MIAMI – Loren Ridinger has been changing the face of the beauty business as well as internet shopping for more than 20 years, and the entrepreneur and senior executive has no plans to slow down. "It's not in my blood," she says.
With humble beginnings working out of their rental home's garage at the time, she and her husband, JR, co-founded internet retailing giant Market America in 1992, in Greensboro, N.C., where the company is still headquartered. In August, the company held one of its twice yearly empowerment conferences there, hosting 25,000 people, and she gave the opening speech. Today, the Ridingers live in Miami Beach, and each February, the Market America World Conference takes over AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami, bringing about 25,000 people to town.
Market America has generated more than $5.5 billion in accumulated retail sales and individuals have earned more than $2.9 billion in commissions and retail profits, the company said. In addition to the U.S., the company operates in Canada, Mexico, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Mexico and Spain.
Active on social media, Ridinger blogs regularly on www.LorensWorld.com, named one of Forbes' Top 100 websites for women, and her fashion blog, www.MyFashionCents.com.
She recently took time out to share her views about entrepreneurship, what's next and the importance of knowing "why." Here are excerpts of that conversation.
Q: Regarding your Market America journey, when did you and JR know this was going to be really big? Was that the vision from the beginning or did it evolve?
A: JR has always had that vision. Even prior to 1992 when the idea was forming, he was a strong believer that the world was fast changing, that technology was fast changing, and people would want to shop at home.
Q: Market America was ahead of its time, but that can't be easy when e-commerce trends change so fast. How do you stay relevant?
A: That's the key, being relevant all the time with technology changing so fast. JR has always been very connected and taught us to be very connected as a team to who our customers are. We know who she is, we know what she likes, we know what she likes to buy, we know how many children she has and what kind of pets she has. Being connected in that fashion to your customers — even for 6 million of them, and we have been constantly collecting data about them — we have been able to gear who we are toward her.
Q: Over the years, what are one or two of the most important lessons you have learned about entrepreneurship?
A: To manage my time wisely, that's been a lesson for both of us. It's hard to run a company of this size and still have a life with your children and your grandchildren and juggle everything. I loathe people who waste my time. I learned how to manage it really well. If I want to see my grandchildren for a couple of hours, I wake up really early.
