“Laziness is a virtue if you know how to be lazy”, coming from any other person, this statement would sound absolutely ridiculous. But Jane Lu, founder of Showpo can somehow get away with it because she knows what she is saying. So who is Jane Lu and what lessons can we glean from her journey from a cork in the corporate machine to the founder of a million-dollar fashion brand? 

Who is Jane Lu aka The LAZY CEO

There is a lot more to the 37-year-old CEO other than the fact that she is a trailblazer in the fashion industry. Lu started her career in accounting working for big names like KPMG and Ernest and Young even before she completed her degree at the university. She later dropped off the corporate ladder and founded her own company at 24. 

Despite not having any skills or experience, Lu managed to excel. She was named Cosmopolitan Entrepreneur of the Year in 2015, was featured in Forbes Asia's 30 Under 30 and Smart Company’s Hot 30 Under 30 list, twice. Lu now sits on a million-dollar company as one of the most successful female founders of her time. But her success was not without moments of fear, doubts, and of course failures. 

The Dream Job

Lu emigrated from China to Australia at the age of 8. According to Lu, her parents had decided the move was necessary to give their daughter better opportunities and job security. To the Chinese family, Job security meant having a good corporate job in one of three major professions; medicine, law, or accounting. 

Lu followed after her mom, carving a niche for herself in accounting. By the time she was 18, Lu was already working in the big four accounting firms. She had landed the dream job. Dabbling so early in the corporate world meant that she was ahead of her peers and she also had time to figure out if this was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. 

By the time she was done with university, Lu came to the conclusion that accounting wasn’t her calling. To most emigrants, working for a firm like Ernest and Young is an opportunity of a lifetime, and Lu knew this. However, she wasn’t one to just sit around and let life happen to her. If there is one quality that sets Lu apart is her ability to take action when she deems it necessary. Whether that is nipping a project in the bud or quitting her job. 

Quitting Dream Job and First Encounter with Failure

I thought, I can't do this for the rest of my life, I'm never going to be a good accountant.

The decision to quit her dream job didn’t come as easily as you would imagine. After all, her parents had made a lot of sacrifices to make sure she got to where she was. Not only was she indebted to them in a way, Lu also knew that she would likely not get another opportunity like it. 

So when her friend turn business partner asked her to quit her job and focus on the popup store business full-time, Lu jumped on the idea. But she soon learned her first business lesson, which was that no matter how much hard work, passion, and dedication you put in, if the business model doesn’t work then everything is bound to come crumble at some point. 

In addition to that, Lu’s world was thrown into chaos after her friend decided to quit the business and get a full-time job. This came at a time when the popup store idea failed and Lu had a brilliant idea of taking their business online However, her friend didn’t entertain the idea of an online store saying that nobody shops online.

With no job, no business partner, and no courage to tell her parents she had quite her dream job, Lu started living a lie. She would dress up in a suit every morning pretending to go to her office. At least that's what her parents thought, but Lu was simply wandering around thinking of what to do with her life. 

Second business attempt “a stroke of genius”

Lu had a second chance to try her hands on business. She was introduced to a girl by a close friend and together, they started an online business. But that decision wasn’t an easy decision for her to make. 

Lu had believed that she lacked the confidence to start a business by herself which is why she gave up her idea of an online store after her first business partner quit. Here she was again being dragged into online retail and after initially resisting the idea, she gave in at last. 

The business boomed from the start and in no time, Lu and her partner were making at least 22,000 dollars a month. But sales soon began to decline and the business started making less and less than it used to. Faced with the possibility of failing a second time, Lu must have been in dire straits. 

To make matters worse, her business partner decided to pull out of the business and focus on her other business which was doing quite well. Lu soon found herself in a very familiar situation. This time, she decided to hold on and in her own words, did everything right. This included moving into her parent's garage and running paid ads for her store. 

Although Showpo started making some sales, the company had a major breakthrough after Lu came up with the idea to host a contest called “Face of Showpo’. She got the idea to do this after watching America’s Next Top Model. 

This is a common practice by online retailers today but back then, it was quite uncommon. It was a lightbulb moment for the young founder and her quick and decisive attitude, turned everything around for Showpo. 

It's been over 13 years since Showpo was founded. However, there is still a lot aspiring founders and entrepreneurs can learn from Lu. Here are five quick lessons.

Set up systems early in the business - Delegate tasks

One piece of advice Lu gave to aspiring founders is to set up systems early enough. By systems, she is referring to putting in place everything you need to start hiring as soon as possible. It is easy for founders to get carried away with running the business alone and put aside hiring for as long as possible. 

But Lu argues that hiring great people to delegate some tasks, bounce off ideas, and even assist in areas where you are not really great is the lazy way to grow your business. You can’t do it all alone, and you may be tempted to believe that delegating only slows you down. However, you can’t scale your business running it as a solo founder. At some point, you need to trust others to do the work. 

Make changes when you need to 

Many entrepreneurs get stuck doing the same thing over and over because they are afraid to start all over again or they are afraid to admit they have failed. But this is simply delaying the inevitable. One of the reasons why Lu eventually became successful is because she was willing to fail temporarily in other to win in the long run. She took action the minute she knew it had to be taken whether she felt good about it or not. This is not the same as “not thinking things through.” On the contrary, without making these changes, you would clearly be holding yourself back.

The best time to try again is just after you failed

Winston Churchill said "Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts. He was right. Failure is never a good experience and while we do our best to avoid it, sometimes, it is necessary to fail. This is not because you didn’t do your best, but perhaps because you lacked specific knowledge. 

One of the differences between an experienced entrepreneur and an amateur is how many times they have failed. Failure is a learning opportunity, a moment to take a step back, reflect on what you did wrong, and what you should do differently before launching back into action. However, many people allow failure to stop them, and they never get to cash in on the lessons they learned from failing. 

Be a good problem solver “You are not special”

One person that Lu credits for her success is her husband who supported her during the most difficult times as a founder. One thing he told her whenever she faced a challenge and decided to whine about it instead of finding a solution was that “She was not special”. What he meant was that the problem was not unique to her only. There must have been others who faced a similar problem and found a solution for it. 

This is a great mindset to have because many founders tend to personalize their problems. It is easy to get overwhelmed thinking you are alone. This brings us back to our first lesson - delegation. If you can’t seem to solve your problem, then perhaps you need someone with the knowledge to do it. So yes, hiring an expert can be a solution. 

Leverage new technologies

We see new technologies pop up every day. Some are very helpful while others are not so helpful. As a founder, you need to know when to adopt a new technology and do so as quickly as possible. Many successful entrepreneurs like Jane Lu scaled up their businesses using social media while others are doing so with Ai. 

Don’t be quick to write off a new technology simply because it has not been adopted by bigger and more established companies in your industry. Maybe they just don’t see how useful the technology can be and this gives you the advantage of being the early bird before the rush begins. 

Let’s Close with this

What does it take to excel in business? Hard work? Dedication? Luck? Or Experience? I would say a bit of everything. As a founder, there is so much to learn when it comes to building a successful business. This is why you should make it a habit to leverage the experiences of other successful founders and entrepreneurs. This is the goal of our deep dives and if you enjoyed this article, then here is something else you might like. 

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