One Hundred Percent with Marcus Lemonis

Everyone loves a ballsy business move and Marcus is no exception. This week’s guests Erik and Muhammad had high paying jobs at a successful consulting firm, but they decided to bet it all on a business they believed in. They identified a product that hadn’t evolved in looks or technology in almost 50 years and saw a chance to essentially create a new generation of window air conditioners. Marcus has recruited fellow risk-taker Byron Allen, who turned a childhood raised by a single teenaged mom into becoming a global media mogul. He and Marcus counsel the two on keeping clients happy and playing the long game. Marcus is so impressed with July AC he makes them a $2.5 million offer.

As Marcus likes to say, entrepreneurship is about more than money. It can also solve problems and change the world, like his guest Ryan Frankel is doing. On a sunny morning in 2015, Ryan had bicycled into an intersection in Manhattan just as a driver ran a red light while looking at his phone. Ryan was in the hospital for weeks, and he started to wonder what he could do to stop this from happening again, and his app was born. This App Saves Lives partners with top companies to offer free rewards to safe drivers. Marcus loves the concept and welcomes celebrity host Dr. Oz to help Ryan understand even further how our phone addictions put us in danger and how the app can create custom rewards for each user.

As an outdoor lover and CEO of Camping World, Marcus was immediately drawn to Parks Project, what’s called a Mission-Based Business. Founders Sevag and Keith had a goal to start a business that would support them but also support America’s National Parks. By selling mod graphic tees and other hip outdoor themed merch, they’ve donated millions to support National Parks. Marcus sees their potential but honestly tells them their lackluster sales pitch “sucks.” Enter Marcus’s friend, award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien, who brings her journalism skills to tailor the guys’ sales pitch into a love story that speaks to America’s love for our precious park lands.

Marcus loves a good comeback story and this is it. Jamie was a 26 year old body-builder and a talented cook but he was spiraling from family issues and a career that had flatlined. So he gave himself one year to be a success or be gone. Fast forward to today and Jamie’s company Eat Clean Bro is doing 17 million dollars in sales, delivering perfectly clean and balanced meals to front doors across America. But this podcast isn’t called 50%. Marcus sees the potential in Jamie to double those numbers and invites basketball legend and entrepreneur Charles Barkley on. The talk gets pretty personal about family, loss, and letting go to move forward.

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While many of us spent our time in college drinking beer and playing football in the quad Muhga Eltigani built what was essentially a lab in her dorm room. There she concocted fresh new hair products using fruits, vegetables, and oils from her native Sudan to restore natural African American hair. Marcus knows the potential of the niche black hair care industry and wants to help NaturAll grow even more. Grammy-nominated singer and multi-business owner Kandi Burruss joins the conversation to talk about black owned businesses and how you can’t stop for too long to celebrate your success. You have to always be looking ahead to the next milestone.