Join Katie as she talks with Rhea Lana Riner, CEO and Company Founder of Rhea Lana on how she built her thriving business, creating communities, franchising, lessons for starting and building a business and finding success while giving back.
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Hi, I’m Katie Kepner and welcome to Perspectives, which is a series of inspiring conversations with remarkable working women. And I’m really pleased today to be speaking with Rhea Lana Reiner, the CEO and company founder of Rhea Lana. Rhea Lana, welcome. Thank you, Katie. It’s really a pleasure to be here. So let’s please start by talking about Rhea Lana. Can you tell us about the company? Yes, we do pop-up children’s consignment events. And we’re actually a franchising company. So we have about 120 locations in about 26 states. And I started about 30 years ago, believe it or not, in my living room. So I’m a founder and have just really enjoyed learning about business along the way. So what do the events entail? Well, again, they’re called children’s consignment events. And so it’s where families will sell their children’s gently used items that they no longer need. And so it’s all computerized. And so a family would go in and register for a consigner number. And they get to set their own price of their items that they want to sell. And it can be clothes, shoes, toys, baby furniture, just anything related to children, infant through teen. And and so like I still run our event in central Arkansas. It’s our flagship event. And so just to give an idea of the scale. It’s in like a huge 80,000 square foot building, like bigger than a Walmart. Oh, wow. Yes. And we’ll have like 2,000 consigning families selling their things. And then we’ll probably have another 7 or 8,000 shoppers come through. And so it’s an event. And we spend the first week taking items in and then setting them up like a beautiful marketplace, kind of like a department store. And then the second week is when shoppers will come and buy things. And the neatest thing, I will add this a little bit, is at the end, we love the things that are not sold. The consignors can either… We sort it all back so they can take their things back that didn’t sell. They also get their check immediately after the sale of all the things that sold. But then they also have the option to donate their items. And so then we’ll have a free event where foster families… And families in need can come and we give those items directly to those families for free. So we love that giving back aspect of our events as well. And it’s sustainable, which is very important. So you said this started in your living room. Can you tell us about that, please? Yes, it really, I’m what you would call an accidental entrepreneur. So my family didn’t do business. I didn’t know I liked business. It really was motivated out of financial need for our family. My husband had been in the corporate world and decided to go into nonprofit work. We decided that as a family, but we then ended up taking this really big nosedive with his salary. And I was a stay-at-home mom. I have a college degree, but it wasn’t super practical like a teacher or a nurse. And so I had these three small children under the age of five and I loved cute kids clothes. And I honestly loved the thrill of the hunt of secondhand shopping, but there weren’t a lot of great options. It felt like you either had garage sales or you had, you know, consignment stores, which weren’t necessarily great options at the time. And where I lived, you either had for shopping, you either had Walmart, which back in that day, if you washed an outfit one time, it fell apart or it rusted or the buttons broke. Or you had this really expensive boutique in town where one little bitty onesie cost $100. And so I just love the whole idea of secondhand, but high quality. And so the events began then really a way that I was trying to figure out how to stretch our family budget. And then also just I felt like moms, you know, we were looking for a better experience for how can we find nice things for more affordable pricing. So you started there. What was your vision? When did you realize, wow, I think this could be a lot bigger than just me, you know, doing something for my family to make ends meet and more? Well, it took a while. I mean, it definitely was a slow journey because again, it’s only twice a year. So I was really only doing this thing twice a year. And that way I could still kind of take care of my family But, you know, it really did take on a life of its own after that very first sale. And I will say the first one failed. OK, I’m an introvert by nature. I didn’t know anything about marketing. And so I thought if it was perfect enough, you know, I washed everything and that people would come. But I realized I had to actually get out there and invite people and I had to kind of take a risk. And so that first event was a learning experience. And I called every, I had 11 consignors that first time in my living room. And I called all 11 and said, can I please try again? And they were so gracious to let me try again. And then people did come. We also, after that first sale, my husband suggested I computerize it. Now that seems like no big deal now, but back in the early nineties, that was a huge deal because stay at home moms, nobody owned a computer. We didn’t have computers in our houses. So that aspect also just began to carve out our niche in this very small industry. of being able to run high quality excellent consignment events where every item was tracked and every item could be guaranteed and so we were just beginning to raise the level of excellence of secondhand shopping so back to your original question though Katie when did it take on a life of its own well each time I would have an event it would take on another room of the house it’s always it’s Kept it in my house for a couple of years, but it took over the kitchen and the garage and my kids’ rooms. And so gradually, the neighbors complained about the traffic. And so we then began to look for locations in our community that we could rent. And moms just continued to respond. And they… So it really was, I could tell that it was meeting a need because more families were participating. It was hard for me, honestly, because I was still kind of the only one trying to do it. And I was trying to figure out how to scale and how to build systems. But I was thinking, and gradually it was making more money too. That was the other part of it. It was making more money. And I could tell that this is something to kind of think about. And how, I think you mentioned this already, how big is it now? Well, my event that I do in central Arkansas, we actually have a quarter of a million items that will be for sale, 250,000 items. So it’s very large. But when a franchise starts out, they start out like babies. So they start out with a few thousand, but then they grow to these big events. And right now, how many franchises do you have? About 120. Wow. So why is it a franchise model? Well, during those times when I was building it, my husband, actually, I thought he would go back into the corporate world and go with all the benefits and all those things. And he decided he loved doing the nonprofit work. And that’s when I was beginning to think, well, this does seem like a unique thing that I’ve been given. Like, it seems like a great gig. And I was, it was beginning to become pretty profitable. And I was beginning to think, Hey, this is a great gig for other women like me who would like to still, you know, either their stay at home mom, or maybe they have a full-time job, but they would like to do something on the side. that could potentially grow into full-time income. So I began to think about franchising. We still didn’t have a lot of money and we bootstrapped this thing from the beginning. And so I bought the book Franchising for Dummies. And as I would take my kids to the community pool, I would highlight and I would just check things off. And I just decided I would just try it. And I had honestly no idea if anybody would buy a franchise. But we just all for us, it was the best way to just take little steps that weren’t just a huge risk. Um, so I was just, but again, as my husband decided to stay in full-time nonprofit work, I was trying to think long-term, you know, what could I do with this idea that seemed like it was working? And then I did another, um, test of our, did another event in, uh, another town down the road, about 60 miles away to think, okay, does this work in another community? And then my younger sister, she’s 10 years younger than me. And I’ve always kind of bossed her around and she kind of, I thought, well, she’s the one person that I know will do this the way I do it. And so we let her test one out in another market about three hours away. And so I was beginning to think, realize that it was a duplicatable system. If I would put the work into really how we do, how we do business. And so in the beginning, how did you find potential franchisee owners? That’s a great question. We didn’t do much marketing. We didn’t have much money. And I don’t really even know. Maybe it really, it happened very fast. We started in Arkansas and we actually sold out Arkansas very quickly. And so we probably just sent some emails out to our database and said, we’re franchising. And because we honestly had a lot of, a lot of interest in the beginning. I think families in Arkansas began to realize how much it was helping families and they wanted to be part of it. And so it’s really been organic even through the years. We don’t spend a lot of money. And my philosophy has really been if I can do things excellently and really provide value, then hopefully the product will sell itself. So has your mission, it sounds like I know the answer to this question, I think, but has your mission stayed the same since you were just doing it in your living room to where you are now? It has. I mean, I would say, yes, you know, we’re still serving families. We have a mission statement that’s been the same. And, you know, I’ve had to learn new things through the years because now I’m sort of trying to figure out how to run a company. But our mission is definitely the same. We want to serve families with excellence and confidence. and create processes, you know, that are duplicatable in all of our franchises. And we would just hope that when someone walks into a Rihalana’s in California, that they get that same experience from when they walk into one in Georgia. So what would you do differently? Is there anything you would do differently if you were starting it today? Hmm. You know, I had a lot of self-doubt. Just I wasn’t confident in it. I think and I really my network of friends were stay at home moms. And so I really didn’t know anyone doing what I was trying to do. So I think I would. probably try harder to figure out where I could maybe find other women like me. Or also I would just try to be more confident because I do think I second-guessed myself a lot. I even tried to get someone to start out with me. I really wanted a partner. I didn’t want to do it by myself, but that person didn’t want to. And I thought, okay, I got to try this myself. So I would and I would just encourage those who are watching or listening to today just to really have a lot of more confidence in yourself. You really can do more than you think you can. I think that’s one of the things I’ve learned along the way that I wish I had had more confidence in myself and not just kind of beat myself up or second guess myself so much. That’s something, I love that you said that because that’s something a lot of women that I speak to, they, you know, they call it imposter syndrome usually, but not having faith or thinking, well, I don’t know if this is right. And I think this is a generalization. So please excuse me for saying that, but I think men don’t do that to the same extent at all. I do agree with you. I do agree. I, you know, again, it is a generalization, but I think men tend to maybe be overconfident and women tend to be not confident enough. And it, it holds us back. So you have this, you have an incredible story and people listening, even me are thinking, you know, well, wait a second, but don’t, don’t I have an idea like that? You know, what could I do? So do you have any advice for someone who has a gem of an idea? Hmm. if they want to start their own business? Well, the world needs more people great ideas out there. There’s always areas where we need innovation. And so I would say definitely try it. Don’t risk the family farm. Just put your toe in the water. But definitely, it’s so easy to just stay with what we’re comfortable with and what we know. But if we’ll just step outside of our comfort zone a little bit, try some different things, fail a little bit. When I was doing consignment sales, I was also teaching tennis lessons. I’m Just doing anything I could to save some money. In the heat, hauling tennis balls out there and not making very much. And I actually ran a tennis camp all summer. Took my kids out there to the courts with me. I got to the end of the summer, Katie, and I did not make any money. I pretty much lost money. And looking back, that was so… I should have been watching my expenses and what I was going to pay instructors and how much my equipment cost, but I just didn’t know. I hadn’t done business before. Now, all these years later, of course, I would have done things differently, but we just have to learn. We have to try something. and, and learn along. So I would just encourage our listeners to definitely try and look around to see where would you love your life to be improved? I think that’s how I started. How could I, I wanted my life to be improved and nobody else was going to improve it except me. And so if we’ll just look around to see where there is a need and how can we meet the needs of those around us and improve our life, then there’s, there’s some great business ideas out there that really need to happen. So do you think as a business leader, it is a good or bad time to start a business or is there ever a good time? If I’m going to be honest, I don’t know that there’s a clear answer to that. To me, it’s more of an individual decision. Like I think for women, especially we have seasons of life when maybe we have more bandwidth. Uh, maybe we have more resources. And so I think anytime’s a great time, as long as it’s good for you personally, you know? And, um, I think that oftentimes though, we probably, we have more time than we think we do. I love to always challenge, um, folks like our, where, what are our time wasters? Like, what could we quit doing so that we could really invest in ourselves or this business idea? I think we have more time and probably even more resources. You know, for years when I was building our business, we did not take vacations. We didn’t spend money on new cars or new furniture. Like we didn’t do all that. We had a very narrow focus. And I think it probably wasn’t a good time for me either, actually, you know, but I was out of necessity. And. That’s one of the things that I talk with our, even our franchise owners who are just women starting businesses. But are you using your resources wisely, your time and your money to give yourself a chance, you know, to really make a difference? And how do people let’s talk a little bit about community, because the value of community and connections that people make through community is so important. And it sounds like it must be incredibly important for your business. Can you talk about that as opposed to me just presuming that? Can you talk about how community has played a role in the growth of your company? Yes. Well, I love doing business with other people and especially with women, you know, but this doing business by yourself is not very fun. Never what I wanted to do. I wanted to get to the end of my life and just knew that I had relationships. And it reminds me actually of in the early years, our business did grow pretty, pretty fast. And I received one of these awards and I was supposed to go to New York city to receive this award. And I had Again, I’m an introvert and I really didn’t really value networking, but I thought I’m going to go. I’m going to try to meet some other women like me. And, you know, I was just so disappointed because a lot of the women who had had to get where they needed to be in their careers had really sacrificed themselves. and relationships and community. And I remember thinking, okay, that’s not… Oh, and also one of the speakers, I remember saying, they said, you need to set this goal and then you need to hire and fire and hire and fire and hire and fire until you reach that goal. And that just sounded terrible to me. Like that’s not the kind of business. If that’s what it’s going to take, I don’t think I want to do that. And so… For me, I just wanted to figure out how can I build a community so that we can have relationships at the end of our lives. And I think as women, especially, we want that. We value that. And that’s one of the reasons that I love franchising because we all know that all boats rise with the rising tide is a way that we say it. And so as one franchise grows, it benefits all of the others. And it’s just one of the reasons I do love franchising. What do you feel goes into growing the community? Such a great question. I think we have to give of ourselves. I do think we have to take initiative. I think we’re all so busy. It can be hard to reach out to build those relationships. But I do think that if we will look out and see where can we give of ourselves, take some initiative. to maybe take someone to lunch in real life. You know, also sometimes a virtual lunch. I had a fun one time recently, someone reached out, can we have a virtual lunch? And I really enjoyed meeting this amazing woman. She lives in a different city than I do. And, but I feel like I have this new friend, but I think we have to take initiative to go to lunch and ask questions, figure out who can we mentor if we’re in, you know, if we have some experience or then who can we ask to mentor us a That’s what I would say. Do you think, Katie, or you think that same thing? Yeah, and I absolutely agree with you. And a lot of times this comes up in conversations. Women, especially younger women, are somewhat afraid to reach out and ask somebody, you know, for some guidance or for some mentorship. But when they do, people typically say yes. They’re happy, you know, they’re typically happy to help, you know, and see other people succeed. What Do you agree? Yes. And it reminds me of there was a season when I was going to some franchising conventions, these national conventions. And again, trying to network, but feeling very insecure. And my company was so small. But I remember I got an opportunity to meet. His name is Mike Rotondo, and he was the CEO of Tropical Smoothie at the time. And he just befriended my husband and me. And it was just like he got nothing in return. I didn’t pay him, but he offered. He even came and spoke at one of my franchising conferences. He really challenged me on the values of my company and made me think through some things. He recommended a book. It was called The Hard Thing About the Hard Things. It was one of the best business books that I’ve gone back and read. So he just chose out of the goodness of his heart to befriend me. a younger person in business. And I just, I will always be so grateful. See, so just ask. And in terms of values of your company, one of the things that I did a little research and saw was that your company really makes sure to give back to the communities that they’re in. Can you speak to that and why you think that’s important? Well, we want to give back to our communities. I think there’s so many needs out there. And I think to be good business leaders, we want to be sure that we’re sacrificing and that we are giving and that we’re mission-minded. And I think that’s what, for one thing, gives us purpose. Ultimately, that’s what gives us real purpose in our work from a high level. But I know with our events, a way that we can specifically give back is when we do these events for free. And that’s where we’ve decided to focus on foster families because it’s such a huge need. And so they come and get all of these items for free. And we also have military, some of those lower levels of military. I mean, some of those are they’re actually living on almost poverty level. And it just it’s heartbreaking. I grew up in the military. And so I just know that there’s a lot of needs out there. And the more that we can just meet needs without asking for anything in return. It ultimately benefits us because it grows our brand in ways that aren’t monetary, but it’s like trust. It’s giving trust and ultimately it helps us. Yeah, no, I completely agree with you. So if somebody wants to be in touch with your company in a few different ways as a potential franchisee or even as… a foster family that might like to take advantage of the generosity after your events are over, or someone that would like to go to the event and buy some baby things. How do they find out about this? Well, thank you. There’s a couple of different ways. First, our website is realana.com and it’s spelled R-H-E-A-L-A-N-A. That has all of our events. You can also go to realana.com slash podcast. And we don’t have a podcast. But we do have a form there where someone could fill that out. And you just request a free 30-minute consult with me. And I’d be happy to talk to you about franchising. Or maybe it’s just about you’re interested in entrepreneurial journey, something else. We’re also all over social media. I’m on LinkedIn, Rhea Lana, Reiner, and Facebook and Instagram. So we would love to connect with anyone that might be interested. That’s wonderful. And just to end, is there one piece of advice that has really helped you through your life and your career that you could please share with us? I would just say, be brave, you know, be brave and don’t be afraid to do hard things. We have a saying that the hard thing isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just hard. But once we do that hard thing, then our capacity grows, our confidence grows. And so be brave and do hard things. And believe in yourself. That was lots of lots of advice. But I guess that is the final piece is you do have to believe in yourself. You know, you can really, truly do so much more than you think you can. Well, you are a great example of that, Rhea Lana. It’s wonderful to speak with you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Katie, for having me. And thank you for listening. Thank you.
