His ship comes in as his folks sell away.

• Position: Market America Inc Pres J.R. Ridinger

If you've got a problem, J.R. Ridinger, president of Greensboro-based Market America Inc., has a solution. Or at least a product.

Going to the beach? Try Clear Shield, "the maximum skin protector." Getting there, Friction Free 3000 - "space-aged protection for your car" - could be the ticket. His health and beauty products include ThermoChrome vitamins and Aloe Gold Whole Leaf Aloe Vera Juice.

Market America's wares sound like late-night-infomercial fare. But Ridinger knows how to sell them. More precisely, he knows how to sell people on selling them. Some 40,000 sales reps hawk the 15 product lines in his "mall without walls." For $49.95, they become "distributors," qualifying for commissions on what the people they recruit buy.

The key to success, he says, is a realistic expectation of just how much one person can sell. But don't expect to ditch your day job. Market America's fiscal 1996 revenue of $42.4 million breaks out to about $1,060 per salesperson. That's wholesale. Reps set their own prices to the public.

Ridinger estimates retail sales were $62.4 million, meaning each rep made about $500 markup. Fewer than half the 40,000 are distributors, who get a $300 commission for every $2,400 that their recruits buy, up to $7,200, and $600 at $10,000. There's no time limit, Ridinger adds. In fiscal 1996, Market America paid $18.6 million in commissions. Split among 20,000, that's $930...