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AI Job Automation: What to Expect in the Next 5 Years and How to Stay Ahead of the Game

As the world of technology evolves, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming an increasingly influential force in our lives and careers. With the advent of new and innovative AI technologies, we can expect to see a major transformation of the job market over the next few years.

One of the most significant changes we can expect to see is the automation of a wide range of tasks that were once performed by humans. This shift may seem daunting at first, but it’s important to keep in mind that it will also lead to the creation of new job opportunities.

Here are just a few of the areas where AI is expected to have a major impact:

Data entry and processing: With the help of advanced AI algorithms, vast amounts of data can now be processed and categorized with incredible efficiency and accuracy. This will result in a significant reduction of manual data entry tasks.

Customer service: AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants are already helping many companies handle customer inquiries and support. In the years to come, these systems are only going to become even more advanced and capable of handling even more complex tasks.

Manufacturing and logistics: AI is revolutionizing production processes and reducing the need for manual labor in manufacturing and logistics. This technology can be used to optimize production runs, streamline supply chains, and minimize waste, ultimately improving efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Sales and marketing: By analyzing customer data, AI can predict which customers are most likely to make a purchase, allowing companies to tailor their sales and marketing efforts with greater precision. AI can also automate tasks such as lead generation and email campaigns, freeing up valuable time and resources for sales and marketing teams.

Healthcare: AI is having a major impact on healthcare by automating many tasks and improving patient outcomes. For example, AI algorithms can be used to process medical images, diagnose illnesses, and develop personalized treatment plans.

As AI continues to shape the job market, it’s important for individuals to embrace new opportunities and develop new skills. Fields such as AI development, data analysis, and cybersecurity will likely be in high demand, and those who invest in these areas will be well positioned for success in the years to come.

In conclusion, AI is not something to be feared, but rather an exciting opportunity to be embraced and utilized to its full potential. The next five years are going to be an incredible time for AI, and we can’t wait to see the impact it will have on the job market and beyond!

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Maximizing Your Earnings with ChatGPT: A Guide for Aspiring AI Experts

Are you interested in making money with AI but not sure where to start? OpenAI’s ChatGPT is a powerful tool that has the potential to provide new opportunities for monetization and help you turn your AI expertise into a profitable venture. In this blog post, we will explore how you can use ChatGPT to earn money online, even if you are new to the field of AI.

  1. Offer ChatGPT-powered Customer Service: One of the easiest ways to get started with earning money using AI is by offering ChatGPT-powered customer service. Customer service is a critical component of any business, and many companies struggle to keep up with the volume of inquiries they receive. That’s where ChatGPT comes in – it can provide quick and personalized responses to customers 24/7, freeing up human customer service representatives to focus on more complex inquiries. By offering ChatGPT-powered customer service to businesses, you can earn a recurring income stream by charging a monthly fee for your services.
  2. Develop AI-powered Chatbots for E-commerce: Another way to earn money with ChatGPT is by developing AI-powered chatbots for e-commerce websites. Chatbots are becoming increasingly popular for online retailers as they provide instant support and recommendations to customers. With ChatGPT, you can create custom chatbots that can help e-commerce websites improve the customer experience. By developing chatbots for e-commerce websites, you can earn a one-time fee for your services and potentially earn recurring revenue through ongoing maintenance and updates.
  3. Create ChatGPT-powered Virtual Assistants: Virtual assistants are becoming more and more common in both personal and professional settings. With ChatGPT, you can create virtual assistants that can perform a range of tasks, such as scheduling appointments, answering frequently asked questions, and even making recommendations. As demand for virtual assistants continues to grow, there is a huge opportunity for aspiring AI experts to develop and sell these systems to businesses and individuals. You can earn money by charging a fee for your virtual assistant services or by selling the software outright.
  4. Offer ChatGPT Training and Consultation Services: Finally, you can monetize your AI expertise by offering ChatGPT training and consultation services to businesses and individuals. As ChatGPT continues to grow in popularity, there will be an increasing demand for experts who can help organizations and individuals understand and effectively utilize this technology. By offering training and consultation services, you can earn a fee for your expertise and help others take advantage of the potential of ChatGPT.

In conclusion, there are many ways for aspiring AI experts to use ChatGPT to earn money online. Whether you are interested in offering customer service, developing chatbots, creating virtual assistants, or offering training and consultation services, the potential for monetization is significant. Keep in mind that the key to success is staying up-to-date with the latest advancements in AI technology and marketing your services effectively. Don’t be intimidated by the fact that you are new to AI – with the right tools and resources, you can quickly become an expert and start earning money with ChatGPT.

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When Stocks Stop Being Sexy – Why I’m Buying Tesla

These are scary times. The market is the most volatile that it’s been since the crash in march 2020 during the first lockdown. Tesla is down over 25% from its high share price to below $660 as of this video. Friends keep asking me: Is it time to sell? Is this the end of the run?

Well, something big is happening and I want to share it with you. 

Tesla is one of the most talked-about companies in the market and one of the most popular to trade. There are hundreds of YouTube channels dedicated to their cars and many dedicated to their stock.

So why should you listen to me?

Please don’t take it lightly when I say that I’m VERY familiar with Tesla. I’ve been following the company since they released the first roadster in 2008. I actually founded a company, InOrbis Intercity, that uses exclusively Tesla vehicles for city-to-city travel, in 2015. During that time I have owned several models of Tesla and have driven and ridden in virtually every model and trim that has been released to-date. We’ve had cars with upwards of 400,000km of use and we’ve driven nearly 3 million km in total with travelers in the past 5 years. We gather feedback from our drivers and our customers on the safety, comfort, maintenance, energy costs, and reliability of Teslas every single day.

I know a lot about these cars and about the company. Let me tell you, until about 5 days ago, I thought Tesla’s share price has been overvalued. And I’ve thought that since 2018.

This is not easy for me. But I’m here to tell you that I was wrong and that I’ve changed my mind about Tesla and also what I’m going to do about it.

Here’s how I changed my mind. And trust me, it wasn’t easy. 

Full disclosure, I’ve been bullish on Tesla’s products for a long time. In my opinion, Tesla makes the best cars on the market. Full Stop. And they only get better every day. We’ve had nothing but positive feedback and experiences in our fleet with the vehicles. There certainly are downsides to owning a Tesla but the software and driving experience make up for any of the negative experiences with the company that we’ve had to this point.

Unfortunately for me (and my wallet), I’ve been bearish on their stock price until now, thinking that it was just the ‘popular kid on the block’ and eventually, the price would come back down to earth. I was sure that Tesla would eventually get bought up by Apple or another large auto-manufacturer and their cars would live on as a sub-brand. I even created an extremely detailed valuation model and wrote a 30-page report on why Tesla was overvalued back in January of 2018 when their stock price was $200 (pre-stock split).

I was absolutely positive that Tesla was not going to make it. They’d soon run out of money and that the only way for them to keep going was if they got bought out.

In my defence, I was almost right! Tesla almost went bankrupt. Apple ALMOST bought them. Elon almost had to give up leading his dream of electrification (twice).

But then they delivered; first on the Model 3, and then the Model Y. They’ve hit target after target and even delivered very nearly half a million cars in 2020, during one of the most difficult years in recent memory for many of us. Tesla has been on an absolute tear for so long that I finally bought in around the time that their stock split. I didn’t buy much though. I still thought they were overvalued and that the run would end.

To summarize, I’ve thought Tesla stock was overvalued for a LONG time.

Lots of people are saying that Tesla would have to have a 50% market share of the entire automotive industry to hit its current valuation. I believed them. Until now.

It turns out that’s just not true!

I won’t go into detail here but in future posts and videos on my YouTube channel, I’m going to show you how, even with an extremely conservative (high) discount rate, Tesla is actually undervalued. And it’s probably undervalued at $800 per share, too. You can check out my valuation by clicking this link.

I’ve changed my mind on Tesla. I’m now bullish on the product AND on the stock.

I am going to buy shares of Tesla, and keep buying until they hit my price target, and maybe even more after that depending on a few factors. I bought shares in after-hours today at a price of $651. If they keep dropping, I’ll keep buying.

As meet Kevin says, I’m throwing my money into the fireplace! As the price of Tesla falls I’ll be Buyin’… The… Dip…!!!

Numbers don’t lie, and I am confident in my numbers.

There’s also a move that Tesla could make that would double my price target. Sign up to my Patreon to find out what that is.

My targets are not based on any dreams of a full-autonomous revolution and of Tesla taking the MaaS (Mobility-as- a-Service) market over with their Tesla Network app (although that certainly wouldn’t hurt my valuation).

My targets are based solely on EV sales and on Tesla’s planned expansion of production. Not on a guess, but on their actual, stated manufacturing targets.

Before I tell you why I’m doing this. Please don’t JUST listen to what I’m saying and start buying because I said so!!! Do your homework! Make your own decisions! I am not a financial advisor so please don’t sue me if I’m wrong!

If you decide you want to buy too. Click this link to get Wealthsimple and get $10 to start trading on top of being able to make trades absolutely free!

OK, here’s what you CAN do and what I did: Make a valuation spreadsheet and understand what the intrinsic value of Tesla is. If you want to learn how to do this, I have a course that I’m building on how to value a company, get more info on that in my Patreon group. 

To get a good head start today, though, just Google discounted cash flow statements and fundamental valuation.

Learn about the business you want to value. Learn what they do and how they do it. Learn about its competitors and the technology that they use. Learn everything you can because you need to know what you’re investing in if you want to be successful. Then, build your model. Predict how much they’re going to make over the next several years and decide if the company is worth investing in. Invest until the business hits your target valuation or until you get new information that changes your mind.

So why is Tesla undervalued?

For me, this all comes down to something that many people glossed over at the time it was announced back in September. The media barely talked about it, because, I think it was too abstract for most people. What is was is Tesla’s internal battery production goal. That’s right. The key factor is how many batteries Tesla is going to manufacture in-house. That number is 3-Terawatt-hours by 2030. That’s huge! It’s 3000x more than what they produced in 2020. And that’s purely for cars and energy storage.

Because that’s their internal production target, and they’ve stated that they’re going to buy every battery their existing partners can make for the foreseeable future. I think it’s fairly conservative to use that 3TWh/year production target as a benchmark for calculating Tesla’s share price. All I had to do from there is work backward to find the size of each car battery and divide to find the number of cars they plan to produce. If Tesla can keep selling as many cars as they can produce (and I think they can because the demand for autonomous EVs is enormous), then this tells me exactly what Tesla’s sales curve is going to look like over the next years. Peek over a few Elon tweets and stats on their expenses and margin targets and we’ve got our future cash flow statement.

Fundamentally, Tesla is leading the way in EVs and in autonomous tech. Those two technologies ARE the future of transportation. They have the technology, they have the manufacturing capacity and they have the talent and the plan to make it happen.

I now think that this will happen and that it’s a great bet. Whether you do is up to you.

Remember: Do your research. If you’re confident in what you’ve found. Take a deep breath and make your call. You can do this.

For now, that’s all.

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I lost $70,000 – The Beautiful Problem with Bitcoin

gold bitcoin

What is Bitcoin?

In the simplest terms, Bitcoin is a decentralized way to make transactions.

Bitcoin is the first ‘cryptocurrency’. It is the first and most popular way that we have so far to conduct transactions digitally and, theoretically at least, securely and without an intermediary.

A transaction means to buy or sell something. Normally, when we buy or sell things digitally, a third party or ‘intermediary’, usually a bank, validates each transaction and makes sure that neither party is trying to scam anyone, for example, by sending the same money to two different people at the same time.

The decentralized part of Bitcoin means that it is not necessary to trust one company or individual to keep an accurate log of your transaction or to verify it because everyone has a log of every transaction (this is oversimplified but is essentially how it works). A copy of all the transactions that have ever happened is stored on every Bitcoin user’s hardware. This log of transactions is called the blockchain.

Basically, Bitcoin is a tool that people can use to buy and sell things without having to rely on a bank as a middle-man.

Is Bitcoin a good alternative to use as money to complete transactions? Is Bitcoin a good long-term investment? Well, as with most things in life, it depends.

Here’s what’s good about Bitcoin.

  1. Bitcoin is in Limited Supply – There will only ever be 21 million bitcoin in existence. Because of the way bitcoin is designed, it is ‘deflationary’. That means that no more than 21 million Bitcoin can ever be made or ‘mined’. So if people want it, the price should keep going up because they won’t be able to make any more of it. This differentiates bitcoin from regular money or ‘fiat’ currency. With fiat money like USD, CAD, and most other national currencies, governments continually introduce new money into circulation. For example, in the US, 26% of all US dollars that have ever existed were created in 2020. These types of money are called ‘inflationary’ because the supply is not constrained. What this means, in practice, is that dollars tend to buy less every year that you hold onto them. Other commodities like gold, tend to increase in value over time because there is a limited supply, and creating more gold is difficult because you have to find it or mine it. Bitcoin, similarly, is limited to 21 million bitcoins, ever. As of February 2021, we’re at about 18.5 million Bitcoin in existence and it takes a lot of computing power to generate a new Bitcoin. Because the supply of Bitcoin is constrained, as long as the demand keeps rising, the price for Bitcoin should also rise. 
  2. Bitcoin is Easily Divisible – The smallest unit of bitcoin is called a ‘Satoshi’ and it’s one hundred-millionth (0.00000001) of a Bitcoin. Right now, one USD = 2,037 Satoshi. Dollars, like Bitcoin are divisible into cents. This makes it easy to buy something that costs less than a full unit. Gold was a good currency in the past for this reason as well. Because it is malleable, you can easily break up a block of gold into smaller chunks. Often, prices were measured in the weight of gold or other precious metals. The British Pound, in fact, used to be called the ‘Pound Sterling’ and gets its name because it used to be the case that British money was measured in pounds of sterling silver. In 1865, a person could exchange 1 US dollar for 1.5 grams of gold. Bitcoin, like gold and money is easily divisible, so that means you can easily buy smaller and larger things with it.
  3. It is Fairly Secure – Bitcoin is called a ‘cryptocurrency’ for good reason. It is built on cryptography – the science of cracking codes. The foundations of Bitcoin are based on something called a Secure Hash Algorithm. Secure hash functions make it very difficult to reverse engineer a private key from a public key. Taking a step back, for each bitcoin wallet there are two keys, a private key and a public key. The public key is like your address, it tells people where they can deliver your Bitcoin. The private key, is more like the key to your front door. With the private key, you gain access to all of the bitcoin inside of the wallet. What this means, in practice, is that it is very difficult to guess someone’s private key. In fact, it’s so difficult that, with today’s technology, we can say that it is impossible. I say that Bitcoin is ‘fairly’ secure because breaking into someone’s wallet can happen through more ways than picking the lock on their front door. Unfortunately, most people have to go outside. What this means in our analogy for Bitcoin is that people need to access their bitcoin and doing this often leads to them interacting with third parties like cryptocurrency exchanges (think BlockFi or Wealthsimple Crypto). Quantum computers may also pose a risk to the integrity of Bitcoin’s algorithm. More on that later. Essentially, Bitcoin is incredibly secure, it’s only when you introduce complexities (like exchanges) that you run into challenges.
  4. It’s Popular – Six days ago, on Feb 19, 2021 the market capitalization of Bitcoin hit $1 Trillion. Major companies like Tesla and Apple are starting to hold some of their cash in Bitcoin. In fact, Tesla has made more money from the increase in price of Bitcoin than it has from car sales to-date. The total market capitalization of Gold is $10 Trillion, that means that Bitcoin is about 1/10th the size of Gold in terms of total value in existence. The total market capitalization of Silver is around $1.5 Trillion, so Bitcoin is almost as big as silver! That’s good news for Bitcoin because the fact that it is so popular means that it is in demand, and as long as people want it, and the supply remains constrained, the price should keep rising. Bitcoin being popular is also good because it means that it’s more likely that someone will let you use it to buy things with. PayPal recently started allowing users to buy and sell goods with Bitcoin and BlockFi is releasing one of the first credit cards that delivers 1.5% ‘cash-back’ in the form of BTC (the symbol for Bitcoin).
  5. It has been (extremely) Profitable – in 2015, I bought one Bitcoin from a Bitcoin ATM in Toronto Canada for $300. The price of Bitcoin passed $70,000 Canadian last week. That’s a 23,000% return on investment in only 6 years! Some analysts predict that the price of Bitcoin may exceed $500,000 in the next few years. Obviously, continued profitability will depend on continued demand. Because the supply of Bitcoin is constrained, as long as the demand keeps increasing, the price of Bitcoin will as well.

There are a lot of great things to say about Bitcoin. Full disclosure, about 10% of my portfolio is in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies #DogeToTheMoon. However, there are also some potentially catastrophic downsides as well. I wouldn’t feel comfortable releasing a video on any subject if I didn’t cover both the positives and the drawbacks. 

There are a few problems with Bitcoin, some of them major.

  1. Scalability Problem – Bitcoin transactions are fairly slow to process (the network is capped at about 7 transactions per second), this is known as the ‘scalability problem’ and it has a number of solutions that range from bundling transactions to involving intermediaries and even creating offshoot cryptocurrencies with higher transaction capacities (see Bitcoin Cash). This is a problem because if you want something to be useful as money, it needs to be able to be used quickly. Visa, for example, handles about 65,000 transactions per second. For Bitcoin to take its place as money it needs be able to change hands much quicker than is possible right now.
  2. Trust Problem – Most of the time, people are not interacting directly with the blockchain and are going through a trusted intermediary to buy and sell Bitcoin i.e. buying Bitcoin through BlockFi or Wealthsimple Crypto. One of the main benefits of bitcoin that we discussed previously was it ‘decentralized’ nature. Unfortunately, without an intermediary, it can be difficult to buy and sell Bitcoin. This opens up some of the same trust and security issues that we have with traditional digital currencies.
  3. Energy Problem – Bitcoin is really all about energy. In order to make sure that transactions are valid, a whole bunch of computing power is required. The creation of Bitcoin, similarly involves the use of massive amounts of computing power and, therefore energy. Recent estimates put annual Bitcoin Mining energy consumption at around 121.36 terawatt-hours per year. This is 1/5 of the energy that the country of Canada uses in an entire year.
  4. Intrinsic Value Problem – One of the problems with Bitcoin is that it does not have any real-world use outside of buying and selling things. While it is a useful tool for buying and selling other real-world goods and services, Bitcoin has no use outside of this. Throughout history, metals like gold and sliver were used as money, but they were also highly sought after because they could be used for other purposes like making jewelry, and later in electronics. The money that we use today, dollars, is similar to Bitcoin in that it does not have any intrinsic value. The property that gives money its value today is simply that other people will accept it. Some economists argue that fiat money (the kind of money we use today) gets its value from the fact that you need it to pay your taxes. 
  5. Disappearing Problem  – If you lose your private key, your Bitcoin is as good as gone forever. One man lost $250 million in Bitcoin when his girlfriend threw out his old laptop. I myself lost a Bitcoin when the receipt paper that my private key was printed on faded into oblivion. That cryptographic hash function is definitely secure. I tried every method I could to retrieve the missing Bitcoin including using UV light to try to decipher the faded paper and making an Excel script to try to guess the missing digits. No luck! That Bitcoin is gone forever.
  6. Hedging Problem – Assets like gold and silver tend to be less volatile than the stock market (they go up and down in value less often). Investors often hold gold and silver as a ‘hedge’ to stocks because, often, when the stock market falls, the price of gold and silver rises. So far, Bitcoin has traded in the same direction as the stock market, so if the stock market is falling, so is Bitcoin. That could make Bitcoin a poor choice as a ‘hedge’ against market fluctuations. (Of note, on February 25, 2021 as of market close, many stocks were down almost 10%, Bitcoin, as of this writing is only down 4% on the day. Could this be a sign of a reducing correlation between Bitcoin and the stock market?)
  7. Volatility Problem – The price of Bitcoin is very volatile compared to fiat currency. Although the price trends upward, Bitcoin often drops in value by 10% or more in a single day and has dropped in value by as much as 65% in one month! Imagine buying a jug of milk for $10 today, and then, next month when you went to the store to buy milk, that same jug of milk cost you nearly $30, that is what a 65% drop in the value of the dollar would look like. It would be very difficult to predict how much money you needed to buy groceries and meet your basic needs.
  8. Copycat Problem – Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency in existence. Many others exist that are built on similar principles. Etherium, the second most popular cryptocurrency, for example, has a market capitalization of almost $200 billion, so it is comparable gold and silver in relative market sizes. Theoretically, a new, better cryptocurrency could emerge at any time. Maybe that new cryptocurrency helps solve one of the problems with other cryptocurrencies mentioned before like the energy problem or the scalability problem.

Despite the drawbacks, many large companies, governments and individuals are heavily investing into bitcoin and the technology that it is based on. Because of its limited supply and continued popularity, I see few reasons why Bitcoin will not reach $500,000 or even $1 Million in the years to come. Is Bitcoin the future of money? I don’t think so. Governments will not want to give up their control of the money supply and are already investigating ways to digitize their currencies. Many countries have banned Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, citing its use in illicit activities like drug smuggling and money laundering. Governments likely also fear that if Bitcoin takes over as the dominant currency, they will lose the ability to create more money. This would impact their ability to stimulate spending and to reduce the burden of government debt through inflation.

I do believe, however, that Bitcoin is a good long-term investment. It can be a store of wealth that individuals and companies use in addition to other assets and investments. Despite my lost investment, Bitcoin is here to stay and I’ll keep adding it to my portfolio until I see some evidence that its place as the dominant cryptocurrency may be changing.

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Trying to Access CRA Business Aid Programs During an Epidemic

GST Deferral Process

Below is a program introduced by the federal government on March 27, 2020, as part of the so-called COVID-19 relief program. I have outlined my experience trying to take advantage of this program and have had similar experiences with all of the other government programs that are supposed to help relieve stress for businesses during these difficult times.

Deferral of Sales Tax Remittance and Customs Duty Payments

In order to provide support for Canadian businesses during these unprecedented economic times, the Government is deferring Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) remittances and customs duty payments to June 30, 2020.

This measure could provide up to $30 billion in cash flow or liquidity assistance for Canadian businesses and self-employed individuals over the next three months

GST/HST Remittance Deferral

The GST/HST applies to sales of most goods and services in Canada and at each stage of the supply chain. Vendors must collect the GST/HST and remit it (net of input tax credits) with their GST/HST return for each reporting period.

Vendors with annual sales of more than $6 million remit and report monthly, and those with annual sales of $1.5 million to $6 million are able to remit and report on a quarterly basis (or monthly if they choose to). Small vendors can report annually.

The GST/HST amounts collected are generally due by the end of the month following the vendor’s reporting period: e.g., for a monthly filer, the GST/HST amounts collected on its February sales are due by the end of March.

To support Canadian businesses in the current extraordinary circumstances, the Minister of National Revenue will extend until June 30, 2020 the time that:

Monthly filers have to remit amounts collected for the February, March and April 2020 reporting periods

Quarterly filers have to remit amounts collected for January 1, 2020 through March 31, 2020 reporting period; and

Annual filers, whose GST/HST return or instalment are due in March, April or May 2020, have to remit amounts collected and owing for their previous fiscal year and instalments of GST/HST in respect of the filer’s current fiscal year.

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2020/03/additional-support-for-canadian-businesses-from-the-economic-impact-of-covid-19.html

I own a small business headquartered in Calgary, Alberta called InOrbis. We are a city-to-city transportation company and when virtually all businesses cancelled their travel plans our sales and financial position was severely impacted. InOrbis pays GST Quarterly and was going to pay $4028.84 on March 31, 2020, as part of a pre-authorized debit agreement with the CRA through our business account.

As soon as this program was was announced I felt excited because we would have the opportunity to keep paying some of our staff for a few more weeks thanks to the deferral. I logged on to our CRA My Business Account and went to cancel our pre-authorized debit and saw this message.

Because the announcement was made by the government only 4 days before the payment deadline (March 31) there would be no way for us to cancel the payment online.

Screenshot from the CRA My Business site when I tried to cancel our GST payment.

I then attempted to call CRA through their phone line at 1-800-959-5525. For my first call, made at 1:38 PM on Friday March 27 (only a few minutes after the announcement) I was on hold for 2 hours and 31 minutes before the call disconnected. After calling back the line was busy and disconnected automatically. Finally, at 6:30 PM, a call connected and I was informed by a robot voice that the office was closed and I would have to call back on Monday.

On Monday, March 30, 2020 I called again from my phone several times but the call would not go through (Call Failed). 

Finally, I asked my girlfriend to try calling as well through her phone. She was able to get on hold. After waiting for over 1 and a half hours (see call log below) someone answered. Very rudely, this person, a woman, asked what I wanted. Obviously I do not fault her directly, she is probably dealing with the same stressors as the rest of us. I told her that we had a Pre Authorized Debit payment that was scheduled for tomorrow to the Government for GST and that I wanted to cancel it. She then told me that it would require 10 business days’ notice. Yes. 10 business days. 5 days longer than what was listed on the website. I asked her what I could do and she offered no options. I then asked her if I would be charged a fee from the government if the payment from the bank bounced, she did not know. I told her I would try calling my bank. Without saying goodbye she hung up.

As an aside: There must be a majority of businesses that have a pre-authorized payments scheduled for March 31 as it is the end of Q1 and most small businesses remit GST quarterly, so this cannot possibly only affect me. It seems as though this program (along with several others) are merely an illusion or a fabrication that most businesses could never hope to actually access. It scares me that government could be so obviously disingenuous or incompetent so as not to be able to execute as simple of a function as cancelling a payment.

I am now on hold with my bank (RBC) to try to cancel the payment from their side.

Like many businesses, we are struggling and our sales have completely stopped since lockdowns began over two weeks ago.

Update: After speaking with RBC for several hours, they were unable to help me cancel the payment. Finally, a representative recommended that I try to empty the account and take the hit of a $50 NSF in order to have the payment not come out of the account. I did this, but somehow the payment still came out and I now have a negative balance in the account. I will update you soon.

This entire process has been beyond frustrating. While trying to run my business and keep it moving forward, I am trying to apply for these government programs so that we do not fall behind and lose out on funds that have become available. It seems that the government is creating distractions to pull business owners’ attention away from the fact that they have forced us to shut down because they were unprepared to respond to this pandemic with the equipment and medical supplies and medicine that was needed. Instead of spending $200 Billion on business “relief” programs that no one can access, why not spend it on medical masks, vaccine research, health care workers, and ventilators?

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The Story of InOrbis

It was a matter of need.

In 2014 I was working as an engineer in Hanna, Alberta, a town of about 2600 people at a Power Generating Station. I’m a city-boy and my girlfriend, at the time, lived in Edmonton. My family and friends were spread out between Calgary and Edmonton, each about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Hanna. I’d drive out every weekend to see my girlfriend, or my parents, or my friends. After a few months, I became mentally and physically exhausted from all the driving. I was falling behind with my work and my mental health was deteriorating. One day, after being on the road for a gruelling multi-hour road trip, I decided to calculate how much time I was spending driving on the road. It was more than 20 hours per week! That’s basically 50% of a full-time job, fully 12% of all the time one has in a week, doing nothing but staring at an open road.

I wasn’t able to make productive use of my time because I had to focus on driving safely (as we all do), and by the time I arrived at my destination, I was exhausted from focusing for so long. Of course, as an Electrical Engineer, I’ve always been fascinated by technology, particularly autonomous and electric vehicles. I would listen to podcasts about business, books about Elon Musk, and read articles about Tesla, and how companies like Waymo would create fully autonomous vehicles that would reinvent how people travel. I knew I needed to be part of that revolution.

Because I was an electrical engineer, working at a Power Plant, I knew how energy was generated, transmitted and stored, and I knew what it cost and how simple the electric motor was compared to a gasoline engine. I wanted an autonomous car, and an electric car… I wanted a Tesla.  But I had no idea how I could ever afford one. Even making over $100,000 per year as a 23-year-old engineer, a $150,000 car was a big ask.

I can’t say it was an epiphany, but, one day, I did have a big realization. I realized that my time was worth about $50 an hour towards my income and even more for the company I was working for.  If I was spending 20 hours a week on the highway, that equated to over $1000 a week in lost productivity. I knew there were other people who had this problem, especially with commute times perpetually on the rise in North America. There was a way to solve my driving problem, recover my lost time, get a Tesla, and in doing so, help thousands (potentially millions) of others who had the same problem. All I had to do was start a company.

The seed of InOrbis was born. The model was simple, ferry weary business travellers between cities in autonomous electric vehicles. It took me two more years to save the money to purchase our first vehicle, a Tesla Model X. The business model changed a lot over that time. Through countless customer interviews, an incubator, investor pitches and several dozen grant applications, InOrbis Intercity operated our first trip, driving a lawyer and his colleagues from a major firm in Calgary on a same-day round trip to Edmonton in May of 2017.

Why electric? Because of economics. An electric car can cost as little as $0.15 per km to operate (if you drive a lot of kilometres), thanks to low energy costs and almost non-existent maintenance costs. Why autonomous? Because 75% of the cost of a ridesharing service is paying the drivers. Of course, sustainability and safety are key aspects as well, but they are secondary to making a business that can be profitable.

In 2020, we have nearly 20 active owner-operated vehicles in Alberta and are building our business with our core group of clients, namely professionals (doctors, lawyers, judges and, consultants), as well as with eco-tourists and everyday commuters. With our revenue nearly doubling year-over-year, and our operations currently limited to one province, the growth and traction we have seen is inspiring. We are incredibly excited for the opportunity to expand into provinces that are even more EV-friendly like Ontario and BC and into states in the US that are even more business-friendly.

 I will continue to grow InOrbis until the vision is realized, when business travel is no-longer a time- wasting, exhausting slog and getting from A to B, 300 kilometres apart, is as easy as stepping onto an elevator. Until then, we’ve got a lot of work to do.