In this conversation, Rhea Lana Riner, founder of Rhea Lana’s Children’s Consignment Events, shares her 28-year-long entrepreneurial journey. What started as a simple clothing swap in her living room transformed into a multi-million dollar franchise, striving to make high-quality children’s clothes accessible and affordable. With an emphasis on community, values, and personal growth in entrepreneurship, Riner offers insights into what it’s like starting a business as a woman from the ground up. She discusses how she started her business, challenges she overcame, and rewarding experiences that made the challenges all worth it. The conversation highlights the significance of storytelling, the resale market, and the power of franchising in building a successful business.
About Rhea Lana Riner
Rhea Lana Riner is the visionary entrepreneur, CEO, and founder of Rhea Lana's Children's Consignment Events. In 1997, Riner held a simple clothing swap in her living room, seeking low-cost, high-quality children’s clothes. Since then, she has transformed her clothing swaps into a multi-million dollar national franchise with over 120 locations across 26 states. As a mother of three, Riner has always known that this business is about more than just clothes. Her events aim to empower moms, build community, and create flexible pathways to entrepreneurship. Riner has helped thousands of families access high-quality, affordable children's merchandise and has mentored franchise owners to grow professionally, personally, and spiritually. For the past 28 years, Riner continues to be a leader in the ecommerce space, building a values-driven business and inspiring women to take on leadership roles.
Contact info
Website: www.rhealana.com/
Instagram: instagram.com/rhealanas/
Takeaways
- Franchising offers a unique way to scale a brand sustainably.
- Connecting to the heart of your customer is essential.
- Fostering a community around your brand builds loyalty.
- Women can lead and grow businesses without compromising family values.
- Storytelling is a powerful tool for brand connection.
- As a leader, personal growth is the key to long-term business success.
Interview Themes
Why does storytelling and emotional connection matter to a business?
Storytelling and emotional connection with your audience are essential because they help bring authenticity and humanity to a brand. Riner emphasizes that customers want to know who the people are behind a business. Customers value having that relationship between themselves and the brand, which is why having a story for customers to connect and relate with is important. An authentic brand fosters community and builds loyalty and trust.
What does holistic leadership look like in a business? Why is it important?
Holistic leadership means leading in a way that embraces the whole person. For Riner, that means integrating values of personal growth, family, and faith into her business. This results in a balanced and sustainable leadership that cultivates a work culture where people feel genuinely valued and empowered to grow professionally and personally. Through this approach, the well-being of the leadership team and the employees are equally valued.
What are the benefits of franchising?
Franchising allows businesses to scale in a sustainable, community-driven way. By empowering entrepreneurs to own and grow a portion of the brand in a local market, the company can expand its reach organically. Franchising also results in the formation of a network of like-minded entrepreneurs—a meaningful support system with shared business goals. Taking a slow, intentional approach to franchising helps ensure that growth is both effective and aligned with the company’s core values.
How does being a mother impact how you run your business?
For Rhea Lana Riner, going from a stay-at-home mom to a successful franchise leader was more natural than it may seem. Her experience as a mother deeply shaped Riner’s leadership style and approach to business. Lessons from motherhood equipped her with valuable skills—problem solving, crisis management, and communication—that are all applicable to leadership roles in the business world. Rooted in strong family values, Riner’s business also reflects her empathy for her customers. As a mother herself, Riner knew what moms needed and how her business could fulfill those needs. For Riner, motherhood was essential leadership training.
What advice would you give female entrepreneurs?
Don’t underestimate yourself
Riner often finds that many women hesitate to take the first step toward entrepreneurship or leadership because they doubt their own abilities. Recognize the strength and skills you already possess and put them to good use. Confidence develops with action, and oftentimes, women are far more capable than they believe. Be brave enough to begin.
Stay balanced
There is no need to sacrifice your personal values for the sake of success. Embracing holistic leadership is a great way to ensure that you’re focusing on not just the success of your company, but also your personal well-being. By aligning your business with your core beliefs and maintaining boundaries, you can build a company that thrives whilst supporting your personal lifestyle.
Always be open to learning
As a business owner, expect the unexpected. The life of a business is unpredictable and difficult challenges are inevitable, which is why learning to adapt is vital to running a successful business. Whether it’s learning new skills or adjusting your business strategy, staying adaptable and open to learning will prepare you for the ups and downs of running a business.
Chapters
00:00 Building a Community-Driven Brand
09:39 The Journey from Living Room to Franchise
19:28 Balancing Family and Entrepreneurship
29:28 Lessons in Sustainability and Resale Models
Transcript
Rhea Lana Riner
I think for me it has always been about connecting to the heart and making sure that I understand the needs of their family and their children. We have certain values that we go by—honesty and positivity. I think when you operate by a set of values and you stay true to your word, your customers see that. They see how you fill orders and how you, if someone complains, how do you handle customer service? Are you kind and are you authentic? And all those things play out in normal business operations. I think those things build brand loyalty and they build community because I've learned that community naturally builds around brands that we all love, you know, and then we love to share. I love this about this brand. This is this wonderful product that I got. This is the incredible customer service that they gave me. And I think those things all build community.
Glynis Tao
Welcome to Chase Your Dreams, a podcast for fashion entrepreneurs who want to build a purposeful and profitable clothing business so they can make a living doing what they love. I'm your host, Glynis Tao, an apparel business consultant and SEO specialist with 20 years apparel industry experience. I'm also a mom to a wonderfully energetic little boy named Chase.
Today on Chase Your Dreams, I'm thrilled to welcome Rhea Lana Riner, visionary entrepreneur, CEO, and founder of Rhea Lana's Children's Consignment Events. What began in 1997 as a simple clothing swap in her living room has since grown into a multi-million dollar national franchise with over 120 locations across 26 states. But for Rhea Lana, this business has always been about more than clothes. It's about empowering moms, building community and creating flexible pathways to entrepreneurship. She's helped thousands of families access high-quality, affordable children's merchandise and has mentored franchise owners to grow not just in business, but personally, professionally and even spiritually. In today's conversation, we'll explore how to build a community-driven brand that goes beyond products, why finding balance as a mom and entrepreneur is possible and essential, the lessons fashion ecommerce founders can take from franchising, resale and consignment models, and how to grow a profitable business while staying true to your values. Welcome, Rhea Lana. It's so nice to have you here today. Thanks for joining me on the podcast.
Rhea Lana Riner
Hi Glynis, it is a pleasure to be here.
Glynis Tao
Wonderful. So Rhea Lana, your business began as a clothing swap in your living room back in 1997. Can you share that moment when you realized this idea could grow into a franchise business?
Rhea Lana Riner
It was several years after I started. I didn't have a business background, didn't have a business education, and so really it was an accident, if I have to be completely honest. I started in my living room. I was a stay-at-home mom, and at the time my husband had left the corporate world and had gone into nonprofit work. Our money was tight and I was looking for a creative solution to be able to buy and sell my own kids’ clothes.
I loved shopping secondhand, but I just didn't feel like there was a high-quality experience at the time. And so, I invited some friends and I moved the furniture out of our living room. We had that very first sale in my living room.
And then the second sale, we decided to computerize it. My husband developed our software on the side. It was kind of just a little passion project. That doesn't mean anything now, Glynis, because we all carry around phones in our hand and they’re little, mini computers. But back in the mid 1990s, that was a big deal. Stay-at-home moms like me did not even have computers in their houses. So from early on, we were able to use computerization and technology to create this high-quality secondhand shopping experience.
And you asked about when it felt like it could turn into a franchising concept. It really took several years, but it did grow. They're pop-up events, so I only did it twice a year, but each time it would grow and take over another part of the house. I realized that there were so many moms like me out there that were also looking to not only sell their children's things for a fair price that they had taken good care of, but they wanted to be able to buy things at a fair price. So gradually, it grew and I could tell that I was meeting a need.
Glynis Tao
Fashion entrepreneurs often start small and sometimes even out of their homes. I did as well when I had my clothing brand I started on my kitchen table. So what lessons from your early days would you pass along to those building e-commerce brands today?
Rhea Lana Riner
Well, I think for one thing, stay true to your heart. What is it that you want to do with your brand? I think I was that mom and I knew who my customer was. For me, I needed to start small. I think this probably applies to other people. I didn't take a lot of investment money from people. We bootstrapped it and we only grew as we could afford to grow.
And then I think it's important to just stay in balance. I also had small children at home and I wanted to still stay true to my family values while I was trying to build this business. And so, it was important for me to be able to align both of those values. I didn't want to give up my family just to build some brand, cause I didn't want to get to the end of my life and be by myself. And so, I do think it's important to keep our priorities and our values combined so that we can find balance and do both.
Glynis Tao
Mm-hmm. So I read on your about page, your story, how you started this business out of your garage—just out of a need that you saw from families needing to make some extra money and selling their products consignment. They weren't able to get very much money from consignment stores. And so you thought of a different way, a different model that you created that didn't even exist at the time, to be able to solve this problem and this need, which you probably experienced yourself as a mom, right?
Rhea Lana Riner
Yes, I definitely did. You're right.
Glynis Tao
And so, from your story, it sounded like your husband had helped you in the early days, suggesting that maybe you use some computerized technology and you're like, ‘well, I don't know if moms really even use computers.’ But then, you found out that he was right and it really then helped you to launch your business and grow.
Rhea Lana Riner
You’re right!
Glynis Tao
Is it by embracing that aspect of it? Can you tell us a bit about that story?
Rhea Lana Riner
Absolutely, you're exactly right. When he first suggested it to me, I told him he was crazy. Like, there is no way that moms were going to do that. I absolutely did. Because again, moms didn't have computers in their houses. I didn't even know how to use a computer. We joke that he was definitely the visionary. Another joke we like to say is we had the only barcoded garage sale in the world in the 1990s because we were scanning tags and had barcodes and we would be able to give each consigner a report of exactly what she had sold.
And yes, it did come from my own experiences. I had consignment stores, but I just kind of felt when I would take things to sell at the consignment store, for one thing, I made a very small percentage of the earnings. I never knew what sold or for how much, and I just felt like I wanted to create a very authentic experience. And so, from that very first time with my husband's software, we would give each consigner, all 11 consignors or 15 at the time, a report. They could see each item that sold and exactly how much. And then we gave a very high percentage back. Back then it was 70%. Now we have to give 65%. We lost a fight with the government and had to change our percentage a little bit. But, we were able to give a very high percentage and I loved doing that cause I thought moms should get more of their money for their items.
Those were some of the unique things that we were able to do because we were in this event. We weren't having to open a store and people would say through the years, ‘Rhea Lana, when are you going to get serious and open a store?’ And I said, ‘never, never.’ That was never my goal—to open a store. I really wanted to do just these pop-up events. That way moms could gear up and clean out their house in the fall and then in the spring. That's what we love doing—just doing it twice a year. I just felt like that also fit with moms. Moms are so busy and have so many demands, but if they could just do once a year, really focus on cleaning things out and then as far as shopping, they could buy everything that their children need for the whole season. And so that's how it started.
And yes, technology has always been part of our solution. I would have an operational challenge at my events and then we would use technology to solve that problem for us. And it has definitely been a reason that we could continue to grow and have this now. I remember when it was small, Glynis, in my home, and I knew I could do it well in my home. I knew I could make it look like a boutique and have nice items, but I wondered, could we ever do it at a large scale? And so, it's really rewarding for me that we can now offer really large events in a space that's like 50,000 square feet—like a large Walmart or a large department store—and it's this beautiful marketplace where things are run excellently. It makes my heart happy because we can bring families in and they can have this excellent experience.
Glynis Tao
What is the process like when a franchisee first starts to work with you and how do you get them set up and started?
Rhea Lana Riner
Well, once a person is approved to be a franchisee, they of course have a fee that they pay to us. And then we take them through training. They get the Rhea Lana branding, they have our marketing materials, an operations manual. We do have some extensive training that they go through. They even come to our flagship event and train with my team. I still run our flagship event. And I love it because it's kind of a laboratory where I can still see our customers and I can test out new things. And I have my team, so they train with our flagship team. Once they have their first event, we will send someone to help them launch. And then we have continued support. We like to think about franchising as doing business in the community. We have this wonderful community of women helping women and we just know that we all rise together and we're all building this brand together. I love the idea of franchising. It's been a real blessing to me because you can build these deep friendships, but all around the same brand that we are all building together as we're serving families.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, and that just leads right into my next question on building a community-driven brand. You've created not just a business, but a marketplace that fosters community among moms. How did you intentionally build that sense of connection and what can fashion e-commerce founders learn about creating loyal customer communities online?
Rhea Lana Riner
Well I think it starts with understanding the heart of your customer. What is in their heart? What are they looking for? What needs are you meeting as the provider of that product? But I think for me, it has always been about connecting to the heart and making sure that I understand the needs of their family and their children. We have certain just values that we go by—honesty and positivity. I think when you operate by a set of values and you stay true to your word, your customers see that. They see how you fill orders and how you, if someone complains, how do you handle customer service? Are you kind? Are you authentic? All those things play out in normal business operations, and I think those things build brand loyalty and they build community because I've learned that community naturally builds around brands that we all love and then we love to share. I love this about this brand and this is this wonderful product and I got and this is this incredible customer service that they gave me. And I think those things all build community and loyalty.
Glynis Tao
In fashion, storytelling is critical. How have you leveraged storytelling for both your own and your franchisees to strengthen your brand and movement?
Rhea Lana Riner
Well, storytelling is, it's just authentic. It's because we all are living out our own lives and our journeys and I think our customers want to know what those stories are. I do think we have to get good at how to communicate them and express the emotion of the stories.
At our events, we get to see so many families whose needs are met. There was one time a family came in and their daughter had just finished cancer treatments—I think she was 10 years old—and the way they celebrated the end of each treatment was that they would buy her a hat. And so she had found this special hat at our event. Anyway, it just brought so much meaning to us because for us it was just a hat, but for them, it was this milestone in their daughter's health journey. When you can capture those stories in your business and tell them to your customers, those build even more community, they build loyalty, they build emotion. They show the emotion behind the brand. And then I think people also do want to know the people behind the brand. Who are the people that are building it? As we can tell those stories of our lives and our challenges, then people want to associate with that and they want to be part of that. It makes the brand come alive. It's not just a piece of clothing, it comes alive.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, but it also creates that support that people just want to get behind it as well.
Rhea Lana Riner
Yes.
Glynis Tao
It's not just about business, like I said, it's like a movement that you've created to be able to help moms get themselves off the ground, like get their businesses going, help to support their families. You often speak about helping moms navigate the many hats they wear. What advice do you give women entrepreneurs who are trying to balance scaling a business with family and personal responsibilities?
Rhea Lana Riner
I think a great perspective for women is to think that there are seasons of life. Like, life is different. And when I was getting started, I had three small children. Well, now I'm a grandma. I've got an empty nest and I've got five grandchildren. If we could have that perspective that life does change, then it gives us the long-term view. And some seasons, at least in my journey, I had to work a lot of hours. I mean, you know, entrepreneurs—I'm sure you experienced this too, Glynis—there are some years where I worked a lot. I mean, probably 60, 80, 100 hour weeks. Now I don't want to do that for 20 years, but there are some times when we do have to do what it takes. If we can, again, think through the seasons of life. We don't want to do that when our kids are small, they need us—they need us to be present. But as life changes, we do have more to give. We've got more bandwidth. We've got more time. And it’s fun. I've always looked at building a business a lot like raising children. You nurture it and then you get to watch this beautiful thing grow that you've poured your heart into. It is a wonderful thing, but I do think we have to balance the demands of family and business and think through what season of life am I in.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, and I can 100% relate to that. I'm a mom as well. I have a very energetic little 9-year-old boy, but prior to that, I also had a clothing brand which I ran for over 10 years. I called that my first baby because of the blood, sweat, and tears that I had put into that business and the countless hours. It just felt like it was another child of mine. And now, raising a real person is just a whole different level of responsibility. So as a mentor and leader, you've guided franchise owners to grow not just financially, but also personally, professionally and spiritually. Why is a holistic approach important and how can e-commerce founders apply that to their own teams?
Rhea Lana Riner
Well, we're all multi-dimensional people. We all have our values. We have our faith and we have our family and we have our work and all of those things are important. If we get it out of balance, it's like a wheel that's lopsided—it kind of clunks down the road. But if we can stay balanced, we get to create something beautiful. All of those things are important. And I love encouraging women though, as they are on this journey, to be sure that they're always growing personally because we want to become someone amazing down the road, right? It's one thing to be 20 years old. It's another thing to be 60. And you get this lifetime of experiences to keep growing from and challenges to overcome. And you can build resilience. But I do think part of that is stepping outside of our comfort zone and doing some new things. Overcoming challenges, you know. There were some years where we experienced big challenges. We fought the government. There was a regular regulation that they tried to say that we weren't up to it. Anyways, it was a long fight. It was like a nine year battle. But during that, it was such a great thing for me personally, because I got to grow as a leader. I ended up going to Washington, DC and testifying before Congress in the US.
Also while I was doing that, I was leading my franchise owners and teaching women how you can fight with grace, stand on what is true, and don't give up. We want to just lay on the floor and cry, but we really, we got to fight this thing and we got to have grace. And then once you get through those things, it gives you the capacity and the ability to fight the next challenge that comes along because there will always be challenges. And then you get to develop this skillset that you didn't know you had. I think that's what I've learned. When I first started, I was very introverted. I was very insecure. I wasn't confident in speaking. But you learn those things. The more that you're forced to do them, you get better and then you have these skills. I do encourage women to really keep growing in areas that they didn't even know that they were good at because then you end up somewhere at the end of your life or you can look back and you can leave a legacy that impacts generations to come behind you and really leave the world in a more positive place. I love for women to keep discovering their passion and their purpose and keep pushing themselves to get better, become leaders. The world needs them.
Glynis Tao
I love that. Yeah, moms just don't often get the credit that they deserve for what they do. It's a full-time job being a stay-at-home mom. No one can imagine how much work it is. It's a 24/7 job, which I didn't know and have a lot more appreciation for now that I am a mom myself. Yes, definitely. Thank you. I love what you do and I love how you really empower women to build that confidence because I think women really don't think that they are strong, right? But they don't realize just how strong they are until certain challenges come up. They often find it within themselves. It just comes out and they're probably even surprised that they were able to get through something as hard or as challenging as it was.
Rhea Lana Riner
You're right. I agree with that so much. I often look back on the years when I had three children under four years old and I sometimes think those years were harder than being a CEO of a company. Moms are doing really hard things and they don't realize the skills that they are developing. So you are 100 % right. And I think that being a mom, it is 24/7. You're constantly doing crisis management and creative problem solving and communication and moms end up with an incredible skill set that's very valuable.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, I often feel like my brain is split in half—mom brain and I have the business brain as well. Half of it's focused on my son's learning at school and having to prepare him for some test— coming up with spelling tests. And I'm like, okay, I got to get back to this client, respond to these 10 emails that I have before the end of the day. It just goes back and forth.
Retail can be tough, whether it be in consignment, fashion, or e-commerce alike. How have you kept your business profitable and relevant over decades? What advice do you have for founders trying to build brands with staying power?
Rhea Lana Riner
That is such a great question. You know, I have recently visited with some founders and it is tough. Not every business is guaranteed to have lasting power. For one thing, I feel really grateful. I think it starts with your product. You have to make sure you have a product that has staying power. If you have a product that has staying power, that's a great place to start. I always say we're never going out of business because moms are going to keep having kids and kids are going to keep wearing clothes. So I am thankful for that. But then, I think you have to have a model that can stand the test of time. You also have to be able to pivot and change. For us, we went through this battle with the government and ultimately we did lose the battle. We're still very glad we did it. We had to make a pivot and we had to make some changes and it was a risk, but it worked out for us. So you have to be able to pivot when needed and watch the times and how do you make those changes?
And I think too, as a founder, you have to grow. I remember I had heard of so many founders that held their businesses back—they were the reason their business didn't grow—and I never wanted to be one of those founders. And I think because I've always been so afraid of that, I may not be the best founder out there, but I'm going to try to be the best version of myself that I could be for my company. I think that's why personal growth has always been so important to me. I never really had a mentor, but I've read lots and lots of books and I'm always trying to see, who are the leaders out there that I can grow from?
Part of being successful and staying in business is building teams around you. That's one of your first transitions as a founder is to go from being the lone person to then having people around you who understand the heart of the business, understand the operations, because if there's only one of you, you're gonna bottleneck really fast. That's part of growth—being able to duplicate yourself and then build teams. That's one of the things I've enjoyed doing. It's not easy and it's hard and you invest in people and sometimes people let you down or they betray you, but then you also find nuggets. You find these diamonds along the way of amazing people who you end up working so well together. Your strengths and your weaknesses complement each other. I love that I've got some women who've been with me for a very long time. And then even now, we're hiring new young women to our corporate team. I love putting teams of women together. And really, I think that's ultimately the key to long-term. You have to have layers of leadership, of buy-in, and that gives you a chance to stay in business for a long time.
Glynis Tao
And many of our listeners run fashion brands and are also thinking about scaling. What lessons from franchising could apply to entrepreneurs trying to grow their stores into bigger businesses?
Rhea Lana Riner
I do love franchising. Franchising gives you a way to grow a brand that you're bringing other business owners in. You don't have to necessarily personally spend out a lot of money creating products, but you have these other business owners that are coming in. They love this brand, and so they're going to go build it in their community. And that's what I love about franchising.
I'm the franchisor, so a portion of their sales comes back to the franchisor and that helps us to create this corporate office, corporate team, where we're constantly researching the best marketing methods. We're creating the marketing products, creating operations and support. And so it's been a wonderful way to scale and grow a brand that feels sustainable. It's like having, little many brands out there, but all under this umbrella of building this Rhea Lana's brand. We all want to serve families in all these markets. And so, I think franchising is a wonderful way to scale.
My approach has always been slow and steady. I think some franchising companies want to grow super aggressively. My strategy has always been more of a slow growth because I want to make sure that I have a corporate team here that's equipped to provide adequate support for our franchise owners. And so, we have about 120 franchises right now, which is a lot. It's a great size, but we'd love to be 150. But we also want to have just enough that we can still provide adequate support.
Glynis Tao
Your franchise model provides women with flexible entrepreneurship opportunities. So what gaps did you see in the traditional business model ownership that made this path so powerful for you?
Rhea Lana Riner
I saw some gaps primarily in women leadership. I was trying to figure out a way that a woman like me could enjoy leadership, business, and growth while still having a family. Being able to stay true to all of her values and faith. My faith is the filter through which I make decisions and I wanted to stay true to who I was and not have to feel like I needed to compromise my values.
I think if I were going to say some of the gaps I've seen, that's what I have seen. The opportunities that I want to create for women, both as franchise owners and on my corporate team here, I'm trying to create an environment where women can raise their families, they can stay true to their faith, they can also have a wonderful career. Those are some of the gaps I've seen that I hope we have filled and we continue to fill and create more opportunities for women.
Glynis Tao
The resale and consignment space is booming now in fashion. What do you think fashion brands, especially smaller e-commerce brands, what can they learn from a consignment model about sustainability, pricing, and customer trust? Does a consignment model, could that even work for someone on an e-commerce level who owns an e-commerce business or is it more to do with in-person selling?
Rhea Lana Riner
I was thinking about some of the brands, some of the nice brands that I buy online, I have seen them reach back out to me and say, ‘hey, when you're ready to sell that, we would like to buy it from you.’ And I think they do have an e-commerce portion of their site where they sell gently used items. So it's just something to think about. I thought it's a great idea, honestly. And so maybe your audience can think about that and how to unpackage it.
But, my background is, you know, I didn't come from a family with a lot of money and so I've never been able to afford expensive brands. And so, I think that also set the stage. It's one reason I loved secondhand. I like the value that high expensive fashion brings, but I couldn't afford the price tag. And I think that's what consignment has done. It gives you a way to afford the high-quality, high end brands for a cheaper price. I do think that families care about the price point. So if you can make your products, find that price point that families can afford. Make it high-quality enough though, so that they can resell it.
I remember back when I was getting started years ago thinking about what I was gonna do, I lived in a small town in Texas in the US and there was only two places to shop. There was Walmart. Everybody knows what Walmart is, right? And this was in the 90s and clothes that came from Walmart, if you washed them once, they fell apart. They were terrible. So I didn't really want to buy clothes from Walmart for my kids. Or there was this really expensive boutique in town where, you know, one little onesie for my child cost, you know, over a hundred dollars. And that was in the 90s. And I knew it was a good brand, but I couldn't afford that. And so that's what made me think, ‘how can I create this middle space for moms like me who don't want Walmart, but they also can't afford the high fashion?’
I would encourage your audience to keep thinking about the middle market, moms like me, who want high-quality at a reasonable price and make sure that as you're creating these products, make sure they're not the kind that are gonna fall apart the first time you wash them. Because I think that's what builds loyalty as well is when moms know they're gonna keep this piece of clothing. It washes well, I can resell it down the road, and then people talk about that brand that has the resale value. I hope that makes sense, but through the years we watch some brands, hey, this is a great brand, because if I take care of it, I'm able to sell it for a really good price. And I think that creates some longevity for some brands.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, absolutely. I think certain brands can be passed on and they just have this, you know, I guess, a longevity.
Rhea Lana Riner
And style maybe too?
Glynis Tao
Or style to people in terms of what the brand means to them. And so, I think there's also that personal connection too, that people have with clothing.
Rhea Lana Riner
I agree I'm so glad you said that, Glynis, because there is a personal connection and we have moms who come into their event and they're getting ready to sell their children's things and they're crying. I mean, because we remember our children when they wore certain clothes and I still have great pride when I think about how hard I worked to buy nice things for my kids. And so, there's a lot of emotional connection with clothing, especially children's clothing, if they're things that our children wore as moms, we have deep emotion. And that creates loyalty to brands.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, I mean, there are certain pieces that I will never give away. I'm going to keep forever because it just has meaning to me and I just want to hold on to those forever. So this is a very interesting space. I think it's different because I was just looking up, you know, like online consignment stores or resellers and there's a lot bigger brands like Depop where it's an online marketplace for resell. That's more for maybe designer clothing, but not so much in the children's wear space. So, I mean, there's perhaps an opportunity there.
Rhea Lana Riner
You know, what's interesting about that is back years ago, I mean, this was honestly probably in the late-90s, I actually had a website and we actually did sell some things online. And I personally didn't love it. We still like selling in-person. And so, we might do online. I know there's a need out there. I do a lot of my shopping online, but it's like you said, it's an interesting thing to be, to be thinking about.
Glynis Tao
And not for everyone, I think. Not for everyone. You've built a multi-million dollar brand while staying grounded in your family and values. What has been the most rewarding part of this journey for you?
Rhea Lana Riner
The most rewarding part is watching my own children. They were what motivated me to get started. I have two daughters and a son. I wanted them to see, and I'm sure you see this with your son, I wanted them to watch their mom work hard. I wanted them to know that you have to work hard in life. Money doesn't just appear on the doorstep. You do have to work hard. And I wanted them to see me solve problems and serve customers and serve families and meet needs in our community. Now my children are adults and just watching how they have this foundation of watching their mom work hard has brought me so much joy.
And then truly, these franchise owners that I have, they are women who have had zero business experience and now they have become business leaders—not just business women, but business leaders. And they’re building teams and they're affecting their communities, and now several work on my corporate team and they're helping me build a company. And it's just really rewarding to know that you're positively impacting other people's lives and making their lives better. I think this is the most rewarding thing.
I'm honestly grateful that we are still in business and still growing and that we still have a footprint even after 30 years. In many ways, we're sort of just getting started. It takes a while to figure things out. And so, I'm really proud that we're still relevant. Part of our job is to connect with the next generation of new moms out there, and so I love that people are still discovering us and they're like, ‘huh, I've never heard of this.’ And we're like, ‘well, we've been here for 30 years.’ But it's kind of fun that families are just discovering us. I love to watch young families realize how we can help them save so much money and get high-quality things for their families. So it's a lot of fun. It's very rewarding. And I feel very blessed to still be doing this.
Glynis Tao
If you could go back to that first living room clothing swap that you did, what would you tell yourself now about the journey ahead?
Rhea Lana Riner
I would say, first of all, Rhea Lana, you can do a lot more than you think you can. And so be brave, buckle up, and just give it your best shot. There's a wonderful path down there, but you just gotta keep putting one foot in front of the other, and it'll be a remarkable journey.
Glynis Tao
Amazing. Where can people find you if they want to get in touch with you?
Rhea Lana Riner
Well, first you can find us at rhealana.com. It's R-H-E-A-L-A-N-A, rhealana.com slash podcast. We don't have a podcast, but if our audience would like, there's a form there that you can fill out and I'm offering a free, 30-minute consultation just to chat about personal growth. Or if anyone is interested in franchising or just about leadership, it's just a free opportunity we're giving. And then we're also on LinkedIn and Instagram and Facebook. I'm Rhea Lana Riner, or you can find us at Rhea Lanas. We're just grateful to be here with your audience. You're doing great things. I love the message that you are giving and your journey is wonderful as well, Glynis.
Glynis Tao
Thank you so much, Rhea Lana, for sharing your incredible journey with us. From living room clothing swap to a national franchise, your story is proof that businesses rooted in purpose, community, and values can truly change lives. For all the fashion e-commerce founders listening, I hope you take away the importance of not just chasing revenue, but creating a brand that empowers others, builds trust, and lasts for the long haul. Thank you so much.
Rhea Lana Riner
Thank you for having me.
Glynis Tao
Thank you so much for tuning in. You can find me on Instagram, @glynistao, and my website, glynistao.com. Please subscribe to Chase Your Dreams podcast if you haven't already. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with others who you think this may help. Lastly, it would be great if you left a rating and review for our podcast. See you next time!