The Profit, entrepreneur business turnaround show on CNBC

[Capital]

Its sad as the profit in popcorn is INSANE.

Bottled water must also have some crazy margins. You take something that's free, put it in a few cent bottle, boom.

 

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[rocktemple]

Lots of great info and insights from this show. Thanks for the share. I just don't get why Marcus would invest in an existing company before looking at the books.

 

[AllenCrawley]

Great interview with Marcus. Great insights into his business philosophy and thought processes.

[video=youtube;OCwg7YcIMH8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCwg7YcIMH8[/video]

 

[hughjasle]

I'd love to hear more about this.

Ask me anything. Basically it is an impulse buy product. Get the right location with loads of foot traffic and you will roll on the money. Popcorn sells more per pound than good steak. If I remember correctly, depending on the type, we would sell it at $25/lb. At a cost of a few bucks to make (labor/COGs/packaging/etc). We averaged about a million per store with 3 to start and expanded to 5 locations. Cash intense business and money would always 'go unaccounted for'. These are good business so long as you are disciplined and have CONTROL.


Sent from my Nexus 4

 

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[Pete799p]

Watched both episodes last night, without this forum I would have never known this show exists because I do not watch a lot of TV. I think the show is great and is a good learning experience for current/future business owners.

I think this is part of the reason why shows like this have trouble getting traction, the people who really like them never know about them because they dont spend a lot of time watching tv.

 

[AllenCrawley]

Looks like they are casting for season 2.

 

[Kencan98]

Reason I am asking is that I know many individual wholesalers who do very well. Seems like a viable business model, although being an individual isn't scalable.

A friend of mine does it with boats and absolutely kills it. The guy worked his entire life for the city doing something, I have no idea what. He always loved boats. When he retired he started driving around and stopping at every house that had row boats, kayaks, etc in the yard and just saying "Hey, I'll give you $30 for that boat." He'd go up to $100. He then flipped them just by putting a sign in his yard. Now with CL, he's buying and selling 5 or 6 boats a week at a profit of around $300 per. Certainly not fastlane but the guy is 72 years old and retired and mainly does it because he loves boats.

 

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[Operation_OPM]

Yep, agree too. I love the show and hope it makes. It's CRAZY to see the amount of Car Cash franchises after the show. Remember in the show there was the one location, and after the show, check this out.
View attachment 5638

Yep, agree too. I love the show and hope it makes. It's CRAZY to see the amount of Car Cash franchises after the show. Remember in the show there was the one location, and after the show, check this out.

SCALE to the max! Fastlane on the autovon with 3 NOS canisters...

 

[Milkanic]

This show certainly gives me confidence to build and scale a business. These people are all idiots.

 

[nico]

Marcus Lemonis would be an awesome forum AMA candidate.

 

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[CommonCents]

He should do a deal w/ a competing mfg popcorn company as he has the planetpopcorn domain. haha. You know the popcorn lady was skimming big time, screwing over her Mom.

That show is demonstrating the absolute requirement to get partner deals in writing, before you start, when you have the most leverage. Many partners just start working on a business thinking they'll figure things out later, but that often ends in disaster. Partnerships can be great but get it in detailed writing upfront.

 

[AllenCrawley]

He should do a deal w/ a competing mfg popcorn company as he has the planetpopcorn domain. haha.

 

[Brander]

Second show seemed staged to the gills. Firstly, the trust fund baby was correct - He didn't spend $150.000. A couple of murals, some car wraps, some cameras... Secondly, there is no way he just went on a handshake. Might have been a good lesson about trust in business, but presented so unconvincingly, at least to a non-US viewer.

 

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[snowbank]

We averaged about a million per store with 3 to start and expanded to 5 locations

What kind of overall margin does that business have roughly?(after all expenses)

 

[hughjasle]

What kind of overall margin does that business have roughly?(after all expenses)

After all expenses net would run between 30-40%
It comes down to how well the business is managed and what kind of rent agreement you have.

 

[Swoop]

I just watched the florist episode, and it was pretty interesting until the last 5 minutes when the calm and seemingly reasonable business owner randomly starts acting like a child and backs out of the deal...Seemed extremely staged to me, especially when he started denying that he had said the guy spent all that money.

Unfortunately it looks like they added in a bunch of fake drama to keep the Kardashianites and Real Housewivers interested...such a shame.

I'd actually suggest watching Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, the British version on Netflix...cant vouch for the American version, never seen it. It is way more realistic than this and Gordon actually gives a lot of business advice that could be useful in any business where you are selling goods and/or managing a staff. He always stresses knowing your margins and also good marketing. Of course it has it's moments where everyone yells at each other for the ratings, but it is pretty educational and entertaining.

Ill try another episode of Profit later since yall seem to be endorsing it so much.


Swoop

 

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[nico]

Actually to me it didn't seem staged at all. Look at how the guy acts and talks throughout the episode. He's behaving exactly like a teenager - an overgrown, 40+ year old mommas boy.

I'm betting he felt totally run over by Marcus' outshining him in front of his employees. So when Marcus told him he's a crappy business man in the car, he went home to sulk for two days, then came back to lash out emotionally.

Exactly like a spoiled 16-yo, railing against his parents. (I know 'cause I used to be one of those, in a weird way I can relate.)

 

[Courtney]

I really like this show and hope that it stays on the air! Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Jeffreyy]

Well i would have never known, this display prevails because i do not observe a lot of TV. I think the display is good, and is a excellent chance to learn for current future business entrepreneurs.

 

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[Mike39]

Quick, text 100k of your closest entrepreneurial friends: CNBC’s ‘The Profit’ in the Red After Week-Two Ratings Tumble

Watched all the episodes so far, they (pretty miserably) cut and voiced over his words a lot in the third episode which seemed to take away from the show for me, it does come across as scripted which wouldn't bother me (it's TV, everything is scripted) if they hadn't advertised it as UNscripted

 

[hughjasle]

Quick, text 100k of your closest entrepreneurial friends: CNBC’s ‘The Profit’ in the Red After Week-Two Ratings Tumble

I don't see it lasting much longer.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Sounds like a great episode tonight, another local business that Marcus will try to "Fastlane" through chains/franchises. However, it sounds like the whole thing fails due to the owner being suspect. (Unethical, shady, who knows-- have to watch and find out.)

 

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[Redwolfe]

I really enjoyed the first episode. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

The last episode was very good from a Fastlane perspective.

It shows that as you get closer to the point of manufacturing (and start removing middlemen) the better the Fastlane becomes.

Also it shows how two divergent philosophies can result in two divergent results.

In the case of the last episode, one partner wanted to do it his way (he parted ways and went on to build a BILLION dollar company) and the other partner wanted it his way (he went on to become a $5 Million dollar company) Ouch.

 

[nevergiveup]

Can't wait for season 2, the show really gets me motivated! Too bad it doesn't come back on until Jan.

 

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[DeletedUser394]

cnbc marathoned the whole first season today so I got to watch it in full. Really enjoyed it, especially when he goes into the numbers/financials. You really have to know your numbers!

Season 2 starts on January 21st.

 

[Brander]

you get closer to the point of manufacturing (and start removing middlemen) the better the Fastlane becomes

100% truth. When negotiating for manufacturing in China or Eastern Europe it was obvious that the manufacturers had all the power and we would be just one of the many buyers - delivery times and quality would suffer immensely and we would be at their mercy. From my perspective the most important thing is control, especially if you strive to be unique.

 

[Lagron]

To those that have not seen it, http://www.hulu.com/the-profit is on hulu and free to watch. I have to say I am quite glad I got to tune into this thread and watch the show, its actually teaching me something and its interesting to see how its done.

Edit, just saw someone posted above, but hope it still works.

EDIT: WOW they stopped making more episodes : / ?

Edit: Might I mention I want the guys car!

 

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[MattCour]

cnbc marathoned the whole first season today so I got to watch it in full. Really enjoyed it, especially when he goes into the numbers/financials. You really have to know your numbers!

Season 2 starts on January 21st.

Oh wow, Season 2 huh? I thought the ratings sucked? Everyone on the forum should watch this show, it's fascinating!

 

[Connor]

Just saw a commercial for this: http://www.tntdrama.com/series/save-our-business/

Guess that someone else thinks it's a decent show model- looks to be pretty much the same show. Excited to check it out though and for season 2 of the Profit next month!