About Bruce Wade

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So far Bruce Wade has created 204 blog entries.

Entrepreneurship may not be sexy, but girls dig it

We have been dealing with new-starts, slow-starts, and non-starts in business for a number of years now and one thing we have seen amongst all our clients is that women love business more than men.

Now I am not sure why and have no scientific proof of my assumptions, but let me share what I have observed: Men mostly start a business out of necessity for money. This puts them in a stress mode from day zero. It often becomes the main thing and the main thing is the main focus. When coaching men we talk more about money, profits and cash flow than any other topic. Men do not enjoy marketing, logo design and the soft things of business. This often leads to lower sales and more stress over cash flow.

Women are generally looking to expand their horizons, add value to the world or just play when it comes to business. This makes it more fun focused from the start. Sessions with women are more focused on planning, campaign building and looking at ways to be more client-centric and add social impact measurements.

Men think like well men: one thing at a time. We focus, do, complete then move on to the next item on the list. Women are able to think multidimensionally with a number of ideas, thoughts, and outcomes simultaneously. This makes women better at problem-solving and creative thinking resulting in a better-balanced outcome.

Women are just better at being Entrepreneurs, but we still seem to have this gender identity issue of the men having to be the innovators in the world and the ones who come up with the solutions to problems to save the day. This is not true and should not be the case. I look forward to the day when we can celebrate not just women’s month but all things women and welcome a mixed approach to innovation and problem-solving in all sectors that involve women and men equally. Dig it?

Note: I have made some gender assumptions in this article, so if you feel hard done by from what I have written, then you are the exceptions to my general observations after over 13 years of business coaching, so my apologies and congratulations for being unique.

By |2017-08-18T09:18:13+02:00August 18th, 2017|Entrepreneurship|0 Comments

Additions to our Team

On behalf of Entrepreneur and Management Solutions, we would like to welcome our latest staff members Elisha Kasambakuwa and Amanda Dube.

Elisha, 33  is married, with one beautiful daughter. He has 13 years of accounting and bookkeeping experience and enjoys soccer, rugby and motor racing. He has joined us from Sport and Traffic Technologies, where he was doing monthly Management Accounting.

Amanda Dube is 25 years of age. She will be joining the Marketing and Administration Department as an Intern. In her free time, Amanda enjoys hiking and moonlight strolls on the beach. Her friends would describe her as easy going and passionate about growing businesses. She will be joining us from the New Start Living Health Shop, where she was the Shop Manager.

This opens a new chapter in our business as we expand our offering and service levels to our clients. We are all very excited about the future and welcome any business, no matter what the level of development to stop by and see how we can assist you in achieving your goals.

By |2017-08-16T16:35:59+02:00August 16th, 2017|General|0 Comments

What is your Story?

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We all seem to have a story to tell. It may not be the next best seller or award winning movie, but each day when our feet hit the floor we start another chapter of our life story. What does yours say?

Tragedy? Comedy of errors? Adventure Quest? Raiders of the Lost Ark? If you had time to share your story, the story of your business, how would it begin? Who would be the main characters? Who would die? Would there be a car chase with a climatic end as you close the big deal and emerge as the hero?

Business Narrative strategies is something we have been working on for a few months now and we now offer businesses the service of developing your own story board that translates into a full business plan, internal processes and a marketing strategy. And it is fun.

Knowing who your Hero is, what the Princess is and identify the Villains is our start: we then add the supporting characters and develop your story plot and structure. All stories have imagination; in business, we call these assumptions. We assess these assumptions with a risk mitigation process and develop a management tool to keep them in check. Then as the story unfolds and is told in different ways, the marketing campaigns come to light and identify new heroes and different plots. These we translate into blogs, videos, posts and memes to tell the story to customers and future prospects.

If you are struggling to get your business focused, realigned for the new economy or maybe just starting out: then join us each month on our Business Narrative Strategy workshop where we will help unpack your story and develop sustainable strategies for your business.

By |2017-08-02T09:07:34+02:00August 2nd, 2017|Business Resources|0 Comments

#TeenBoss 2017 a Huge Success

Wow!  What an experience!  #TeenBoss 2017 was absolutely HIT from start to finish!

The group of young learners was geared to take away as much as they could about entrepreneurship from the event from Day 1, and they certainly all brought their ‘A-Game’!  Their business ideas ranged from innovative modes of transport for schools to novel tuition techniques to make studying easy and enjoyable for matriculants, to new and fresh ideas for child care services, plus much more.

The judges did not have an easy time adjudicating; all the entries were well thought-through and presented, but at the end of the three-day boot camp, the winning team, whose business idea was centred on the creation of leadership and development camps to tackle boredom during the school holidays, was Goodwood College.71d1e7af-9b2a-4f95-a665-888bb0e04298

We wish to extend our congratulations to Goodwood College (aka Teen Transformers), as well as all the other participating teams, i.e. Oude Molen Academy of Science & Technology (aka Learners with Attitude), EE Van Projects (aka J.A.C.K – which happens to be the first letters of the group members’ names), two teams from Atlantis Schools (aka #Boss Tomorrow and #Red Devils), two teams from Bonga Cycling Academy (aka The Stars of Tomorrow and Le Pelleton), and Isilimela Comprehensive High School (aka Young Minds).  To us, you are all winners!

An ‘extra’ big thank you also to our sponsors and partners – Praesidium Capital Management/IBuild, Shoprite, the Sage Foundation, The River Club, Over the Rainbow, Entrepreneur & Management Solutions, and The Agency – without whom #TeenBoss 2017 would not have been possible.

The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Ms Elizabeth Thabethe, paid us a surprise visit on Day 1 to encourage our young participants on their entrepreneurial journeys.  Thank you, Deputy Minister Thabethe, for spending the morning with us!

Our social media channels were abuzz with activity, thanks to The Agency and all our partners who participated in promoting the event on digital media.  We’d say in excess of 200 000 impressions for the 3-day period is not too shabby!

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By |2017-08-01T13:17:20+02:00August 1st, 2017|Entrepreneurship|0 Comments

Bruce scoops Expertise prize

Bruce Wade was officially announced as the winner of the Expertise.tv global challenge last week after a gruelling competition that saw over 50 Coaches and Entrepreneurs battle it out over the 5 stages of competition.

This event attracted new users to the Expertise.tv platform from countries across the globe. Each day after a brief education video, participants were set challenges and tasks to gain confidence on the platform and to build their respective accounts in line with best practices and learnt lessons. The leader board was first posted on Wednesday showing to score for each participant and as the tasks were delivered and deadlines reached the top spots were diminishing until just 10 were left sharing the 1st place.

The final goal was set and with just 3 days to achieve high results, Bruce was able to secure his position as the overall leader and claim the prize.

For his efforts, Bruce and his business Entrepreneur and Management Solutions will be awarded a fully funded FaceBook campaign sponsored and run by Expertise.tv as well as additional features to add to his account.

Entrepreneur and Management Solutions already run a weekly webinar on Wednesday’s dealing with innovative business and marketing strategy. Join this group of Learning Legends by registering here and receive regular updates and invites to webinars and programmes to enhance both yourself and your business.

By |2017-05-22T14:48:21+02:00May 22nd, 2017|Bruce on Business, Entrepreneurship, Social Media|1 Comment

Marketing Strategies Give a business the Unfair Advantage

Learning Legend

For any business operating in today’s world of cut budgets, time constraints and failing economies, it becomes harder and harder to penetrate new markets. But with a clear marketing strategy that includes relationship building techniques and tools together with a focus on experiential and convenience as primary factors, these businesses are continuing to see growth in double digits.

So what are you doing? Do you have a clear vision and mission for your business? Do you have monthly marketing strategies and goals? Does your business plan to stay ahead or become a victim of the current economy.

Join us on Wednesday 17th May at noon to learn what makes up a strategic marketing plan and what your business needs to do to keep up with other growing organisations. Register below and make a difference to your future.

REGISTER HERE

https://expertise.tv/webinar/developing-a-marketing-strategy/landing/5330

By |2017-05-16T13:58:21+02:00May 16th, 2017|Business Resources, Entrepreneurship|0 Comments

Are You a Learning Legend?

Learning Legend

Last week we launched our online Learning Legends programme. This allows everyone on our current mailing list to have access to our wealth of information and programmes for developing both you and your business.

The first release was access to the book Exploit Yourself, a master class in personal networking techniques. This is delivered in audio book format to your email over a 7-week programme. We have already had a flurry of people taking up the offer. If you want access to this free programme, then simply click HERE and complete the form.

We want to make online learning and access to information as easy as possible for the busy business person. Our programmes will in future include email courses, online video and eBooks. All of these will be available from our website, some free, others paid for, but all worth participating in.

We would love to hear from you about topics and ideas that you would like to have covered and we can see what we can do to accommodate you.

Keep an eye out for specials and discount vouchers for upcoming courses. Do not forget to get your free Audiobook HERE

By |2017-03-13T11:12:54+02:00March 13th, 2017|Business Resources, Entrepreneurship|0 Comments

Cutting, pruning and firing

I am not an HR or Labour consultant, so this post is not about how to fire a staff member and not end up at the CCMA.

Every business seems to have at least one of those high maintenance, destructive staff members. Those people who seem to suck the very energy out of others. They seem wise to the laws and walk very close to the minimal effort line, but their attitude is what does the damage. You know who I am speaking about.

So what can you do? I just love the Apprentice show, where the Boss leans over the table and says “You have been terminated”. But the laws in South Africa just do not allow for this. Due process needs to be followed and this at best of times can be long and tedious. We have just come out of a season of right-sizing and getting rid of some staff, moving others and employing more. Our team is now better and more efficient than ever. It was a long and often painful process, but we did hire the expertise of a consultant to keep it legal and regulated.

It is important to keep your head above the issues during these times and remember that the bigger picture of the business is always more important than the personal issues and remarks from individuals. People can become very nasty and destructive during retrenchments, hearings and warnings, but as business owners, this comes with the job description.

There is also the coaching and consulting that should happen with each staff member to help avoid the decay that leads to dismissal. Regular meetings, encouragement, guidance and education all help prevent staff loss. But alas there are those that will just not cooperate and need to be pruned.

If you are going through this season in your business, hang in there. Keep taking the high and legal road. Do not get sucked into the personal squabble and hurtful remarks. Address people as adults, hear their views and follow due process. It will work out in the end.

If you are struggling with staff and wanting to do some pruning and cutting, then start today. Waiting even a day longer than necessary just adds to your resentment and decreases the joy of coming to work. Good luck.

By |2017-03-06T14:11:28+02:00March 10th, 2017|Business Resources, Entrepreneurship, General|0 Comments

Accountability and assessments

You cannot manage what you do not measure and you cannot reward what you do not manage. We see and hear this all the time at productivity seminars, but how does this apply to your staff? Are you able to measure the effectiveness of your staff at their various levels of productivity?

Sure we can count output of widgets made per hour per workstation, but what about staff engagement and happiness. Colin Hall from Learning to Lead works with businesses all around the world assisting staff to become more engaged in their daily jobs. With as much as 80% of staff disengaged or involved in activities other than core productivity, it is no wonder our businesses are stagnating and people are grumpy at the coffee machine.

Regular check-in sessions with a mentor with a huge dose of accountability and at least annual or 6 monthly assessments are key to getting a better level of engagement.

But do not fall into the corporate trap of descending a huge black cloud of despair on the business when it comes to assessments. These should be unrelated to salary increases and more about promoting productivity at work. A great assessment should be at its heart a self-assessment that each staff member can then reflect back to their mentor or manager with. The manager is there to guide through their experience the development of a roadmap that addresses failure, understands learning and maps a way forward that is congruent with the development of the business.

Getting this right is not easy and the larger the business the more staff dynamics you have and the more complex the task becomes. If required, get professional help, there are many companies that offer such services.

I like to think that each staff member is accountable firstly to the business as a whole then to their manager for their job KPA’s and then to themselves for their conduct and behaviour. Sharing this at induction sessions and repeating this at regular mentor sessions helps create an environment of achievement and development energy not easily found in most businesses.

And if you still have those grumpy, unproductive staff members around, then maybe it is time to cut. More on this in the next post.

By |2017-03-06T14:08:36+02:00March 9th, 2017|Business Resources, Entrepreneurship, General|0 Comments

Staff development and education

All staff need to be developed as the business grows and changes. There is nothing worse that a staff member who has worked for a business for many years and only has one month’s experience, just repeated 12 times each year over and over again. People like to grow and learn new things. Constant growth allows the business as a whole to grow and thus makes those larger changes easier to manage.

Staff are individual and thus require individual development programmes. We have a staff ‘red book’ that allows each member to plan their year ahead in the form of goals, dreams and hopes. We then work with then at monthly coaching sessions to help them realise their plans for the year. We assist in recommending online or classroom-based courses, hold them accountable for actions and support them through times of hardship that may come up. Theses coaching sessions are held in confidence and have nothing to do with work base assessments or salary increases.

There are so many online training programmes, journals and resources that allow for different facets of personal and skill based development. Many ebooks and audio books can be downloaded and distributed to staff for reading.  I personally commit to three online university courses per year and allocate myself a strict reading programme of one business book per month. Other companies have a reading club for their senior management that they then share the key points of their assignments to the others at a weekly or monthly session.

Learning and development are habits that need to be instilled into every job level in your business. But it does not stop there, people need to be held accountable for things they are assigned, more on this in our next post. What are you doing with your staff?

By |2017-03-06T14:06:07+02:00March 8th, 2017|Business Resources, General|0 Comments
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