Business Generation

While taking the summer off, I missed more than a few DFA Link Rally posts – hence ketchup… get it?

Summer off?  Yeah, that’s pretty much what happened.

I stopped writing regular DFA posts for two reasons:

1. I burned myself out by working too hard, fast, and furious.
2. Summer in Michigan only lasts a few months.

Writer burn out

It happens.  I have been publishing free content on DFA since January of 2009, while also working full-time.  This is doable as long as you don’t overdo it… which I guess I did.  Live and learn.  The good news is, my batteries are recharged and I am itching to get back at it.

My strategy for avoiding burnout is simply to pace myself better – I’d rather be a moon than a shooting star.  I plan to write more efficiently and only when it’s feasible, rather than inefficiently and all-the-time.  I’m confident it will work well.

Summer in Michigan

What makes summers in Michigan so sweet?  Winters in Michigan – no joke.  Not only do I need that sweet warm weather to recharge my Vitamin D cells… my wife is also on vacation all summer, making it doubly hard to find time to write during the short warm season.  She started work this past week, which is also when the writing bug bit hard… convincing me to get back on the horse.

This is not me making excuses, it is me letting you know what happened and where I’ve been.  I know you lost sleep over it.  You did right?

Enough of that stuff, onto the Link Rally.

Nobody likes to make mistakes. However, the simple reality of life is that at some point, all of us are going to be wrong, do something bad, or somehow screw something up. That’s just life, and it has been since we learned how to walk, write out the alphabet, and do calculus. We are going to make mistakes. The trick is to learn how to fail fast, so that you can get back to doing things right again. Let’s look at a couple examples and see how failing fast will help us earn more money and save more money.

Small Business

Imagine you are thinking about starting a small business. You want to open a dog sitting company. You

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Welcome to the world of Ontario’s Innovation Economy, Glen Murray.

As you settle into your new cabinet role, the next couple of weeks will be consumed with the necessary ministry briefings. On behalf of the entrepreneurs and funders who make up your new official constituency in Ontario, welcome to the job! We are excited to have you.

Once you’ve had your fill of Powerpoints, we are looking forward to meeting you, and ensuring that you have the same sense of the state of the ecosystem that we do. As our third Minister in 14 months, we are hopeful we haven’t become the bastard child of Queen’s Park. Please prove it to us, and quickly. As a li

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The Internet has had a huge impact on the lives of most consumers, and being able to access goods and services online has improved convenience and ease for many people that prefer this channel to alternatives such as using the phone or having to go out to access various services.

It has now been revealed that credit card giant MBNA has tapped into the enthusiasm of consumers to be able to access services online wherever possible, and has taken action that will enable cardholders to activate their cards online, which will make things faster, easier, and more convenient for many people that have internet access.

This will be the first time that customers in UK and Ireland will have a choice of options when it comes to activating their MBNA credit cards even if they are new.

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Last week, Reader Dan emailed me a transcript of a conversation he had with a customer service representative. In the conversation, the CSR said that the 0.25% APY renewal/loyalty bonus may be going away after next month (September).

Here’s the chat transcript (edited for formatting but otherwise 100% intact as what Dan sent me):

Joshua: Thank you for chatting with me today. How can I help?
Dan: Hi, are you still offering your .25% loyalty bonus?
Joshua: Correct Dan. The offer is still good for renewing CDs through next month.
Dan: oh, it ends after next month?
Joshua: That is what we have been told. I

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Despite what you feel about President Obama, you have to appreciate the sheer amount of work he’s managed to get Congress to do in the few years he’s been in office. Whether or not they’re the right things to do will remain to be seen, but one topic that is sure to take center stage within the next few months, if not weeks, is what we should be doing about the soon-to-be expiring Bush-era tax cuts.

A little history for those of us who weren’t paying taxes before 2001 (that includes myself, at least on any meaningful level). President Bush signed the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and made one of the largest tax cuts we’ve seen in quite some time. Among oth

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