Here’s a random fact that I came across the other day. You know how many celebrities get insurance for their most valuable assets? I’m not talking about taking out a policy for their multi-million dollar homes or high end sports cars. I’m talking more in lines with Jennifer Lopez and her derrière, for example. Well, at least that form of insurance is for something, ahem, physical. The interesting thing is that other items, things that have not even been proven to exist, can be protected.

The famous Loch Ness Monster — known affectionately as Nessie to the locals — is actually protected by the 1912 Protection of Animal Acts of Scotland. Other animals may be on the endangered species list (the bald eagle was recently removed from the list after enjoying significant population gains in recent years), but at least people can prove that they exist. Nessie, on the other hand, is a myth. He/she may or may not exist and no one can say for certain. The most famous photograph of the Loch Ness Monster is known to be a hoax, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Nessie is a fake too. Real or not, he/she is worth at least $40 million to Scottish tourism.

Considering that it is possible to protect something that may or may not exist, you’ve got to wonder: what else can you protect? “Hi, I’d like to take out an insurance policy on the 26 custom-made Lamborghinis I have stored in Dubai.”

I was reading in the local newspaper yesterday that the average working Canadian spends approximately 240 hours each year commuting to and from the office. By and large, this time is wasted each day as we fight our way through rush hour traffic or find ourselves squished inside a public transit vehicle. After all, by taking half an hour to travel each way, twiddling our thumbs or listening to some music, we’re not exactly being all that productive.

The study conducted urges people to make better use of that time and they encourage employers to help ease that process by providing employees with more flexibility, much like how I mentioned last week, except now we’re talking about working professionals rather than entry-level youth workers. They suggest that companies allow employees to work four 10-hour days, for example, instead of a standard five day week. Taking this concept further, telecommuting or working-from-home can also drastically increase productivity, because workers would no longer need to actually travel to the office to get any work done. Speaking from my own experience as a freelance writer, I know that working from home has been a fantastic arrangement for me, because I don’t need to physically travel to any office, other than having to walk down the stairs from my bedroom.

The study in the paper also suggests strategies like providing employees with laptops and the like, so that they can get some work done while commuting. This might be a possibly suitable solution for people who take the subway or the bus (assuming that they get a seat and not just a standing spot), but I’d highly recommend against firing up Microsoft Word or Excel while heading down the highway in your car.

What’s your take on maximizing productivity? Is commuting time completely wasted or does it provide a much-needed respite for overworked employees?

I’m not sure if this is the case across the country, but I know that here in Vancouver, as well as across the water in Victoria, there is shortage of seasonal workers for entry level and customer service-oriented positions. In the past week or two, I’ve been hearing a lot of reports that the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE), the annual fair in Vancouver, is having a tough time getting enough people to apply for all the seasonal jobs, like selling cotton candy, running the carnival games, and other various duties. In fact, they have received 1,000 fewer applications compared to last year.

By and large, this is because young people have a lot more options these days. Back when I was in high school, most young people either took a job at the local fast food establishment or they accepted a seasonal gig at the PNE. With the 2010 Winter Olympics just around the corner, however, a lot of new jobs have opened up in tourism and other industries that pay more than the minimum wage jobs you’d expect at the golden arches. So, how can you, as an employer, not only attract these young workers, but also retain them?

As with most other jobs (and careers, for that matter), the key isn’t really about offering more money — most direct competitors offer “competitive” wages that are pretty close to one another anyways — but it is more about keeping your employees happy, offering benefits, and providing flexibility. Flexibility is particularly important among youth, because to many of them, the job is just a job. For the most part, they just want to have fun and it’s the paycheque that bankrolls that fun. They want a flexible work schedule so that they can still hit up the beach on the weekend, for example. It’s the little things, like buying them lunch every once in a while or letting them go home a few minutes early if they are not needed. Performance-based rewards certainly don’t hurt either.

When people think about making big money, they typically envision huge American corporations and top dogs like Ted Turner and Bill Gates. That’s not to say that you can’t make a heck of a lot of money in Canada, though. In fact, when you look at Forbes list of the world’s top 100 billionaires, there are at least TWO Canadians among that illustrious group. This is according to the 2007 list.

Coming in at #10 with a net worth of $22.0 billion is David Thomson and his family. Officially, his full name is David Thomson, 3rd Baron Thomson of Fleet, but we’ll just call him Dave. Dave is the Chairman of the Thomson Corporation, a post that he has held since 2002. He inherited the family fortune from his father (Kenneth Thomson) died in 2006. The Thomson Corporation is comprised of five segments — Financial, Health Care, Legal, Scientific, and Tax & Accounting — and they produce a series of higher education textbooks and other reference materials. In May 2007, Thomson merged with Reuters in a deal valued at $17.2 billion. Thomson will take 70% control of the new company, but the head will be Tom Glocer, the current head of Reuters.

The other Canadian billionaire who made the top 100 list is Galen Weston of Associated British Foods. Much like Dave above, Galen has one of a really long full name too: Willard Gordon Galen Weston, OC, OOnt. It seems like the prerequisite to being a world billionaire is having a lengthy name and a storied heritage. Weston is the grandson of George Weston, founder of the George Weston Bakeries Limited. You might also know the Weston name through the family’s vested interest in Loblaws, Holt Renfrew, and Selfridges. Although Galen is Canadian, he has considerable interests in the United Kingdom. In 1990, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

It used to be that if you wanted to open up your own business, you either needed to take out a massive bank loan or you already had a significant amount of capital ready to invest. With the advent and continuing growth of the Internet, this is no longer the case. There are many different ways that you can make money online, whether it be starting up your own content-based website (like a blog), an e-commerce site (online store), or a website advertising your services (freelance writing in my case, but others have been known to do web development, creative work, and other things).

Starting your own business can be a daunting task and it’s one that you shouldn’t need to go at alone. Thankfully for young Canadian entrepreneurs — we’re talking about folks under the age of 35 — there are many free resources out there at your disposal! Here are three key websites that any young entrepreneur, particularly those looking to make money online, should bookmark.

John Chow dot Com is the personal blog of self-proclaimed dot com mogul John Chow. He was around before the first dot com bust and he managed to survive it relatively unscathed. While there are personal posts to be found on that site, he also offers a lot of advice for making money online, highlighting new ad networks, WordPress upgrades, and all sorts of other business opportunities. If you haven’t added John Chow dot Com to your RSS reader, you should definitely do that now.

The Young Entrepreneurs Association of Canada, according to their official website, is “a volunteer-driven non-profit organization whose mandate is to support young people in business. Aimed at business owners 35 and under, YEA provides members an opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences and take advantage of peer mentorship as they grow their businesses.” They have many programs and resources that will surely be helpful to any up-and-coming entrepreneur.

Business Development Canada (BDC) has a section dedicated to young entrepreneurs. They outline 5 steps to starting a business, as well as several consulting solutions like business plan development, financial planning, and business coaching.

Registering your new business in Canada is actually a lot easier than people think. While there are separate permits and such that you may need — a liquor license, for example — depending on the nature of your business, one of the most important steps you must take is registering your business name and getting it approved.

Before we go any further, let me clarify one critical issue. If you operate a small business under your own name — like how I run my freelance writing business — then you don’t actually need to register your business name. This is only if you operate by your legal name only. What this means is that when I send out an invoice to a client, I bill them as “Michael Kwan” and not as “Michael Kwan Freelance Writing Services.” If I decided to brand my company… let’s say I want to call it Beyond the Rhetoric… then I would have to go through the business registration process.

Most provinces have a one-stop online shop, so to speak, where you can apply and register for all sorts of things, including your business name and web domain, as well as telling them whether you’re a sole proprietorship, a partnership, or an incorporated business. Below are a few links to some of the bigger provinces, but similar information can also be found for Canada’s other territories.

• British Columbia
• Alberta
• Ontario
• Quebec