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I’m talking about Wind Mobile, Canada’s newest cellphone competitor, which persuaded the government it was really Canadian-owned, even though a foreign company owned the bulk of its equity and debt. Still, Canadian owner Globalive held the majority of voting shares.

I find Wind’s pro-consumer rhetoric refreshing. “Join the conversation. We’re in this together.” Of course, it’s easy for a company to be populist when it’s just getting started and hasn’t made any enemies yet. A year from now, let’s see if the promise of simplicity, affordable plans and no contracts is really borne out.

Also want to mention that Globalive owns Canopco, a company that charges extraordinarily high prices for calls made from hotel rooms outside Canada. I get many complaints from people who ..read more

It’s the time of year when you buy gifts for others (and yourself, too, when prices drop), and find mistakes or glitches make shopping even more stressful than it is already.

I’m posting a few laments from frustrated shoppers below, starting with one that could have been sad — when an automatic bank machine didn’t dispense the required amount — but had a happy ending when the bank relented (with a little prodding).

Please contribute your own stories, as you make your way through the Boxing Day sales.

In the last post I beat you to death about ditching your business plan but failed to provide an alternative.

Okay okay, “Planning == Bad,” but the supposed benefits of planning are still important: designing for profitability, understanding your customers and competitors, focusing your attention, deciding what’s worth doing next, changing directions, and ensuring the founders agree on important issues.

To help you, I’m stealing a trick from therapists.

Cartoon by Andertoons

Therapists don’t tell you what to do. Rather, they ask probing questions that get you to discover for yourself what is true for you, your situation, and what you want.

You’re smart. You’ll make good decisions. But you also get bogged down in daily minutiae and putting ..read more

Visa and MasterCard promise you zero liability from unauthorized transactions on your card, whether in stores, on the phone or online. Check what they say here and here.

However, the promise falls short when it comes to bogus online “free trials,” designed to trap you into making recurring monthly payments for cosmetics, drugs or vitamins.

Once you say yes to the trial, you will find yourself going back to your credit card issuer every month, trying to stop getting billed for shipments you didn’t think you had authorized.

Here’s the problem. The terms and conditions of the deal are buried in fine print on the website. You may not realize what you’re agreeing to, since you think you’re ordering only a few free products.

The credit card ..read more

“You need a business plan” is the mantra of MBA types.

As they say, businesses don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan! Who could argue with such a clever turn of phrase?

Let’s do some quotes:

“Without a business plan, how will you know whether you can make a profit?” (source) “A complete business plan should include five-year financial projections. These projections will assist investors with making decisions about your business and help you to know how much funding you will need to get things rolling.” (source) “Many businesses fail due to poor planning. It is important for every business owner to understand the entire depth, flexibility, strength and weakness of their business plan.” (source) “Adjust ..read more