Reached 5000 Subscribers – Special Thank You Post | Ahmed Dawn (A Dawn) YouTube Channel

A Dawn YouTube Channel Reached 5000 Subs

It feels like just yesterday when I had 60 or 70 subs. Then it passed 1000 one day and kept growing and growing. Today, I am taking a few moments to say thank you and that I’ve appreciated your support all along. It has been a great journey.

Since the beginning, I refused to think inside the box and stay put in one niche on this channel. I understand that creating videos on a variety of topics slows growth, but I never gave up despite 99% of YouTube Gurus constantly telling us to think inside the box, stay with one niche and grow.

I had accepted the outcome (that I would grow much slower for thinking outside the box) before deciding what sort of videos to publish. I would rather be happy and express myself by putting out any videos that interest me and help someone out there, rather than publish the same, niche-specific boring-subject videos day after day, month after month, year after year.

I am happy to tell you that I still got some great subscribers like you who are not afraid to see something new and different and think from a different perspective. I am certain I would have had triple or quadruple the number of subscribers I have today had I chose to stay on a single topic.

But numbers are not what I am after. My objective is to educate and entertain you with something new and different every time and not to let you predict what’s coming next. This is the journey I want to take and I’m not too worried about the destination.

Whether you are with me since Sub 1 or Sub 1000, I appreciate and thank you for supporting this channel and staying with me so far. And remember, always live for the journey, not the destination – the journey is the destination.

The World's Best Countries for Business

Canada Is The Second Best Country for Business in the World in 2014

First Published Date : February 12, 2014 ADawnJournal.com

Bloomberg recently published its annual ranking of the world’s best countries for business and Canada became the second best country on earth for best, only behind Hong Kong.

The top ten countries for business in 2014 are:

1. Hong Kong
2. Canada
3. United States
4. Singapore
5. Australia (tied)
5. Germany (tied)
7. United Kingdom
8. Netherlands
9. Spain
10. Sweden

Bloomberg compiles its list not only based on economy, but on several other factors such as the cost of starting a business, the cost of labour, transportation, and even other factors such as inflation, corruption, and so on.

Canada’s gradual rising in the ranking was a result of various factors such as a lower corporate tax rate, a falling Canadian dollar, and the receptivity of its consumers.

Countries like Ireland (20th from 22nd) and Portugal (17th from 30th) have done well in the ranking, while countries like Brazil (38th from 61th), Russia (44th from 56th), and India (48th from 54th) have done moderately well. China did poorly, falling to the 28th position from the 19th.

Visit Bloomberg Best Countries for Business 2014 to view the full report.

Environmental Job Market To Expand

Green Jobs Will Flourish

First Published Date: December 7, 2013 ADawnJournal.com

The current financial situation worldwide has reached such a point that a number of industries are suffering from severe cutbacks, and experts in a range of areas are finding their job prospects marginalized, if not altogether blocked. This is not a situation that anyone is overjoyed about, but for the individuals who find themselves in such situations, public sympathy is pretty cold comfort. Trying to find a way of improving the situation is something that involves a lot of effort – both for the authorities whose place it is to create and nurture the circumstances where it will be less of a problem, and for the individuals who are currently in a position they would not have chosen.

In such a set of circumstances, you can hope that the efforts to improve the situation prove successful – which will inevitably take time – or you can take steps yourself to improve your situation. If you are currently unemployed this may mean taking on short term work in another field. Or you can take steps to increase your employment prospects by up-skilling. The latter is something you can even do if you are in a job at the moment, but fear that it may come under threat in the near or immediate future. And if you are seeking to take this step, one potentially very wise option is in the environmental sector. Although the credit crisis is biting in a range of areas, governments are still aware that they have responsibilities to the environment, and are wisely avoiding taking their eye off that ball.

Alternative energy sources and environmentally-friendly manufacturing – among a number of other things – are being looked at closely by governments and businesses. This is partly out of altruism – no-one really wants to have “I destroyed the planet” as their legacy, after all – and partly out of the fact that eventually, renewable energy sources and materials are going to be vital in terms of keeping a business afloat – the scarcer a product becomes, the higher a premium it will have placed on it. This makes f or opportunities in the environmental science sector, as there remains a lot to be discovered in the sector, and indeed a lot of current knowledge to be refined and put into practice.

There is no way of putting this particular genie back in the bottle. Governments and businesses are now tied to legislation that makes environmental issues impossible to ignore. However much it costs up front, it will save in return when the situation is normalized. And for the individual who learns the ropes of environmental compliance, there will be opportunities to turn that knowledge into a secure job, an income stream and something they can really put into practice. It may even allow some of us to set up our own businesses, thus allowing thousands, even millions of us worldwide the chance to draw our own road map to a greener, brighter future. It’s a journey we are all going to have to take – isn’t it better to be in the driving seat?

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Thegreenlivingblog.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on May 14, 2009.

HSBC Declines Internet Entrepreneurship Bank Account

My First Business Decision to Open an HSBC Business Direct Account Turned Out To Be a Wrong One

First Published Date : April 25, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

I have incorporated my Internet Activities in December, 2010. All my websites and domains are now under my new corporation A Dawn Dot Net Corp. – a Canadian federally incorporated business entity. How long does it take to federally incorporate a business in Canada? You will be surprised to know that it took me only slightly more than 24 hours to start my new corporation. How long does it take you to open a business account in Canada? Well, it all depends on which bank you pick. My first business decision choosing HSBC Canada to open my business account turned out to be a bad decision and became a nightmare. After leaving me hanging for 3 weeks, they told me that they would have to decline my application as they did not know what Internet Entrepreneurship was because they never dealt with this type of business before. Today, I will give you some insights into how my first wrong business decision to open a free HSBC Business Direct Account caused pain and agony.

Week 1

I walked into an HSBC branch located on 1940 Eglinton Avenue East in Toronto to apply for a Business Direct account. I was told by the branch that for this account I had to apply online and the branch was unable to provide me any help. So, I returned home and applied online. I was told on the confirmation email that I should hear from an HSBC Business Banking representative within 1 business day. However, 3 or 4 days passed and I did not receive any emails or calls from anyone regarding my application status. Finally, I ended up calling their business customer service. The business banking representative was friendly and apologized for not getting back to me. He interviewed me intensely regarding Internet entrepreneurship. I had to explain to him what a domain is, how we make money from ads on websites, the various faces of Internet entrepreneurship and much more. I had to show him a few of my websites and after a long conversation he seemed to be satisfied. He mentioned that I should be hearing from someone at the branch to visit and produce my corporate documents once my account is approved and that it should not take more than 2-3 days. A point worth mentioning is that I received a bankcard from HSBC in the mail even without even having my bank account approved.

Week 2

About 5 days passed and so far I did not receive any calls or emails from anyone. My Cuba trip was approaching, so I decided to call HSBC business customer service again. To my surprise, this rep asked me the same questions I was asked by the first rep. So I had to explain everything to him all over again. It was like a job interview. I was getting a little agitated. However, he apologized for the delay and mentioned that it should not take more than 2-3 days to get an answer. I mentioned to him that I would be in Cuba for a week. He assured me that I should have an answer before I return.

Week 3

Upon returning from Cuba, I checked my email and Canada Post mail box for any correspondence from HSBC. There was nothing. No rejection notice, no acceptance notice, no nothing. I called their business banking number again. This time, I summarized what happened so far so he did not have to start interviewing me again on Internet entrepreneurship. After listening to me, he mentioned that HSBC never dealt with business bank accounts for Internet entrepreneurship before and they are unable to issue a business bank account. I should be receiving a formal rejection letter within the next few days from HSBC. This rejection letter came to me after 2 weeks, not after a few days. And the funny thing is, although they declined opening an account for me, I still have been receiving a statement every month from HSBC. Their one department keeps issuing a monthly statement not knowing that other department declined my account. I am attaching a copy of this statement on top left of this post.

Final Word

I wasted all of December trying to open a bank account with HSBC Bank Canada. When I went to RBC Royal Bank to open a business account, they managed to do that in one day. I regretted going to HSBC the first time. HSBC claims to be “The World’s Local Bank.” However, they are far from providing world-class service to be considered the world’s local bank.

What is Outsourcing?

Outsourcing 101

First Published: September 12, 2010 ADawnJournal.com

The word outsourcing is often a bad word in North America. When people hear it they think of people losing their jobs to someone oversees. However, how much does everyone really know about outsourcing?

Outsourcing is essentially contracting someone out of the business to do something that had previously been done within the business. So, two organizations enter into an agreement that involves the exchange of services and payments. Companies these days can outsource to contractors within the same country, or to other businesses in another nation in an effort to save money. This is called offshore outsourcing and it is very popular among larger companies.

So, why does a company choose to use outsourcing?

1.   The first reason is that it is cheaper. The overall cost for the service to a company is much lower because they can either pay less, or not have to pay benefits. By using off-shore outsourcing, companies can pay the workers there a fraction what they pay workers in the developed world.

2.   The company may want to focus on its core business and therefore leave everything else to outsourcing. For example, the company may want to focus on making paper, so it outsources its customer service to another customer service company.

3.   A company may want to restructure its cost structure. They may want to balance the ratio of fixed and variable costs by moving things outside the company.

4.   Sometimes outsourcing is done in an effort to improve the quality of the service or product of the company. If the company makes computer chips and does not have good customer service, they may outsource the customer service to a company that has better customer service.

5.   The company may want to get access to another talent pool, which can help the company in the long run.

6.   The company may use outsourcing as a way to enhance the capacity for innovation within the company. The company will use external knowledge service providers to help the company.

7.   The company may want to use outsourcing as a way to deal with risk management for some risks, and an outsourced company may be able to handle those risks better.

8.   Some companies will use venture capital as a way to outsource because some countries match government funds in venture capital with private venture capital for new businesses starting up.

9.   There is a tax benefit for companies who outsource sometimes. Countries offer tax incentives to companies who move their manufacturing operations to another country.

10.   An outsourced company is often better able to manage the increase or decrease in production, making it easier for a company to make money.

11.   Some companies, especially for small businesses, there is the desire to outsource work so that work-leisure time can be maximized and balanced. By having someone else deal with computer issues, the business owner does not have to deal with it themselves.

In some cases outsourcing can be bad, but in other ways it can be very beneficial for a country and a company.