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New big thing.

September 29, 2018

Dannydaniels Advice, business, Uncategorized , , Leave a comment

We have all heard of success stories of people who bought Bitcoin in the early days and later they made millions. Bitcoin has reached highs of over $7000+ (over 700k Ksh) for just one coin. Bitcoin or one of its competitors could very possibly be the next global currency of the world, in the future. Bitcoin is certainly an interesting new force in our world and whether it becomes it becomes a new global currency or it crashes into digital abyss, there is something even more interesting than bitcoin. This technology will unquestionably change the world beyond recognition.

I am talking about the very technology that makes bitcoin possible, BLOCKCHAIN.  Blockchain is so much bigger than bitcoin. Bitcoin is simply the very first adopter of a revolutionary technology, which is going to change our world. In the same way the wheel, the printing press and nduthi did.

The idea about blockchain was first described in 1991 by a group of researchers. But it wasn’t until a mysterious guy or a group of people; well no one knows for sure their identity. Under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto used this idea in 2008 to create Bitcoin, and blockchain finally became a reality.

A blockchain is a ledger of financial accounts but digitized and decentralized. And this decentralization is from where its power and immense security is derived. Each block contains data based on whatever the blockchain is being used for. In the case of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, each block contains a list of transactions that have occurred including the person who sent the bitcoin, the recipient and the amount.

A single block is by no means secure, because the data can be easily tampered with. To vastly simplify things, a hacker could simply change the amount of a transaction to be more than it actually was to fraudulently extract more funds from the system. But when you have more than one block, they are linked together by a virtual chain. The subsequently linked block will always contain a unique finger print of the previous block. This is known as a HARSH.

If a single byte of data changes in the previous block, so does its unique fingerprint or harsh. And so the subsequent linked block is no longer valid. Also every single of a block down the chain is now invalid too. This could be many thousands of blocks and millions of transactions. This mechanism adds significant security to the whole system and makes it almost tamperproof, but not quite. Because modern computers, can easily change every single harsh along the entire blockchain within milliseconds, so then the entire chain would be fraudulent. But it would still show as valid.

So the bitcoin blockchain and all other modern block chains have something called a proof-of-work fail safe. Which means that any adjustment to a single block must be slowed down often taking ten minutes or more to accomplish, increasing the security. This is because hackers don’t like time throttling of any kind. Also every single data alteration must be backed up with a proof-of-work. It’s just like in school when you got a marking scheme then the teacher asked you to show your formula to the answer. This is how some of you had to take thorough beating because you couldn’t show your workings.

Lastly, what makes blockchain so immune to tampering, fraud and hacking is the fact that it is completely decentralized. No single person, organization or server, controls or dictates a blockchain network such as Bitcoin. Blockchain is collectively stored and replicated on mass on a peer to peer network. Similar to BitTorrent, but unlike BitTorrent which has a centralized tracker, no one centralized server or corporation tracks and controls who has what data on the blockchain. Instead everyone on the network, which could be thousands or even millions of people, has an exact replica of the same data file or blockchain. So its integrity can be verified. Everyone on the network has to have a record of the entire blockchain, all the way from its inception. Meaning everyone in the blockchain network such as bitcoin has a record of every single bitcoin transaction that has ever happened.

 

Hacking nowadays has been the norm of the day. Big corporations, banks and even social media is being hacked. If you think your data is safe, you’re terribly mistake. However if more companies that are responsible for maintaining large amounts of data, were to properly adopt the blockchain system to store their data in a global distributed and decentralized network. Chances of that data ever being hacked would be near impossible. And just because your data will be distributed in public to for everyone to see on the blockchain, it doesn’t mean that the world can actually view its content and see your Mombasa Pictures that you took with your clande and ben 10.

Data contained in the blockchain network can be and is often cryptographically encrypted. Thus the data can still be checked and verified by the world without ever being viewable. Except by its owner and those its owner selects to see.

The potential uses of blockchain technology are far and wide. And this is why, Blockchain technology is the new wheel of the 21st century. Watch this space.

Thank you for reading

 

 

 

Five Deliberate Reasons you are Still Broke

September 6, 2018

Dannydaniels Advice, business, Counsel, Uncategorized , , Leave a comment

1. You are Just Lazy:

Let’s face it! Sometimes being broke is purely because of laziness. Yes there are some circumstances that may cause some people to be broke for no fault of their own, granted. But other times is just people deliberately deciding to be lazy. Too much TV, too much sleeping, too much Facebook and you want to make money. There are people who will just not do anything, they will not try… but somehow still expect money. These are the candidates for miracle money. Believe me, if you dedicate to work, and you keep working diligently everyday, in whatever your hands find to do you will find something that pays… It’s a law of work.. “he who does not work shall not eat…” Don’t look for money, look for work… And get me right, I didn’t say “look for a job” I said look for work.

2. You are too Superstitious: I will never understand how broke people are the most superstitious. Eeh. They are so averse to any money making opportunity and they look at every opportunity with an attitude, “what if I lose money?”… My friend, how much do you have to lose… Almost every opportunity your present to them, they are suspicious. And it is not possible to convince them… Especially if they have syndrome number one also… Laziness and superstition? Weapon of Mass destruction. They want risk free money making systems, which unfortunately do not exist… These are the kind of broke people who can write best seller books on “How not to Make Money”…, because thats all they see in every opportunity.

3. You think you Know Enough: Call a business seminar, even a free one, the broke will not come and they will be like “what can they teach us there?” Tag them a long business post, they comment, “didn’t finish reading, too long”.. They wont read books, even free ones. As far as they are concerned, they already know everything and depend on whatever little information they have in their head to make decision. They will engage in arguments & discussions and yet be so proudly arrogant in their ignorance and lack of logic. They find solace in their own empty heads… So even information about how to make money, they don’t listen because they think they have enough data already. They don’t understand, you only earn as much as you learn…

4. You Surround Yourself with Brokeness: Honestly, you stay in a broke neighbourhood, you have broke friends, you go to a broke church, and you have broke discussions… Who bewitched you? As I said, some circumstances are not your own making, yes, like where you stay… But having broke friends, going to broke places, having broke conversation? Those are your choices. You can choose today and say to yourself, “I may be broke, but I will no longer surround myself with broke circumstances”… Life is made in such a way that, through some induction and osmosis, you absorb whatever surrounds you and you soon start identifying with it. If you stay too long in a particular environment, you begin to internalise it and cannot describe yourself independent of your environment. Thats why you need to deliberately distrupt yourself from such environments by reducing how much time you spend surrounded by poverty for instance.

5. You are Financially Indisciplined: It’s funny how most broke people are the ones who don’t understand the power of financial discipline… The chap has been broke for a long time, and then they make a little money… Instead of thinking about how they can invest the money into tomorrow, they want to shine and prove they are not broke by living an extravagant life for the weekend. It’s funny how many broke people will be at the Chisa Nyama every weekend, trying to make a point to people who don’t know them, who don’t even care… And before the weekend ends, they are broke again. People who are not broke understand how to use money to make money… They don’t spend on unnecesary things just to show other broke people that they are not broke.

Thanks for reading

The journey

September 3, 2018

Dannydaniels Advice, business, Counsel, Uncategorized , Leave a comment

The only part they told us about entrepreneurship was that we would be our own bosses.

They never told us that we would fail many times before we succeed.
They never told us that we would work 5 times more than our employees and not get anything sometimes.
They never told us that this would cripple our credit score. That we will be in debt and owe alot of people money.
No one said anything about the sleepless nights trying to figure out a way forward.
No one told us about the stress and anxiety.

No one told us that this will cause conflict between us and or relatives and family members.
No one told us that we would be jokes to the society especially when we start changing from one business to another.

No one told us that sometimes we will go six months without any income. Living in the edge and surviving through borrowing money from different people.

No one told us that our doors would be shut down due failure to pay staff, they can’t get to work.

No one told us we would be hobos at some point.
No one told us that our wife’s and girlfriend’s would leave us because they will not understand our journey.

No one told us that we will have to be more than patient.
That we would make so many mistakes end up losing alot of money.
That we would have to risk our lives in order to move forward.

We had to figure this out all by ourselves.
Many gave up on the journey.
Some died on the journey.

But some of us after going through so much pain we decided that we were going to succeed or die trying .
Some of us we are never giving up on this no matter what. We are now doing it and very aware of the circumstances.
It’s win or nothing for us and it’s too late to go back now.

We are entrepreneurs!!
#Breakingfree #borrowed

Author Unkown

RULES OF AN ENTREPRENEUR

August 23, 2018

Dannydaniels Advice, Counsel Leave a comment

1) Make the commitment. You need to decide to be an entrepreneur and leave the traditional path behind. A good friend of mine, who has built a Ksh400M company, once told me that choosing to be an entrepreneur, deciding to give up the seemingly safe employer-employee world, is like disengaging from the matrix. Once you have experienced reality, you never want to go back.

2) Find a problem, then solve it. There are two types of businesses –“pain” and “pleasure.” “Pain” businesses have a higher success rate because they address more urgent problems. Venture out to address a problem that is personal, that you care about, that you would love to solve.

3) Think big. You can never build what you cannot imagine, so to build a business that has big impact, you have to believe you can do it from the start. You come at the problem with a calm confidence. There is no reason to scream “We can do it!” because you just know it; it’s inevitable. Whatever is stopping you for really believing you can do what your business plan says you can do, dissect it, extract it, and throw it away.

4) You can’t do it alone. There are two types of people: big-idea people and get-it-done people. Very few of us can do both. Be honest with yourself, decide which type you are, then find (hire or partner with) someone who complements you.

5) You must do it alone. Entrepreneurial journeys are lonely. When I launched my consulting business I spent every day for three weeks alone at my computer, working an Excel database I had built of 300 prospective clients, sending 100 emails a day, trying to get my first project. Even after you’ve gotten your business going and have built a team, you will find yourself alone. Leadership, after all, is having no one else to ask.

 

6) Manage risk. Most ventures fail because they run out of money. So never forget “DROOM”–Don’t Run Out of Money. Live by that motto. Calculate what you will need in the worst-case scenario and make sure you have enough. I do this every week now for my business, and I have not hit a cash crunch since.

7) Learn to lead. You will reach a point at which you must shift from managing to leading. This means setting a vision and communicating it. It means making promises (“We will get there”) and keeping them.

8) Learn to sell. This is my favorite. All innovators are sales people. They are selling every day–to investors, to employees, to suppliers, to customers. By convincing everyone that the iPod will change the world, Steve Jobs makes it so. Yet no business school I know of teaches sales! Study the sales process by reading books like SPIN Selling. Get practice by, for example, volunteering to raise funds for your favorite cause. But most importantly, find your passion. If you really believe your product and company and you share it passionately, you will become a magnet.

9) Persist. If you are willing to persist through the tough times, you have a much better chance of succeeding. Develop stubbornness.

10) Play the game for life. Don’t just do this for the money; do it to realize who you are, to create the life you are here to live. One of my favorite quotes from the book reads “Entrepreneurship…isn’t just about solving a problem, building a venture, managing risk, or making money. It’s about having a positive impact on the world, making the most of the gifts you’ve been given, and realizing your full potential as a human being.”

TAXATION

August 23, 2018

Dannydaniels Advice, business, Life, politics, Uncategorized , Leave a comment

I am not a politician and neither am I fighting for any one. But due to the situation in this country let me vent a bit.

Look at our country, we have some of the lowest wage workers in the world, yet companies like Cadbury, Unilever and others closed shop, because they can’t afford the taxes. Companies like Nike and Adidas would rather go to China than Kenya because it’s cheaper there. Not wages, but operating cost.

But Danny it’s the Chinese debt. Actually it’s not. Chinese are loaning African countries money with little or no interest plus no conditions. After all most Chinese are now middle income earners so China needs a China and funding infrastructure in Africa opens a door for cheap labor and a business hub for Chinese people. But IMF and WB have conditions, so do Americans and other countries that are supporting us. Condition number one, high tax rates. So that you can prove you can pay the debt. China on the other hand, if Kenya has good roads it gives China access to Congo, Ethiopia and other countries that don’t have good ports to ship goods.

But Boss, government so creating jobs..
The answer is no, at least not as many people think.

For most Africans, government should be responsible for creating jobs. that`s a white lie. Governments are NOT responsible for job creation (though our constitution wrongly says they should).

Government don`t know how to and cannot create jobs.

The only thing government can do (and should do) is to create conducive environment and facilities that will help you and I to create jobs.

Yes, job creation is the duty of yourself and myself, for ourselves and other Africans. Unless working in the Military or being a teacher counts. You see the government is not a profit making entity. And out of 50 million Kenyans it can only employ 10% o give or take, so even if it employs 2,000,000 Kenyans we are still in trouble.

So instead of the West insisting on high taxes why don’t they push for tax cuts. These taxes have killed any possibility of economic development. Why are you killing any hope of us ever helping our selves? Because overtaxation means, no investors, no jobs and hence we are at the mercy of charity and loans. And for a guy who struggled paying Mshwari, KCB, branch and Tala among other mobile app loans i can assure you it’s a pit you don’t want on us unless you hate us.

The issue is not the East, the issue is the conditions of the West. I know you are a middle class earner and paying an extra 30 shillings on your fuel which is already above 100 shillings it’s not a biggie. But think of the family that the father is paid 200 shillings a day. How I’ll it affect them?

Taxes can’t raise any money if they kill the economy, if we want to save this country. Let’s be reasonable stop over taxation. Because the economic depression coming our way will be worse than Greece. We will never be able to grow our economy.

That’s all folks. What’s do you think? Am i wrong?