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.

5 Simple Tips To Motivate Employees

Tips To Motivate Employees

First Published: Dec 1, 2012 EntrepreneurJourney.com

We may think money is the number one medium to fire up employees’ motivation; however, the reality may be totally different. Today, I will discuss five simple steps that can make employees motivated and ready to embrace more challenge. 

Personality Matters - If you can bring out happiness, you got motivation automatically. Find out what your employees are passionate about and what they don't like to do. Try to accommodate individuals according their interest and the rest will follow.    

Start A Personal Development Plan - Sit down with your employees and create a personal development plan based on their individuality. As time goes along, monitor how they are performing. Encourage accomplishments - and for those who are not doing well, provide coaching and make necessary adjustments to reach realistic objectives. 

Encourage Growth Opportunities - This isn’t about giving a raise or promotion. Based on your employees’ personality and interest, lead them to a career path they would like better and find more challenging than where they currently are. For example, a different position within the same department or even another position within the same company with a different department. 

Make Employees A Part Of The Company - Profit sharing or bonuses based on the company’s overall annual performance - these or any such tools make employees feel like they are working for their own company and everyone will focus on the company’s profit. 

Don’t Forget Age - Based on age and lifestage, employees will act differently. Young workers tend to change jobs frequently - older workers like to stick to the same company … keeping in mind things like these and assigning projects knowing how age can play a role will motivate the right employees and will make your life a lot easier.

5 Low-Cost Start-Up Business Ideas

Starting A Business on A Budget

First Published: Feb 19, 2012 EntrepreneurJourney.com

Starting a new business is always a good thing. However, it may not be realistic for everyone to start a full-phase business due to lack of money and paperwork requirements. But it does not mean you need to give up. Here are 5 low-cost, no hassle business ideas that should motivate you enough to start your new venture, or to look for other similar ideas to get going with your first business.

Tutoring

Tutoring is almost free to start, and with the least possible paper work. Do not associate tutoring with only teaching kids. You can teach any skills you possess to anyone, young or old. Some possibilities include teaching English, math, physics, computers, music, and so on. If you do not possess the skill to teach something you love, you can learn it first and then start teaching that to others.

Catering

If you have a passion for food and love to cook, catering may be the answer for you. You need to have a license and there may be other requirements to operate a catering business. Please contact your city or municipal authorities to find out more. If you can provide good food at reasonable prices, your catering business can grow very fast. However, because you are dealing with food preparation, food safety rules and regulations have to be maintained at all times.

Accounting and Tax Services

If you are an accountant or tax specialist, you can start your accounting and tax services from your home office. Your target customers will be small businesses and individuals requiring tax preparation, financial planning, bookkeeping, and so on.

Child Care

This may not be for everyone, but if you love working with kids this may be for you. You may need to have a license, depending on where you live. Check with your local authorities what the requirements are before starting a child care service. Very good money can be made providing child care services. You can offer your services to cater to different types of needs such as on the weekend only, daytime hours only, or evenings only.

E-Commerce

With a very low start-up cost, e-commerce can have no boundaries in terms of what types of Internet business you can run from home. It is possible to setup an international business from home with an eBay account and a PayPal account.

Tips for Starting or Buying a Business

Buying an Established Business

First Published: EntrepreneurJourney.com Aug 13, 2011

Entrepreneurs like to build businesses from the ground up by developing ideas and putting the time and effort into it. However, it may not always be realistic to build something from scratch – especially when time is of the essence and ideas seem to not be making sense. Buying an existing business gives some advantages over starting a brand new one. For example, you already have a customer base, a setup procedure that runs the business, and its reputation. On the downside, there is a lot of money to be spent, and you may run into something unexpected, causing you lots of headaches and financial loss. Today, I am going to talk about a few things you should consider before buying a business to make your new venture a smooth and a successful one.

Choose The Right Type of Business – Do not just buy something you are not familiar with just because you think this is where the money is. Buy something that interests you and make sure you have the required skills and knowledge to stick with it for a long time. It is likely that you will be putting in long hours year after year without any break or vacation in your business. If you buy something that does not interest you, for sure you will give it up in just a few months. Also, don’t forget how relevant the business is to your line of experience. If you never drove a taxi cab before or set foot in a garage, it makes no sense to start “Jimmy’s Taxi Cab” – because you are bound to be a failure.

Know You Limits – Have a clear idea of exactly when you can buy, what you can afford to buy, and where you can location wise without constraining your budget.

Get professional Help – It is unlikely that you will know the ins and outs of buying a business. Hiring a professional such as a business broker not only will help you to save time, but will also avoid the unnecessary hassle you need to go through when buying a business. Some of the issues a broker can pinpoint: if the business is hiding anything or has any financial problems, they can inform you on the latest rules and regulations, negotiate with the seller to save you money, help with obtaining licenses and permits to operate the business lawfully, and so on.

Some resources – Here are some websites to help you with your research finding a business.

- International Business Brokers Association

- Biz Buy Sell

- Business Broker

- Business Sell Canada

- Business For Sell Canada

- Biz Match

- Canadian Biz Mart

How to Incorporate a Business in Canada

Steps to Starting or Setting up a Corporation

First Published: Jun 13, 2011 EntrepreneurJourney.com

n Canada, setting up a corporation or incorporating a business is a straightforward process. Depending on the nature of your business and how accurately you file required documents, it is possible to start your new corporation within 1 – 2 business days if you submit your documents online. For example, my own federally incorporated business entity A Dawn Dot Net Corp. was approved in slightly more than 24 hours. Today, I am going to discuss how you can start a corporation in Canada in simple words.

Although there are many small steps involved incorporating a business, at the end it comes down to these three major steps you need to complete to start a corporation in Canada.

 Pick a Name – You need to decide on a name and even before that you need to know whether your corporation is going to be a federally or provincially incorporated corporation. A federally incorporated business can do business anywhere in Canada. A provincially incorporated business will have to be physically in the province where it was incorporated. Once you know what you would like your corporation to be called, you will have to search for your name availability using the NUANS (Newly Upgraded Automated Name Search) and obtain a NUANS name search report.

 Complete Articles of Incorporation – These are the documents that you file with the authority setting out to provide the legal structure of the corporation – in other words, Articles of Incorporation describe a corporation's purpose, rules, and regulations. For example, how many directors there will be. Where the registered office will be located. Where the remaining property goes if corporation winds up. What classes and how many shares the corporation can issue. Can these shares be transferred or should there be restrictions so the corporation remains private? And so on. Articles of Incorporation are what make each corporation unique. Articles of Incorporation are also known as Certificates of Incorporation.

 Submit Documents and Payment – The last step is to submit the documents mentioned above and any other necessary documents along with the payment to Corporation Canada or provincial authority.

Last Word

Although it is possible and may not be difficult to do everything by yourself online, I recommend you seek the expertise and assistance of a qualified professional. While setting up my corporation, I noticed that it would have been difficult for me to fill up some of the forms and submit everything online fast like the way my accountant was able to do. There are so many rules and regulations that I could not have been possibly known, had my accountant not mentioned those to me.