About Bruce Wade

This author has not yet filled in any details.
So far Bruce Wade has created 224 blog entries.

2018 Business Sprint: Business Compliance

Last week was the first in a series of 10 webinars that we are presenting on Wednesday’s at 12 Noon. Each one aims at tackling a specific area of your business that may need some attention before the end of the year.
Our first webinar addressed issues of compliance, regulation and legislation. We thought we would start off with a hard one, and based on the feedback we go, it hit a few nerves and open wounds. But this is what running a business is all about, sometimes it is fun, but other times we need to do what needs to be done. Once done, we can go back to having more fun.
If you missed it, you can watch it below, but do not miss this week Wednesday Weekly Webinar at 12 Noon as we address issues related to your products and services that may need some attention to finish the year off with a bang (in a good way)
The link to the webinar each week will be: https://zoom.us/j/723567165

By |2018-10-15T14:17:55+02:00October 15th, 2018|Entrepreneurship|0 Comments

The Cape Chamber’s Innovation Initiative – Networking event, 17 October 2018.

Come and join your fellow Chamber members at our monthly Innovation Initiative networking event with Judy Sandrock, Co-Founder of Xinabox Limited.

We will explore the world of electronics and rapid innovation techniques developed to assist inventors and students to develop prototypes of their electronic ideas in just a few minutes, using a newly developed product from Xinabox.

Xinabox designs develop and sell modular electronics for the Internet of Things (IoT) and STEM education markets in senior schools as well as universities.  Xinabox accelerates speed-to-market by creating scalable and upgradeable solutions.  Robust and cheap enough to be used as a final hardware product for small run projects.

This event is not to be missed.
Light refreshments will be served.

You can get all the details here or contact  Linda on 021 402 4300

By |2018-10-12T13:20:37+02:00October 12th, 2018|Entrepreneurship|0 Comments

The Choices We Make For Our Kids

Being a parent involves a bunch of activities that you would never get to do otherwise. There are those tasks at the beginning that include poop, power and pee but they get better as time goes along. Or do they?

Making decisions on behalf of your child has to be one of the toughest. The pre-school we select will determine the first friends your child makes as well as the first educational foundation. Get this wrong and you will have an under-achiever in education for the rest of your life. Then it is the primary school followed by which high school to select. But it is not the way it was when I was young when you just went o the nearest school and that was that. Today there is a selection process, interviews, written portfolios and money up front before selection.

One of the schools we looked at only take applications for Grade 1 after the second trimester of pregnancy and with an R10k non-refundable deposit: Flip, how insane is this?

Each decision for schooling has an effect and either limit or opens the choices they have later in the education and career funnel. Get this wrong at pre-school and sorry-for-you you reap the choices of the bad decision for years to come.

I am at the stage with my son now after many choices, of having to select what to do after Matric. He finishes up with school this time next year and in 2020 he will enter his next phase of education.

So where do we begin to ensure that any progress made thus far is capitalised on to ensure some form of success in his future? We have the gap year, College, University, Tech, Learnerships, or a number of private colleges. Each one offers what they describe as an education for the future, but I am sure all they are thinking about is filling their quota and paying their bills way before they are thinking of their student’s futures.

The correct choice comes from pounding the pavements and going to open days, unpacking the often complex handbooks and websites and doing a full comparative analysis on what is best for a future that no one knows and that will contain jobs that have not yet been invented using education geared for jobs that will no longer exist.

But what about being an Entrepreneur? This is my first choice today, but it took me 5 career changes to find my niche and today I have a job that did not exist when I was in school. After all this, my conclusion is that education does not or may not be an indicator of the job you spend most of your life doing. But it does give you an advantage of being selected for the job you will want. And a good education will only teach you to learn and then embark on a lifelong journey of continuous learning that will lead you to the perfect job and income protection.

Watch this space and we embark on making the future a reality.

 

By |2018-10-10T16:13:30+02:00October 10th, 2018|Bruce on Business|0 Comments

2018 Business Sprint Webinars

There are just over 80 days left on the calendar for 2018.

It has been a year of water focus, mayor disputes, petrol price hikes.

Now we have rain, the winter cold has gone and the end of the year is just over the next hump. Shops already have Christmas puddings and decorations for sale. Yikes.

But the next few weeks could be the most important of your year. It is a time to focus and finish with a sprint, not a whimper. So why not create a sprint plan for your business to get you to the desired end point before you shut down for the holidays and enjoy a rest.

We have 10 working weeks left in the year. Each week we will focus on a different aspect of your business and help you focus and get things done. Each of these will be done via an online live webinar broadcast every Wednesday for the next 10 weeks, starting this week on 10th Oct at 12:00 Noon.

The topics we will cover, not necessarily in this order, are:

1. Business compliance

2. Products and services

3. Customers

4. Internal processes

5. Financial management

6. Marketing internal

7. Marketing external

8. Branding

9. Risk Register

10. Year-end tips

Join us each week from 12:00for a 45 minute live webinar as we unpack your business to help you stay in business and be ready for2019.

The link to the webinar each week will be: https://zoom.us/j/723567165

By |2018-10-08T16:27:33+02:00October 8th, 2018|90 Day Sprint, Entrepreneurship|0 Comments

Rules for Prototyping

A recent article on Techco by Tishin Donkersley gives us some simple rule to know when developing your idea from ideation to prototype stage. Here is what she had to say:

  1. Have a Purpose and a Plan
  2. It doesn’t have to be perfect
  3. It’ll take longer than you think
  4. The design will change
  5. Quality = Cost
  6. Find a Mentor

We fully agree with each of these and encourage our innovation clients to come prepared for failure, iteration and a journey of exploration of both themselves and their product.

To read the full article: http://go.conceptdesign.co.za/what-you-need-to-know#https://tech.co/6-tips-prototyping-idea-scratch-2017-11

By |2018-09-17T10:47:49+02:00September 17th, 2018|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Dreams come true in BotRivier for Portia

 

In the small village of BotRivier just off the N2 on your way to Hermanus, you can find the Botrivier Hotel, a fuel station and a hand full of shops. Other than these and a few outlying wine farms, there is not much else to write about. Until now.

 

Portia is a resident of the informal sector of the town. She and her husband Joe live in an informal home with other members of their family. Parked outside their home is a caravan that they paid R5000 for with the plans to open a business and serve food to the local community and at functions around the town.

Portia started attending business courses offered through the local municipality and SEDA offices. She built up enough money to buy a laptop and printer that she uses to plan her business ideas and keep track of her emails.

Then through an initiative with the Kliphuewel-Dassiefontien Wind Energy Facility who sponsored a programme that we got involved with, this started to become real for Portia.

Her business now registered as Joe’s Braai Place started to gain shape and momentum. A number of planning meetings and site inspections gave rise to the approval of some money to buy equipment and stock. Last week I felt like Father Christmas delivering a carload of items that will help Portia launch her business and start making money.

Portia has been equipped with not only the stock and kitchen tools but enough business tools to give her the jump start she needs to develop a sustainable business in the community.

We are still looking for partners who will continue to work alongside her after the contract expires at the end of the year to assist Portia in the financial accountability and supply chain issues she will face.

What a privilege and honour to be involved with her to help realise her dreams.

By |2018-09-03T16:21:48+02:00September 3rd, 2018|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Innovation vs Invention

What is the difference between an invention and an innovation? This is the topic of many discussions we seem to be having recently. Does it really matter? Do we need to clearly define these things to get our businesses re-geared for the future and more sustainable?

Well, yes and no. No, it does not matter for the business development side. It does not matter if you are just improving current things in your business (innovation) or creating something unique and new (invention). If it works in your business and makes you more money, then just do it.

But there is a little thing called IP. That Intellectual Property that you may be creating through either an invention or even through innovation. If you create a unique, new idea, design or formula or process: this could be seen as a new IP for your business. And if you have created IP, then you need to protect it from others and ensure that you add it to the balance sheet of assets for your business.

IP consists of a wide variety of things from a simple design to a global patent: each with a number of classes, sub-classes and classifications: each with its own registration process and associated costs. We understand some of this and work closely with people who live and breathe this stuff. So to make it all simple and easier for you, we have created an online assessment process that will help evaluate your IP and give you clear direction on where to proceed without having to have met with a legal team and breaking the bank on your first few visits.

This simple assessment is done and paid for online and in just a few days you will be presented with feedback and a consultation on the best way to move forward with the registration process of your ideas or inventions.

Check out the online process here

By |2018-08-23T11:55:02+02:00August 23rd, 2018|Innovation|0 Comments

August spotlight: Marriet

Marriet is a FlYght Coach, and is also a self-published author of the book and board game named “Ready, Steady, Fly!”. Marriet is a public speaker on the topic “Start to Finish” and the author of the “Plan to Action” and “FlYght Coach” Programmes.

Initially, Marriet struggled to find her own special place in life, with this she created intelligent tailored solutions and hopes to touch and encourage others to discover their own potential and to act on it. Her goal in life is to help people find their unique place and to implement their purpose in life. She believes everyone is unique and is capable of playing a role in society and the teams we operate in by bringing about their unique contribution in life.

Marriet is a multi-talented person who enjoys piecing life’s lessons together in a fun-filled manner. She shares her life experiences and feels it could change the way we think. She loves to encourage people based on her lessons learnt through her experiences of being torn apart.

In addition, Marriet is also an artist who enjoys arts, crafts, writing blogs and making music. She has published her own songs and paint on consignment. She also has a great passion for learning new things everyday.

By |2018-08-16T14:03:19+02:00August 16th, 2018|Entrepreneurship|0 Comments

How Do You Score out of 12?

Developing a principle-based business is easier on paper than it is in practice. Each and everyday business leaders will be challenged to push the boundaries on their principles, both personal and business. For some, this is not an issue, but for those of us who have clear and firm boundaries on how we wish to run things, it is a constant challenge.

In a recent workshop, we were challenged with 12 principles for a Godly business that seemed to fall in line with our own vision and mission statements, but when we began to scratch a little there was definitely some uncomfortable shifting in seat amongst all those present. Here they are in summary: How do you measure up to these in your business?

1.       Whatever you do in word or deed, do it for God

2.       Do all things without complaining and disputing

3.       Be humble

4.       Watch what you say

5.       Keep learning

6.       Guard your integrity

7.       Work hard

8.       Seek good counsel

9.       Honour God with your wealth

10.   Show mercy and be gracious

11.   Control your anger

12.   Don’t fear people

There were a number of additions to this list once we began to discuss our own lives and businesses, but these are a good start to help define an initial culture of authentic business practices.

By |2018-08-14T12:02:38+02:00August 14th, 2018|Leadership|0 Comments

August spotlight: Gertina Watermeyer

“Gertina Watermeyer is the Director of Young Nails Cape North. She started her small one-man business whilst studying health and skincare for 3 years from 2010 to 2012 at Camelot International.

 In 2011 Gertina attended an additional Nail Course as it was not covered as part of her studies not knowing that this will be the main direction of her business. In 2013 she converted to the brand Young Nails and since then never looked back. Her passion grew for the art and technique behind nails and later felt the urge to help ladies who have the potential to build their empire by perfecting their skills and building their businesses.

In 2015 Gertina became the mentor and distributor for Young Nails in Cape Town.

 Gertina has this big vision of expanding her business into more branches, creating jobs and helping the woman to build their careers and become independent. Therefore she registered her company in 2017 and together with the help of Bruce at EMS, this will be achieved. Keep your eyes open and be on the lookout for the Young Nails name becoming more and more familiar on everyone’s lips.

 Gertina is married to Riaan Watermeyer. She is a former Cape Junior Ballet and Cape Town City Ballet ballerina with a passion for reading and just spending quality time with her family. “

By |2018-08-13T15:21:16+02:00August 13th, 2018|Entrepreneurship|0 Comments
Copyright © EM Solutions 2025