The Profit: Murchison-Hume Deal Turns into a Mess, Marcus Lemonis Walks Away

• The woman is delusional, an idiot, slyly misleading and just plain creepy. And, Her husband is a dolt

  She orchestrated the display fraud and stood there, creepy smile and all

  She setup a “distribution hub” in a closet and stood there again, creepy smile in place

  Then, she can’t find 240k in inventory- still creepy smiling

• The only word I can think of is delusional. And I feel really bad for her family. She is so passive aggressive saying “we” when it was painfully obvious it was her. She needs to 1) Get a GOOD accountant, 2) Move the business out of California (or at least out of LA, one of the most expensive spots IN THE US, Try somewhere like Fresno. Or move to Vegas which will have lower rents and better distribution. 3) Look in the mirror and realize that people who actually ARE wealthy and/or FROM money DO NOT ACT LIKE IT. At one time I lived in Newport beach (mike drop, although we lived in what I called “the slums of Newport” ie an apartment) and there were what we called “Nouveau Riche ie people that didnt have family money but made a quick but with real estate or whatever. You could tell folks that have money and dont show it vs those who only want to attempt to look wealthy to impress folks – we all saw Marcus was not impressed and he could buy her out with his pocket change.

• This lady is delusional.

• I grew up with “Max” (her real name is Michelle) in the “Downton Abbey” of America, Newhall, CA. Ha! (Nothing wrong with Newhall. I survived 10yrs there). Newhall/Valencia back then was literally a one-horse town. Why does this matter? Because for as long as I knew “Max”, she was always living in a future dream world of fashion and riches and international blue bloods. She was always fashionable even when it was totally out of place (which in Newhall, it was always out of place). She was always trying to present herself as part of the “elite”. She is an only child, who lived in a middle-class/working class town so that may play a part of her imagining bigger and better things for herself (Nothing wrong with that. She obviously got what a lot of what she imagined). Reality shows are not reality, but “Max” is the person you saw on the show. It’s amazing to me that 40yrs later I recognized her not because I saw her face, but because I recognized her attitude!

  • Interesting. I’m not always sure these “reality” shows are at all sincere. And sometimes The Profit can seem obviously staged, not that I don’t think Marcus doesn’t do what he says on the show, but sometimes they edit and piece together things and it comes across as staged on TV.

    On Max:
    I think delusional is pretty accurate. Max had what seemed like a good product, she just had no idea how to brand for the general American public. I think sophisticated and chic don’t combine with cleaning product but it she seems as if she’s set in her ways and trying to change her mind is pretty much impossible. I wish it could’ve worked out with Marcus, I think it could have been successful.

  • Oy. Clearly, Michelle/Max didn’t realize that being fashionable when it’s totally out of place is the epitome of unfashionable. Bizarre.
    I have no problem with someone’s escaping the circumstances of his/her birth but fashion editor for a Hong Kong paper? We’re not talking VOGUE Hong Kong here–why the attitude?
    Incidentally, did she have the same nose when you knew her?

• Why are you messing with that crazy lady??? If you trust her, I have a bridge in Texas to sell you….

• Champagne dreams on a beer budget. Why her husband followed her on this soon to be bankrupt goose chase, is beyond me. This snob is delusional.

• I think Marcus is brilliant saving all these struggling businesses, but this lady from Murchinson- Hume is completely diluting herself and she will regret 100 percent that she did not honor their deal. I would say good luck Marcus, but he doesn’t need luck because he is so business savvy.

• Her idea of marketing expensive cleaning products to wealthy people, imagining what will appeal to them, is ridiculous. Their cleaning help purchases supplies, and not from The Container Store for $9 or $7 or $5. Any aspirational purchaser might buy once, then back to Costco they will go. And her cavalier attitude about inventory blew my mind. I’m not proud of myself for hoping they fail miserably. She doesn’t deserve to succeed. (Can’t believe her husband facilitates such foolishness).

• I am a faithful watcher of the Profit and Lemonis is a genius. He is so level headed and non emotional that he is an asset to any business. Basically, any business should thank their lucky stars that he would even entertain the thought of helping them. This episode was a disaster. Not because of him. The product direction and inventiveness was so poorly thought out. Who would ever pay $9.00 for cleaner? Setting up the store to look like the placement was better, very underhanded. The woman was so over emotional. He really did everything he could to help. She needs a psychiatrist; not a CEO. I also thought it was dirty play she would try to renegotiate. “I’m down with that,” is not high class. It’s ghetto talk.

  • I’ve actually grown, over time, to pretty much loathe Marcus but I watch the show anyway (it’s kinda like a train wreck featuring a lot of lachrymose participants) and sometimes, like “Max,” the business owners are worse than he is. I recommend reading Inc.com’s article on Lemonis’ dark side for a fresh perspective.

• Just watched The Profit Murchison-Hume episode….will NEVER buy this product. Max is the most aggravating person ever and will not listen to anything that Marcus said or advised. I was intrigued at the beginning of the show as I love new cleaning products and along with the dog products, WOW! Not now, not ever.

• Max’s need to preserve her pretensions and live them out (really? You need to pour tea during a business meeting?) is inexorably tied to her self image. That, combined with her hubris, trumps her ability to achieve profit and productivity. Nevermind the tutorial, she will always be a victim of her own thinking. She will hold on to her self-preserving image until she goes down her fancy toilet along with her poor hen-pecked husband. And when she cried about having to live in a small house by a freeway…? I’m embarrassed for her that she lists that as a hardship when her priority should be focused on building her business. True entrepreneurs make long sacrifices while they build their businesses. She seems to want it all and want it now. She reminds me of Hyacinth Bucket (that’s Bouquet!) from PBS’s “Keeping Up Appearances”. And she had a hen-pecked husband too.

  • You clearly understand the sacrifices involved in building a business. Unless you’ve inherited start-up capital (and I’m not saying this is a bad thing), the entrepreneur is the last one to be paid. My dad was self-employed and while we never wanted for anything (indeed, I felt rich), it wasn’t until I was much older that I realized how much sweat and effort went into providing for us. Thanks, Dad!

• That lady named her company like a hedge fund. It’s cleaning products and she’s such a snob about it! She’s clueless and can’t take good advice.

• I’m certain the woman and her husband knew that their representation of inventory was intentially low. And that tells everyone just what they need to know about entering into business with this crack pot. He should bill them for the expert assessment he did of just how their company is positioned. She is as phony as they come.

• That woman reminded me of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard with all those wide eyes and faces she made not to mention the alternate reality she seems to live in.

  I was surprised Marcus hung in as long as he did because there were tons of red flags through out the “deal”!

• Oh my! This lady was incredibly pretentious. So much so, it was so unbelievably cringey, this episode hurt to watch. The expressions she made on her face was so irritating, her husband stood there like a knob, and her fake snobby attitude made me want to vomit. What awful people. I will never buy their product based on this episode- their business practices, quite frankly was a huge insult to Marcus, who was wasting his time working with such dolts. I hope they crash and burn, not that they haven’t already, but if I were them, I would be quite embarrassed for my friends and family to see me behave in such a revolting manner.

• What a shame. No ethics. A sham CEO. Sad to see someone blinded by their own lies.

• Its like watching a car crash in slow motion. See it over and over – there are adaptive people who embrace input and seek to do better. And there are those like Max who are more stuck on doing it their way than doing it better. And she has the disrespect to call Marcus a dick. Well, Max, you’re the dick. I doubt your snobby M&H will last another year.

• Yea, I was cringing the whole time I watched this, saying “Don’t do it Marcus, you’ll regret it’. She was so creepy and phony. You could tell too, once she flew off the handle and her staff was looking like ‘oh here she goes again’. Funny thing is , I only buy eco friendly stuff, not all of it works great so Im always looking for better but I will never buy any of her pretentious crap. She has no clue. I also dotn believe her that ‘Playboy poached her CEO’. THat CEO saw the writing on the wall, probably had her resume on monster.com and took the first offer she got.

• Oh yea, and people are asking why even go on the show, I think some of them think Marcus will just come and put cash in their pocket, bring them a lot of business, or that the exposure alone from being on TV is free advertising, which it is, but when you portray yourself like that, it has a way of backfiring on you.

• She is nuts.

• Max had every opportunity to do the right thing and she just wanted to lie and cheat.. I wish her the best but I’m glad the Profit left..

• Max is a narcissistic, delusional,cray cray liar.! I was surprised how long into this drama Marcus dealt with her , she seemed ‘off ‘ from the start. She had no intention of changing anything, the more I watched this episode, I was hoping Marcus would just slap her. Hopefully she’s out of business for good.

• You apparently have very low self esteem and self confidence. It’s a shame that you did not listen to Marcus. I hope and pray you change your business model.

• Max is not professional in any sense of the word. I pray Marcus got his money back. Samantha9876543211.

• I was impressed that Marcus kept his cool. Max should not have walked away; she should have been more mature and listened to Marcus.

• I think she is an idiot. She needs a reality check in life because I think that she thinks she is some kind of princess…wrong!! Her packaging was so stupid and didn’t even apply to what she was selling. Wouldn’t buy anything from her. Hope she falls flat on her ass.

• They will be bankrupt within a year…Cant believe she did that. She had the opportunity to create a lot of wealth…

• Max Kater, your a dreamer, your husband must have a very well paid position, you stupid women, your loosing 8k per week, your must be from another planet because you have no reality of the world atound you, your a wannabe, keep married girl otherwise you’ll be bankrupt in a second, I can’t believe how irritating a person you are and a lier you knew full well you never had 280k of stock, two words for you DUMB ARSE

• I get really annoyed with little Prima donnas who think that all they need to do is look nice and make out she comes from ‘good breeding’ to succeed. She has a personality disorder. End of.

• Much has already been said by other commentators about Max Kater (and others like her). When your business is going so bad, and you have the great opportunity to get help from a person like Marcus Lemonis who really knows how to examine and improve all business departments, and changing it into a business so much more attractive and profitable, it is even more unbelievable to see how snobbish and arrogant some entrepreneurs stil keep holding on to their own views and ways that have proven to be wrong and unprofitable.
  I’m not an American citizen, nor do I own a business, but having seen all the great improvements in businesses so far, I can only say that Marcus is a great person, one who not just thinking about his own profit, but even shares the joy of those who see their business flourish (again), and the (new) jobs that are being created alongside.

• Unreliable partners you have to get rid off. Max unfortunately appears te be such an unreliable one… What a bitch.

• What a stupid arrogant lady. I would never buy from her. But what do you want with her name is kater. In Dutch means hangover!! Haha

• I personally love these products. I have used them for years in my small cleaning business and in my home. I think the branding and logos are straightforward and adorable. And it looks much more put together and professional to have these products rather than different shapes, sizes of various products. Cleaning isn’t glamorous, I agree…but the little logos add a bit of whimsy to a less than glamorous task. More importantly, I am grateful for the effectiveness of the products minua the harmful chemicals. My family and those I clean for deserve a fresh smelling, clean home that is non toxic. Thank you for standing your ground Max Kater…..re: your products, I wouldn’t change a thing!

• Lol what an avalanche of hate for Max. I loved her style and how adaptable she was: as soon as she realised Marcus is totally oblivious of what she’s trying to build with her business and a generally rude guy (my God, the show made it look like he doesn’t have one bit of emotional intelligence), she totally disengaged from the project. I’m sure she tried in every way to make it work but the show was scene after scene of Marcus not getting it. Her frustration must have been through the roof.
  Now for the business part: everyone has the right to dream and follow their dreams; if Max dreams of aristocracy and elegance, there’s no reason to hate her and her dream; if you don’t want to help, sanction the business, fair game. Buy other products. Buy from all the businesses Marcus helped – that way everybody gets their pay check, we have “efficient” businesses, very neatly categorised products: this is for the cleaning help, this is for the stars in Hollywood, this is for you, middle class people, because we know how and at what message you’re responding well. If that’s your cup of tea, do it, by all means. I think that’s great. I also think outlier products and businesses and people – like Max (and her husband, who supported her in the show), who seem strange and unfitting and “not normal” are what makes life good and colourful.
  Now on the “delusional” part: everybody perceives reality in a slightly different way. Is you reality better than other people’s? If they don’t directly harm you, why hate?
  Great show, for the all the wrong reasons. Now bring it.

• Just watched the episode, and I think the Max chick is 100% bananas. Good that Marcus walked away from the deal. Too bad he didn’t do so sooner.

• She needs to pay back some money for the stolen inventory. Since she has no money, take her to court and get 100 percent on the best of show. Only fair….she needs to get sued for being such a add and don’t honor her oral agreements and theft of inventory. She’s a moron.

• What a waist of time. She was a lot!!! Such a huge “B”!!!
  How could anyone work with that? Who wants to give business to that. Stupid and stubborn lady!
  She called an expert for help. He gave it. She’s delusion. She’s pretentious and doesn’t deserve the business from any of us.
  Worst part is that she’s clearly a liar and is ok with that. Like had no remorse and a childish – “sorry”
  Go with Kathy Ireland’s cleaning brand.

• Out of touch. Laughable. She so badly wants to be an aristocrat. To bad she lives in a hole. Playing a fake success as a business women. Laughable truly

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