Bruce Wade, Author at EM Solutions

Questions to ask your accountant

As a business owner, how often do you chat to your accountant about the financial management of your business? When you do, what do you chat about? Here are some key questions to ask then at your next meeting. We have split them into two categories for you: Accounting and Financial Management. Spend time with your finance team and accountant discussing these points and keep talking until you fully understand each of them and are able to share the answers with others in your business and take action where action is required.

Questions about accounting

How much tax should I be setting aside?
How can I reduce the amount of tax I’m paying?
Should I pay myself a salary or drawings?
I want to purchase a vehicle/building/equipment, what is the most tax efficient means of structuring the deal?
I’m expanding – new venture, product, branch, partner – what is the most efficient business structure?
Am I compliant with all legal requirements?

Questions about Financial Management

How can I increase my gross profit?
How can I increase my net profit (will I make a profit)?
When am I going to have a cash crunch?
When are my quiet periods, that I need to plan for?
What are the annual expenses (and when) so I can set aside money for them?
How do I manage my debtors?

By Bruce Wade|2016-12-02T11:30:06+02:00November 25th, 2016|90 Day Sprint, Financial Management|0 Comments

Show me the Money

We see too often how entrepreneurs and business owners are tripped up in their presentations when asked about the money side of their business. We just do not seem to have a good grip on our business and what makes it work financially.
I love watching the Shark Tank and Dragon’s Den as entrepreneurs pitch their ideas, asking for sums of money in exchange for equity and expertise. Their well-rehearsed pitched go well, with all the technical issues presented and well laid out. But when they offer their request, the valuations are way off and when questioned about GP, NP, ROI and COS, they fall flat. These are the numbers you should know and be able to talk about into others, especially when pitching for funding.
So this week, I want to challenge you to get to know your numbers and begin to understand what it takes to manage your business well from a financial aspect side of things. And if numbers are not your thing, then ensure that your business has a person or persons who do know these things and can advise you accordingly.

On Friday we will give you a list of questions that you should be asking your accountant on a regular basis to keep up to date with what is happening, what will happen and why.

By Bruce Wade|2016-11-28T08:47:50+02:00November 21st, 2016|90 Day Sprint|0 Comments

How Legal is your Business?

If you were asked today to produce all your companies registration papers, latest Tax certificate, staff contracts, health and safety compliance and a BBBEEE certificate, how long would it take to get these copied and ready?

If your answer is, “Just a few minutes”, then you do not have to read any further. If you gave an audible Gulp, then this week is for you. We will walk you through some of the issues of compliance and legislation that a typical business in South Africa needs to adhere to.

We will start with your CIPC registration and the annual return that need to be done. Then there are all the required tax registrations and returns followed by the Labour and HR policies.

But what about your health and safety compliance of your office, factory or workspace. Who is responsible for that? We will introduce you to people who are experts in these fields and who are willing and able to assist you in getting the right things done right.

Remember that ignorance of the law is not an excuse. Get to know what makes a business legal and get on it.

By Bruce Wade|2016-11-28T16:56:33+02:00November 14th, 2016|90 Day Sprint|0 Comments

The 3 P’s of your back office

Getting your business defined is not just about the products and sales pipelines: you also need to define very clear processes, procedures and policies that will govern how your business is run when you are not around.
The supply chain process that follows stock items from initial order, manufacturing, packaging, delivery and returns needs to be setup, defined and different procedures and policies defined to ensure that it remains constant and in line with customers expectations and any service level agreements.
Your customers flow from initial contact to final invoicing and follow up also needs some form of definition. This allows your staff to follow these procedures without having to consult you, the boss, for each and every decision that needs to be made.
Finally your financial flows need to be defined together with all the associated paper work to ensure a correct auditable paper trail and regulations are followed.
Developing an in-house procedures manual is a tedious and often long process, but you will reap the benefits from it once done. This allows you to work on your business and then out of your business giving you time to take leave, relax and rejuvenate form the new year.

By Bruce Wade|2016-11-28T17:05:05+02:00November 7th, 2016|90 Day Sprint|0 Comments

Do you have an effective sales funnel?

This is week 8 in the 90-day business sprint and this week we speak all things sales and marketing. Last week we chatted a bit about the internal marketing and getting the message right inside your business before going outside to customers. So let’s go out and see what you need to create a solid offering to your potential customers.

Your Sales funnel is key: this is the defined and refined process that drives people from initial interest down to that all important first invoice stage. We will define this in more detail later in the week, but it all starts with having Captivating Content on your website, blog and social media platforms. This is what initially attracts your clients.

All marketing processes need to follow the sales cycle of Inform, Educated and then Sell in order to not lose people along the way. But one aspect of selling that a lot of people fall short on is the ability to close the deal and get that all important confirmation from the customer. We opt out and look for discounts and other ways to close because we lack the confidence in our product and self-ability. We will chat about this one too.

We have an awesome web assessment tool that we use and we have 10 vouchers on offer this week for free. If you want your website assessed for how effective it is as a marketing tool, then email us to claim one of the 10 vouchers.

By Bruce Wade|2016-11-01T10:20:04+02:00October 31st, 2016|90 Day Sprint, Marketing|0 Comments

Internal Marketing

What do you do to market your business internally?

Marketing your business always starts from the internal. It always starts with how you view yourself and how you view your business. Your business starts with you and then it flow onto your staff. If you market your business well to your staff they would be the best and most effective people to start building brand awareness for your business. The idea is to treat your staff as though they were your first customers. Internal marketing sells your business to your employees.

Internal marketing will help you find out where you are as a business. Why don’t you do some research. How is your business doing? Is everything you are doing still in line with your vision and goals of your business? Are your office staff members aware of your goals and vision for your business?

How effective is your internal marketing? Why don’t you do some internal marketing research within your business and find out how much your staff knows about what the vision of the business is, the products you have and all the service you offer. If you have a website, what is your website like? How do does your offices look and do they represent you brand well? Do you use social media to market you business? If you do, how are your ratings like? All questions will help your business get ready and geared up for marketing.

Spend some time this week analyzing your internal marketing and use the about questions as a starting point.

By Bruce Wade|2016-11-01T10:20:04+02:00October 25th, 2016|90 Day Sprint, Marketing|0 Comments

Building your Strategic Network

We are not able to run and rule the world alone: not even our own lives. We do need others who offer support, counsel, and services to areas that we are not proficient at.
These areas can be separated into three different networks, we call then our Strategic Networks. Each offer a different type of support or serves and function to both our own lives and that of our business.
Our Foundation network group people who are there to offer services and products to enable your business to grow.
Our Support network includes people who are there to offer support to you without the need to fix or find a solution other than just listen.
Our Expansion network contains people who know the people you need to sell to. They are also equipped with enough information about your business and products to share this with others.

This week we will begin to map each of these out and assist you in developing a strategic network for your future.

By Bruce Wade|2016-11-01T10:20:04+02:00October 17th, 2016|90 Day Sprint|0 Comments

Defining Your Business for Success

Creating a business is not just about products and customers. Like any good thing it needs a name: a name that will represent what your business stands for and can be recognised in the market as a leader in its field.

But what is in a name? The first sentence we ask of our clients is to define the Purpose of the business. This is so much more than just making money and paying the bills. We will expand more on this in tomorrow’s post.

We also need to add to our business with a good name and logo. This is always one of the hardest issues when starting a business. Not only do you have to find a good name, but then to register this in the CIPC but also find a good URL for your website and then to register the same on all the required social media platforms all becomes a huge undertaking.

Having a good name and purpose is still not enough. These all need to be backed up by a well defines Vision, Mission and a set of defined company values.

Once all these have been written and edited to completion your business will begin to develop a live of its own guided by all of the above. Staff, suppliers and customers will begin to develop their own interaction behaviours with your business based on how it is defined and so your business will develop. Without one or more of the above, your business will have to rely on you at all times to define it with each interaction you have with others and as your mood changes, so will the perception of your business.

Spend some time this week defining your business for success. We will expand on each of these during the week on our blog and related social media platforms.

By Bruce Wade|2016-11-01T10:20:04+02:00October 10th, 2016|90 Day Sprint|0 Comments

Product Features and Benefits

Too often we get this wrong. We do not distinguish between the product features and benefits in our marketing materials. Technical focused business owners and product developers seem to be so focused on the design on the product (and rightly so) that we forget to focus on the benefits to the customers.
So what need to be done about this? What can we do to improve our communication to the customer and get the balance right. The simple answer is to hire a marketing consultant or staff member who will help draft product specification sheets and web copy with all the right words and terms.
But actually, all that is required is to listen o your customers. Ask the right questions and begin to understand their needs and wants. Then just be addressing these, you automatically begin to talk product benefits and not features.
Remember that the customers do not care about how much you know, they need to know how much you care first.

#90DayBizSprint

By Bruce Wade|2016-11-01T10:20:04+02:00October 5th, 2016|90 Day Sprint|0 Comments

What’s your Product Offering

Delivering a well-presented product offering to your customer base is key to business sustainability. This seems basic but so many business owners do not understand the importance of this and get it wrong in so many ways.
Your product should be not only well designed but also well described. Described in terms of features, benefits, and related supply chain. All these attributes define your product and should be used in the correct way in the correct place to communicate the correct message.
Getting this right is what this week is all about and should prove informative and business changing for you.