Year End Planning – Final

At the end of each season, we need to take some time to rest. Rest the body, rest the mind and rest our souls.

But too often we are so used to working in the fast lane that when it comes time for a bit or R&R, we feel guilty and put ourselves down. We need to give ourselves permission to put sown the tools of our trade and do something different. Read a book, go to movies, spend quality time with friends and family. Take a walk in nature, up a mountain, along a beach.

We were never designed to work and work and work. Even God took time to rest after creation. This models a way in which we need to live our lives. Please find time, even in this busy time of year to chill out and rejuvenate ready for the year that lies ahead.

From the team at EM-solutions to you, your staff and your family members. Congratulations for getting this far. Have a very blessed Christmas and we will pick up things in the new year as we talk about dashboards, development canvases and Wildly Important Goals.

By |2016-12-22T09:11:10+02:00December 22nd, 2016|Bruce on Business|0 Comments

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

What is Entrepreneurial Leadership?

EM Solutions Leadership

So much has been written, said and quoted on Leadership in recent times. We have leadership coaches, seminars, conferences, societies and too many books to mention. But we want to unpack some of the myths and principles of leadership this month.

Join us as we journey through a bit about Principle based leadership, where decisions are made based on a set of values and principles that govern the organisation. Then we will look at what it takes to be a Visionary Leader in the workplace and how that is different or the same as a Business Leader for every day to day operation.
And finally, we will unpack the differences between a Manager and a Leader. We see these as different concepts altogether and should never be confused when it comes to defining and assigning roles within a business.
We also want to hear from you. What do you think Leadership is all about? Send us your stories, quotes and suggested books. Let’s share these with others.

By |2016-11-01T10:20:07+02:00May 2nd, 2016|Bruce on Business, Entrepreneurship|0 Comments

Do you have a Business Strategy Model?

We have been speaking business growth all month.

We covered: Product Offerings, Strategic Networks and Marketing, and in this final episode in the series we put all the previous models together into one workable model that supports the development and growth of your business. The model also creates a set of goals, actions and accountability for each focus area.

In this video we also chat you to WIGS, Wildly Important Goals. Those goals that are more important than anything else in the business for the defined period. More on WIGS can be viewed here from the 8th Habit.

With this sort of workable model in your business, growth is imminent and becomes part of the daily activities of each staff members routine.

If you are interested in developing a growth strategy for your business or team. Then please contact us for a consultation or chat.

By |2016-11-01T10:20:07+02:00April 25th, 2016|Bruce on Business, Business Resources|0 Comments

Does your growth strategy include getting outside your comfort zone?

Growth happens outside your comfort zone. Let me say that again, growth happens outside your comfort zone. That means two things, you need to get outside your comfort zone to grow and you need to learn how to rely on others.

In this video we talk about  developing your business through strategic marketing activities. Take a listen and list some ideas that may pertain to your business. Here are some suggestions:

Create a working social media campaign with links, reposts and posting calendars

Develop and implement a referral farm

Identify and implement a working sales funnel to attract and convert customers

Develop a method to up-sell or re-sell to existing customers

Build a solid ongoing, repeatable marketing strategy

By |2016-11-01T10:20:08+02:00April 16th, 2016|Bruce on Business, Business Resources, Marketing|0 Comments

Business Growth Strategy – Product offerings

What is your current product offering linked to your existing resources? How do you leverage these to develop a firm future focused business growth strategy? We explain a simple to use, yet effective tool that will assist you to map out a product/resource strategy for your business.

A successful business needs to develop a constant relationship between existing assets and resources and product offering, always looking to develop both. But added to this is the need to develop new assets in the form of Staff, Equipment and IP to equip the business to increase the product offering in both width and depth. View this week’s Bruce on Business video for the full story.

By |2016-11-01T10:20:08+02:00April 4th, 2016|Bruce on Business, Business Resources|0 Comments

BOB episode 18 – Financial Calendar


 

As you know, this month is finance month and we are speaking all things numbers.

One of the key tools to a successful business is to have a “Financial Calendar”. In case you are asking yourself what that is, a Financial Calendar is a 12-month accounting period for a company or organization. It is a list of all the key dates and deadlines that your company has to comply with.

There is a whole lot of key dates and deadlines that a lot of businesses forget or miss, and have cost them a lot of money in paying penalties and interests. So please know those key dates. Things like: VAT returns, Tax return, salary related issues – all those form part of a financial calendar.

It is best that you know all these dates to avoid paying penalties that you don’t even understand, or worse, to get your company de-registered.  If you would like to know all about the important dates that your company should comply with, we will be talking about all of that in our finance workshop later on this week. To know more about the workshop please drop us an email on bruce@em-solutions.co.za or visit our website www.em-solutions.co.za

By |2016-11-01T10:20:09+02:00March 7th, 2016|Uncategorized|0 Comments

B.O.B Episode 13 – February – the marketing month

February is the marketing month, a month where people go all out to activate and launch their marketing strategies for the year.

Here at EI, we have packaged all the information about marketing for you this whole month. This is to just help you market your business the right way in order  for you to reach your target audience and grow your business. Remember, growing your business is our business.

In this video we focus on the four key factors you need to address when you do your marketing strategy:

– Get to know your product

You need to understand the problems that your product is addressing.

– Get to know your customers

Understand the problems that your customers have. Is your product trying to solve them? Understand what they need and want. Make sure it’s the problems that they want to get rid of, and not the problems that they are happy with.

– How willing are your potential customers?

Are people willing to spend their money on your product? Are they happy with their problems or are they willing to spend money to spend money on your product to solve their products?

– Learn how to connect with customers 

You identified the problem, and have a solution, so how do you then connect that to customers?

 

Watch the video below for more on this briefly explained key factors about marketing.

By |2016-11-01T10:20:12+02:00February 1st, 2016|Bruce on Business, Marketing|0 Comments

B.O.B episode 11 – face your giants

It all good and well to make resolutions, set goals and visions for ourselves as the year starts. But very often we avoid facing our giants. All the things that keep us awake at night are our giants, but do we usually have a strategy on how to attack those giants in our lives?

These giants come in different forms and sizes. No matter how they come, when they come, how big or small they are, we need to face them.

So what are those things that keep you awake at night about your business? Is it cash-flow, marketing, client retention or sales?

Watch the attached video (Bruce on Business episode 11) as we unpack the three rules to face the giants in your life.

By |2016-11-01T10:20:13+02:00January 18th, 2016|Bruce on Business|0 Comments
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