If there’s one question that Showpo founder and CEO Jane Lu is asked consistently, it’s how to start a business. In fact, her DMs are bombarded with it.
That’s why the entrepreneur and newly minted Shark Tank judge has turned her answer to that question into her latest passion project — an online course offering a comprehensive guide to starting and growing an online business.
Lu recently revealed in a LinkedIn post that her online course — ‘The Lazy CEO’s Guide to Starting and Growing an Online Business’ — will take participants on an 11-module journey to teach them step-by-step how to launch and grow their own profitable online business. The masterclass will officially launch on April 11.
From learning how to source product, set up operationally, create and market a brand, and more, participants of the online course will be able to learn firsthand from Lu, who founded Showpo in 2010 and built a fashion empire. She says the course will include everything she would do to launch and grow an online business today, with stories and lessons about how she grew a business with $0 in the bank to $100 million.
“Building a business is one of those things that becomes very clear to you once you’ve been through it, but is very daunting before you start or if you’re in the early stage and don’t know what to do next to grow it — so I want to help,” Lu tells SmartCompany.
Lu is passionate about helping entrepreneurs because she says starting a business changed her life.
“I wanted to launch something at a very accessible price compared to other business courses on the market,” she says.
The course is priced at $199 and Lu describes the response to a pre-sale offer of $149 as “way higher than I expected”.
“Clearly there’s a market for it. Also the accessible price has been well received,” she adds.
Lu says course participants can expect 11 modules of online video classes from her with some downloadable content. There is also no time limit for participants, who can do the course in their own time.
“It’s a step-by-step guide to what you need to do to start an online store, so regardless of where someone is in their startup journey, there’ll be something that can help them,” Lu says.
“I think it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with all the information and options of what you can do. I tried to explain it all in a very clear way to help entrepreneurs navigate through their journey.”
There will also be a Facebook community available for course participants.
Lu believes some of the biggest mistakes people make when starting and growing a business involve feeling overwhelmed and not launching with a minimal variable product.
“Not starting because they’re overwhelmed by how much they have to do and how far ahead the competition is… it just takes one small step at a time, you just need to break it down to small incremental goals,” she says.
“Not validating their idea and the customer demand for the product is not there.
“Not launching with a minimal viable product — it’s all about learning once you launch because you get actual market data and customer feedback.
“Not getting their unit economics right and not leaving enough margin for customer acquisition.”
So what would Lu say to someone who is looking to start an online business?
Get started!
“You will learn so much from doing! My first business was like a crash course in starting a business — definitely learned more and was quicker and cheaper than my uni degree! And even though it failed, I pivoted from it to start Showpo,” she says.
“And there’s actually a skill to it, so even if you start with an okay idea, you can just get started and start mastering your craft. Of course, don’t burn through your cash because you need to save when you have your big idea, but there are ways you can do it with minimal investments!”
Those who would like to participate in the course can sign-up for pre-sale today, with pre-sale slots limited.
