Bruce Wade, Author at EM Solutions

Year End Planning 4 – setting goals

This is session 4 of 5 in the year-end planning process. If you have not yet read the lessons or watched the videos from the previous sessions, please do before you continue.
You should now have a list of things to do for next year. This list will have all sorts of goals, activities and hopes on it. All these items need to be sorted and prioritised in order of importance. This will help you identify what needs to be done and what is a ‘nice to have’. But be firm, it is easy to downplay some of the important issues just because it is harder to do. Like joining a gym and getting your finances sorted. Yes, it can wait, but the longer you wait the more urgent it will become ending up as a critical issue later in the year.
Once you know what needs to be done, now sort them by month. It is always great to have a 12-month plan with each month having at least one WIG – Wildly Important Goal set to be focused on and achieved during that month.
Add additional and supporting goals to each month. Now you have a year full of plans.
Now it comes time for communication of these goals to all relevant people. All people who are involved or affected by your goals need to be told. This will enable them to do two things: be aware of any task they should be doing and to hold you accountable for doing your part.

By Bruce Wade|2016-12-20T10:39:24+02:00December 20th, 2016|Bruce on Business|0 Comments

Year End Planning part 3

So, now that you have that list of things left over from this year, what do we do with it?
Add to it. Add the new items for the next 12 months. Look at the areas required to get you and your business to the place you most desire. What do you need to be to get there – add this to the list? What does your staff need to be? What new tools, equipment and knowledge need to be within your business? Keep adding until you are satisfied that you have enough to equip and empower yourself for what lies ahead.
New we will have to deal with this list….. in the next part of this series.

By Bruce Wade|2016-12-19T10:46:18+02:00December 19th, 2016|Bruce on Business|0 Comments

Year End Planning Part 2

Take some paper and make a list of all the things you have not achieved or got around to doing this year. This is not a guilt trip or a way to highlight your failures, but a way to acknowledge all the things just not yet done.
List the big stuff and the small items that you planned or just hoped to do, then go over the list and scratch out the ones that now seem irrelevant or unobtainable. Often we plan to do things, but circumstances change, yet we fail to change our goals. Cross these off and forget them.
The left over items can be used to determine a new list of new carry-over goals for the next year and the next exercise in this process.

By Bruce Wade|2016-12-14T15:33:26+02:00December 14th, 2016|Bruce on Business|0 Comments

Year End Reflection Time

And into December we go. And as predicted there are always a bunch of memes, blogs and articles telling us to pause, reflect and plan. Some of them good and some not so.

But here is an exercise that could literally change your business and your future. It is so important that we have put together a short video course on the process that we will post over the next few weeks and we ask that you follow along and do the short exercise for each lesson.

Doing is different from just listening and thinking about doing. I want to encourage you to get that paper and pen out and do the work. Just 10 minutes per day over 5 days will see significant changes in your future. Guaranteed.

By Bruce Wade|2016-12-12T12:33:52+02:00December 12th, 2016|Bruce on Business|0 Comments

Our New Arrivals

005 Our office has two new faces together with new offerings of talent and skills for our clients.

Womba Khapwale (Left) has just extended her internship with us until the end of the year. Womba is assisting us in developing and upgrading all our training material as well as developing material for the high school’
s projects that we support through Teen Entrepreneur. Womba comes from a business and supply chain education from University of Natal.

Ayanda Mpongwana (Right) started today as our new Office Administrator. She brings a host of marketing and event experience to our office as well as her organisational and process talents. Ayanda will be looking after the front desk, client relationships and bookings as well as the workshops logistics.

We wish both ladies a huge welcome at Entrepreneur and Management Solutions and trust that our clients will get to know them both as helpful resources to their businesses as much as they are to us. Welcome ladies.

By Bruce Wade|2016-11-01T10:20:05+02:00September 6th, 2016|Entrepreneurship|0 Comments

Start Something Today

Is it not time to get that idea in your head onto a piece of paper and into action? I am amazed at how many people we meet that have had brilliant business ideas in their heads for years and never had the inclination or opportunity to do anything about them.

We have a solution for you, in fact, we have two: Each month we run a short half day programme called “Introduction to Entrepreneurship”. This workshop will give you all the information and confidence you need to get out of the starting blocks and headed in the right direction. The next session is just a few days away on the 15^th September. DETAILS HERE

The second option for your future is our 6 module Start Up School. This programme offers a full day workshop every 3 weeks and walks the journey from initial idea through to the business launch pad. We cover all the required checkboxes, issues and compliance matters that you will need to be aware of in developing a new business. This is for you if you have an idea and need it to get to market. To book or get more info email me HERE.

Never let your ideas take up residence in your head; they will only breed regret and frustration. Better to try and refine your ideas and test them in the market before giving up on your dreams. Our success rate is far too high to ignore.

Your future awaits your action today. DO IT.

By Bruce Wade|2016-11-01T10:20:05+02:00August 30th, 2016|Business Resources, Entrepreneurship|0 Comments

Spring into action with a marketing revamp

With winter coming to a close here in Cape Town, the weather is getting warmers and the gaps between the rain and storms a little longer. So is it now time to do some changes and spring cleaning?

One area we see a lot of people needing in their business is a revamp of their marketing. Too many companies we see do the same old same old marketing and sales cycles over and over again. Then as insanity defines, we expect different results and an ever increase in the bottom line.

We have revamped our marketing offerings ready for your new business approach to accessing the market ahead of the end of the year season. We now have two-valued and fun filled workshops: Blue Water Marketing strategies and Narrative Marketing that we have on the schedule for the next few months.

If you are ready to relook, revamp and relearn what your marketing is all about then we are ready for you. Please go HERE to check out for dates and details and get your place booked.

Remember: if you change nothing, nothing will change.

See you at the next workshop.

By Bruce Wade|2016-08-30T14:15:56+02:00August 30th, 2016|Business Resources, Entrepreneurship|0 Comments

SARS Provisional Tax Deadline 31 August

SARS Provisional Tax

It’s the middle of the tax year and time to pay SARS his due. The provisional tax deadline is the 31 August 2016.
SARS is concerned that if you wait until the end of the year and pay all your tax in one go, you won’t have enough money available to pay everything. (It’s quite possible it will have been spent on new clothes, school fees or that iPad you’ve been eyeing). So they insist that we pay SARS at least twice a year, in the middle and at the end. These interim returns and related payments are called provisional tax returns. A final income tax return is also submitted, but only after the end of the tax year, once everything is wrapped up. You can then top up any tax you short-paid in the provisional tax returns.

Who should submit a provisional tax return? If you are a director of a company or a close corporation you need to submit provisional tax returns twice a year, or if you have any income other than salary and interest or dividends from investments. Other sources of income might include rental, freelance income, consulting fees, any kind of business, even if it’s just on the side.

If you are a company director and you only earn a salary where PAYE is deducted each month, then there may be no additional tax payment required this month. In that case the provisional tax return is merely a formality – but still necessary. Otherwise, you will need to pay tax on the profit you make from your other sources of income. This means that you can offset your expenses relating to the income before calculating the tax.

If you need help submitting your return or calculating the tax before the deadline, contact EM Solutions for support.

By Bruce Wade|2016-11-01T10:20:05+02:00August 16th, 2016|Business Resources, Financial Management|0 Comments

Could your Business Compete in the Olympics?

We have seen some awesome sportsmanship at the Olympics this year. The athletes have worked hard and winning is the game but the support we have seen from all the other athletes towards the winners and the losers has been remarkable.
How different this is to business, where we see so much win-at-all-cost attitude and kill or be killed type of negotiation. What happened to the Win-win or no –deal situation we learnt at business school?

What could you do this week to improve the collaborative competition we have witnessed in Rio

By Bruce Wade|2016-11-01T10:20:06+02:00August 15th, 2016|Bruce on Business|0 Comments

Women are just much better

Women are different to men, trying to be equal is just not possible. Women have a different way of thinking, networking and collecting data. In many ways women are able to utilize their natural abilities to out-perform men at business.

We take a short journey in this video as we unpack some of the advantages Women have as entrepreneurs and business owners.

By Bruce Wade|2016-11-01T10:20:06+02:00August 8th, 2016|Bruce on Business, Entrepreneurship|0 Comments

About Bruce Wade