“Shark Tank”‘s Jane Lu on Making Money (and Keeping It)

“Shark Tank Australia” is back, and already, we’re seeing the Sharks help our hopeful entrepreneurs make their business dreams come true. It’s the first season of “Shark Tank Australia” since 2018, and Network 10 is introducing us to a whole new panel of Sharks. One of the new faces in the Tank is Showpo CEO Jane Lu. We caught up with Jane and asked her the question on all of our minds: How do we make money, and what do we do with it when we get it?

How to Make Money Quickly If You’re Broke

It’s one thing to make money if you’ve already got some in the bank. But what if you’re flat broke? Jane says there are a few options.

“Okay,” she begins. “You could do a drop-ship business, where you don’t actually have to hold the stock, you don’t actually have to invest in the inventory first.”

With a dropshipping business, a customer makes a purchase, and then the seller buys the item from a third-party supplier who then directly ships it to the customer. This eliminates the need for inventory management and upfront investment in stock, making it a low-cost way to start an online store, and it protects you from getting stuck with a bunch of unsold inventory.

If that’t not for you, there are still a few other options, though.

“If you have a skill of some sort, you could offer a services business,” Jane says. “Or! You could create a digital product of some sort, because it’s your labour you put in, and if you can try and sell it, there’s no cost beside your time.”

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What to Do With Your Money

“Oh God, we’re not supposed to give advice on this,” Jane begins. So please, let this be a reminder and a disclaimer: Before you make any big or important financial decisions, you should seek advice from a financial advisor who can look at your financial situation and give you the best advice for you. Money advice is not one-size-fits-all, and what works for one person may not work for you.

“I think diversification is important,” Jane says. “Don’t put all your eggs into one basket.”

“For me, liquidity of money is important,” she adds.

Liquidity in relation to money is all about how easily an asset can be converted into cash without losing a ton of value. Cash is the most liquid asset, of course, while other assets like real estate or stocks have varying degrees of liquidity based on how easy it would be to sell off. High liquidity, then, implies swift sales at near-market prices, while low liquidity entails slower sales with potential discounts.

“That’s what we’re comfortable with, and then diversification,” Jane says.

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Invest in Yourself

Of course, success is so much more than the numbers in your bank account. A big part of it, Jane says, is investing in yourself, and backing yourself.

“The moment I felt like I achieved my goals was when I realised — this sounds so stupid,” she says. “I remember at Showpo, I had a team of like 5 -10 people, and I remember thinking, ‘If this fails now, I could just go get a job at one of these other retailers, I don’t have to be an accountant anymore!'”

To Jane, that revelation in itself was success, because she had “changed the trajectory of [her] career”. Even now, she says, if it all fell apart tomorrow, she’d have no regrets.

“I’ve had the best 13 years doing what I’m doing and having the best time in my 20s and 30s, and that is more important to me than anything,” she says. “That time of my life — my 20s! — I’ll never get that time back, but I’ve had just the best time! So much fun, so that is more important than anything.”

“Shark Tank Australia” airs at 7.30pm on Tuesdays, only on 10 and 10 Play on Demand. Miss an episode? Catch up now on 10 Play.

Want more “Shark Tank Australia” goss? Check out the articles below:

• The Sharks Are Back! Meet the New “Shark Tank Australia” 2023 Judges
• Get Ready to Swim With Sharks: Your Ultimate Guide to “Shark Tank Australia” 2023
• Jane Lu on Starting Showpo and “Shark Tank Australia”
• Save the Date: Here’s When “Shark Tank Australia” 2023 Kicks Off
• Oodie Founder David Fogarty Makes Reality TV Debut on “Shark Tank Australia”
• “Thought It Was a Scam”: Showpo CEO Jane Lu on Becoming a “Shark Tank Australia” Judge
• Meet Dr Catriona Wallace: The AI Expert Turning Heads on “Shark Tank Australia”
• Digital Marketing Dynamo Sabri Suby Dives into “Shark Tank Australia”