The Road to CA Podcast

In today’s episode, we are joined by Rudy Witkowski CA(SA), the Half-Week Accountant and fractional CFO.

We chat about how your network and ability to meet and deal with other people is your greatest differentiator in your career and in your articles.

We also chat about:

• How choosing a gap year after articles instead of a secondment led to backpacking through Asia and teaching English;
• Why qualifying as a CA is the starting point, not the destination;
• How external audit developed his people skills, credibility, communication, and resilience;
• Why positivity only matters when it is backed by competence, reliability, and consistency;
• The lessons he learned from competing on Tropica Island of Treasure, including teamwork, communication, mental toughness, and never taking your eyes off the prize;
• Why turning a passion into a full-time career can sometimes negatively change your relationship with it;
• How Rudy moved into fractional CFO work and developed the Half-Week Accountant model;
• Why CAs should focus on the value of their skill instead of simply counting hours;
• Why delivering work too early can reduce its perceived value and create more pressure;
• How saying “we” and presenting yourself as part of a team or entity builds trust and credibility;
• Why you should never say, “I’ve never done that before”;

Enjoy!

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03:15 - How travel and a gap year after articles sparked the freedom bug

08:28 - Why CA is a starting point, not the end of the journey

09:20 - People skills, positivity, and credibility in audit

13:10 - Ethics, competence, and character in professional life

14:49 - The Tropica Island of Treasure experience

15:57 - Why you should never take your eyes off the prize

18:01 - Why your network is your strongest asset

20:55 - The pressure of turning a passion into a full-time career

23:16 - Why side passions can remain valuable outside your career

24:50 - Working smarter, not harder, in finance

28:47 - Why CAs should value skill over clock-watching

29:52 - Why you should never deliver early just to look fast

33:25 - The danger of getting overloaded with extra work

34:07 - Why saying “we” builds trust and credibility

38:33 - Never say, “I’ve never done that before”

39:48 - Learning HubSpot overnight and saying yes to opportunity

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Connect with Rudi on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudiwitkowsky/

Connect with me on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alunga-madala

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Follow us on Instagram - @the_rdtoca

Follow us on LinkedIn - The Road to CA Podcast

Subscribe to our YouTube - @TheRoadtoCAPodcast

We survived busy season and are finally back!

Today, we discuss my top 10 lessons from Q2 for your knowledge, wisdom and application:

1. Be patient, never passive (The Sign-off Stack and Optimal Asymmetry career strategies)
2. To be the real deal: show, don't tell but don't show too much (On being brilliant enough, and no more)
3. What's sweet is sweet but short and sweet is even sweeter (On networking with execs)
4. Expectation control is career alchemy (Kant, Phenomenology, & Over-delivering through simply under-promising)
5. You are not what you have, but what you give (On qualities & The Four Agreements)
6. Wherever you are, there you are (On projecting the life you want to live)
7. With people, always guess up, never guess down (On giving the benefit of the doubt in networking)
8. Youth and a notebook is a charming thing (Sun Tzu's wisdom of why there are masters all around us)
9. It's about what you know, who you know, who knows you and what they know you for (The Diary of A CEO's lesson on knowledge, skills, network, social proof, reputation & The Networking Equation)
10. People who forget you seem to owe you (Robert Cialdini's Reciprocity x Dale Carnegie's Remembering names principles)

And of course, we chat about more :)

Enjoy!

P.S. If you want the video version, head over to YouTube here

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Connect with me on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alunga-madala

________________________________________

Follow us on Instagram - @the_rdtoca

Follow us on LinkedIn - The Road to CA Podcast

Subscribe to our YouTube - @TheRoadtoCAPodcast

Once more, we are joined by Grant Greeff - CA(SA), CEO of Paradise Games Bahamas, and one of the most people-obsessed leaders you'll meet.

We chat about how you should go about finding a mentor.

We also chat about:

• Why Grant moved his family to the Bahamas and how it was a move towards, not away;
• The Lekker Network - the "10th province" of SA and how expat South Africans are still building home from abroad;
• Dollar revenue, rand overhead and the real maths behind working internationally;
• Compounding, dollar-cost averaging, and diversification as metaphors for career and life, and more.

Enjoy!

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Listen to Part 1:

Spotify

Apple Podcasts

YouTube

________________________________________

Connect with me on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alunga-madala

________________________________________

Follow us on Instagram - @the_rdtoca

Follow us on LinkedIn - The Road to CA Podcast

Subscribe to our YouTube - @TheRoadtoCAPodcast

We are joined by Grant Greeff - CA(SA), CEO of Paradise Games Bahamas, former MD at SuperSport Bet, and deeply reflective leader.

We chat about his journey from waiting tables to serving in the C suite, and how unconventional roads lead to extraordinary places.

We also chat about:

• How Grant started his CA journey as an academic trainee at UCT - while running his own business;
• How serving at an event led to him doing Pick and Pay articles;
• The power of having your story ready and being open to experience;
• Why your degree is not your portfolio, and how to start building one now;
• Grant's Career XP formula: Time × Exposure Rate;
• Respecting the role, not just the person - a lesson from meeting politicians, and more.

Enjoy!

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Check out CANDID: https://www.youtube.com/@grantgreeff

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Connect with me on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alunga-madala

________________________________________

Follow us on Instagram - @the_rdtoca

Follow us on LinkedIn - The Road to CA Podcast

Subscribe to our YouTube - @TheRoadtoCAPodc

In today's solo episode, we explore what it means to explore a singular path to your dreams on the road to CA(SA).

We chat about some thoughts and ideas on becoming the best CA only you can be - and why authenticity is differentiation in the market of value creators.

We go over:

1. How to get rich (without getting lucky) by Naval Ravikant
2. Productive yourself by Naval Ravikant
3. Meditations on talent by Kevin Kelly inter alia.
4. Do the Wrong Thing by Alunga Madala
5. If by Rudyard Kipling
6. An ode to the fools by Alunga Madala

Enjoy!

Once more, we are joined by Mohamed Ebrahim Tayob - CA(SA), founder and host of the Chat EBT Show, and entrepreneur.

We chat about doing what you love :)

We also chat about:

• Why he recently left corporate;
• The story of how he started his podcast Chat EBT;
• Steve Jobs’ failure story that led to his being fired from Apple;
• Why starting is the gift not to the world but to yourself;
• Starting his fractional IA consultancy, You H8 Admin;
• His experience working for a US firm remotely;
• Transferable skills from his podcast work into his other professional work;
• Businesses stories of failure towards success and more.

Enjoy!

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Listen to Part 1:

Spotify

Apple Podcasts

YouTube

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Check out Chat EBT Show

________________________________________

Connect with me on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alunga-madala

________________________________________

Follow us on Instagram - @the_rdtoca

Follow us on LinkedIn - The Road to CA Podcast

Subscribe to our YouTube - @TheRoadtoCAPodcast

Today, we are joined by Mohamed Ebrahim Tayob - CA(SA), founder and host of the Chat EBT Show, and entrepreneur.

We chat about his experience with shorter articles through RPL and what it meant for his career.

We also chat about:

• Taking the plunge of being yourself;
• The power of singular purpose and vision;
• Why we should zoom out on our careers to contextualise our failures;
• Why the greatest businesspeople are not the best musicians, but the best conductors;
• How the CA journey shapes you into a leader, and more.

Enjoy!

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Check out Chat EBT Show

________________________________________

Connect with me on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alunga-madala

________________________________________

Follow us on Instagram - @the_rdtoca

Follow us on LinkedIn - The Road to CA Podcast

Subscribe to our YouTube - @TheRoadtoCAPodcast

Today, we are joined by Oreel Reddy, CA(SA), ACMA and CGMA, and Finance & Operations Manager at Avanti Coffee Company.

We chat about how persistence, humility and staying in the fire long enough can shape both your career and your character.

We also chat about:

• His unconventional route to becoming a CA(SA) His unconventional route to becoming a CA(SA) through the CIMA-SAICA reciprocal agreement;
• Self-funding and studying part-time through UNISA;
• The fire and humility of articles;
• Why communication and storytelling are becoming critical skills for finance professionals;
• The difference between understanding numbers and influencing people;
• Why many aspiring professionals give up a little quicker than they should;
• His old school’s “brick by brick” initiative and the importance of building legacy within communities;
• What South Africa can learn from China’s culture of efficiency and innovation, and more.

Enjoy!

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Check out the MVSS brick initiative

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Connect with me on LinkedIn: Alunga Madala LinkedIn

Follow us on Instagram - @the_rdtoca

Follow us on LinkedIn - The Road to CA Podcast LinkedIn

Once more, we are joined by Amo Tia Mawela, award-winning CA trainee at AGSA and community developer.

We chat about how perseverance and never settling for the easy path took her through her part-time postgraduate studies.

We also chat about:

• Her brief explorations in tax articles;
• Getting a job in estate wealth consulting at a bank during her part-time CTA studies;
• The non-linear nature of the CA journey but also why it’s definitely not indefinite, and more.

Enjoy!

_________________________________________

Listen to Part 1:

Spotify

Apple Podcasts

YouTube

_________________________________________

Connect with me on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alunga-madala

_________________________________________

Follow us on Instagram - @the_rdtoca

Follow us on LinkedIn - The Road to CA Podcast

Subscribe to our YouTube - @TheRoadtoCAPodcast

Today, we are joined by Amo Tia Mawela, award-winning CA trainee at AGSA and community developer.

We chat about how she found we find ourselves on our journey through failure.

We also chat about:

• How ambition led her to the accounting degree;
• The battles of embarrassment when you repeat a year;
• Self-complexity in your identity and why a hobby will save your life;
• Her journey of joining NPO Keep That Gold Shining, and more.

Enjoy!

_________________________________________

Connect with me on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alunga-madala

_________________________________________

Follow us on Instagram - @the_rdtoca

Follow us on LinkedIn - The Road to CA Podcast

Subscribe to our YouTube - @TheRoadtoCAPodcast