"The tip I give is marry well," Janine Allis said. "I'm not meaning the traditional marriage. I mean when you partner, partner well."
As one of Australia's most successful and high-profile female businesswomen Allis realises her advice to entrepreneurs is controversial.
The serial entrepreneur founded Boost Juice, Salsa's and Cibo Express and has sold over $2 billion of products with over 550 stores worldwide.
Speaking at the Sage Summit in Melbourne on Friday the Shark Tank star said her advice applied equally to men and women.
"It goes both ways," she said.
Whether you're male or female, choosing a life partner who will be supportive of your entrepreneurial ambitions is key according to Allis.
"For a start it's the quickest way to lose half your value if you get it wrong," she said. "There are times when it is scary [being an entrepreneur]. It's scary when the GST bill comes in and you haven't budgeted for it."
Allis attributes a lot of her success to the support of her husband.
"Jeff was the type who often had more belief in me than I had in myself," she said. "When we started the business he did leasing and marketing and I did everything else, so he got the sites and he came home one day, really early on when we had about two stores. He said, 'I've done my job, 20 sites, done and signed'."
Because he wasn't involved in the other details of the business Allis said he had "no idea" the deal meant $5 million liability for the pair personally and hadn't thought of the implications of building 20 stores.
"For him it came down to, you can do it," she said. "So in one respect if someone thinks you are capable of it then you kind of just think 'I have to do it then don't I?'. That naive belief is one of those things he is good at."
This belief has been tested at times, particularly when the Allis' had to mortgage their house to fund the business.
Even to this day, I see people walking around with a green cup and I say 'how cool is that'.
Janine Allis
"When we got to a point that we needed to put more money in the business and the only asset we had was our house we just thought 'We are all in, let's go on this journey'. Having that support is critical."
Allis said the husband and wife team also enjoy being able to download their days to each other.
"I used to come home and be this stressed wreck and he'd go 'No you'll be fine'," she says. "He just had that way of helping me go 'Ahhh'. And vice versa, when he comes home stressed I help him turn off."
A similar work ethic also helps.
"The other thing that is quite good for us is because we are both quite driven people we have this huge understanding that if he has to stay back late he does," she said.
Allis said the two "just don't bother" trying to separate their work and home lives especially where their four children are involved.
"In the early days we had a big Range Rover and we put a DVD player in there as we spent our weekends driving around looking at sites," she said. "There weren't any weekends there weren't any night times. The other parents used to hang out with me because it made them feel good about their parenting."
But Allis said the sacrifices have been worth it.
"Even to this day, I see people walking around with a green cup and I say 'how cool is that'."
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