Success can mean something different for each and every person. For some, success can be dropping a size in clothing, running a mile, or taking that first step towards building a residual income. For others that have been stricken with a disease, it can be their ability to take a breath without tubes or the need for an apparatus.The list really can go on and on. Regardless, it's important to be there for others and to give back.

Last year, I was fortunate to win the Rally for Kids with Cancer scavenger cup, with Eva Longoria as my celebrity driver. On April 29-30, 2011 (that's this Friday), my wife, Loren Ridinger and I will again be participating in the Rally for Kids with Cancer scavenger cup in Miami along with Eva Longoria and a host of other celebrities.

When you're looking to develop and idea or simply just need advice, sometimes you don't always have to look too far. That person can be right beside you. Take for instance, my wife, Loren Ridinger, the queen of networking.  Not only does she spend a great deal of time blogging, but you can also find her on Twitter (a lot). When she's not connecting with friends and other business associates, she's supporting them by retweeting their content or responding to messages.

Not only has social media helped her to stay connected with a lot of people, but it has also helped her meet new ones by sharing advice with them.  Just recently, she was featured in the New York Post, where she shared her advice on living in New York along with design tips with readers. Not only am I extremely proud of her, but I'm also very supportive. Being supportive can go a long way.

In fact, just by showing your support, it can be a source of happiness, personal happiness that is.  By getting behind someone, not only does it make them feel great, but it gives you a great sense of accomplishment too.

Now in days if you own a business, have a product to promote or want to communicate with your friends social media should be knocking on your door.  It may seem overwhelming, it may seem time-consuming, even a bit worrisome.  But in reality, being available on this medium for your fans, followers and customers doesn't have to be a burden.  With the right tools you will be communicating with friends, prospects, family members and customers on real time and right away and this year will be no different at Market America.   We are hoping to communicate with everyone through various social media strategies and network to keep you in the loop of what is happening in real time. Make sure all of you have your Twitter handles and Facebook set up on your phones, ipads, ipods or labtops.  You will be using them!

As you previously saw on the Bloomberg TV interview, people were curious about the shop.com acquisition and the future of Market America.  I have to say that when I sat down to reflect all our achievements in the past year I was truly amazed on how much we have grown of what started out of a garage with my beautiful wife Loren Ridinger. Earlier this year we launched ma Cashback program, where we pay up to 50% cashback on your purchases.  Since our launch we have added more stores, increased cashback amounts and made a huge push into solidifying our place among the elite online retailers, but we are hungry and our customers are hungry.  A magical moment for me happened in the last month which was the acquisition of shop.com

Fundamentally, there are four categories of social shopping that have emerged.  Social shopping spans a wide range of definitions but can largely be divided into four categories:[1] Group shopping sites, Shopping communities, Recommendation engines and Shopping Marketplaces.  Market America’s model uniquely positioned to do be  able to do  all of these and to create a better experience with a community and a shopping environment  and experience like non other.

Group shopping sites include companies like Groupon that has blown up recently where basically friends or people in a geographical  vicinity  buy a product or service together to get deep discounts or deals. Consumers share information and basically use their collective buying power and the  promoters of the site entice the merchant to give up theprofiyts for the exposure and traffic and at a certain quantity threshold to offer the product or service at a very low price.  As a result if Groupon's success we have seen many of these spring up like: Grooster, SocialShopper, Tippr, Half Off Depot, , Kactoos, LivingSocial, GoodNews, and BuyWithMe.These sites encourage groups of people to buy together at wholesale prices, essentially a Costco-like model for the online world. Media companies such as Television, Radio and Newspaper organizations are also getting into the market by launching programs under their own brand through partnerships with white-label technology providers like Tippr.

A billion dollar roll is the cover story of Haute Living Magazine's January issue.  Check out a portion of the interview below

Market America, the brainchild of notable supercouple JR and Loren Ridinger, is all grown up and giving birth to new revolutions of its own.

All big revolutions begin with a good idea; JR Ridinger had a great one. As a result his Market America empire is now massive, and ever expanding to all corners of the globe.

Unlike most, who live a life working to retire and retiring broke, JR Ridinger and his entrepreneurial vein were meant to create world-changing initiatives. Dissatisfied with the idea of financial mediocrity in spite of his hard work, JR was struck with the inspiration he’d need to do just that. “I learned about residual income,” he recalls, “where you do something, make something, build something once, but get paid for it over and over, every week, month, year.” A concept few wouldn’t embrace, given the opportunity, but one that requires the stroke of genius necessary to ignite such cash flow. Since that fateful day, the idea of residual income has acted as a catalyst in JR’s life, sparking the idea that would result in an entire economic movement throughout the world. And JR’s plan to tap into said residual income was less than self-serving. It was meant to create a platform for similar opportunities for anyone who wanted them. Any person with entrepreneurial aspirations would be able to cash in through Ridinger’s program.

I want to congratulate my good friend Alejandro Sanz for winning "Best Pop" album category at the 2010 Latin Grammy Awards.  This was a well deserved award and Loren and I were proud to be part of one of the songs in the album "Looking for Paradise."

Alejandro is one of the most talented and passionate singers/songwriters of our time not to mention one of the most down to earth individuals I know.  One of the songs from the album "Paradise Express" Looking for Paradise, occurred on our yacht, Utopia III.  One night, two summers ago, Alejandro Sanz, one of the greatest musicians and poets of our tiume and Alicia Keys, who is the greatest vocalist of today, and songwriter, beat-maker, and incredible music producer, Swizz Beatz all serendipitously came together.   They started singing a song about utopia and then came this idea about paradise.  After that evening, Alejandro spent time working on songs for his upcoming album and then asked Loren for her help in getting Alicia to collaborate for a recording.

I want to share some exciting news with you! Starting Monday November 8th, Market America’s SVP Loren Ridinger will be featured as an Insider on one of her favorite new websites, I-Ella.com.  For those of you who are not familiar with I-Ella.com, it is an invitation only online marketplace that allows fashion insiders to buy, borrow, swap, sell/lend their gently used designer pieces with a portion of every single sale going to a non-profit organization.    Every week, I-Ella goes into one of your favorite celebrities' closet and pulls some of the fabulous finds and auctions them on the site.   Next week all of you will have access to Loren's closet!  Because giving back is so important to Loren and I, all of the proceeds from every sale will be donated to the Rally for Kids with Cancer Organization that Loren and I are co-hosting with our friend Eva Longoria Parker.

Being an entrepreneur at times can be a difficult task. You can feel like you're being pulled in a million directions one minute with many people wanting your time for various things. For example, to attend a charity function or to send a tweet to their friend. Other times, people want your approval on things or simply want to occupy your time with what they think is the greatest thing ever to hit the Internet!

As an entrepreneur, it really is something that becomes a fact of your life. That's why it is important to give back to those people that have helped you to get where you're at along the way. It is also a time to give back to those during times of need as well. Just last week, my wife (and marketing genius), Loren Ridinger, came to me with a great idea that our good friend, Eva Longoria-Parker was instrumental at pulling together.

The concept is simple -- tweeting for change via Twitchange.com. Celebrities donate a mention, retweet or follow that can be bid on via an online auction. The proceeds from the winning bids go to help Haiti. As an entrepreneur, this is an excellent way to not only get your name out there by supporting a great cause, but also a great way to give back in the process.

Not only you giving back to your fans, but you're also helping to support those that need your help -- kind of like when you first got started in business -- you needed someone's help to keep you going and motivating you to keep pressing forward when things got tough.

In addition to offering tweets for change, it's nice to see a number of our celebrity friends like Swizz Beatz, Alicia Keys and Kim Kardashian also donating tweets. I also like the fact that others are not just donating tweets.

Loren for instance, is giving additional incentives to those that win her auctions - in return, she is giving the winning bidders the following:

Twitter package

Includes a follow (for up to 90 days), ReTweet and mention from Loren Ridinger. Winning bidder also receives two (2) tickets to the Vogue event in Miami, Florida.

Twitter @mention

Includes a mention in a tweet from Loren Ridinger. Winning bidder also receives a Motives Autumn/Winter kit.

Twitter ReTweet

Includes a ReTweet from Loren Ridinger. Winning bidder also receives a 30-minute mentoring session with Loren.

Twitter Follow

Includes a follow (for up to 90 days).  Winning bidder also receives a diamond Macrame bracelet from the Loren Jewels collection.

Make a difference in someones life and get rewarded in the process.  You're giving to help Haiti. In return, you're getting a tweet, follow or mention (and in Loren's case, more) from your favorite celebrity. A big congratulations to all of the celebrities participating in the first TwitChange and a huge thank you to those bidding to help Haiti out.

As entrepreneurs, we've also struggled to get where we're at. Take a moment and give back. As it typically works out, you'll be rewarded many times over in the end.

Keep growing. I believe in you.

JR Ridinger

I want to thank our good friend Kim Kardashian for attending our 2010 International Convention.  She really posted on her blog "Market America convention was insane, wow so many people showed up to learn how to be an entrepreneurs."  Kim showed up early Saturday morning to speak to a sold out crowd of 25,000 UFO, but not only did speak to about social media she showed everyone the greatness of our Paid to shop program, greeted her fans, spoke to fans and walked the concourse with us!  Kim you are a great friend and an wonderful entrepreneur we appreciate you for coming.

Check out her blog post she wrote about us on www.kimkardashian.com