Jayson Bulterman powers ahead

Power steering may be a lucrative field, but it’s not without its challenges – as Jayson Bulterman, owner of Power Steering Solutions, has learned.

Jayson first entered the industry as a sales rep, working for his uncle. He made a point of learning the technical aspects of the business working in his uncle’s workshop but left after one year. 

At that stage, things were not looking good for Jayson: he had only R16 000 to his name, R14 000 which he owed to other people. So, a call from one of his uncle’s former customers was warmly welcomed – even though he didn’t have the equipment to do the job. That was easily solved though, and Jayson found himself doing his first independent job in his own backyard in 2009.

From there, it made sense to start a business, especially since there was a gap in the Gauteng market. It wasn’t plain sailing though – because banks were reluctant to fund a start-up, he had to borrow money from his wife. 

The business began to grow quickly. In two years, Jayson was able to take on two staff members and move to bigger premises, but his challenges weren’t over. Jayson had a number of issues with his staff, especially when a large group of them decided to leave to start their own business. He maintained his focus though and kept growing the business. 

He discovered a new range of power steering equipment in 2012 and spent the next five years investigating how to bring it to South Africa from Germany. Finally in 2017 he came across a company in Europe that manufactured and trained technicians for electronic testing equipment. He phoned them in April and by October that year had flown over and bought the equipment.

Jayson attributes his success to his willingness to take bold steps and his refusal to let obstacles stop him. He makes a point of treating his team as a family, and trusts them implicitly – and they reward his investment in them with hard work.

Although Jayson has had some very difficult times in the past, he never let this stand in his way. On the contrary, they spurred his determination to do better. In fact in March this year he managed to open another company called Power Steering Supplies and now operates as a wholesale supplier to his own opposition.