . Lemonis this seems to be a trend with michael where instead of focusing on product sales, he wants to repair their chair. People said to me, oh, you made michael pick up that chair. That was nonsense. It was just a day in the life with Michael Woods. Theres a deleted scene. We picked up a chair, and what else did we pick up . Michael i think i picked up two chairs . Lemonis what else . Michael bojangles thats what we had, some chicken. Lemonis so im gonna show you this deleted scene that nobodys ever seen before right now. I just have to tell you this, we are not driving past bojangles. Just go through the drivethrough. This is, like, maybe the highlight of my week here. Michael this was one of my first jobs, actually. Lemonis you worked at bojangles as your first job . Michael i worked at bojangles in college. Yep. Lemonis you were probably working there while i was 6 and driving on my bike, my big, fat ass on my bike, and i used to come over. My mom said, where were you . I s