According to Marcus Lemonis, every struggling company can be saved.
As the star of the CNBC program "The Profit," Lemonis invests in troubled businesses and works with his new co-owners to fix every aspect of the companies.
That could mean changing every product and service. And it also may require that the owner set aside a little pride.
"The business is bigger than you, and while you're an important part of it, you are not the business," says Lemonis. "That includes telling the owners all the mistakes they've made. It's a blow to their egos, but it has to be done to save the company," Lemonis says.
Businesses on the show have included food manufacturers, restaurants, a beauty salon and a used car company. Some have been close to collapse.
"Taking something and fixing it is enjoyable, but more important, it's equally enjoyable to fix the people," Lemonis says.
One of Lemonis' favorite turnarounds on "The Profit" was his first — New York-based Car Cash, which bought used cars and sold them to wholesale car dealers. The company was owned by two brothers who inherited it from their father but, because of their personalities, didn't work well together. They were also working with wholesalers who were paying too little for the cars. Lemonis restructured the company to give the brothers separate roles so they had fewer conflicts, and he eliminated the wholesalers. Car Cash now has more than 70 locations across the country.
Lemonis made his name in business by buying recreational vehicle companies and turning them into Camping World RV SuperCenters. He's invested $23 million in 15 companies on "The Profit," and has turned around more than 100 companies.