The Lazy CEO Podcast with Jane Lu

Hey poddy fam, my next guest is the co-founder several digital media ventures, most notably Junkee Media, one of the leading independent publishers in Australia that was sold in 2016 to an ASX-listed company for around $15 million. Tim Duggan is an optimist who loves thinking about big ideas. He has written several award winning books - 2 of which I’ve read, which is a big deal cos I don’t like reading! Cult Status looks at how businesses have achieved, well it’s in the title, cult status. Killer Thinking is the ultimate guide to creating, developing and recognising incredible ideas that will revolutionise the way you work.And his latest book Work Backwards explores the revolutionary method to work smarter and live better.In this episode we talk about how to create a business with cult status, what are the three things you need to live a full life, what is work life balance and how working backwards can help us achieve a better balance among work, relationships, mind and body

Today I chat with my very good friend Kelly McCarren about all things social media marketing.Fun fact - Kelly actually used to be the social media girly at Showpo, and today we share all of our tips and tricks to growing and how to actually get out of your comfort zone and take that first step.As usual, there were so many more amazing questions from you guys. Hope you enjoy this fun chat <3

Today I sit down with Samantha Appell, the founder and Director of The Skin Bar, a leading Boutique chain of skin care clinics. In just 4 years, she’s opened 9 clinics, in 3 states, making over 8-figures. Yes, that’s 9 clinics since 2020 which includes Covid lockdown years. Samantha’s approach is deeply personal, driven by her own personal battle with severe cystic acne that profoundly impacted her self confidence. This experience fuelled her passion for helping others achieve clear, healthy skin, particularly through skin needling - a treatment that transformed her own skin.Under her leadership, The Skin Bar has become known for popularising skin needling and offering tailored, holistic skincare solutions that avoid injectables like Botox. In this episode we talk about: The economics of beauty clinics How she’s achieved this growth of physical locations in such a short amount of time, whilst maintaining quality in every experience The importance of having focus in your brand and product And so much more!

Few people love their jobs more than me, and my next guest is one of them! I absolutely fell in love with Karlie’s story when she told it to me over cocktails in Bali and I’m so happy she’s back in Oz and here to share it with all of you. Karlie was previously a school teacher for 12 years and after a few trips to Bali, she started Bali Buddies as a Facebook page to share Bali tips with friends. At the age of 33, she decided that she wanted more in life and life isn’t so black and white and took a total career pivot. She officially launched Bali Buddies and moved to Bali with her husband and 2 young daughters.12 years on, it’s now a full blown Bali travel media platform that has a team of 15, expanded to Indo Buddies and makes high 6 figures in profits (yes, not rev, but profits) - which when you think about the cost of living in Bali, it’s incredible. She literally lives like royalty in Bali and gets invited to all the best events and openings.Karlie has created the ultimate lifestyle business for herself and epitomises everyone’s dream of working to live and not living to work. In this episode, we talk about how she did it all, how do you start a media company, how do you make a living off of affiliate marketing and media sales, and the challenge she overcame with such a career and lifestyle pivot. 

Today I chat with Anaita Sarkar, founder of Hero Packaging and better known on socials as @sellanythingonline. If you're a long time listener, you'll know that Anaita came on the poddy last year - and well, I loved it so much I had to get her back! Absolutely loved hearing what she's gotten up to since she was in the studio last - including writing a book, developing courses and starting a podcast.We covered all things marketing - with a specific focus on paid ads. It's so interesting to hear Anaita's stance on digital marketing agencies and I love how she's wanting to help her followers learn it themselves. So many amazing tips in this episode! I'm sure you'll love it!

Today I chat with Stacey Hollands - the founder of Australia’s leading clean beauty brand Lust Minerals. Back in 2014, Stacey launched from an initial $10k investment and then went on to achieve $1 million in sales within the first 18 months! And more recently making $24million in the past 3 years. After sadly losing her dad at a young age to cancer - Stacey realised that we only really get one chance at life, and how harmful the chemicals and toxins we use every day can really be. So 7 months later she got to work and started to formulate the perfect natural product - this actually took 2 years to get to market, but it was worth the wait because that perfect product is now Lust Minerals’ best seller, with one selling every two minutes!! Today we chat about the journey that brings us to today, how they grew using influencer marketing and their big rebrand that cost $300,000! 

Today I chat to Blake Micola - the brains behind GMS Media Group (Growth Marketing Systems). GMS has grown to a 7-figure ad agency and was crowned "best marketing service" nationally twice at the Australian Business Champion Awards!They have managed a whopping 1,200 clients and boast a super impressive portfolio including Culture Kings, ABC, F45, Who Is Elijah, Dr John Demartini and Jordan Belfort.In this episode we chat about how Blake built a successful agency in a highly competitive and saturated market, the expensive lessons (including a $250k debt due to over-hire and overspending), how he overcame it. We deep dive into digital marketing and I thought we’d shake it up a bit in this episode and I gave him 2 live case studies to talk through - how to market for an event like BitchCon and one of my Shark Tank investments Mimi & Co, a D2C online reusable nappies business.Such a fun and informative chat - I’m sure you’ll get a lot from this one.

Today I chat with Raquel Bouris, the co-founder behind Who Is Elijah. Raquel was one of my first guests on the podcast, and since then we have become great friends! Today we chat about what she's up to now (including big retail deals!), direct to consumer vs wholesale business models, international expansion and all of her tips and tricks!