Q1. You started off in the corporate
world as an accountant; how did you
jump from that to CEO/Founder of
Showpo and of course co creator of
the social media group ‘Like Minded
Bitches Drinking Wine?'
I already didn’t like my job, so
when I came back from spending 9
months overseas living in Sweden
and travelling I just couldn’t adjust
back to the corporate cubical life.
One of my friends asked me if I
wanted to start a business, so as a
side hustle I was doing these pop
up stalls and we’d stock emerging
labels. It was almost like running
a market stall but we had 40
designers under the one roof.
The business model wasn’t right,
but my business partner at the time
convinced me to quit my job. After a
month, my business partner quit. It
wasn’t ideal, I had quit a job where I
was doing really well for my age and
then all of a sudden I had nothing.
The business failed, I was in debt
and I was unemployed in the
middle of the Global Financial
Crisis. I couldn’t get another job; I
had no choice but to start another
business.
Q2. You have said before that
you don’t think of yourself as an
entrepreneur? What would you say
is the definition of an entrepreneur?
I think of an entrepreneur as
someone who is more like a
serial entrepreneur. I still am an
entrepreneur by definition because
I’ve done it but I don’t think I could
just go and start another business
and it would be successful.
Q3. Is that because you have been
through the pain of the last 8 years?
Yes, I don’t know if I could start
again. Some people get bored by
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Women’s Network Magazine
this stage and they want to start
again, where as I just want to keep
doing this.
Q4. Your personal social media
handle is @thelazyceo – clearly this
cannot be the case?
Well Jane Lu was taken.
I’m from China and I grew up with
the mentality that it’s all about hard
work but its not. It’s about working
smarter and not harder and that’s
something that I have learnt along
the way. You don’t have to do things
just because that’s the way you’re
meant to do it. I think you should
always question the status quo and
convention and how things are
being done. Then also actually let go
and rely on other people and trust
other people to do stuff for you.
Q5. Have you been burnt doing that?
Not terribly, there have been one or
two little things. I think it’s all about
hiring the right people then you
have got people who can do what
you do and do better than what you
do. When you’re not hiring the right
people or at the right level you will
end up having to micro manage
and not trust people. I think that’s
something that’s really important.
Ultimately now we’ve got 50 people
in this office and they are 50 people
who can do so much more than I
can. It’s been such a big component
of growth. It is what has helped us
scale.
Q6. You have Showpo the online
store and the blog as well as being the
co-founder of Like Minded Bitches
Drinking Wine – how do you
navigate this?
Jane: Again, I’m really lucky that I
have got really good people around
me. It’s about training people
and getting them to speak and
understand your brand language.
Sometimes it’s easier to think ‘I can
just do this myself’, but it’s about
finding the balance.
Q7. Earlier this year you made and
posted a video about f***ing up that
went viral, what was the motivation
behind that?
In terms of views it didn’t have
the most that we have ever had
but the type of people it went to
were really industry based people,
customers and a lot of media
people. It’s a good example of
quality over quantity. We are so
public and candid about everything
that we do and it’s always about
winning an award, or a new office
or even Friday night drinks. When
something like that happens and it
impacts a lot of our customers, I felt
like it was the right approach to be
open about everything that we do.
I put myself at the frontline when
times are good so I also want to do
that when times are bad and to not
hide when something goes wrong.
I just want to be like ‘hey I’m here
and I’m sorry we screwed up we
will do better’.
Q8. With over 2.6m Showpo followers
across social media and with 179k+
followers yourself, you clearly do
well at Social Media – what is the
importance of this for business? What
is the best way for businesses to utilise
these platforms?
Social media is a great way to talk
directly to your customers but
I think the thing that it is really
important is that it builds trust,
this is particularly important for an
online business.
You can see every business will
make more sales in their local city/
state. It’s because of the different
touch points people are receiving.
For example, if you’re in Sydney,