Marcus Lemonis from The Profit Invests in Horton, Kansas
CNBC Star from The Profit Invests in Small Town
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| Marcus Lemonis Invests in Horton, Kansas |
Out of all of the Towns in America Marcus could choose to put his time, money and effort when not transforming businesses on The Profit, Lemonis chose Horton, Kansas. The first order of business was getting an entire town behind his "People, Process and Product" Success Formula started with a Town Hall Meeting selling his vision for the future. The video below is Marcus sharing his vision how to reinvent the entire downtown of Horton, Kansas. It's a little lengthy, but worth your time seeing how Marcus wins over a whole town with his ultimate plan for Horton to make a profit.
The first plan Lemonis proposes is merging some expenses with other small towns nearby. Not as a political decision, but merely business economics combining similar entities into a single unit. The more I learn about Marcus's business plan to reinvent an entire town, the more I'm convinced other communities will start implementing these ideas all over the United States. It just makes sense, especially if you want to make a profit.
The next plan of action doesn't involve bringing Horton, Kansas into the future, but turning the clock back to it's former glory from the past. A new tourist destination reminiscent of the past. To help fund the $1.5 million Lemonis estimates Horton will need to reinvent the town's future. He agrees to invest $150.000.00 if the town agrees they'll raise the first 90% needed to reinvent its future. Marcus suggests a Crowd Funding Campaign where the entire community can get involved helping fund it's own future, along with the City and State's help.
Did you know all of Marcus Lemonis's 6000 employees from ALL his businesses are required to volunteer 32 hours of their time to services and organizations? I didn't either, but it certainly speaks volumes when it comes to his character generating 200,000 volunteer work hours while still paying employees their normal salaries.
Towards the end of the Town Hall Meeting, Marcus narrows down his entire vision in one sentence saying, "This is the Greatest American Experiment of All Time". If his plan to reinvent an entire community into a thriving tourist destination works in Horton, Kansas, then it'll work in hundreds of other towns across the country.
Horton, Kansas after the Marcus Lemonis Town Hall Meeting
By all accounts, the town of Horton, Kansas immediately got busy implementing some of Marcus Lemonis ideas cleaning up their downtown and making it more appealing to tourists. According to the Horton Newspaper, weekly community cleanup projects are still going on to this day. Just imagine how many other communities would benefit from this single idea when towns come together with one common goal?The City of Horton also took Marcus's idea of starting a crowd funding campaign to help raise part of the projected $1.35 million needed for improvements. The Horton Funding Campaign launched in October, 2014, on GoFundMe set with no expiration date. So far, as of this writing, the campaign shows only 62 backers pledging $6100.00 of a $120,000.00 goal in the first seven months. Considering over 300 of the towns 1700 residences show'd up for the first cleanup, and over 700 Social "Like's" for the campaign, the donations to make this dream a reality is not exactly impressive.
One reason Horton residences might have no problem donating their time, but reluctant to donate money is a little fact Marcus brought up during the Town Hall Meeting. Most in attendance seemed shocked when he brought it to their attention there's over $4 million currently in the town's bank account. Obviously that goes to pay for a variety of services and bills, but clearly the towns coffers were not as bad as some folks were led to believe. Only an insider living in Horton, Kansas knows the "real reasons", but I could see how this might influence some of their decisions how they could help the town out the most.
The main thing is the town of Horton, Kansas loved the idea Lemonis proposed and got right to work. Every community can only strengthen when working towards a common goal. Even though Marcus had no financial interest in Horton during the Town Hall Meeting, He was impressed with the progress and came back with his checkbook this time wide open. As far as I can tell, Marcus Lemonis has already purchased seven buildings within the Town of Horton, KS. since the meeting.
This truly is "The Greatest American Experiment of All Time" and unquestionably one of Marcus Lemonis's Greatest Business Achievements if "when" the town of Horton, Kansas is once again making a profit.
Horton Kansas Crowd Funding Campaign
Horton FaceBook Page
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