There’s a show on MSNBC called “The Profit.”  It features Marcus Lemonis, a venture capitalist, investing in failing businesses and turning them around.  It’s a great show but it gets very repetitive:

 

1. Marcus learns about quaint business and their financial troubles.  “I put $750,000 into this hot dog stand.”
2. Family Patriarch reveals that he has “risked everything” for the business.
3. Marcus meets son/daughter of proprietor.  Usually they are an industrious open-minded, go-getter with big ideas that can’t get implemented because their dad is stuck in the past.
4. Marcus makes offer to buy a portion of the business.  He is typically very sun-burned.
5. Marcus suggests surface-level changes that only an idiot wouldn’t have seen.  “Ok, what if we put the merchandise on some sort of sales floor?”
6. It is revealed that family patriarch fudged a portion of the business, leading Marcus to lose trust.  “A party boat is not a tax write-off.”
7. Emotional conversation between patriarch and son/daughter.  Marcus is increasingly sun-burned.
8. Changes are being made.  Montage of graphics saying “Margin increase” and “ROI.”
9. 5 minutes left in the show.  They are not going to wrap this up on time.
10. Last minute re-cap of the new business with no closure whatsoever.