Congratulations to the Market America Team for winning the second annual Rally for Kids scavenger hunt in Miami. The winners included my daughter Amber, her fiance Duane and E! Entertainment's Michael Yo. I'm proud to announce that our company Market America has raised over $125,000 towards the Rally for Kids with cancer. We had a fun night at the Gala with my wife Loren, my daughter Amber, close friends and a special thanks to our friend Eva Longoria who took the red eye to be present for this very worth while cause.  It's always great to feel and know that you are making a difference in someone elses's life.

" The kids are our leaders they are our icons" Jr Ridinger

To view more photos of this event visit facebook.com/jamesridinger

Last night my wife Loren attended the 2nd annual Rally For Kids with Cancer Draft Party at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach. It was great to see all of Miami's movers and shakers, entrepreneurs and celebrities all together in one room in support of this great cause. Amongst the celebrities who attended were actress Jamie Lynn Sigler, recording artist Christina Milian, Frankie J, Michael Yo, Ivan Sergel among others. This year our company Market America raised over $125,000 towards the Rally For Kids With Cancer. I want to thank all of my friends and family who donated and supported us, we could not have done it without you.

This is an article I found on BNET that every entrepreneur should read. It mentions the how most entrepreneurs have the Outliers syndrome a term describe by writer Malcolm Gladwell.  The writer gives you choices to follow your passion & your dreams or to get rich? Which do you choose?

Nearly everyone in the audience hoped to follow their passion, live out a dream, do what they love, and get rich. You probably do, too.

Realistic?  No.

When you start a business you have two basic options:

• Option 1: Start a business to hopefully do a lot less of what you don’t like and a lot more of what you love.

• Option 2: Start a business that will (hopefully) generate significant income.

Are you an aspiring entrepreneur? Are you an established entrepreneur looking to grow your business? Below is an article from INC Magazine on 5 Questions business owners should be asking?

1. What disruptive forces threaten our business?

Every business faces external forces that are disruptive or threatening to success or, even, viability. These could be changes in consumer preferences, supply of new employees, or distribution channels. For instance, the rise in online commerce gave way to more economical modes of marketing to and interacting with consumers. Businesses that stand between buyers and sellers can now find themselves edged out by those that engage customers directly. The music labels often focused on the piracy that Napster and file sharing fostered, but overlooked the way those offerings altered music listening. Apple, meanwhile, exploited the opportunity with the iPod and iTunes Store.

This is a great short funny video that shows there are many other ways to earn extra money and there are many options beyond a regular 9-5 job!  Watch the video and send me a tweet @jrridinger or drop me a comment below!

Market America is expanding in the Latin World and I love it! On April 14th Market America held their Spanish mid-east regional breakout at the Roland E Powell convention center in Ocean City MD. We had over 175 Latinos in attendance with one of our key power player Luzby Hernandez who has played a major role in our Latin community. Latin Americans are an important part of our business and make strong entrepreneurs. I am looking for the “JR” or someone like our Executive Vice President Dennis Franks of the “Latin” community to lead the way by showing the plan and building our communities. I love Latinos and let’s reach for the top.

To view more photos visit my Facebook fan page Facebook.com/jamesridinger or send me a tweet @jrridinger to leave me a comment

Yesterday my wife Loren spoke at the University of Miami School of Business entrepreneurial 'Launch Pad' program to 250 students and professors on branding, social media and entrepreneurial success along with a historical model of Market America.  Loren did an incredible job and was so inspiring!  It stimulated a buzz on Twitter, Facebook and lots of press.

There was a group of Market America young UFO's that came in from Penn State University, University of Toronto and New York's moving up seminar.  This group of young entrepreneurs go to college campuses to speak about Market America and entrepreneurism have become friends with students at the University of Miami and of course they connect for the business.  This is a validation that the college blitz tour is on target.

Take a look at this great article written on Market America's integration plan to expand deeper into Europe and a adopt a more comprehensive social media strategy and utilize an e-commerce platform with advanced features such as a better site search and more personalized product recommendations.  Since then Market America  has devised a three-part integration plan designed to help the company expand deeper into Europe, adopt a more comprehensive social media strategy and utilize an e-commerce platform with advanced features such as better site search and more personalized product recommendations. “It would have taken us years to purchase or develop the advanced e-commerce technology we acquired in the Shop.com deal,” says Ridinger. “We have always been very good with customer acquisition and retention and Shop.com has really advanced site search, search engine marketing and product recommendation technology. Together that combination gives us a lot more synergy to go out and acquire more customers and merchants.” Market America, which grew web sales about 3.4% to $332.2 million in 2010 from $321.3 million in 2009, aims to complete the integration by the end of 2012.

To read more click here

Look at the faces of these people after sitting and learning for three hours. It captures the moment and their mind set. Something is happening here that is monumental!  This is the end of the Blitz Tour, but the beginning of a new era changing the way people shop with Social Shopping as continue on our Billion Dollar Roll together.  The next tour we will visit college campuses across America. But first on to Taiwan and Hong Kong. Get ready for the United Kingdom with uk.shop.com!